Looking Good Feeling Great Ladies 50 and Over

Copyright © Nina Bagnall, 2012.

Ladies, when we reach our fifties we need to be more self aware.

The appearance of a lot of women when they reach their middle forties seems to change. Inexplicably they, with gusto I might add, suddenly begin to look older.

It might have something to do with how our bodies start to change and it gets to be more of a chore to keep that stomach flat, hips thin and bottoms pert. Does this sound familiar? “I don’t care anymore, I just want to eat and drink what I want and not worry about my figure.”

Our bodies are a miracle, of which we should all be very proud. It’s not just for the young to be thinking of their hair, figure, and what they eat.

This practise should be carried through no matter what age we have reached.

Never should looking after your self be an “afterthought,” as it often comes to be later in life.

Its time, ladies, to bring this afterthought to the forefront of your life and to prioritize your day by setting aside time in the morning and evening for the body, mind and soul.

Stop lamenting, visit:

http://www.eloquentbooks.com/LookingGoodFeelingGreatLadies50andOver.htm

Remember the body has to have balance otherwise it’s out of sync.

Buy the book. It will act as your reference bible. You will wonder how you ever got along without it.

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Practicing Staying Present to the Now

Copyright © Harry Henshaw, Ed.D., LMHC, 2012 . All rights reserved.

Transformational Counseling is about assisting others to transform their life.

Transformational Counseling is a process of assisting others to learn how to let go of the past and live fully in the present. To live fully in the present is to become awaken to what is truly real and to our own natural power.

Much of our life is spent living in the past, and in the process, attempting to fix it, to make it something that it is or was not. It is from living in the past that we also attempt to create our future, the result always being a living of life as it was in the past.

Transformation takes place when we learn to exist in and be present to the Now. The practice of staying present to our natural power and to that which is real is becoming conscious to what is so, to the Now, to the present.

What is so, the Now, has no meaning and exists outside of thought and language. As human beings we tend to give meaning to everything, including other people, ourselves and even life itself. It is in our meaning making that we leave the present and create our life from the past, a life that can be filled with a great deal of anxiety, fear and stress.

What is so merely exists and it is in the experience of the Now that we begin to live a life of power and freedom, a life and way of being free from our past.

A specific technique that is very powerful for practicing staying present to the Now is meditation. It is in meditation that one creates the space to experience a very deep state of relaxation, a state that is very healing to both the mind and body.

As we know, in meditation one’s metabolism slows down, including heart rate and blood pressure. The consistent practice of meditation will reduce anxiety and stress. For some the practice of meditation allows them to access true Being. For others it is way of reconnecting to the Spirit within us.

It is in the consistent practice of meditation that the subject and object distinction inherent in language, thought and meaning making collapses thereby resulting in our access to the present, to the Now.

The meditative process can be enhanced by the use of therapeutic relaxation music. Music has always been a very powerful modality for promoting a very deep state of relaxation and even healings. I have found that musical compositions that are harmonically slow, repetitious, with sustained voices, which are rhythmically, random in tempo assists an individual in experiencing a very deep state of relaxation.

A second important component of the use of therapeutic relaxation music is the use of binaural audio tones that have been interwoven into the music. The binaural tones, through a process referred to as entrainment or frequency following, gently guides or directs the mind/body to generate more of the targeted frequency of brain wave activity for an even more profound state of relaxation.

The meditative process of practicing staying present to the Now is as follows:

1. Take a comfortable position in an upright sitting position.

2. Allow your legs and arms to be open.

3. Allow your eyes to focus upon a chosen object. The chosen object could be a candle light in a darkened room or any point that you choose.

4. As you focus on the chosen object, allow your muscles to slowly relax from the top of your head to the tips of your toes.

5. Take three slow deep breathes in through your nose as you inhale. Hold each breath to the mental count of four. Slowly exhale each breath out through your mouth. Continue to breath at a slow pace after the three breaths.

6. Continue to focus on the chosen object. When your mind wanders to some thought or thoughts slowly and gently bring it back to your focused concentration upon the chosen object. Simply let go of the thoughts that arise. The thoughts are from the past. Stay focused to what is so.

7. Continue the practice for a prescribed period of time and then go about your daily activities. Each day that you practice you may even choose to lengthen the time you spend with this technique.

The ability to stay in the present, to access the Now, can be enhanced with the consistent practice of meditation. What this will necessitate is one making the practice of meditation apart of his or her daily schedule. With the consistent practice of meditation one will also create the ability to stay even more present to what is so even when not actively engaged in the meditative process.

It is through a commitment to the practice of meditation on a daily basis that one will begin to live more fully in the Now.

Harry Henshaw, Ed.D., LMHC
http://www.enhancedhealing.com

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PILLS, PILLS – Verse by Sharon Warden

Various pills (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

PILLS, PILLS

Pills, pills
for all my ills
fix my pains
think again.
My word,
look what happened
to Mrs. Ford!

Gonna just say no
to all the drugs
pull out the rugs
from under the props,
capsules and drops
reads my book
don’t gimme that look.

Not gonna take
plavix anymore.
Throw the beta blockers
through the door.
Out on the ground
with the hdtz,
glucosamine, chondroitin
and vitamin E –
I wanna live free
in liberty.

© Sharon Warden February 2009

Disclaimer: This is not a medical nor legal document.Those with mental or physical health issues are advised to consult an appropriate and licensed health professional. See full details in Earthpages Policy and Disclaimer.

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The Healthy Vegan: What you never knew about veganism

A diet rich in soy and whey protein, found in products such as soy milk and low-fat yogurt, has been shown to reduce breast cancer incidence in rats. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Copyright © Galina Pembroke, 2009.

We must do more than take the hot dog out of the bun; we must find a complete protein to fill it with.

I meet Karen at our favorite coffee shop. Karen adores their Fair Trade hot chocolate. I do too, but this isn’t the only reason we frequent this trendy café. On the counter I find a large metal jug of soy milk. Jackpot! I pour a decadent amount into my organic decaffeinated coffee. I don’t drink milk or consume any dairy. Neither do I eat meat. I am a vegan.

Many people think a vegan diet isn’t capable of meeting all nutritional needs, especially protein. But it isn’t true. In a June 2003 issue of JAMA, the Dietitians of Canada agreed that: “Well-planned vegan and other types of vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence.” The key words here are well planned. We must do more than take the hot dog out of the bun; we must find a complete protein to fill it with.

Together with fats, protein stops carbohydrates from causing an insulin Roller Coaster. My soy milk coffee topper has both. Plus it is far from being a second-rate substitute for dairy fats and protein. Unlike other beans, the soybean carries the entire chain of essential amino acids, otherwise known as complete protein. Karen accepts this, but her eyes raise when I tell her that my soy milk has 10.98 grams of protein per cup. She remembers that her 2 percent milk has 8.6 grams of protein and 5 grams of fat. “Soy milk has almost the same amount of fat at 4.7,”  I share. “But it’s low in saturated fat and has no cholesterol. You’ll need to switch to 1 percent or skim milk to limit that unhealthy fat, but if you don’t want cholesterol you’ll have to choose soy. Even skim milk has cholesterol.”

