All through July, Schiff has aired a TV commercial for "Digestive Advantage."  According to "the nutritionist" in this commercial, two thirds of Americans are suffering from indigestion today...REALLY?!  The ad falls short of asking, "Good God, what a baffling figure!  I wonder why this is so???"  Instead of asking pertinent questions, it simply offers a pill.  And this is often the sum total of today's "sick care."  I call it "sick care" because the treatment is sick, i.e., lacking vital inquiries, and because the patient remains sick, merely making his/her symptoms a bit more bearable by taking pills daily.  

Pertinent questions may include:

• 1.  Is it just possible that chronic, widespread indigestion coincides with the infiltration of our food supply with genetically engineered or modified organisms (GMO'S), which is to say organisms entirely concocted in chemical laboratories, never before known to man, which have nothing to do with FOOD?
• 2.  Could our unnatural, sedentary lifestyle have something to do with the body's inability to digest?
• 3.  To take a holistic view, does the patient have a general inability or unwillingness to "digest" conditions of life which may be (perceived as) simply intolerable?

This last question is particularly important because people often try to "digest" problems with or in the gut that really can only be solved using the head and heart.  The idea that we simply must tolerate intolerable conditions just may be part of such an issue, as is our resigned acceptance of GMO's and the feeling that we are powerless to do anything about them.  Then, of course, the gut simply has to deal with whatever we serve it, literally and figuratively.  And it rebels, as it should.

I pay attention to TV ads, as they reflect how people at large are thinking or being made to think.  Consider also, for example, ads asking people to march and raise funds for Alzheimer's research, because we really do want to find "a cure" (pill) for this terrible disease which has risen significantly in recent years!  A cure...Really!?  Do we honestly think a cure will be found without looking into environmental factors, i.e., poisons deliberately introduced in massive amounts into the air, water and soil, over the past 25 years, via weather modification programs?  Don't we think that the correlation is significant between dumping thousands of tons of bioavailable aluminium in the air via airplanes, on the one hand, and the startling rise of asthma, Autism and Alzheimer's, on the other?

Besides, does it occur to us that we are being asked to raise the funds...

1. ...For ailments caused this way, yet without addressing the causes?  How successful do we think such research will ultimately be, keeping all other things constant?
2. ...For medical "solutions" which are then sold back to us at an outrageous price, driving our sick care system and insurance expenses further into the ground.  If we raise those funds, shouldn't the research results automatically belong to us?
3. However, do we even want so-called solutions which claim they are finally addressing "the causes" (for cancer, via immuno-therapy, for example, which can itself cause death), but fail to effect the reduction and removal of carcinogens from our environment?  Does cancer treatment without addressing carcinogens make any sense at all?  And do we even want the technologies to "treat" cancer which destroy our healthy shield--the human electromagnetic bodies--as radiation does, for example?

I believe we could and should be marching for an entirely different cause, i.e., one that is aimed at eliminating known toxins and radiation from our environment.  There is something wrong with us if we keep producing one life-destroying innovation after another, testing it on the masses and wait for the fallout, and to rather deal with a few law suits here and there, but generally making and keeping us sick.  Why is it that we are carrying the burden of proof to establish a link between inventions which have been unleashed on the world and ill effects on our health and life support systems, when it is well known that plastics and pesticides (and many other things) are carcinogenic, and that fluoride and many metals are neurotoxins, that atomic power plants leak radioactive materials and that our modern, electronic technologies all radiate us to death?  To top it all off, we are the ones paying dearly for our own ill demise, when purchasing commodities and services utilizing such things, or when we participate in producing and spreading them.  We pay to acquire them, we tolerate their use; and then we pay again with our health, and for so-called "cures" and "treatments" which we also helped fund to develop!  Ultimately, we pay with our lives.  Is it any wonder our bodies and minds have problems living thus insanely?  Is it any wonder we suffer from "INDIGESTION," to say the least???

We must make a choice, using our heads, and then take heart:  Do we continue to force our organism to adapt to such sick circumstances-- which it obviously cannot tolerate much longer--or do we make an attempt to CHANGE SOMETHING ABOUT THESE CIRCUMSTANCES?

​You choose.





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My own baby picture--beginning life with all channels open and all senses intact.

