My Journey with Kabbalah

Note:  Links have been removed from this post because payment by Emily Olsen of Perennial Relations was not made and emails requesting fulfillment of their obligations were not answered.  

If emily@perennialrelations.com does respond and pay for this blog post as promised, I'll gladly restore the links and remove this notice.  I made this agreement with Emily in good faith and expected it to be honored.  It has not been honored. 

I did like the content of this blog post and have great respect for the Kabbalah Center even though I lost a tremendous amount of followers for posting it.

(Sponsored post by Kabbalah Center)

Kabbalah means different things to various students, but it has been nothing short of a total life transformation for me. I have practiced as an attorney in New York for more than a decade now, and I have been fortunate to have all the financial security that I need to provide a comfortable life for my two children.

However, it only took about three years of practicing law at a major law firm to find myself completely underwhelmed with my circumstances. Even though I had landed a prestigious career and had all of the comforts of an impressive salary, my life felt empty and almost meaningless. The birth of my children forever changed my life for the better, but outside of my interactions with them, I was a shell of a human.

In my neighborhood and surrounding community, there are actually a large number of people who study Kabbalah. I actually first learned about it from a friend who had been practicing Kabbalah for about seven years before introducing it to me.

Even though I felt overwhelmed at first with the magnitude of some of the initial teachings, I came to embrace the reality that this type of study would take years to fully immerse myself in. I approached it with serious vigor and a commitment to uncovering at least the broad scope of the hidden secrets of the universe.

Although I did not fully understand everything that I was reading and learning, I knew that this was only the beginning of opening my eyes, ears and brain to the spiritual knowledge that could fulfill my life in the way that I had been yearning for.

After just six months of study, I felt my body start to react to the spiritual knowledge it was receiving. I even started to stand taller because it felt like a weight had been lifted off of me. I was more present in all of my interactions with my children, and I found myself less stressed about my position at work. I even found the inner peace to rekindle some strained relationships with family members.

All of this would not have been possible for me without the sound teachings of the Kabbalah Centre. This wonderful center has been teaching Kabbalah to all kinds of students since 1965. I was concerned that my lack of knowledge about the Jewish religion and Hebrew would make the studies too advanced for me, but this was not the case at all. In fact, my lack of hardly any religious knowledge was not an impediment to my learning at the Kabbalah Centre. I found that I was embraced just as I was and received instruction that was specifically tailored to my circumstances.

One of the things that the Kabbalah Centre emphasizes in its teachings is that they are not incompatible with religion. Instead, these teachings are more of a supplement to religion and serve to help connect us with the unknown universe. The Kabbalah Centre allows students to explore all of the mysteries of the universe without having to arrive at a precise answer for all of the larger and incomprehensible things around us.

The universal principles taught at the Kabbalah Centre apply for all types of people throughout all walks of life. I have connected with a diverse and welcoming community of students, which has allowed me to pursue my studies at an even deeper level and appreciate the all-encompassing nature of the principles taught at the Kabbalah Centre. The openness of the students at the Kabbalah Centre to engage in meaningful discussions has certainly augmented my personal growth.

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This has been a sponsored post by the Kabbalah Centre (click here).

Please visit their site for more information. https://www.youtube.com/user/kabbalah

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What We Think Holds Us Back

I've seen this so much lately that it makes my head spin around fifty times.  Okay, by the time this is posted, some of what I'm triggered by will have passed.

What we think can truly hold us back in life.  Instead of evaluating something that may be beneficial, we just put the wall up.  We don't even give ourselves a moment to look at it or see it.

Not everything that we believe to be true and put our trust in is true.  We may think it is.  We may fully believe it is.  We may be convinced that it is.  It just doesn't always make it true.

Holding ourselves back in life from experiencing something that could help us or further our lives is not doing anyone any good.  We're too eager these days to believe things others tell us are true, but something that is standing right before us that may help us, we shun it like a hot potato.

It defies logic and common sense...

So much of what we think and believe is not grounded in science or fact that can be proved.  It is in the falsifying of what defies logic and common sense that we stand on as if we know all the answers.

If we continue to only see what it is that we think and believe, are we truly exercising our ability to be human?  A human should advance and grow, not stay stagnant in what someone has convinced them to believe.

Each one of us needs to evaluate what we hold on to and what we think and believe.  If we don't continually challenge it, we're staying stuck in one place.  This is not good for us or human civilization.

