Building the Content of a Great Character: A Conscious Decision

In strong contrast to racism, the great Martin Luther King implied that all of man should be judged by the content of their character rather than the colour of their skin; an excerpt of the popular "I have a dream speech". In turn, it is only fair that people be given a chance of an assessment of credibility based on the simple pedestal of personal character. This is built by the values you hold dear to your heart and the principles you choose to live by. Building the content of personal character is a conscious decision and one that every man gets the chance to modify by the day. A good starting point is to ask the question: What are my values, the principles I hold dear to my heart and choose to live by? A clear answer to the latter would yield an evaluation status and help forge a way forward by providing the present position and how much effort is required in the long run.

Ethics and moral values are very fast on the decline, but strangely enough, these were the pillars that preserved our world until now, giving us the barest opportunity of inheriting a place where there is just enough trust to transact business and go about our daily affairs. This is not say that it was a perfect world in the past, but comparatively it was a weightier issue in those days that one had the ability to live above-board as it was a more highly recommended subject, one that was even included in the educational curriculum. Whilst some writ might have clearly defined laws written down as a guide for religion, most of our values and principles are often unwritten but readily available if only we choose to imbibe and readily live by them.

In the process of building a great character, values such as the following would be of immense benefit: hold your word as your bond; build a passion and a commitment to the truth even if it hurts you and benefits another; look out for others, and you will not lack in your own personal needs; imbibe the system of philanthropy- giving of yourself because of a better understanding of a larger purpose rather the system of incentives or rewards. Obviously, it would be quite easy to say that none of these recommendations is new but in fact the more potent thing is to do a reality check as to how much of these we practice in our daily lives. Amazingly, human beings know so much of the truth but how much of it is put into practice is questionable.

Making a conscious effort at improvement after learning from our faults and failings is a good way to go. It brings to the fore, the essential reality that things could be done better. Effectively, a problem realized is as good as half solved especially when compared to a man who doesn't yet realize or accept that there is a problem on the horizon. Molding the content of a great character can be a painful process but it is often worth the effort if it is examined from the right perspective. With constant practice, and a conscious repetition of what values need to be improved on, progress is gradually made in the journey to becoming a better person. It is also great to constantly evaluate how much improvement has been made even if the process is slow but progressive.

Personal character is like a beacon of light that shines through unhindered, and the content would always show forth, leaving the beholder to examine the measure of greatness or otherwise. No matter how much pretence is applied, it does not take too much to decipher a character devoid of the right values and principles. It is essentially the root of the human being and determines so much of everything, even as fundamental as the words spoken by the minute. Character is a great participant in determining the mode of the mind and the development of the mentality kind. Whilst present happenings around may determine the state of the mind, it takes the right content of character to marshal effective strategy to wade through successfully. Building the right content of a great character is key and very essential to the successful execution of a life worthy of emulation and celebration.

Akinola helps to improve lives via Motivational Thoughts and Insights http://dakes83.blogspot.com, a blog born out of the desire to bring about real inspiration,motivation and change by analyzing life issues and pulling out inferences as lessons learned in real time.we choose to call them lessons worth your while, from the school called LIFE.one thing that we can very much assure you- YOU WILL BE INSPIRED!!

Be Body Conscious Or Suffer Personal & Professional Consequences

Wouldn't your think that since we spend our entire lives doing everything we do -- from thinking, tasting and hearing, to smelling, feeling and interacting -- that we'd be more aware of what allows us to do all these things? And since 90% of our communication is non-verbal, wouldn't it make sense to be more conscious of, yes, our bodies?

Our bodies provide us the capacity to sense what is tasty, silky, sonorous, nurturing, dangerous and inspiring. Yet those of us who have been raised in the western world have come to worship, to hyper-focus on our intellects as the way to live effective and full lives.

In contrast, our bodies (and emotions) are given minor roles or omitted completely from life's lexicon because focusing on them is considered 'soft', inferior or even weird. Yet we suffer personally and professionally by abbreviating the full extent of who we are.

By plowing ahead despite an unhealthily raised or lowered heartbeat, painful joints, head or stomach aches, we risk messages that something(s) is/are not right in our lives, not only physically, but perhaps also mentally or emotionally.
By speeding to work without noticing the emergent signs of Spring, we eclipse the amazing wonders and gifts that life is presenting to us - for free.
By ignoring a client's non-verbal cues, we miss the opportunity to make adjustments to our offer in order to a seal a deal.
By being oblivious to a friend or colleague's slumped posture and barely audible "I'm fine" in response to the often perfunctory "How are you," we risk not only inhibiting a relationship, but diminishing our credibility as a sincere person.

While analyzing and intellectualizing certainly have their rightful place, when we live primarily in and from our heads, we minimize not only our own lives, but quite possibly the lives of others and our connections with them.

How can we engage all of who we are so that we can live effective, full lives? Awareness is key.

I'd like to propose a practice for you to commit to over the next four weeks. It is not only simple, but it will give you an opportunity to decide if paying attention to your body does in fact enrich your life, personally, professionally, relationally and with the world as a whole. If it does, which I believe it will, there are innumerable ways to become more body conscious and to make appropriate adjustments that you deem necessary to maximize your engagement in and with life.

SETTING THE STAGE: Once each day for five minutes, assume you cannot speak. The only messages you can receive about yourself, others and the world around you are non-verbal.
SELF: Begin by focusing inside yourself. How fast/slow, shallow/deep is your breath? Now scan your muscles and joints, from the top of your head to your toes. Are they tense, achy, relaxed? What might these indicators be trying to tell you about your state being? What happens emotionally or mentally if you make a physical adjustment?
OTHERS: Observe others' body movements and facial gestures. Take in the energy they emit. Are they attracting or repelling to you? What are their bodies telling you about them and about you?
WORLD: What sounds do you hear? How about colors, textures, shapes of things around you, both natural and man-made? Scents?
REFLECT: Take it all in. What happens to and for you when you do?

Dana E. Whitaker is president of Opening Eyes, LLC, a business committed to helping individuals reach their personal and professional goals. As a coach, Dana helps her clients become more self-aware so that in expanding who they are, they may expand both what they want to, and believe they can do including: following a passion from start to finish, successfully navigating life and career transitions, creating healthy boundaries, developing effective communication strategies and satisfactorily managing work/life commitments. Dana offers individual and group coaching. She graduated from Newfield Network, an International Coach Federation (ICF) certified coaching program.

Additionally, as an author, Dana's stories and photographs in her book, Transforming Lives $40 at a Time, Women + Microfinance: Upending the Status Quo, bring readers face-to-face and heart-to heart with the dreams, fears, and successes of some of the world's poorest women from five continents who, having harnessed their profound courage and resourcefulness, are using microfinance to transform both their lives and those of their families - inside and out. Dana speaks at businesses, universities, churches, schools, bookstores, women's and philanthropy groups - sharing these women's inspiring stories, and her own passion-to-publish-to-coaching transformation. To learn more about Dana and Opening Eyes, LLC, please visit: http://www.openingeyes.net

Conscious Business - The 4 Components of Conscious Business Success

I often get asked by colleagues and clients, "What's it take to really succeed in business during times like this?" First, I tell them that "times like this" don't have to be their reality. In fact "times like this" are the "best of times" for many entrepreneurs who take a serious (and conscious) approach to their business, and refuse to let the "real world" stop them in their tracks.

Success also requires you to have COURAGE - because you've got to be ready to answer some of the tough questions that'll guide you to your highest and best good as a conscious entrepreneur. And, I have to believe that if you're reading this article, you have the courage it takes to do just that. Your courage to keep going, (and not quit on your dream) is what will keep you growing in service to others, to your bottom-line, and to the greater good of all!

So let's take a look at the 4 Components of Conscious Business, which will cause you to ask yourself some of those courageous questions. Use these four components regularly (as a gauge) to see whether or not you are on the right track. And, be ready to make the necessary changes that'll support you in building your successful, prosperous, and conscious business.

Component #1:

A Conscious Business Makes Money Is your business making money? Is it making enough money to fully support your soul's purpose in the world? The truth is, you are meant to attract A LOT of money; not for the purpose of acquiring material possessions (and being able to keep up with the Jones'); rather, you're meant to receive a lot of money so you can do what you were created to do on this Earth. Whether you make $50,000, $500,000 or $5,000,000 per year, now is a good time to take a good look at the bottom-line of your business. And, if you discover your business isn't built on a model that makes a lot of money, have the courage to ask for help to identify the ways in which you can build a profitable, purposeful business.

Component #2:

A Conscious Business Makes a Difference. Does your business truly make a difference to others? Can you feel the difference you're making? When you're operating as a conscious business owner, it's not just about the money; it's about being of service and making a difference in the lives of others. For some entrepreneurs to connect with the difference they're making, they need to look a few layers deep. For instance if you're not in a business that allows you to connect with the difference you make, take a look deeper to see how those clients and customers you serve are making a difference in the world. Once you're able to connect with the difference you make (even if it's a few layers deep), you'll have more motivation and inspiration to grow your conscious business, because you'll know the "ripple effect" your work has on the world.