​

"Is intuition different from instinct," you may ask?  The answer is, "Yes."  Instinct has a biological basis, while intuition is property of Spirit.  Intuition comes from the spirit world, at times directly from God, in communication with our own spirit spark which we carry in our hearts.  Contrarily, instinct stems from our body's language, communication from and with cells, and signals from much smaller particles--chemical substances in the body, hormones, metals and the star dust our bodies are made of.

Both instinct and intuition provide valuable information to our mind/soul.  In turn, the soul or mind mediates between body and spirit.  This communication is multi-directional which makes it difficult at times to separate instinct from intuition.  However, in truth, our intuition  is our most direct telephone line to the heavens and our spirit guides, while instincts provide primarily guidance regarding physical wellbeing, safety and continuation of our species.  Both are our gifts and birthright and aimed at keeping us on our chosen pathh.  Much of our current-day suffering stems from deafened and dumbed-down instincts and intuition.  As a result, we have become mostly outer-directed, whhich means we increasingly have become dependent on what others say...the news, elected leaders, medical doctors, scientists and spokespeople of organizations.  We believe them blindly--or not; yet if we do not, we seem doomed to a life of deep mistrust.

Still, we DO have a built-in mechanism for discerning truth--ALL truth:  Our intuition!  It is time we remember and revive our long lost gifts which we gambled away by submerging ourselves too deeply in matter and material things, just like the porodigal son did in the biblical story.

Instincts become disturbed by many things which are commonplace in modern societies, foremost synthetic fragrances, artificial colors, "food" which is no longer food and also laden with toxic chemicals upon chemicals, synthetic clothing, chemically concocted homes and furnishings, plastics and NOISE.  In addition, wireless technology and radiation disturb the senses--these technologies, too, represent NOISE and have a direct impact on our electromagnetic mind/soul and kill or alter nerve cells.  The body now reacts to "endocrine disruptors" in producing hormones, for example, and to a multitude of environmental, chemical cues which it attempts to decipher.  Every light bulb and electric circuit delivers information to the body, brain and mind, as do ELF's and other "waves" and electro-magnetic frequencies.  As a result, the body is understandably confused in distinguishing actual versus artificialy stimulated needs.  Instead of giving us cravings for spinac, for example, when the body lacks iron, it may now signal fatigue and a lack of sleep, or nothing at all.  So, to return to our natural instincts, we must, first and foremost, detox and then make changes to our nourishment and living environment.  Healthy instincts will return in time, as everyone is sure to discover.

Spirit speaks to us in the quiet of the heart, also away from environmental voices and influences, and the communication begins with a prayer, i.e., a heartfelt desire to communicate with the spirit world.  This also requires that we make time for such endeavors and consider them possible, in the first polace.  The desire and corresponding prayer create not only an open window in one's mind, but also a path on which communication can travel and be received. All answers are constantly surrounding us; yet, without the proper question, we will never notice them! Many say, "If God is all-knowing, then He knows what I need and desire.  Why doesn't He just provide it?"  Thereby, they forget to pave a road for spirit rays to reach us in our hearts.  Alas, we must ask for help and guidance, and then patiently await the response, while continuing a daily spiritual discipline, routine and/or rituals.  Input equals output, and "Ask, and you shall receive."

In my own life, bio-energy work has proven as the most effective tool in helping me re-discover spirit and intuition.  During energy work, we relax sufficiently to learn to switch to different brainwaves while staying awake.  Energy work also ensures our Chakras are open and rotating adequately.  Relaxation, calmness and a functioning subtle energy flow throughout the entire organism are cruical elements for spirit communications, as all occurs on the level of consciousness, in subtle energy realms.

After several months of weekly subtle-energy sessions, my therapist and I had been engaged in discussions about the EGO.  One particular day, I remarked sadly that--if it weren't for the ego--I wouldn't have a reason to get up in the morning.  "What else IS there," I asked?  BOOM!  This question sufficed to open the door for Spirit to provide answers:  In an instant, something in my heart moved, enlarged and welled up into my throat, and it almost choked me.  Simultaneously, tears ran down my face.  I could FEEL AND SEE (!) this golden entity in my chest, just waiting to finally be discovered and allowed to speak.  This moment changed my entire life and outlook.  Since then, I've been living for and by Spirit.  Every time Spirit speaks, it moves, enlarges and brings tears to my eyes (this is the feeling of, "My cup runneth over").  Life has never been dull or hopeless again while engaging in constant dialogue and observing keenly within and without for guidance and answers.  At times, these answers come as clear words, usually in my predominant language, but other languages may also be used, perhaps to instill even more awe than I already experience on a daily basis.  And it is this spirit dialogue, and wisdom gained from it, which I call INTUITION.​