“Are soy products the only way you can get complete protein?” asks Karen. I shake my head. “Hemp products also contain complete protein.  I have a tablespoon of hemp oil every day. And I know which foods to combine to get complete protein: Tempeh burgers on a whole wheat bun, corn tacos with pinto beans, brown rice with almonds and cashews-the list goes on.”

“Sure, but dairy is the absolute best source of calcium right?” asked Karen. I proceeded to explain that equivalent amounts of calcium could be found in soy versions of both milk and cheese. ” But I don’t want to limit myself to soy.” protests Karen. I understand. “There are an enormous variety of foods available that help provide the 800mg of calcium necessary to meet the daily Recommended Nutrient Intake. These include egg substitute, almonds, hazelnuts, figs, spinach, dried apricots and sunflower seeds.”  I remind her that the Endangered Species Chocolate Company, which she respects for being Free Trade, is also vegan.

“Okay,” she concedes. “A vegan diet can provide adequate protein and calcium, but isn’t it better to get your iron from meat?” I think for a minute. The iron from meat is more bio-available than from vegetables. “On the surface, one cup of trail mix has more iron than a serving of beef. Yet to actually get this amount I need to eat it with a source of vitamin C, which increases absorption.  This food combining isn’t always necessary though. Many iron rich foods, such as broccoli and bok choy, are high in both iron and vitamin C. I’ll never eat these with soy or any other high calcium source though, since calcium decreases iron absorption.”

“Yes, but even with all your attention to detail. How can you be healthy without B12, which isn’t found in today’s plant foods.” Ostensibly Karen has a point. Though the bacteria in the small intestine produce small quantities of B12, I can’t rely on this to prevent deficiency. Getting B12 is challenging. Thankfully I can small amounts from fermented foods like tempeh and miso, and obtain the rest from fortified cereals, soy and mock meat. For extra security I take a supplement.

“Sounds complicated. Like you’re following the rules of a secret society. Do you have to be sworn in?” laughs Karen. She may be joking, but some people truly believe veganism is a cult. Veganism is a reasonable and logical alternative to an omnivorous diet, and it’s becoming more mainstream than ever. Alicia Silverstone and Shakira are vegans, and so are Carl Lewis and Canadian Ironman triathlete Brendan Brazier.  “Anyone can go vegan,” I tell her. “There are more foods, books and resources than ever.”

Selected Sources

Brazier, Brendan. The High Performance Vegan Athlete: It is possible. The Los Angeles Vegetarian Society, 2003

Henkel, John. Soy; Health Claims for Soy Protein, Questions About Other Components.  FDA Consumer magazine. US Food and Drug Administration. May-June 2000

Calcium.  USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 17. 2004

Iron. USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 17. 2004

Dietary Reference Intakes-Calcium and Related Nutrients . National Institute of Nutrition. Ontario:2001

Mangels, Reed, Ph.D., R.D. .Iron in the Vegan Diet. The Vegetarian Resource Group. Maryland: 2003

Celebrity Vegans

Ives, Brian and Bottomley, C. Shakira: Live in Your Living Room. VH1: 2004

Parsons, Sarah. Celebs’ Quick Slim-Down Diet Secrets: Alicia Silverstone www.women.com: 2004

Brazier, Brendan. Thrive: A Guide to Optimal Health and Performance Through Plant-Based Whole Foods. Oceanside Publishing: 2004

Bennett, Jannequin. Carl Lewis On Being Vegan. Excerpt from Very Vegetarian. Rutledge Hill Press: 2002

~ ~ ~

Galina Pembroke was an internationally published writer specializing in health. She passed away on September 12, 2009 at the young age of 34 after a very brief illness.

Holistic Beauty

Beauty by Nicola Rinaldi via Flickr

Copyright © Galina Pembroke, 2009.

Why beauty comes from within…

From tradition to trends, there’s always been a secret knowledge of the parallel between good health and beauty. The oldest of this knowledge may be found in the ancient science of Ayurvedic medicine.

Youth ends at 60

Dr. Scott Gerson, medical director of the National Institute of Ayurvedic medicine, writes that “According to Ayurveda, youth ends at 60. ” This contrasts dramatically with television images showing youthful vigor declining after 30. Isn’t this youthful vigor a measure of beauty? In Ayurvedic medicine, the key to this outer radiance is internal balance.

Part of this balance is obtaining health of both mind and body. The first step in attaining this goal is through detoxification. The Ayurvedic term for this is pancha karma. Generally this is aided or performed by clinical ayurvedic specialists. The treatments usually consist of a warm oil massage, special cleansing diets, lots of pure fresh water, breathing practices and meditation. After gaining basic knowledge of these steps through an ayurvedic specialist, we are encouraged to regularly use basic Ayurvedic grooming techniques. These consist of massaging oil to the body, bathing daily, rubbing the body with herbal bath powder and applying oil to scalp.

Massage is an essential component in Ayurvedic medicine, and the addition of herbal extracts and essential oils increases its already impressive healing capacities. According to Dr. Nancy Lonsdorf, author of A Woman’s Best Medicine (New York: Tarcher/Putnam) the benefits of herbalized oil massage include the following: “Improving circulation in the body, providing a purifying and cleansing influence to the physiology, increasing the secretion of hormones from the skin and maintaining the suppleness and youthfulness of the skin.”

The Ayurvedic diet also aids in keeping us youthful and vibrant. The Ayurvedic diet is rich in disease-killing antioxidants, as it encourages eating many fruits and vegetables. These antioxidants also protect the cells. This is important to maintaining beauty, since cellular death is responsible for both the inner and outer effects of the aging process.

Thriving during menopause

For a portion of women, one of the biggest traumas during aging is menopause. Yet, as Dr. Sharon Lieberman reminds us in her book Get off the Menopause Roller Coaster (Arizona: Avery books), “menopause is not a disease.” In fact, the methods we use to ease ourselves through this transition may aid in improved health and enhanced beauty.

Along with proper diet and exercise, the most pivotal of these methods is supplement use. Since estrogen-loss is responsible for the unpleasant symptoms of menopause, considering replacing this estrogen is worthwhile. Yet conventional Hormone Replacement Therapy is dubious in its side effects. Thankfully we have other options. “For most people black cohosh and chasteberry work really well for menopause, and if you add some ginseng it can really help,’ says Dr. Lieberman. ”Black cohosh is completely safe and effective.” We can trust our source. Besides being an author, Dr. Lieberman has a Ph.D in Clinical Nutrition and Exercise Physiology and is the recipient  of the National Nutritional Foods Association 2003 Clinician of the Year Award. The positive effects of black cohosh extend beyond its estrogen balancing abilities. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, black cohosh is one of the herbs that prevent premature aging and hair loss. Dried rehmannia and Chinese yam are other examples.