Component #3:

A Conscious Business Calls You To Be Fully Who You Are Does your business allow you to be ALL of who you are? Are you able to be fully expressed in your business without feeling like you have to hide parts of yourself? Being WHO YOU ARE is the strongest asset you can have as a business owner. Why? Because nobody can be you! Nobody can duplicate your heart and soul! And nobody can exude you... other than you! So, this also means that nobody can compete with you. How sweet is that? You get to design your business in a way that lets you be fully you, AND at the same time you naturally eliminate anyone or anything that can be perceived as "competition." There's only one you, so capitalize on YOU in your business. Not only will you feel great, but you'll also become a magnet that attracts only those customers and clients who are a perfect fit for you.

Component #4:

A Conscious Entrepreneur Trusts In Their Divine Plan Do you believe in a higher, Divine plan? How much trust do you have in that larger plan for your business and your life? This fourth component is vitally important to embrace fully as a conscious entrepreneur; because this is the component that turns "times like this" into the "best of times." This is where you rise above the "reality" of the physical world to connect with the perfect plan that is unfolding for you in each and every moment. Only when you operate your business based on this higher approach will you begin to turn struggle into success, fear into faith, lack into abundance and challenge into triumph.

Now that you've learned more about these four components, I encourage you to spend some time truly pondering the questions posed here. Tap into your courage as you ask these questions, discover the answers and take your next steps. The reward will be a business that is filled with purpose, passion and profit!

Copyright (c) 2008 Christine Kloser

Christine Kloser, author of The Freedom Formula, helps small businesses put soul in their business and money in the bank. If you want to enjoy a purpose-driven business and a soulful life, send for my free Conscious Business Success Kit, which includes my report, How to Avoid the 3 Massive Mistakes Made by Conscious Entrepreneurs and audio, 7 Strategies Entrepreneurial Authors Need to Know Before Writing a Word, at LoveYourLife.com.

Electric Consciousness - Manifesting Miracles Through Your Brain's Electric Consciousness

The electric consciousness of the brain is a hotly debated topic amongst neuroscientists. But as the beautiful naked woman smiled seductively and beckoned him with her finger, David had no doubts in his own mind as to its reality. The electrodes stuck to his scalp were measuring changes in his brainwaves as he listened to a brain entrainment audio track and his mind began generating vivid imagery. The seductress was a figment of his own imagination but to his body and brain she was real enough.

David knew that the electroencephalography (EEG) equipment attached to his head was measuring fluctuations in the electrical activity produced by his brain. These fluctuations or brainwaves formed a glowing electromagnetic energy field around the brain. The theory of electric consciousness suggested this was the carrier of consciousness itself. This 'aura' was where he experienced his sense of self. This was where he experienced life and the sense of being alive. He had always thought it was 'weird' that his mind didn't seem to fit inside his head!

With his eyes still firmly closed, David silently and slowly counted backwards and downwards from 10-to-zero as he had been instructed to do.

10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...0... relaxing deeper and deeper with every number, he was soon deeply entranced.

The sounds of a stream bubbling and burbling over rocks played through his ear phones. He was unable to hear the entrainment frequencies embedded into the audio tracks, but his brain was responding to them. That was evident from the EEG readout. His brainwaves were being directed by the track, made to correspond to certain frequencies associated with paranormal abilities, or heightened creativity, even with genius level insights and breakthroughs.

Of course, David had heard all this before from less scientific sources. His parents were Theosophists and he had read many of their books that talked about the human aura. There were all kinds of esoteric rituals and practices designed to get an initiate into the right mindset to experience exalted states of consciousness. But these rituals were often closely guarded secrets or extremely hard to practice and sustain in order to achieve consistent results.

In his deeply relaxed and peaceful state of mind, David suddenly realised something. He could see that he was pursuing his interest in neuroscience as a way of getting to experience these altered states of consciousness without needing to seek out a guru and live a limited, inconvenient lifestyle. That wasn't for him.

Like David, you can discover the secrets of your electric consciousness, using a whole range of mind tools. Neuroscientists are finding out more and more about the brain. New technologies allow interested parties to explore the depths of their own consciousness in ways that have never been possible before. You don't have to trot off to the Himalayas and gobble rice while kow-towing to a guru. You can scientifically explore your own mind.

Using equipment like EEG, neuroscientists have mapped the human brain. They have essentially taken the brain blueprints of the best minds. So let's say that they wire up several geniuses brains, and get them to go through some of their calculations, or artistic creative processes. This gives them a snapshot of the brainwave activity of those geniuses. This snapshot is like a template of how to think like a genius. With other technologies like brainwave entrainment, they can 'transplant' the genius brainwave template onto your brain. This is like a temporary graft. They could design a brainwave entrainment track which carries the specific brainwave frequencies of genius. While you are listening to the brain entrainment audio for example, the track causes your brainwaves to replicate those of the geniuses. With repeated use, your brain adopts this new frequency template as a habitual way of thinking.

Since David has been experimenting with electric consciousness, he has noticed his productivity has rocketed. He says he is far more intuitive, having an uncanny 'read' on events before they happen. And his creativity has taken off, notably in his writing, seeing three books completed within the space of a year. And his own spiritual experience, aided by these neuroscience-based explorations, has led him to have extraordinary experiences such as astral travel and moments of complete unified consciousness.

The era of the electric consciousness is upon us. And we are on the frontiers of miraculous self-discovery which will help us manifest all kinds of extraordinary skills and abilities formally thought of as magical.

Richard Regal has spent a lifetime testing the boundaries of human potential. He is currently experimenting with a new brain entrainment system and invites you to follow his results at http://www.BrainEvolutionSystem.net

Could this be the KEY to manifesting miracles through YOUR electric consciousness?

Achieving Prosperity Consciousness Versus Accepting Poverty Consciousness

Most people believe that to become wealthy you must get good grades, get a good education, find a job, get a promotion in your job, and rise to the top of your business. Others think that to become wealthy, you need to have a PhD, or at least a Master's to do well. Many more will think that in order to become wealthy, you have to work the hardest, and even if you do end up working the hardest, it doesn't guarantee you wealth, but at least you gave it your best.

It feels like deep down all of us would like to do what we want to do when it comes to making money in the world, but because of the social conditioning in our surroundings, it can make it nearly impossible. There is a fear that if we do not follow the same pattern as everybody else, then we are doomed to failure, causing us to take any potential risks and putting us back into our mainstream "safe zones".

When it comes down to how much money you are having in your life, I believe that it really comes down having one of two mind frames - prosperity consciousness or poverty consciousness.

Even if you land a six figure job, would this be considered wealthy? Most people would, considering that 2/3 of the world's population is in poverty. To them, this would be a blessing. But what if you were earning ten million dollars in income, and all of a sudden it became six figures a year. You would be really angry, maybe even depressed, because you are now only earning a mere 1% of what you had before. This, to you, would be considered "poverty".

When being prosperity conscious or poverty conscious, it's all a matter of your perspective. To somebody who has always been used to poverty all their life, they will accept the state they're in and think that six figures a year has made their life. A person, who is always prosperous, will think that six figures a year is not nearly enough to give them the real financial freedom to literally do whatever they want at any given moment in their life.

My dad has worked in the same tool's business for most of this life. He owns a shop in a rundown neighborhood and is unnoticeable if you drive by it fast. There are some days where he only gets a few customers a day. To him, these are just "bad days" as he has gone through many of these days for many years in his life - 30 years in fact.

If I ever told him to be positive, positive in the sense that it would be wise to figure out what's wrong and change what he's doing, he would tell me to be realistic, realistic in the sense that it's because the economy is bad and some days you just won't get customers. That's just how life is.

My mom would be in support of my dad, but she takes it to another level. It's really sad seeing her sometimes because is always so obsessed with the fear of the economy, from people losing their jobs to companies going bankrupt to housing foreclosures. These things added, onto her already conservative mind frame, makes her entire life belief into principles of not spending money on useless things, save receipts, count every penny spent, always study, always get an education, always prepare for jobs, etc.

Don't get me wrong. I love my parents to death, but when it comes down to how much money one person deserves in life, they both have a related poverty consciousness.

If I ever asked them what if would feel like to drive a Mercedes-Benz (instead of a Honda CR-V), they would probably chuckle and say, "Maybe in another lifetime..." They are so accepting of their financial status that even the mere idea of a wealthy thing coming into their lives would seem unimaginable.

I'm sure a lot of people not just family members, but friends put them "back into their place." Are you one of these people? If you told your friend today, "Hey, I'm going to do what I love, create a business out of it, and become wealthy." Would they be cool with it?

Or would they say something like, "Good luck..." which really means, "Yeah right but I'm really going to say good luck to you just out of courtesy to make you feel good at this moment."

Or would they really support you? You know your friends best but when it comes down to how much money you intend to make, it comes down to you, and only you.

So look around you. Look in your pockets right now. Look in your bank account. Are you in debt right now?

Whatever financial circumstance, you can choose to achieve prosperity consciousness or accept poverty consciousness. It's as simple as making that decision in life.

So how do I see a poverty consciousness?

To me, it would be someone who cuts out every coupon available in the newspaper for them to get discounts. It would be someone who never spends money on anything that involves pleasure, leisure, or entertainment, someone who doesn't take risky chances but rather plays it safe by taking years of education imploding their brains with everlasting information, someone who is willing to take any type of job from even the meanest boss because at least they are getting paid, and someone who thinks money is hard to come by, so being grateful for what they have helps them cope with everyday life.

