14 Jan 2016
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Mercury Retrograde: A Deeper Look

25% of the world population was born under a mercury retrograde. Mercury typically goes into retrograde 2-3 times a year for 2-3 weeks.

To find out if you were born under a mercury retrograde, input your data here. Scroll down to your planetary table to see if there is a “R” next to degrees of Mercury. For example:

Even people who do not pay attention to astrology are aware of mercury retrograde and its effects. Why? Because Mercury rules communication and technology, it is the messenger of the planetary bodies. All religions and mythologies line up at some point, because we all inhabit earth under and above the same sky.

COMMON MERCURY RETROGRADE EVENTS

Phones fuck up, wi-fi is down, devices go haywire, people argue, people tend to be either reclusive or explosive, repressed emotions are exposed, appointments are missed, friendships disintegrate or are strengthened through testing, people say things they cannot take back, old hoes pop up, new friends seem eerily familiar, you remember things you once forgot about, staff and faculty goes through changes, new research breaks ground, people bring up the past, debts catch up if you don’t, everything is reassessed, etc.

BORN UNDER A “BAD SIGN”

People who were born under mercury retrograde embody the effects of a mercury retrograde throughout their whole life, and feel at “home” when mercury goes to its returning position. Most of the astrological-oriented population take an ominous stance to mercury retrograde. During a retrograding mercury, things that you typically would not make time for, demand your immediate attention. It is advised not to sign contracts, travel and avoid making solid long term plans around this time. However, being born under a mercury retrograde means this period has favorable effects, you can use this planetary influence to your advantage either way.

NATAL MERCURY RETROGRADE CHARACTERISTICS

If a person was born with mercury in retrograde, the person encapsulates the tendencies of this eccentric period. They tend to be very shy in youth, developing star qualities in extreme isolation. In adulthood, they possess a spitfire wit and a penchant for controversy. This aspect produces very strong articulation and captivating eloquence that often feels out of its timing and context. Natal Mercury Retrograders are rebellious messengers, usually highly developed in areas of perception and communication, but refusing to go along with the flow of collective conversation just for the sake of being heard. Indeed, people born under this time love to shake things up, and effortlessly dominate conversation just like the nature of the retrograde. Mercury deals with communication and perception so they may struggle with being understood, not quite self-delusional but having a self-concept that may seem a little off to others. They love throwing curve-balls, a good round of mental sparring and get along paradoxically well with people they disagree with. Often widely misunderstood just like the mercury retrograde itself, people born under this aspect often feel like an anomaly, like they were born in the wrong time period. A deep sense of intuition makes them natural visionaries, able to foresee the course of events before others but also clinging to the sentiments of a past long gone, using their memory to preserve evidence of different worlds. The mercury retrograde period asks us to put down our to-do list, our plans, look away from our vision boards and deal with the unyielding unpredictability of life. This lack of control is what gives natal mercury retrograders a sense of control. People born under this period will casually respond to text messages from a month ago, and will leave the state on a bus at the drop of a dime. An autonomous mind, flash impulse and deep calculation mark those born with a Mercury that refuses to budge.

Planetary aspects affect moods within timing, different planets are believed to have different rulership over different domains. The sun rules ego, willpower, status. Venus is the planet of love, feminine energy. Mars represents war, masculine energy. These are very simplified explanations.

WHO IS MERCURY?

Mercury is the name for the Roman messenger god, who had wings on his feet. The Greeks knew him as Hermes. The archetype is also personified as Hermes Trigemeistrus. Below is an ancient Roman bronze coin called a “semuncia”, depicting Mercury with a winged pegasus around his head.

Mercury is the ruling planet of Virgos and Geminis, both of these signs embody the eloquence, wit and charm of mercury’s swift movement. Virgos are earth signs, making them more writers, historians, teachers. Geminis are more oriented towards adventure and variety, their quicksilver articulation makes them fantastic orators and entertaining conversationalists.

What does it mean when mercury goes into retrograde?

This is an (alien) bird’s eye view of what mercury retrograde looks like. It doesn’t actually move backwards. Planets only appear to be moving backwards because of the earth’s spin. In astrological actuality, every planet is on their own orbit. Mercury retrograde asks us to apply this concept philosophically, and to not take things so personally.

A breakdown of mercury retrograde is explained in the beginning of this song. “Kamikaze love, self destructive patterns. Mercury in Retrograde, 4th house in Saturn…”

Mercury retrograde gets a bad rap from the technological disasters and the scheduling mishaps and misunderstandings that tend to happen under its influence. Mercury retrograde does not give a fuck about your calendar, your vision board, your to-do list, your reputation, your sleep schedule, or your appointment and reminds you that you shouldn’t care so much either. Life will go on.

When the planets are in the same position as they were when you were born, this is considered fortunate. Your solar return is your birthday, your birthday is the day that the sun returns to the same place it was when you were born. The calendars are based on the orbit around the sun, each day is a degree.

If you were born under a mercury retrograde, use this to your benefit!
Mercury goes into retrograde four times this year, very rare.

2016 MERCURY RETROGRADE DATES

January 5 – January 25 starts in Aquarius, ends in Capricorn
April 28 – May 22, 2016 in Taurus
August 30 – September 22, 2016 in Virgo
December 19 2016 – January 8, 2017 Capricorn to Sagittarius

P.S. People commonly die around the time of their birthday or half-birthday. RIP David Bowie, born January 8th, and died January 11th. He also was born under a mercury retrograde, and died under one too, shortly after releasing a new video.

A few other notable people born with Mercury in Retrograde are Prince, Beethoven, Fyodor Dostoevsky.

P.S. Sending warmth, love & ease to my fellow mercury retrograders Ciarra Ross & Mika Ziv, two awesome reflections I constantly learn from and always catch up with in divine timing.

How has Mercury Retrograde effected your life? Join the conversation in the comments below.

About the Author: Mreeuh Chang

Mreeuh Chang is a 24 year old tattooer, painter, children’s book author and illustrator. A multi-faceted and extreme personality seeking universality, her work blends the foreign and familiar, ancient and modern, imagination and intellect.

blog: www.everythingweneedisin.us

book: www.dronesdontdream.com

online shop: www.store.mreeuhchang.com

twitter: https://twitter.com/mreeuh

13 Jan 2016
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Have you ever asked yourself, What is my purpose? Awakening Your Potential with Corey Sheikh

This year we are pleased to announce our collaboration with a unique individual who is helping people on their path to ascension. About a month ago we had the pleasure of meeting Corey Sheikh, a young introspective entrepreneur who is the co-founder of the Ottawa Wellness Center located in Ottawa Ontario Canada. After hearing his story, we learned that he overcame tremendous obstacles meanwhile going through a transformation process prior to getting to where he is today. We caught up with Corey and conducted a brief interview with him to help you understand his world a little better. Press play above to tune in to the podcast.

Sheikh, a young spiritual visionary entrepreneur, leading along with his team of fellows leaders, a movement that helps individuals who are going through their process of inner and outer transformation. After co-founding the Ottawa Lifestyle Center at the age of 20, Sheikh faced countless business obstacles leading to a profound spiritual awakening. Sheikh’s life took a massive turn from the otherwise traditional “young man’s” path – opening into a world of expansive esoteric, metaphysical and spiritual study & introspection. A process that unfolded at a blistering pace, opening up a new world of intuitive insight along with the download of the INFINITE Vision in which encompasses a number of initiatives. Sheikh and the collective community in which he is connected are focused on creating.

The Ottawa Wellness Center is the only holistic wellness center in his area that authentically helps their clients develop themselves, physically, mentally, and spiritually. It is truly a one of a kind business that is changing the face of conscious capitalism both from the business to consumer relationship, as well as the business and employee relationship. The relationships with his clients and co founders come first above all aspects of his business. Armed with an ambition to change the world, he is well on his way to raising the consciousness of the collective through the lives his wellness center has changed.