“The other herb that I love is Ginseng,” reveals Dr. Lieberman. “Ginseng  is a wonderful supplement for women to take, and it helps  control hot flashes.”  Remarking on the power of Ginseng, Dr. Lieberman says: “It’s one of the few herbs in Traditional Chinese Medicine that’s actually used alone. Most Traditional Chinese Medicine is taken as a formula, but the strength and adaptability of ginseng is sufficient enough to merit its independence. Ginseng is an adaptogen. Adaptogens are aptly named, as they adapt to a broad range of problems. They achieve this by facilitating overall balance. For example, ginseng has been shown to reduce blood sugar levels in Type 2 diabetes. Yet if you have normal blood sugar but are stressed, ginseng will lessen tension without dramatically dropping blood sugar. Other studies, quoted in The Merck Manual of Medical Information, suggest that ginseng also increases HDL (healthy) cholesterol.

Ginseng is also aids in attractiveness. “Ginseng has long been used by men and women as an anti-aging tonic,” says Dr. Lieberman. “It’s  great for your hair, skin and nails.”  Though ginseng is completely safe, it’s important to select the best quality. Dr. Lieberman suggests Panax ginseng, because it’s the most widely studied. She also advises choosing 8 percent ginsenosides (the active ingredient in ginseng).

For those who prefer traditional western methods, Dr. Lieberman says: “If you take nothing else take a good multivitamin and multimineral complex.” Specifically, she suggests a “4-6 a day multivitamin/multimineral, since you’re not going to get what you need through food anyway.”

De-Stress Through Diet

If you want to slow down the aging process, lessen stress. In 2004 a study at the University of California at San Francisco found that chronic stress appears to hasten the shriveling of the tips of the bundles of genes inside cells. This in turn shortens their life span and speeds the body’s deterioration.  Popular methods of stress reduction include meditation and exercise, even caffeine reduction. But a complete overhaul of diet?

Amanda Geary, founder of the UK’s Food and Mood Project, thinks this is a splendid solution. The Food and Mood Project recruited 200 individuals between the ages of 26 and 55 who lived in London or SE England. They found that the effects of diet on stress were substantial. Says Geary: “From the Food and Mood Survey results, those using this form of self-help found that cutting down or avoiding potential food stressors like sugar (80%), caffeine (79%), alcohol (55%) and chocolate (53%) and having more food supporters like water (80%), vegetables (78%), fruit (72%) and oil rich fish (52%) had the most beneficial effects on mental health.”

A side effect of this stress-less eating is that it improves overall health. We’ve been meaning to eat more veggies and drink more water anyway. Eating oil rich fish may be a different matter. This is a low priority for most, and the controversy over contamination may be keeping us away from the tuna aisles. Thankfully, the essential fatty acids-omega 3′s in particular- that are responsible for the mood elevating effects of fish come from other sources. Flaxseed, for example, is superior to fish in its quantity of omega 3′s. Dark leafy green vegetables and walnuts also contain linolenic acid that the body converts to the same type of omega-3 found in fish.

Omega 3′s are most active in the tissues of the blood vessels, immune system, eyes and skin. Due to this, regardless of why you initially take omega 3′s you’ll receive the side benefit of healthier skin. Udo Erasmus, author of Fats That Heal, Fats That Kill (Burnaby: Alive Books) describes essential fatty acids as “natures perfect moisturizer.” Why? When we have the right amount of omega 3′s they help our skin form a barrier against moisture loss.

Beauty may seem like a dubious motivation for keeping healthy, but it’s a definite consequence. We may not want to throw out our beauty creams just yet, but we need to acknowledge that they’re most effective when applied to a healthy body.

~ ~ ~

Galina Pembroke was an internationally published writer specializing in health. She passed away on September 12, 2009 at the young age of 34 after a very brief illness.

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Fasting: Common beliefs among different faiths

Fasting Buddha - Photo by PHGCOM via Wikipedia

Copyright © Rupa Abdi, Ph.D, 2012.
All rights reserved.

There’s a hidden sweetness in the stomach’s emptiness.
We are lutes, no more, no less. If the sound box
is stuffed full of anything, no music.
If the brain and the belly are burning clean
with fasting, every moment a new song comes out of the fire.
The fog clears, and new energy makes you
run up the steps in front of you.
Be emptier and cry like reed instruments cry.
Emptier, write secrets with the reed pen…….

— Rumi¹

Fasting has been in practice for a long time in the religious and spiritual history of mankind. It finds mention in the Mahabharat, the Upanishads, the Old and New Testament, the Bible and the Quran and various other sacred texts. Among the Hindus fasting takes on many variations from complete abstinence from food and water to selective eating or partaking of just one meal a day. The objectives too are many and varied. Various fasts are observed the year round to appease various deities, some married women fast for the well being and prosperity of their husbands, while the unmarried fast to gain a worthy husband. At another level fasts are undertaken for the purification of body and control of the ego (mann) and desires (vaasanaa). This is a preparatory phase for contemplation and meditation. Among the yogis, fasting along with other austerities is observed to attain various siddhis (supernormal powers). In the Bhagavad Geeta, Krishna tells Arjun:

Whoso shall offer Me in faith and love
A leaf, a flower, a fruit, water poured forth,
That offering I accept, lovingly made
With pious will. Whate’er thou doest, Prince!
Eating or sacrificing, giving gifts,
Praying or fasting, let it all be done
For Me, as Mine. So shalt thou free thyself
From Karmabandh, the chain which holdeth men
To good and evil issue, so shalt come
Safe unto Me-when thou art quit of flesh-
By faith and abdication joined to Me!

Many Buddhists eat just one meal a day in accordance with the account given in the Mahayana Sutras, which mentions that Buddha ate just one meal a day, before noon. Buddha had realized that desire had its root in the mind and could be transformed in the mind. Fasting could help in subduing the body’s coarse desires and converting them to wisdom. Fasting is regularly practiced among the Buddhists to aid meditation and healing. In Uttarpurna, on of the religious texts of the Jains, it is mentioned with reference to Lord Mahavir:

After fasting for two and a half days, taking not even water, engaged in deep meditation, he (the Venerable One) reached the highest jnana (knowledge) and darsana (intuition), called kevala, which is infinite, supreme, unobstructed, unimpeded, complete and full.

Among the Jains, fasting is usually observed during Puryushana, which is the period when the Jain Sadhus take a temporary break from their wanderings. This period falls during the monsoon months. Fasting for the Jains is an opportunity to follow complete non-violence and to meditate and pray.

For the Jews the major fasting days fall on the Yom Kippur and Tisha B’Av. According to the well known Rabbi Zvi Ish-Shalom:

‘In the Book of Vayikrah (Leviticus 16), the Torah says with regard to Yom Kippur: shabbat shabbaton hi lachem v’initem et nafshoteichem – “a shabbat shabbaton shall be for you, and you shall afflict yourselves”.   And so on Yom Kippur we attempt to activate – to draw out of ourselves in some way – that deathless state of being, that awareness of our eternality, that angelic dimension that is typically asleep within us.  We do this by fasting, praying, meditating and studying.  We do this not in a spirit of sadness or mourning, but in a spirit of celebration and in a celebration of spirit; with the joy that accompanies the realization of our soul’s innate and direct connection with the Divine.’

