Choice and Consciousness is a Very Spiritual Partnership

Every day you are bombarded with stimuli. Every day your head is filled with thoughts. Every day you must make decisions about what thoughts to pursue and what thoughts to ignore.

We live in a world of choice. Sometimes we are conditioned to think that we don't have any choice in certain matters but we always do. We have choice in every thought and therefore every creation that shows up in our lives. The choices you make determines who you define yourself to be and who you are in relationship to the rest of your environment. You might even say you chose your environment. You chose it and you created it. Does it serve you? If not choose again.

This is the wonderful thing about choice. Nobody says that once you make a choice you must stick with it forever. That's not how it works. You are free to choose again at any time. You live in the present moment and therefore you make your choices in the present moment.

The choice you made ten minutes or ten days or ten years ago does not affect the choice you make in the present moment. There is no law that says you must stay with your choice and experience the consequences of it. In fact the natural law governing this says quite the opposite. You are free to choose at all times. And you do.

Many choices are automatic. You choose to breathe because it sustains your life. You do this automatically and unconsciously as a matter of choice. You prefer to think other thoughts than just "I choose to breathe in, I choose to breathe out." You put breathing on autopilot. But it's still a choice. If you choose to stop breathing you can create this in a variety of ways. You have to consciously think about it and then consciously create it, otherwise autopilot is fine.

Autopilot is fine for most of the day-to-day bodily functions required for human existence. Human experience on the other hand is more of a consciousness thing.

As humans we have taken many short cuts in utilizing our power of choice. We have developed the habit of making our choices unconsciously, just like our breathing. We have been told that it is okay for us to view a situation in our life, hark back to a similar situation, whether we experienced it ourselves or somebody told us about it, and react to the present situation with the same responses we have in our memory.

We choose what we consider a socially acceptable reaction to common stimuli. We are told that to choose any other response would not be socially acceptable and we will be judged harshly for any deviation from the norm.

Sounds like we are a bunch of robots. That doesn't sound like freedom. That sounds like a condition. And conditions limit us and allow judgment.

If we continue to choose the path of unconscious choice we will find ourselves restricted to only those choices that others tell us are acceptable. We begin to lose our identity of self and personal choice. We take on the identity of the group and accept the group choice as our own. We become unconscious of the freedom of choice that lies within us and accept the restriction of choice that lies external to us.

We surrender our authentic power to the power of others and we do this by our own choice. Unconscious choice perhaps but our choice just the same. Would we give up our freedom of choice consciously? Probably not. If we were aware of the fact that our unconscious choices determine what shows up in our life, wouldn't we choose to make conscious choices? Probably so.

The key is the more aware we are of who we are and where we are going, the more consciously we can make choices to get us there.

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

Making Conscious Choices Is A Choice We Make!

"Every day, each of us makes a multitude of choices that will impact our lives...the quality of our choices will dictate whether we will struggle in frustration or live an extraordinary life-the life of our dreams." ~ Debbie Ford

In her book THE RIGHT QUESTIONS, author Debbie Ford entitles the second chapter, "Waking Up from Autopilot." This is exactly the challenge you and I face if we want to live an "extra" ordinary life based in healthy, life affirming choices. As we look at the world today it may seem that the majority of humankind exists at the level of living a life that is stuck on autopilot, actually unaware that the choices we make every moment of every day individually and collectively determine our experience on the planet. This is self-evident with the mindless damage being done in our environment and ecosystem, and perhaps even more so with the obvious conflict between human beings around the world.

When we exist on autopilot the tendency is to live unconsciously, self-servingly and reactively rather than proactively because we are not awake enough to realize we are always at choice. As a species, one could say we have made more than a few mindless choices. I find this interesting given the fact that the ability to make conscious choices is one of the primary things that separate us from every other species on earth. The good news is it's not too late to learn that we can choose again! My point is simply that conscious choice begins with conscious beings.

We have all heard the term, "Think globally, act locally", so to personalize this idea I would like to ask you these questions: Do you remember everything that you chose to put into your body yesterday from the moment you got up until the time you went to bed? Conversely, do you remember everything that you chose to have came out of your mouth...do you recall the manner in which you chose to speak to and treat every person you have had contact with in the past 72 hours? Do you remember the moment you thought about (or avoided thinking about) choosing to do your exercise program today and the action you took (or didn't take) to follow through? Do you recall the day you made the choice to go to college or not to, to buy or sell a home or not to, to have children or not to, to take or leave a job or not to, or enter or exit a relationship or not to?

