Recently, I received a newsletter from the author of the book, Your Soul’s Plan, which gave me food for thought.  It addressed natural disasters and the resulting deaths and devastation which come from these events.  It is hard to believe that these events could be occurring for our “global” highest good, but this is what he suggests.   But how?

The author explains-

In the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, it is natural to wonder, “Is this part of a pre-birth plan?”  I cannot speak to Haiti specifically, but I will share with you my beliefs about the tsunami that struck Southeast Asia a few years ago.

My understanding is that the souls who returned to Spirit (passed away), as a result of the tsunami,  looked at the state of the Earth prior to incarnating and said, “We would like the collective consciousness to be at a certain vibration by a certain point in linear time.  If it isn’t, we agree to give our lives in a large-scale natural event that will result in a worldwide outpouring of love, compassion and support that will raise the frequency of the planet.”

As you may recall, that is exactly what happened.  The governments of the world temporarily put aside their differences in order to funnel aid into Southeast Asia.  This massive outflow of love did, indeed, raise the vibration of the entire world.

Seen through human eyes, the tsunami and the earthquake are terrible tragedies.  It is only natural that we grieve; in fact, we must if we are to heal.  Yet, from the level of the soul there is another perspective, one that says there is deep meaning and purpose in all we experience, even though we may not know what the purpose and meaning are.  Both perspectives are valid, and healing emerges from both.  After we grieve, when we are ready, we may continue our healing by shifting ever so gently to the vantage point of the soul.

We are eternal Divine Beings.  No natural disaster can kill a soul. Nothing can kill a soul.

Two Perspectives

Yes, we can have two perspectives, one that is viewed with our “human eyes” and one that is viewed from an eternal, immortal existence.  The “human eyes” view takes us down the road of despair, fear and deep sadness.  Not fully realizing the “compassion”  and “empathy” that has blossomed from the tragedy and deaths of others.  From loss comes a birth of something else.

However, from the view of “spiritual” eyes it could be that the souls that agree to be part of a large disaster gladly and lovingly do so to bring about a level of transformation in our world.  Love/Compassion are the highest vibrating feelings we could ever experience.  They bring about healing in many forms (physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual).  They are the purest emotions.  While we are in the mode of coming from Love/Compassion we do not judge or discriminate.  Aid and support is imparted to all.  We connect from our hearts to their hearts because we put ourselves in their shoes.

This past Friday a great number of singers and actors came together to organize a telethon that was televised worldwide via numerous network and cable channels.  Over 100 celebrities answered phones.  I overheard Reese Witherspoon speaking to a man who was donating.  She was telling him that the collective love and passion to help which was being demonstrated was just overwhelming.   A Swedish man remarked “Rest in peace to those who lost their lives and give hope to those who are left stranded. We have your back!”

Currently there is a 250 foot long and 80 foot wide barge sailing from Puerto Rico, aptly christened “Barge of Hope”, estimated to arrive on Monday in Haiti.  It carries over 4 million pounds of food, water and medical supplies.  Many are calling it “The Love Boat”.  A sign on the stern of the barge reads “Haiti, Puerto Rico is with you.”  Unity and compassion being heralded.

In addition,  I recently learned that after this year’s Grammy Award’s many singers will stay in Hollywood one more day to record another version of “We Are The World” in the hopes of raising much needed funds for the Haitian citizens. And so it seems that with the Haiti earthquake it will once more “result in a worldwide outpouring of love, compassion and support that will raise the frequency of the planet.”

“We Are The World”

As Confucius once stated, “To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.” Setting our heart’s right is what these disasters seem to do for a period of time.  However, the key is to sustain this Higher vibration of Love and Compassion at the personal level – YOU.

While many of you at this time may be going through your own personal “earthquake”,  trust that you are going through these challenges because they will take you to a Higher place, just as the World is coming to a Higher place.  Challenges (when put in the right perspective) will move you out of fear and uncertainty and into to your authentic alignment with Divine Source.  This gives you the courage to transform to a “higher” frequency; permanently.  The more of us that allow this Higher frequency transformation (sometimes due to “aha” moments, enlightening experiences and turning points in our lives) in whatever form we attain it, the more the World holds this frequency.

As the renown motivational speaker, Barbara Rose, once said, “Allow the head games to be washed away by connecting solely to the core of your heart center – for it is in that core where your Divine essence, and all of your answers dwell.”

Remember it is happening FOR us, not to us!

May we commit to a long term attitude of “watching each others backs”!

** Link to the Red Cross

The day will come when, after harnessing space, the winds, the tides and gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of LOVE.  And on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, we shall have discovered fire. - Pierre Teillhard de Chardin

The resonance or vibration of Love is the highest frequency which exists in this physical realm and in the soul/spirit dimension.  It is believed that in the spirit dimension Love vibrates at its highest light which is “unconditional” Love.  Meaning there is no judgment, good or bad, of the experiences you have or choices you make; nor of the experiences or choices of others.  It is understood that everything ultimately leads to Love.  This unconditional Love is a constant.

A question I have been delving into is how do we harness on a daily basis the vibration of Love here as physical beings?  How do we use it to guide us, interact with others and to help us create the life we want?  It has become very clear to me that when I make a decision or choice which arises from some fear based belief or feeling it usually does not give “good” fruit.  However, most of us make decisions based on a belief of lack, insecurity, fear of the unknown, fear of the future…etc.  I figure it’s time to make decisions and choices from the feeling of Love.

Wonderfully it seems that our heart was made for the purpose of harnessing Love and for the purpose of receiving “higher” vibrating information and instructions that can guide us to make correct choices for our highest good.  It is believed that ancient people understood spirit and living from heart energy in a much more profound way than we understand it today.  They understood how we were connected to everything on this planet and to the cosmos.

For at least the last 200 to 300 years we have been moving away from trusting the signal, the feeling, or “nudge” which arises from our heart.   We have moved to trusting more in our intellect, our brain if you will.  However, I have come to realize that those of us who journey back to trusting the heart’s “intelligence” will have a much more fulfilling life moment by moment.  Being in our “heads” seems to have a lot of short comings and in the end results in increased frustration, confusion, disappointment and anxiety.   Being in our “head” can lead us to justifying decisions which end up being very disappointing.

An interesting scientific comparison from the HeartMath Institute Research Center uncovered that the heart and brain’s electromagnetic fields (EMF) are vastly different.  The heart’s EMF is five thousand times stronger than that of the brain; its electrical field (without the magnetic field) is sixty times greater than that of the brain.  If it is true that a higher vibrating frequency is closer to the frequency of Love then which organ makes more sense to connect with and trust more often?

Truly the heart is similar to a “receiver” able to connect to higher frequency energy; this higher level energy carries information/instructions.  This “divine/filled with light” information are read by the cells (also energetic) and can guide us, inspire us and elevate our thoughtforms and beliefs.  Living from the heart points us to decisions that are for our highest good.  Maybe this is why the heart has been referred to as the center of the body or the home of the soul.  Living from our heart does not mean that we do not utilize our brain (intellect, logic).  It’s more like from the heart we run our brain and therefore we function mentally, emotionally and physically in a “healthier” and more coherent state versus a chaotic and dramatic state.