It is noteworthy that among the Jews and the Shia Muslims, fasting is also a form of collective mourning for a past tragedy. For the Jews it is the destruction of their Temple in Jerusalem and the assassination of Gedaliah Ben Achikam, the Governor of Israel during the days of Nebuchadnetzar King of Babylonia. For the Shia Muslims it is the martyrdom of Imam Hussain at Karbala, which falls on 10^th of Mohorrum (Ashuraa). Moses is believed to have fasted for forty days and nights while he was on Mt. Sinai communing with God.

In Christianity, fasting metaphorically means refraining from satisfying hunger, thirst and other lustful desires. Fasting is believed to be a kind of self purgatory to drive away all the demons (negativities) from your body and soul. Certain Christian groups, such as the Anglicans observe a forty day partial fast in memory of Christ who fasted for 40 days in the wilderness before facing Satan (temptation).The Bible says:

But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer kept returning to my bosom. (Psalm 35:13)

It further says:

And whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance in order to be seen fasting by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.  “But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face  so that you may not be seen fasting by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.  (Matthew 6:16-18)

Prophet Mohammad is believed to have said something similar with regard to fasting:

Every good deed is rewarded from ten to seven hundred times over, but God says fasting is the exception; it is for Me, and My servant forgoes his eating and drinking for my sake, so I Myself will reward My servant for it.

Among the Muslims, fasting during the holy month of Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam – mandatory for all adult and healthy Muslims.

The Quran says:

O ye who believe fasting is prescribed for you…so that you will (learn how to attain) piety.

Ramadan is the (month) in which Quran was sent down, as a guide to mankind, and a clear guidance and judgment (so that mankind will distinguish right from wrong). Whoever among you witnesses the month of Ramadan should fast through it… (2:183)

In the month of Ramadan, forgetting their differences, Muslims all over the world, whether Shia or Sunni, Barelvi or Deobandi, Ishana’ashari or Agha Khani all observe this season of fasting and praying – together as one brotherhood.

Among the mystical dimensions of all major religions such as Advaita, Sufism, Cabbala, and Gnosticism, solitude along with fasting, not just of the body but of thought and speech are observed before and during prolonged phases of meditation to make one receptive to the higher Truths.

It is apparent that most religions share similar beliefs with regard to fasting. It is rather unfortunate that instead of cherishing the similarities among various faiths we continue to focus on the differences.

—

¹ Translated by Coleman Barks and John Moyne.

Disclaimer: This is not a medical nor legal document. Those considering fasting are advised to consult a licensed health professional.

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The Healing Power of Love and Good Relationships

The end of the road by TimOve via Flickr

Author: Roseanna Leaton

You know what it feels like when love is first blossoming; you find that it is almost impossible to not smile, you feel as if you are walking on air and you wake up early each day feeling fantastic. To be in love feels good. Having close relationships and intimate ties to other human beings is not only good for our mental and emotional health; it is also good for our physical health as well.

This is a fact which nobody can deny; there is too much evidence which proves the point. There have been many different types of studies conducted, in communities all over the world which indicate the healing powers of love and friendship.

One study which is often cited relates to the town of Roseto in Pennsylvania, which was up until relatively recently inhabited by immigrants from a small town in Southern Italy. This community of Italian-Americans in Roseto remained very close in terms of family ties and traditions, maintaining their cultural values and religious beliefs through several generations. The inhabitants of this small town experienced significantly less heart disease than in either of the two similar sized neighboring tons. They also lived significantly longer.

When scientists began researching the Roseto phenomenon they could not find anything significantly different in terms of diet, exercise or work which could account for this community’s good health. The only thing which was different was their social cohesion and supportiveness. Researchers began to suspect that it was Roseto’s stable structure which could have protected the inhabitants from heart disease and also led to longevity.

These suspicions turned out to be well-founded, as was evidenced by the dramatic increase in heart disease in the 1960′s and 1970′s as the previously close and cohesive community began to fragment and become more isolated. Many different studies have ensued and each supports the basic belief that when we feel isolated or unsupported, our health is endangered. By contrast, when we are involved either in an intimate and loving relationship, or in a supportive community our health tends to be a whole lot better.

The thing to bear in mind is that it does not matter what type of supportive relationship you are involved in, so long as it provides you with a feeling of being cared for. For some people their religion is what provides them with this feeling, this perception of being part of something bigger and being cared for as an integral part of that community. For some this may take the form of going to church and being an active part of a church group; for others it may be a perception of our spiritual nature which provides a feeling of cohesion and connectedness.

Everyone is different in how they perceive their world and a major key to good health is to feel cohesion and connectedness. Many people may on the face of things live a life with lots of support, family and friends around them, but they might still feel a sense of isolation, and this feeling is one of the strongest predictors of heart disease. It is a matter instinctive importance to the human soul to feel supported as opposed to isolated. Yet it is not what is happening around you that matters so much as how you feel about it. One person may be alone, bur feel spiritually connected, whilst another could be surrounded by many and still feel alone.

I am reminded of a quote by Viktor Frankl which loosely runs along the lines of “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; his ability to choose his thoughts in any set of circumstances”. This quote is very empowering. This gentleman very elegantly describes how we do in fact choose our thoughts and it follows that we can change our thoughts should we wish to do so. If for any reason you are feeling isolated or alone, you can change this feeling. It may take a little effort on your part, but never the less, you can change how you feel, and you will find that hypnosis mp3 downloads are very helpful in your desire to feel a greater sense of well-being.

This is a huge topic and I am only scratching the surface here. The risk factors predicted by a sense of isolation do not just relate to heart disease and an earlier death. The whole spectrum of disease comes into play.

In a community where social cohesion has been left behind, it is important to seek new ways in which to provide yourself with a feeling of togetherness and support, to encourage the belief and understanding that you are not alone. A journey into spirituality may be just what you need.

Roseanna Leaton, specialist in hypnosis mp3 downloads for health and well-being.

About the Author:

With a degree in psychology and qualifications in hypnotherapy, NLP and sports psychology, Roseanna Leaton is one of the leading practitioners of self-improvement. You can get a free hypnosis download from http://www.RoseannaLeaton.com and peruse her extensive library of hypnosis downloads for hypnosis empowerment.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – The Healing Power of Love and Good Relationships

Wake up! The social construction of sleep

Sleeping by soylentgreen23 via Flickr

If you can’t sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying.
It’s the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep.

—Dale Carnegie

It’s 2:42 a.m. Two cats howling outside my window woke me up. Unable to get back to sleep, it seemed like a good time to reflect on some of the cultural assumptions that modern, technological societies have about the idea of “a good night sleep.” ¹

Don’t get me wrong. I’m the first to agree that sleep is a great restorative. The ancient Greeks extolled it as a sacred salve that releases mankind from the pain and worry of daytime reality. And the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, spoke favorably of dreams as the “royal road to the unconscious.”

