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Navigating in These Perilous Times
Written By: Sanderson Sims If we are honest about where we find ourselves in this particular time, no matter how old we are, it is perhaps one of the most confusing periods we have lived in. For many it is the uncertainity of just making ends meet. For others it is a disbelief in seeing cherished, long-held values being blatantly abandoned for personal power. For some it is the resentment of the speed of change which has taken away more than it has given, or a yearning for the privileges and lifestyle of a time gone past. Our collective anxiety might come from the shear bewilderment of how to address the macro-picture of…
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The Value of Solitude
Written By: Susanne Sims When my father passed away at the age of 99, my mother confided in me that after 73 years of marriage, she was not sure how to cope with living alone. Indeed, many of us might wonder the same thing if we’ve never spent more than a few days on our own. After all, we are social beings drawn instinctively to one another and our need to be together is primal. Some of our earliest experiences of being alone may have even involved punishment. If we misbehaved as children, we were told to take a time out, or go to our room. My cousins were disciplined…
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Fake it ‘Till You Make it
By: Sanderson Sims Today we will explore the mystery of manifestation. In all likelihood you’ve been exposed to numerous books, articles, speakers etc; that espouse the idea that we create our own reality, and that what we put our minds to, we eventually bring about. This is one of the more complex concepts we might grapple with during our lifetimes. Do we really have more power than we think? Perhaps there is serious doubt about this because if it we did, our lives might be a lot better than they are. Though we cannot begin to fathom the infinite and astonishing mind of universe, imagine for a…
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LSD and the Mind of the Universe
By: Susanne Sims Every human being has an innate curiosity about the mysteries of existence and consciousness. But how deep do our interests really go? And to what depths would we be willing to dive to find the gems of wisdom that lie in the heart of the universe? Sadhus and saints of India, for example, have such a strong drive for transcendence that they deprive themselves of basic physical needs in order to overcome material reality. Yogis call this longing to be free from the limitations of the material world mukti. In the West, this kind of radical seeking and devotion is not common, yet there are seekers whose…
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How to Live Your Life as an Exploration and a Possibility
Written By: Sanderson Sims It seemed to have started rather innocently in the 1990s with America On Line’s catchy phrase “You’ve got mail!” Hotmail, Yahoo, and Gmail soon excelled at organizing and delivering our digital mail in record time. At the beginning of the 21st Century, iPhones and other smart devices emerged and what followed were news and information sources coming from any number of platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok. Since then we have entered a complex and bewildering environment in which the forces of technology seem to have captured much of our attention. Our addiction to immediate data has become so prevalent that no matter where we go, and…
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If I Can Bend a Spoon With My Mind, What’s Next?
By: Sanderson Sims In the 1970s, I attended a seminar in Honolulu entitled “The Mind Can Do Anything” sponsored by two students obtaining their doctoral degrees. One of the seminar presenters was Uri Geller who was famous for bending metal with his mind. Uri encouraged the audience to bring malfunctioning watches and clocks to the auditorium. He then asked everyone to agree to say to these malfunctioning watches and clocks: “Work!” When he gave the command, this was to be done with all the conviction they could muster. Uri then repeated the exercise a second time, and for those whose clocks and watches had begun to work, he requested…
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LIGHTEN UP!
By: Sanderson Sims This week I was wrestling with an emotional problem. I thought I was on the short end of the stick and my ego voice was telling me all of the reasons I was right. I debated it in my mind, gave it a rest and debated some more. You know the drill. Finally, I simply asked for the right solution. So what happened? My head gave way to my heart and I got the message that I should “Lighten Up.” I realized that I did not have to be right in order to be happy. It seemed that letting the issue go gave me a lot…
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The New Normal: Where is it taking us and what can we do?
