A Balanced Approach to Wellness!

Posts tagged ‘life’

Airplane interactions

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I just spent 14 hours on a plane. Plenty of time for reflection on airplane interactions.

The environment on an enclosed and unnatural airplane is interesting. It is exclusionary because it excludes those who cannot afford the entry price. It is dictatorial because all who enter know they must follow the rules set by the airline and the various ruling bodies that set guidelines for airplane behavior. It is grueling for the attendants because of the fragile state of many of the passengers.

Stress

Airplane travel is stressful. Stressful for all who cross the passenger entryway.

Parents of young children are stressed because they worry that the other passengers will be annoyed by their children, they worry about the state of their children during the flight, they worry about what awaits them on the other side of the flight (visit to relatives, return to home, move to new destination, etc.), and they worry about regular worries (finances, health, etc.).

Business travelers are stressed because of deadlines, expectations from the employer and from family members (if they live with family) or other close people, worry, tiredness, and so on.

Vacationers are stressed from the preparations before, anticipation of what’s to come, and other personal concerns.

People with major health concerns (real and imaginary) are stressed from thoughts of what could happen to them during the flight.

People who fear flying are stressed on top of normal stress.

Lack of movement

“People are meant to move—at all ages, no matter the occupation, no matter the location. Restricting movement is a mistake.” … from Pond a Connected Existence.

If a flight is longer than 30 minutes, then people are not moving enough. The longer the flight, the more the suffering from lack of movement.

Sleep confusion

The body requires a certain amount of sleep, and airplane travel can significantly disturb this requirement. If time zones are crossed, the body doesn’t know how to process the time differences. Flights that depart during sleeping hours confuse the body and guarantee irregular sleep.

Choices presented

Traveling on an airplane presents many choices that can cause imbalance. Sitting by a person who is unlike oneself can be unsettling. Eating food that is not usually consumed can cause digestive issues. Sitting still when the body calls to walk around is a mistaken choice (except when the fasten seatbelt sign is on).  Going onto the plane with negative emotions can lead to disruptive behavior during the flight, digestive upset, and unbecoming behavior towards other passengers. Rudeness towards other passengers is a choice that can lead to discomfort physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Electronic device undutifully influencing

Before electronic devices were so proliferated, passengers had more interaction with one another. Parents were forced to provide entertainment to their children (with help from some airlines). Passengers were forced to take breaks from work, notice others, and think. The electronic devices add some positive aspects, but they mostly distract from connection to others.

The connections that are created on flights may seem irrelevant, but they are not. Short encounters are often enriching and intellectually stimulating in ways that electronically delivered information is not. Yes Wikipedia is intellectually filling, but it is not enriching in the way that connecting with a plane-ride companion is. Being forced to encounter others of different backgrounds and experiences in a shared environment of stress, imbalanced choice possibilities, and regulations develops people in ways that are enlarging and without possibility in normal living.

How to remain balanced when flying

Tips for maintaining balance, even when the flight was started from a state of imbalance, will be presented in the next blog post.

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Airplane travel

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Learned satisfaction

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I have spent the last three weeks in Los Angeles imparting Spiritual Presence awareness, connection, and nudging. The transfer of wisdom from Spiritual Presence was through individual sessions with people, an organized energy gathering, get-togethers with friends and relatives, and encounters with people on the plane, in restaurants, and by farmers’ market stalls. A welcome beginning for much more to come.

I have experienced EGC sessions with people who are needing the wisdom that Spiritual Presence can give, and they have been eye-opening, cathartic, and beyond expectation. The people receive specific ways to bring balance and clarity into their lives, and witnessing this process is gratifying and amazing for me. People need the same basic things in life, yet the ways to achieve them are varied and individualized. Connection to Spiritual Presence brings the actions and revised thinking required to live with purpose and satisfaction.

I have been living with a cousin of mine who challenges and expands my connection to understanding and wisdom. Our invigorating conversations have led me to the subject of book #6. It will explore and explain issues of the soul.

I have walked and walked and walked this fascinating city, which has led to further understanding about people, animals, and jumbled living. I have eaten the most wonderful produce purchased at neighborhood farmers’ markets and have mostly eaten vegan and raw foods. My body’s feeling good!

