KS&L 88: Holiday Service Part 2

by Tina Erwin

In part I of Holiday Service we discussed the element of spiritual service in doing things for other people throughout the year. How do we view the volume of effort required for Christmas and Hanukkah?

December is a challenge because there seems to be so much for everyone to do:

· Shop for gifts, wrap presents

· Get the Tree

· Decorate the Tree

· Keep the tree watered

· Plan meals

· Grocery shop

· Decorate the house

· Plan parties

· Grocery shop

· Do the holiday cards, buy the stamps, write the yearly letter, collate and mail.

· Help out at school, church and/or office parties

· Grocery shop

· Make the list of food gifts to give

· Grocery shop

· Make all the food, do the baking, package the items

· Mail things

This modest, very incomplete list above usually falls to women who think they have to do it all. Getting your family members to help will reduce some stress and let everyone have the opportunity of doing service. This can be as simple as making the list and letting them make the grocery runs and some of the dinners so that you can do the extras.

The real service is in the patience of doing the mundane, day-to-day things of getting ready. People love a house filled with the smells of the holidays. If your holidays were horrific growing up, mitigate the past sadness by making the present something warmly memorable.

It is so wonderful to come home to a house beautifully decorated with bright candles and wonderful food. The element of the house and the food are tremendous service to all family members.

What makes it difficult for the person doing the planning, cooking, shopping and decorating is that people take their efforts for granted. It just looks so easy. Family members frequently don’t seem grateful for what has been done because you always do it. They are not callous or unkind; it is just that your excellent work is normal to them. Your service is transparent to them but transparent or not, it does not change the fact that it is service all the same. Even if family members do not overtly recognize it, it is appreciated on some level.

You earn the karma for your efforts because you are creating the memories that they will treasure and emulate. You are teaching them what a warm holiday looks and feels like, and that lesson changes the future. That is the purpose of this work, the reason for this effort: creating a pattern of love, hard work and togetherness. This is part of the element of what makes the holidays an important example of spiritual service. In essence, it is the real reason for the season, displaying your love through your service.

KS&L 87: Holiday Service Part 1

by Tina Erwin

The holidays are a great time - so we think. The truth is, most people who do the lion’s share of getting ready for the holidays are frequently overwhelmed with the volume of work that is required to get it all done. The regular schedule of day-to-day responsibilities is magnified with the endless list of extras.

We are also overwhelmed with the concept of the neediness of so many people. Someone's child is sick, someone's relative is dying or has died, it is the anniversary of a death for another person. The homeless shelter needs volunteers, your church is doing charity work and your office has adopted a family to give to at Christmas. Some people are irritable and angry in November and December and we dread living through this time with them. So with all that comes up in this window of time, we quietly ask ourselves: Is it really worth it? Is it really worth the volume of energy to get ready for Christmas or Hanukkah?

The answer is more complicated than we think. The answer may center on our concepts of service. What is service?

Service is frequently giving money, time or effort to someone in need. It is the giving of ourselves. This is easy to recognize.

However, there are other types of service that we would be wise to honor, namely the service of getting any type of celebration together. It isn't just this time of year; it can be any time of the year.

The neighbor who decorates for Halloween, the mom who never misses making the favorite birthday cake, the welcome home celebration for a service member, the delight of a Valentine's dinner or a 4th of July cookout. The Thanksgiving Dinner with a cast of thousands is a tremendous service as well. Few people appreciate the volume of planning that goes into feeding all those people, plus the decorations that accompany the food, the candles, the greens and the creative effort all create the atmosphere for any celebration. All these things are service - these creative efforts of love made visible are also spiritual service. This takes us to December. Part II will help us make some sense out of this challenging month.

Weddings

Yesterday, our daughter Jeanne Marie and her new husband Michael announced their marriage at a wonderful party. It was a beautiful wedding celebration with two great families joined together - for truly when you marry someone you also marry their family.

Weddings be they large or small offer us hope as we watch another new couple start out their life. We stand back and watch their proceedings, pondering our own lives, the choices we have made, the persons we did or did not marry and the life, that we still have together.

As we watch our children march down that same aisle we marched down so long ago, we hope that as parents we did a good job of preparing them for their long and interesting road ahead.

Did we give them a foundation in managing money?

Did we teach them that compassion and caring can only come from a heart that is awake, feeling and in love?

Do they have the skills it takes to manage the day in and day out give and take, the art of compromise that is the lubricant of marriage?