How Can We Live From the Heart?

One of the most difficult things for many of us to do is to take a “break” and just be without any distractions!  Literally, just checking in with ourselves and simply asking questions is an easy and powerful way to experience connecting to our heart and to the wisdom it can provide.  Especially when we find ourselves challenged by life situations and experiences -- that is the best time to focus your awareness on the energy/spiritual Heart center and ask it for the truth about you, others, or any dilemma.  Simple, but effective steps to this process are:

1. Get quiet for a period of time (2-3 minutes).  Take a couple of deep breaths.
2. Place your focus on the heart area.  Invite the Divine.  Placing a hand or both hands over your heart can keep the focus.
3. Ask your question (i.e.  Can I make this (relationship, situation…etc.) better?, Is choosing ____best for me?,  Should I trust this person?…)
4. Set for a minute and feel the answer.  Your feeling will manifest into awareness.  If not in the moment, in the near future.
5. Trust the answer.  No need to debate it.  Humbly accept it.

No question is too insignificant.

I once came across the story of a young woman who left home to attend college.  After the first year she was extremely unhappy.  However, she had told herself that this is what everyone did and that she should be grateful for the opportunity to go off to college.  Her heart tugged at her to just go back home, but her “head” told her she would be a failure.  She believed her family would be very disappointed.  She began to consider suicide.  The depth of her misery was going to lead her to take her own life.  Fortunately, she listened to her heart which told her to just call her parents.  Her father answered the phone, she began crying and telling her dad that she wanted to come home.  Without hesitation her Dad said “then come home”.  Had she just not overridden with her “head” what was truly in her heart she could have avoided much internal turmoil and the possibility of ending her life.  She is now a very happy and successful teacher.

How Can We Learn From the Heart?

There are times when we are hit with an unexpected event or with a new re-occurring physical pain.  When this occurs I suggest you do not go the path of feeling like a “victim” (remember it is happening FOR you not to you).  Go into your heart and ask what you are meant to learn or understand.  These are teachable moments. In these moments many emotional past experiences or feelings can come up.  By them surfacing there can be a release and therefore a type of healing/wellness can come through.

For example, a psychiatrist who now incorporates mind, body, spirit techniques once worked with a man who had suffered from severe frozen shoulder on his right side for 4 years.  He could not lift his arm above his shoulder and he rated his pain level at an eight.  The psychiatrist asked him to trust him and to ask his body (heart) what he could learn from all this pain.  What was his body trying to get him to understand?

Though the patient had never tried this he felt he had nothing to lose.  After a few minutes of introspection, the man revealed that he felt he was not a good enough man.  He shared that he felt inadequate.  He had also not been able to father any children and this added to this feeling.  A memory that also came up for him was one in which his parents used to take on foreign boarders.  He recalled a Chinese boarder and remembered that later there were pictures of the Chinese boy in the house but none of him.

Once the psychiatrist allowed his patient to talk about all that revealed itself to him, he asked him to once more rate his pain level.  Instead of an eight it had lowered to a three!  This had never happened in the last 4 years with any therapy or pain medication.

I suggest that next time you don’t know what to do, instead of trying to force your way past your unawareness, trying to desperately figure out a solution, realize that you’ve reached the moment of connecting with your heart which is the closest thing to Love.  Love does not misguide us.

Harness for God the energies of Love and discover your own fire!

Current Understanding of the Heart Field

If you cannot see the video window, click the following video link.

There doesn’t seem to be a clear answer to why this trend exists (not all women are going through this, but a significant number are).   It is good to be aware of this trend so that women don’t feel isolated or believe it is just them.

Women’ Happiness: What We Know For Certain

by Marcus Buckingham

Are these trends increasing or decreasing?

They are increasing. According to the U.S. General Social Survey, women begin their lives more satisfied than men and then become less satisfied with every aspect of their lives as they age.

This used to be true. Today, statistics show that women don’t even begin their adult lives happier than men. Yes, in Churchill’s words, “There are lies, damned lies and statistics.” But still, it’s hard not to conclude that contemporary life is disproportionately stressful for young women, that this stress puts them at an immediate disadvantage and that this state of affairs is damaging, wasteful and needless.

So, if you find it hard to relate to the gradual decline in women’s happiness, if you always feel focused and successful, with plenty of energy and time, and what few doubts you have are quickly drowned out by the many moments of real fulfillment, well done to you.

Just know that, in aggregate, the next generation of women doesn’t feel as you do.

What is causing men’s happiness to rise?

Some of you looked at the gradual climb in men’s happiness and wondered whether ‘”feminism had benefitted men more than women.” You may be right, though the data point the other way—in 1977, 35 percent of men in dual-earner couples reported feeling some kind of work/life conflict, whereas today 59 percent of men do.

However, we know what is causing men’s slight increase in happiness, and it’s not feminism. It’s increased prosperity. Over the past 40 years, the Gross Domestic Product of the United States has climbed 3.1 percent per year and, though money neither buys nor sustains happiness for individuals, increases in national GDP do correlate to increases in national levels of happiness.

This makes women’s decline even more startling. The tide of prosperity should have raised everyone’s spirits, but instead, women’s have gradually sunk lower.

Are women simply more honest about their feelings?

Maybe. Maybe men, in aggregate, are emotionally closed off, out of touch with their true emotions, and so, though they are actually as unhappy as women, they just don’t know it or won’t admit it.

Maybe.

But even if we accept this as true, surely it isn’t a recent development. If emotional distance is simply part of being a man and emotional sensitivity is part of being a woman, these characteristics would have been as true 40 years ago as they supposedly are today. That would make them a constant. In which case it’s hard to see how they could be the cause of these recent changes in women’s happiness.

What we do know for certain is that women are harder on themselves than men. When nationally representative polls of women and men are asked the question, “Which do you think will help you be most successful in life: building on your strengths or fixing your weaknesses?” men split right down the middle, whereas 73 percent of women report they would focus on fixing their weaknesses. This too may be a constant—and I stress “may” be—but if it is, then it is a constant that creates a downward spiral of dissatisfaction. Since women, as a group, believe that success flows from drilling down into their weaknesses, and since, as has happened to women over the past 40 years, they’ve gradually acquired more and more domains in which they are supposed to succeed, a researcher would expect to see women characterizing themselves more and more by who they aren’t, becoming more and more self-critical and more aware of their flaws and failings, all of which might well accelerate these dissatisfaction trend lines.

Are women unhappy because they are trying to become men?

Some of you suggested that what was causing the decline was women straying too far from their natural role as caretakers of the home and family, that, in a sense, women were better off 40 years ago, when the challenges of running a home and raising kids gave women a unique, valuable and, above all, focused role to play. (As I mentioned in my previous post, 42 percent of men and 39 percent of women do believe that it is natural for women to play this role.)