Written by: Sanderson Sims Yesterday I read an article in Vanity Fair entitled, “Inside the Dissident Fringe, Where the New Right Meets the Far Left, and Everyone’s Bracing for Apocalypse”. Preppers, techies, hippies, and yuppies are converging on the American West, the safest place to “exit” a society gone haywire. After reading this, I felt that it truly did describe and represent one of the current mindsets — a melting pot of perhaps untethered but powerful beliefs. I shall be the first to admit that I have become, like many, somewhat addicted to the news feeds on my phone, computer and watch. Upon personal and professional reflection ( I…
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Acquiring One Indispensable Tool
Written By: Sanderson Sims Lately, a doctor friend of mine whom I had been out of touch with, popped back into my life and turned me on to the Michael Reccia Joseph material, a series of channelled books. They provide a fascinating macro picture which I find myself resonating with. This material deals with the big and enduring questions in life: Why am I here? Where am I going? Who am I ? Where did I come from? Our culture which includes religions, history, science and philosophy offers an array of answers to these big questions. But which answers are enough, true, or believable? Many answers are beyond proof. Even…
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Harvesting The Magic of a Second Childhood
By: Sanderson Sims A dear friend of mine, a psychiatrist, once told me that she felt that the purpose of life is to accumulate experiences. No experience is necessarily better than another, just different. Failure, loss, rejection, addiction, guilt, betrayal — the list goes on — all serve a purpose. Lately, I have been thinking about the challenges that we face in making our way in this world. We were all once fledgling birds, pushed out of our comfortable nests and thrown to the wind. Magically we learned to navigate in this unpredictable adventure called life. Each journey includes ups and downs, dreams and disappointments, accomplishments and set backs. From…
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What Do You Know? I Got Myself a New Roadmap!
By Sanderson Sims Next month I will turn 80. Yes 80. Can’t really believe it. My jaw drops at just how fast I’ve gotten here: like waking up from anesthesia and wondering what the operation was like. Meaning that daily life, the routines and endeavors I engage in, seem to have been just one steady stream that launched slowly and then became a rocket ride. My body is older and slower, but my thinking and curiosity about the world I live in and what’s going on around me, still seems to be a constant. I am a kid at heart, still trying the limbo from time to time, but the bar…
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Upping Your Wattage With Alan Watts
Photo: Alan Watts, Courtesy Alan Watts Organization Written By: Susanne Sims Decades before the digital revolution reshaped our lives, the ethnobotanist and shamanologist Terence McKenna speculated that one day we might all live on posthumously through our websites. This concept of a digital footprint of immortality was not well defined 30 years ago, but today, and indeed after McKenna’s passing in April 2000, it has become a powerful tool for legacy building. So too it is with Alan Watts, a British writer and speaker known for interpreting and popularizing Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism for a Western audience. Through the efforts of his son Mark, the Alan Watts Organization,…
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What Is Your Best Story Going?
Written By: Sanderson Sims As you can see from my little essays, I like to write when the spirit moves me. Today I felt it was time to review the stories we tell ourselves, and in turn, how they impact our lives. It may seem simple, but the stories we live by essentially relate to what we believe, and what we believe has a large impact on the outcome of our lives. Pick a topic which is important to you whether it is self-improvement, relationships, work ethic, politics, religion/spirituality, you name it, and you will see: your beliefs and opinions comprise your own “best story.” Whether the stories we…
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How to Follow the “Cosmic Bread Crumbs” of Life
Written By: Sanderson Sims One of the jewels that we are given in this lifetime is the ability to co-create with the universe. While not everyone comes to understand that we are co-creators of our experiences, there are numerous ways to sharpen one’s awareness of it and to acknowledge the ample clues given along the way. Actively engaging with the divine presence can enhance our lives by an order of magnitude. As many of you know from reading my essays, I am fascinated by the idea of manifestation. Let me reemphasize that the essence of what I am exploring here is that at some point what I desire is…
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UNDERSTANDING THE HIDDEN GEMS OF MANIFESTATION
Written By: Sanderson Sims Manifestation is a big and fascinating subject. Each and everyday, we all partake in the creative process — thinking, dreaming, scheming, making plans and taking action — all while trusting that things will fall into place, even though we don’t always know exactly how or when. Most often we can rely on some shape or form of our ideas becoming manifest. After all, we live in a physical world that operates under certain laws and rules which we count on. But when it comes to how our consciousness interacts with the inspired, creative process to bring an idea into fruition, how much do we really…
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Is it Time To Repot Yourself?