Did we teach them the skills of patience and understanding?

More critically, were we as parents, good examples?

There is a tendency when you watch a wedding to feel all mushy, sort of tearful inside. This is a life milestone for a person, entering into a permanent relationship. Because your son or daughter is now a married person, they are different. They look the same, but they are not the same. They have become independent, completely an adult right before your eyes.

As parents, we now must change our roles from one of active parent to inactive parent and replace that concept with one of active friend. It is time to leave the parenting behind - for if we have done our job, it is no longer needed.

The wedding itself is almost an initiation for the couple. They stand together, facing the future. Hopefully they have planned their wedding together and decided what they wanted to happen. Now they are launching their lives with hope and happiness. When this can happen, in this beautiful way it is easy for parents to ‘let go’ and embrace a whole new world of happiness for their family.

The Manicurist

Did you ever wonder why someone goes to a manicurist? Even men visit a manicurist, especially if they are in the public eye and need their hands to look good.

Did you ever ponder why people are so dedicated to their manicurist beyond the starlet, female politician and socialite? Many people have been with the same manicurist, often for 20 years, keeping that treasured appointment. Many ladies will rearrange their schedule to keep that appointment. Why is this? Isn’t it just about the meticulous attention to having nice nails? Why are nails that important?

Perhaps, visiting a manicurist has nothing to do with nails at all. Perhaps visiting a manicurist, especially a really good one is a little bit about fingernails, and a whole lot about having someone who is a really good listener, hold your hand while you tell them your story. While you are reviewing what is happening with your life, this kind lady is literally giving you her total undivided attention. When was the last time, busy ladies, you had anyone give you their undivided attention? Think about it, in these times, who takes the time to listen for a solid hour with a kind and often very compassionate heart? Not too many folks have that kind of time.

What makes a good manicurist isn’t as much about making someone’s fingers and toes look spectacular, as it is more about being very, very sensitive and very often, exceptionally psychic to the emotional needs of the client sitting in front of you.

Here is what may happen in a typical manicurist’s day. She gets all of her supplies and fancy gadgets set up. She reviews her appointments for the day and she takes a deep breath and considers each person who is going to come in and sit in front of her. She catalogs who is grieving, who is getting married, who has kids going off to college and who is getting divorced. She probably has mental reminders of what not to say and touchy areas to avoid for each person. She hopes that each person will be on time so that she won’t have to keep anyone waiting. She works very hard to keep all of her appointments flowing in a timely manner. She is such a courteous lady!

Because so many people talk to her, she inadvertently becomes a literal repository of helpful information. She just loves helping people, so she figures out what information to share with which lady. Such is the pleasure of shared information.

As each lady comes to her station, often she greets them with a welcoming hug or at least a very warm smile, immediately asking them how they are, how have they been doing, how is their family. Each of these questions will inevitably spark someone to tell her that chatty story that at first appears surface. Now a good manicurist has a wonderful way of holding someone’s hand, of looking them right in the eye with her own eyes smiling back. Human touch is just a magical thing. Holding someone’s hand is a deeply personal action especially when you are giving that hand specialized attention. It just opens up all kinds of emotional doors.

As the warmth of the manicurist’s hand embraces her client’s hand, the client begins to relax, to feel somewhat calm and to trust the person in front of her. She begins to share the details of her latest life chapter. The manicurist nods. If she can be helpful or compassionate or just kind, she does that. If her client cries, she offers her a Kleenex and lets her cry. She is really there for her client and often this woman in front of her is also her friend.

At the end of the day, the manicurist cleans up and goes home, probably never realizing that her kindness, her compassion and her ability to offer comfort through the process of doing someone’s nails was a tremendous service. Sometimes it is good to appreciate the quiet service of another. Kindness, gentleness and hope are often found in the ordinary faces of many people who do service, whether it be a manicurist, hairdresser, massage therapist or acupuncturist. Often it is so hard to get friends and family to listen, that we don’t even realize how precious those people who do hear us, are to us. Maybe the next time you encounter one of these people, you can ask them how their day is, how their life is going and simply return the favor.

[This KS&L is dedicated to Peggy Laxson, the best, and kindest manicurist I know!]

Know the Chemicals in Your Food!

This information is from the following website:

http://healthfreedoms.org/2011/11/11/whats-really-in-the-food-the-a-to-z-of-the-food-industrys-most-evil-ingredients/

What’s really in the food? The A to Z of the food industry’s most evil ingredients

Submitted by Drew Kaplan on November 11, 2011 – 11:17 amOne Comment

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The best way to take care of our bodies is to be careful what we put into them. Below is a great article on what ingredients we should avoid.