I have my own opinions on this: that while, for obvious reasons, women are compelled to make a greater biological investment in bearing and raising babies than men, this does not apply to raising toddlers and teenagers, nor to running the home, and that, even if it did, what is natural is not necessarily right. (It is natural for the strong to dominate the weak, but it is rarely moral.)

However, my opinions are beside the point. What we know for certain is that returning women to the role of primary caretaker won’t make most women happier. We know this because whenever and wherever the research is done on this subject, the results are always the same: Women with no kids are, in general, happier than women with kids. I realize this sounds perverse—who doesn’t love their kids?—and yet the research has been repeated so many times, in so many countries, there’s no escaping it. Kids, it turns out, are a bundle of stress. They may give our lives trajectory, and meaning, and purpose, but their gift to us is not happiness. Of course, this does not apply to all women—some women feel as though they were put here for the sole and express purpose of raising their kids and nothing, no professional dream or accomplishment, can compare to the joy of this. What the data show, though, is that these women are in the minority.

And the kids appear to be aware of this. A recent study of a thousand 3rd- through 12th-graders asked: “If you were granted one wish that would change the way that your mother’s work affects your life, what would that wish be?” In a parallel study, their mothers were asked to guess what their children would wish for. Here’s what they found: “Most mothers (56 percent) guessed that their children would wish for more time with them. In fact, only 10 percent of children made that wish. Their most frequent wish: ‘I want my mom to be less stressed and tired’ (34 percent).”

*****

I have discovered for myself that when I reach inwardly and truly take some time to ask myself “is this what I truly want”, I do get an answer.  A voice inside of me knows how I have been detoured from what matters to me.  Trust your inward voice and possibly you will not become part of this trend.  It is okay to march by the beat of YOUR drum!

Own Your Happiness!

Wherever researchers have been able to collect reliable data on happiness, the finding is always the same: greater educational, political, and employment opportunities have corresponded to decreases in life happiness for women, as compared to men.

I came across the following article on the online HuffPost Social News (Huffington Post) written by Marcus Buckingham, author and speaker.  I believe that in general the results of the studies mirror the experience of many women (not all women).  Some possible explanations which are being debated are that women stepped into a world already defined by a male view and in time it has not been the right “fit” for women, therefore, it has led to less happiness.  Let me know your thoughts.  I believe many women do look for “deeper” meaning and the mechanical/technical world we live in is not ultimately fulfilling.  I will post the second part to this article next week.

“What’s Happening To Women’s Happiness?”

by Marcus Buckingham

Imagine it is 1969 and we’re in a thriving American city. Let’s choose Detroit. The ’60s were good to the Motor City, and the future would have looked bright as new chrome. Now, imagine stopping a working woman on Detroit’s Woodward Avenue, perhaps a young bank clerk, and asking if she would cast her mind forward, decades into the future. Not to picture the flying cars and space-themed restaurants that always seem to pop up in visions of the future, but to think about the role of women at work, in business, in government, in life. What do you think she would have said?

1969 was an intense, rousing time for women in America. Betty Friedan had published The Feminine Mystique a few years earlier, and had founded the National Organization for Women in 1966. And Gloria Steinem had just published the essay in New York Magazine that clearly separated the modern Women’s Movement from other oppressed groups, “After Black Power: Women’s Liberation,” in which she called for meaningful work, equal pay, and the goal for all women to be freed from the role of only “servicing men and their children.”

Fast forward 40 years: no matter how optimistic the guesses of our “woman-on-a-Detroit-street,” I bet they wouldn’t have outstripped what’s actually happened.

Women Rising

I doubt she would have guessed that by the early twenty-first century, women would be running the governments of countries as powerful and widespread as Germany and Ireland, Bangladesh and New Zealand, Chile, Mozambique, and Jamaica. Or that the wife of one U.S. president would spend months in 2008 as the national favorite to become president herself and, barely failing in that quest, would become an outspoken Secretary of State, or that the Speaker of the House would be a woman, or that John McCain would choose a moose-hunting, helicopter-riding, crowd-pleasing mother of five as his running mate because she’d stared down oil companies as governor of the tough state of Alaska.

How about education? I’m sure she would have forecast that more women would be completing high school and attending college, but do you think she’d have predicted that during the 2008 school year, 59 percent of all the bachelor’s degrees and 61 percent of all the master’s degrees would be earned by women, not by men? Or that by 2009, four out of the eight Ivy League universities–Harvard, Brown, Penn and Princeton–would have female presidents?

And work? Again, she would probably have bet that, in the future, more women would be working, but would she have guessed that October will be the first month in which women outnumber men in the workforce, that women would be holding more management and supervisory positions than men, by a margin of 37 percent to 31 percent, that in like-for-like work women and men with the same amount of work experience would be earning the same, and that women’s pay would actually be increasing faster than men’s? I doubt it.

Yet the biggest surprise would have come if you had asked her just one more question. Given all the evidence of women running corporations and universities, hospitals, media empires, branches of government, army divisions, and countries, do you think women in the future will be happier?

Of course they will be happier, she would have said. With all these opportunities and achievements, how could they not be?

Well, as it turns out, too easily.

Happiness Lost

Each year since 1972, the United States General Social Survey has asked men and women: “How happy are you, on a scale of 1 to 3, with 3 being very happy, and 1 being not too happy?” This survey includes a representative sample of men and women of all ages, education levels, income levels, and marital status–1,500 per year for a total of almost 50,000 individuals thus far–and so it gives us a most reliable picture of what’s happened to men’s and women’s happiness over the last few decades.

As you can imagine, a survey this massive generates a multitude of findings, (see the full report by Wharton Professors Betsy Stevenson and Justin Wolfers) but here are the two most important discoveries.

First, since 1972, women’s overall level of happiness has dropped, both relative to where they were forty years ago, and relative to men. You find this drop in happiness in women regardless of whether they have kids, how many kids they have, how much money they make, how healthy they are, what job they hold, whether they are married, single or divorced, how old they are, or what race they are. (The one and only exception: African-American women are now slightly happier than they were back in 1972, although they remain less happy than African American men.)

If you are a visual learner, this is what the graph looks like: Your browser may not support display of this image.

Figure 1 – Average happiness index value for the period 1972-2006
Source: Based on responses to question 157 of the General Social Surveys

Sad All Over

And, in case you’re wondering, this finding is neither unique to this one study, nor is it unique to the United States. In the last couple of years, the results from six major studies of happiness have been released:

* the United States General Social Survey (46,000 people, between 1972-2007),
* the Virginia Slims Survey of American Women (26,000 people, between 1972-2000),
* the Monitoring the Future survey (430,000 U.S. twelfth graders, between 1976-2005),
* the British Household Panel Study (121,000 people, between 1991-2004),
* the Eurobarometer analysis (636,000 people, between 1973-2002, covering fifteen countries),
* and the International Social Survey Program (97,462 people, between 1991-2001, covering thirty-five developed countries.)
All told, more than 1.3 million men and women have been surveyed over the last 40 years, both here in the U.S. and in developed countries around the world. Wherever researchers have been able to collect reliable data on happiness, the finding is always the same: greater educational, political, and employment opportunities have corresponded to decreases in life happiness for women, as compared to men.

