2012

Have a happy new year!  Remember to choose peace...

Namaste

Namaste as defined by Mahatma Gandhi:

"I honor the place within you where the entire Universe resides; I honor the place within you of love, of light, of truth, of peace; I honor the place within you, where, when you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us."

Namaste

The Chakras

Generally, it is agreed that there are at least seven chakras in the human body.  Chakras are energy centers along the body and are associated with different colours and basic characteristics as follows:

• Seventh Chakra - Crown - head - white - higher self
• Sixth Chakra - Third Eye - purple - clairvoyance
• Fifth Chakra - Throat - blue - truth
• Fourth Chakra - Heart - green - love, healing energy, integration of body and spirit
• Third Chakra - Solar Plexus - stomach area - yellow - intelligence, joy
• Second Chakra - Sacral Chakra - below the belly button - orange - creativity, emotions
• First Chakra - Base Chakra - pelvic area - red - survival, instincts, grounding

It is important to meditate on your chakras regularly to assess their colour (dark/light), spin (speed; is it blocked?), and how they look (size, angle...) to determine if they need to be cleared or balanced in any way.

Unhealthy chakras can be caused by, and cause, mental or physical illness.  Likewise, healing chakras to improve the flow of energy can also improve or cure mental or physical aliments.

If you are interested in learning more about chakras, there are several books available which have more detailed explanations about the nature of chakras and the impact if any of them are out of balance or blocked energetically.

I found the following site to be very informative:
http://www.healing-journeys-energy.com/Chakra.html#axzz1jGxwwhZb

The Dark Night of the Soul

The dark night of the soul is a term used by many to refer to either a spiritual crisis or moments in life where hope disappears and life feels empty.  It is the title of a poem written by 16th-century Spanish poet and Roman Catholic mystic Saint John of the Cross, as well as of a treatise he wrote later, commenting on the poem.  The journey occurs during the night, which represents the hardships and difficulties the soul meets in detachment from the world and reaching the light of the union with the Creator. [1]

I wrote the following in 1993.  The next year, 1994, was one of the best years of my life:

"Through shattering pain, I will always have my flame;
A shadow in night becomes a fire in light.
Although a flame can die away;
It becomes the wind and lives the day."

Parenting - Love vs Fear

I do not claim to be an expert but I believe that there are some basic parenting guidelines which can help raise children through love instead of fear regardless of cultural or religious background.  For example:

• Focus on positive reinforcement instead of negative corrections.  
• Virtues empower people.  Thank your child when they do something virtuous such as being respectful, compassionate or patient.
• Never make promises or threats
• Establish appropriate boundaries for each child based on the maturity and personality of the child
• Be consistent with rules and boundaries
• Phrase corrections from a positive perspective - explain what you would like them to do instead of what they are doing wrong in your opinion - Only use the word "No!" for safety issues 
• Show/tell them you love them every day and find ways to compliment them
• Children are never "bad"; they may do bad things - be careful what you call your children as words are powerful and may form their self image
• If you feel emotionally out of control, do not "take it out" on your child - learn ways to calm yourself before interacting with your children - even if they are the ones pushing your buttons.  If needed, find a way to physically remove yourself from the situation (if possible).
• Never abuse your child - this includes spanking. 

I believe that parenting skills and basic financial skills should be taught in high school as a mandatory course.

Children are our future and we have the opportunity and responsibility to break negative cycles.

A Plant Named Glee

In San Francisco, in 2007, (before the TV show called Glee) I sat down in a chair next to a side table with a little plant in Starbucks to have some lunch and thought to myself, "what a beautiful plant."  I then heard in my mind, "Thank you."  I had just discovered that I could talk to dolphins in my mind so I thought - why not a plant?

"What's your name?" I said in my mind.  The little multicoloured plant tried to tell me it's Latin plant species name.  I interrupted and said, "no, I mean what is your name?".  I got a puzzled response so I explained that names are unique to each individual.

So I asked what it would name itself and the plant said "Glee!!!".  I said, "What a happy name."  Glee then asked me what my name was.  I said, "Janine" and Glee asked if it was a happy name.  I was feeling a little down that day so I said it was a little sad but an adventurous name.  Glee asked, "Why sad?" and I said it was because I could not help everyone.

Glee then showed me an image of how all plants and trees are interconnected; that if you help one plant or tree, you help all of them.  The message was that we are all connected and helping yourself and those in your life can help everyone and everything.

There is no place I would rather be...

There are moments in my life where they are so perfect for me, I make sure I take the time to engrave the memory into my mind and say "There is no place I would rather be..."