Written By: Sanderson Sims Not long ago I read an article which had a profound influence on me. The gist was that when one turns 60 years of age they should consider a radical change in their life. The recommendation? Move to a foreign country at least half of the year, take up a foreign language, take up a new physical activity such as dance, and perhaps engage in a new hobby or some form of art. The point here was to move out of one’s traditional comfort zone. Like a plant when it is repotted, humans will continue to grow later on in life by reinventing their interests. Once…
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The Lesson of the Avocado
Written by: Susanne Sims The other day I was having lunch with a friend at one of my favorite restaurants. We were dining outdoors under the shade of a beautiful green avocado tree. I had just placed my order for a grilled veggie sandwich on rye and was eagerly awaiting the savory meal when suddenly I experienced a sharp and painful blow on the top of my head. The impact was so jarring, it knocked my teeth together. “Woa!” I exclaimed. “What was that?” Rattled, I took a moment to assess my condition, then stood up and looked around. There on the lawn was the torpedo that had just…
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The Prayer Pot
It has been said that meditation is listening to God, while prayer is talking. Years ago I found a small gold colored pot in a thrift store. It spoke to me. As it turned out, it was a sugar bowl. There seemed to be something quite magical and charming about it. It felt as if I had discovered an Aladdin’s lamp in which my wishes, dreams and hopes could be placed. When I got home, I decided to repurpose this little sugar bowl and turn it into a prayer pot. Thus, I began writing my hopes and prayers on small bits of paper and tucking them inside the golden vessel. …
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Expect Pleasant Surprises
By Sanderson Sims Turn your ordinary reality into an extraordinary one! We all encounter failure, rejection and hardship in life. And with so many countervailing forces, it is easy to fall victim or to become bewildered by it all. Even though we are aware that we are on a spiritual journey, we are not always aware of the bigger picture. Sometimes it is just not clear whether a setback is good or bad, until we see the journey in its entirety from the rear view mirror. Years ago I attended a seminar with Dr. Bernie Siegel, the internationally known cancer doctor and author of the best-seller “Love, Medicine and Miracles.”…
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How To Recognize Your True Powers of Manifestation
By: Sanderson Sims One of the greatest roadblocks to understanding how manifestation works is to first recognize the nature of what we desire, and then connect the dots as to how something comes to pass. Understanding the lag time between what we want and the eventual results can give us valuable insight into the process and a sense of confidence, faith and trust that all things work for good. Sometimes what we would like to happen will not manifest because of the nature of what we desire. For example, we might truly desire to win the lottery, but so do countless others and there can only be one lucky…
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Finding Peace With Being Alone
Written By: Susanne Sims Have you ever watched your mind to see where it goes and what it latches onto? This can be both daunting and liberating. It was Valentine’s Day and my sweetheart and I were once again thousands of miles apart. “I should be sad,” I told myself. “All the world is celebrating love today, yet I’m alone.” Following that, another thought arose: “But I’m happy.” It was truly miraculous that I was not feeling depressed or sad. Even when trying to convince myself that I should be feeling down, I just could not summon such feelings. Was I beginning to go numb, or was…
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What Synchronicity Can Teach Us