It feels strange to write that sentence, as though I’m mistyping or having a “backwards day,” as my daughter would say. But I’m not. Though the trends in the data certainly don’t suggest that all women are less happy as compared to men than they were back in 1972, the fact is that, across more than a million people, the trends are there, and they are going in the opposite direction than most would have predicted. And the sizes of these trends are meaningful. According to Stevenson and Wolfers, if you assume a strong link between being unhappy and being unemployed (which there is–the longer you’re out of work, the more depressed you become,) the decline in women’s happiness is as if women’s unemployment has risen from 10% to 18%.

Happy Girl to Sadder Woman

The second discovery is, this: though women begin their lives more fulfilled than men, as they age, they gradually become less happy. Men, in contrast, get happier as they get older. (These findings are drawn from the work of Professors Richard Easterlin and Anke Plagnol, who took the same U.S. General Social Survey data and sliced it in a different way. You can find their working paper here).

Here’s their graph:

Slip-sliding Away

This creeping unhappiness can seep into all aspects of a woman’s life. When the researchers asked more specific questions, such as, “How satisfied are you with your marriage?” and “How satisfied are you with the things you own?” and “How satisfied are you with your finances?” the pattern was always the same: women begin their life more satisfied than men, and wind up less satisfied. Sure, the crossover points vary a little–women’s happiness with their marriage sinks below men’s at age thirty-nine; their satisfaction with their finances dips at age forty-one; and by forty-four, they’re more dissatisfied than men with stuff they own.

But overall, the trajectory is consistent, and consistently downhill. As you can see from the graph, by the time women reach age forty-seven, they are, overall, less happy with their life than men, and the trend continues on down from there.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that every individual woman becomes less happy than every individual man–we’ve all got our own stuff going on, and man or woman, some days we’re in a happy purple haze, some days we’ve got the blues, and some days we even succumb to the “mean reds,” as Holly Golightly called them.

Nor does it mean that this darkening outlook on life is necessarily going to afflict you. You are a unique human being, blessed with the freedom to make your own choices, and so it’s completely within your power to choose a life, and a perspective on life, that becomes more fulfilling as you get older, not less. However, right now, the two trends we see in the data are real and telling:

1. Over the last few decades, women, in comparison to men, have become less happy with their lives.

2. As women get older, they get sadder.

Running For The Shelter Of A Mother’s Little Helper…

Looking beyond pure survey data, the World Health Organization can track what this increase in stress does to a woman’s mental health. According to their most recent analysis, depression is the second most debilitating disease for women (heart disease is first), while for men depression clocks in at number ten. As a result, women choose to medicate themselves with anti-anxiety and anti-depression medication twice as much as men do. Never one to miss an opportunity, the big pharmaceutical companies nurse this need by targeting two-thirds of all advertising of these medications explicitly toward women.

`”Hey,” you might say. “Life’s tough. Deal with it.” And of course, you’d be right. Life is not designed with anyone’s happiness in mind, and it has the disconcerting habit of not rewarding the good as much as we’d expect, of punishing the wicked less vigorously than we’d like, and even, on occasion, of getting the two completely mixed up.

Even so, only the most wasted of cynics would deny that something’s got to give. Not only is this “tough life” significantly tougher on women than it is on men, but the advances of the last 40 years were supposed to have changed things for the better. And not just for womankind, but for each individual woman. The hard-won rights, opportunities, and advantages were supposed to have netted women more than just another burdensome role to play–”you at work.” They were supposed to have fostered in each woman feelings of fulfillment and happiness, and even, for the special few, the sustained thrill of living of an authentic life.

This hasn’t happened. Over the last 40 years or so, life is not trending toward more fulfillment for women; life is, in most ways we can measure, becoming more draining instead. To use Thomas Jefferson’s words, though women now have the liberty to choose whichever life they’d like, many are struggling in their pursuit of a happy life.
What’s goin’ on?

Why? What is causing these trends (and what can we all do to reverse them?)

Some of the more obvious explanations are weaker than you might think:

For example, these trends are not caused by women working longer hours than men. We know this because women don’t work more hours than men. In a mammoth study of twenty-five countries, ranging from the U.S. to France to Slovenia to Madagascar, men and women were asked to keep track of what they were doing at various times during the day, and then the hours for each activity were calculated. The results: in developed countries, men average 5.2 hours of paid work a day, and 2.7 hours of homework, for a total of 7.9 hours a day; and women average 3.4 hours of paid work, and 4.5 hours of homework, for a total of, yes, 7.9 hours a day. These averages are statistically identical in virtually every developed country in the study: women and men work the same number of total hours in a day. (It is only in less developed countries such as South Africa or Benin, where women have fewer choices and are largely excluded from the workplace, that women actually work more hours per day than men.)

Nor are they caused by gender-based stereotyping. Sure, forty years ago such stereotyping was still dominant–in 1977 74% of men agreed with the statement “Men should be the primary breadwinner and women should be the primary caretaker of home and family.” Today, however, that number has fallen to only 42%–which happens to be almost exactly the same as the percentage of women who agree with it (39%). Your opinion of which roles are most appropriate for men and women to play is not now determined by your sex.

Nor, surprisingly, is it caused by women bearing a disproportionate burden of the workload at home, the ’second-shift’ as some have labeled it. This explanation falls not because women don’t do more cooking, cleaning and child-caring than men; they still do. It falls because when it comes to the sharing of ‘home’ duties, the trend lines are all moving in the direction you would predict would lead to greater happiness and less stress for women: namely toward greater parity. For example, between 1975 and today women’s housework hours declined from twenty-one per week to seventeen, while men’s jumped from six to thirteen. In 1977 dads with non-teen kids spent 2 hours with them on an average weekday, while moms spent 3.8 hours. Today moms still spend 3.8 hours, while dads’ kid-time has climbed to 3 hours per week day–and if you are a Gen Y dad, you’re all the way up to 4.3 hours per day (Gen Y dads actually spend more time with their non-teen kids than do Gen X moms.)

So if it’s not the hours, or the attitudes, and if the inequality of home-work is fast disappearing, where does that leave us?  Male mid-life crisis? A youth obsessed culture that is harder on women than men? The hormonal fluctuations of menopause?

OWN YOUR HAPPINESS!

Previously, scientists would dismiss the placebo effect and not think about its implications; being that the mind and perception are very powerful.  In fact when someone has a  positive thought about a health related outcome in many cases there is a “healing” response.  On the contrary, research has also come to acknowledge what is termed as the nocebo (Latin for “I will harm“) effect which occurs when someone is given a sugar pill and they report having a number of side effects of the drug that they did not take!  In some circumstances not only can negative thoughts/perceptions or “nocebo” make you sick but they can kill you.