Corey believes that everyone has an inner potential that can lead them to accomplish anything they desire. With a holistic approach to health and lifestyle his wellness center offers group exercise and personal growth classes, specialized programs, and 1-on-1 personalized services ranging from personal training to holistic healing based services. All in an environment built for anyone, to thrive and evolve physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Using a combination of martial arts, fitness, body movement practices, personal growth, lifestyle principle and meditation based techniques in his growing programs. He has created a space for anyone, with any goal to feel confident with the support, guidance, and tools given to them along their journey of Transformation.

In the city of Ottawa Ontario, he has developed the city’s first holistic transformation program. Taking into account all aspects of the mind, body and soul to enable individuals to reach any lifestyle goal.

The work environment at his center operates more like a family, yet still maintaining high quality professionalism. His fellow lifestyle leaders are of the highest caliber, ranging from top tier health and wellness experts with backgrounds in fitness, Muay Thai, Nutrition, Meditation, Healing modalities and more; to experienced, customer service and care professionals looking to make the experience of his clients as memorable as possible.

corey sheikh ayp team ascension lifestyle Having learned first-hand how to overcome his fears, Corey has become passionate about helping others cross the bridge to reach their highest potential. In addition to his holistic wellness center, Corey will be embarking on transformational coaching that specializes in helping others enhance their well-being, remove blockages, reconnect with innate self-knowledge and self-healing, as well as help people through the process of transformation.

In the companies next step, they step into their new campaign “Awaken Your Potential”. A campaign focused on documenting the journeys of individuals going through their journey of personal transformation and release of their collective “INFINITE” vision. Bringing their vision to the world of a conscious lifestyle center, leader university and online platform they will look to bring their programs worldwide through the networks of conscious individuals moving through their personal journey of awakening.

If you’re in the Ottawa area, stop by the Ottawa Lifestyle Center or visit them online at: umtbc.com

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02 Jan 2016
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Beyond the Brain to Inner Wisdom

In my last essay, The Evolutionary World Inside Our Brains, I explained briefly the amazing complexity of our brains as they regulate our internal homeostasis and coordinate functions throughout the body, while simultaneously creating our three-dimensional world as we perceive it. What I presented just barely scratched the surface. There is so much more, and new discoveries and insights come about every year. What I want to address this time is the amazing intelligence beyond the brain, what we CranioSacral Therapists call the “Inner Wisdom.”

Think about the miracle of one single fertilized cell growing into the complex body you inhabit at present, a cell community of somewhere between 50 to 70 trillion cells, all containing the exact same library of information we know as DNA. And yet from that first, single fertilized cell, your cells differentiated into such varied tissues as the retina in your eyes, the enamel of your teeth, liver lobes, blood cells, and toenails, to name a few. What guided the process of growth and specialization? What directed the body of a nerve cell in the spinal cord to extend its axon to exactly the same muscle in your foot as in mine?

At present we do not have a scientific answer. Whatever it is that directs our growth and evolution, it is not measurable with our present technology. Ancient wisdom traditions speak of the oak tree being already present in its entirety within the acorn. In modern terms we may think of it analogous to a hologram. Each fragment of the hologram contains an image of the entire picture, not just one aspect like a puzzle piece. So even at present, theoretically every cell in your body contains the blueprint for the entire body in its DNA. Yet under normal circumstances, the retina will not turn into enamel. It follows its own function faithfully for the benefit of the whole body.

Down to the smallest cell and its components, your body is processing information and making decisions. Intelligence is not the same as consciousness. So bear with me as I claim that Consciousness, or Inner Wisdom, is present in every cell of your body, without exception. This is opinion, not scientific fact. In my opinion, Consciousness is the basis of all being, and it presents itself in as many variations as the vibrational spectrum of the Universe. We experience just a fraction of what is there, but that does not diminish the value of that which lies beyond our perception.

If consciousness is the basis of every cell in your body, then each organ or tissue has its own, more complex consciousness. This in turn is part of the whole body consciousness. And extending outward in the human community, the individual is part of the collective consciousness of the family, the community, the culture and the whole of humanity. No one exists outside of the context of the whole, yet each may be addressed individually. As one bully can affect a lot of people in the neighborhood, one cell gone cancerous can affect the whole organ if not addressed appropriately.

So can we address a single cell or a specific organ that is acting up using not laser beams but consciousness, i.e. Inner Wisdom? As CranioSacral Therapists we say: “Yes, we can.”

In our normal waking consciousness we are mostly tuned to the outside world, hung up on the past, and projecting into the future. But in a state of grounded mental relaxation, we can tune into the consciousness of an organ, body part, tissue, emotion, personality aspect or archetype. In a state similar to visionary dreams or deep meditation, we can access Inner Wisdom itself, as well. More uniquely personal than any professional advice, our Inner Wisdom offers meaningful explanations and suggests plans of action that are in accordance with our soul’s purpose.

But how can we be sure that we are not just making stuff up when we are in a dialogue with our heart, the Wounded Child, or our anger, for example?

This is where CranioSacral Therapy (CST) has the most elegant and beautiful tool at hand, quite literally. During a treatment session, the therapist’s hands are monitoring the client’s body for the quality of what we call the Significance Detector (SD), which tells us what is meaningful and what is not. What is a Significance Detector?

The CranioSacral Rhythm (CSR) is a cyclical expansion-contraction motion of the skull and spinal cord, which is caused by a production-absorption cycle of the cerebro-spinal fluid inside the brain cavities. This expansion-contraction occurs normally with a rate of 6 to 12 cycles per minute. For a trained hand it is palpable anywhere on the body. During a CranioSacral Therapy treatment the therapist continuously monitors the rhythm. Occasionally, it comes to a spontaneous, abrupt stop. This is called a Significance Detector. At that point a therapist trained in Somato-Emotional Release may ask a question such as: “What are you noticing right now?” This is intended to bring conscious attention to what might be fleeting images, thoughts or feelings in this moment. Inner Wisdom is bringing them up from the non-conscious to the conscious mind. Like dream images, if you don’t catch them, they might be gone without delivering their message.

Many times, a novice client to this form of treatment will not be aware of anything happening other than feeling deeply relaxed and possible slightly annoyed by the question. But with a little experience, it becomes easier to catch the image or feeling before it is gone, just as the practice of dream journaling becomes easier over time.

The image, memory, words or feelings that came to mind at the instance the SD signaled relevance, may appear nonsensical, whimsical or meaningless at first glance. But exploring the image not through rational thinking but with intuition and an open mind will reveal layers upon layers of meaning, often times leading to profound revelations which in turn lead to healing.

The CranioSacral Therapist is participating in the process not as guide or counselor, but as observer and body worker. We are the hands of Inner Wisdom; we follow the Inner Treatment Plan. We do not attempt to direct where the treatment “should” takes us. We do not make value judgments, or suggest strategies and solutions. We do not analyze.

Our hands listen to the body tissues and the SD, and with the gentlest touch we follow the physical, emotional and energetic releases of tension that happen in the process from superficial to deep. We ask questions only if necessary to clarify messages, get into more detail, or focus attention back from distractions when the SD indicates that the dialogue is going off topic. When that happens, the silence of the CSR starts to waver and quiver before the rhythm comes back on. When our attention returns to the focal point of significance, the SD becomes still and deep again. Now we are tuned again to Inner Wisdom.

Messages from Inner Wisdom seldom appear without encountering some resistance from another aspect of the psyche. Otherwise we would never run into trouble. Until we have reached absolute enlightenment (if there is such a thing while in physical form) we will have to deal with resistance. This is not as bad as it sounds. Even resistance has at its core a positive intention. It means to do the right thing, and often is simply not aware that its actions are now obstructing growth and getting in the way of happiness.

Let me give an example: During treatment the therapist’s hands are guided to the heart. Instantly the CSR stops and goes into a profound SD. The therapist asks: “What is going on here?” The client responds e.g.: “I feel sad.” “Tell me more about sad”, might be the next question, or “What does sad look like?” The answer could be: “Sad is hiding behind a huge wall. I can’t see it, I just feel it.”