From the seemingly piffle commonplace choices we make daily to the colossal once in a lifetime choices we make, they all have one thing in common; they define who we believe ourselves to be. Another way to look at it might be to say that irrespective of the degree, every choice we make leads us closer to, or further away from being the person we desire to be. The more conscious we are in the choices we make, the clearer we are on WHO we are. That's how powerful our freedom to choose is.

The reality is when we come to an intersection while driving our car, the choice as to which way we turn can literally determine what happens next in our life. The metaphor of course, is that our lives are always at an intersection. You are at an intersection right now...which way is your life inclined to go? My question for you today is profoundly simple, but also intensely deep: How conscious are you of the choices you will make today? Will you turn right or left...or continue on the same road you have been traveling for so very long? This question is imperative to ponder for your own sake as well as for your family of the earth. It's time to take our lives off autopilot!

MINDFULNESS PRACTICE

* Commit to making only conscious choices for the next 24 hours.

Begin with the next thought you have that necessitates a choice of ANY kind. Irrespective of what it is, challenge it. In your mind, fast forward and review the consequences of that choice. Will you be truly at peace with the consequences, or resent yourself later for the choice you made?

* Regardless of the scope or scale of the choices you make today, large or small, ask yourself if the consequences of the choices are ones that serve you as well as others in an affirmative manner. In other words, does this choice affirm a whole and fulfilling life for you, and at the same time harm no one else in any way shape or form?

* Most importantly, create space for the loving Presence of God within to be revealed, and listen...you will know what choice to make.

Peace, Dr. Dennis Merritt Jones

Over the last 21 years, Dr. Dennis Merritt Jones has helped thousands of individuals on their journey of spiritual growth. His New Thought workshops, classes, seminars, books, music, and weekly Sunday lectures are an inspiration to many. Join him this week for an interview with an insightful spiritual teacher on his TV program "One Power" - Now playing on the Internet at WisdomTeachers.com You can find out more about Dr. Dennis and his book "The Art of Being" at DennisMerrittJones.com And, if you're in the Los Angeles area, you can visit him this Sunday at the OneSpirit Center for Conscious Living [http://www.onespirit.org].

The Art of Conscious Choice

Freedom is something I desired for years and often comes up as a desire when we are working with our coaching clients. When we drill down to see what freedom looks or feels like in the vision our client is holding we hear things like the capacity to be at choice or the freedom to choose.

The Encarta Dictionary defines freedom as an "ability to act freely; a state in which somebody is able to act and live as he or she chooses, without being subject to any, or to any undue, restraints and restrictions."

As I was reflecting on the idea of choice it occurred to me that there are several elements to the process of choosing. It also occurred to me that choice often serves different purposes in our lives. When we make a decision or choose we set into motion universal forces which support us in fulfillment of our desires. Often it is the energy and quality of the choice that determines our success and end result.

Most of us live in a reactive orientation. Unless we have cleared away what we are habituated to, our conditioning, habits and beliefs will have a role in our choices.

Robert Fritz, in his book, The Path of Least Resistance mentions 8 types of choice that occur from this orientation.

I will briefly summarize them here and you may recognize the ones you have in your repertoire. All of these ways of choosing are ineffective in supporting our desired results so it is important to become aware of them with the intention to shift to a way of choosing that supports the end result we desire.

Here are the eight:

1. Choice by limitation; this is the choice that is limited by the constructs of what you believe to be possible or reasonable. This type of choice decision will separate you from your dreams and desires and leave you in a compromised state; one of mediocrity. It is related to the habit of settling. It is also related to the fear of not being good enough.

2. Choice by indirectness; this is the choice that is related to the how something will happen and is process oriented. This is the choice that if I do this I will have that. This type of choosing is not focused on the desired result rather on how I will think I can make that desired result happen. The need to control is often at work with this type of choosing. This is often the result of living in the place I call do do land and measuring our value by what we are doing.

3. Choice by elimination; this is the land of irreconcilable differences. How many times have you heard the expression stated or said it yourself, "I had no choice?" The truth is you had no choice that you could see at the time or allowed yourself to see at the time. We often live in and are affected deeply by the fields of illusion we have created for the context of our lives. When we are in these we cannot see a way out.

4. Choice by default; this is the choice not to choose. In this space whatever we attract seems to be attracted without our active participation. This is where the energy of ignoring lives.

5. Conditioned choice; This type of choosing comes from imposing preconditions on our choices. We say, "If this then I will ______." We dictate the circumstances under which we agree to this choice. This type of choosing is often related to the fear of not being good enough and the resultant need to control things in our lives.

6. Choice by reaction; these choices are made as a way to reduce tension and the fear of separation or the loss of love of others. The idea here is to reduce conflict and discomfort. We often refer to this as caving in or going with the needs of others. This is definitely a way to avoid what we fear will happen. The choice is always one towards comfort and away from discomfort.