Research is beginning to bridge science with spirit and mind.  It is becoming more apparent to the scientific world that “thoughts” are very powerful whether they are positive or negative and consequently they affect the body likewise.  Not surprisingly, it is believed that close to 3/4 of our thoughts are negative in nature and repetitive.  Whether it is directed towards ourselves or others.  While we do this we literally rob ourselves of good health; we do harm (nocebo).

An internationally recognized authority on the subject of placebo and nocebo effects is Bruce Lipton, PhD, author of The Biology of Belief.  Dr. Lipton acknowledges that medicine is controlled by money and influenced greatly by the pharmaceutical industry.   He states that this “keeps us from looking at healing that does not involve chemicals and drugs only for the simple reason that a pharmaceutical company makes money by selling chemicals.  If we talk about healing yourself with your mind than that product doesn’t sell very well.  It is not in the interest of the pharmaceutical industry to support “free energy” healing and therefore, it is a subject that gets no coverage except for that 15 minutes on the “placebo” and then dropped out of the system; and yet it is the most important new understanding (though it is not new).”

Within the scientific world, Dr. Lipton is committed to bring awareness to this powerful truth of mind and beliefs.  By the way these thoughts and perceptions need to have a strong emotion behind it to have an effect; they often lead to our actions and type of lifestyle we choose to live. A great example of this is given by Tor Wager, an assistant professor of psychology at Columbia University. “Say it’s late at night and everything is quiet and then suddenly you see someone outside, near a window,” he explains. “Your body starts to respond. Your pupils dilate. Your heart rate goes up. You start to sweat.”  The belief that something threatening is out there produces a host of physical responses that you have little control over. If you were told to calm down and turn off these sensations, you couldn’t, Wager says. “But if the belief changes — say, it turns out that it’s just your husband coming home — the physical response changes.”  The question, now, is how to tap into these powerful, unconscious responses, Wager says.

The Placebo Effect

A placebo makes a person feel better for reasons unrelated to the specific healing properties of the treatment.  For years, scientists have looked at the placebo effect as just a figment of people’s imaginations.  Sure, sugar pills seemed to lessen epileptic seizures, depression and smooth out jerky movements in Parkinson’s — but these people weren’t really better. Or so scientists thought.  Recently researchers began using PET scanners and MRIs to Examine the heads of patients who responded to sugar pills, they discovered that the placebo effect is not “all in patients’ heads” but rather, in their brains.   New research shows that belief in a dummy treatment leads to changes in brain chemistry!

For example, a gentleman name  Chuck Park participated in a study and he was told that he might be getting a sugar pill, the 30-year-old software producer was pretty sure he was getting the real thing.  Just a few weeks into the clinical trial, Park’s depression started to lift.  He began to feel less anxious and sad.  Park later learned he’d been taking a placebo all along, it was a surprise.  “I was fully expecting to receive the real drug even though I knew that the placebo was a possibility,” remembers Park of Culver City, Calif. “I guess I wanted it to work — and in a way, it did.”

A woman, in her 30s, was “very significantly impaired,” says Straus, chief of the Laboratory of Clinical Investigation at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “She had no energy, couldn’t work, and spent most of her time at home.” But her strength was restored during a study to test the effectiveness of an experimental chronic fatigue drug.  She and her parents were so thrilled with her recovery that they were blessing me and my colleagues,” recalls Straus, the principal investigator on that study.

It turns out, the woman’s quick turnaround from chronic fatigue occurred after taking placebo pills, not the experimental drug. “She was amazed by the revelation that she’d gotten better on placebo, says Straus”

“There have always been people who have said that we could make ourselves better by positive thinking,” says Dr. Michael Selzer, professor of neurology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.  After pooh-poohing this for years, here are studies that show that our thoughts may actually interact with the brain in a physical way.”

The following video documents a groundbreaking 2 year study on patients who had severe knee pain.  Both the groups that received the actual surgery and the “make-believe” surgery had healing!

Placebo Surgery

The Nocebo Effect

In the 1970’s a man was diagnosed with end-stage liver cancer and given just months to live.   Though the patient died in the predicted time, an autopsy showed the doctors had been mistaken. There was a tiny tumor, but it had not spread.  Therefore, this man did not die of cancer but from the “belief” that he was going to die of cancer.  It was surmised that if everyone treats you as if you are dying, you buy into that perception and it becomes you reality.

In a Canadian study, more than half of the men who got the placebo pills reported significant relief from their symptoms, including faster urine flow. Researcher J. Curtis Nickel theorized that the patients’ positive expectations of the experimental drug’s benefits may have caused therapeutic smooth muscle relaxation by decreasing nerve activity affecting the bladder, prostate and urethra.  However, there was a percentage of participants on the sugar pill which complained of side effects too, ranging from impotence and reduced sex drive to nausea, diarrhea and constipation.  This is the nocebo effect.  You expect to feel worse and suffer from side effects.

Anticipating bad effects can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. It may help to emphasize the limits of medicine and explain the close relationship between emotions and physical sensations, especially as it involves stress hormones.

The following video demonstrates the nocebo effect on unsuspecting participants who believe they have been given caffeine.

Coffee Placebo

Conclusion

The question, now, is how to tap into these powerful, unconscious responses.  Being aware that we can tap into these powerful unconscious responses is what I call owning your Grandeur and using your grandeur to take charge of your health, if not your life!   Literally, you can tell your body ” enough is enough”.  You can talk to it as you speak to a child in loving yet authoritative terms.  I recently, did this.  I had been struggling with both of the rotator cuff areas of my arms, especially the right arm.  I sought out some acupuncture and it helped with the right arm, but then the left arm became increasingly painful.

As I was doing research and reading as well as watching videos on the placebo and nocebo effect, it dawned on me to try this.  I spoke to my body as I would to a child that is doing something very annoying.  I said, “I am tired of this arm pain, I want you to stop the inflammation.  I have important things I need to do with my life and you need to stop and leave.  My natural state is to be pain free and healthy.”  I had this type of conversation with my body for about 5 minutes.  I did this one more time later that same day.  I also asked to receive clarity of possibly why my arms sometimes felt this pain (occurs about every 2-3 months).   I am happy to report that within hours the pain shifted and a day later I was about 90% pain free on my left arm and 100% pain free on my right arm.

I later had a knowing that I needed to stop pushing myself so hard and being so serious about the goals I set for myself.  It almost seemed that the pain was forcing me to STOP and give myself a break.

I have full confidence now that you and I have been given great ability to create and re-create our life experience.  We can create for the positive or for the negative results.  I choose the positive and to have a forward momentum.  I don’t have time nor the inclination to lead a life of stagnation or pain, do you?  Get angry about it and say no more!  Learn what you must, gain clarity,  and move on…

Own your GRANDEUR, HEALTH and HAPPINESS!