I think back to the story about the town down in Southwest Florida where Thomas Edison wanted to install his new electric lighting.  It was his gift to the town.  However, the townspeople were so afraid of it at the time.  It went against their beliefs of how lighting should be that they stopped him from doing this.

Just think, if each one of us does the same thing that the townspeople did, where will that get our civilization?  If you don't think you do this, guess what - we all do it.  There is not a one of us that doesn't hold on to something we think or believe without fully evaluating and challenging it to its core.

We will grow and become more if we allow what we believe to be challenged to its core.  It is then that we will see whether it is something solid for our life or if it needs to be let go and replaced by something that is. Maybe I'm just an odd-ball in life but I always keep pushing myself to be more than I am today.

Truth or Fiction in Cosmos

I love the new show "Cosmos" with Neil Tyson Degrasse.  I still remember hanging out with him waiting for the launch of the Grail Moon Mission early in the morning a few years ago.  He was funny, intelligent, and articulate.  He was personable and tended to be a big picture type of person, rather than a small minded thinker.

While I didn't believe everything he was stating and talking about, I will say one thing that was undeniable about him.  He made you think.  He made you question what you thought and why you thought it to be true.  He made you uncomfortable hanging on to your thoughts if you really couldn't prove why you hung on to those thoughts.  He stretched your mind.

I will always be grateful for the time I spent getting a lesson on the stars and all things universe.  I can understand that the show Cosmos is making people uncomfortable, but if we all have to believe the same thing, we have just reduced life down to nothing more than a one celled protozoa. 

Here To Work On Our Issues

These days, it is quite obvious that most humans don't get some basics in life.  They think they are here to convince everyone to follow their set of beliefs and opinions which often is held as truth.  Unfortunately, most don't understand that we are here to work on our issues.  We all have issues, no matter how perfect we think we are and that's why we came to this earth.

Too many of us have issues of being ignorant, proud, righteous, lacking self confidence, egotistical, anger, being full of ourselves, among others.  We go through our day wearing these things as our badge of identity.  It is like these things make up who we are.  In fact, many times we came into this world carrying all of this with us and so we don't even know what a life without these issues is all about.

On top of that, if we can identify the issues we struggle with, many people feel that to let go of these things or to begin to learn to let go, we would be cutting off a vital part of our self.  We may not say this and we might not be conscious of it, but if we could truly be honest with our life, we would see just how true it is.  Often it is hard to see ourselves accurately, because our mind filters everything through our own lenses of beliefs and opinions.  Many times, these things are just not true, but the filter keeps us from seeing the truth for our own life.

Its Always Darkest Before The Dawn

When we encounter rough moments in our life, it seems to be some of the roughest moments of our life.  We tend to look at it as a time when it is just too much to handle.  Instead, if we can step back and try to see the bigger picture, we will see that it is always darkest before the dawn.

The dawn of a new day in our life can be a wondrous thing, but it can also be a challenge as we give birth.  Difficult times and upheaval is a moment that brings us to the point of great change in our life.  I'm not going to say that any of it is easy and it is simple to just look at it this way.  I'm only trying to offer up a different way to view great challenge in a person's life.

Often when you begin a major transformation time in your life, you will find that it can be very difficult.  When you set the intention and begin to allow the shift to take place, your life might actually become more challenging.  It is easy to question why this would happen and what is wrong with your life.  After all, you are trying to change and make progress, but it almost seems like you are going downhill and backwards, rather than moving forward.

Make The Choice To Live Differently In Life

Do you ever feel stuck in the same old loops of life where your mind seems to travel familiar pathways?  You know, where an event happens and your mind reacts automatically with essentially the same result.  I'm sure all of us have experienced this at some point in our life or maybe on a daily basis.  I"m sure there are some reading this that are not able to see the old loops of their mind that they are stuck in.

One of the best things anyone can learn in life is that even though you have reacted the same way to some event in your life, does not mean you have to operate the same way in the future.  You do have a choice as to how you react and a choice to do something different.

I am not talking about avoiding something, or passing it off, or thinking a happy thought to make it disappear.  After all, if we hide our self from these things, how will we ever grow and evolve?  What I am talking about is looking hard at these things in your life that you do, and then questioning whether this is what you wish to continue for your life.  Once again, you do have a choice as to how you react and what you do.  You can revisit it as many times as needed.