~Health Freedoms

Ever wonder what’s really in the food sold at grocery stores around the world? People keep asking me, “What ingredients should I avoid?” So I put together a short list that covers all the most toxic and disease-promoting ingredients in the food supply. These are the substances causing cancer, diabetes, heart disease and leading to tens of billions of dollars in unnecessary health care costs across America (and around the world). If you want to stay healthy and out of the hospital, read ingredients labels and make sure you avoid all these ingredients:

Acrylamides - Toxic, cancer-causing chemicals formed in foods when carbohydrates are exposed to high heat (baking, frying, grilling). They’re present in everything from bread crusts to snack chips, and because they aren’t intentional ingredients, acrylamides do NOT have to be listed on labels.

Aspartame – Chemical sweetener that causes neurological disorders, seizures, blurred vision and migraine headaches.

Autolyzed Proteins – Highly processed form of protein containing free glutamate and used to mimic the taste-enhancer chemical MSG.

BPA (Bisphenol-A) – A hormone mimicking chemical found in nearly all food packaging plastics. Active in just parts per billion, BPA promotes cancer, infertility and hormone disorders. It also “feminizes” males, promoting male breast growth and hormone disruption.

Casein – Milk proteins. Hilariously, this is widely used in “soy cheese” products that claim to be alternatives to cow’s milk. Nearly all of them are made with cow’s milk proteins.

Corn Syrup - Just another name for High Fructose Corn Syrup (see below). Frequently used in infant formula products.

Food Colors – FD&C Red #40, for example, is linked to behavioral disorders in children. Nearly all artificial food colors are derived from petroleum, and many are contaminated with aluminum.

Genetically Modified Ingredients – Not currently listed on the label because the GMO industry (Monsanto and DuPont) absolutely does not want people to know which foods contain GMOs. Nearly all conventionally grown corn, soy and cotton are GMOs. They’re linked to severe infertility problems and may even cause the bacteria in your body to produce and release a pesticide in your own gut. If you’re not eating organic corn, you’re definitely eating GMO corn.

High Fructose Corn Syrup – A highly processed liquid sugar extracted with the chemical solvent glutaraldehyde and frequently contaminated with mercury. It’s also linked to diabetes, obesity and mood disorders. Used in thousands of grocery items, including things you wouldn’t suspect like pizza sauce and salad dressings.

Hydrochloride - When you see anything hydrochloride, such as Pyridoxine Hydrochloride or Thiamin Hydrochloride, those are chemical forms of B vitamins that companies add to their products to be able to claim higher RDA values of vitamins. But these are synthetic, chemical forms of vitamins, not real vitamins from foods or plants. Nutritionally, they are near-useless and may actually be bad for you.

Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein – A highly processed form of (usually) soy protein that’s processed to bring out the free glutamate (MSG). Use as a taste enhancer.

Partially Hydrogenated Oils - Oils that are modified using a chemical catalyst to make them stable at room temperature. This creates trans fatty acids and greatly increases the risk of blocked arteries . It also promotes what I call “sludge blood,” which is thick, viscous blood that’s hard to pump. This is usually diagnosed by doctors as “high blood pressure” and (stupidly) treated with blood-thinning medications that are technically the same chemicals as rat poison (warfarin).

Phosphoric Acid – The acid used in sodas to dissolve the carbon dioxide and add to the overall fizzy-ness of the soda. Phosphoric acid will eat steel nails. It’s also used by stone masons to etch rocks. The military uses it to clean the rust off battleships. In absolutely destroys tooth enamel. Search Google Images for “Mountain Dew Mouth” to see photos of teeth rotted out by phosphoric acid.

Propylene Glycol – A liquid used in the automotive industry to winterize RVs. It’s also used to make the fake blueberries you see in blueberry muffins, bagels and breads. (Combined with artificial colors and corn syrup.)

Sodium (Salt) - The processed white salt lacking in trace minerals. In the holistic nutrition industry, we call it “death salt” because it promotes disease and death. Real salt, on the other hand, such as “dirty” sea salt or pink Himalayan salt, is loaded with the trace minerals that prevent disease, such as selenium (cancer), chromium (diabetes) and zinc (infectious disease). Much like with bread and sugar, white salt is terrible for your health. And don’t be fooled by claims of “sea salt” in grocery stores. All salt came from the sea if you go far back enough in geologic time, so they can slap the “sea salt” claim on ANY salt!