Further internal dialogue may reveal that the heart has been walled off for protection after a devastating experience years or decades ago. Now Heart wants to expand, open up, and let its light shine brightly. Resistance shows up as rage. Rage will not let Heart take down the protective walls. It is concerned about more damage and suffering if Heart is not guarded behind walls. In order for Rage to allow any opening of the heart, it first needs acknowledgment for a job well done. Rage kept the person from falling into a catatonic depression, or committing suicide. Rage provided the energy to move on and take a pro-active stance towards survival. It is not aware that circumstances have changed, and at this point it is acting like a bull in a china store. A new, potentially very supportive relationship with a gentle and safe person could be at risk if Rage does not scale down its presence.

Through skillful negotiations between one personality aspect and another, conducted by the client’s Inner Wisdom, a new balance can be found between the need for protection and growth. Rage may agree to step back from active duty, but remain on call for situations of true danger. It may actually be relieved to get a break, because it is exhausted from being on the job non-stop for years or decades. It might call in Discernment to take its place protecting Heart, while Rage itself gets ready for retirement in Florida.

Much of the inner dialogue may happen without a spoken word and at a pace much too fast for communication between client and therapist. The best we can do as therapists is to stay out of the way when Inner Wisdom is doing its thing, and only assist when the process gets stuck. It never ceases to amaze us how ingenious and effective Inner Wisdom’s solutions are to the most rigid blocks in the way of growth and personal evolution.

A compassionate attitude towards even the peskiest resistance will make it easier to integrate the whole into a situationally appropriate support system without the bull in the china store. This is an ongoing, never ending process, and a life skill. Like any other skill, it grows with practice. With endless patience Inner Wisdom presents us with just the right circumstances for practice, again and again, until we get it.

Treatment with a CranioSacral Therapist trained in Somato-Emotional Release is a way to open the door, but we all have to go on our own journey. Ultimately one learns to apply the inner awareness of what is significant and real, along with the inner dialogue skills, without dependency on the therapist.

The ultimate goal of CranioSacral Therapy is Self Realization. To me that means being tuned into the Inner Wisdom and the Wisdom of the Universe continuously, not just every now and then, but as a new state of “normal”.

CranioSacral Therapy is one of many, many paths toward that goal. It happens to be the path I was guided to travel, with great results. For that reason I became a CranioSacral Therapist myself, and it is my pleasure to open the door for my clients to go on their own journey towards healing and personal evolution.

Shana Dieterle, PT, CST, is a CranioSacral Therapist practicing in Missoula, MT. She has trained with the Upledger Institute International and is presently working on her Diplomate certification. It is her pleasure to explore the amazing health benefits of light touch therapy to optimize brain function and self-healing.

For further information and contact information, go to www.ShanasHeartofHealing.com

24 Dec 2015
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Infinite Intelligence / Opening The Channel

Spirit Guidance.

I have always known for as long as I can remember that there was a presence around me. It existed at that time as such an integral part of my subjective experience, that I never questioned its validity. It was that presence that always sent me impulses, nudges, inspiration, insight and the guidance by which I chose to move through my every day experiences. It was that presence that often told to me pick up the phone before it would even ring. In fact it would often tell me who was going to be calling. And when I say “tell” what I mean by that is somewhat misleading. This communication never happened with any language other than the subtle knowing that I would receive.This presence loved to guide me through the massive forest that sat directly behind my back door during chlidhood. We would go on adventures to find treasures, eat berries, catch turtles, and even find secret pathways that led me through to the other side of my little neighborhood. Each time the path would be different but it never mattered because I trusted that I was being “guided”. I can’t remember what age I realized that not everyone has invisible friends. Eventually it became more appealing, as a very shy reclusive child, to play with my “real” flesh and blood friends. I abandoned my relationship with what I later came to know as my guides and guardian angel without even understanding who they were. Like so many other children with psychic gifts I eventually grew up and decided that it had all been in my imagination

There are times now that when I look back and I’m aware that this presence never left my side. It (they) have always been there with unconditional love and support despite my lack of acknowledgment or conscious participation. It was only when I began my commitment to my spiritual path that I again opened up the channel consciously to the relationship between myself and my Spirit guides.What a beautiful and joyous life it has become thanks to them.

What is Spirit Guidance?

Spirit guidance is direct contact with nonphysical energies that exist in the spirit realm who are able to offer you wisdom beyond your five senses. Everyone has a spirit guide (or several spirit guides), and each of us has the ability to listen to them. They communicate with us in a variety of ways that we must become aware of because they are at a higher frequency. We have to be very still, silent, open and accepting. Spirits Guides, Angels, Deceased loved ones, Totem Animals, elementals, God(desses) are always near connecting with us. Many of us experienced a deepening of our supernatural and spiritual gifts over this past year and what came through so clearly is our ability to communicate with beings in the subtle realms. The veil is thinner than ever. Given the nature of the mass spiritual awakening that is happening throughout the Earth now is an amazing time to develop that intimate relationship with the Spirit Realm.

Those in Spirit, even without physical bodies, still have energy bodies all of which carry a certain vibration and resonance. Thus, without words, emotion, or thought, the presence, the feeling, of a Spirit can still be identified. Spirit Guides and Angels are often referred to as Beings of Light, and as such, they have a very high, elevated, lifting feeling, when one is present. Often, the presence of a guide will feel like a tingling sensation indicating simply a presence stepping close to you. Depending on the guide or angel that is visiting you, in addition to the slight tingly warmth you feel on your body, you’ll also pick up a unique ‘fingerprint’ of this being. For example you might also get a sense of protected and safeness. Or such as fairies and other elemental spirits like sprites that tend to be very playful and childlike. This will become familiar to you over time just the same way that specific friends have different energy that you can recognize.

Spirit guides are not the same things as ghosts (earthbound souls). What we refer to as ghosts are confused and often times, they don’t even know that they are dead. They continue to wander around in a type of purgatory because they don’t know how to cross over. Often it’s the devastating emotional circumstances that surround their death that keep them stuck. True spirit guides respect you and your right to choose your own path. Real spirit guides are wise, compassionate and often amusing. If you are ever aware of a spiritual being who does not respect you and others, it is not your spirit guide. Tell any less evolved beings to leave and call in your real spirit guide. You can simply ask, are you my true spirit guide.

Spirit guides are souls with the intention of offering support and guidance on the spiritual path to those who have chosen to experience life in the physical realm. Whenever a soul incarnates into a physical body there is a great amount of insight lost about who that being truly is. Your spirit guides can keep you tuned into your souls divine plan because they never lose sight of the path. In fact they can often see many things that are approaching before they happen. They will always respect your free will and offer you guidance based on the direction that your life choices have taken you in. They can help you to recognize signs and interpret synchronicity from the universe which can indicate what choices are serving the highest good for all parties involved. If you decide any course correcting is needed they can help support the steps needed to come into alignment as well.

Whenever you engage with a spirit guides, angel, ascended master god or goddess, or the Holy Spirit realize you are touching the face of the One Most High. While it is possible for humans to go to God directly in prayer and meditation, s/he often invokes helpers to work directly with us. All beings were created to with specific gifts, talents and skills. Each being (including you) has a purpose, part of which is to help bring balance and harmony to the universe. Many people may not be able to connect to the idea of gods, goddesses and other such concepts and therefore it would be entirely appropriate to refer to this presence as Infinite Intelligence. This simply acknowledges that our own perspective is limited, yet there is a higher intelligence that is available for us to access which can lend us greater understanding and awareness at all times. You may chose to call on any force in the universe within or without that resonates with your belief systems.

How does one connect to Infinite Intelligence (spirit guidance)?