7. Choice by consensus; this is again related to the fear of separation. In order to avoid conflict and dissention we float the question of the moment to a group of stakeholders and align our decisions with the "will of the majority." This is a way to play safe and small. Choice by consensus will never serve the fulfillment of your intentions or purpose.

8. Choice by adverse possession; what Fritz is referring to here is the choice to choose from the place of a metaphysical notion about the nature of the universe. The idea here is that whatever you now have you have chosen. This leads to the conclusion that there is something outside of you in control and choosing the circumstances of your life for you. This creates a very passive response, the response of the victim. The truth is that the experiences you are now having in your life have been created by past decisions and actions in part and when we become conscious of our choices and conditioning and shift that which no longer serves us we can choose from a place of power and create exactly what we desire in our lives.

Our Rockit Consciousness Shifting programs address the conditioning and fears that influence our choices and shifts the energy of these to a place of neutrality. We are then able to enable, or enhance the complimentary states of being that support choice. This program is for you if freedom is something you desire in your life! New classes are forming now. Please contact Karen for more information: Karen@karenvizer.com 760.329.9173)

Then there are ways of choosing. The ways we choose show where we see the power in a given situation. Can you see yourself in the above?

The idea is to consciously choose the results we wish to see manifested.

Have you made a choice to eat healthy foods? (Process oriented--this is about doing) or a choice to be healthy? (End result oriented--this is about being) Choosing a process limits the creative energy that is available to you for fulfillment of your desires.

Many of us choose to avoid something we do not want rather that to attract what we do want. When we choose something as an avoidance strategy we attract to us more of that which we want to avoid. The simple act of choosing to avoid the pain of what we do not want to experience creates enough conflict to attract more of the same. This occurs when we are in a high state of conflict. We want relief from the pressure we feel. This is where the fears of the unknown, living in a place of overwhelm and the habit of checking out live. Our choices here have us returning to the comfort of what is known.

So how do choose consciously?

There are several steps to this process, here are the basics:

1) Have a clear vision of what it is you desire/want to create/your end result

2) Formally choose this by saying, "I choose to have...." This is the process of intention and follows the visioning process. It is also the process of affirmation and it is the process of commitment and focus.

3) Know that this choice will now activate the organizing capacities of the universe or consciousness. This initiates the creative cycle.

4) Trust the process

5) Whenever deciding what actions to take to support fulfillment of your intention, ask yourself the following question:

How does the action I am taking support my vision and my desired result? If you cannot answer this question you might want to make a different choice!

Recognized for her groundbreaking work in the field of mental conditioning and how personal habits and fears can keep us from realizing our dreams, Karen Vizer is one of today?s leading authorities on the subject of thought. She has helped thousands of clients remove the self-imposed barriers that prevented them from living the lives they were meant to live. The result... joy, peace and purpose, happiness, and fulfillment. Karen regularly shares her knowledge and expertise with audiences throughout the United States and abroad. She is an internationally known speaker, coach, mentor and author whose views on thought and the thought process are in high demand. She is passionate about guiding others in the life alignment process. She has sourced the powerful process known as The Rockit Method of Consciousness Shifting. Karen holds degrees in nursing and Chiropractic care and received her education in coaching from Coach U and CCU and is a founding member of Coachville.

Your Conscious Life - You Always Have a Choice

What does living consciously mean to you? If I asked 20 different people what it means to live a conscious life, I'm sure I'd get twenty different answers.

One person might say living consciously is living simply and leaving a light footprint on the Earth; another would say it's about being mindful in all our relationships; another would put their focus on being authentic and expressing their truth; and yet another would emphasize living their passion and giving their unique gifts to the collective well being.

You see, to a certain extent it depends where we're starting from and there's room for all our differences. For me, there's a central core to living consciously and a very important aspect is the freedom to choose. We don't always have a choice about what life throws at us but we do always have a choice about how we respond to life in each moment, and these moment to moment choices create our experience, here and now and in the future.

To put it very simply, we either make unconscious choices or we can make conscious choices. Unconscious choices come from our conditioned mind, they're habitual and they give us more of what we've had before. This may be a certain level of comfort or a quick fix as provided by comfort foods or a glass of wine for example, or it may be a repetition of old drama which keeps us stuck in familiar misery. We repeat these unconscious choices over and over until we start to wake up and become more conscious.

Conscious choices bring our thoughts and actions into alignment with our authentic values; with what will ultimately bring us real satisfaction and fulfillment. Conscious choices lead to learning, growth, and the opportunity to create something new and fresh.