This would be an example poverty thinking.

And how do I see a prosperity consciousness?

To me, it would look like someone getting annoyed by money hitting their head from the sky like how rain falls from the sky. It would be someone who sweeps the piles and piles of money that overflows the inside of a football stadium, or a person who walks through the beaches of money lying around like the sand laying around. It's a person who swims across the entire ocean of money and cannot sink because there is too much of it, and somebody who beliefs that there is so much money in their possession that they will never run out of it as it comes from everywhere and every imaginable source possible.

This would be an example of prosperity thinking.

Many people would believe that this type of prosperity consciousness is deemed as "unrealistic" or "unreasonable." Who cares what other people think. Ultimately, you're the only one who chooses to believe what is realistic and what is not. Everything in the world is just based on one's perception of something, and if you choose to belief that something is real, then it is. So learn how to develop achieve a prosperity consciousness even if takes wild imagination, rather than accepting a poverty consciousness, and you'll be able start attracting the riches from inside your thinking and transform it into outwards physical reality.

For more articles on self-improvement and personal success, please visit Tristan Lee's Blog

The Consciousness Banyan Tree

Vague and mystic terms like consciousness, will and emotions can be explained in more concrete terms through the intuitive algorithm (IA) concept. IA suggests that phenomenally intelligent nerve cells make the mind a powerful information processor and can explain universally recognized human behavior, including its unique foibles. For IA, consciousness can be likened to the feel of breeze on the leaves of a banyan tree. The neural correlates of consciousness logically point to the perceptions of the leaves and not to the processes of the tree. All the nuclei, the intelligent groups of nerve cells, within your brain bear a strong resemblance to the banyan tree, with its spreading branches (dendrites) and numerous roots (axons).

The branches of nuclei perceive patterns in the environment on the periphery and dispatch recognition signals through their roots. There are receptors on the branches of your olfactory tree, which evaluate molecules in the air. Its roots, (axons of those cells) transmit messages, indicating the recognition of the fragrance of orange, or the smell of sweat. Similarly, the branches of the somesthetic association tree perceive the sense of touch and its roots signal recognition of a touched object. In practice, if this recognition-of-objects-by-touch "tree" is injured, you cannot recognize a pair of scissors by touch, when your eyes are closed. If the recognition-of-touch tree remains intact, you will still be able to feel the scissors. By recognizing and responding to patterns, these trees process the vast reaches of your intelligence.

IA suggests that those trees store and use memories of combinations for recognition. Among many such nuclei, smells were recently reported to be recognized through a coding process, where the olfactory tree recognized different combinations of receptor signals. If the tree had receptors, identified as A, B, C and so on to Z, it could then fire, when it received inputs at ABC, or DEF. It recognized those combinations. The tree could identify ABC and would be inhibited for ABD. The experiments of the scientists revealed that even slight changes in chemical structure activated distinctly different combinations of receptors. The olfactory tree stored such codes and indicated that octanol smelled like oranges, while the similar compound, octanoic acid, smelled like sweat. A Nobel Prize acknowledged that discovery in 2004. IA suggests that the intuitive intelligence of the olfactory tree derives from its capacity to remember and sensitively recognize trillions of combinatorial codes.

It is established that the wisdom of nature is founded on the accumulation, over millions of years, of unbelievably large lodes of such operating instructions. If the total DNA codes in a grown human body (each cell contains a sequence of over 3 billion chemical nucleotide bases) were crammed into 500 page instruction manuals, those books would fill the 450 kilometer Grand Canyon fifty times over! Such massive archives of actionable instructions also operate within the banyan trees of your nervous system. Vast galaxies of subterranean knowledge, stored as similar combinatorial codes, manage your perceptions, emotions and drives. Those codes manage your every activity, not you.

The banyan trees within your brain translate a complex and timely knowledge of your world within a few thousandths of a second. Walter Freeman, the famous neurobiologist summed up that amazing competence. "The cognitive guys think it's just impossible to keep throwing everything you've got into the computation every time. But, that is exactly what the brain does. Consciousness is about bringing your entire history to bear on your next step, your next breath, your next moment." Science is yet to make the obvious announcement that your nervous system uses combinatorial codes to store cubic miles of data within your nerve cells. They have also not yet discovered that intuition, an elimination algorithm, can instantly extract the best and most appropriate answer from that information.

Just as naturally as lilies bloom in the field, your words of love, or anger originate from one of the intelligences residing in the myriad banyan trees within your brain. Both your experience and the findings of science suggest that you have a separately identifiable existence as you perch on one of those trees as an intangible awareness. That proof lies in the significant time lag between actual neural processes and your awareness of them. Your experience will show that your awareness of speech comes only after your network speaks. Within the blink of an eye, the system gathers ideas, locates words, arranges them grammatically and moves your muscles to enable speech. You become aware of your choice of words after they are uttered.

The same time lag, highlighting the distinct separation between neural functions and conscious awareness was measured by the famous experiments of Benjamin Libet. These tests were deceptively simple. He timed the neural cues in subjects while they voluntarily pressed a button. Each time they decided to press down, they were also to note down the location on a computer screen, of a dot, which changed its position every 43 milliseconds. The exact moment of a conscious decision to act, was compared to measurable activity in the system for the initiation of that muscle movement. After many experiments with many subjects, Libet discovered that activity in the motor areas began 350 milliseconds before the subject consciously decided to press the button. Since the motor activity begins before conscious awareness, it is obvious that it is not the intangible you, but the system, which decides to move even your little finger.

Those numerous banyan trees intuitively interact within your nervous system. They have access to vast coded archives of routines followed, during millions of years of experiences, in achieving varied objectives. Each living moment, the system simultaneously evaluates many strategies for applying these routines to cope with the challenges of life. Specific trees are dedicated to specific strategies. One navigates aggressively. Another follows defensive strategies. Yet another seeks relaxation of the stresses of life through play. Yet another jealously seeks to be the best in its community. Still another is caring and protective of the tribe. The emotions of anger, fear, laughter, envy, or love define some of these focused strategies. Specific trees, (organs in the limbic system, in the mammalian part of your brain), are activated for fear, anger, guilt, or love. Operating as a strategy hub, the limbic system makes swift choices between competing and conflicting strategies to allocate control of the whole system to a single tree.

The chosen tree primes your brain to adjust to its distinct inherited mode of behavior. If you suddenly have to walk a plank five hundred feet above ground, the defensive tree will urgently signal fear. Registering those frantic signals, the strategy hub will switch control to that tree. With fear in control, the tree will stiffen you into immobility, instantly suppressing your normal ability to stroll down a plank. Instead of walking, you would prefer to lie down and hold the sides. Even while fear can debilitate you, love can inspire you to achieve impossible tasks. Your behavior is decided by the tree which takes charge of your system. You are merely a belated observer of the current strategy, whether it be fearful retreat, aggressive attack, or jealous outburst.

You have one advantage. Superior to the ancient marble sized nuclei in the mammalian regions, a giant tree resides in the prefrontal regions of your brain. Originating as an investigative entity with millions of years of evolutionary knowledge and experience, it occupies cortical regions recently augmented to house a new human competence. It is the broadest tree in the network and is logically the fabled "deep wisdom within." Science points to this tree as the seat of your consciousness. Sages from ancient times have sung praises of a control of your mind by this tree. Untouched by emotions and impregnable to the cuts and thrusts of capricious fortune, it exists with the pure perception of a rational intelligence, which sees both success and tragedy as similar situations. It is undisturbed by the worries and fears of its lesser siblings.

The consciousness tree processes your perceptions and its roots deliver the will and views of your spirit. It dispenses the verdicts of your conscience, telling you what is right and wrong. Other siblings in the limbic system deliver the fears and desires of the flesh. Sadly, the gentle will of your spirit competes with a slew of searing emotions. Inherited combinatorial codes are designed to permit a single group of linked emotions, or will, to control your attention, conscious thoughts and movements. If the guilt, or anger of lesser trees dominate, you will then feel guilt, or anger to the exclusion of all else. Those trees make your decisions. Their output patterns produce motor instructions, which direct attention, or movements.

You have only this uniquely subjective awareness of what the system perceives to be the outcome of the intuitive process. It is at the leaves (synapses) of the consciousness tree that electrical impulses enter the boundaries of your ethereal awareness. Combinatorial codes process everything else. You exist in a transcendental information dimension, where neural perceptions of the network touch the leaves of the branches of your consciousness tree. But the great mystery remains that, while nerve impulses course through the whole system, only the neural correlates of consciousness generate your mystic awareness. Could those leaves be a cosmic information interface?

In the website Effective Mind Control Abraham Thomas suggests that, since the human mind is a pattern recognition entity, your rational prefrontal regions can effectively control your mind by inhibiting your lower emotional levels of consciousness.