Written By: Sanderson Sims Terence Mckenna, the famous ethnobotanist and protégé of Timothy Leary once said “The world is not just strange. It is stranger than strange.” There is an air of insanity in our divisive politics and our economics. We don’t seem able to respond to this world-wide pandemic with any sense of order or ease. Sometimes it feels that we may have lost our ability to navigate or even contemplate what is coming next. This can and does cause increased pessimism and fear. And because the news basically focuses on sensationalism at the extremes, this adds fuel to the fire. And so it goes. Stress is certainly apparent…
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Edgar Cayce’s Formula for Achieving a More Rewarding Life
Written By: Sanderson Sims My formative years, meaning schooling, were spent in the 1950s and the first half of the 1960s. In those years there was an unbridled enthusiasm for the “Protestant Work Ethic.” Anything was possible if you set your mind to it and worked hard to get there. Coming out of World War II, America was a land of optimism, promise and opportunity. It seemed anything was possible. The game plan went something like this: Get educated, work hard (real hard), make as much as you can, enjoy material comforts, and then at retirement settle back and live out your “Golden Years.” You could say that the future…
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Connecting With Our Deceased Loved Ones
Written by: Susanne Sims This is an astonishing account of a woman who terminated a pregnancy only to be visited by the spirits of those souls later in life. The story takes place in 1996, on the Big Island of Hawaii, at a retreat center known as The New Millennium Institute. There a small group of 20 participants gathered for a week-long workshop with the well-known author and scholar Dr. Raymond Moody, who is best known for his ground-breaking work in the realm of near-death studies. Moody was the first to publish on this subject and in 1975, his seminal book Life After Life became an international best-seller. He went…
- Explorations in Consciousness, Latest News/Trends, Living Life as a Question, Mindfullness/Meditation
How to End Polarizing Political Arguments
By: Sanderson Sims I remember growing up watching the American public affairs show “Firing Line” with conservative William F. Buckley, Jr. He would invite those of opposing points of view to be on the show, and they would both lay out in civil terms their points of view and the logic behind them. There would be disagreements but they were good natured. Emotion had not eclipsed reason. You, the viewer, would be able to see both sides of an issue, realizing that opposing points of view each have elements of truth. In today’s privately owned electronic media environment, much depends on creating an emotional hook, thereby drawing viewers into an…
- Explorations in Consciousness, Journeys, Latest News/Trends, Metaphysical Musings, Mindfullness/Meditation
How My Refrigerator Taught Me to Be Mindful
Perhaps you’ve watched the popular Netflix series Grace and Frankie staring Jane Fonda as Grace, and Lily Tomlin as Frankie. In one scene, Frankie is in her kitchen doing battle with her refrigerator. She has just closed the refrigerator door but forgotten the butter, so she attempts to open it again. Using all of her strength, she finds that she cannot open the door because the refrigerator has a vacuum seal so tight, even Godzilla could not open it. Frustrated, Frankie forces herself to count from one to ten, until the prerequisite time has passed and the seal is released. It’s a comical scene and perhaps one that many of…
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The Very First Thing You Might Want to Manifest
By Sanderson Sims If you are young, you are facing a life of dynamic change the velocity and acceleration of which has never before been experienced. What’s coming next, and right after that? We are currently facing everything from a climate crisis, to a pandemic, school stops and starts, work uncertainty, political and racial chaos, and more. Add to that the personal changes taking place in each of our lives. The only certainty we may have is the speed at which change will continue to occur. Just to put this into perspective, it is said that an educated person in the 16th century was never exposed in their entire…
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There’s Always an Opportunity to Hit the RESET Button
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Inspired Service: What is Your Calling?