Sodium Nitrite – A cancer-causing red coloring chemical added to bacon, hot dogs, sausage, beef jerky, ham, lunch meats, pepperoni and nearly all processed meats. Strongly linked to brain tumors, pancreatic cancers and colon cancers. The USDA once tried to ban it from the food supply but was out-maneuvered by the meat industry, which now dominates USDA regulations. Sodium nitrite is a complete poison used to make meats look fresh. Countless children die of cancer each year from sodium nitrite-induced cancers.

Soy Protein – The No. 1 protein source used in “protein bars,” including many bars widely consumed by bodybuilders. Soy protein is the “junk protein” of the food industry. It’s made from genetically modified soybeans (often grown in China) and then subjected to hexane, a chemical solvent that can literally explode.

Sucralose – An artificial chemical sweetener sold as Splenda. The sucralose molecule contains a chlorine atom (http://www.naturalnews.com/027491_a…;). Researchers have repeatedly found that artificial sweeteners make people fat by actually promoting weight gain.

Sugar – The bleached, nutritionally-deficient byproduct of cane processing. During sugar cane processing, nearly all the minerals and vitamins end up in the blackstrap molasses that’s usually fed to farm animals. (Blackstrap molasses is actually the “good” part of sugar cane juice.) Molasses is often fed to farm animals because every rancher knows that farm animals need good nutrition to stay alive. Amazingly, conventional doctors don’t yet realize this about humans, and they continue to claim that eating sugar is perfectly fine for you. Sugar promotes diabetes, obesity, mood disorders and nutritional deficiencies.

Textured Vegetable Protein - Usually made of soy protein which is extracted from genetically modified soybeans and then processed using hexane, an explosive chemical solvent (see Soy Protein, above). Widely used in vegetarian foods such as “veggie burgers” (most of which also contain MSG or Yeast Extract, by the way).

Yeast Extract - Hidden form of MSG that contains free glutamate and is used in many “natural” food products to claim “No MSG!” Yeast extract contains up to 14% free glutamate. You’ll find it in thousands of grocery store products, from soups to snack chips. I even once spotted it used on fresh meat!

Food label tricks

Here’s a trick food companies frequently used to pack more sugar into their products without making sugar look like the first ingredient:

Ingredient labels, you see, must list the most prominent ingredients first, and some consumers might freak out of they saw a box of cereal that said, “Sugar, whole grain wheat, corn” and so on. Instead, the company uses 3 or 4 different forms of sugar to distribute them farther down the label, like this:

“Whole grain wheat, sugar, corn syrup, corn syrup solids…”

This way, the first ingredients looks like “whole grain wheat” when, in reality, the cereal might be over fifty percent sugars!

How to buy honest food

• Shop are your local farmer’s market, food co-op or CSA.

• In the USA, look for the USDA Organic label on foods. This is a legitimate claim to being certified organic. It’s one of the few programs run by the USDA that actually has integrity.

• Read the ingredients labels! If you see names of chemicals you can’t pronounce, don’t buy it.

• Buy more unprocessed food ingredients and make your own meals rather than buying ready-to-eat, processed foods, which are almost universally formulated with disease-promoting ingredients.

I Can't Be Santa This Year!

The elegant young widow entered the room with rounded shoulders and tragedy hiding behind her pretty green eyes. She came to visit me while her two young boys were in school. She seemed utterly exhausted from the sheer volume of grief she had been experiencing over the last year.

Holly’s husband was a military pilot who died in January 2011, when his chopper was shot down in Afghanistan. Not only did she have to deal with the death of the love of her life, but she was also reeling from all of the challenges of having been a military wife one day, and a military widow the next. She had stood up valiantly to all that was required of her including moving out of military housing, relocating to be near her parents, and struggling to make a living. Now, almost a year later, she was facing her first holiday season as a widow. Somehow the unending facets of grief seemed too much. She had come to me, not just to discuss the endless waves of grief that still haunted her, but more than that, she wanted to understand how to even contemplate a holiday season without her Jim. She was fearful that she would destroy the holidays forever for her two boys. She didn’t want to do that, but holiday festivities wanted to make her throw up.