Freud’s brightest student, Carl G. Jung, was also interested in dreams. Jung felt that our nighttime productions compensate for what we’re missing in daytime. Jungians also maintain that dreams guide us toward a greater, integrated sense of meaning.

Sleep Deprivation

In a National Geographic article a Harvard neuroscientist claims that US society is “tremendously sleep deprived.” If we don’t sleep well during the night, it’s usually recommended to try to nap, rest or meditate sometime during the day.

The controversial mystic Sri Aurobindo had a completely different view about sleep, one not supported by contemporary medical science. Aurobindo saw sleep as a sluggish, inferior form of consciousness that’s best overcome through intense meditation. In fact, Aurobindo claimed to have conquered the need for sleep. Christian monks also get less sleep than the average layperson but, arguably, for different reasons than Aurobindo’s.

Medical science tells us that sleep is important. The body synthesizes proteins faster in the retina and cerebral cortex during sleep hours, enhancing growth and restoration.² Sleep deprivation actually impairs cerebral cortex functioning, this being the newest part of the brain to appear over the course of human evolution.

Sleep deprivation also has harmful effects on memory and contributes to anxiety and even paranoia. Keeping people sleepy is a great way to brainwash, manipulate or indoctrinate. No wonder cult leaders and political interrogators use sleep deprivation to get subjects to comply with their wishes (at the risk of offending some, one could argue that a similar dynamic exists in some monasteries).

Snake Oils

insomnia by Jonathan Jacobsen via Flickr

Over the counter sleep medications tend to have deleterious side effects and don’t really engender sound sleep. No wonder so many online marketers are peddling the latest sleep-inducing herbs and alleged wonder-drugs.

Clearly, this is a case of buyer beware. Scam artists more interested in profit than helping people often have a crafty sales pitch, one which postmodern deconstructionists would have a field day with.

For instance, if you don’t get your eight hours every night some of these unscrupulous marketers will declare that you’re suffering from an illness.³ You’re then informed that substance X (which they happen to sell at their website) is the just thing for you. This idea is then backed up or, I should say, apparently backed up, by quasi-scientific truth claims. Your wonder-drug may be an extract, a herb or perhaps some other expensive snake oil—all to make you healthier, happier and a more productive member of society.⁴

Admittedly, this is an extreme scenario, one facilitated by cheesy internet and TV ads. There is solid scientific support for the responsible use of some herbs and extracts. Healing with herbs is also advocated in the Old Testament (Sirach 38: 1-15).

However, a recent CBC Marketplace documentary notes that we normally don’t know the long-term side effects of many herbs. It’s also good to remember that the phrase ‘side effects’ is a medical and pharmacological euphemism for unhealthy effects.

To take herbs and oils on the reassuring word of a total stranger seems unwise. Hopefully herb and wonder-drug companies will soon be integrated with reliable health officials to prevent the possibility of harmful side effects. A definite step in the right direction seems to be the Adverse Drug Reaction Database.

Allopathic sleep medications may also have unhealthy side effects and are often addictive. But sometimes their use can be more positive than negative, providing they’re taken responsibly and with professional supervision.

A red flag should go up, however, whenever anyone tries to make a religion out of any kind of treatment. Both allopathic and homeopathic practitioners can cling to their respective paradigms while closing their minds to new possibilities.

New Age Fancies

An artist's rendition of Neanderthals via Wikipedia

Some New Age figures like Deepak Chopra say the electric lights and general hubbub of modern society have disrupted our natural biorhythms, often called the Circadian rhythm. These pundits of the soul lament that we’ve severed some kind of sacred connection with the natural environment and with our distant ancestors.

This calls to mind romantic myths of the natural man, or as some put it, the noble savage. But who can really say what’s natural and what’s not?⁵

Anthropological research suggests that Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals weren’t so different from contemporary mankind. Our distant friends probably awoke in the dead of night just as we do in the 21st century. Instead of worrying about money or health, our ancestors — if that’s what they were — probably suffered anxiety over hunger, hostile animals, ambushes, storms and seasonal weather changes.⁶ Indeed, a BBC article about Neanderthal violence indicates that life in prehistoric times was anything but idyllic.

So to say that primitives lived in some kind of stress-free, golden age replete with tranquil nights seems more like fanciful fiction than reality.

Transpersonal Connections

As to why we awake in the night, this is often attributed to personal stress or some kind of medical disorder. But in some cases, perhaps many, sleep disturbances could be caused by transpersonal connections.

By transpersonal I mean essentially spiritual connections among souls. Not everyone believes in this idea. But almost all saints and mystics do. (Mind you, Buddhists don’t really believe in souls, but they do believe in spiritual attributes that can migrate from one being to another).

One great figure who definitely believes in an individual soul is the Catholic saint, Faustina Kowalska. And her Divine Mercy Diary, makes frequent mention of transpersonal connections.

For instance, Saint Kowalska writes that she once awoke in the middle of the night in response to a distressed soul in need of prayerful intercession.

During the night, I was suddenly awakened and knew that some soul was asking me for prayer, and that it was in much need of prayer. Briefly, but with all my soul, I asked the Lord for grace for her.⁷

Like a lightning rod for other people’s anxiety, Faustina rarely got a solid eight hours sleep.

Polski: Fotografia św. Faustyny Kowalskiej via Wikipedia

For some, this kind of scenario is hard to understand. Perhaps one could imagine an intern who’s always on call. There’s a 3 a.m. emergency and the intern is awakened by her pager. And so it is, one could say, with the spiritual work of the sensitive soul or contemplative saint—but unlike the medical doctor, the saint doesn’t need a pager to sense what’s going on.

Again, most people just can’t imagine, let alone appreciate, this kind of dynamic. It’s far too subtle for the average person, mired in conventional wisdom and their historically informed conception of the universe and beyond.

For many, saints like Sister Faustina would appear to be an oddball, flake or, perhaps, mentally ill. And the tormented souls for whom she intercedes are just figments of her imagination or, worse, pathological hallucinations.

Sadly, this kind of materialist bias has crept into some corners of the contemporary Catholic Church, a place where a bona fide mystic like St. Faustina could, at one time, be recognized for what God called her to be—namely, a contemplative saint.⁸

Of course, most people aren’t called to be contemplative saints and must hold down 9 to 5 jobs to maintain a desired standard of living and to provide for their families. These folks are obviously necessary to society and it’s probably in their best interest to do everything possible to maintain a predictable nighttime sleep pattern. But let’s not suppose that this is a natural way for everyone. There are always important exceptions to the rule.

Sometimes these exceptions are built-in to an entire culture. Consider, for instance, India or South America. In these cultures a daytime nap is a normal and expected part of living. During the afternoon stores close, windows are shuttered and most everybody sleeps.