Celebrating Life - The Art of Living - Be There

On my bathroom vanity I have a small ceramic sign that's propped up by tower of special rocks that I purchased a number of years ago which reads "Celebrate Life." I bought it to remind me to take joy in the everyday simple pleasures. So many times I find myself living in my head - thinking of what I need to do next, what will I write about in my monthly e-zine, how are my kids doing, what's my granddaughter up to, or the old self critic tape that keeps up an endless chatter of Am I doing the right thing?, do people find value in what I do? Am I making a difference? Yada, yada, yada, instead of seeing this precious miraculous moment for what it is- a miracle of breath, life and a connection to the Divine.

The other evening I was listening to call on a topic I had an interest in and my husband knocked on my office door and whispered "There's a double rainbow in the sky."

I had some choices here. I could have stayed listening to the call and said thanks to my husband for letting me know or I could get up and go outside to see this double rainbow.

I choose to see the rainbows. One because I love rainbows, two it was a double rainbow three my husband made an effort to let me know about it and four- that is what life is about- sharing, celebrating the wonders of nature, connecting. A bonus was that as we were watching the rainbow strengthen and then fade we received "sky kisses" from a cloud above our house. I have to go back to my calendar to remember what call I was on yet the rainbow experience continues with me as does the feeling of wonder and quiet joy it evoked.

Even in the midst of chaos and grief, there is usually a moment that evokes joy. The challenge is in "seeing" it and receiving it. These little life celebrations provide a pause or a pattern interrupt to bring you back to your spirit and authentic present self.

I'm not saying that this easy yet it's simple. It takes practice to bridge the pleasure gap.

Sometimes focusing on dissatisfaction becomes a comfortable lifestyle and actually takes more energy to maintain than one of celebrating the nuggets of daily life.

People seem to look at life's big moments or occasions as the only ones worthy of celebrating thus dismissing the potential for joy on a daily basis. This creates a disconnect between the bulk of your daily life and the extraordinary events in your life making life seem like a burden in between the highlights.

How can you bridge the pleasure gap and experience the art of living?

o Become conscious of breath- this puts you in the present in the beingness of now.

o Become of aware of the delights in your life- A new toothbrush, a clean sink,

a coupon for a favorite drink, a kindness randomly given, the beautiful weed your child picked for you, the courteousness of a customer service rep.

o Give eye contact to the check out person at the store-celebrating that they are ringing up your purchases for you.

o Open yourself up to receiving and seeing the delights and little celebrations there are. (It's not always popular.)

o Sing, dance when you work.

o Look for the beauty in what you are doing or bring beauty into your space.

o Be aware of what your energy is and what you are projecting - your daily energy is what defines your spirit and ultimately your destiny.

Bridging this gap is not indicating indulgence in physical desires but a deeper sense of peace, contentment - One that comes from a profound appreciation of the here and now. This is a conscious choice to celebrate life and be mindful of the now.

"There is only one minute in which you are alive,

this minute, here and now.

The only way to live is by accepting each minute as an unrepeatable miracle.

Which is exactly what it is- a miracle and unreapeatable." Storm Jameson

Your consciousness is always creating and the challenge is directing your energy toward the emotions and experiences that you want. As you align yourself with this creative celebratory energy you align yourself with Universal/Spiritual Laws, you can literally spark bringing in your Quantum Charisma. When you are relentless in being in an optimistic energy combined with your clear and specific intention you have created your most powerful space and force for manifesting.

Colleen Crook, owner and founder of Conscious Living Connection is a Life & Leadership Coach who partners and supports forward thinking individuals and groups in creating a life what matters most by connecting them with what they are most passionate and tapping into their inherent creativity with integrity and authenticity. She is a Certified Facilitator of The Passion Test %u2122. Send her an e-mail describing your biggest challenge to see how she can help you create what matters most to you. E-mail: colleen@consciouslivingconnection.com Website: [http://www.consciouslivingconnection.com]

Raising Our Consciousness

Let's take responsibility for our thoughts!

My eyes brimmed with tears as I watched the first African American being sworn into the highest ranking office in this country, perhaps the most powerful position in the world. How could anyone not be inspired by the inauguration of President Barack Obama? It is clear to me that Mr. Obama is a living example how we can accomplish anything when we believe in ourselves and set our minds to it.

President Obama certainly didn't candy coat the state of our nation. In our lifetime, we have never faced such daunting challenges: the economy, Iraq, Afghanistan, war on terror, and healthcare, to name a few. At the conclusion of this determined man's inaugural speech, the crowd roared with excitement ... change had arrived. Images of expressive, tear-streaked faces being broadcast around the world kindled a renewed sense of hope that we have reached a turning point.

Yet, President Obama admitted that he cannot turn this nation around alone. He can't bring this country out of its darkness by himself. He needs everyone to play their part in getting our nation back on track. How fitting that his first official act as president was to "proclaim January 20, 2009, a National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation," asking, "All Americans to serve each other to remake this county."

I asked myself, 'How will I serve?'

For me, the answer is clear. In order to lift ourselves out of the fire, we must raise our consciousness. Before I lose you with this woo-woo term, let me explain. When we understand how powerful we are and the impact we have on this nation and the world, we realize we must take responsibility. We must stop pointing fingers and blaming others for the turmoil of our nation. We must change our thoughts.

Quantum physics shows us that our thoughts and prayers influence everything. Thoughts are energy and when fueled with intention and purpose they create. We all have the ability to manifest everything we desire. Good or bad. Thoughts manifest miracles or traumas. They bring joy or sorrow, peace or conflict, prosperity or poverty. Remember that what we focus on will expand. So, what are you thinking about?

If you're worried about the fallen stock market, then you're fueling a plunging market. If you're concerned that you won't be able to pay for your healthcare next month, then situations will develop which will make healthcare unaffordable to you. If you're nervous about keeping your job, chances are you'll be filing for unemployment. If you think President Obama lacks the experience to do his job, you're feeding fear that will prohibit him from making highest and best decisions for us. Need I go on?

How can each of us participate in raising the consciousness?

The greatest gift we can give ourselves is to turn inward, whether through the practice of meditation, prayer, visioning or visualization. There are also a few practical things we can do to change our lives for the better, and at the same time raise the collective consciousness. Consider the following practices:

Set the intention that you are going to think responsibly.

Stop focusing on how bad things are. There is something to be said about focusing on what's right rather than what's wrong. Consider how grand life truly is and how blessed we are. Express gratitude for what you have. When you hear how far the stock market dropped, consider in that moment how fortunate you are that you even have assets to watch.

Guard your thoughts! Guard your words! Often times we focus on what's wrong rather than what's right. I love how Mother Theresa responded when she was invited to an anti-war rally. "If you hold an anti-war rally, I shall not attend. But if you hold a Pro-Peace rally invite me." Be aware of simple word-choice and stop focusing on negative or "what if" scenarios. Rather than worrying about being laid off, think how grateful you are to have a job.

When you catch yourself saying or thinking something with a negative spin, follow it with, "however that is changing." Don't be hard on yourself. Just the fact that you are recognizing your negative thoughts or words is huge, and you are thinking responsibly by correcting yourself. If a thought crosses your mind and you find yourself wondering, 'How is that serving me?' Chances are it's not.

Consider your power and send positive thoughts and energy, including prayer, to our president and all world leaders so they are guided to make decisions that are highest and best for everyone.

When you've experienced a hiccup in your life, expect your "unexpected good." Know that something bigger and better is manifesting in your life. Don't dwell on the minor setback - believe that it's happening for a reason and trust you are being guided to something much grander. Trusting, believing in the miracle of serendipity is thinking responsibly.

It's time that we take responsibility for our thoughts. We all have an extraordinary role to play in this world. Turn inward and recognize that part of our mission, our reason for being here, is to think responsibly and raise the consciousness so that we all can live more joyful lives.

Alex Marcoux is a three-time published novelist. Her titles are A MATTER OF DEGREES, BACK TO SALEM and FACADES. She's also a screenwriter and currently writing her first nonfiction practical spirituality book. She's an inspirational speaker and conducts workshops on writing, creativity, and spirituality, all of which encourage people to take their creativity to a new level.

A short film based on her second novel, BACK TO SALEM was produced by Atlantis Moon Production in 2008. The feature screenplay is in development. More infomation is available on Alex at http://www.alexmarcoux.com

Joy and Happiness - Take Your Focus Off No Pain, No Gain Struggles and Choose to Live Joyfully

All humans have been brought up thinking that life involves suffering, hardships and pain, as this is the only way to learn and to achieve growth. The old age perception of 'No Pain - No Gain' is that we need to struggle to appreciate the values of life and we have to fight for something to be worthwhile. Life doesn't have to be hard and difficult or to have pain, struggle and suffering, as this illusion is the acting out process of the hypnotic belief system and overlays of mass consciousness. Of course, you can grow and learn if you belief that struggle, misfortune and pain is the motivator to end your adversity, but it doesn't have to be that way. Can you let go of limited and painful beliefs and myths that disempower you? Are you daring to look at the other side of the coin and step into a life that is filled with joy and happiness in all weather conditions?

To address your issues, problems and challenges can be broken down into 4 main categories.

1. Take Your Focus Off Material World

2. Place Your Attention on Your I Am

3. Joy is a Top Level Choice

4. Choosing Joy

Let's take a look at each individual category:

1. Take Your Focus Off Material World - Be willing to take your mental focus off the material world for that keeps you dwelling in the fears of the past and the illusionary drama games of lack. When you dwell upon what you haven't got you are stating just that. When you identify with the outer lack, it will control you and it will keep you in a state of lack, which will increase with use and your lack will only grow fatter and bigger.