My connection to Spiritual Presence has developed during this time, and I am learning about well-being, forgiveness, and satisfaction. I am grateful to my cousin for introducing me to people who are open to the wisdom that flows through me. I am grateful for my family who supports my new-found purpose.

Heading back home soon with renewed Vitality!

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Spiritual connection

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Kindness to the animals we care for: muzzles for dogs

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In the book Pond a Connected Existence, caring for pets in listed as a sustaining activity for people. We are drawn to animals that can be domesticated, and they in turn learn to depend on us. The intertwined existence of people and domesticated animals requires careful observation and empathy by people who care for them.

A few days ago on one of my many lovely walks in L.A., I saw a woman walking several dogs of varying sizes. As I approached them, I saw that the largest dog had a rubber band holding his mouth shut. I also noticed that the supposed-to-be-caring dog walker looked very rushed. As we passed one another, I felt a surge of negativity and so I asked Spiritual Presence about what I had just witnessed. I witnessed injustice, cruelty, and selfishness.

This post is a reminder to people who live with or care for dogs. There are humane ways to prevent a dog from opening his mouth when being walked in public. Muzzles are not injustice and cruelty. Many are made in a somewhat comfortable way that allow the dog to have a somewhat normal experience when being walked.

If you or anyone you know puts a rubber band around a dog’s snout, know that the dog is experiencing injustice, cruelty, and loss of trust in humans. People should know better, and if they don’t then they shouldn’t be caring for dogs.

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Flora and fauna

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Life is struggle: meeting with people unknown

 

Post 111 Life is struggle

Unwanted, unacknowledged, untended, underfed, unappreciated, unloved, unnoticed, undervalued, undone. The life of the drunk man who sneaked on the bus today and sat by me.

Wanted, acknowledged, tended, fed, appreciated, loved, noticed, valued, empowered. My life.

I was riding on an L.A. Metro bus waiting for my soon-to-arrive stop, when the bus stopped to let people off and he sneaked in from the back door and sat next to me. His breath reeked of alcohol, he was dirty, and he was hoping to avoid the notice of the bus driver. He was hopeful that I would not make a fuss, because his day had been one more difficult day in the accumulating number of difficult days that are his life. He didn’t really choose me; I was simply sitting in a convenient place for him to slide in.

I told him that I was about to get off so he shouldn’t sit there, but he ignored me. He spoke somewhat incoherently and I didn’t understand what he said. I told him he hadn’t paid and he started to panic and began talking about how he lives in the Hollywood Hills and is very rich, and the alcohol smell was strong. I felt very uncomfortable and decided to change the subject because he seemed agitated and was moving closer. I talked about the unseasonable rain in L.A. that morning and he was distracted. He realized I wasn’t going to say anything to the bus driver so he became chatty. But then he asked me my name, gave me his, tried to take my hand, really reeked of alcohol.

I was unsure what to do but then we reached my stop, and I told him to press the button for me because we had arrived at my stop. He moved and I pressed the button and asked him to let me out. I was unsure—afraid he might get off and follow me, unsure whether to just go out the back door or go to the front and notify the bus driver, unprepared for this situation. He turned slightly in his seat barely giving me room to get by. I grabbed my things close, forgot my scarf, and exited the bus from the back. He didn’t follow. I felt relieved, noticed my forgotten scarf, walked the wrong way and then corrected my direction.

And what about him? He felt gratitude towards me that I had remained silent, sat quietly for the rest of the trip, got off at his stop to continue his usual existence.

Two hearts beating a little too fast. Two lives being lived—one with acceptance, the other with rejection. Both equal.

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People

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Clarification about the previous post: Unreleased energy leads to laziness

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A friend of mine read the previous post and took issue with how judgmental the tone was about people who are “lazy”.

My friend is one of the least lazy people I know, but sometimes she doesn’t have the energy to train for a 10k run that she thinks she should do. The reasons she doesn’t have the energy to train are far from laziness. She doesn’t train for three reasons: 1) Her life is so full with work, family, volunteering in her community, and volunteering outside her immediate community that she isn’t as focused on the run as she would like to be. 2) Her expectations of herself are too unrealistic. 3) She has more compassion for others than she does for herself.

