Thoughts on Katrina

All events and incidents in life are so intimately linked with the fate of others that a single person on his or her own cannot even begin to act. Many ordinary human activities, both positive and negative, cannot even be conceived of apart from the existence of other people.

Even the committing of harmful actions depends on the existence of others. Because of others, we have the opportunity to earn money if that is what we desire in life. Similarly, in reliance upon the existence of others it becomes possible for the media to create fame or disrepute for someone.

On your own you cannot create any fame or disrepute no matter how loud you might shout. The closest you can get is to create an echo of your own voice.

Thus interdependence is a fundamental law of nature. Not only higher forms of life but also many of the smallest insects are social beings who, without any religion, law, or education, survive by mutual cooperation based on an innate recognition of their interconnectedness.

The most subtle level of material phenomena is also governed by interdependence. All phenomena, from the planet we inhabit to the oceans, clouds, forests, and flowers that surround us, arise in dependence upon subtle patterns of energy. Without their proper interaction, they dissolve and decay.

by Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, from The Compassionate Life


nondual healing

Psychedelic Medicine: Mind Bending, Health Giving

Recently the currently banned drug MDMA has been ok'ed for a pilot study on MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy in the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

http://www.maps.org/news-letters/v15n1-html/ptsd.html

Many of the other banned psychedelic or empathogenic drugs are being looked at again as potent treatments for psychological and addictive problems. When the drugs were made illegal in the 1960's most of the reseach was stopped.

Britain's New Scientist magazine has an excellent article on this new research:

John Halpern clearly remembers what made him change his mind about psychedelic drugs. It was the early 1990s and the young medical student at a hospital in Brooklyn, New York, was getting frustrated that he could not do more to help the alcoholics and addicts in his care. He sounded off to an older psychiatrist, who mentioned that LSD and related drugs had once been considered promising treatments for addiction. "I was so fascinated that I did all this research," Halpern recalls. "I was reading all these papers from the 60s and going, whoa, wait a minute! How come nobody's talking about this?"

More than a decade later, Halpern is now an associate director of substance abuse research at Harvard University's McLean Hospital and is at the forefront of a revival of research into psychedelic medicine. He recently received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to give late-stage cancer patients the psychedelic drug MDMA, also known as ecstasy. He is also laying the groundwork for testing LSD as a treatment for dreaded super-migraines known as cluster headaches.

And Halpern is not alone. Clinical trials of psychedelic drugs are planned or under way at numerous centres around the world for conditions ranging from anxiety to alcoholism. It may not be long before doctors are legally prescribing hallucinogens for the first time in decades. "There are medicines here that have been overlooked, that are fundamentally valuable," says Halpern.

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/mg18524881.400

addictions


Christopher Stewart
Medical Intutive
http://www.clairvoyantguide.com

Blinking Causes Brains to Go Blank

The expression, "Don't blink or you’ll miss it," has taken on a new, more literal, meaning. Researchers at the University College of London (UCL), led by Dr. Geraint Rees, have found that areas of the brain actually shut down every time we blink.

In the 1980s, scientists discovered that visual sensitivity begins decreasing immediately before a blink, but the brain mechanisms underlying this process have remained unclear until now.

In the UCL study, researchers devised a clever way to monitor the brain's activity, under conditions in which the amount of light received by the eye was constant, regardless of blinking.

This was achieved by placing a light-emitting optical fiber in the mouth of volunteers who were wearing light-blocking goggles. The light was bright enough to reach the retina by passing through the roof of the mouth.

The Blink Is the Link
The researchers then performed magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, on the volunteers, to see how the brain would react when light was uninterrupted during blinking.

It was discovered that brain activity in areas that are active when people become conscious of visual events or objects in the outside world were suppressed during blinking -- even though the light falling onto the retina remained constant throughout the blink.

The UCL scientists conclude that the brain's ability to shut down during blinking is a neural mechanism that protects us from the constant distraction and discontinuity that otherwise would result from the frequent mini-blackouts.