Intention. Set the intention that you wish to connect to the benevolent beings who will guide you towards your highest good and the good of all that is. Question your perceptions and be open to believe that there is more to see than meets the eye.
Get into the vibrational alignment. In other words tune in. As previously mentioned this presence that we refer to as Spirit Guides exists on a higher dimensional plane of existence. In order to receive the insight and inspiration that is available to us it’s most imperative to raise the vibration. For the most part being in the range of your joy and following your bliss naturally will set the mood for receiving clarity in all forms.
Plants have a wonderful way of fortifying our connection with energetic realms not of our own. Inherently they are able to boost your energy to bring it closer to those of Spirit, Loved Ones, and Angels. Below you can see a list of the herbs and essential oils included in this month’s Spirit Medicine kit if you wish to work more intimately with these tools.
All the chakras are infinitely important in establishing a healthy transmission back and forth. Try a guided meditation that is meant to open, clear and balance your chakra’s and stimulate your senses.

Spirit guides come to us in many ways. Spend time in silence, meditation and just listening. In those moments of complete stillness, you will receive messages. Guidance may come as images in your head (clairvoyance), a feeling (clairsentience) a sound or voice (clairaudience) or even just clear insight and knowledge (claircognizant). They also come through in dreams, numbers(1111, 1234, 777, 333, 444, 555) are all angels codes, books, smells, songs, electricity(turning lights on), mind to mind communication and so much more. You may see a feather to indicate the presence of a guide. Even animals, insects, and plants can be a form of spirit guidance. I have had angels show themselves to me on a perfectly clear day in the form of a rainbow before. The possibilities are endless.
You can try automatic writing, by meditating and asking your spirit guides to come through you. Automatic writing is the process of writing material that does not come from the conscious thoughts of the writer. The writer’s hand forms the message, and the person is unaware of what will be written. It is sometimes done in a trance state. Another way is instead of going unconscious while another entity writes with your hand you could listen and write what you hear. In this way, you are simply listening to what is being said and writing down what you hear. To accomplish this it is best to be in a meditative state. This is an intuitive process and there is no right or wrong way to do it.
Keep a journal. Write down everything you see, smell, feel or hear, because these are intuitive messages from your guides. You guides can also send you so much creative inspiration which can be applied to every day problem solving or used for art, music, writing or other creative projects. They may guide you to meet someone or to a specific opportunity that can open up your path for you in countless ways.
Follow the impulse. Once you receive the gentle nudge from the subtle realm respond appropriately. As you make discoveries about yourself, take action. As you receive answers to your prayers, take action. Find ways to change that will bring you closer to the truer part of yourself and your soul’s purpose where happiness and fulfillment lies.
Create an altar or place where you can go to feel the presence of your guardian angel. Put objects that remind you of your soul’s desire on the altar. Write letters to your angels and add your letters to your altar. Pray here. Listen for answers. Light a candle and find a feeling of peace. Make this place a living presence in your life.

HAPPY WINTER SOLSTICE!

By: Ascension Lifestyle Contributor Hasnaa

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24 Dec 2015
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Miscommunication Is Our Biggest Flaw

Why is miscommunication our biggest flaw and why do we pay so little attention to it? Through a new understanding of miscommunication, how and why it happens and how to recognize it within ourselves, we can fix relationships on all levels. This starts with visible and audible communication and moves right down to spirit communication. Misunderstanding someone when they’re trying to communicate to us can be caused by many reasons. It is not just as simple as “they just do not understand me.” The first step in solving the misunderstanding between two energies is quieting the physical sensations that miscommunication can cause. Frustration, irritation, anger.. and the next step is understanding that we don’t all learn in the same way and we all have individual ways we’ve been raised which leads us to very different ways of perceiving life and its situations. Many of us have a mistaken assumption that there is an “average” or “common” understanding of simple concepts, but that is far from the truth and is what leads to most miscommunication.

Our creation and connections to our surroundings in the way we learn is key. Association, and what we choose to associate with in a particular conversation, is eventually where the outcome of the conversation will lead us. It is almost too easy to assume a reaction in someone else through our own eyes because we’ve been thought it or we’ve seen someone go through it. Assuming does not necessarily mean that the outcome will be the same, but more often than you think the outcome becomes the same because the assumptions trigger reactions in us that lead our spirit towards the same finish line. Once we cross that finish line we feel accomplishment, but if we do not learn to trigger different, more emotionally effective responses we keep our self in a loop of the same outcomes over and over.

Whether “good” or “bad”, if the outcome is to be different in a positive way our reactions have to change and we have to be more aware and in tune with our self through others by paying attention to our own reactions. Meaning, to learn about self, pay attention to where your thoughts go when anger is triggered. Anger sometimes puts us back to the beginning. It is like starting a level all over again, everything is good in the beginning because we’re familiar with this part, but once we enter the realm where we failed before and enter into a nervous state we start triggering the same emotional outcomes that we have so many times before. Some emotional outcomes start opening the same doors toward anger and we end up where we started again.

The point is, if we continue to approach the same problems in the same way, the same results will follow. We have to change our emotional state and listen openly to the person trying to communicate in order to understand them better and vice versa. Miscommunication is the root to a lot of the current world problems. By listening to the communicator and being aware of our reactions as they’re trying to communicate, we in return become better communicators. Listen with the intent to understand, not with the intent to respond.

By Ascension Lifestyle Contributor Mirza Babic

Mirza “Prince” Babic is a co-founder of thebigpictur.com, a media group that empowers individuals through photos, design and teaches social media branding tactics. Photographer by profession Mirza is a lover of arts. With a BA in Audio Engineering Mirza is also involved in the music industry field composing and producing music for known artist, short films and commercials. Currently he is working on a few projects including a book which he believes will lead him to his ultimate goal of getting closer to world peace. You can find links and some of his work on his website www.thebigpictur.com and his Instagram page: instagram.com/theprinceofpeace

11 Dec 2015
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Do Not Lose Faith: New Moon in Sagittarius

I refuse to accept the view that mankind
is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war
that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality . . .
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.
~ Martin Luther King

Whatever you do, says this new Sag moon, do NOT lose faith in this great adventure of a life you’ve taken on. You can do this.

You are doing this.

Sagittarius New Moon @ 19 degrees
3:28 AM
Friday the 11th

Day in and out, we tell ourselves stories. Sagittarius would have us remember that anyone who has taken on the human journey in These Times is sturdy of soul and armed with the ability to create a grand myth out of her (his) time here on earth. You don’t like the way things are unfolding in your days? Think up a plot twist in your own narrative. Create an entirely new chapter in the drama, one which better suits where you are now in Time.

Becoming overly attached to any one of our ideas about How Things Should Be is certain to disappoint. Instead, counsels this new moon, keep revising your script, write yourself out of the places where you feel you’ve become a little stuck, and embrace this life of yours as if it’s your alluring partner in a dance even more exciting than the most sensual of tangos.

This is a buoyant moon. It wants you to know that you can’t fail at your life. You are right where you are meant to be. And up to this moment, you’ve managed to slay a thousand dragons, to rescue what has needed your hand up and to follow your heart into all sorts of mad adventures. Just keep it up. Sag will help you keep your spirits lifted in the face of a great deal of sadness and chaos because it believes that the journey itself is what matters.

As we edge ever closer to Winter Solstice, allow your inner lantern to guide you and soak up the light and joy expanding around you. There is so much more to encounter in this life than the nightly news. People everywhere are opening their hearts and their lives to each other.

And if you can, build a fire. Toss into the flames all that those pages which no longer suit your mythic story and then, begin again, this time with the faith of one who has seen some things and is not only still standing, but rising like a multi-faceted star.

Light returns. Always.

By: Ascension Lifestyle Guest Contributor

Deborah O’conner

406-531-5129

deb@lovedogdesign.com

www.lovedogdesign.com

Be humble, for you are made of earth. Be noble, for you are made of stars.

06 Dec 2015
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The Evolutionary World Inside Our Brains

It is true that the greatest miracles generally go unnoticed. This is certainly the case for most of us when it comes to the complex function of our brains. Like every other body part, we mostly pay attention to it when it hurts or quits working. Just to give you a few ideas to help increase your appreciation of the amazing stuff that happens between your ears:

Modern physics has established that the world around and within us is made up of energy, rather than “things”. Even the smallest particles, such as electrons and photons, are “quanta”(meaning a certain amount) of energy. These quanta can appear out of, and disappear into, nothingness. And even if they were “things”, the empty spaces between them are vast. If the nucleus of a hydrogen atom were the size of an orange, the only electron of the atom would be the size of a cherry circling the nucleus at a distance equivalent to the length of a football field.