The last post wasn’t about laziness; it was about unreleased energy. Laziness is a byproduct of unreleased energy. People need to release energy. Not releasing energy leads to many negative and unbalancing effects: physical pains, emotional turmoil, depression, turning inward, turning away from others, frustration, laziness, and self-dislike. Taking breaks from work and physical activity is normal rejuvenative activity. It is not laziness.

Releasing energy is an important way for achieving balance of body, mind, and spirit. Releasing energy is good for each individual and is good for society.

Releasing energy through physical, intellectual, and social pursuits is nourishing, balancing, and necessary.

Energize!

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Well-being

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Unreleased energy leads to laziness

Post 109-unreleased energy For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while, you know that Spiritual Presence has been pushing us all to spend more time in nature. Being in nature connects us to elements in life that balance and elevate us at the spiritual level. Being in nature stimulates our intellect, restores our emotional well-being, and strengthens our physical and concentration abilities. Being in nature also provides an opportunity to breathe more deeply, breathe less restrictively (letting go of restraining emotions like the need to control our life), and breathe with wonder. Spiritual Presence has also been pushing us to be more physically active –sounds like the advice that most good doctors give. People are meant to move A LOT, and not releasing our energetic and frenetic selves leads to all sorts of problems. One of which is laziness. Laziness is much more negative than it seems. A definition of laziness is “inactivity resulting from a dislike of work” (from TheFreeDictionary). People are meant to work so disliking it is very unbalancing.  Another definition is “apathy and inactivity”. These very negative states cause imbalance to the emotional and spiritual components of health and weakening of the physical component of health. Laziness is different from resting after a substantial output of energy. Taking breaks from work and physical activity is normal rejuvenative activity. Laziness simply wastes gifted talents and possible achievements. Releasing energy through physical, intellectual, and social pursuits is nourishing, balancing, and necessary. Energize!

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Well-being

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Entertainment

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Music, art, slapstick, drama, literature, dance, and other forms of entertainment.  All are created by people for people. Experiencing entertainment is soul-fulfilling. Creating entertainment is soul exercise because the soul requires the stretch of the imagination and the melody of the breeze. Any form of entertainment that is awakening for the soul is soul exercise.

Music naturally fills the body and reaches the soul, especially for the people who are generating the music. Listening to others play music is enriching; actually playing the music is enriching at a deeper level. The act of making music is the catalyst for melody-absorption. The music does not need to be at a professional level; the music—however it is played—is like a key in the door to the soul. Listening, singing, strumming, blowing, drumming, bowing, snapping, clapping, whistling, or any other music-generating activity is absorbed into the intangible part of us.

Dance, like music, reaches the soul, especially when the dance is true to the person dancing.  Dancing from the heart, dancing from the gut, dancing from the sound of the music, dancing from the rhythm of the beat, dancing with abandon, dancing in one’s room or dancing in a group, dancing intently, dancing internally, dancing when dancing isn’t allowed, and dancing soulfully! Dance performed for others is soul-moving, especially for the dancers but also for the observers if the dance is authentically performed. Dancing in a group performing choreographed routines is exercise for the body, but not necessarily exercise for the soul; however, when a dance performance is choreographed from the heart, then the heartfelt movements can transfer to the performers and even to the observers.

Art is soulful exercise when the inspiration for the artistic expression is soul-awakening. Especially for the artist, but also for the viewer.

Entertainment is naturally built-in. People are drawn to others’ antics. People are drawn to others’ doings. The soul wants entertainment, and the best way to get it is to be entertaining. To oneself and to others!

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Music, Sustaining activities

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Resistance to major change

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Oh if life were so easy
I would be the person I was meant to be
I would take on challenges and handle them with ease
I would be open and funny and clever
I would look fabulous and sing on key
I would not be cranky or defensive
And I would not get upset over silly things.

But life isn’t easy
So I let myself off the hook
And often don’t try
And blame others
And wallow in misery
And even give up
Sometimes.