In the Western world, geniuses like Mozart, Winston Churchill, Elvis Presley and James Joyce took advantage of late night hours. Likewise, Jesus Christ, arguably the best man of all, stayed up to pray through the night.

It’s hard to imagine what kind of world we’d have if these outstanding individuals hadn’t surpassed cultural conventions and expectations. By the same token, not everyone is a born artist, politician or spiritual leader. And it seems only a relative few can stand aside and see beyond their immediate society. Indeed, getting a solid eight hours sleep can be quite pleasant. It’s reassuring to “fit in” with the real or imagined status quo, as most of us did in childhood.

But when childhood’s over, we must consider alternatives, especially if our “good night sleep” doesn’t come as easily as before. Waking up in the middle of the night — or perhaps keeping late hours — could be an opportunity for enhanced creativity and productivity.

For all we know, making the most out of unpredictable sleep patterns might be essential to the new global order, where one person’s day is another’s night.

Notes

1. I’m alluding to the idea of the ‘social construction of reality,’ outlined by the sociologists Berger and Luckman.

2. It’s conceivable that Sri Aurobindo managed to activate these metabolic conditions while meditating, but on this we can’t be sure.

3. Readers interested in the notion of the ‘medical gaze’ are referred to Michel Foucault’s The Birth of the Clinic.

4. An internal FDA study suggests that about 2/3 of FDA scientists have lost confidence in that agency’s ability to protect the public from potentially harmful substances. See “Inside the FDA,” CBS.news.com, December 16, 2004:  http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/26/health/main638721.shtml?CMP=ILC-SearchStories

5. The idea of the natural can be critiqued from sociological, philosophical and theological perspectives. Meanwhile, some maintain that the natural is qualitatively different from the volitional and the spiritual.

6. Ronald Wright’s discussion in A Short History of Progress is worthwhile, available on iTunes.

7. Divine Mercy in My Soul, p. 319. While the transfer of anxiety may not always be as clear and distinct as with this example of a recognized saint, it seems reasonable to suggest that everyone may be open, in varying degrees, to the ebb and flow of collective emotions and other psycho-spiritual qualities and experiences. In Indian philosophy, this points toward the idea of karma transfer, as noted by Indologist Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty in The Origins of Evil In Hindu Mythology. Also, C. G Jung and other transpersonal psychiatrists such as S. Grof similarly speak of syntonic countertransference.

8. (a) Not to ignore the possibility of spiritual deception. Please see ETs, UFOs and the Psychology of Belief and related articles at earthpages.org and earthpages.ca dealing with the idea of discernment. (b) The Church’s organizational structure stresses that the clergy conform (and to some degree laypersons) to a relatively fixed mode of worship and service. And perhaps in an attempt to be ‘modern’ and receptive to the scientific establishment, the Church seems to uncritically embrace some of the more spurious scientific ideas that are circulating today. This is no abstract point. In keeping with Michel Foucault’s thinking, giving credence to questionable discourses may have potentially harmful effects on individuals and society.

Wake up! The Social Construction of Sleep copyright © Michael Clark. All rights reserved.

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Moving Through Breakdowns With Transformation

Copyright ©  Harry Henshaw, Ed.D., LMHC. All rights reserved. 

Success in recovery, or rather, staying in recovery, is dependent upon a variety of factors. For example, it appears that attending daily NA or AA meetings and staying in communication with ones chosen sponsor will definitely assist an individual in successfully implementing his recovery plan. Getting and staying committed to working the 12 Step Program also appears to increase the probability of the person staying abstinent from drugs and alcohol. While the above-mentioned elements of a persons overall recovery plan are crucial to his recovery, another major factor that will greatly influence an individual’s continued abstinence is how he is able to handle the breakdowns that happen in life.

Knowing about breakdowns, what they are and how to manage them, is absolutely necessary for one to stay committed to his recovery plan. Breakdowns are what brought an individual into treatment and eventually created the space for him to begin his recovery. Breakdowns also happen while a person is in treatment and will continue to take place after he leaves. Even after successfully completing a treatment program, breakdowns are almost certain to happen as one returns to the community from which he came. In fact, both the client and his counselor should expect breakdowns to occur after treatment. It is for this reason that knowledge of the structure of breakdowns and how to transform them is very important if not crucial for the individual wanting recovery.

What are breakdowns? Experientially breakdowns start to occur when an event or events happen that the individual believes should not happen or ought to happen differently than how they take place. As a result the individual starts to feel frustrated, angry, disappointed or even sad about what is happening in his life. Inside these types of emotions the person starts to become resentful, creating a story about the event and to which he will eventually begin to blame, be it other people, places, things, situations or circumstances for that which is appearing. A breakdown eventuates into a relapse when the individual believes that his experience is intolerable, feels inadequate with respect as to how to handle it and chooses to use drugs or alcohol to reduce the emotional component of that he is experiencing. In this case, a breakdown and ones inability to transform it leads directly to relapse.

Inside the work of transformational counseling, the process of enrollment will assist the individual in becoming authentic where he was being inauthentic and also allow that person to stay in his recovery. Enrollment is the third component of transformational counseling the utilization of which allows the individual to again move out of his self-limiting belief and back into being his created possibilities. When one begins to experience a breakdown he has gone back into being his self-limiting belief. Their will be the pretense of what is happening and that which is again hidden from him hence the created inauthenticity. The technology of the enrollment process allows the individual the ability to transform the experience by being authentic and as a result regaining his power and freedom through being his possibilities. Utilization of the process of enrollment as with transformation itself is a practice that requires a great deal of commitment. As with any skill the structure of enrollment is taught and it is in communication with the persons coach or even sponsor that its implementation is brought forth into the individual’s life.

The first component of enrollment has to do with recognizing when one is in a breakdown. The key to such awareness is to be found in how the individual is feeling about what is happening in his life at any one moment. There are many times in our lives where we do not stop to monitor or become present to how we are feeling. Sometimes we have a tendency to merely ignore or move away from how we are feeling about something or someone. Breakdowns have certain emotions attached to their design. Those most common are emotions such as fear, anxiety, anger, frustration and sadness. The first part of utilizing the enrollment process is to monitor ones feeling state, to become present to how one is feeling and to do so to the point that it becomes part of ones very way of being in the world. Learning how to stay aware of ones emotional state is crucial to being able to successfully transform the breakdown experience that is being created.

The second component has to do with becoming present to the story that the person is creating with respect to the breakdown. While the emotional state of the individual is very important to become aware of, listening to the story that he is creating is also equally of importance. Within a conversation of transformation, every emotion is created by a thought. When there are negative emotions present in a person’s life as he is experiencing a breakdown there are also corresponding thoughts taking place. The thoughts that are taking place will appear as a story in the person’s mind. Within a breakdown the story will be other oriented, involving external people, places, things, circumstance or situations. Within the structure of the story, inherent to it, will be the belief that the external events are the real or true cause of how the person is feeling. It is with these thoughts that the breakdown and inauthentic way of being exists, a pretense that it is about another, hiding what it is truly about. As mentioned above, blame and resentment will eventually result. Becoming present to the story is vital if one is not to impulsively act upon it and as a result bring its destructive consequences into existence with respect to his life. Becoming present or an observer to ones story is crucial to transforming a breakdown.