“I’m numb. It’s November and I am facing Thanksgiving and Christmas and my heart is so broken, I can still barely get through each day. I don’t care if I ever see a Christmas tree, a Santa costume or a Christmas card again. Thanksgiving? Forget it! What do I have to be thankful for? I lost my husband, my kids are acting out, I can barely make ends meet and if it weren’t for my parents, well, I don’t know what I would have done.” Holly’s lovely face seemed to have aged in the last year. She continued.

“I look in the mirror and frankly, I don’t know who I am anymore. It’s as if the day I saw those two marines come up my walkway the woman I was somehow vanished.” Holly doesn’t even seem to notice as the tears stream down her face. “I feel like an empty shell. I still can’t sleep. I barely function at my job, I snap at the boys. When does this get better!” she demanded.

“The truth is,” I told her, “it just doesn’t get better for a while. Grieving is the hardest work you will ever do. Parenting while grieving taxes you to the max. The first holiday season after a death is horrible. The barrage of ‘festivities’ only seems to magnify the pain of your loss. If it were just you, if you only had to take care of yourself, it would be hard enough, but your boys will want to have some elements of Christmas.”

“When Jim was deployed to Afghanistan, I always knew that he could die. I did. I told myself that I could be a brave Marine wife but when it actually happened I –I—I’m not so brave. I feel like all I want to do is curl up in bed and tell the world to leave me alone!”

I took a deep breath and responded. “And yet, the demands of being a Mom pull you out of bed each morning. Even though you are probably mechanically getting the boys ready for school, doing lunches, chauffeuring them back and forth, at least you are still that constant in their life. Have they talked with you about any of their fears? When children lose a parent, they are often secretly terrified that the remaining parent will also die. What have they said?”

Holly is now quietly weeping. She takes a deep breath. “Mickey is six and he acts the tough guy. Little Jake is four and he seems to whine all the time. When I put the boys to bed, -- I still do that even when I don’t feel like it – sometimes the three of us just talk about Jim and what we miss and then we all cry. Sometimes the boys cry ‘til they fall asleep. This isn’t living. I don’t feel like I’m being a good mom. I feel like we are all drowning and no day is a good day. Christmas? I would just like to not have to deal with it! What am I supposed to say in a Christmas card? ‘My husband died and my life sucks, love the Smiths’?”

“Holly, life is grim right now. But you are doing better than you think. The hard truth is that this first Christmas without your husband will be the hardest one. Future ones will also be tough but each year will be a bit better. Grief is healed by degrees, moment to moment, each moment, each day becoming a little bit better than yesterday. To get you through the coming two months of holidays, let’s develop a plan and that plan has to include asking your friends and family to help you.”

“When Jim died, I stopped being a military wife. I didn’t just lose my husband I lost my entire military support system and my military identity. The wives were always ‘there’ for each other. The wives helped me in those early days, but now that I have moved back home, I don’t have that kind of connection. No one here knows what this is like - no one knows me. I –I feel so –so alone with this darkness.”

“You may feel alone with the unrelenting intimacy of grief, but you are not alone in the world. You do have your parents, your extended family, and I bet they want to help. But you find that they are tip-toeing around your feelings and avoiding you – right?”

“Yes, and it’s so awkward. I just cocoon myself.”

“Holly, you can’t heal ‘til you come out of that cocoon, and your boys can’t hope to feel like they can even smile again until you literally give them permission to find something to smile about. Grieving takes courage, courage no one can understand until they walk this lonely path. Give your sons and yourself permission to be happy about something each day. Even though you can’t even imagine being happy again. Allow little upbeat moments to seep into your day. Force yourself to smile at your sons. They need to see this in you. Smile at something your boys say or do. They need your love in an ‘emotionally present’ way.”

“I know I’m not ‘emotionally present’. I love them so much and watching them grieve magnifies my pain!”

I urged her to focus on what she could practically do at this point. “If you decide to do anything for the holidays it will help your boys. I bet you are doing Thanksgiving with your parents.”

“Yes. Mom is having a few friends over who know about our situation.”

“Good. This gets you out and participating in a nice dinner and it gives your boys something to anticipate. Now lets focus on managing the holidays in a way that you can actually face.”

Shaking her head. “I can’t face much. . . .”

“Ask some of the Moms to invite your boys over to make cookies. Tell them what happened. Ask them to help you. You can do this. Your boys need to know that they can start participating with school friends and building relationships. Then ask your parents to help you to do the tree. Have each boy go with your parents separately so that they can do their shopping for you and for each other. Go shopping with your boys for the grandparents. Get your mom to help you with all of this if she is willing.”