By: Paula Mantel Education is very dear to my heart. I have always felt moved by the Latin origin of the word, educare, which means to draw out. Life has taught me that learning is fulfilling when it is interest-centered and enlivening to oneself, family, community, and global society. I did not enter the teaching field with a degree in education. Instead, I fell in love with teaching when I volunteered as a grassroots leader with The Hunger Project. This global, nonprofit organization was founded in 1977 and is committed to the sustainable end of world hunger. The suffering of millions who die daily of chronic, persistent hunger concerned me greatly. Thus, with conviction…
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There’s Always an Opportunity to Hit the RESET Button
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The Art of Recognizing Manifestation
I recently wrote about my experiences with Peter Caddy, a co-founder of the Findhorn Spiritual Community in Scotland. The concept discussed was conscious manifestation: how by focusing on what we want to see happen in our lives, believing that it will, then allowing things to develop, we become more powerful architects. Many of us are truly unaware of how we create our own reality. One of the main issues keeping us from this awareness is recognition. We may not recognize our thoughts nor be attuned into what is actually taking place on the material plane. Recognition is so difficult that often, when something does occur, we don’t believe or…
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One Reason Art is So Highly Important
Years ago while on a trip through Hong Kong two meaningful events occurred. The first happened while I was walking down a crowded street. A lovely lady breezed by, leaving me stunned by the fragrance of her perfume. I should have turned back to ask her what the intoxicating scent was. But I didn’t. Some 40 years later, I can still vividly recall the compelling bouquet and wished I had found out what it was. Had I done so, I am sure I would have brought it into my life in some meaningful way for years to come. On that same trip, I was staying in a high rise hotel.…
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A Century of Wisdom – Paramahansa Yogananda
“By the practice of meditation, you will find that you are carrying within your heart a portable paradise” – Yogananda From time to time great avatars incarnate on Earth to assist humanity in our spiritual awakening. Such a master was Paramhansa Yogananda, one of the most influential teachers of the 20th Century. This year marks the 100th anniversary of his arrival in the West. Born in Gorakhpur, India on January 5, 1893 to a Bengali Hindu family, he was first known as Mukunda. By the age of 17 he had found his own beloved teacher and guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar, under whose tutelage he would train and study for ten…
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You Are More Intelligent and Capable Than You Think
We all come into this world endowed with different gifts and talents. Harnessing our natural skills and abilities can lead to greater creativity and opportunities in life. But how do we go about discovering what they are? Some people might feel disadvantaged when it comes to academic learning, but are highly skilled at making friends and influencing people. Others may have a particular craft, physical ability, or trade that they excel in. Still others can possess a mind capable of effortlessly solving mathematical and computing problems. Know Thyself is a popular ancient Greek axiom used by Socrates, Plato, and spoken by the Oracle of Delphi. Remarkably, these words were also…
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Small Changes Can Produce Profound Results
While in college I took a course in contemporary interpretation of modern western religions. We were required to read a particular book in which the author struggled to reconcile the concept of a loving or just God with injustices in this world, such as the Holocaust, suffering or natural disasters. The author’s viewpoint was that one simply had to “have faith” in such circumstances. I struggled with that answer feeling like there had to be a better explanation. Later in life I was introduced to the Eastern idea of karma, a sort of cosmic physics of balance in which actions committed today would find an equal or opposite reaction…
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The Magic of Manifestation
Years ago, I read a wonderful book by Paul Hawken called The Magic of Findhorn. It was about an eco-village located in Findhorn, Scotland. The community was co-founded by Peter Caddy, a retired military officer and hotelier, his wife Eileen, and their co-worker and friend Dorothy Maclean. Findhorn had gained world-wide notoriety for such phenomena as growing forty pound cabbages in poor soil conditions, and roses that would blossom in the snow. Having finished the book, I reflected on how much I really (and I mean really) wanted to personally meet Peter. We both had once held similar jobs in the military. He had been…
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My Earth Day Apology to Greta Thunberg
In her recent interview in Rolling Stone magazine, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg expresses her disappointment with ‘the olds’. She is referring to older generations and baby boomers who appear apathetic when it comes to acting on climate change. Is Greta right? Have we lost our fighting spirit? It was ‘the olds’ who fought in the 1970s to put into place five of the most effective and important pieces of environmental protection: The Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Montreal Protocol, the Clean Water Act, and Reformation Plan №3 which led to establishing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and setting forth the components of the National Oceanic and…
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Sometimes You Just Gotta Scream!