The third component involves becoming present to ones self-limiting belief, to the source, to that which actually created the breakdown. Becoming present to ones self limiting belief, to that which has determined ones life up until the process of transformation began to take place, is the first component in the process of transformational counseling. Even though the distinction of ones self-limiting belief will create the space for the person to begin to create his life anew, it does not go away, become fixed or get cured. The self-limiting belief, much like a virus that has appeared in the human body, continues to exist. As with any idea that we have or create about us, it is also a way of being. We be or exist by what we think and more specifically by what we think about ourselves. What we are familiar with is being our self-limiting belief in the world. It is familiar for us to think and feel that the world is more powerful and real than we are and furthermore, that it is something that must be controlled and even survived. We will eventually experience a breakdown given our sense of inadequacy with respect to the world as this is how we have been in the community in the past. However, once the self-limiting belief is again distinguished the inauthenticity begins to weaken or be dissolved.

The fourth component of enrollment involves creating a possibility inside the breakdown experience. This act of creation can be to invent a new possibility or enroll oneself back into a person’s previously chosen possibilities. Creating possibilities for ones life is the second component of transformational counseling. However, once we get it that we are being our self limiting belief, that the source of the breakdown is the self limiting belief and not that which the story tends convey, it is at that moment that we can generate a possibility to be at that moment, a possibility to stand inside given the breakdown experience. It is by generating a possibility by our spoken word that the experience itself will transform. The breakdown only happens because of who we are being. It is by causing a possibility to come into existence through our word that the inauthentic way of being completely dissolves and with it the breakdown itself. It is with the creation of a possibility that the person’s power and freedom are once again restored.

The final component of the enrollment technology is acknowledgement. Once the experience is transformed it is important for a person to get the victory that his possibility has made for himself and his life, to acknowledge the difference of such a victory. Acknowledgement is about getting how the created or invented possibility has transformed the breakdown from what it was to that which is truly a breakthrough for the individual, especially with respect to the event or experience occurring. Acknowledgement is about getting the power of our word for allowing us to transform breakdowns into breakthroughs, to once again become our possibilities. It is this acknowledgement that strengthens ones process of transformation leaving the person’s power, freedom and self-expression fully restored. Acknowledgement is about standing in ones possibility, celebrating ones power and freedom having given up being a victim.

The practice of enrollment will make a difference for the person wanting recovery. Applying the technology of enrollment will enable the person to transform a breakdown when it happens and as a result avoid the destructive and possibly even lethal consequences that would have happened as a result of staying in a breakdown. For the individual in recovery, staying in a breakdown only increases the chances that he will turn to drugs and/or alcohol to reduce the emotional component of a breakdown. Staying in a breakdown as opposed to being able to transform tends to lead to relapse. Clients at the Holistic Addiction Treatment Program in North Miami Beach, Florida are taught to distinguish their self-limiting belief, create new possibilities for their life and furthermore, how to utilize the power of enrollment technology. The success of utilizing enrollment and even recovery itself, especially in the early stages of sobriety, will necessitate the person staying in contact with his sponsor or counselor especially when breakdowns happen. It is only in communication with another that the individual will continue to be his possibilities in life.

Harry Henshaw, Ed.D., LMHC
http://www.enhancedhealing.com

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Ten Things You Can Do To Make Your Creative Visualizations More Powerful

Image via Wikipedia

Copyright © Patricia F. Hare. All rights reserved.

There are a number of ways to make moving though the creative visualization process more powerful and effective. Here are my top ten. An added bonus is that many of these suggestions can be applied to a variety of life situations to make them more rewarding whether or not you are using creative visualization.

1. Read about the New Physics

Whereas Newtonian physics is the physics of physical reality, the new physics (which includes Quantum Mechanics & Holographic Theory) is in many ways the physics of the mind. This science deals with the “unseen world” of subatomic particles that lies behind/beneath the “seen” world, and has already provided much evidence and insight into how our thoughts interact with these particles to shape and form them into the physical matter and experiences we then encounter in our individual and shared worlds.

By better understanding how what you think becomes what you experience you have a greater ability to take responsibility for what you create.

For a good introduction to the new physics, an excellent resource is Michael Talbot’s, The Holographic Universe. Other highly recommended books are The Dancing Wu Li Masters and Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav, and Fritjof Capra’s The Tao of Physics.

2. Strengthen Your Imagery Skills

Visualization is predominantly a function of the right hemisphere of the brain, drawing upon those skills which recognize relationships, feel, intuit, create, express, and inspire.

People who have had learning experiences while growing up that include any form of the creative arts or expressive athletics often have an easier time visualizing an image than those who spent most of their school days focusing on facts and figures.

No matter what your background you can become better at visualizing. And you want to because the more vivid your imagery, the more effective your visualizations will be. This happens because your imagery is giving direction to the “unseen world” (see #1 above) as to what you want to experience in the “seen world.”

And, the stronger your imagery skills become, the farther you can reach with your imagination to come up with exciting new events and experiences to create in your life!

3. Get Clear about What You Want

One of the biggest roadblocks to success with creative visualization is the lack of clarity. Vague goals yield vague results. Clear goals yield clear results.

Time and again I have seen or experienced the power of getting clear: You’re not sure what you want. You think you really want this; no, you think you really want that. Then one day something happens-usually something stressful-that throws new light on the situation. Suddenly you become very clear about what you really want and POW! Within a few days it’s yours!

You don’t have to wait for something to force the issue, of course. You can simply give some time each day to serious thought about what you want and why you want it. Journaling is an excellent way of getting clear. Write about your thoughts and feelings related to a particular situation-why you think you want it, the pros and cons of getting it, how much do you really want it, etc.

4. “Just Do It”

Lip service doesn’t get the job done. It’s easier to say that we want something than it is to set up and follow a discipline of visualizing what we want. But folks, our goal is to change our reality! You should not be surprised to hear that some effort is required.

Why? Because the old pictures are running rampant through our minds, creating those same old experiences over and over again. We’ve got to give our minds new pictures to focus on-not just once or twice, but regularly.

Focusing on your goal regularly means giving it your full attention. Often. So go into a room and close the door. Get relaxed. Visualize your goal. Do this again the next day and every day until the process is complete and your goal has been achieved.

Having a vision is good. Thinking about what you want while driving or washing dishes or going to sleep is good. But nothing replaces the exercise of creative visualization, so make it a priority and do it regularly.

5. Create Room in Your Life for What You Want

Sometimes we set a goal and earnestly go about doing all the right things to accomplish it using creative visualization. We may even see the beginnings of the manifestation of that goal. But then something seems to stop or block our success. This may be because what we want tries to get into our life but can’t find a good opening.