Buck Still Wants To Be Better

I love this quote by Buck that I think was in the movie.  It is a simple quote, and if you have seen the movie, it really makes sense.  For what Buck went through early in his life, he found a way to overcome this and make something extraordinary with himself.  We all have that potential no matter what we have experienced in life.  It may not seem like it in the moment, but it is there calling us home.

If you haven't seen the movie, then by all means, check it out by clicking this link.

I'm still on the move, I'm getting better because I'm still studying. I still want to be a better horseman. - Buck Brannaman

Cleaning Out Our Life's Barn

Where The Barn Used To Be
Off In The Distance

When we first moved to a farm when I was in 8th grade, it had several out buildings, a lot of pasture, a big house and a gigantic old barn.  The barn was majestic with worn paint, but it provided a great place for me to hide, roam, and treat as if it was my own world.  My cats would hide in the left over hay bales and found it was a warm refuge from the weather and my father.

The barn no longer stands where it once did as it has been torn down.  As majestic as it was, full of those old timbers, it was really a mess inside.  It seemed as if someone had used it over the years, but never taken a moment to tidy it up or clean it out.  It was an accumulation of so much that one could have a history lesson inside its walls.

This applied to how dirty it was from left over animal material.  In the low end of the barn, the accumulation was over a foot in depth and was dried and hard.  It had become the floor in many ways and was crowding in on the ceiling.  Our job as kids was to go in and clean this out which meant chipping, picking away at it, and shoveling it outside the door to be spread on a nearby field.

Spring Is About Hope And Possibility

As spring begins to arrive here in central Florida, the landscape changes and the sounds of nature come to life. What was once a sea of brown trees and vegetation has slowly but almost overnight, turned to green.

Just a few weeks ago, the view was more open as the leaves of the trees were not present. Then as the temperatures began to warm, the view began to transform. With a dash of rain, the green buds started to emerge.

While the mornings are still cool, you can feel the springtime air, the more direct sun and sometimes the forceful March winds. It is dry right now but soon that will change as the summertime rains take up residency once again.

Even though birds are always around, they are once again more abundant. The sounds of many different birds vary in pitch and intensity. It is as if they are calling out to their friends, that spring is here. They all sing in chorus as if some great composer is conducting a symphony.

Spring is one of my favorite times of the year. After a cold winter, it signals warmth is on its way. It is a wonderful moment where new life is introduced to the world. Spring is a transition time from the old to the new and dormancy to growth.

To me, spring is about hope and possibility. It is giving us a moment that no matter what we left behind, we now create and grow our days in a new way. This time of the year is about wonder and amazement, miracles and the essence of life.



Blog Post & Images (c) 3/25/11 Don Shetterly - use by permission only
http://www.donshetterly.com

Walk Through Open Doors

Walk through doors that are open and learn from the ones that are closed. I keep being confronted with this concept over and over in my current life. It just fits for me and the reminders show up in many places. I ponder what it means to walk through open doors.

Really, the open doors do not bother me because it seems so simple to walk through them. Of course, there are fears of what may be waiting beyond the door frame. It is an unknown that can only be experienced as one decides to walk through. There is no way to understand what may be found as you step through. In many ways, the open door may be inviting but frightening at the same time.

Closed doors seem much more difficult at this point in my life. In many ways I do not understand why some doors appear to close. I find myself wanting to go up and force the door open because it bugs me to no end that it is closed. It provides a barrier that I am not allowed to walk through. I feel enclosed and confined.

In many ways, I view the closed door as something which was once given permission to me but now has been taken away. I feel deprived, restricted and antagonized by the closed door. In my mind, I wonder what I did wrong to cause the door to close. How did I fail in my life to cause this to happen? I am perplexed and haunted by these thoughts. My thoughts persecute me over and over through out my day.

While I desire to just forget the closed doors, my heart feels sadness for the longing of these doors. Sometimes I wish that these doors would not have been known to me because the pain would be less. However, I know that without these doors being a part of my life, there would be much I would have missed.

Yet, if I solely focus on the closed doors in my life, I will be robbing myself of the joys which are all around me. I will be missing opportunities because my focus will be on the illusion instead of the reality.

The doors that open before me are there to draw me further into life. How can I search and seek what I need in my life while I exist with my eyes closed? How can I walk towards open doors only to get to the door and instead of walking through, I turn around and focus on the closed door behind me?