No matter where we look today, there appears to be nothing but chaos and breakdown. This is true in almost all fields: be it economics, politics, social justice, the battle between science versus religion, the torrid pace of technological development, climate change, education, healthcare, and so on. We may feel inadequate and not at all up to the task of solving these complex issues. Perhaps we lack the energy, or motivation. It happens to all of us from time to time. Or, we might find ourselves shrinking away from responsibility and finding refuge in denial, entertainment, tribalism or religion. Many of us may simply throw our hands up in resignation saying:…
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There’s Always an Opportunity to Hit the RESET Button
The Corona virus, economic chaos, and climate change have turned everything upside down and on its head. As I reflect on life, I think about how different the world was some 50 years ago. Now, as an elder, I ask myself if there is any advice I could possibly offer someone young, or someone who is working to make a fresh start, that could help amidst all of this chaos. With mandates to remain sheltered at home, many of us may be experiencing an abundance of time. There was an old axiom that said, “time is money.” But with technology moving so fast, the new paradigm is “money is time.”…
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An Optimist and a Prepper Find Common Ground
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An Optimist and a Prepper Find Common Ground
Two weeks ago I ran into my neighbor Bill, someone with whom I’d never had much contact. He reached out to me and said he was not doing well, admitting that he was lonely, worried, and needed someone to talk to — even if it was just for an hour. How nice that he could be so honest and vulnerable. This would never have happened pre-Covid! I agreed to meet Bill outside in the building’s garden courtyard and made some fruit salad and iced tea to share. For the next hour we got to know one other. Bill was agitated and immediately began to unload. From the news sources he…
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Namaste Spiritual Community in Ajijic, Mexico
I came to Ajijic, Mexico for all the right reasons. I was looking for a place to retire that was affordable, had a great climate, access to good healthcare, and a nearby international airport. I also wanted to find a thriving ex-pat community that is actively involved with the host culture. The small village of Ajijic (pronounced a-he-heek) located on Lake Chapala just south of Guadalajara, met all of these criteria. What I did not know, and was delighted to find out, is that Ajijic is also a Mecca for those who are interested in finding a spiritual community of kindred spirits. Paramhansa Yogananda, the highly regarded Indian teacher of…
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CORONA VIRUS – A SEARCH FOR MEANING
As the world comes to grips with the reality of a new global pandemic, it seems this is a critical moment to reflect. Perhaps an interesting place to start is to consider the word “corona” itself. What does it mean? 1. A small circle of light seen around the sun or moon, due to diffraction by water droplets. The sun’s corona is normally visible only during a total solar eclipse, when it is seen as an irregularly shaped pearly glow surrounding the darkened disk of the moon. 2. Anatomy — a part of the body resembling or likened to a crown. In the first definition, the corona appears…
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Breaking Free: Tyke The Elephant Outlaw
Photo by: Brodie Vissers One of the best known and worshiped deities in the Hindu pantheon is the elephant-headed God Ganesha. He is known as The Remover of Obstacles, The Lord of Beginnings, and The Deity of Good Fortune. I will never forget that Saturday, August 20, 1994 in Honolulu. On this day, a courageous circus elephant broke free from captivity and told the world that she would no longer be imprisoned. Like Ganesha, she removed the obstacles in her way and in doing so, created a new beginning for performing animals in captivity. I was living in Honolulu at the time and working only a few blocks from…
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A Transcendent Journey
As I have written before, part of our ever changing challenge in life is to pay attention to intuition and synchronicities. The former gives us direction and the latter confirmation. It is this conscious practice that makes the uncertain more certain, and allows us to live in the present, with assurances that we are on our right path. Years ago a good friend of mine was a passenger on the last round-the-world flight of the Concorde supersonic airplane. They went luxuriously to the great wonders of both the man-made and natural world. I asked him to reveal the greatest highlight of his journey. He responded with a…
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There’s Always an Opportunity to Hit the RESET Button
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FIVE THINGS THAT MAKE A GREAT TEACHER
I attended the Miami Book Fair years ago where I took a workshop in fiction writing. Our teacher, Colin Channer, opened my eyes to the qualities and dynamics of what makes a teacher truly exceptional, and I am inspired to share those observations. 1. For starters, a great teacher is truly enthusiastic about what they are teaching. Their joy is infectious and contagious. Colin’s enthusiastic examples made us really want to jump in and do the assignments. 2. There is a focus, not on how much information can be given but on how a few key concepts can be imparted, then practiced and, hopefully, realized by the student. For…
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You Found That Thing You Lost
Have you ever wondered if there are companions in other realms that might be connected to us, such as ancestors, or guardian angels? Is it possible that these beings exist as “invisible helpers” to assist us in our lives, and our evolution? I have, for a long time, been writing about how we appear to have access to companions in other realms. Evidence of their existence and communication with us is confirmed by what Carl Jung referred to as “synchronicities” or “meaningful coincidences”. We can learn to recognize and even invite these connections into our consciousness by noting their frequency, and being open to exploring them. In doing so, we…
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Why are We Drawn to Danger?