Perhaps there is a place where
I can find respite from my too-difficult me
Where my mind shuts up
And my gut finally stills
Where I let myself accept
And I let myself free
The person that I am truly meant to be.

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Too many people let themselves sink too low. Rather than rejoice in their living, they choose their misery. Sometimes the cause is nutritional, sometimes the cause is hormonal, and sometimes the cause is just habit. When the reason is laziness or lack of appreciation, the way out is through communal service. When the reason is nutritional or hormonal, the way out is through intervention by a nutritionist, naturopath, doctor, or other healing specialist.

There are other causes as well for the spiral downwards, and often spiritual connection can aid the situation. Energy Guidance Complete is spiritual healing focused on balance and elevated living. Making changes in one’s focus can lead to changes in one’s self-centeredness. Finding guidance that is larger than oneself can loosen self-absorption.  Accepting that the difficulties are just difficulties that can be handled releases self-indulgence.

Resistance to major change? Not worthy of true living. Life flows and the less we fight the flow, the more we can heal.

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Focused living, Poetry

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Personal resistance: resisting manipulation through personal choices

Post 60-finding ones way2I am currently visiting in the States. I am happy to be here and I am viewing all with a sense of newness and interest. There may be too many cars, but I focus on the trees. There may be too many sales, but I focus on the interesting designs of buildings and clever business presentations. I have been in several large supermarkets and department stores with food sections, and in them, I have lost my vitality. (Where I live, I shop in supermarkets and stores that aren’t so overwhelming.)

Too much to take in, too much to choose from.

As I walked down aisle after aisle of prepared foods and other products, I felt a rush of sadness for the bombardment on people by too many products, too many packages to read, too many eye-catching colors and names, too many decisions to be made. Too much time to be spent on relatively routine purchases. Too much pull to buy unnecessary things. Too much effort spent on trying to resist the call of the quick, the cheap, the treat, and the packaging. Manipulation through promises of happiness through tastiness, assuredness of nutritional needs met through ease of preparation.

The thing is—our bodies don’t want the easy stuff. They want the wholesome stuff. They want the foods that nourish, and if these foods are tasty, all the better. Wholesome, nutritious foods are so delicious when we savor them and let them weave their subtle magic on our palates.

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The assignment: aim to exercise personal resistance by refusing to be swayed by the call of the pretty packages. Choose more fresh fruits and veggies. Try not to be drawn to the quick, cut-up fruits and veggies—buy the whole ones and wash and peel and cut them yourself. Take the extra few minutes needed to touch the whole fruits and veggies before you eat them. You might not have picked them, but at least you can prepare them for their good work nourishing your body. Aim to use whole products in a soup that you make or a casserole or a main dish.  Making from scratch does not take much time if you don’t use too many ingredients and fancy techniques.

Personal resistance is not as small as it may seem. As it says in The Gift of Intuitive, Dedicated Comfort:

“It may seem that individual people have little effect on a large society, and many people believe that their actions are inconsequential. They are mistaken. Each act of kindness, each measure of understanding for one’s fellow, each occupational task performed with enthusiasm, each show of warmth, and each display of affection influences and continues the positive actions of others. The importance of the chain of connectedness must be realized. One link in the chain can create infinite effects. People must always remember that their actions matter.”

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Focused living

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Try limits—when eating or drinking nutritionally bereft foods

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Food is meant to be a pleasure and not a battle. We are meant to eat so that we can live. We are meant to eat nutritious foods so that we can live healthily.

We are meant to desire nourishing foods, and we can, if we reject processed and non-nutritious foods that suppress the desire for proper foods.

Moving beyond survival, the eating experience can be sad and disappointing or can be full of joy and laughter. Much depends on our attitude and on our desire to be well.

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There are nutritionally bereft foods that people should not eat or drink. They include carbonated beverages, sugar, white flour, and hydrogenated oils. These foods should be limited to never, but unfortunately, they permeate the processed food industry. They should be limited as much as possible, and people who are addicted to them should try to cut back and realize that they are hurting their bodies.