I know that life is about taking steps forward. Sometimes it is difficult to do this because of the unknown. The closed doors are there for a reason that may not be in clear view at this moment. It is okay to mourn for the loss of the closed door but I remind myself that this gave me the opportunity to reach the next open door of my life.

The closed doors will always be there and they will be a significant part of my life. Closed doors in many ways mean that I am taking steps into deeper awareness of my life. May I rejoice and celebrate the closed doors as I discover what is beyond the next open door.

(Above Picture (c) 5/06/99)

Mind Body Breath Connection

Breathe in - then breathe out. Repeat as needed.

Let your breath center yourself throughout your day. For when you focus and come back to your breath, you find the grounding within your body. You need to search no further. it is right there within you. It is always there.

When the moments seem stressful or the frustrations mount, remember to breathe. You can do this anywhere you are at. That few seconds of noticing your breath rise and fall, can be enough to cause a shift within yourself. You don't have to be in any certain room or seated in a certain position. You can do this at any time and in any place.

There is something about us focusing on our breath that changes our biology. Not only do we bring in extra oxygen to our bodies but we connect the mind with the body. Think of what the extra oxygen gives to our body through the nutrients that our blood delivers and the waste products the blood carries away.

When we connect with our breath and feel it in our body, we are giving our body permission to feel in a safe and trusted way. It is as if we are allowing and promoting connections between our mind and our body. It is allowing our body to feel, sense and be in the moment where our mind is trying to engage with it. We are giving ourselves permission to do this.

Our breath does so much for us physically in a day and so often we take it for granted. Even if we stop to honor it on occasion, there are many times in our day where we are disconnected to it. It is like we assume it will do its thing and we do not need to be concerned at all with how we connect to it.

How would our day and our life change if we stopped for a brief moment throughout our day and noticed our breath. It does not need to be a long duration that we do this. Even 30 seconds to notice our breath could be a life changing moment. It does not require a major announcement to those around us. It only need to be a brief, quiet and reflective personal act that we give our self.

I've got a feeling that if each one of us stopped several times throughout our day and noticed the connection between our breath and our body, life as we know it would change. We would most likely witness shifts in our life of how we feel, sense and view things around us taking place. Imagine the possibilities! imagine the potential for personal growth and body awareness! Imagine the potential for healing in our bodies. And all it takes is but a few moments of stopping to notice our breath through our mind body connection.



*For more articles, check out the Mind Body Thoughts Blog

We Need The Clouds

Sometimes in life, our hearts come upon moments that can be challenging and difficult. We may have lost someone dear to us or just struggling as we hit the speed bumps in life.

While it would be nice to only have days of sunshine in our lives, we do need the clouds and the rain. Imagine what the world would look like without clouds and rain. It is the same in our life. It allows us to compare and contrast feelings, emotions, and experiences. Being able to compare and contrast gives us the opportunity to not only experience sorrow but recognize when happiness is around us. One without the other would leave us unbalanced.

Yes, it can be difficult to deal with the rough moments in life. Sorrow feels draining and never ending at the time we are experiencing it. However, if you look back on those difficult moments in your life, you hopefully will notice that you made it through them. Even though at the time it felt like you were being pulled under, you did make it. You made it through with flying colors.

It does not mean that these times were easy or short in duration. It just means that through your creative wisdom and personal discovery, that you found a way beyond them. Often it is the darkest just before the dawn. So to, is it some times the most difficult before we realize just how much we are growing.

Life sometimes is harder to understand while you're looking at one individual moment. However, if you can widen you viewing angle, you may very likely be surprised at just how it changes. It took very little effort on your part just to see what was happening even in the midst of the difficult moment.

May we have eyes that can never close. May we have a desire to be more than we are today. May we allow ourselves to reach deep within for the energy, the strength and the courage we need in life. And may we give thanks for each and every experience in our lives. For without them, we would not be who we are today.



*For more articles, check out the Mind Body Thoughts Blog

Healthy Relationships

My partner and I have some great moments and then we also have moments where I'm sure both of us question our relationship. To me, this is a balanced relationship because one without the other would be boring I suspect (at least to me) or maybe not balanced!

We've been together for almost 11 years now and the relationship has changed as we have changed. (through both the good and the bad).

One thing we both see is how we've grown individually and as a couple. We're not the same people we were when we met and that's a good thing. The important part though is we've grown together as we've grown individually. Both parts I think are important. Sometimes though the rate of growth has been different between us which does account for some of the push/pull parts of our relationship.