So modern physics has to agree to some extent with the ancient Buddhist teaching that form is emptiness, emptiness is form. No-thing-ness is the basis of existence.

It does not feel that way, though, when you hit your thumb with a hammer. So what is actually there? Electromagnetic forces that strongly repel each other. They give us the very convenient appearance of solid matter.

Your skin has built in sensors that respond to their electromagnetic interactions with “things” and report them to a specific part of the brain through electrio-chemical nerve conduction. The brain now creates an image of hard, soft, hot, cold, rough, smooth, and so on, out of nothing more than impulse computations.

What you see is what you get, but it’s not what is actually there. What the sun provides us with is light rays, vibration, radiation. Only a very small spectrum of this radiation is interacting with the sensors in your eyes, which translates into electrical impulses sent to another specific region of your brain. Color, shade, 3D depth perception, recognition of shapes and faces, finding meaning in little black scribbles on a piece of paper as “writing”, “seeing” a big black bird in your mind’s eye when you recognize the 5 letters on your computer screen that add up to RAVEN, all of that is a function of the brain’s perception.

When a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to hear it, does it still make a sound?

Actually, it does not. What it does is create shockwaves in the air. Only when some ears are present to translate the shock waves hitting the eardrum into electrical impulses sent to yet another highly specialized region of the brain, can we reasonably speak of “sound”.

And naturally, it is the brain that allows us to convey meaning through consecutive noises we make and call language. If you don’t believe me, travel to a country with a language completely foreign to you and ask where the bathroom is. Even understanding universal body language requires very complex brain functions.

To sum things up, the world “out there” only exists as we know it because our brains make it so. As humans we generally perceive the same events “out there” because “in here”, our brains are built and wired in roughly the same way. We have different filters that decide subconsciously what is worth noticing and what is mere background noise, but we generally agree that a tree is a tree.

A bee creates visual images by processing the ultraviolet radiation spectrum. Its world looks vastly different, and we can barely imagine how our tree appears to a bee. A bear has very poor eyesight but one of the most sensitive noses on the planet. Its reality is made up of entirely different sense integration skills than ours.

Creating a meaningful experience of the world “out there” is only half the task of our astonishing brains. There is also the world inside our skin that needs to be monitored and coordinated. Our conscious thinking comprises only a minute fraction of the brain’s information processing at any given moment. It is truly a blessing that we don’t have to make decisions regarding our blood acidity levels for effective oxygen bonding and release into the tissue, for example. It would be difficult to concentrate on reading this article while simultaneously having to focus on micromanaging our liver functions and hormone cycles.

Think about the inconceivable amount of computations the brain has to accomplish for a tennis player to hit the ball across the net. She has to perceive the speed and movement arc of the ball while rushing to the right place at the right time to hit the ball back with the most efficient muscle action of her upper body, and she has to calculate the exact angle, speed and force to connect the center of her racket with the ball to get it over the net to a location within bounds but preferably out of reach of her opponent. Her split second visual computations have to create an instant response of extremely fine tuned muscular coordination, balance, heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, internal heat regulations, and much more. All of our most advanced supercomputers combined could not handle a task like that.

Since our conception, our bodies have grown from one single fertilized cell into a complex community made up of roughly 50 to 70 trillion individual cells. By the time we are born, these cells are specialized and functionally grouped together into most of the basic structures necessary for life on land: Bones, muscles, skin, connective tissue, organs, glands, blood and lymph vessels, body fluids and the immune system. But the nervous system requires another couple of years to fully develop and master skills like the ability to walk upright and language development.

Keeping our inner maintenance up and running non-stop requires so much information processing that it would be too slow and inefficient to do it all in one fairly remote location. Therefore our internal organs have nerve plexuses connected to them where functional monitoring and self-correction takes place on the spot. The heart itself is actually not just a muscle but is made up of 60% neurons like those in the gray matter of the brain. So we speak of a heart brain, a gut brain, and immunologists speak of the immune system as a mobile brain.

However, if our individual organs only look out for their own function and growth, without consideration for the needs of the whole, what we get is cancer. So it is absolutely essential that the activities of all of our body parts are connected, monitored and coordinated. That is what our central nervous system does.

The survival of the individual entity we call a human being depends on the willingness and ability of the individual cells and organs to communicate and cooperate for the good of the whole. When the whole dies, so do the cells and organs. This is not rocket science, but it is something the cancer does not know or chooses to deny.

Just a thought: what would happen if we applied the body’s wisdom to the whole of the human race?

In the past 100 years we have had two competing economic ideologies.

Communism was all about absolute, central control. This lead to a huge, bloated head and atrophied, non-functioning organs. The body was ultimately not able to support the head, and it fell.

Capitalism is all about the individual organ-(ization) taking whatever it needs to grow and prosper without regard to the consequences for the rest of the body. “Off with the head! It only gets in the way!” Has anyone seen the headless rider lately?

There is a third option. Our body proves it. But we have not seen it in action yet. Could it be that the human race is still so young that the nervous system of our collective body is still growing into its full function, and upright gait plus communication skills are just around the corner? In our previous attempts to get on our feet we fell on our behind more than once, and throwing tantrums has not been very effective in communicating our needs. But considering the age of our universe, the human race was only born a few seconds ago. So there is hope.

There is one more admirable capacity of our brain that I still need to mention:

Our ability to dream, imagine and visualize possibilities that have yet to be created. Our head-, heart-, and gut brains are capable of receiving information – inspiration directly from the Field. What is the Field? It cannot be described in terms of space and time, it cannot be measured, and it is an inescapable necessity for our most up-to-date observations of quantum physics to work. It is a concept that tries to explain the inexplicable: How can information travel faster than the speed of light?

It does, and not at random.

Switching from physics to metaphysics: there appears to be an Intelligence or Collective Consciousness that is in charge of our personal, collective and universal evolution. I am convinced that it is this omnipresent Intelligence that allows our individual Consciousness to inhabit a complex body grown from a single fertilized cell. It is also in charge of the growth and maturation of the human race as a whole. It has purpose and patience. Yes, we are facing a crisis, and the growing pains are profound. But the Intelligence that came up with this brilliant way of expressing Consciousness through physical form is certainly capable of guiding our continued journey from evolution of consciousness to Conscious Evolution past the present crisis. It is a journey worth taking!

For further information and contact information, go to www.ShanasHeartofHealing.com

23 Nov 2015
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The Science of Personal Growth – An Interview With Dr. Kevin Fleming

We all strive for high achievement, and when we get there, we want to continually maintain and improve it, as well as avoid obstacles that hinder our growth. But what about the default patterns of behavior hard-wired in our brains that keep us from becoming the greatest version of ourselves? Regardless of how successful one becomes, we can all benefit from someone who can reveal within us the mechanisms to achieve peak mental performance and the fortitude to persevere through difficult circumstances. Life will always have unique challenges and working with someone who can reduce the psychological problems that interfere with our performance achievement is an expertise highly coveted among successful people.

The problem with many psychotherapists, mentors, coaches, psychologists, etc, is that they often adhere to very rigid protocols and procedures that barely scratch the surface, nor do they have the type of human connection needed to break through to the client’s core. There are many layers and modes of operation that the brain employs to make decisions and feel at ease. Within those layers, are functions that can also hinder the process of change, which require a highly skilled practitioner to navigate effectively. This is crucial when getting to the source of the what’s holding us back from living the best version of our lives.

Enter Dr. Kevin Fleming, an expert in his field with a distinct and genuine approach to maximizing human potential. He is the founder of Grey Matters International, an exceptional behavior-change consulting firm with a neuroscience-based decision-making process. His proprietary approach to helping his clients is in high demand and continues to change lives worldwide. He has traveled the world to see clients in 5 continents, interacting with people from diverse backgrounds and industries. His methods yield results where shortcomings are common in traditional practices.