Once the Spirit is discovered, consciously felt, embraced and invited to speak, in its own voice, our intuition develops or returns, gradually, on a trial and error basis.  This means we sometimes go with its guidance and act as nudged by it, and sometimes we do not, and then we compare the results...according to, "WE SHALL RECOGNIZE THEM BY THEIR FRUIT."  Logical or not, we will discover that we are always guided well by this voice.  Spirit will never betray us, although it may sometimes seem that way at first.  But, in the long-run, if I follow its dictates, the good for all involved will be served.  The outcome may not always be what I had dreamed of, as that outcome also depends on cooperation of others and on THEIR degree of spirit-connectedness.  However, we can be sure that it was what Spirit had us do, according to, "THY WILL, NOT MINE, BE DONE."  And, before we know it, a clear path and direction will emerge for our life, along with  true inner-directedness and independence from outside voices, and with ample support from the universe for our endeavors.

(By Rev. Lilo Bauer-Freitag, M.A., CLC, May 2017)

"Thoroughly unprepared we take the step into the afternoon of life. We take this step with the false presupposition that our truths and ideals will serve us as hitherto.  But we cannot live the afternoon of life according to the program of the morning.  For what was great in the morning, will be little at evening.  And what in the morning was true, at evening will have become a lie."
(Dr. Wayne D. Dyer, "The Shift")

By Lilo Bauer-Freitag, Spring 2017


I have been trying to remember if there was a specific moment in my life when I realized that our groceries in stores were not to be trusted.  When did food become something other than food?  Ingredient descriptions have become, almost entirely, chemical formulas, synthetic and, yes, even toxic, then all wrapped in plastic or placed in plastic containers which leak into food much like aluminum cans do.  I began wondering what was still in the jar that was "free" of the main ingredients you would have expected, e.g., in fat-free "cream" cheese, un-sweet "sweets" and milk without lactose.  Concurrently, people developed all kinds of allergies and immune deficiencies and digestive problems.  I only know it was long before the invention of GMO's, which was preceded by the era of "smart foods," with certain medications or vitamins added, whether or not we needed or wanted those.  Recently, I have heard such "foods" called "Fortified Foods" (Natural Awakenings Magazine of the Upstate, SC, February 2017, p. 17).  They are said to reduce our need for nutritional supplements, but the source of the added nutrients--synthetic and isolated?--is unknown under such circumstances.  They are also found in unnatural combinations with the food itself, despite much evidence of lessened or no health benefits when using nutrients in other than their natural occurrence.  A modern-day commercial for One-A-Day Supplements makes it quite clear that even very health-conscious cooks and consumers no longer get the nutrients they need from food.  However, the question, "Why?" or, "Why not?" is not being asked or addressed.  Is the problem with seeds, soil, environment or with our own, altered digestive system?  Could it be all of the above?  The over-abundance of digestive aids and probiotic commercials, even targeting children already, would certainly point to something seriously wrong with food, eating and digesting.  Upon investigation, we inevitably arrive at the man-made, genetical modification of much of today's foods (GMO's), as well as the unsustainable, most unnatural methods of agriculture and farming, with heavy reliance on use of chemicals to achieve crops.  These chemicals, like the artificially added "nutrients," post hoc, infiltrate everything we eat--plant and animal sources alike.  For starters, I would say that, if your body gives you signals that it doesn't want a particulr food item any longer, please consider to skip that item, instead of replacing it with a "free" version of itself.  Body signals are naturally and ingeniously there for a good reason, i.e., in support of our life and health.

Following the research, soon one bubble of illusion after another begins to burst.  We find that we have been equally betrayed by cosmetics, building materials, medicines and, increasingly, by harmful (subtle-energy/radiation) effects of modern techology.  The drinking water is laced with massive amounts of fluoride and chlorine, and dry-clean chemicals, non-stick cookware and paints produce/contain toxins as well...poisions wherever we look!  Man is no longer fighting against nature--which was never a good idea--but trying to survive his own inventions.