Let me give you an example. This week I met a young man; his relationship with his partner of several years had become so difficult for both of them, they had decided to part. He was very angry; the immediate pain of losing this relationship was stirring up old childhood pain of feeling abandoned by his parents and he wanted to hurt himself and punish his parents, his partner and his child. Luckily, he made a conscious choice and sought out his long term friend and mentor who encouraged him to see the situation as a new beginning, full of opportunities.

If he wants to free himself from this unconscious pattern of feeling abandoned and wanting to punish he will need to make not just one but many conscious choices, every day. These deeply engrained patterns do not easily go away, as we all know. But knowing that we have a choice immediately frees us from being a victim of our past. It may not be easy to change old patterns but it is possible.

Relationships are the mirrors in which we can see our conditioned limiting patterns most clearly. When things don't work out in a relationship or we feel hurt, it's human nature to blame the other person. If only they would change, then everything would be OK, right? But actually it's much more empowering to see everything that happens in all your relationships as information about you and how you can be different. Then the power and the responsibility is in your hands. You cease to be the victim of other's behavior and become the leader in your own life. This is freedom!

Someone sent me some You-tube video links yesterday, Hopi elder, Oren Lyons talking about our current global situation and the need for each of us to take responsibility. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7cylfQtkDg&feature=related and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqfvUA2vRAM&NR=1.

Amongst many other wise and true things he says, "the power is always in the people's hands." Yes. We each have the power individually to free ourselves from unconsciousness. The unconsciousness in me is the same unconsciousness in you and is the same unconsciousness that is causing such devastating damage to our world. We each have the power to embark on the adventure of a lifetime: to see ourselves more clearly, discover and express our authentic self, and to live knowing everything we think, say and do matters.

When I realized that the unconscious, conditioned mind is impersonal it was a turning point for me. We take life so personally, but our dysfunctional and limited thought and behaviour patterns, although potentially dangerous, are not personal at all but simply part of being human. We all have these patterns although they play out differently for each of us. We recognize them so easily in others, because we know them first in ourselves.

The more we are willing to see ourselves the quicker we can let go of the old patterns and free ourselves from unnecessary suffering.

And, once we really get that it's all quite impersonal and the only person who can free us is me, myself and I, we stop being so afraid of ourselves. We can learn to look at our failings compassionately, see how we can do better and make conscious choices. And as our self compassion grows, our compassion for others grows too and our relationships improve, as if by magic.

You can take your life into your own hands today; become curious about yourself; decide to change your mind; do something different, even something a little scary. Approach another person more kindly, decide not to be offended next time you get triggered, make an effort to see from another person's point of view, or draw clearer boundaries. Sometimes you may need to walk away and move on. But unless you really see through the pattern that created the difficult situation, and let it go, you will carry it with you and it will simply play out again elsewhere.

This is a time for radical clearing out of the old inside ourselves. That's why we are all feeling so challenged. Join me in noticing what your relationships are showing you about yourself this week; it's a great consciousness practice.

I offer a weekly tele-gathering, Soul Sanctuary, for people on a conscious path. If you'd like to know more, I'd love to hear from you.

Rose Diamond, website: http://www.awholenewworld.net blog: http://magnificentbeing.net/blog

Living Consciously Opens You to Infinite Choice

This is what conscious living is all about. It is about being aware of the infinite number of choices available to you in any given present-moment situation. It is about choosing what serves you, given your conscious choice about how you define who you are and consciously determine who you wish to be. It's all about choices.

As individuals we make choices constantly, day in and day out, because thoughts run through our heads in a constant parade. We choose to act on some thoughts and not act on others. When you choose to act on one thought, you make the choice to go where that thought takes you. You are constantly choosing. The question is, "Are you making these choices consciously or unconsciously?"

We have the capacity to put things on automatic if we choose (once again it is a choice). This is a pattern we fall into when we live unconsciously. We develop our ability to narrowly define the parameters of our existence into categories of good and bad or right and wrong. Before long we set ourselves on auto pilot and allow our minds to react to events in an unconscious manner.

When you live unconsciously long enough, it becomes ingrained in your mind and you don't have to think anymore. You limit your thought process to only include those thoughts you have thought a million times before. This becomes the parade of thoughts going through your head all the time.

Unconscious living makes it easy to make choices, so easy that it doesn't seem like a choice anymore. If you encounter certain stimuli that, in the past, has made you sad, and you are faced with those same stimuli in the present moment, you automatically become sad. It happens without thinking and you don't believe you chose to be sad. You say it just happened. The reality of the situation, however, is that you did choose to be sad. It was an unconscious choice, but it was a choice. While you are in this state of being called sadness you think that this is your only option, being sad. The sleepwalker is unaware that there are an infinite variety of other choices.