Eating for the sake of keeping the body alive is not a part of life for most people living in modern society. Eating for the sake of the enjoyment of the food is modern society’s take on food. The enjoyment, not the life-giving aspect, is the focus. Food is for nourishment and for enjoyment and we should attempt to remember that, and not worship nor despise the thing that gives us life.

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Food & drink

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Vegetable support: the foods that sustain

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Many foods nourish us, but vegetables nourish, ground, and calm us. They provide the nutrients that enable us to move forward.

The importance of vegetables cannot be overstated. Our bodies need them and function less well without them. They are sources of happiness, creativity, expressiveness, achievement, satisfaction, and vitality. Eating vegetables doesn’t guarantee that a person will be satisfied with his or her life, but eating vegetables enables being capable of being satisfied. The more vegetables we eat, the more our bodies can handle.

Vegetables are usually viewed as members of one entire food group or are grouped by type of plant part eaten (leaves, roots, etc.) or by color. Actually, vegetables belong in three groups that are determined by the amounts that should be eaten. Here are the groups:

  1. Beets, broccoli, cabbage (all types), cauliflower, purple bell peppers, romaine lettuce and other leafy greens, spinach, zucchini.
  2. Butternut squash, carrots, pumpkin, watercress, yams, yellow summer squash.
  3. Asparagus, bell peppers, brussel sprouts, celery, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, fennel, green beans, kohlrabi, mushrooms, okra, onions, peas, potatoes, radishes, tomatoes, turnips, water chestnuts.

In this post, the amounts to be eaten are not being presented. Just know that the more, the merrier!

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Food & drink

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Liquid relief

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According to my post “How important is water?” (see January archive): “Water is the most important life-sustaining substance that we put in our bodies.” That post gives information about the timing of water drinking.

There are other liquids that nourish us, and we should drink them too. They are soup (thin soups that can be drunk), tea (green, red, black, oolong, white, jasmine, chai, and cardamom), beer (in non-addictive amounts), and drinks made from soybeans and brown rice. These liquids add nutrients and they add sensations that are different from water and different from solid food. These liquids do not replace water; they are in addition to.

These liquids, together with the influence from listening to music that is uplifting, are elements that nourish the body and the soul.

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Food & drink

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Inventive body stuffers—processed foods

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Processed foods challenge body processes (not all processed foods are challenging to the body, but the ones that are good for the body are in the minority). The foods being discussed here are the ones that contain the ingredients that are known to be harmful, but people eat them anyway.

These foods should be limited to never. Really!

Food is not the only damaging thing to people; emotional damage can be more harmful than eating toaster pastries. Nonetheless, the better the food we put into our bodies, the more chance of physical and emotional balance.

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Food & drink

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Eating Common and Less Common Creatures

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People eat a variety of fish and animals. What is accepted to eat depends on religious, regional, and appetite influences. A common fish that is eaten is halibut. A less common animal is rabbit. Both are eaten, but one is more accepted than the other.

The guideline for eating these two creatures is the same. They can be eaten once every three weeks. Both have nutritional value and both have responsibilities. Nutritional value for all who eat them (not just people) and responsibilities in nature.

We need to remember that life on earth is not just for our enjoyment and for our sustenance. All creatures have a place, and one small place is nourishing humans.

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Food & drink

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To eat farmed salmon or not?

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Recently an article was posted about eating farmed salmon vs. eating wild salmon. The author gave numerous reasons why not to eat the farmed salmon, but gave no reasons why not to eat the wild salmon.

I’m not going to cite all the reasons for eating this one vs. that one. What I am going to post is the wisdom from Spiritual Presence about eating salmon.

Salmon—to eat or not to eat

Salmon is a nutritious food and can be eaten no more than once a week. There is no difference between eating the wild salmon or the farmed salmon. The impact on nature from eating salmon more than once a week is too great. Remember—no more than once a week.

Food issues

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There are so many things to know about foods. From this point on, I’ll be writing information about foods and beverages.

If there is a particular food or beverage you have questions about, add a comment to this post or send me an email through the Contact page.