A seasoned professional, Dr. Fleming earned his B.A, M.A, and Ph.D from the university of Notre Dame, doing his postdoctoral residency in Behavioral Medicine. This background and experience adds to his impressive credentials and has helped him revolutionize how common issues of the human condition can be addressed. He brings together cutting-edge neuroscience with a concierge model of care, working one-on-one with a wide range of personalities to carefully tailor the perfect mental wellness solution for every client, some of whom include cabinet members of the King of Jordan, Fortune 100 executives and NFL players. He is a knowledgeable resource who has been cited in the New York Times, Fortune Magazine, Newsweek, CNN, The Huffington Post, and his work has received praise from the faculties of Harvard Medical and Business Schools.

Dr. Fleming’s company, Grey Matters International, is a change agent, revolutionizing the way people see and conduct themselves while navigating both personal and professional relationships. His expertise fills a void, addressing those who are tired of conventional “feel good” coaches, trainers and self-help experts, many of whom have little understanding of the high-performing brain and the real catalysts needed for lasting improvement.

We caught up with Dr. Fleming and asked him a few questions about his profession, as well as what makes his consulting firm different from everyone else in his field.

What is unique about your personal development consulting verses other personal development programs?

Grey Matters International is a unique neuroscience-based platform of technologies, insights, and behavior change strategies that are brought to client locations, in the form of intensives or private retreats, for the purpose of making sustainable transformations, not just in “superficial mood” but in actual decision making. Our company assumes irrationality of human beings as a “norm” and works hard to go beyond mere motivational trite mantras and into the contradictions within all of us. Unlike other personal development approaches which assume what you say is what you want, we know the brain is full of self-deceit at the worst, and maximizing efficiency at its best. Most self-help programs assume too much rationality and it’s why most of those programs don’t stick.

What motivated you to get into this line of work?

It was organic and not something I chose consciously….I knew helping people was always in my DNA and shrinks were the cornerstone to that….but I quickly learned that there I fell in love with the work around illusions and half-truths of those of us “doing” the helping work and that was what prompted Grey Matters Intl to be formed.

Why did you move away from a clinical practice to a consulting role? Did you feel the clinical approach was too rigid and unable to address key issues?

I invite people to download for free the Half Truth High, which explains a lot of this exodus from that side of things and over to this new model of work. You can do that from my homepage at: www.greymattersintl.com

Can you provide an example of how your program uses the power of neuroplasticity to change behavior?

Our private, concierge level retreats are always for one person (or couple) and with this personalization, we have the ability to do multiple, concentrated neuroplasticity methods. For one, we will measure neurochemistry and neuroregulatory hormones (If it’s applicable to their goals, of course) and be able to give them an actual analysis to view their levels, something most psychiatrists and other medical professionals sadly never do. We then are able to use this mapping as a guidepost for an all-natural, holistic roadmap of medicinals to repair the delicate balance again. We also have a neurotechnology that is quite profound in the neural network aspect of changing the brain fast and effective. Networks are where most of our patterned behaviors “rest” and we have an innovative way of astronomically balancing the brain and rebuilding neural pathways. Stories of change are unbelievable from this: www.greymattersintl.com/company/testimonials

You’ve said that “true inner change cannot occur when the approach is based on nothing more than thought and perception.” How can we break our negative patterns without rationally attempting to do so? Is this more of a challenge for the subconscious mind?

Great question. Yes, the stuff of “The Secret” and all the “just think it and it will happen to you”, are all half-truths at best. Sure, encountering the reality of the consequences of your thinking is a necessary but not sufficient condition for change. I have tons of examples of people who have radically changed their mood, behavior, and decisions without ever consciously changing their thoughts, and others who have worked so hard at trying to change their thinking that they get tripped up in it and paradoxically create more thinking traps from this practice. It was once said, “Happiness is in the waiting room of happiness”. This is profound, for it speaks to the balance ontologically around how we get to this state of fulfillment. Many times it is about paradox, and not only that, especially for first to second order change situations which is what most of my clients are actually seeking; they have consciously tried MANY self-help strategies and if anything they are at that place where their solutions are now the reason they are perpetuating their problem. Grey Matters International is a master at helping people see how we all can solve the wrong problem really well 🙂

Is emotional processing incorporated into your method of behavior change? Walk us through how are you able to help your clients process emotional trauma associated with the root cause of the behavior.

Yes and no. Emotions are always a part of what we desire to have change or shifted in our lives when we are stuck or have a goal to change, but I do feel we have overdone this….no, not in the value or importance, but in the misapplied strategies we use to get these shifts. I use the neurotechnology FIRST to repair emotional imbalance primarily for no amount of ’emotional processing” will fix a hole in a cup. All the water you pour into it will go out. One must fix first the capital F part of FEELINGS (ie: valence, arousal level) before getting into actual content of feelings and moving that to “small f” feelings. They merge and mingle too much and in my experience that confuses “emotional processing” work when done in talk therapy fashion which makes all words equal in valence and meaning.

“Medication or therapy are the cornerstones of traditional psychological enhancement.” Can you explain your position on this?

I believe all good things when misapplied to context or gone to an extreme become weaknesses, and meds and therapy are no different. It is a one size fits all kind of approach that I believe ignores the “every brain is a fingerprint” kind of unique way of thinking. Also, I do not feel processing of feelings over and over in therapy is good for a soul that is at risk of saturation of self.

What do your clients get from you that they can’t get anywhere else?

24/7 access to a renowned thought leader, done in a way that is quite down to earth, refreshing, psychobabble-free, and on demand to fit their lifestyle. A we-come-to-you model of care today is unheard of, especially in the many hats I wear fashion—from individual to couples work, to high performance work, to corporate/executive wellness, to team based facilitations. Also, fresh new thinking that is NOT being taught today in the medical and mental health circles around behavior change and transformation. Lastly, the most cutting edge neuroscience technologies is quite appealing to folks desiring innovation in their care.

“We must know our brain’s biases and errors in thinking, on a day to day basis, as well as the approaches being offered to us as brain changing.” Can you explain this statement in more detail?

Our own self-deceit and addiction to “being right” blocks all of us and the kind of sort of true solution we come up with to a problem and the actual full systems or maximally virtuous one BOTH get the same emotional response produced by the brain. The difference? Usually some sort of brain bias or self-protective quality at play. Being aware of this not only forces us to go beyond what merely makes sense; it allows a pathway to fuller truths and humility….something we don’t like to talk much about these days but is a cornerstone to lasting happiness.

‘Interrupting the decision-making process of the executive brain’ is something you have mentioned on your website. Does this interruption force one to think about how one is making decisions, therefore seeing the errors in the decision making process?

Well, disruption is the key to new transformative learning and breaking of new patterns. Many times my sophisticated or executive level clients’ narcissism blocks true growth and the best way to change these folks is causing “the right type of problems” instead 🙂 This can be done with accountability work in the realm of psychological boundaries, in a hard hitting no nonsense way, or via our neurotechnology which disrupts old patterns and creates new ones.

In your opinion, what are some of the root causes of negative patterns of behavior and thinking, and how does your consulting address this?

I would say 90 percent of this has to do with trauma. And I believe there are four types: Either acute or chronic, and either infringement based or abandonment based (so you can see a 2 by 2 matrix here is formed to create 4 types of individuals). Remember, trauma is NOT just something really bad happening to you. It is something violating to the brain’s predictive strategies around what a “normal, healthy expectation” is in this world of relationships and discovery. We ALL have been in these four boxes and to me that is where the core starts, from there, we create compensatory half-truth ways of living that eventually don’t take us to the finish line.

In a postmodern world full of multi-tasking and tight deadlines, it’s harder for people to have a linear focus on something. Our attention is inundated with multiple tabs, tight deadlines, and excessive work. What is your approach to performance enhancement in this scenario?