Often, moments like these inspire me to create a new painting.  One time inspired the following:

"My hear melted like golden dew drops

as the sun slowly began to fall;

Memories still danced in the night air

as hollow voices began to call.

The silver moon reflected my dreams

while heavenly bodies switched places;

A shooting star engraved in my eyes

helped me to see life's many faces."

I wish everyone a lifetime of perfect moments.

Affirmations

We become what we think.

It is in our best interest to think positively.  Affirmations are positive statements you repeat to yourself on a daily basis to affirm what you want to be true.  To create an affirmation:

1. Decide what your goals are.
2. Affirmations usually start with "I AM..." but do not need to
3. If you include an emotion, you make them more powerful.  For example, "I am happily achieving my weight loss goals".  Other emotional word examples include: joyously, confidently, relaxed, calm [1]
4. Phrase each statement positively.  Avoid negatives such as "not" and avoid the use of words for which you want the opposite meaning.  If you focus on the negative you will attract it instead of what you want.

Pick a time every day to say/think your affirmations such as before bed or first thing in the morning.

Examples:

• I am happy, healthy, safe and wealthy
• I am beautiful, joyful and grateful
• My life is full of abundance and all of my needs are met

Out of Body Experiences

When I was in high school, I had read a few books on Out of Body Experiences (OBE) and thought I would try to make it happen for myself.  I tried various techniques and one finally worked where I imagined pulling myself up using an imaginary rope while not physically moving in a seated position.  However, when I did it, I found it to be a frightening experience and it made me realize that I really did not know what I was doing.  During the OBE I ended up in a place that was so dark that I quickly came back and did not want to try it again.

To this day I have not tried again.  I find that my consciousness can travel quite well through time and space in meditation that I do not need my entire auric body to leave my physical body.

However, I do wonder if being able to control OBEs is a step towards psychokinesis abilities...perhaps I should try again now that I am more aware of other levels of experience.

Without black, colours would not be as bright

As a child I wondered if black was a colour as it seemed to be the absence of colour.  It turns out it depends if you are talking about light or pigments.

Reference: http://www.colormatters.com/color-and-design/are-black-and-white-colors

Metaphorically, I believe that colours are not as bright without black as a contrast.  We are here to experience contrast to evolve.  I believe that we cannot fully appreciate the light in our lives until we contrast it with dark experiences.

Fractal Time

As far as I am aware, time as we experience it in this universe is linear.  When people talk about fractal time, they are referring to the cycle or pattern of personal or collective events which repeat in time.  This pattern is based on fractals.

Similarly, fractal patterns have also been used to analyze financial market cycles and forecast market trends.  This form of technical analysis is called the Elliot Wave Principle.  "The Elliot Wave Principle posits that collective investor psychology, or crowd psychology, moves between optimism and pessimism in natural sequences."

Fractals are defined as "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole,"^[1] a property called self-similarity.

Approximate fractals are found in abundance in nature.  These objects display self-similar structure over an extended, but finite, scale range.  Examples include clouds, river networks, mountain ranges, snow flakes, ferns, trees, crystals, lightning, broccoli, and systems of blood vessels and pulmonary vessels, and ocean waves.  DNA and heartbeats can be analyzed as fractals.  Even coastlines may be loosely considered fractal in nature.

The Mandelbrot set is a famous example of a fractal.

From: http://www.greggbraden.com/fractal-time-calculator

"The principles of cycles and time appear to be universal. For this reason, they apply to the things that happen in our personal lives as well as the things that occur on a global scale.... We can identify a seed event in our personal or collective past, and calculate when the conditions created by that event will repeat in our future."

"We can calculate the times in our lives for the repeating conditions of any emotional experience that has left its imprint on our heart. The conditions can range from the elation of an accomplishment to the hurt from a loss. The key ... is that the experiences that create the greatest magnitude of feeling tend to become the seed events for similar conditions, and similar patterns, to repeat at cyclic intervals."

Why Explore or Develop Space?

In my opinion, we strive to explore beyond the Earth for three reasons: curiosity, the challenge, and the advancement of technology for the betterment of our planet and humanity.

Frank Borman, upon becoming the first human to orbit the moon, realized that the earth, like the Apollo spacecraft in which he rode, has only a finite amount of the resources needed to sustain life.  It is my hope that in working together internationally towards a common goal of exploring the universe, we can eliminate our borders in the spirit of cooperation, and potentially achieve sustainable development.

Also, trying to understand our place in the universe allows us to see ourselves from different perspectives.  It helps us to see how fragile we are and, yet, reminds us of our potential.