If you live consciously, you are aware that certain stimuli has produced this feeling of sadness in the past. The difference is that you are awake now and aware that you don't have to choose sadness in the present situation. You may choose to be happy. It is your choice. If you choose to be happy, you will do happy things. If you choose to be sad, you will do sad things. Remember your beingness creates your doingness, a point that will be made clearer to you as we explore further and begin to wake up from the unconscious living of the sleepwalker to walking in awareness.

As you make the shift into aware living, you realize that unconscious living is not limited to individuals, but applies to groups of people as well. Neighborhoods, communities, and nations can all be living unconsciously and making unconscious choices.

This impact of unconscious choice has a profound effect on our planet, because just as there are consequences of every action we take as individuals, there are the larger consequences of every action we take as groups of people as well.

Every action we take, from the choices we make, has a consequence. There are man-made consequences and there are natural consequences. The sleepwalkers of the world are conditioned to be mainly concerned with the man-made consequences of their actions. If you kill someone, the man-made consequence of your action may be that society will kill you. This is not the natural consequence of your action because nature does not strike you dead for killing another person. A natural consequence would be more in alignment with "nature's healing ways" and a restoration of peace and harmony, rather than a swift call to judgment and revenge.

What you are going to find as you begin to wake up is that nature does not judge or condemn us for the actions we take or the experiences we have. Nature observes our actions and experiences and allows natural consequences to take place. Only human beings have created a system whereby we judge the actions of others, and then create a series of man-made consequences to deal with these actions, usually in the form of punishment.

The sleepwalker judges and condemns himself all the time. He takes the words of others who tell him how he should define what is good and what is bad, or what is right and what is wrong. He then incorporates these words of others into a value system that is in alignment with what the others have said is the best value system and calls it his own. He chose to do this because he has seen the man-made consequences of not doing this. He does not want to subject himself to the bad judgment of his peers.

Free yourself from judgment. Free yourself from condemnation. Wake up to your authentic self. Live your life consciously and revel in the infinite variety of choice available to you when you do so.

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

A Choice For Life - An Act of Conscious Living, Spiritual Awakenings, and Inner Healing

On November 21, 2004, my sister Carla, at 58 years of age, died of breast cancer. My sister was a beautiful woman who rejected her own beauty. She had a passion for conversation and loved to give advice whether you wanted it or not. She wove her husband and three sons into a tight-knit family structure, believing that they would never leave her. Eight years prior to her death her husband Larry died of leukemia. Before her husband died, Carla had a will to live. Afterwards, she slowly slid into a depression. Therapy and medication weren't able to help, nor did her affinity for shopping or her supportive family.

For the past two years my sister hid that she had breast cancer. She blamed her ill health on a car accident. She disregarded medical intervention, refused to get a mammogram and sought treatment that kept her in denial of her prognosis. By the time she allowed an oncologist to examine her it was too late. The family was shocked by the revelation that Carla was going to die.

As my sister lay dying I cried out to the heavens. How could this happen? I stared at her swollen face aching to receive an answer. Carla remained silent, entering into another realm of existence. My mind's eye wandered through menageries of memories: Carla and I dancing on the front porch of our Brooklyn home; playing tag; dressed in frills and lace; fighting over a dress, a brush and our parents' attention. We were sisters through and through.

But now, our differences became apparent; Why did she avoid getting a mammogram? I read somewhere that 13 million U.S. women 40 years of age or older have never had a mammogram. What made my sister one of the 13 million women? Perusing through breast cancer Web sites, I found a multitude of interesting information about technologies, treatments, prevention, genetics, detection, surgery, improved outlooks and more. However, there was no coverage regarding cancer and depression, cancer and nutrition, cancer and meditation, cancer and healing childhood abuse, cancer and creativity, cancer and anger, nor cancer and grief. Though I do not disregard proven medical treatment and the urgency for early detection and treatment, I do advocate for extended research into the emotionality of cancer, more education on carcinogenic foods (sugar, caffeine and food additives) and high-caloric diets, and an investigation regarding the negative mental influences that activate cancer.

As a trained metaphysician and an emotional-body practitioner, I believe stress to the body is caused by traumatized emotions and repressed expression, and that negative thinking causes mental, physical and emotional disorders. And it seems I'm not alone in my beliefs. One of the leading pharmaceutical companies in the world, SmithKline Beecham, distributed the video to hospitals throughout the United States.