At the end of the sessions researchers collected the “happy tears” and the “sad tears” with eye droppers.  They found that “happy tears” are made up of brine which is basically salt water.  However, the “sad tears” were found to contain the chemicals and enzymes that are found in tumors, ulcers and other lumps which create sickness throughout the body.

This test concluded that the body, when crying because of sadness, is literally flushing out all of the toxic-chemicals that accumulate and are a part of the sadness/heartache experience.  So it seems that if you  hold back tears which have a strong emotion attached to it, those toxic-waters will find somewhere else to deposit themselves and a holding-back of crying-release will guarantee that the body will accumulate large amounts of toxicity that could have been released through the tears.

“Protest” Crying -vs- “Surrender” Type Crying

Other studies have discovered that if the crying is happening out of “protest”, meaning you do not accept a loss or situation, then there is no soothing, comfort or release from the tears because the resistance and anger continues even after the crying.  Conversely, sad crying that is a call for comfort from a loved one can lead to closeness and healing.   Research also concluded that crying has important effects on healing and that it improves the mood of 88.8% of weepers.  Also, crying with just one other “safe” person present was significantly more likely to produce a therapeutic effect than doing so in front of a larger group.

I have come across two clients which I recommended they cry.  One client flashed back to an experience at 8 years old of having been told about her grandfather’s sudden death from an accident.  At first when she was told she thought it was a joke and because she expressed her disbelief her mother slapped her (she didn’t come from a supportive environment).    Later her mother and other relatives decided that the children should not go to the funeral.  She was very upset that others made that decision for her.  She recalls that she never cried over her grandfather’s death; not because she didn’t feel sadness but because she was “protesting” how she was treated by the others.   The idea of crying over this incident and the way in which she was treated appeals to her and she is considering releasing the “toxins” and “energy blocks” associated with this experience. UPDATE: The above client informed me that she did allow herself to cry off and on for three days.  The following is what she reported,   “It was healing and I had great clarity afterward.  I feel so much more clear and calm.  I have been able to maintain an observation like attitude with my husband and it is amazing.  I am not getting caught up in trying to reason with him.  I just let him express what he feels and thinks and I go on.  I think he appreciates it and it is so much more healthy than all the drama.   All that chatter is wasted energy.  I am still having pain in my back and leg but the other night when it had been really bad all day I was laying on the sofa and suddenly there was this little pop of energy out of my right sacroiliac area (lower right back) with immediate relief of the pain in that area. It has made walking easier and uplifted my mood considerably.  It was really neat.”

The second client did cry over being sexually abused by her own brother when she was about six years old.  Additionally she cried deeply over so many sad times in her childhood and marriage.  After about 3 weeks of off and on crying she reported to me that the release of all these pent up tears has allowed her to breathe more easily and deeply.  She noticed tightness in her muscles release.  More importantly her “spirits” are up and she feels more hopeful about her life.

It seems that “crying tears” release the original chemical reaction of the emotions – emotions which in some cases have been suppressed for years.   Next time you feel like crying DO NOT hold back.  If you don’t feel “safe” or comfortable in the moment, release the tears later.  If you know you have held back many tears over some past experience, then consider releasing all that exists within this “holding back”.  Even if it takes weeks or months to feel like you have cried your last tear (over an experience), the freedom, peace, joy and positive health benefits that will be yours is worth every drop.

Yet, most people focus on what they don’t want in their lives and due to the time and emotional energy spent dwelling on them, they bring those very things that they don’t want or the essence of what they don’t want into their lives.  What you focus on you give life to.  If you receive more of what you don’t want it takes you away from your desired path, disrupts your peace of mind and drains your energy. Stop for a moment and feel how each of the following phrases sets in your body.  Whether we believe it or not, every thought has an energy frequency which is emitted.

FEEL THE DIFFERENCE

Close your eyes and say “I don’t want, I don’t want”…wait a few seconds.  How does this phrase feel?  Does it create tightness somewhere in your body?  Does it have a “heavy feel”?  Do you sense some “fear” behind it?  How else did it feel?

Now continuing with your eyes closed say “I want, I want”…wait a few seconds.  How does this phrase feel?  Does it create less resistance?  Does it have a “lighter feel”?  Do you sense some “hope” behind it?  How else did it feel?

The power of the right type of thinking and the energy/passion behind the “I want” statement brings about remarkable results.  It is important to understand that there really does need to be a true heartfelt desire for what you want.  This is again what gives it life.  If it is just a preference or you have the attitude of “I can take it or leave it” then there is not much momentum behind it.  This is okay because not everything is of value or of importance to you.   However, focusing your thoughts, actions and reactions on what matters inspires you and in turn inspires others.  You achieve significant results!

CLARITY LEADS TO FULFILLING YOUR “WANTS”

Since I began applying my attention on what I truly want it has been life changing; both internally and externally.  The times I did not define what I wanted it has been less than satisfactory.  As Yogi Berra once stated, ”If you don’t know where you‘re going, you‘ll end up somewhere else.”  So as I ended up “somewhere else”, I would need to backtrack and try to undo what I didn’t want in the first place.  This gets exhausting!  This applies to relationships, friendships, health, career, job, school, big purchases, investments…etc.  Basically anything that can dramatically impact your life.

Focusing on what you “don’t want” can effectively make you feel powerless.  It does not define what you do want.  However, this tends to be our habitual tendency.  When you intentionally focus on what you do want, the thoughts of what you didn’t want are gradually washed away.  You don’t fight the thoughts of what you don’t want; you overcome them by concentrating on what you do want.

FOCUS WHEEL

A very useful tool to help you focus on what you do want is the use of a FOCUS WHEEL.  The following is an example of a Focus Wheel on “creating the perfect job”.  Note that you can include God/Source as part of the process or if this is not comfortable to you leave it out.  The blank spaces are there for you to complete this Focus Wheel if you like.  For example, you can insert how much your perfect job would pay you?  To print the following examples open the PDF files.  A blank Focus Wheel is also available.  Use this tool for any important decision or goal you are planning to embark on (i.e. college, career, marriage, parenthood, business…etc.)

• PDF of New Job Focus Wheel
• PDF of Personal Relationship Focus Wheel
• PDF of Blank Focus Wheel

When we are focused on what we don’t want, that is all we see, and our ideas and decisions are based on what we don’t want. When we know what we do want, we give ourselves the ability to imagine new possibilities and generate ideas on how to be and what to do or say in each moment to make it a reality.  We begin to achieve clarity and to receive ideas on what to do next and how to do it to move in a new direction.  People, articles, books, opportunities come to our attention which align with what we want.

OWN YOUR LIFE!  OWN YOUR HAPPINESS!

“We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it”                              – President Barack Obama

President Obama uttered these words in the latest address to Congress. However, not fearing the future but shaping it also applies to our personal lives in a very dramatic way. On many occasions “fear” is what stops us from moving forward and accepting change in our personal lives. Fear of the unknown keeps us from the potential of great internal freedom (freedom from painful or negative thoughts, beliefs, experiences, having to control…etc.).  Fear does not just let us “be”.