Lost in the Blink of an Eye
The average person blinks about 15 times per minute. So, even though the mini-blackouts are instantaneous, they add up to about nine days per year -- or up to one or two years of an average lifespan.

The years are literally lost in the blink of an eye.

http://38.114.164.202/content/view/1358/

Full Moon

Another powerful Full Moon peaks this Friday, August 19th at 10:53 AM PDT.
With the Sun in Leo and the Moon in Aquarius, the cosmic spotlight is on our personal and social destiny‹how we choose to live as individuals, and what we desire to experience as Humanity.

This Full Moon, and the period continuing through August 20th, is potentized by a series of stargates which have formed since the beginning of July. Stargates are conduits of energy shaped by celestial alignments far beyond our solar system. They bring an increased influx of light which accelerates personal and planetary transformations. Shift Happens more quickly and easily than ever before.

Leo represents the power of the personal will; Aquarius, the power of the group or collective. The archetypal journey of this polarity is portrayed in the myth of the Holy Grail. The quest for the Self, our divine essence and true identity, necessitates embarking into the unknown.

We must journey beyond the confines of the ego, the limited identity shaped by our parental, religious, and social conditioning, face the demons in our unconscious, and participate in creating a new world. This Full Moon illuminates where we are battling the dragons of fear and doubt, and where we are ready to give our gifts.


All Full Moons bring light to the dark, and illuminate the shadow side of each sign involved. As the precession of the equinoxes nears its approximately once every 12,000 years passage into Aquarius-Leo, these archetypes become more polarized and their shadows more starkly visible.

The brighter the light, the darker the shadow. Leo strives for sincerity and authenticity; its shadow is egoism and pretense. Aquarius seeks equality and affiliation; its shadow is disparity and alienation.

This Full Moon makes it easier to see what is ready to be brought to the light. It bids us to transcend duality and live from the heart, from a place of love and unity rather than separation and fear.


Reflect on your highest vision of the future--what you wish to create and the role you wish to play at this pivotal time on Earth, for:


Stephanie Austin

http://ecoastrology.com

astrology

transpersonal astrology

A Positive Look at Mercury Retrograde

All of the planets used by astrologers to understand the spiritual language of the cosmos have a retrograde motion. In very simple terms, this means that from the perspective of Earth each of the planets seems to backup in its orbit for a time, and then goes forward again.

Imagine you are on a train passing a second, slower-moving train going in the same direction. From your vantage point, the second train looks like it is going backwards. But it's not. It’s really an optical illusion, caused by the differing orbits and the differing speeds of the objects (planets) involved.

Mercury retrograde is probably the most famous of all astrological transits. Many stories of communication problems, computer network failures, and many other problems are blamed on this period. One concept to remember in any astrological transit is, "The stars impel, they do not compel.” You always have freewill in any situation.

Mercury retrograde is when we go inward, review health on all levels: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. This information concerning health is our real opportunity to grow beyond our limitations and habits of thinking, feeling and acting.

A Mercury retrograde period usually lasts about 3 weeks. The two remaining Mercury retrograde periods for 2005 are from July 22 to August 15 and from November 13 to December 3.

This time period allows the knowledge of the heart, to be freed from past images and perceptions. Mercury retrograde periods are when we have a second chance to see experiences and people differently from the first experience. As well as understanding why a situation was originally delayed.

Thought for today

Buying in or moving by

How many times do we buy into drama, our own or others. We get caught up into the energy that is being displayed to us, instead of moving by. Look at many of the drama situations we are pressented with as summer cloudbursts, they move by, and leave only water to grow the fruits of the season.

http://intuitiveinnovations.blogspot.com/

Jinxed computer users might be sending out a bad vibe, researchers suggest

Some people seem to carry a computer curse, frustrated by a plague of viruses, hard-drive failures, power surges and software conflicts that appear and disappear without rational explanation.