At some point, ca. ten years ago, I started to have dreams about tiny, colorful particles raining down on us from the sky.  These dreams led me to much information about geo-engineering--the articificial manipulation of our weather and atmosphere, altering the jet stream, causing ozone depletion, droughts and floods, storms, snow and ice, and evern earth quakes.  i learned that we absorb these miniscule, aerosol particles sprayed overhead, day and night, to achieve such manipulations,  through skin and membranes and with every breath we take.  This has been very silently ongoing before our very eyes for sixty or more years!  I began noticing the strangest cloud formations, literally painted into the sky, shimmering in all kinds of colors when reflecting light from beneath or at an angle, and I observed the massive tree deaths all around me, and that my garden could no longer thrive.  The horror in my soul is now complete:  WHAT HAVE WE DONE???  WHAT HAVE WE TOLERATED AND CONDONED, unwittingly, and hailed as proud hallmarks of our civilization and way of life?  Don't we see that our insides and the natural world around us are dying?  Still, there are laws in place that prevent restrictions to corporate profit, even when those corporations produce nothing put poison!  We ourselves have created a double-bind which locks us into further abuse and death, with both hands tied behind our backs, to do anything about it.  Isn't this newsworthy and extraordinary?  However, the daily news broadcast pictures of oh-so-beautiful (but toxic) sunsets in orange and purple, and of artificial clouds, even naming those new cloud formations, and they speak of "Mother Nature" with regards to snow storms, floods and blizzards, as well as the unnatural, extreme temperature fluctuations from one day to the next, which we now have gotten used to.  Make no mistake:  With the exception of the Northern Lights, perhaps, clouds are supposed to be white (not purple or blue), and skies are supposed to be blue (not pink and orange)!  There are also still those who believe that outdoor, aerobic activities, like running or bicycling, are good for us, and we still call the chemical (ozone?) smell rolling in through the open window "fresh" air!

I am doubly concerned with much of the rhetoric in politics and news, focusing on anything but all this man-made destruction.  Aren't we targeting the wrong terror, enemies and fears?  In particular, all the artificial dichotomies created by public officials and the media (e.g., around wiretapping, transgender bathrooms, etc.), appear only as distractions from the sinister, much more pressing issue:  WE ARE ALL WALKING THE GREEN MILE!  So, dear reader, beware of being side-tracked by the public "issues of the day."  Those are but diversions from all the real issues.

Under spiritual rule, we give our life energy to everything we repeatedly think, emote and talk about.  Alas, we give our power increasingly to diversions and to the people behind those.  We also give our energy to continued limelight and gaslighting by exactly those who thrive on having the spotlight on them.  By feeding them with light, by means of our own energy, we make them more and more powerful.

At this moment, one can hardly have a conversation any more without mention of certain politicians and folks in power, in a gossipy and sensationalist kind of way.  Folks, beware of which wolf we feed (in the native American fable), becauses that's the wolf who will win out.  Let's refuse to enter into this misguided, unspiritual gossip and rhetoric, causing further division between people from which only the puppet maters benefit.  Let's stick to the most pressing issue of CONTINUED LIFE OF EARTH AND NATURE, which we all share. Instead of rescuing certain politicians from their own, fabricated agendas, cover-ups of their errors and childish dramas, let's rescue ourselves from their mental/emotional grip and return to the only things that really matter:  Our families, communities, healthy gardens, clean air, food and water and, above all, love and our love-ability.

This is not to say that we don't need initiatives.  We need those more than ever, since our elected leaders continue to ignore or even perpetrate our collective dying.  However, exercising our right to demonstrate and picket has now become a dangerous undertaking, under new rule of threatening incarceration to all who participate in an event that leads even to one aggressive incident.  How is anyone to know beforehand what will happen, or if some violence may even be intentionally provoked?  There is also the new prohibition for government scientists to provide answers to the public regarding the toxicity and extent of their programs that affect us all.  DO YOU SEE WHERE THIS IS GOING?  We have to take a good, long look at the clock and determine exactly what time it is and then become ingeniously creative and flexible in our approach.  "Together" around particular areas of interests and skills, appears more promising than going solo, to become proactive and inspired toward a positive goal, rather than fighting against negativity.  Let's turn a fight against a certain politician into a movement for life, for clean water, and for clean air.  To this end, please go to the bottom of this article, view the suggested links and get involved.