We had a rough period of time when we first got together until we learned that some things matter and some things don't. The little things that we were getting so upset over, really didn't matter in the end. Once we focused on what we shared and what we loved about the other person, many of those things just diminished in view. They just weren't as important for us.

We've learned to allow the other person to feel miserable and like crap and be sad, depressed, crying... etc... and be ok with it. It isn't always easy to see someone you love struggle, but we just try to support each other and allow the other person to continue on their journey. That can get very tough to do! But it has allowed us to both grow in some intense ways and I doubt we would have grown if the other person would have been trying to fix each other's problems.

Early on in our relationship, I could barely have much touch or hugs or even sex. So we developed a way that if something made either of us uncomfortable, all we had to do was say "stop". No questions asked and no reasons for it other than we just needed to stop. It gave us so much personal power and control that usually helped us move through those issues. The trust we developed as a result has been very helpful and nurturing.

Sometimes we find we get in a rut and life becomes predictable. We get in a routine and then things get boring. So every now and then, we just take a day and run off to the beach or some city or park or something that we find fun. It gives us a break away and just allows us to have fun. We try to have those silly moments as well to really just be kids and enjoy life. Life can get difficult enough without us adding to it.

We're together a lot because both of us work out of our home. Sometimes, we just need a break from each other and so we make sure we find things to do by ourselves that give us that. It may be sitting out by our pool, reading a book or going to the fitness center or whatever it is. Time spent apart is just as valuable as the time we spend together.

We also have many differences in our personalities and our likes but we've learned to be with the other person in some of those activities. We just share them with each other and while they are activities either of us would not do on our own, they are something different that we can share together and enrich not only our own lives but our relationship.

*For more articles, check out the Mind Body Thoughts Blog

In Difficult Times We Blossom

This past winter was a tough one where I live and many of the plants took a big hit. We had been down in the low to mid twenties (Fahrenheit) for many days which is unusual for us. While most places get much colder than that during the winter months, our vegetation is not designed to survive these colder temperatures. By the time spring had come, so many of our plants were brown, leafless and appeared to be dead.

At first glance, one would have thought they were all dead and need to be replaced. After all, there was very little left to each plant. There was no sign of life. It looked grim for them. My thoughts began to turn towards digging up what was left and replacing the plants.

Then the strangest thing happened. As the temperatures warmed up and the spring rains fell, I began to notice some life in each plant. This did not happen all at once either but little by little, it began to show up. With special care and extra water, many of the plants continue to grow again with some doing better than others.

Isn't life the same way? We go through moments where our feet are walking in the fire. We think there is no tomorrow and no hope for improvement. Yet, the strangest thing happens - we blossom! Somehow through all the rough moments when it appeared we could not make it, we noticed some new life. We noticed new growth. It just showed up without any fanfare or announcement.

Just as the plants know how to send up new shoots of growth or fill their branches with leaves, so do our human bodies and minds. We are complex, biological organisms that have far more power to heal, grow and recover from some of the worst situations imaginable.

Consider those darkest and most difficult times in life that you may have traveled. I'm sure that while you were in the midst of those moments, it appeared there was no way through. Yet, during these times, many parts of your life were growing and preparing you to blossom.

It is a beautiful thing about humans that we have the capacity to take some very rough moments and turn them into beauty. We are much stronger, more resilient and full of courage than we often realize. Everything we need is within us, located in our mind, our body and our spirit. May we cherish, honor and love all that we are and all the growth we have experienced.

*For more articles, check out the Mind Body Thoughts Blog

What Is Fear?

Fear is the emotional response to a perceived threat, real or imagined. It is one of our basic innate emotions. Fear is associated with the actions of escape or avoidance.

In the book, "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals" by Charles Darwin, he gives an excellent and vivid description of fear.

Fear is often preceded by astonishment, and is so far akin to it, that both lead to the senses of sight and hearing being instantly aroused. In both cases the eyes and mouth are widely opened, and the eyebrows raised. The frightened man at first stands like a statue motionless and breathless, or crouches down as if instinctively to escape observation. The heart beats quickly and violently, so that it palpitates or knocks against the ribs... That the skin is much affected under the sense of great fear, we see in the marvelous manner in which perspiration immediately exudes from it... The hairs also on the skin stand erect; and the superficial muscles shiver. In connection with the disturbed action of the heart, the breathing is hurried. The salivary glands act imperfectly; the mouth becomes dry, and is often opened and shut.