2. Place Your Attention on the I Am - Put your focus on who you are; be clear about who you are - the "I am that I am", you are a creator - full stop! By placing your attention on the 'I am', you are getting out of the mind, because 'the mind doesn't know beyond what it knows' other than past fears and lacks and limitations. Are you ready to allow your dormant intuitive divine self to begin to integrate and experience life, not for you, but with you? However, before you can integrate your total self, you have to make one of the top level choices for you to achieve the bottom level choices - the human wants, needs and desires. How often have you said 'All I want is to be happy, healthy and abundant - damn it'!

3. Joy is a Top Level Choice - Why is joy a top level choice? Life cannot give you its gifts if you don't choose the joy of living. If you don't choose to see the gift within all of your experiences, you won't feel the joy and when you are sad you won't allow yourself to receive. When you are hurting you won't choose to live with love and health, because you belittle and feel unworthy, so it brings in the lack of joy, happiness and abundance into your life. Joy brings love, it brings happiness and it brings abundance on all levels, because you choose to live fully, beyond the 'just enough to survive' scenario. You can only live fully when you accept, love and honour yourself and when you accept others as they are then it comes down to 'accepting all things as they are', which brings in joy and happiness and the abundance that you asked for.

4. Choosing Joy - When you choose joy, you will see the gift and the blessing within all experiences. When you see the joy, the gift or blessing in an unpleasant experience, it is not about being in denial, selfish or lacking compassion, it is about honouring your experiences. When you discover the gift within the experience, it not only brings the wisdom, understanding, acceptance and compassion from breaking through stuck barriers and limitations of having these experiences, but it brings the joy and the 'wisdom of uncertainty' that inspires and expands your consciousness. Joy is the gift, the blessing that you have given yourself. Inner joy extends to happiness that can only be achieved when you see the joy in all.

Each moment of the day decide how you want to feel, what you want to do, and choose what potentials may happen, because you are responsible for what you do and how you see things. Therefore, you can choose the feelings that you want to experience, and if you are not feeling that, feel the energy and discern why. You are not responsible for what others say and do in your life, but you are responsible for what you take on board, the energies that you hold onto and how you perceive them. Be aware of taking on others burdens and if you feel energy that you don't want and that you haven't consciously chosen, just release it. Just because you feel sad or your feel someone's sorrow and pain, it doesn't mean it is yours and it doesn't meant that it is your truth - just let it go, accept that energy until it moves on and rechoose your new truth, via your conscious choice.

Pamela's new revolutionary Who Am I Formula is a unique and complete report that reveals new insights, perceptions, direction and empowerment for personal or business problems, issues and challenges. It reveals new ways to address and solve problems, to expand the understanding of self-love and self-worth, the attraction of new relationships, the manifestations of abundance of all kinds, empowerment and self-awareness concepts. It provides new refreshing 'out of the mind' information that gives greater awareness, clarity, wisdom, perceptions, acceptance and understanding to inspire and expand consciousness. Please visit [http://www.whoamiformula.com] to discover new 'out of the box' insights about the Who Am I Formula.

Spirituality Information - Planting the Seeds of Conscious Creation

Your spiritual growth requires a consciousness that actively manifests your desires. Spirituality information is unavailable to people who are living unconsciously. They haven't planted the seeds of awareness and cannot therefore reap the harvest of conscious creation.

This article is designed for both the conscious and the unconscious creator. It is spirituality information that is meant to clarify the necessity for your awareness of consciousness.

When you are creating consciously, you are aware of the connection between the cause and effect of what shows up in your life. Just as you plant tomato seeds in the spring, so do you reap the benefits of tomatoes in the summer.

You can see the physical manifestation of the tomato seed as it begins to sprout through the ground, take form as a living, growing tomato plant and then actually bear the fruit of its genes in the form of nice, juicy tomatoes. You can actually view this as it happens and document each stage of this beautiful life process of a tomato from the unmanifest to the manifest.

The process that produces juicy, delicious tomatoes is the same process that manifests your innermost desires into physical reality. You plant the seeds of your desires by choosing a thought that you wish to pursue. You water and feed this seed by your words and then you bear the fruit of your creation by the deeds and actions you take to bring forth your creation into your reality. It is the universal creative process at work and just like the farmer who plants her tomatoes in the spring, so too do you plant the seeds of your creations with every thought that goes through your head.

When you put your intentions and desires out into the universe and then tend the garden of your intentions, so too do you see your intentions and desires manifest themselves into your life.

When you are creating unconsciously, you are unaware of this cause and effect relationship. You put your intentions and desires out into the universe unconsciously and you don't tend the garden of your intentions, so weeds and drought may cause your intentions to be stunted, not fully developed or just die on the vine.

When your unconscious intentions and desires show up in your reality you don't recognize them. You remain unconscious to the fact that you initiated your creations in the first place and you continue to remain unconscious to the idea that "you are the cause of what shows up in your life".

You don't recognize your creations because they may not show up in the exact form that you envisioned when you thought about them as an intention. You don't have the ability to detach yourself from the vision you have of your desires, so you disavow yourself of any responsibility you have in creating what shows up in your life.

It's a double-whammy. You are unconscious about initiating your creations and then you are unconscious as to why your creations manifested into your reality. The sleepwalker, the person who lives unconsciously, does not see the relevance of their role in causing "what happens" in their life as well as accepting responsibility for the effect of "what's happening" in their life.

This is perfectly logical because they are unconscious. They are sleepwalking. They are not "being what serves them." They are not awake to the idea of who they really are.

What does it mean to say that sleepwalkers are not awake to the idea of who they really are? Are not all of us human beings traveling this earth together? Isn't a human being who we really are?

The answer is "No."

Whoa, wait a minute; hold your horses there. What do you mean? Are you saying that I am not a human being?

Actually, I am not saying that you are not a human being. I am saying that a human being is not who you really are.

You see, you are more, so very much more, than a human being. You are a mind, body, spirit being occupying a human body with the ability to create whatever you desire into your life with this wonderful gift of your thoughts.

Use your thoughts wisely and create a magnificent life.

Richard Blackstone is an award winning author and international speaker on Love, Oneness & Creation. Journey into discovery of Self by reading this FREE report; "The 3 Simple Immutable Laws of the Universe" at: http://www.NutsandBoltsSpirituality.com

Who Am I? An Introduction to Higher Levels of Consciousness

I began asking the question, "Who Am I?" some fifty years ago when I was co-owner of the Trivia Coffee House in Trenton, New Jersey. At the Triv. everyone was writing stream of consciousness novels and poetry, or at least dreaming about doing so. More than Beat literature it was the writing of Henry Miller that opened up a whole new reality for me. I began to realize the truth of his statement, "Every thing they tell you is a lie... Everything!" Reading Miller, I began to question all the values that I had accepted since childhood. Somehow, I got turned on to Jungian and Freudian psychology during the Triv. period also.

Discovery of the personal and collective unconscious opened another avenue of investigation. When our coffee house failed, Vance and I split for Alaska deciding to go off on our own to find, "What it's all about man?" And, it didn't take us too long to discover that earning a living is what it's all about in Twentieth Century America. So, discovering who I am is put on the back burner while I begin to take classes at Oakland City College. When I earn my Master's in History and begin my teaching career in 1967, the search is pushed further back.

It is not until 1969 when I quit my first teaching job, and begin driving cab in Oakland that I get back into it. Driving cab, I begin reading Henry Miller again, and discovered poets like Walt Whitman, Dylan Thomas, Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, philosophers like Henri Bergson, and spiritual teachers like Krishnamurti. Two plus years on the streets of Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco leave a mark on me that could not be erased not even after finding another teaching job and going back to my career in education.

Discovering the meaning of life once again became my reason for being.

In the early seventies, we moved to a hundred year old house in the middle of a sheep ranch. It was there that I put to practice the teachings of Castaneda. In the mid 1980's, I discovered the Gurdjieff School and began to practice Self Remembering. I continued to study Krishnamurti learning that the word is never the reality that exists outside of thought.

In the pages that follow, we will explore concepts from Gurdjieff, Krishnamurti and other teachers who state that man can reach a higher level of consciousness if he works on himself. We will discuss self-observation, and Self Remembering, and discover how the "human machine" works. We will investigate negative emotions, identifying, internal considering, conditioning, and other obstacles to awakening. We will examine the difference between personality and essence, and try to discover man's real purpose in life.

Gurdjieff maintains that man as he is is asleep, but can awaken with super effort. The greatest obstacle to awakening is the fact that we think we are awake. According to Gurdjieff, there are four levels of consciousness, sleep, waking sleep, self-consciousness, and objective consciousness. In sleep, there is very little consciousness of the out side world though there is some. In waking sleep, we think we are fully conscious, but we are so conditioned and identified that we do not see things as they really are. In self-consciousness, we remember ourselves and are aware of our relationship to the inner and outer worlds. In objective consciousness, we see things as they really are.