This is correct. While there are lots of neuroscience answers to healing a burned out/stressed out brain—and we certainly do a large amount of work in this area via our neurotechnology —the long term solution is really around boundaries and setting them inside a world that is essentially without boundaries. The brain was not meant to go 24/7 with no breaks. As Stanford neurobiologist Dr. Sapolsky mentions in his book “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers”, unlike this animal in the wild who either enters or escapes immediate threat, we stay activated inside potential threats of urgency everyday, keeping us over stimulated. Without removing one’s self frequently for “little breaks” of non-work/non-engagement, this is all futile.

I did an interview on all this, with the technology expert for Today Show/CNN, Mario Armstrong: www.steinershow.org/podcasts/december-8-2011-hour-2/

Some of your past clients have mentioned that you helped them get down to their core values and find out what really matters to them. Sometimes what really matters to someone is not aligned with their career. Some people who are successful at making a lot of money aren’t necessarily passionate about it. As a mentor, coach, and consultant, how would you navigate this situation? Would you try to help them find meaning in their work or encourage them to take a new path?

We all make trade offs in life. I don’t “do” anything to my clients. All I do is invite them to explore their own personal cost/benefit ratios and take them through stages of change (precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance). Most people try to take control of these people by telling them what to do just because there is some ambivalence and conflict. Each stage requires a different skill to engage in and through ambivalence, something we all don’t like because we are too busy being addicted to getting rid of dissonance in our life. Grey Matters International got its name not just because of the obvious brain allusions in the name, but because, philosophically, the greyness of life and the inherent unsureness of things “matters” in being as it is ….not to be therapized, medicated, persuaded away necessarily.

What are the most typical scenarios you find yourself consulting, example divorce, addiction, etc.

stress/burnout

addiction

relationship conflict and repair

high performance goals/issues

mood disorders

memory/cognitive/attentional goals

Traumatic Brain Injury and other post-concussive, or neurorehabilitation issues

Is your approach purely scientific? To what degree, if any, do spiritual or philosophical ways of dealing with life influence your professional career?

It is neurophilosophical and spiritual at its core, whether or not people “are” overtly spiritual or religious. There is definitely a contrarian common denominator to many not-of-this-world type ways of looking at life and solving problems. Take the idea of forgiveness and mercy. I can show this has neurophysiological benefits as well as functional outcome improvements in rational issues of life. However, the brain is addicted to one size fits all solutions and we many times ‘miss’ these counterintuitive aspects of healing as we are too busy holding a hammer and making the world a nail.

You work with a lot of people in high level positions, how do you think that level of responsibility and expectation effects those people?

In the 70’s a phrase called “imposter syndrome” was coined for an actual block that describes successful people’s inability to internalize their own achievements and integrate those into an identity that makes sense and is fulfilling. I believe this is a huge issue with today’s leaders who are working too hard at being someone they felt they were told to be and then having to try to “own” that life when all the rewards and pleasures are robbing their pleasure circuitries and confusing hedonism and happiness. I find these guys and gals are in a big work addiction cycle that is very tough to break, eventually all that “hard work” gets automatized and breaking from that lifestyle actually makes pain and suffering……just like withdrawal.

Can you tell me about the time you played guitar with a client? How did a decision like that end up creating a closer bond with you and the client?

It showed shrinks don’t always need to talk or work so hard at a verbal mode of listening together. Maybe we can radically disrupt the assumptions of “words” and use a whole ‘nother modality of connection and transcendence. That is music. And ego is removed and something greater is effortlessly created by just sharing notes together

You seem to have a balanced left and right brain way of solving problems. As a Jazz musician, what is your perspective on merging the analytical and the creative. Would you say that your methods are a little more unconventional, in a progressive way?

I am definitely an unconventional, renegade type professional, and able to smooth out all that roughness with Grace 🙂

You can read Dr. Flemings insightful articles by visiting: www.greymattersintl.com/blog, a blog dedicated to unraveling our cognitive and perceptual biases, and how our brain views what we think is true about change, success, high performance, leadership, and decision-making. His thought provoking blog reveals that we are all predictably irrational creatures who persist on a rational way of understanding achievement and the meaning of life.

www.greymattersintl.com

www.twitter.com/DrKevinFleming

www.facebook.com/GreyMattersInternational

www.linkedin.com/in/greymattersintl

This is an AscensionLifestyle Promoted Article

15 Nov 2015
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Reflections on a World of Grief: New Moon in Scorpio and the Saturn Neptune Square

I don’t mourn for a city. I mourn for people and the land they live on. I mourn for all the beings that have died traumatic deaths, all the lives disrupted, all the trauma created and all the people that are grieving the loss of their loved ones. In Paris, yes, and beyond. I don’t mourn for nation states, borders and boundaries. I mourn for the lies that are covered by their flags. I mourn for our collective consciousness that values some lives more than others.

I mourn for the normalization of black, brown, indigenous, queer, femme, female slaughter. I mourn for the way western, colonial thought dominates news networks blaming, shaming and setting up those from Islamic nations to bear the burden of our collective war crimes. I mourn for the fact that we are so far from clear about the western world’s involvement and financial backing of ISIS and other organizations of terror that we think we have been attacked by some foreign “other”.

I mourn for those that are terrorized by the American government, military and police force on this land and beyond. I mourn for our lack of consciousness about how we terrorize others. I mourn for our lack of empathy when we learn that we do. I mourn for our cognitive dissonance. I mourn for the fact that while we conceptually know that we are “all one”, the reality of valuing each life as equal is still far from the norm. I mourn for how racism, xenophobia, nationalism and colonialism have molded our way of thinking and shaped the pathways of our hearts.

I mourn for the part of us that blames the victim, time and time again. I mourn for the part of us that is too weak to stand up to the perpetrator. I mourn for the part of our souls that is so twisted, misshaped and malfunctioning that is chooses to align itself with the ones who wage these wars.

I mourn for all of this. I am a part of all of this. I am not separate from any of this. I mourn for this aspect of humanity, this aspect of myself that keeps reliving this nightmare.

I thought a lot this weekend. I thought and felt a lot about how I use astrology. How my community uses astrology. I thought about the Scorpio new moon. I thought about Saturn in Sagittarius squaring Neptune in Pisces. I thought about what was going on and what it meant for our world, our hearts and this profession.

There were obvious Scorpio themes in the past week. Themes of using power over others and using our inner power to inspire others to locate and use their own. There were also obvious emerging themes of Saturn in Sagittarius as the combination relates to issues of faith, extremism, education and xenophobia.

The successful demonstrations and strikes at Mizzou and the nationwide support for the students there was a beautiful example of how to use our personal power to inspire collective power in the face of racism and hatred (also a type of terrorism). The racist backlash and threats (again, terrorism) were an obvious example of how to use Scorpio energy in its most base, violent way.

Saturn in Sagittarius is also part of this story because the world of higher education is governed by Sagittarius and because Saturn makes real the issues we have with higher education. As Saturn in Sagittarius unfolds (it is far from over), more of these events are likely to come to light.

The terrorist attacks that took place in Beirut, Baghdad and Paris could be seen as another manifestation of the new moon in Scorpio and using that energy again in the most base, destructive way possible.

This moment has teased out the question of how we use our power and what we lend our power to. What happened this weekend in Paris is a tragedy, through and through. And it is a tragedy that happens in many countries the world over all the time. It happened in Beirut and Baghdad days before Paris and no president said anything about it. No astrological publication or astrologer that I know of pulled up the chart for Beirut or Baghdad and made a declaration about Saturn in Sagittarius either.

But we did for Paris.

There seems to be a conversation brewing in astrological circles about religious fundamentalism in connection to Saturn’s (the planet that makes things solid and defined) recent arrival into Sagittarius (a sign that deals with religion), but why now? Is it due to the fact that terrorist attacks have happened in France twice since Saturn moved into Sagittarius? But terrorist attacks happen in non-westerners countries, to non-white people all the time. Why don’t they get astrological scrutiny? Why draw up charts of and investigate only certain nations being attacked, certain types of people, and certain types of cultures? When does the terror that black and brown folks face get to be as worthy of the white solidarity and of the astrological communities expertise? When is the terrorism that happens in a non-western country worthy of airtime and analysis?