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Food & drink

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Book #5 is almost done

Yesterday I posted that book #3 has been published. Now I’m letting you know that I’ve finished the first draft of book #5. What happened to book #4? Well,  I’ve written about 1/5 of it, but the material is difficult for me to understand from Spiritual Presence.

The way I write is that I ask what I’m supposed to write, and I receive Yes and No answers—through kinesiology muscle testing. I in essence am taking dictation, but I have to first ask what the words are. And I have to have an idea of what to ask. When I first started writing the healing handbooks, this process was not easy, but I’ve become used to it and can often flow with the words once I understand the topic. Book #4, titled Signals that Inspire and Intertwine—the Fifth Component of Health, is writing about something I know nothing about so my questions are not easy to formulate.

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I’ve jumped ahead to Book #5, which is a how-to book. Books #1-3 set out the wisdom of Energy Guidance Complete and Book #5 provides guidance and steps on how to live the wisdom. It’s title is Vitality!— How to Create a Life That is Healthy.

Here’s a peek:

From the chapter about the four components of health:

Breathing Into All Four Components

When you breathe, you do so much more than fill the lungs with oxygen. You fill the body and soul with life-giving force. Each day when you awaken, breathe deeply and remind yourself that your breathing adds oxygen to your lungs, adds hope to your emotional being, ignites your thinking abilities, and connects you to spiritual possibility.

From the chapter about nature’s creatures:

Things to Do to Relate to Creatures

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  • Visit humane zoos and petting zoos, and give them your monetary support.

  • If you have a pet at home, spend extra time observing your pet’s antics and behavior. Let yourself fall in love with your pet (if you haven’t already).

  • Volunteer at an animal shelter.

  • Research foundations that work with animals and donate money—and time when possible—to help them.

Things Not to Do to Creatures

  • If you “love” fur items, resist the temptation to buy them. The only people who should be wearing fur outerwear are people who live in extremely cold climates. Do not support fur as a fashion statement.

  • If you “love” animal skin items, resist the temptation to buy them. There are no people in the world who should be wearing them or decorating their houses or businesses with them.

  • If you “love” reptile skin items, resist the temptation to buy them. There are no people in the world who should be using them. Do not support reptile skins as a fashion statement.

  • If you “love” to hunt, only hunt animals for food, not for their decorative parts.

  • Eat less meat. See “Vitality! The Foods We Eat” on p. 12 for information about the amount of meat that should be eaten.

  • Resist eating meat and fish from endangered or nearing-endangered birds, animals, and fish. Take the time to learn the types of birds, animals, and fish that are endangered.

  • Don’t ignore the plight of endangered animals, animals and birds raised in industrial meat/milk/egg factories, mis-treated pets, and so on.

 

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Breathing, EGC books and articles, Flora and fauna

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Third book published!

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My third book, Oneself-Living, is published on amazon.com! With its publication, the trilogy of wisdom essays is complete. In honor of wisdom presented in the book, here are a few quotes:

From the chapter “Journey Markings”:

“…Journey markings [events that occur in each person’s life that leave indelible and consequential memories], chance encounters, input that influences, selected employment, and choices contribute to individual development. Journey markings are not the most influential force, but they do veer direction. Each person reacts to a journey marking in a specific-to-me manner, and this reaction is what causes the force of the remembered event to be an influence.”

From the chapter “Concrete Living”:

“…Planning: making plans, long-term or not, short-term or not–>concrete living.

Spontaneous actions: last-minute get-togethers or get-goings–>concrete living.

Laughing, smiling, wide-eyed appreciation, willingness to err–>concrete living.

Concrete living: living with gusto and with verve, with awareness of an ending and with awareness of possibility, with thankfulness and with generosity.”

From the chapter  “Picture Crooked”:

“…Picture crookedness is life in reality. Crooked smiles, crooked teeth, crooked noses, on and on. No need for photoshopping. Real life—in its imperfection and individuality. Life lived in truth, not in denial. Life lived in gulps, not in narrow sips. Life experienced widely, largely, encompassingly!”