We begin with Self Observation. We have to develop an Observing I. This means at various times of the day we must separate, step back, and take an uncritical look at ourselves, a snap shot. We have to use different centers. Sometimes, we can think about a situation after it happens and see certain qualities, certain 'I's behaving in a way that we had not thought possible. Other times, we can experience what is happening while it is happening as if we were divided in half, one side watching, while the other side is acting. Here too, we use centers usually more than one at the same time. In Self Observation, we become conscious of the acts that we do. Maurice Nicoll, a student of The Work, says that Self Observation is observation of the inner self, what is going on inside your self.

In Self-Remembering, we separate our self from our self, we empty our self of the ego. All of our centers are quiet. We go beyond our every day self. Self-Remembering is catching the rope that lifts you out of the continuum of time into the eternal present moment, HERE AND NOW! Nicoll states that one difference between Self Remembering and Self Observation is that the feeling of Eternity enters into Self Remembering but not into Self Observation. Self-Remembering is in one way a form of meditation. It is meditating during your daily relations with life.

One of the main reasons for our sleep is that we do not understand how our machine works. What is it that controls our very sophisticated and complicated machine? We have a very complicated machine. There is the respiratory system, the circulatory system, and the nervous system. We have all these millions of nerves and neurons, billions of cells... You know, we study everything, but our human machine. We know how a car engine works, how a computer works, but we don't know how our machine works. Who is in control of our machine.

Let me tell you a little about our machine. First of all, we have seven centers, a thinking center, a moving center an instinctive center, and an emotional center. The fifth center is the sexual center, but work on that comes later. The higher thinking center and the higher emotion center cannot communicate with man until the lower centers are working correctly. Thinking Center controls thought. This is the center that we develop in school. The emotional center controls emotions, feelings. When you are bored, or angry, or happy, it doesn't come from your thinking center, it comes from your emotional center. The moving center controls your movements. You know how if you're playing basketball at first you have to think about your moves. But, once you learn to play if you think about what you are going to do thought gets in the way.... When we are driving to work, we don't think about how to drive. Once we learn to drive the moving center takes control.

In most of us one of our centers is dominant. In myself, it is the emotional center, but with all my years at school, my thinking center runs a close second. You can look at co-workers and tell what their dominant center is. As a teacher, I have observed that most P.E. teachers function from their moving centers. An art or drama teacher generally functions from his or her emotional center. Math and science teachers function from their thinking centers. Ask yourself which center do I use when I have to make an important decision. Do you do what feels right? Do you give a lot of thought to your decisions? Or do you kind of sense what is the right decision?

None of our centers are doing their own work. Because we are not conscious of our different centers, each center is doing the work of other centers. (Centers six and seven do not function at all in unconscious man.) Each center works with different energy and often one center will steal the energy of another center and work with energy that is too rich for it.

Each center is divided into three parts, moving, emotional, and thinking parts. We spend most of our time in the moving part of centers. This requires no attention so our centers operate mechanically. You can tell which part of a center you are in by the direction of your attention. If you are in the moving part of a center, there is no attention. You function mechanically. If you are in the emotional part of a center, the attention is drawn by the outside object. In the intellectual part of a center there is directed attention. If you are in the thinking part of your thinking center, you are conscious of your thoughts at this moment, and, to some extent, able to express them. To get into higher parts of centers requires conscious effort.

Another division of centers has to do with their direction. In the external division, a center is directed towards the outer world. The center is directed by the senses. This is sensual man, natural man. The Middle division directs centers either to the outer or the inner world. It can reason in two directions, or feel in two directions, etc. This is rational man. The inner division directs centers towards the inner world, the invisible world. This is spiritual man. (The invisible world does exist, as in thought, consciousness, light waves, atoms, etc.)

In the Work, we are told to take nothing on faith. If you are at all interested in changing your level of being, check out some of the concepts that I have mentioned. Are you awake? Do you have more than one center that controls your actions? Do you ever stop to examine how your machine works?

Educate Consciousness

We must educate to alleviate the problem of prejudism in our society. Prejudism is a worldwide phenomenon which has come along way since slavery, yet still we have light years of change to make as human beings. Our minds are trained to judge; we are constantly critiquing the news broadcaster, or an outfit a model is wearing on T.V. We are so blind to prejudice that most of us walk around with our eyes closed, and our judge robes tied tight. Whether we meet a stranger, or just pass one on the street, there is always at least a flicker of judgment, either conscious or unconscious, influenced by each person's inlaid prejudism.

It is this smoldering fire that lies beneath the eye level of everyday consciousness; as life progresses the fire grows and the human race burns on with stereotypes and hatred. Human self expression is all too often discouraged, while our right to freedom is being suppressed by society, how are we to keep our human dignity as individuals? What can be done to stop such ignorant behavior? Well, the first step towards change is acceptance, and awareness of the problem through education.

Sometimes acceptance of your own flaws is necessary before others can learn to accept them. Once everyone is aware of the flaws, it is somehow easier to cope with them and learn to change the behavior. Sadly, most of America (by choice or by accident) is still oblivious to the flaw in society we call prejudism.

It's simple; just take a look at your thought process when you come across a homosexual, an African American, a drug-addict, a transsexual, a gang-member, a disabled veteran, an ex-convict, a pushy preacher, or a prejudice southerner. What is your reaction to them? Do you feel uneasy, are you afraid, disgusted, or do you feel no different then you did moments before you met them?

Do you think that is something these stereotyped people face everyday? Well, it is, and there is something we can all do to help. We can talk about racism and stereotyping within our families, our jobs, our communities, and teach proper ways to handle these difficult situations. We must educate consciousness to alleviate the problem of prejudism within our society.

Acceptance is powerful; it can change an entire community for the better. Our society encourages its citizens at a very young age to conform, and be more comfortable with themselves once they act like everyone else. Individuality is something to be proud of; it is not an expendable human asset. Loss of our individuality as a country will result in defamation of our Constitution.

In the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution congress enforces that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

America may accept all ages, races, creeds, religions, and sexual orientations, yet somehow we as a society manage to stifle the progress of our citizens as individuals, by restricting their social rights to be an individual in the first place. Conform; choose the "right" way to live, as expressed by the popular culture of our time. Or welcome consciousness; accept who you are, be proud of your own personal diversity, make it a part of you that you cannot live with out. That is the way to true freedom and respect for our individual human dignity.

Our society and popular culture encourages us to stick with the masses, and conform to society, yet all of our instincts tell us to rear against the norm, and become an individual. So where do our spirits lie? In the depths of our souls we now that each person carries a future and has a purpose for their lives, so why does society become "paranoid" or make a show of those of us who are different? Are we bored? Have we nothing better to do as a society but make a mockery of our underlying diversity? This is something we should all be proud of, not belittle and objectify amongst ourselves. Why not use all that energy to focus on educating consciousness throughout the masses. Bringing home the fact that we are all in this together for the greater good of our society, and it's impending future!

Rae Serenity

http://www.myspace.com/rae_serenity

Consciousness of the Soul

The death of Jesus was the end of the law of Moses and the beginning of the New Covenant that is far superior to the old one. His death gave us eternal life. His resurrection proved that life is eternal.

When Jesus was talking to the Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection, he asked, "Have you not read what God said to you, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not a God of the dead, but of the living" (MT 22:32). He was affirming that though the Patriarchs mentioned had been in their graves for centuries, their souls still live. Everyone is alive to God, whether or not the body is alive.

When Jesus informed his disciples that Lazarus was dead, he said that he has fallen asleep, but I am going to wake him up (JN 11:11). Then he told them that he was dead. God does not think of death like we do. It's like they are asleep, because he can raise them any time he desires. They are dead to us because we can't wake them, but God can. The Bible teaches consciousness of the soul.

Before the Lord raised Lazarus he said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die" (JN 11:25-26).

At the Transfiguration, Jesus spoke with Moses who was buried by God and Elijah who never died but was taken to heaven in a whirlwind (MT 17:3) Whether the body is in the grave or the soul is in heaven our spirits live.

When Saul, in desperation consulted with a medium, to talk to dead Samuel, it was probably the power of God that brought him up. After complaining about being disturbed, he told Saul what was going on in his life, and what was about to happen to him. He informed him that "you and your sons will be with me" (1SA Ch 28).

In the story of the Rich man and Lazarus, this Lazarus begged at the rich man's gate. When they both died, and were in hades, Abraham said to the rich man, "Remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted and you are in agony" (LK CH 16).

The Bible teaches that the soul is always conscious whether the body lives or not. Jesus told the thief on the cross, that today you will be with me in paradise (LK 23:43). We don't have to wait after the death of the body to be in a place of comfort. These passages seem to indicate that souls and are capable of carrying on a conversation, and may be aware of what is going on in the world, This is possible because the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one-deity that is the God of the soul that never dies.

The last words of Jesus before he died ?Into Thy hands I commend My Spirit,? is the doctrine of immortality. Death to Jesus was simply entering into the presence of God. The Bible teaches that death is not ceasing to exist. It is not unconsciousness. For the saved it is passing into complete joy and comfort. For the unsaved it is being in agony forever. The book, ?Climbing the Heavenly Stairs? teaches how to be acceptable to God and prepare for the glories of heaven. To learn more and order, click on the following link. http://thelynnbradleybook.com

Conscious Dating Works For Twice-Divorced Author

As the author of Conscious Dating and founder of Relationship Coaching Institute I'm excited to share that this year I met my soul mate, Darlene, and we are engaged to be married!