Covertly, our leaders seem to be preparing for collapse, as the development of GMO's themselves demonstrates:  Why develop geo-engineering-resistant seeds if there's, allegedly, no geo-engineering and impending food shortage as a result?  Why forever increase geo-engineering efforts to mitigate or steer climate change, while denying that there is global warming?  Why increase the military budget and build walls:  Aren't these signs of increasing withdrawal inside one's own boundaries, arming heavily to guard what's left?  Aren't the elimination of national oversight over and curbing of pollution, while returning to unlimited fracking and mining of natural resources, signs that an end is in sight, like saying, "What does it matter any more"?  The same is true for ever-speedier approval of toxic medicines, with ever more devastating side-effects, and after but minimal testing, like saying, "Who cares if they kill or cripple, if we're all going down anyway."

However, on a positive note, on Iran's Revolution Day, we could see banners giving thanks to people from other countries who support Muslims and religious freedom, in general and in their countries.  This means that our spiritual and humane actions and expressions on social media have gone a long way toward all-inclusiveness, peace and unity.  These are the mental attitudes and actions which decrease divisiveness and hence hostility and, therefore, threats of terror and war.  God--who understands and forgives all--is necessarily the most tolerant and patient of us all, showing that our spiritual development naturally goes from less to ever more inclusive attitudes.  Let's not underestimate our power to unite, regardless of all the gossip and news drama of the hour.  And unite we must, to collectively stop the bigger assaults on life on earth, on all species and on life support systems, globally. 

LOOK UP AND GET INVOLVED:
www.thrivemovement.com
www.geoengineeringwatch.org
​www.andrewharvey.net

A decade ago, a movie swept the country off its feet:  It was called "The Secret" and pertains to the universal Law of Attraction."  I remember watching it for the first time, at the edge of my seat.  I couldn't stop smiling, until my face hurt.  The next morning, I awakened and noticed that I was still smiling!  I knew, deep in my heart, that what I had seen was profoundly true.  In fact, I began to remember all the times in my life I wished developments into existence, with every fabric of my being.  I had always known about this power.  In fact, I used to call it "Wishing Power" as a child.

Going down memory lane, I also remembered the many inadvertent, unanticipated "side effects" of my wishes and dreams, for every manifested dream came with its own unique set of new problems and sufferings.  This is what happens when we are still not very conscious of ourselves, because unconscious information accompanies the deliberate, conscious dream and attracts realities from the universe, literally more strongly than does our conscious intent!  It also happens when we forget to ask God if what we desire is actually good for us.

Many moons ago, I made the decision to turn my life over to eh care of God.  Moreover, I decided to devote my life to His service, as His vessel and instrument.  Ever since, I no longer seem to manifest so many things that I sometimes think I need in order to live life creatively and happily.  This seems to be the case, particularly, when trying to attract certain people, careers and material things.

If you, like me, pray every day to be kept safe from harm and also that, "Thy will be My will," you may encounter limited strength of your vision boards, as I have.  For example, lists of "ingredients" for new employment and career directions which I concocted with clear focus have remained unanswered by the universe for years, until I realized that my needs for treatment and respect from people (superiors and co-workers, I thought) would only come in the form of self-employment!  In other words, when you look at your unanswered visions and prayers, there's nothing wrong with you, the universe or with the Law of Attraction.  Instead, we may have sent out conflicting messages or wishes which would only come back to haunt us.  Our best thinking has gotten us into trouble in the past, and it will continue to do so until we trust God entirely to stir us rightly.  

So, while the Law of Attraction is in operation all of the time, it's significance in our lives becomes less interesting and important, once we come full-circle, from the unconditional trust in God we once had as children, to the conscious surrender to and merger of our own will with the will of God and the universe, for us.  I still focus my intentions on short and long-term goals, and some do come true.  When this happens, I now know that my own creations will o longer lead me astray, away from my purpose, and also that they will not come with painful lessons.  Once free from less conscious, karmic grip, there are still vst areas putting my own spin of creativity and shape to God's will for me.  How delicious it is to create with such a sense of freedom from fear and with utter trust in God's wisdom and carefully guiding me past the cliffs and slippery slopes of life.