They blame their machines and suffer the scorn of others who accuse them of doing something wrong. But researchers at Princeton University may have an explanation: these computer users, it seems, could be sending out bad vibes.

"There are some people who seem to have a natural rapport with computers and other complex machines, and there are other people who seem to manage to break everything even without touching it," said York Dobyns, analytical co-ordinator at Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR).

http://www.canada.com/technology/story.html?id=f6ebf013-4d44-4f13-90a2-a938292f4739

Attitude of gratitude: does it spur speedy recovery for recipients?

A study says gratitude can positively impact the recovery time of organ transplant recipients.

Why would The Institute for Research on Unlimited Love support a project that looks at gratitude? This is easy to explain. Robert Emmons, director of the study called “The Gift of One’s Self,” focused primarily on the reasons why living donors are moved to give a kidney, or perhaps part of their liver, to another human being whom they may not even know.

There is certainly some risk and a great deal of inconvenience for those who donate their organs. The act becomes especially interesting when the recipient of the gift is not a family member. Emmons, with associate Stefanie Gray Greiner, is researching, among other aspects of this form of giving, the motivational dynamic of religion and spirituality.

Emmons is also examining the response to such gifts. This is, appropriately, where gratitude comes in. Recipients who express gratitude — directly or indirectly through passages written in journals — after their operations may have easier recoveries.

If so, this is big news for clinical settings that conduct transplants. Findings such as these could even change the approach to recovery for transplant recipients.

By Stephen G. Post, Ph.D.

http://www.stnews.org/articles.php?article_id=1526&category=Commentary

spiritual healing

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

The Joys And Pitfalls Of Being An Empath

Being An Empath Is A Double Edged Sword

Can you feel what others around you are feeling? Are you sensitive to your surroundings? When you lay your hands on someone, do your hands know right where to go to help that person? Perhaps you are an empath.

Being an empath is a double edged sword. It can be both a curse and a blessing. On one hand, you have the ability to intuit exactly what you need to do to make someone comfortable. On the other, it is easy to loose track of what you need, because you are so accustomed to caring for other's comfort before caring for your own.

You have easy access to information about what is going on with the people around you, but sometimes it is hard to know your own mind.Some people would love to learn how to be more empathic, while others would love to learn how to retain the best parts of that skill, while managing the more difficult aspects. This article will help you with both things

http://healing.about.com/od/empathic/a/empathessential.htm

Sylvia Brallier

Carnival of Healing:Submissions wanted

Carnival of Healing is a weekly round-up of personal Web sites and blogs on the topic of healing. It’s being hosted by the Holistic Healing Guide at About.com.

I will be hosting periodically here at Intuitive Living. Please consider submitting a link to your blog or personal website if it is related to healing and wellness.

Submit your URLBlog Content Wanted:Anything you have recently written in your blog pertaining to wellness, holistic health, spirituality, personal empowerment, or healthy lifestyle.

The carnival of healing is not a search engine or link directory. What I am really looking for are articles on healing, empowerment, life changing experiences, remedy ideas and healing tips. If you have not written one yourself, why not try now? Also if you know an article that you really like that falls into these categories please forward me the URL.

I am really interested in the blogosphere. What are you writing about on healing, complementary medicine, spirituality, and healthy lifestyles and communities?

To Be Included in the Carnival:Submit your URL and description of your blog or personal Web site.

What is a Blog Carnival?

Carnival of Healing Archives:

#6 - September 3, 2005: hosted by Intuitive Living Blogspot

#5 - August 27, 2005: hosted by Intuitive Innovations from Illuminations

#4 - August 20, 2005: hosted by Spiral Visions Blog

#3 - August 13, 2005: hosted by About Holistic Healing

#2 - August 6, 2005: hosted by About Holistic Healing

#1 - July 30, 2005: Saturn in Leo, Sacred Waters, Recess for the Soul


blog carnival

carnival of healing