Metaphysician, publisher and author Louise L. Hay wrote in her best-selling book "You Can Heal Your Life" that "The thoughts we think and the words we speak create "our experiences" After she self-healed vaginal cancer, she wrote the book to guide individuals to uncover emotional beliefs and traumas that cause illness. A breast problem, according to Hay, is "a refusal to nourish the self" and causes behaviors such as "over-mothering, over-protectiveness and overbearing attitudes." She also wrote that cancer is caused by "deep hurt" and that people who are afflicted with these unexpressed wounds "carry hatreds" and "blame and give up." These intense emotions and thoughts were the exact issues my sister denied throughout her life.

Kabalistic teachings (mystical knowledge of the ancient Hebrews) talk of the body being the vessel for the soul's expression. According to the teachings, if the body is cut off from the soul's life-force, then disease can occur. But even today, the media has become involved in bringing this important message to the forefront:

The recently released movie "What the Bleep Do You Know" explores-through the conscious and subconscious-how repressed emotional expression weakens our immune system. To delve into the self to heal, a person needs to enter into the shadow side of his or her psyche. Though a therapist/healer can try to help an individual dig deep to recover a lost and wounded soul, the person has to ultimately choose to make the journey on his or her own. To direct a person's attention through years of defense into deeper feelings and expression takes focus and dedication. Through the use of breath work, creativity and experiential mind/body processes I help awaken the body's trust to release painful emotions.

There are many answers and questions that guide us to make choices. I hope these facts, both medical and humanistic, will spark at least one person to choose life.

Here are some tips to help you keep your body free of disease:

" Eat a balanced diet and exercise.

" Hug yourself often.

" Express, feel, express.

" Ask for help.

" Never give up.

" Be creative.

" Intimacy heals. Spend time talking with family and friends.

" Receive life as a gift.

" Remember: Your life has purpose.

" Ask: What makes me feel alive?

" Say: I am enough just the way I am.

" Realize that you alone create the meaning of your life.

There was so much my sister loved in life; but what she loved could not save her from what she hated about herself. She stopped caring and therefore denied her body life. My heart hurts knowing my sister is gone. I will miss her smile, her voice and her flamboyant laughter. She will live on in my mind and soul forever. Hopefully, my story will inspire, educate and motivate at least one of you to encourage a sister, mother, daughter, brother, father or son to never give up on themselves or life.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT BREAST CANCER

" Every two minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer.

" Each year, 182,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and 43,300 die.

" Approximately 1,600 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. About 400 of them are predicted to die.

" One woman in eight who lives to age 85 will develop breast cancer during her lifetime.

" Breast cancer is the leading cause of death in women between the ages of 40 and 55.

" Seventy percent of all breast cancers are found through breast self-exams, but not all lumps are detectable by touch.

" A mammogram can detect breast cancer up to two years before a lump is large enough to be felt. Thermo grams (which measure changes in the skin through heat) can detect an abnormality approximately seven years in advance. Found early, there is a five-year survival rate of 96 percent, so get at least one of these tests done yearly.

MartaLuzim.com Conscious Living, Inner Healing, and Personal Transformation. Copyright 2009 http://www.martaluzim.com

Marta J. Luzim, M.S., is a psychospiritual therapist, novelist, poet, and playwright. She runs Primal Healing and Art which specializes in classes ans courses in alternative approach to awaken conscious living and relationship therapy. Family of origin patterns are explored to recognize repetitive attitudes and behaviors that inhibits us from choosing new ways of relating and living.

For more information on Spiritual Healing, Holistic Healing, and Spiritual Awakening, please visit her website at http://www.martaluzim.com

Your Conscious Life - You Always Have a Choice

What does living consciously mean to you? If I asked 20 different people what it means to live a conscious life, I'm sure I'd get twenty different answers.

One person might say living consciously is living simply and leaving a light footprint on the Earth; another would say it's about being mindful in all our relationships; another would put their focus on being authentic and expressing their truth; and yet another would emphasize living their passion and giving their unique gifts to the collective well being.

You see, to a certain extent it depends where we're starting from and there's room for all our differences. For me, there's a central core to living consciously and a very important aspect is the freedom to choose. We don't always have a choice about what life throws at us but we do always have a choice about how we respond to life in each moment, and these moment to moment choices create our experience, here and now and in the future.

To put it very simply, we either make unconscious choices or we can make conscious choices. Unconscious choices come from our conditioned mind, they're habitual and they give us more of what we've had before. This may be a certain level of comfort or a quick fix as provided by comfort foods or a glass of wine for example, or it may be a repetition of old drama which keeps us stuck in familiar misery. We repeat these unconscious choices over and over until we start to wake up and become more conscious.

Conscious choices bring our thoughts and actions into alignment with our authentic values; with what will ultimately bring us real satisfaction and fulfillment. Conscious choices lead to learning, growth, and the opportunity to create something new and fresh.