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Above Photo Art by Daniel Fitzpatrick

My own photo of a hummingbird feather dropped on my patio table this week by one of my feathered friends who frequent my hummingbird feeder.  Native Americans have used hummingbird feathers in the making of love charms for centuries.

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For long, I have known about the spirit world's messengers. We receive constant lessons and messages from the spirit world from all directions, all around, if only we keep our eyes and ears open.  An animal, for example, is a "messenger from the Gods" if it behaves unusually or specifically to get our attention.  Once we gain insight into the message, that behavior stops, or the animal disappears again from our view, without returning.

My most recent messengers have been two hummingbirds, with one of them--almost viciously--defending his feeder and his nectar, constantly on the watch for the other and chasing him away in a flash and over distances...until the second one returns and tries again to get some food.  Then the game resumes.  For days now, they've been behaving like this, around my head, right before my face, on my sunny patio.  Even tiny feathers came drifting down at times during these confrontations!

In Native American lore, the hummingbird symbolizes gentleness, sweetness and JOY.  So, what happened with these two birds or, specifically, one of them?  For days now, I have recognized their behavior as unusual, indeed, and I prayed for insight:  "Are you trying to show me something about ME, by chance?"

And then, in the early morning, almost in dream-like state, I suddenly got it:  Over twenty years ago, I received the impetus and inspiration for writing a particular book, yet I have been dragging my feet.  On and off, through the years, I dug out my drafts, worked a bit, only to abandon the project again--and again.  I have wondered at times, "Just what is my problem with it?!"  And I did vaguely realize that my hesitation involved a certain, nameless fear... .

Am I preventing others from drinking from the sweet nectar of life and truth, as inspired by the invisible worlds, by not sharing my inspirations?  Indeed, the problem has something to do with SHARING:  I am afraid that others may trample all over and thus soil the sweetest of all inspirations, yes, wisdom I have found during my many consultations with spirit, which then poured itself out and through me, onto paper.  "That's IT," I thought, stunned!  Everything around me became incredibly still during the next ensuing moments, until I noticed that both hummingbirds were drinking from the feeder...TOGETHER!

I will work diligently now to complete this book which I, apparently, have been called to produce to, hopefully, feed and nourish others with the spirit whence it originates.  Sometimes, all we need is a little push and visible confirmation that we're on the right track and only need to take heart. 

Do you, too, have a project, close to your heart and soul, that you never finished?  If so, please ask the universes to help you through the reluctance and recognize the root of your fears.  There's no time like today... .


​

"Mother Nature"--As inspired by Alphonse Mucha

Healing draws on people's goodness.  For the sake of being a healing influence on our loved ones and our environment, we must first see ourselves and them as inherently good!  No doubt about our inner goodness, beauty and benevolence may enter the healer's mind while working.  However, healing work is seriously disrupted if the healer gets harmed by the very people s/he is trying to help.  Doubting and disrespecting the healer or even attributing negative motives to him/her is sufficient "harm" for the healing effect to stop or be drastically decreased.  Once personally harmed, a healer will no longer be able to help that same person, so long as the issue is unresolved and the potential for recurrence is great.  Healers must protect themselves, their hearts and ability to love by closing the door to people who spread ill-will.  Remember that Christ, too, stopped healing at some point when he noticed, "I cannot heal you...You are full of hate!" (Scorsese's motion picture, The Last Temptation of Christ).

Healing only works for people who believe they are basically beautiful and who have the desire to live up to this inherent, magnificent potential dwelling within everyone of us.  All others will continue to use conventional medicine for "maintenance" and "servicing," both of which is does real well.

Twelve-Step programs teach us that "loving people and things that don't love us back" makes us utterly ill.  This is important insight not only for addicts but for all of us, including for healers and caretakers in general.  Trying to pour our love down a clogged pipe will, inevitably, cause frustration and, ultimately, the burnout syndrome so many of us experience.  In subtle-energy terminology, we eventually become infected and retarded by the lower energy frequency--the very one we had come to elevate and thus heal.  When healing and love itself are not accepted, appreciated and valued, they simply go away.  We don't need to look very far to see that we have, in this fashion, diminished well-being, joy, gratitude and respect for each other, and hence sensitivity, kindness and compassion, to a large extent, in our society.  People tend to give up when their efforts aren't appreciated, or perhaps they are even ridiculed.  We become "comfortably numb" (Pink Floyd), or worse.  What remains is individualism, each for him/herself, and competition which is mistaken for the purpose or essence of life.  Without love, we come to believe that life is but one deadly battle.  Life becomes one driven by fear.  With love, however, all competition ends, save competing for fun, for joy's sake!  Only love can make us whole and healed and safe​and, with it, we can help each other to become whole again, making society a safe one to live in.