The following article is from a Doctor of Metaphysics – Toni Elizabeth Sar’h Petrinovich, Ph.D. She was born with memory of the etheric worlds intact. She is the owner of Sacred Spaces in the beautiful San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington State where she conducts personal sessions, retreats and etheric readings for all those drawn to the authentic Self.

I’d like to give definitions of the Ego which may make the following article more impactful.  The dictionary defines Ego as the part of a person’s self that is able to recognize that person as being distinct from other people and things.  Toni Elizabeth sent me the following definition on the Ego:

“The ego is the “I” of you that distinguishes itself from others and also from its thoughts. It is the conscious accumulator of your experiences in the body you are using – and it believes it is separated and distinct from the “others” in its reality.  The ego is the identity of the individuation.  It makes each person “be” the person he or she is in All That Is.  Without the ego, you would not be you and I would not be me.  The ego does not consciously know that it is Source and harbors fear that if it is absorbed into the One, it will no longer exist.  Once the ego personality realizes that not only is it safe to “fall in love with the Beloved within”, it is also the answer to its deepest yearning, the being realizes the Self.  It is Source sourcing Itself through individuated experience.”

WHY DO WE CREATE FEAR?

What is fear? Mankind defines fear as “an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger”. Man defines danger as “exposure or liability to injury, pain or loss”. Anticipating is “giving advance thought to” something that may come in the future. It appears that fear could be summarized as the feeling one has when anticipating pain or loss in future time.

Looking at this set of definitions, one has only to glance casually to become aware of the creative aspect of this definition. How could something cause pain or loss in the future and be experienced NOW unless it was being created NOW? There is no way to know that the future will certainly bring the anticipated pain or loss. There is only the “advance thought” that creates it and thus brings it into the experience of the thinker. Thus, the one doing the thinking is distracted in the perpetuation of this “future thought”.

Why would mankind wish to create something in the future that would be harmful to him or her? Why would advance thinking be used to create pain or loss or the sense of one of these?

It is the job, the task, the mission of the ego personality to perpetuate separation in mankind from each other, from Source and inevitably from itself. In this task of separation, the ego uses every ploy possible to secure the knowledge that each being, each person, must remain separate, solitary and alone to be safe from “anticipated danger”. In the aloneness is the only safety. Though it may feel lonely at times, it is safer than trusting another because there is no one to trust. All have proven themselves guilty of betrayal and therefore, “anticipated danger” is definitely a worthwhile cause. So says the ego personality.

The issue this brings up is a case of mistaken identity. When man says he IS this or that, he is saying that he IS the ego. That statement limits man to the egoic state because the ego cannot do anything except be limited. This thought is self-perpetuating. The more it is thought, the more limited it becomes. The more limited one is the more one has to struggle to get along because the ego requires effort to sustain its belief system of separation and unworthiness. The ego wishes to be accepted. It paints everything with the colors that makes it feel that it will be approved of by creating ever-increasing needs to ward off the “anticipated danger”.

The strength of the ego personality creates fear to prove to you that you are truly separate because if you were not then there would be no reason to fear. It is the ultimate dichotomy. One must fear to remain safe because without fear there is no safety.

Letting go of the attributes of the ego results in the only security that truly exists. It is the height of vulnerability and the depths of passionate response to life. It is creating from the heart and the soul all one wishes without thought of tomorrow and it is bringing into the field of one’s environment the peace that comes without thought.

This is what is asked of you in each moment and in each breath. It is the only source of contentment, knowing, peace and joy that is offered in a world of duality because it surpasses the dual appearance and brings you full circle into the actual reason for your presence on earth. Fear kills the mind. Letting go of fear brings infinite life. Fear is separation; its opposite – love – is union; union with the Cosmos, your fellow man and, most important of all, your Self.

Stop for a moment and feel your self. See where the fear lives. Ask it why it is there. Feel the contraction in it. Breathe into it. Breathe it out. Ask yourself why you allow it to live within your consciousness. What does fear bring you that benefits your life? Why do you allow it to be part of what you identify as YOU? **

Yes, we can shape our future; fear can shape one type of future and love can shape a different type of future.

Remember it’s ALL good!

As I watch my daughters, especially when they are with their friends, there is just so much joy, fun and laughter.  Recently, my eldest said to me, “Mom you need to do more fun things.  Have some fun in your life.”   I must admit I tend to be such an introspective person and can read or sit in front of the computer (researching) for hours.  I lose sight of incorporating just pure fun which many times leads to laughter.  Looking at it from an “energetic” point of view, laughter vibrates at a high frequency and therefore can help shift a person’s health in many forms.

Fun and laughter can…

• Dispel (at least temporally) distressing emotions like anxiety, anger, sadness and possibly give you a better frame of mind to deal with a difficult situation.
• Cleanse you physically and emotionally due to its “releasing” effects.
• Reduce stress hormones like cortisol and epinephrine (adrenaline) which increase stress, tension and inflammation.
• Increase the feel good hormones like endorphins which are neurotransmitters found in the brain that have pain relieving properties similar to morphine and which rid the body of waste acids.
• Keep you healthy by increasing the white blood cells which are essential for your immune system as well as raising infection-fighting antibodies

Studies

Researchers at the University of Maryland studied the effects on blood vessels when people were shown either comedies or dramas. After the screening, the blood vessels of the group who watched the comedy behaved normally, they expanded and contracted easily. But the blood vessels in people who watched the drama tended to tense up, which restricted blood flow.  I can only imagine what horror or violent flicks can do to our blood vessels.  Also, the comedy or comedian you watch must truly be funny to you.  If it is only marginally funny it may actually frustrate you which will not give you any of the benefits of laughter

Experts have also found that while laughing we stretch muscles through-out our face, contract the abs and even work out the shoulders.  This leaves muscles more relaxed.   It even provides a work out for the heart because the pulse and blood pressure increase.  Additionally, we breathe faster which sends more oxygen to our tissues.

The Norman Cousins Story

Norman Cousins was a writer and became editor for 35 years of the Saturday Review. His story begins in 1964, when doctors diagnosed him with a condition which affects the spine; it could have been Ankylosing Spondylitis or a type of severe arthritis.  Either way he was not given any hope for recovery.  At the time he was basically incapacitated and could not work.  Cousins decided to take his health into his own hands and eventually did three things completely contrary to medical opinion.

First he asked to be weaned off his medications because he discovered how harmful they were.  He also thought that his body needed therapeutic levels of Vitamin C and so he took high dosages of this supplement.  Secondly, he decided to leave the hospital because he concluded that a hospital was “no place for a person who is seriously ill” what with their haphazard hygiene practices, culture of overmedication, general feelings of negativity, and routines that disrupted basic sleep patterns.