Certainly Saturn in Sagittarius brings into form, and therefore into our consciousness, the problems with patriarchal (Saturn) religious ideologies (Sagittarius). Squaring Neptune (compassion, confusion and delusion) in Pisces (dreamy, impressionistic and ideal states of oneness), the Saturn in Sagittarius complex gets outed possibly for the delusion that it is and that it feeds us.

Colonial thinking has power because it dehumanizes those that come from somewhere we know little to nothing about. We don’t have to see “them” as “us” or “their” suffering as “real”. When we dehumanize others, their suffering just isn’t as bad as ours. It’s simply not “our” problem and maybe not even “our” astrology.

Perhaps then, Saturn’s entrance into Sagittarius will make real this kind of disparage in our global philosophy. Perhaps Saturn’s transit through Sagittarius, especially as it makes three squares to Neptune in Pisces over the next year, can informs us, can remind us and can teach us that those that grieve their loved ones in the Middle East, in Africa, in Asia, and in the Americas do so in the same way. The same pain runs through every heart on this earth.

Let us not be manipulated by fear to turn against each other, creating ever more suffering. Let us grieve together, in solidarity for a world gone mad and in hopes for a world returned to sanity, which is to say, love.

By: Chani Nicholas

Chani has a degree in Feminist Counseling from George Brown College and a BA in Integral Studies from California Institute of Integral Studies. She has studied psychological astrology for over 20 years and is currently studying Hellenistic astrology with Demetra George. Chani devotes her spare time to studying, practicing and supporting restorative justice practices. You can find her at http://chaninicholas.com

12 Nov 2015
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Before I Go: A Neurosurgeon’s Final Reflections On Mortality

Time warps for a young surgeon with metastatic lung cancer

In residency, there’s a saying: The days are long, but the years are short. In neurosurgical training, the day usually began a little before 6 a.m., and lasted until the operating was done, which depended, in part, on how quick you were in the OR.

Time at home. Time well spent

A resident’s surgical skill is judged by his technique and his speed. You can’t be sloppy and you can’t be slow. From your first wound closure onward, spend too much time being precise and the scrub tech will announce, “Looks like we’ve got a plastic surgeon on our hands!” Or say: “I get your strategy — by the time you finish sewing the top half of the wound, the bottom will have healed on its own. Half the work — smart!” A chief resident will advise a junior: “Learn to be fast now — you can learn to be good later.” Everyone’s eyes are always on the clock. For the patient’s sake: How long has the patient been under anesthesia? During long procedures, nerves can get damaged, muscles can break down, even causing kidney failure. For everyone else’s sake: What time are we getting out of here tonight?

There are two strategies to cutting the time short, like the tortoise and the hare. The hare moves as fast as possible, hands a blur, instruments clattering, falling to the floor; the skin slips open like a curtain, the skull flap is on the tray before the bone dust settles. But the opening might need to be expanded a centimeter here or there because it’s not optimally placed. The tortoise proceeds deliberately, with no wasted movements, measuring twice, cutting once. No step of the operation needs revisiting; everything proceeds in orderly fashion. If the hare makes too many minor missteps and has to keep adjusting, the tortoise wins. If the tortoise spends too much time planning each step, the hare wins.

The funny thing about time in the OR, whether you frenetically race or steadily proceed, is that you have no sense of it passing. If boredom is, as Heidegger argued, the awareness of time passing, this is the opposite: The intense focus makes the arms of the clock seem arbitrarily placed. Two hours can feel like a minute. Once the final stitch is placed and the wound is dressed, normal time suddenly restarts. You can almost hear an audible whoosh. Then you start wondering: How long till the patient wakes up? How long till the next case gets started? How many patients do I need to see before then? What time will I get home tonight?

It’s not until the last case finishes that you feel the length of the day, the drag in your step. Those last few administrative tasks before leaving the hospital, however far post-meridian you stood, felt like anvils. Could they wait till tomorrow? No. A sigh, and Earth continued to rotate back toward the sun.

But the years did, as promised, fly by. Six years passed in a flash, but then, heading into chief residency, I developed a classic constellation of symptoms — weight loss, fevers, night sweats, unremitting back pain, cough — indicating a diagnosis quickly confirmed: metastatic lung cancer. The gears of time ground down. While able to limp through the end of residency on treatment, I relapsed, underwent chemo and endured a prolonged hospitalization.

I emerged from the hospital weakened, with thin limbs and thinned hair. Now unable to work, I was left at home to convalesce. Getting up from a chair or lifting a glass of water took concentration and effort. If time dilates when one moves at high speeds, does it contract when one moves barely at all? It must: The day shortened considerably. A full day’s activity might be a medical appointment, or a visit from a friend. The rest of the time was rest.

With little to distinguish one day from the next, time began to feel static. In English, we use the word time in different ways, “the time is 2:45” versus “I’m going through a tough time.” Time began to feel less like the ticking clock, and more like the state of being. Languor settled in. Focused in the OR, the position of the clock’s hands might seem arbitrary, but never meaningless. Now the time of day meant nothing, the day of the week scarcely more so.

Paul Kalanithi savors moments with his daughter, Cady.

Verb conjugation became muddled. Which was correct? “I am a neurosurgeon,” “I was a neurosurgeon,” “I had been a neurosurgeon before and will be again”? Graham Greene felt life was lived in the first 20 years and the remainder was just reflection. What tense was I living in? Had I proceeded, like a burned-out Greene character, beyond the present tense and into the past perfect? The future tense seemed vacant and, on others’ lips, jarring. I recently celebrated my 15th college reunion; it seemed rude to respond to parting promises from old friends, “We’ll see you at the 25th!” with “Probably not!”

Yet there is dynamism in our house. Our daughter was born days after I was released from the hospital. Week to week, she blossoms: a first grasp, a first smile, a first laugh. Her pediatrician regularly records her growth on charts, tick marks of her progress over time. A brightening newness surrounds her. As she sits in my lap smiling, enthralled by my tuneless singing, an incandescence lights the room.

Time for me is double-edged: Every day brings me further from the low of my last cancer relapse, but every day also brings me closer to the next cancer recurrence — and eventually, death. Perhaps later than I think, but certainly sooner than I desire. There are, I imagine, two responses to that realization. The most obvious might be an impulse to frantic activity: to “live life to its fullest,” to travel, to dine, to achieve a host of neglected ambitions. Part of the cruelty of cancer, though, is not only that it limits your time, it also limits your energy, vastly reducing the amount you can squeeze into a day. It is a tired hare who now races. But even if I had the energy, I prefer a more tortoiselike approach. I plod, I ponder, some days I simply persist.

Everyone succumbs to finitude. I suspect I am not the only one who reaches this pluperfect state. Most ambitions are either achieved or abandoned; either way, they belong to the past. The future, instead of the ladder toward the goals of life, flattens out into a perpetual present. Money, status, all the vanities the preacher of Ecclesiastes described, hold so little interest: a chasing after wind, indeed.

Yet one thing cannot be robbed of her futurity: my daughter, Cady. I hope I’ll live long enough that she has some memory of me. Words have a longevity I do not. I had thought I could leave her a series of letters — but what would they really say? I don’t know what this girl will be like when she is 15; I don’t even know if she’ll take to the nickname we’ve given her. There is perhaps only one thing to say to this infant, who is all future, overlapping briefly with me, whose life, barring the improbable, is all but past.

That message is simple: When you come to one of the many moments in life when you must give an account of yourself, provide a ledger of what you have been, and done, and meant to the world, do not, I pray, discount that you filled a dying man’s days with a sated joy, a joy unknown to me in all my prior years, a joy that does not hunger for more and more, but rests, satisfied. In this time, right now, that is an enormous thing.

By Paul Kalanithi

Paul Kalanithi, MD, was an instructor in Stanford’s Department of Neurosurgery and a fellow at the Stanford Neurosciences Institute. He passed away on March 9, 2015. More information about him is available at http://paulkalanithi.com.

Photography by Gregg Segal, syndicated from stanmed.stanford.edu