I was in Cape Town a few years ago, an exquisitely beautiful city on the tip of Africa. During that trip we ventured out to a wildlife reserve. Aside from riding around in a partially open vehicle through areas with lions, elephants, buffalo, and rhino you could, for an extra fee, spend time with the cheetahs. I learned that cheetahs are capable of being domesticated and they were the cats of royalty. Yet, they are wild animals with an instinct to kill for survival built into their DNA. On one hand I was attracted to this experience, and on the other, I realized that within a nano-second this animal…
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Art Transcends Politics
I have been writing about serendipity, and lately have gotten a bit lazy in my writing regimen. However, last night I serendipitously watched “Under African Skies” the story of how Paul Simon enabled art to magically do what it can under the right circumstances. This was a PBS special which told of how Simon, in an effort to reach for a breakthrough idea, fused the magic of South African music and the music of the West. It culminated in the production of “Graceland,” an album which was transcendent in its nature. While accomplishing this musical miracle, the law of unintended consequences reared its ugly head. He had failed to…
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Showing Up for Ourselves and Others
Today, more than ever, there is a continual sense that an impending disaster looms just over the horizon — whether it be the climate crisis, the economy, or the political environment. In order to cope, many people turn to drugs, alcohol or other substances. The opioid crisis is just one manifestation of the addition process at large. I regularly attend support groups and meetings for those whose lives are impacted by a drug or alcohol addicted child, relative, or friend. The purpose is to gain insights from one another about how to handle the difficult situations created by addiction behavior. There are rules about how to listen, how…
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Mini-Manifestation: Practice, Practice, Practice
I once attended a workshop with a mystic who made the pronouncement that nobody should rush to enlightenment as it would be akin to lighting your hair on fire, then running like mad for a source of water. Better to nibble away at it, like a workout in a gym, slowly building confidence that leads to a new knowing. I have written before about the concept of mindful manifestation. If we need or desire something that brings no harm to others, and trust that it is being taken care of, our intention then sets into motion the potential for it to come about. We must act “as if” believing in…
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Come Be a Child Again!
Come Be A Child Again! This was the headline my advertising agency partner, Rich, wrote for an account we had — a client who put on county fairs. It was written years ago, yet I woke up this morning with this mantra reverberating in my mind. I wanted to reflect on the childlike mindset we all come into this world with. Our childhoods may be a state of mind we remember only briefly, something akin to awaking from a dream in the reverie state. The details of will be gone in a flash, if you don’t consciously catch them. I lay there trying to imagine all of the things that…
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The Perfection View
The Way of Perfection carries the message that the lives we lead and the world we lead them in are all perfect, in every respect. This is called the “perfection view.” The perfection view is not limited to just parts of our lives or parts of this world nor does it have in mind a future perfectibility. It holds that perfection was the nature of creation from the outset and remains fully present in us and everything else. This is certainly not a mainstream view, at least not yet. Ordinary consciousness tends to focus on differences. The news focuses on conflict between people and their groups; art focuses on…