From the chapter “1LOVE2TRUE-LOVE6LOVE”:

“…People can create loving relationships when they are motivated. A relationship that is mutually fulfilling results in the possibility of love, mult-petaled love. A relationship that is mutually invested results in love, multi-petaled love. Fulfillment and investment are required in a loving relationship. Love is a wanted, nourishing feeling that builds when the relationship reflectors create a positive, sustaining connection. “in”, not observing from afar; “available”, not holding back; loving, loved,…”

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EGC books and articles

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Flower arrangements and other once-living lovely things

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Flowers have magical properties. They entrance us with their beauty. They captivate us with their smells. They take the focus from surrounding plants and they lure us to the green places to see them.

The magic of life is screened on flowers. Watching a flower grow is like watching a fascinating art movie. From the moment a bud starts to form til the moment the withered flower falls, interest never wanes. At each stage, the flower entrances, captivates, and holds power over us.

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So much so, that we must have them close at hand—in our homes, in our celebrations, in our personal expressions of love, and in our religious institutions.

But close at hand is not the same as being in a field. The magic begins to fade the moment the flower is cut from its stem because life is no longer flowing. The loss of magic is slow though, which is why we can enjoy them so much when they are close at hand. But their ”dying” in the vase is different from the dying on the vine. Not so captivating, not so enjoyed.

The flowers that grow in the wild provide their magical smells. The flowers grown for arrangements are grown for visual beauty, for extended life, and for more color variety. Natural flower smell is of lesser importance. Smelling flowers that have been grown for floral arrangements leaves the nose and the olfactory receptors in a state of confusion.

Dried flower arrangements are more desirable than artificial flower arrangements because the dried flowers were once alive and they maintain a sense of the live flower.

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Advice for flowers in the home

Flowers are a wonderful addition to the home. Here is the hierarchy for bringing “flower power” into your everyday life:

  1. Potted flowering plants
  2. Potted flowers
  3. Dried flower arrangements
  4. Cut flower arrangements

Enjoy the magic of flowers!

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Category:

Flora and fauna

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Fake nature, no soulful beauty

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Displays of nature that are not living displays of nature (like artificial flowering plants) are neither good nor bad, but they do affect.

A living plant inside a building adds oxygen to the air, adds beauty, and increases the stabilizing positive energy in the building. It draws the eye and, unknowingly to people, uplifts the soul. A fake plant, no matter its similarity to a living one, can only add beauty, and nothing else. The most important work of a living plant is not only not done, but is lost. The uplifting effects of living plants are important and should not be underestimated.

Eating food in a restaurant that is decorated with fake plants fails to feed the soul. Working in an office decorated with fake plants does not energize the workers. Living in a house that contains only fake plants and no living plants is a house bereft of the soulful energy provided by plants. A smattering of fake plants is acceptable as long as there are live plants as well.

A smattering is the amount to use when decorating with fake plants and flowers.

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Flora and fauna

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Nature is the best entertainment

 

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  • Is going to the mall satisfying for the soul? No, not even to people who love shopping (even if they think so).
  • Is playing on the computer or watching a viral video satisfying for the soul? No, not even if the viral video is about a wonderful person.
  • Is sitting at a restaurant satisfying for the soul? It can be, if you are sitting with people who are enriching, but the atmosphere at any restaurant is not enriching for the soul.

Connecting with nature is satisfying for the soul. It just is, because we were designed to be part of nature. Along the way, we lost the importance of our place in nature and we need to get it back. In general, our lives have become very cut off from nature, especially for those who live in large cities or spend too much time in cars or public transportation. There are people who work at staying connected, but they are not the majority.

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How to reconnect with nature

  • Plan regular hikes and actually go on the hikes. The hikes don’t have to be long, but they should be in green spaces.
  • Visit parks and nature areas.
  • Visit humane zoos and petting zoos. Contact with animals is an important part of connecting with nature.
  • Shop at farmers’ markets and find farms that have fruit picking. And go pick fruit!
  • Add more plants and potted flowers inside your home.
  • Visit places with water: beaches, lakes, rivers, and springs.
  • Visit botanical gardens.

Try being more connected to nature and see how entertaining it can be. And at the same time, your soul with be nourished and you will become more balanced.

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Flora and fauna

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