Fear is a normal response to protect us from danger and if we could not feel it, we would not be able to protect ourselves. Our life experiences alter how we feel and perceive fears in our lives. All too often, people who have been traumatized are triggered by current experiences that have no basis in real dangers. The fear then becomes a connection to an event that is not real in the moment but is perceived by that person.

The parts of the brain that are involved in the fear response include the amygdala which stores emotional memories including fear memories, the hippocampus which puts memories and experience in context to the stimuli being faced, the thalamus which decides where to send incoming data that it receives and the hypothalamus which is responsible for the fight or flight response.

Many times, we hear people tell us or others to not be afraid and portray fear to be something that is bad or negative. All emotions are part of our mind and body for a reason whether they are from real or perceived sources. Our job should not be to discount, abhor, or condemn these emotions. Instead our job should be to embrace all of our emotions whether we feel they are positive or negative and fully become aware of how they impact our mind, our body and our personal growth.

Too often, our society tries to control others and bring others in line with what we feel is the proper way to look at some aspect of life. The use of fear is one of the main ways that this is done and all you have to do is look around yourself in a day, and you can see evidence of this. From the government and their policies, to politics, schools, society norms, religious institutions and even down into the family practices and norms. Fear is often used as a weapon against others. Even the news media is extremely skilled at using fear to get us to tune into the news programs.

Take a step back though and consider just how valuable fear is to our lives. It helps protect us and keep us from doing harmful things to ourselves and others. If we embrace it and we go into the fear, our lives become much more rich and full and alive. Of course, if we constantly overwhelm ourselves with fear from every direction, than fear becomes a hindrance to our lives.

Fear holds great power and energy and if we push it down in our lives and try to distance ourselves from it, than it will rob us of so much. Fear is potential energy that can be used to create a chair reaction of events into further awareness and potential benefit. We can learn so much from it and use it to move us forward into situations that benefit our lives and our growth.

Often we are so afraid of fear and we are so overwhelmed in life that we can not deal with fear. We find ways to avoid it and run from it while it finds ways to get out attention. We may think we are avoiding it or just not thinking about fear but in the end, we are only fooling ourselves. If we continue to fool ourselves, our fears will get our attention and they will force us to deal with them. The sooner we begin to listen to our fears and embrace them, the better off we will be.



*For more articles, check out the Mind Body Thoughts Blog

A Process, Not An End Point

At one time, I thought that if I just worked on particular issue A, B and C, that I would be fully healed from baggage of my past. It seemed like, all I had to do was go to counseling, work on it, become aware of it and that's it. I would be healed. While I would love to believe this, along with millions of other folks on this earth, healing really doesn't work this way.

For you see, once you begin to work on things, than you stand before a new world that opens up and unfolds itself. Imagine never being able to see and then all of the sudden you get your eye sight. Everything that before was unknown to you, is now vividly before your eyes. Imagine how that might look. You're still standing in the same world you have always known but now your awareness of what is around you has unfolded many times over.

Healing works much the same way. As we begin to take back those areas of our lives that were damaged or stretched out of proportion, life begins to look differently. We discover new things about all that is around us as well as ourselves. We begin to become more aware of all that there is instead of all that we currently know.

With each new awareness and each new level of awareness, there also comes other parts of our past issues that may not yet be resolved. It does not mean we have not fully healed or that we just need to move on. It means that we are growing, changing and coming up on opportunities to take our lives further. Growing, changing and evolving makes us more human and even though it may offer some rough moments in life, the rewards are full of possibility.

So often, we feel that we just want to move beyond things and not feel all of what may be coming up. Sometimes we may need to do this momentarily to survive but if we continue this way, we are only robbing ourselves of all that can be. Sure, it isn't always easy but we can heal and we can grow if we allow ourselves to. In all reality, the more we keep ourselves from feeling the uncomfortable stuff in our lives, the more we feed energy to these things.

Often, I have had people wonder why I continue to go into all that life has given to me and continue bringing these healing moments out. Part of it is my determination to move beyond these things because I am intimately aware of how they affect all aspects of my life. The other part is that I know there is a higher purpose to all that I've gone through and I am guided by this. While I can not fully see the higher purpose for myself, deep down the prompts in life show me that it does exist and to keep going. It does not make any of this easy nor do I enjoy spending the hard hours working on this. In the end though, I know that I can either rest on my laurels or I can dive head first into the evil side of life that was thrust upon me and reclaim an awareness greater than I can currently comprehend.