When you are planning for the achievement of a goal, make changes in your life to accommodate it. For example, if you want to read more, turn off the TV at 8:00 so you will have time to read. If you want to be in a relationship, you may need to cut back on your work schedule or make other changes so that you will have the energy and attention needed to be intimately involved with someone else.

Will you have to give up something? Perhaps. What you will need to do is decide which you want more-time to watch your reality TV shows or time to read, a life at the office or a life with someone you love.

When you make choices that create space for your goal to happen in, you are telling the creative forces that dance and play at those unseen, subatomic levels that you are serious about achieving your goal. This is a powerful affirmation!

6. Act As If

When you’ve gotten clear about what you want, it’s important to begin to act as if you already have it. You may want to do a little journaling, exploring questions such as, When I get it, how will I feel? How will I act or respond in various situations? How might I talk differently? What else might be different? How will my relationships change? Make a list of ways in which you and your life will change.

When you explore these types of questions, you are developing a blueprint or model for yourself to follow. To become something in the future, you must take on that role in your mind-now. The spiritual teacher, Lazaris, said, “The steps to getting there are the qualities of being there.” So act as if you are there.

Life events and experiences each carry their own individual vibrations. Wealth has a vibration. You aren’t going to be able to bask in it if you are busy feeling poor. Poor is a different vibration. If you are poor, to become wealthy (or hold onto new wealth) you need to think, feel and do things you expect to think, feel and do when you are wealthy. As your vibration lifts to match that of wealth, you will experience the change in your reality.

Act As If can be tricky, sometimes. There’s a temptation to frequently compare what you are actually experiencing with what you are “acting as if.” If the two don’t match, you can become discouraged-which will slow your progress. The spiritual teacher, Abraham, suggests that we make a list of things for the Universe to take care of-things that are not in our immediate power to make happen. This frees us up to focus on what we can do-acting as if-and lets the Universe work on the rest.

7. Be Willing to Risk

Life comes with no guarantees. If you are waiting for a guarantee before you act (and many of us are) you may wait forever for what you want. Needing a guarantee of success indicates a great fear of failure and a willingness to do all we can to protect ourselves from it. Like not taking any chances that might result in failure, which also happen to be the chances that might result in success.

So how can you get around this dilemma when working toward a goal? By using detachment. Want your goal. Dream it. Feel it. Plan for it. But let it be okay if you don’t get it. Let it be okay if you fail to create it.

Detachment helps to keep the goal in perspective. It’s something that you want out of life, not something that defines you, or gives you value, or keeps you safe from harm. Let your goal be something nice, wonderful, and even joyful to have, but not something that will cause you to suffer and die if you don’t have it. And if you fail…well, hey, you failed! There are many books on the market about how success is built on failure. That might be the time to go buy and read one of them.

The paradox is that when you remove the fear of failure by becoming willing to fail, you are much less likely to fail!

8. Don’t Worry About It

I once heard the phrase, Worry is suffering in advance. Since suffering is the opposite of what most of us want to create, that alone should tell us that it does no good to worry.

Worry can also sabotage your efforts toward success. Think of it as goal repellant. The more you worry, the more you keep yourself in a lower vibration. If you are always worried about the bills, for example, how can you attract wealth? If everything about your being is shouting poor! poor! poor! what are those wealth vibrations supposed to think when they try to come near you? I’ll tell you what they think: We don’t belong here!

Remember that you are acting as if. If you had the wealth (or success, or relationship, or whatever) you wanted, you wouldn’t be worrying about not having it. When you catch yourself in a worry place, stop yourself and say, This is not what I want to attract more of. Then give yourself something else to focus on (call a friend, go to the movies) to distract your mind. Later, you can do a visualization exercise to allow yourself to feel what it would feel like to have what you want-instead of what you were worrying about.

9. Get Comfortable with Your Emotions

A significant part of the creative visualization process is the energy you feed your image using your emotions. If you are out of touch with your emotions, afraid of the emotions of others, or think that emotions are for sissies, you will have a more difficult time charging your image with emotion. It would be great if we could feel the good emotions and cancel out the bad, but it doesn’t work that way. We need to be open and comfortable with all of our emotions to allow ourselves to feel any of them fully or powerfully.

Emotions act like magnets, drawing to us the events and experiences which match what we are feeling. To change your experience, you have to be able to change your feelings. To change your feelings, you have to know what they are!

Emotions are also handy little helpers because they give us information about the direction we are creating in-i.e. whether we are going toward or away from our goal. When we find ourselves feeling good and joyful, that’s a pretty good indication that we’re going in the right direction. When we catch ourselves feeling negative and unhappy, that’s an equally good indication that we’re moving away from what we want, and we need to do a U-turn!

Turning your emotions around isn’t that difficult once you learn to work with them. The first step is to become more aware of what you are feeling. As you become more conscious of your different emotions, you can begin to make friends with them. Once on more friendly terms, you are then able to make choices about what you want to feel and why.

10. Use Mirroring

The events and experiences of everyday life offer us a tremendous amount of information as to the thoughts, images and beliefs we hold. They are played out for us and reflected back to us much like a mirror.

If we believe that people are basically dishonest, or if we are dishonest ourselves, we will encounter dishonesty in our experience. If we believe that people are basically trustworthy, or we are trustworthy ourselves, we will encounter trustworthiness in our experience. Some popular expressions which summarize this mirroring phenomenon are: What goes around comes around; What you put out you get back; and Garbage in, garbage out.

When you learn to see your experience as a feedback system which works like a mirror, you can get a lot of information as to how you can change your experience by changing your daily, routine thoughts and images. If you do not receive the respect and recognition you deserve at work, for example, it’s not because you’ve been singled-out by the Universe to be overlooked. An investigation of your beliefs around work and recognition might reveal that you don’t believe (for whatever reason) that you deserve such respect, or that you resent the recognition that is given to others and feel competitive, or perhaps that you are unconsciously playing out a family dynamic that you are repeating at the office (mom and/or dad were always slow to praise).

Once you recognize the content of your consciousness that is being reflected back for you, you can make some changes. You can, using affirmation and visualization, create and repeat new thoughts and images daily-thoughts and images consistent with the new experience that you want. Over time-to your joy-you will begin to see the new content of your consciousness reflected in your daily experience. A little feedback like this can strengthen your confidence in the process and build a stronger network of new beliefs in your consciousness. As the teacher Abraham says, “The better it gets, the better it gets.”

You can also use the mirror of your reality to give you feedback that you are going in the right direction. In all areas of your life that are working for you-areas where you feel confident, successful, and excited going forward-make a list of the thoughts and images you hold relative to those areas. Again, you will find consistency between those thoughts and beliefs and your experience.

By using daily reality as a mirror, you can get clear and insightful information that will help you move forward toward your goals and grow in understanding yourself and others.

In Closing: All of these suggestions are intended to help you enrich and enliven your life’s experiences. Use any that feel helpful or useful to you. Leave those that don’t seem to have much to offer. The important thing is to remember that life is a process of learning and growing, and that if you feel drawn to it, the creative visualization process can be a powerful tool for you to use to create what you want in your life!

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