Thirdly, Cousins got a hold of a projector (no DVD or videos then) and a large supply of funny films, including Candid Camera tapes and several old prints of Marx Brother’s movies.  Cousins found that he laughed so hard at the films that he was able to stimulate chemicals in his body that allowed him several hours of pain free sleep.  When the pain would return he would simply turn the projector back on and the laughter would re-induce sleep, and he was able to measure the changes in his body by measuring his blood sedimentation rate, a key measurement of inflammation and infection in the blood, and found that this rate dropped by at least 5 points each time he watched one of these films.

He eventually returned to his job as editor of the Saturday Review.  He was not 100% recovered but dramatic enough to “have a life”.  What gave Cousins the idea of trying laughter and positive emotions?  While in the hospital Cousins theorized that if negative emotions such as anger and frustration could contribute to poor health, why couldn’t positive emotions such as joy and laughter have the opposite effect?  Cousins soon embraced this idea, and this contributed to an optimistic attitude that seems to have reversed much of his severe illness.

Be “In the Now”

The time is NOW to laugh and be happy.  We used to do it everyday as youngsters.  Actually having fun and laughing always seems to put you in the NOW moment.  Very few people think about what tends to trouble them.  Maybe this is why people enjoy vacations so much because they distance themselves from what troubles them and focus on fun and enjoyment.

My husband and I recently sat down and discussed having more fun and laughing on a daily basis.  He jumped at the idea and now wants me to open up a Netflix account so that we can rent comedies and watch comedians on their tour shows.  We are also doing much more bike riding as a family and playing more board games.  A game night with neighbor may be in the works.  Recently we booked our first cruise which we plan to take during the Thanksgiving week.  Scientist Boris Sokoloff explained, “Like swimming, riding, writing, or playing golf, happiness can be learned.”

I’m off to have fun with my girls; I invite you to play and laugh a lot more.    Share your stories.

You can begin your commitment to laughing by watching these funny videos or any other ones you deem funny -

]]> http://www.bodyandsoulreconnection.com/the-healing-powers-of-fun-and-laughter/feed/ 0 http://www.bodyandsoulreconnection.com/understanding-the-benefits-of-reconnective-healing/ http://www.bodyandsoulreconnection.com/understanding-the-benefits-of-reconnective-healing/#comments Wed, 12 Aug 2009 22:00:27 +0000 Lu Martinez http://www.bodyandsoulreconnection.com/?p=1906

Dr. Eric Pearl's Right Hand

“We all desire to have great relationships, fulfilling occupations, joy, health, security and inner-peace. It is a constant challenge for us as human beings to keep every part within ourselves (emotional, mental, physical and spiritual) in balance, flowing, and attuned in order to achieve this desire.”

The above quote is found on the Home page of my website.  I have a deep commitment to help lead people towards balancing their multi-dimensional body; to helping them experience a “flowing” through life with less struggle and physical discomfort.  Currently one of the most powerful methods to help achieve internal balance is an energy type work called Reconnective Healing®, which has been brought to the public’s attention by Dr. Eric Pearl and his book The Reconnection. It is difficult for many people to accept this type of work because it cannot be seen.  Radio waves cannot be seen yet we are aware that they exist.  The electrical impulses which course through our body and allow for an EKG, EEG, and lie detector test to track this energy can also not be seen, yet they are real.  And so universal/planetary electromagnetic fields with their various vibrational frequencies also exist yet cannot be seen.

One of the most well known energy type works offered for decades is Reiki, originating from Japan.  Reconnective Healing is a recently discovered frequency (approximately 12 years ago) which seems to be working at a much higher frequency.  It can be accessed and directed to a person’s electromagnetic field to affect change at a molecular level.

How Do Higher Frequencies Work?

The higher a vibrational frequency is, the closer it is to the frequency of Light.  Because human energy fields exist, shifting energy to higher frequencies can be a very “healing” experience.  I have come to understand that everything holds energy and vibrates at different rates; each thought, emotion and experience that we have effects and changes the frequency of our personal energy field.  A pattern of thought that is repeated often enough takes on a tremendous amount of “solidity” in one’s energy field, and these “solid” thoughts are called “thoughtforms”.  All of our thought/belief forms hold a vibrational frequency.  A thought or belief which is “rooted” in fear/rejection holds a lower level frequency or energy.  Physical imbalances also hold a lower frequency.  On the contrary, a thought or belief form which is “rooted” in love/acceptance holds a higher level of frequency or energy.

Each person has a unique vibration, which is the product of all of the influences he/she has ever encountered. The healing benefits of Reconnective Healing occur when a habitual lower level energy thoughtform, belief or physical imbalance is raised in its vibrational frequency.  In other words a higher frequency begins to replace the lower frequency (block) and “frees” the person to continue moving forward from the stagnation of this lower frequency.  It becomes easier to inject “light” and cause a type of metamorphosis of the lower more “denser” frequency.  For example, confusion transforms into clarity, hate into love, fear into courage, and conflict into harmony.

Reconnective Healing®

Reconnective Healing reconnects us to the fullness of the universe as it reconnects us to the fullness of our beings and of who we are.  Not only does it seem to have a new set of healing frequencies, but it possibly has an entirely new bandwidth. The reality of its existence has demonstrated itself clearly in practice as well as in science laboratories.  Reconnective Healing doesn’t specifically “treat” anything.  If in its presence you have a specific intent, or not, but allow yourself to come back into balance, as many people do, then you do.  If you’re lucky, your healing will come in the form you anticipated; if you’re really lucky, your healing will come in a form you haven’t even thought of, one that the universe has in mind specifically for you.  Healing can come in all forms.

Everyone’s experience with Reconnective Healing is unique.  In some instances the molecular integration of these new and higher level Reconnective frequencies can have an instant effect on one aspect of your being while in other areas of your being it can take a few weeks or months to unfold. 

Who Benefits from Reconnective Healing®?

People who seek out this type of healing usually fall into three categories: 1) They have tried numerous things for a chronic physical or emotional/mental imbalance and this is a new approach, 2) They have reached a point in their life in which they want to feel more integrated/whole and attain higher consciousness and awareness of how to live their life and how to continue journeying in their life, or 3) They seek out this type of healing for a family member who is hospitalized or in a care facility.

The beauty about these frequencies is that they work in person or via distance (I’m in California and I performed Reconnective Healing for a client in New York).  Also, not more then three sessions are suggested so it does not become a habitual “fix” or a “crutch”.   After a session clients may feel tired for the next 24 to 72 hours as the frequencies integrate into the body.  Click the following to read about others experiences -- Testimonials.

Examples Of The Effects Of Different Frequencies

The following videos visually demonstrate how the frequencies of certain words or high pitched sound vibrations can alter an element.  In a similar way we can also be altered for our highest good.

Turn down the volume!

We also find that color is light of different wavelengths, and each color has its own specific wavelength and vibration.  These wavelengths resonate with energies in different areas of the body and can have restorative properties.  I have had many clients observe colors while in their Reconnective Healing session.

My desire for you is that you open yourself up to all choices which will propel you forward and open up a greater path of understanding and power.  Feel free to Contact me with any questions.

Either way it is ALL good!