I remember the words to the song that Garth Brooks sings, "The Dance". "I could have missed the pain but I'd of had to miss the dance". It is a beautiful concept because while there are rough moments in our lives, it is a dance. The more we allow the bad and the good into our awareness, the more we can grow, prosper and claim all that is ours. There is so much more in life than we are currently and often aware of. However, all too often we just see the pain of it and we try to flee from it. It is when we stop and embrace the pain, that we fully "dance" in life.

As I said in the beginning of this, healing is not an end point. It is a process. If you are experiencing the pains in your life and the connections to past events, than most likely you are being given the opportunity to grow and discover yourself in new ways. Yes, I realize it may be scary and difficult but give it all you have and discover the rewards that await. Life does try to get our attention in one way or another and if we ignore it, we will see that it just tries harder. May you listen to life as it tries to get your attention so that you become all you can be as a human and you continue to evolve and grow in awareness. To do so, makes you truly human.

*For more articles, check out the Mind Body Thoughts Blog

Do We Change or Do We Hunker Down?

Many of us from the species called humans come up against big obstacles in our life and in our day. We all know what these things are if we have not completely become numb to them. I'm sure each one of us could think of a zillion obstacles or at least one in our life right at this moment.

These obstacles are put in our path for many reasons. Sometimes they are to get us to stop and look at the direction we are traveling. Other times, they are put there so hopefully we will gain something new from observing the obstacle. They might be put there for many other reasons from bringing new insight to us, a warning for our lives or just to get our attention. I'm sure each of us could come up with many reasons for these obstacles being put in our path.

We as humans are meant to evolve and grow and become more than we were the day before. When in the busy hustle of life, evolving and growth towards things higher than ourselves often get put on the back burner. There are just too many things we tell ourselves that we must do and stopping to look at the obstacles in our life just requires too much time, work and energy. Ok, it may not be that direct that we do this but I'm not telling anyone something new. We all are well aware of what we do, even if we don't own up to it.

So my question is reflective for each person who is reading this to consider. Do we change or do we hunker down? Hunkering down can be a good thing sometimes when the hurricane force winds are bearing down upon us but if we stay hunkered down, we'll never see the sunlight of the new day. Once again, I ask, Do we change or do we hunker down?

It is up to each one of us to not be content with the status quo in our lives and to not just accept our life as the means to an end or this is the way it has been and always will be. It is up to each one of us to go forward in our lives, reaching for that higher purpose within ourselves and becoming all that we are not only meant to be but that we are capable of becoming. There is so much that lies within each one of us and we often forget this. We all must realize just how much we do have in spite of the obstacles we see before us.

So one final time I ask the question again: Do we change or do we hunker down when we come upon obstacles in our lives?

It is an answer only you can give and hopefully you are honest with yourself because no one else will do that for you.

Epic Meditations (Lisa Wagner)

Available On



I sat down with Lisa Wagner to talk with her about her CD of guided meditations, Epic Meditations. I hope you enjoy reading the conversation as much as I enjoyed speaking with her. To hear more, make sure you click on the images above for samples of her work on iTunes.



1) What is Epic Meditations all about?
It’s a CD of 11 guided meditations, each with a very specific purpose. In general, guided meditations use imagery and verbal cues to guide the listener through the experience, usually with the intent of relaxation, renewal or spiritual growth. The meditations on my CD guide the listener to a very specific experience, like releasing resentment, facing the truth about oneself, feeling empowered by choice, etc.


2) Why did you decide to create this project?
The inspiration for this CD was a perfect experience of synchronicity. I had several different thoughts and dialogues going with people, and then one day it all came together and I was just lit up with the idea. I was feeling open to starting something new, and wanted it to be something I would feel passionate and excited about. I wanted to try to find a way to share some of my thought processes, and some of the information/advice that seems to come up often when talking with other people. All my life, people have responded very positively to the sound of my voice, and one day it just hit me - guided meditations.