Let me give you an example. This week I met a young man; his relationship with his partner of several years had become so difficult for both of them, they had decided to part. He was very angry; the immediate pain of losing this relationship was stirring up old childhood pain of feeling abandoned by his parents and he wanted to hurt himself and punish his parents, his partner and his child. Luckily, he made a conscious choice and sought out his long term friend and mentor who encouraged him to see the situation as a new beginning, full of opportunities.

If he wants to free himself from this unconscious pattern of feeling abandoned and wanting to punish he will need to make not just one but many conscious choices, every day. These deeply engrained patterns do not easily go away, as we all know. But knowing that we have a choice immediately frees us from being a victim of our past. It may not be easy to change old patterns but it is possible.

Relationships are the mirrors in which we can see our conditioned limiting patterns most clearly. When things don't work out in a relationship or we feel hurt, it's human nature to blame the other person. If only they would change, then everything would be OK, right? But actually it's much more empowering to see everything that happens in all your relationships as information about you and how you can be different. Then the power and the responsibility is in your hands. You cease to be the victim of other's behavior and become the leader in your own life. This is freedom!

Someone sent me some You-tube video links yesterday, Hopi elder, Oren Lyons talking about our current global situation and the need for each of us to take responsibility. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7cylfQtkDg&feature=related and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqfvUA2vRAM&NR=1.

Amongst many other wise and true things he says, "the power is always in the people's hands." Yes. We each have the power individually to free ourselves from unconsciousness. The unconsciousness in me is the same unconsciousness in you and is the same unconsciousness that is causing such devastating damage to our world. We each have the power to embark on the adventure of a lifetime: to see ourselves more clearly, discover and express our authentic self, and to live knowing everything we think, say and do matters.

When I realized that the unconscious, conditioned mind is impersonal it was a turning point for me. We take life so personally, but our dysfunctional and limited thought and behaviour patterns, although potentially dangerous, are not personal at all but simply part of being human. We all have these patterns although they play out differently for each of us. We recognize them so easily in others, because we know them first in ourselves.

The more we are willing to see ourselves the quicker we can let go of the old patterns and free ourselves from unnecessary suffering.

And, once we really get that it's all quite impersonal and the only person who can free us is me, myself and I, we stop being so afraid of ourselves. We can learn to look at our failings compassionately, see how we can do better and make conscious choices. And as our self compassion grows, our compassion for others grows too and our relationships improve, as if by magic.

You can take your life into your own hands today; become curious about yourself; decide to change your mind; do something different, even something a little scary. Approach another person more kindly, decide not to be offended next time you get triggered, make an effort to see from another person's point of view, or draw clearer boundaries. Sometimes you may need to walk away and move on. But unless you really see through the pattern that created the difficult situation, and let it go, you will carry it with you and it will simply play out again elsewhere.

This is a time for radical clearing out of the old inside ourselves. That's why we are all feeling so challenged. Join me in noticing what your relationships are showing you about yourself this week; it's a great consciousness practice.

I offer a weekly tele-gathering, Soul Sanctuary, for people on a conscious path. If you'd like to know more, I'd love to hear from you.

Rose Diamond, website: http://www.awholenewworld.net blog: http://magnificentbeing.net/blog

A Choice For Life - An Act of Conscious Living, Spiritual Awakenings, and Inner Healing

On November 21, 2004, my sister Carla, at 58 years of age, died of breast cancer. My sister was a beautiful woman who rejected her own beauty. She had a passion for conversation and loved to give advice whether you wanted it or not. She wove her husband and three sons into a tight-knit family structure, believing that they would never leave her. Eight years prior to her death her husband Larry died of leukemia. Before her husband died, Carla had a will to live. Afterwards, she slowly slid into a depression. Therapy and medication weren't able to help, nor did her affinity for shopping or her supportive family.

For the past two years my sister hid that she had breast cancer. She blamed her ill health on a car accident. She disregarded medical intervention, refused to get a mammogram and sought treatment that kept her in denial of her prognosis. By the time she allowed an oncologist to examine her it was too late. The family was shocked by the revelation that Carla was going to die.

As my sister lay dying I cried out to the heavens. How could this happen? I stared at her swollen face aching to receive an answer. Carla remained silent, entering into another realm of existence. My mind's eye wandered through menageries of memories: Carla and I dancing on the front porch of our Brooklyn home; playing tag; dressed in frills and lace; fighting over a dress, a brush and our parents' attention. We were sisters through and through.