If you're a reader of Conscious Dating you know that I've been married and divorced twice. I thought I met my soul mate (Maggie), but that relationship ended after 5 years. Since then I've done a lot of soul searching and focused on living the life I want while continuing to date around, this time with more consciousness of how I tend to settle and determined to find what I really want in a partner and relationship.

After Maggie I met a wonderful woman (Susan) who seemed aligned with everything I was seeking. We had a lot of fun together, shared many values and goals, yet something held me back. Though close, this relationship wasn't "the whole package" for me. I was seeking a deep emotional and spiritual connection that I did not experience with Susan. I broke off the relationship August 2007 and posted my profile on several internet matchmaking websites determined to find my soul mate or be alone.

December 2007 I received a match online that proved to be my soul mate. Darlene's photo and profile was pretty ordinary, but there was something unexplainable about her that excited me and compelled me to contact her. Our first two meetings were very positive, but routine as first dates go... coffee, then lunch, but something powerful was drawing me to her that I didn't understand. After studying dating and practicing it myself for years, this was new territory for me!

Then, after our third meeting we hugged goodbye and it was all over for me. I was in love. I had insomnia that night and couldn't sleep the next night as well. We had arranged to get together later that week on Sunday, and Darlene contacted me to find out if I could get together on Saturday as she didn't want to wait until Sunday. So she was feeling it too! We ended up talking for 5 hours about our Vision, Requirements, Needs and Wants, and our alignment was amazing. Our chemistry, emotional and spiritual connection was so overwhelming it was wonderful and almost too much to bear.

We've been inseparable since, and six weeks after becoming a couple we went to Carmel for the weekend, found a beautiful ring, and got engaged. Our wedding date is set for September 27, 2008.

I'm happier than I've ever been in my life. My kids love her, her family likes me, the fit all around is like we were meant to be together. We are true Soul Mates in every sense of the word. I yearned to find her for many years, knew she was out there, and now I feel like I am "home."

My wish for all singles and the message of Conscious Dating is that finding your soul mate really CAN happen for you if you're clear about who you are, what you want, become ready and available, use the Law of Attraction, don't settle for less, and go after what you REALLY want.

David Steele, MA, LMFT is founder of Relationship Coaching Institute and author of Conscious Dating: Finding the Love of Your Life in Today's World. For free live Conscious Relationship tele-seminars, e-programs, audio programs and much more for singles and couples visit http://www.consciousrelationshipresources.com Conscious Relationship Resources

Book Review - Limitless Mind - A Guide to Remote Viewing and Transformation of Consciousness

What would Edgar Cayce think about the recent fascination with remote viewing? He'd have to admit he'd done it himself sometimes, like when he announced from his self-induced clairvoyant consciousness that his next client had not yet arrived at home where he was to be for his reading, or when Cayce noted that the prescribed remedy, "oil of smoke," was hidden in the back-room shelf of the pharmacist. Cayce used remote viewing, and especially "remote knowing," to help others, and thus he would be satisfied with its serviceability. On the other hand, so many of his readings were filled with wisdom, providing much more guidance than what a remote video camera could provide, that his work involved more skills than simply remote viewing.

I believe that Mr. Cayce would say remote viewing was, in itself, not sufficient. I suspect that, independent of the purposes toward which remote viewing might be applied, its procedures make self-actualization doubtful. Simply relaxing the mind may be sufficient to experience and report imagery that others might evaluate for its validity, but it doesn't seem sufficient to provide self-actualization guidance to the person practicing this skill. Something else has to be added. What is required beyond merely freeing consciousness is "raising one's consciousness to an ideal." Such grooming of consciousness might prove useful to become a channel of wisdom. The purpose to which value-added remote viewing might be applied would also affect its serviceability for self-actualization. Remote viewing sessions typically begin with a "tasking assignment." As a tasking focus, I suggest something akin to an Edgar Cayce affirmation, with a bit of precognition thrown in: "I foresee an opportunity coming to me today where I may be of service to someone else by discovering more of my soul's abilities."

I turned to a recent book by one of the pioneers of remote viewing. Russell Targ, Ph.D., writes in Limitless Mind: A Guide to Remote Viewing and Transformation of Consciousness (New World Library), "Why bother with ESP? ... Dzogchen [Buddhist ideal of "great perfection"] teaches us to look directly at our awareness and experience the geometry of consciousness - the relationship of our awareness to the spacetime in which we live .... these teachings of expanded awareness and the experience of spaciousness are not about self-improvement or gaining power; they are about self-realization: discovering who we really are .... This can be revealed in many ways, one of them being the practice of remote viewing ... we discover through this process that we are the flow of loving awareness that is available to us whenever we are quiet and peaceful."

The question I have in considering Targ's thoughtful and valuable book is whether his support of remote viewing as a tool of self-realization comes from the meditative part of the practice (in which case meditation itself may be a more direct route), or from what is remotely viewed (as in my suggested tasking focus), or from the theoretical implications of the results of remote viewing, namely, that ESP is real and that there is more to us than the space-time materiality. Many have experienced ESP effects, yet go on living in material consciousness, so I suspect that this third alternative is not much of a candidate for the source of remote viewing's support of selfrealization.

arg does provide four proven applications of remote viewing: evaluating given choices, locating objects or persons, medical diagnosis, and forecasting. At the end of his book, he confesses that he has spent his life trying to change a rocket scientist into a human being. His ESP research motivated him further, but it was contact with a spiritual teacher, Mangaji, that did the trick, opening his heart. In the final analysis, Targ admits that remote viewing itself is not a spiritual path. He claims that it is the meditative skill developed by it that can, when furthered by spiritual mentoring, lead to the self-realization that "we are the love we seek." The meditative skill he refers to is that of becoming aware of awareness itself, because that is where the boundless self awaits discovery.

I find myself uplifted by Targ's book and feel a kinship with his desire to explain the value of ESP research in the context of the spiritual search. I now realize that my own suggestion about how to use remote viewing for self-actualization, although of value, actually misses the mark. There really is no need to go "remote," as what I'm seeking is within my own open heart. I agree with the author that the best way to keep it open is through gratitude. With such an attitude, I'm sure I'll have many opportunities to grow by helping others, without having to remote view the opportunity in advance.

Henry Reed, Ph.D., is on staff at Atlantic University [http://www.atlanticuniv.edu] He has been the prime designer of A.R.E.'s psychic development program, in its various aspects, for the past twenty some years. He is one of the trainers of A.R.E.'s most successful, and long running, psychic training [http://www.edgarcayce.org] conference, "The Edgar Cayce Legacy: Be Your Own Psychic." He developed A.R.E.'s program of evaluating psychics. He has published scientific articles on his research into intuition and psychic functioning. He is the author of Edgar Cayce on Awakening Your Psychic Powers, Edgar Cayce on Channeling Your Higher Self, and Your Intuitive Heart.

Conscious, Subconscious and Superconscious

Many discussions are held regarding the conscious, subconscious, and superconscious minds and also about unconscious thoughts. We have heard about the superconscious in different contexts. But how does the superconscious relate to our thoughts and to creating what we desire to have in our lives?

Our conscious mind is the part of us that makes decisions and expresses what is to be impressed on the subconscious mind. It is that part of our mind that we are most aware of while in the awake state and it is that part of the mind that perceives all that is around us. It makes a decision or should make a decision whether it will accept and allow a certain image or information to be impressed on the subconscious. Unfortunately most of the time, people are not in conscious awareness of what they are being exposed to and so a lot of information that is not empowering or useful enters into the subconscious mind and then the person wonders why their life is as it is. This is where being in an unconscious state of mind enters. So you are in an unconscious mode while in a conscious state of mind.

The subconscious is like the powerhouse behind making a desire come into physical manifestation. It makes no decisions of right or wrong and accepts what has been impressed on it and creates from there. But the subconscious actually plays a bigger role in a person's life for the power of the subconscious actually comes through from the superconscious.

The superconsciousness is the God or Source energy. It is of a very high frequency. It is much higher than we would be able to handle or sustain in the lower vibration of our physical bodies. As we evolve through our lives, we are to learn how to handle the higher vibrations of this energy while maintaining the aspects of the physical body. The subconscious acts as a governor that restricts or allows a certain amount of energy or power to flow through. It is affected by emotions and the emotional character of the thoughts we have. So as our thoughts and emotions are of a happy, joyful nature, the subconscious allows more of the superconsciousness to flow through. If our emotions and emotional character of our thoughts are less than happy, then the subconscious restricts the amount of superconscious energy that flows through for it is less of a vibrational match and it would be harder on the body.

Have you ever seen a baby within the first 24 hours of its birth? Have you noticed how "pure" or "bright" or "filled with light" the baby seems? You are seeing a Being of very high vibration that has not had the flow of superconscious/God/Source energy restricted. As the child is exposed to everyday life, the thoughts and feelings of lower vibration that the child is around becomes part of his/her energy field and that higher vibration is reduced. As the child grows and has even more exposure to messages from media and others plus its own thoughts and emotions that are not of a high vibration or happy nature, the vibration continues to lessen. By the time the child is an adult, the vibration can be quite reduced, the person feels quite sluggish in their life and may also have feelings of sadness, depression, etc.