I applaud the healers and caretakers in our midst who, somehow, regain their hope, courage and strength, again and again, to bounce back to their work of compassion.  I also plead with all the world to kindly and respectfully regard and protect the remaining goodness, lest it be extinct. 

Love is the energy frequency which is life itself.  Without it, life becomes life-less, i.e., spiritually dead.  The test for spirit-wellness or decay requires no EKG, respirators, monitors or other gadgets. The answer lies in the response to the simple question:  Do we love LOVE, or are we devoted to people and things that don't love us back, that don't or can't love at all?

Healing has everything to do with love, as does disease with the absence of love, in some area of our lives, or in our beliefs.  We are as sick, individually and collectively, as persons, communities and societies, as we fail to embrace self and each other with compassion and forget how to welcome, bless, celebrate and appreciate life in its manifold manifestations.

​"Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible"

"Solar Star" by Brown, #060302, 2002


Running in Circles
--A Story Inspired by a Bug--

Done eating my salad, while sitting on my deck one pretty summer day, I placed my near-empty bowl on the glass table.  Soon, I noticed a beetle/bug climbing up on the rim of the bowl and then starting to run around on it.  Around and around it went, initially with great speed and seemingly enthusiastic.  But then it stopped and noticed, at two distinct points where lettuce was stuck to the side of the bowl and peaking a bit over the rim.  Apparently, the recognition was dawning, "I've been here before."  So it started changing direction, and every time it came to a piece of lettuce, it changed direction again.  This went on for a good long time.  Eventually, it started walking sometimes further out on the rim, as if to avoid the lettuce and the sad recognition that it wasn't getting anywhere soon.  And then it ran under the rim, avoiding to see inside the bowl:  Genius denial techniques!  The pace was slowing to a near stop, which is when it proceeded to try and walk into the bowl, but the slippery slopes (from salad dressing) caused it to return to the top, again and again.  I went inside for a while, leaving the bowl on the table.  When I returned, the bug was now stopped in one place, looking dazed and confused.  Or, perhaps, it had just run out of steam and got tired of exploring, resigned to its "fate"?  Oh no, after a long pause, it--once again--started going round and round, occasionally turning around and running in the opposite direction... .

Sounds familiar?  How may times have we been preoccupied with searches that led us nowhere?  How often have we tried to conceal this truth from ourselves, to spend a few more years in a fruitless pursuit?  And when we sometimes changed direction, we actually made believe that we were changing something, although similar landmarks as before kept showing up at the wayside, except that we then saw them from a different angle? How exhausted we got at times from these efforts, resigned or even ready to give up!
And then we even tried to go deeper inside, where dangers and chaos lingered--a stormy love affair, perhaps, or a risky business endeavor, as a last-resort effort? Luckily, we came back up again, but the merry-go-round began anew, at the fringes of truly living and still not feeling fully alive.

Is this how we pursue happiness, in a merry-go-round fashion?  The time comes when we have to think outside the box, take a chance and get off it altogether.  Thinking outside the box (or salad bowl) means the recognition that we are pursuing the wrong cause.  12-Step Programs teach us that happiness cannot be pursued directly; instead, it is the occasional by-product of doing the right things.  Only (right) actions and their impact let us know, via good feelings, that we are on the right track, although we never see exactly where this track is leading, or if it will ever end.  The direct pursuit of happiness can cause depression and resignation, in and by itself, as many expectations tend to do.  Whoever promised us happiness, or whoever told us that such was the goal of life on earth???  If we feel we're running and running, with no real change or improvement in mood or conditions, it may serve us well to come to a full stop and pause for a while, followed by an honest reckoning and, perhaps, reaching out for help!  At some point in our journey, after trying a variety of  "happiness techniques,"  we realize that probably nothing can replace a brutally honest inventory of our situation.  And, sometimes, our own solutions aren't innovative enough and still keep our focus limited on the proverbial salad bowl.