But now, our differences became apparent; Why did she avoid getting a mammogram? I read somewhere that 13 million U.S. women 40 years of age or older have never had a mammogram. What made my sister one of the 13 million women? Perusing through breast cancer Web sites, I found a multitude of interesting information about technologies, treatments, prevention, genetics, detection, surgery, improved outlooks and more. However, there was no coverage regarding cancer and depression, cancer and nutrition, cancer and meditation, cancer and healing childhood abuse, cancer and creativity, cancer and anger, nor cancer and grief. Though I do not disregard proven medical treatment and the urgency for early detection and treatment, I do advocate for extended research into the emotionality of cancer, more education on carcinogenic foods (sugar, caffeine and food additives) and high-caloric diets, and an investigation regarding the negative mental influences that activate cancer.

As a trained metaphysician and an emotional-body practitioner, I believe stress to the body is caused by traumatized emotions and repressed expression, and that negative thinking causes mental, physical and emotional disorders. And it seems I'm not alone in my beliefs. One of the leading pharmaceutical companies in the world, SmithKline Beecham, distributed the video to hospitals throughout the United States.

Metaphysician, publisher and author Louise L. Hay wrote in her best-selling book "You Can Heal Your Life" that "The thoughts we think and the words we speak create "our experiences" After she self-healed vaginal cancer, she wrote the book to guide individuals to uncover emotional beliefs and traumas that cause illness. A breast problem, according to Hay, is "a refusal to nourish the self" and causes behaviors such as "over-mothering, over-protectiveness and overbearing attitudes." She also wrote that cancer is caused by "deep hurt" and that people who are afflicted with these unexpressed wounds "carry hatreds" and "blame and give up." These intense emotions and thoughts were the exact issues my sister denied throughout her life.

Kabalistic teachings (mystical knowledge of the ancient Hebrews) talk of the body being the vessel for the soul's expression. According to the teachings, if the body is cut off from the soul's life-force, then disease can occur. But even today, the media has become involved in bringing this important message to the forefront:

The recently released movie "What the Bleep Do You Know" explores-through the conscious and subconscious-how repressed emotional expression weakens our immune system. To delve into the self to heal, a person needs to enter into the shadow side of his or her psyche. Though a therapist/healer can try to help an individual dig deep to recover a lost and wounded soul, the person has to ultimately choose to make the journey on his or her own. To direct a person's attention through years of defense into deeper feelings and expression takes focus and dedication. Through the use of breath work, creativity and experiential mind/body processes I help awaken the body's trust to release painful emotions.

There are many answers and questions that guide us to make choices. I hope these facts, both medical and humanistic, will spark at least one person to choose life.

Here are some tips to help you keep your body free of disease:

" Eat a balanced diet and exercise.

" Hug yourself often.

" Express, feel, express.

" Ask for help.

" Never give up.

" Be creative.

" Intimacy heals. Spend time talking with family and friends.

" Receive life as a gift.

" Remember: Your life has purpose.

" Ask: What makes me feel alive?

" Say: I am enough just the way I am.

" Realize that you alone create the meaning of your life.

There was so much my sister loved in life; but what she loved could not save her from what she hated about herself. She stopped caring and therefore denied her body life. My heart hurts knowing my sister is gone. I will miss her smile, her voice and her flamboyant laughter. She will live on in my mind and soul forever. Hopefully, my story will inspire, educate and motivate at least one of you to encourage a sister, mother, daughter, brother, father or son to never give up on themselves or life.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT BREAST CANCER

" Every two minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer.

" Each year, 182,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and 43,300 die.

" Approximately 1,600 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. About 400 of them are predicted to die.

" One woman in eight who lives to age 85 will develop breast cancer during her lifetime.

" Breast cancer is the leading cause of death in women between the ages of 40 and 55.

" Seventy percent of all breast cancers are found through breast self-exams, but not all lumps are detectable by touch.

" A mammogram can detect breast cancer up to two years before a lump is large enough to be felt. Thermo grams (which measure changes in the skin through heat) can detect an abnormality approximately seven years in advance. Found early, there is a five-year survival rate of 96 percent, so get at least one of these tests done yearly.

MartaLuzim.com Conscious Living, Inner Healing, and Personal Transformation. Copyright 2009 http://www.martaluzim.com

Marta J. Luzim, M.S., is a psychospiritual therapist, novelist, poet, and playwright. She runs Primal Healing and Art which specializes in classes ans courses in alternative approach to awaken conscious living and relationship therapy. Family of origin patterns are explored to recognize repetitive attitudes and behaviors that inhibits us from choosing new ways of relating and living.

For more information on Spiritual Healing, Holistic Healing, and Spiritual Awakening, please visit her website at http://www.martaluzim.com