Now, what does this have to do with creating and manifesting in your life? When you are fully in non-physical form, you are then in an energy form of the superconscious/God/Source. In this form, when you have a thought about something it manifests instantly. So the more that you have this superconscious energy flowing through you while in the physical body, the quicker your manifestations will occur.

The subconscious makes no decision whether to restrict or not the flow of superconsciousness energy to you, but instead allows to come forth the amount of energy that is a match to the emotions and emotional character of the thoughts that are present. Maintain the higher vibrational frequencies in your thoughts and emotions and you will bring forth more of the superconscious/God/Source energy in your life and you will see wonderful things happen quicker in your life. This includes excellent health in your body, for the diseases, sickness, and other health issues which are of a low vibration can not be maintain in the present of a higher vibration.

Auriella O'Neill is a master at assisting people in being more inspired and empowered in their life by teaching them how to be Conscious Creators and releasing limiting beliefs and/or fears that are keeping them stuck in their life.

Enjoy a FREE copy of her e-booklet, Limiting Beliefs and Your Life: Understanding the Blocks in Your Life . It is available at [http://www.AuriellaONeill.com/booklet.html]

Her series of classes on Consciously Creating Your Life are unique in the information provided and that You Get To Decide how much you want to pay.

For more information on her You Get To Decide Program, Consciously Create Your Life classes, and Release and Replace Belief Sessions, please visit her website [http://www.auriellaoneill.com]

The Conscious Vs the Non-Conscious Brain

Are you trying to get out of the rut you are in financially? Perhaps you're trying yet another diet to lose that stubborn 20-30 lbs. that will not budge. Or maybe you are wondering why your personal relationship keeps falling into the same pattern. You've tried everything to change, but nothing seems to 'stick'. You might see results for a few weeks, even months, but it won't be long before you discover yourself back at the place you started. The problem is, you are relying on your will, and that simply will not bring lasting results.

You see, when you are using your willpower to make a change in your life, you are relying on the conscious part of your brain to maintain control. What scientists have discovered in the last decade or so is that the underlying part of the brain, or the nonconscious brain, accounts for over 96% of what we actually do. Your conscious brain exerts creative control, but your nonconscious brain is where the long-term results come from. Below is a comparison between the conscious and the nonconscious brain.

- The conscious brain makes up about 17 percent of total brain mass and controls just 2 to 4 percent of actual perceptions and behavior. The nonconscious brain makes up about 83 percent of total brain mass and controls 96 to 98 percent of perceptions and behavior.

- Conscious impulses travel at speeds of 120 to 140 MPH, while nonconscious impulses travel at more than 100,000 MPH!

- The conscious brain processes about 2,000 bits of information per second, while the nonconscious brain processes about 400,000,000,000 bit of information per second. Yes, you read that right: Four Hundred Billion.

- The conscious brain is volitional, meaning it is controlled by conscious will, it sets goals and judges the results. The nonconscious brain is servile, meaning it sets no goals of its own. It executes the goals it is provided with. It doesn't judge the merits of results, only whether they match the given goals.

- The conscious brain perceives past and future, and the nonconscious brain has no concept of time. Everything is happening now as far as it is concerned.

- The conscious brain has a very short term memory span, about 20 seconds for most people. The nonconscious brain remembers everything it experiences, forever.

A good analogy for the relationship between the conscious and nonconscious mind is a thermostat in your home. The thermostat represents your nonconscious mind, and you walking around your home represents the conscious mind. Assume your thermostat is set to 80 degrees. You come home from work and realize it's kind of warm in your house. So, you open the doors and windows to cool the place down. This works for a few minutes, until the thermostat registers a dip in the temperature, and the furnace kicks in to bring the temperature back up.

Realizing that didn't work, you open up your refrigerator to cool your house off. Again, you manage to bring the temperature down a bit in your kitchen, but the thermostat soon registers the change and the furnace kicks in again. No matter what you do, the thermostat, which controls the temperature for the entire house, has a lot more control over the situation than you do. Unless, of course, you walk over and re-set the thermostat itself to a more comfortable 70 degrees.

If you're thinking no one would be foolish enough to try to cool their house down this way when they could simply adjust the thermostat, this is exactly what people are doing everyday in their lives when they are trying to use their force of will to override what their nonconscious brain is set to. As you can see from the statistics above, this is a futile effort. The nonconscious brain trumps the conscious brain easily when it comes to achieving results.

For example, if your nonconscious brain is programmed to believe you are always in debt, then no matter what actions take place to change that in the short term, your nonconscious brain will work 24/7/365 to bring you back to that reality. Does your willpower work that consistently? Of course not. This is why many lottery winners end up bankrupt within a few years of winning their jackpot. they view themselves as poor, so that's what the nonconscious brain makes happen. So, if you win the lottery, take the annual payments. You may blow the first few annual payments, but you'll eventually view yourself as a wealthy person, and be much more likely to hold on to that wealth in the latter years.

If you want to change something significant in your life, whether it be money, health or relationships, you have to learn how to re-program your nonconscious mind, or your thermostat. You have to instill new beliefs, so that the nonconscious mind guides you to that new homeostasis. This process will be covered in an upcoming article.

Lane Romero-Reiss is an InterNetwork Marketing Consultant, helping network marketers build their prospect lists while getting into cash flow quickly. Lane utilizes step-by-step video tutorials and explanations that will provide value to even the most seasoned network marketers, but are simple enough that beginners will be able to follow along. He can show you how to fully monetize your lists by offering tremendous value through a guided training program.

Consciousness Is the Act of Perceiving

We have a different form of consciousness than animals. Some would say that animals are not conscious, or lack consciousness. I would disagree. They are different, but certainly not unaware. Anyone who owns a pet should know that. Compare an animal to some humans and you would have to say the animal is more conscious.

Animals perceive differently. Animals depend on instinct to advise them. We depend on intuition. Thus, when your conscience (note the similarity between the word conscious and the word conscience) tells you one action is bad and another good, you know wrong from right. You don't have to ask yourself a lot of questions: Often, you just know. You know when you do something wrong. You know when you do something right. This is intuition at work. If you intuitively knew something was wrong, but you blocked out that knowledge and listened to your instinct, you might think what was wrong was right. You would then be behaving as if you were an animal. Since you are not an animal, such behavior would be wrong and could lead to de-evolution of your consciousness.

What is the fundamental difference between instinct and intuition? We process sensation and thereby organize reality. Animals don't organize reality that way. They don't process their sensations. Not to the extent we do, anyway. Like it or not, animals must follow instinct. Their sensations tell them what to do. They don't process. They don't figure things out. Consequently they don't have the sort of freedoms we enjoy.

Intuition is a whisper rather than a shout. Sometimes it is a loud whisper. I don't recall which kid it was, but one of those kids that took a gun into a high school and killed a lot of people said, in an interview, that he heard this voice inside him, just before, saying, "You know, you don't have to do this." That was his conscience. He disobeyed it. You don't have to listen to your conscience. It is a whisper, not a shout. Sensations give shouts. The rage roiling inside this kid shouted "Kill Them!" The kid obeyed.

Rage is, among other things, a sensation. To perceive, you must process that sensation, incorporate other information, and structure your reality in concord with the conclusions you make. As you do this, you receive knowledge. It seems to come out of thin air. Actually, it comes out of the process of perceiving and creating a state of awareness within you. We create consciousness. You become conscious because you create it. Creativity and perception are simultaneous, synchronous, and, to a large degree, analogous. You certainly can't have one without the other. And creativity and perception are not opposites. Rather, they are complements. They complement each other.

Ask any fiction writer if perception and creativity are the same. If they are honest - and this might be difficult to surmise; they are, after all, writers of fiction - they will admit that, "Yeah, well, sure. Creativity and perception are the same. At least for me."

Reverting back to animalism is not the only way one might refute the wonderful gift of consciousness, its intuition and processing of sensation. One might borrow the perceptions of others. We do this all the time. Kids have to do this to learn. You listen to your parents, watch their behavior, mimic them, and decide to believe what they believe. And when you're a kid, this activity makes sense and can be a form of perception because you are taking it in and processing the information as best as you can. But later, when you are older and you still believe the same junk - the junky stuff - you have ceased to perceive. You aren't processing. You are borrowing the ideas of others and you aren't processing information. You are on autopilot. Animals can get away with that because they function differently. Adult humans can't expect to do that and be conscious.

Thus, to continue to be conscious is to become more conscious. You have to grow and change. That's part of the plan. If you don't process your sensations, the incoming information, you will fall back on old patterns, old behaviors, old ways... You will become less and less conscious. Part of being human is evolving and transforming. One might as well say that part of being human is being alive. It's just that life for us has a lot to do with consciousness and perception. Perhaps it is also that way for animals, just...different. Perhaps free will is the line of demarcation here. We must choose to transform and grow our consciousness. Animals don't choose. They grow because they have to. We grow, or do not grow, because we choose to live - or we decide to stop choosing and allow our consciousness to die.

Beau Smith is an artist, writer, and webmaster. You can listen to him talk about art and spirituality in his podcast, The Science of Originality, at [http://www.beausmithart.podbean.com]