“To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit”
– Stephen Hawking  

We are God; God is Everything

For the Star Wars fans out there, the "force" is a good analogy for what I believe is God.  I believe that we are all connected energetically and that our collective light or energy is what people call God.

To me, God is not a separate entity which judges our actions.  Nor is it an entity to be worshiped.   We are God and we simply exist and are evolving together.

11.11.11

It is not the date, but the fact that so many people will be focusing on peace at the same time which makes 11:11 am (local time) on 11.11.11 very powerful.

Be Positive

One of my favorite assignments from one of the courses I took was to be positive for an entire week.  This includes thinking, speaking and acting in a positive manner.  It turned out to be a very difficult assignment.  Even if I was able to stay positive, it was difficult to get other people to be positive and to not get caught up in their negativity.

This activity keeps your vibrational frequency at a higher level and attracts more positive things and circumstances into your life.

I challenge everyone who reads this to be positive for at least a week and to remind yourself daily to stay positive every day afterwards.  Pass the assignment on to others to help change the world one person at a time!

Remember Who You Are

We are all beings of energy and we are all connected.  We exist in many dimensions and have several facets (emotional, ego, higher self, physical, mental, parts of ourselves in other dimensions etc).  We experience life in fractal time cycles in a holographic universe where each individual is everything at the same time.

You are here to integrate your experiences at many levels and to discover your own truth.

"Remember who you are" is the main message I had in my high school yearbook my graduating year.

The Virtues

From:
http://www.virtuesproject.com/virtuesdef.html

assertiveness caring cleanliness compassion confidence consideration courage courtesy creativity detachment determination enthusiasm excellence faithfulness flexibility forgiveness friendliness generosity

gentleness helpfulness honesty honor humility idealism joyfulness justice kindness love loyalty mercy moderation modesty obedience orderliness patience

peacefulness prayerfulness purposefulness reliability respect responsibility reverence self-discipline service steadfastness tact thankfulness tolerance trust trustworthiness truthfulness unity

The Functions of Religion

Unfortunately, throughout time, spirituality has be intertwined with religion.  As people search for guidance on how to live life and to understand questions of the unknown, they have often found it in religion.  However, humans have used religion as a means to control others and gain money and power through fear which has often resulted in wars.

Religion has been used to control others by dictating a way of life with specific rules which often have nothing to do with spirituality.  It becomes part of culture and tradition.  At the same time, religions have provided people with answers and values which act as a mask to the true nature of many religions.  I am not saying that religion is wrong and should not be followed, I would just like people to be mindful of some of the ulterior motives behind many religions.

Note that churches can be powerful, energetic places because they are locations where many people pray together.  People's thoughts and prayers are amplified when focused on by more than one person.  Also, many of the values taught are of higher frequency.

In the end, I encourage everyone to discover their own truth, which can have a basis in many other spiritual beliefs including religions.  Just be careful and always ask yourself if what you hear or read feels right to you.

Be a Light

“A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle” - James Keller

The Culture of Animals

We cannot save animals by putting them into zoos.  They also have culture which they pass down each generation.  We need to preserve their habitat.  Humans can be so ignorant to how magnificent and important our fellow beings really are.

There was a polar bear in a zoo recently who rejected her cubs.  The cubs died as result.  I would not want my children to grow up in confinement either.

The Purpose of Life

To me, the purpose of life here on Earth at this time is to experience contrast and to increase our vibrational frequency.  We can increase our vibrational frequency by energetically releasing density caused by karmic drama not relinquished in this life or in our past lives.  We also have to be mindful to not create more density.  The reason this is done is to learn and evolve.

To do this, we first each have to take responsibility for our thoughts and what we have individually and collectively manifested which does not serve the higher good of all.

Then, we need to step back and observe ourselves every time an emotional button is pressed and just feel the emotion, with the intention of releasing it, without pressing the other person's emotional buttons in return.  Be grateful to anyone who helps you to learn your life lessons.  Physical illness is also an indication of density - if you just treat the symptoms, it will get worse.  The intent is to clear our auric body of energy blockages.

Finally, we need to be in the moment, as time is a matter of perspective, listen to our higher selves, find balance, celebrate our individuality and remind ourselves that we are all connected.

Universal Oneness

When I was seven years old I wanted to go home.  I did not understand why I was here. 

Then I had a vivid dream that I was hovering over the Earth and did not see any boundaries; everything was connected - there were no different languages or religions - only math made sense.

Over the years, I had glimpses of who I was and of knowledge that we are all here to evolve by increasing our vibrational frequency through various means and that we are all one.