3) What is your hope or goal that people using these meditations will gain for their lives?
My intention for these meditations is that they help every listener improve the quality of his or her life. It can seem tempting and reasonable to connect the circumstances of our lives to the quality of our lives, but I believe it is more about our intentions, thoughts and perceptions, shaping the quality of our lives. Two people can encounter exactly the same circumstances, and yet have very different experiences. I’m hoping that by helping people connect to their inner voice, their personal truth, their ability to perceive they have a choice, etc., they will deepen their understanding about how their thoughts shape their reality and the quality of their lives.


4) If there is someone that doesn’t normally do this type of thing, is it really for them or is it just for people who already meditate?
No experience is required. Every listener is guided through the whole process. I start off guiding you through a few deep breaths, and then towards the stated intention of the meditation. Some of these meditations are only a couple of minutes, and some are several minutes. The longest ones are 12 minutes.


5) Do people need to use these meditations every day or is this an occasional thing that they can do in their life?
Some of them could be helpful on a regular basis. I have a short meditation titled “Quieting Your Mind.” It’s only a couple of minutes and I guide the listener to quickly and easily quiet the mind. There are lots of times when this would be helpful. My hope would be that eventually people can achieve the same result not only on their own and without the meditation, but within just a moment. Practicing how to get there with my meditation, teaches people how to get there in a few minutes on their own. My hope is that they eventually get there with a breath - in seconds. Each meditation can be used as needed, whether it is once, occasionally or on a regular basis.


6) What has meditations such as this or the other forms you mention on your website done for your own life?
Okay, that is question I really could spend hours answering, and I feel like this CD is just the tip of an iceberg. I guess the simplest answer is this - meditation brings more clarity. There are lots of ways to meditate. In addition to all the more structured techniques that are taught and discussed, even just day dreaming, watching it rain, staring at a flower can be a meditative experience. Allowing the mind to quiet, and then being willing to know what comes into the space, whether it is a feeling or a thought, can provide great clarity. I feel that a big part of why I make most decisions easily is connected to my ability to very quickly quiet my mind and allow my intuition to clearly be known. Being able to connect to a sense of what is important to me, what is best for me, to understand my intention, to know the truth of the moment … these contribute to my life consistently coming together in a joyful and fulfilling way. What I want to do through this first set of meditations, and the others to follow, is to help people enhance that inner connection by helping them to consciously experience it and acknowledge it.


7) Does the meditation put me in a hypnotic trance where someone really won’t be aware of what’s going on?
Not at all. While people may feel relaxed by the sound of my voice, and guided to let their minds wander in the directions I suggest, this is not hypnotherapy. It’s not trance-inducing in anyway. This is about focusing the mind on a particular area of life, an issue/concern, or just quieting the mind. Listeners will know they are in control the whole time.


8) Where can people purchase this? Can they download it or buy the cd?
It is available for download on iTunes. Search either by Lisa Wagner or Epic Meditations. There are also direct links on my website: www.epicmeditations.com, and I will update my site once the physical CD is available for purchase. I had intended that all 11 tracks be available as single downloads for 99 cents. Most of them are, but 3 of them are “album only.” I didn’t know until just recently (after it was released and on iTunes) that any track over 10 minutes is made album only on iTunes. I have 1 track that is just over 10 minutes, and two that are just over 12 minutes, so they are album only. The other 8 meditations are 99 cent downloads.


Closing comment
Thanks so much for your interest in my work, Don, and giving me this opportunity to share it.

Akashic Records, My Notes - Chapter 1

These are my notes from the following chapter. For the entire context, please read the following chapter in "Edgar Cayce on the Akashic Records by Kevin J. Todeschi"

Chapter 1
1) Karma is a sanskritt word that means work, deed or act or also it can mean "cause and effect".

2) According to Edgar Caycee, Karma is not about a debt that needs to be paid or a set of circumstances that must be encountered. It is simply patterns of memories. A pool of information from the past that the subconscious draws upon for the present. It has positive and negative parts to it.

3) Pg 11: In regards to Karma "To be sure, this subconscious memory has an effect and an influence upon how we think, how we react, what we choose, even how we look! But the component of free will is ever within our grasp."

4) Free will is always our choice. We may not always know where our thoughts originate or what experiences we have had but our choice in the present moment is ours. We have the free will to make whatever choice we so desire regardless of what we have been through in our past.

5) All people get to experience current situations that are based upon past or previous choices but what is important is how each person chooses to respond to the current situation. All experiences are for the opportunity of personal growth and awareness.