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 Reluctance to begin the coaching process can have several reasons.  From experience, they usually fall into the following categories:

1.  Fear of Change

Deep down we are longing for change and sense the Coach would bring us face to face with the necessary steps to bring about this change.  And then, the fear sets in.  Change inevitably means leaving something behind and trading it in for some unknown territory.  You may wonder, "What if I don't like what I get?"  "What if the new comes with uncomfortable factors and threats which I failed to calculate and didn't bargain for?"  "What if I lose more than just one or the other life circumstance, but also precious relationships?"  "Will I have to regret moving into the direction of my dreams?"

A Coach can be invaluable in assisting to conduct both, a thorough cost/benefit analysis and the preparation of loved ones, so that a realistic picture emerges--one that seems more manageable.  If the problems can be defined, a solution for each can also emerge.

2.  The Painful (and sometimes shameful) Experience of Previous Efforts at Change, which have Failed and were Abandoned

If you are one who dreams about leaving a marriage but have nowhere to go, you probably have packed your bags before, only to unpack them again, feeling ridiculous in your efforts (Lord knows I've been there!).  Some of us may then decide to never attempt such a "silly" thing again, instead of using the experience to more thoroughly prepare for a departure from the status quo.  Your Coach would point out such a small but tragic error in thinking and help you identify the steps needed to better prepare a place and a support system, should you decide to leave in the future or also start working on your marriage goals.  The bottom line is that no one has to remain friendless or helpless, without resources, for all eternity!

3.  Feeling Overwhelmed by the Anticipated Effort Required to Make Desired Changes

For example, a dream to relocate to Arizona and start a new life would be coupled with moving, possibly without knowing a soul at the new location and, perhaps, joblessness.  Overwhelming, indeed!  But if we break the task down into its various components, clear steps to accomplish each emerge:  Social media (professional or interest groups) can help establish rudimentary acquaintances and a support base from which other supports can come.  Applying for a business loan or position can be done from any location.  Perhaps one should visit and vacation once or twice to scout out the area, the housing market, etc., to broaden the perspective.  Reading what you can about a town, from crime rate to retirement benefits, median income and cost of living can do much to lessen some of the fears (or can serve to change your mind). In short, DO YOUR HOMEWORK and a clearer picture can emerge, with more known than unknown variables.  The final step is to allocate help with packing and moving...Voila.

4.  The Law of Attraction 

While exercises with the Law of Attraction (and "The Secret") can be invaluable in making your dream a reality, I have also seen cases where it was actually a draw-back.  This can be so in cases where a person has no idea yet what they want.  All they know is, "Not THIS."  Yet then, they are reluctant to examine "this," because they don't want to focus "on Negatives."  This can be a most unfortunate misinterpretation of the Law of Attraction.  Of course, we must take a brutally honest inventory of what is, in order to eventually arrive at what we want and deserve.  For the alcoholic, this called "reaching rock bottom"--a most important step of reckoning and subsequent turn-around.  Knowing exactly what we don't want and why we don't want it, can be just as valuable as knowing what we want to try instead.  Taking inventory with the intent to clean house is not the same at all as focusing on negatives and, thereby, attracting more of the same.  Far from it!  The intent is to heal my life!  This intent makes all the difference and distinguished reckoning from wallowing in one's misery, assigning blame, gossiping and commiserating. 

5.  "No Money" or "No Time"

Most of us have experienced shortness of funds at one time or another, and this can be the very reason to begin the coaching process, by itself.  We need to find out how this happens, time and again, and how to break the cycle.  Truth is that we usually find the coins and time for things we find important enough.  We live in a society made up of families, each member with a cell phone, laptops with security and service plans, which are regularly replaced with ever newer versions of the same.  Unless our life's dream is to always possess the latest technology (washing machine, TV, etc.), you bet there is money to get help for making our dreams come true!  The same is true for the time aspect:  If we spend time on computer games, surfing the web and social media every day, there are areas where 1-2 hours/week can be cut and allocated differently.  I know this is perhaps unpleasant to hear, but isn't it the truth?
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A Coaching commitment doesn't last forever.  Prepare to commit for a time frame of 3-months, to give any dream or idea a reasonable chance to grow roots, and then decide if it's in your interest to add another 3 months of coached endeavors.  Remember also:

The butterfly took flight when the pain of the prison (the cocoon) became greater than the fear of flying!