Holly sighs, a long sad sigh. “Yes, my mom is great. She keeps offering to help. You’re telling me to let her. I guess I don’t know how to be a normal mom again. Tears begin to fall again. “Is it OK to still cry sometimes?”

“Holly, it is absolutely OK to cry whenever you want! However, at some point, you have to give yourself permission to begin to heal a little tiny bit each day. If you have to force yourself to smile at your boys, then do that. This will help all of you heal. Allow Christmas to seep into your world. You don’t have to go all out. Do the bare minimum and let that be enough. Remember, you are that beautiful flower chilled by the cold of death but stubbornly refusing to stop growing, blooming and showering the world with your light and your goodness. Remember, that at the end of the day, you are still a wonderful person, a terrific mom and a great friend. Be a friend to yourself and focus on finding ways to be happy a bit more each day. I know you can do this.”

Holly took a long, deep breath. “Yes I can. I know my boys need me and more than that, I need them. I guess I just needed a reality check.”

“Perhaps, but more than that, you need to be kind to yourself. Grieving is such hard work, and yet, you grow from the experience. Always remember your goodness. The challenge is to be patient with yourself and at the same time to begin to nudge yourself out of your darkness. When we talk next time, I will want you to tell me about the little moments that you are taking pleasure in with your sons. Whether or not you can see it, you are healing. It is time to start anticipating genuinely enjoying your life again (watches Holly shake her head) and no, it isn’t going to be today, or next week, but that day is coming. All I’m doing is helping you to open the door to living a wonderful life again. You can do it.”

Karmic Concept: When you are working through your grief process remember to ask for help from family, friends and co-workers. Look forward to each day and the potential of something positive happening. You can do it!

To learn more about healing grief, please check out The Lightworker’s Guide to Healing Grief: http://www.amazon.com/Lightworkers-Guide-Healing-Grief/dp/0876045875/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319578747&sr=1-1by

The Mind as Essence

The following quote is from a book that my brother Paul Debs told me about. This book  [which is available from Amazon.com], written by Charles L. Denhaene is titled: 

How To Become Happy By Eternal Knowledge. 

It was written in 1928 and feels so antiquated that it almost seems like 'olde' English. However, the content is amazing in its simple message: You can use your mind to heal your body. Paul has told me that this method, if followed sincerely, diligently and with a pure heart and a love for your own body can be exceptionally effective. So, I am offering some of the essential quotes from the book.

"The mind is essence and finds it strength in essence. When it is well guided and properly directed, it goes forth and seeks in various plants the essences it needs to kill in our bodies the bad germs of disease and drives out the deadly poisons.

If a person feels a pain somewhere and if that person thinks immediately in the spirit, [if the person] passes the hand very slowly over the painful spot, repeating very rapidly: 'Go away, I will have you no more, the pain stops at once, and if you persevere, it will disappear completely in the end.'

'God has created the plants to cure me; my mind will seek the essences and I shall be cured.' (One must especially repeat: I shall be cured.)

The mind knows them [the essences] very well and can even repair the tissues which do not work well in our body with the help of the nerves and the blood.

So each night, when you have gone to bed, say well to yourself: "By the essence, all goes better and better" Repeat as often as you can, as if you were reciting your rosary, in a low voice, just loud enough for your mind to hear.  .   and whatever ill you may have will be forced to leave."

In these times, we need every tool in our arsenal to care for our bodies. This simple process holds the potential to literally send our subconscious out to find the exact flower or plant essence to heal whatever is hurting in our body or whatever our body needs and that could include help in getting to or staying asleep! It costs nothing and is worth a try. Thanks Paul!

The Three Sources of Life Chi

Client: “I am trying to understand how chi works. I know that chi is energy, but is it more than that and can I enhance it?”

Tina: “Chi is energy, power, sickness, health, happiness and pain.”

Client: “OK, I find that a bit overwhelming, perhaps I should focus on something manageable. What kind of chi affects the human body?”

Tina: “Chi is life itself and it is more than this. There are primarily three kinds of chi that affect the human body. The first one is a familiar one. Literally, you are what you eat. ”

Client: “So we get chi from food.”

Tina: “Yes. So to be specific, the more the food that you eat is bursting with life force, or chi, the more chi you will have in your body.”

Client: “Oh, so this is why there is so much talk about ‘processed food: it has less life force.”

Tina: “Less life force. I would say that most processed food, is so processed that it is unrecognizable as to what it originally started out as and in some cases has absolutely no life force. The less adulterated your food, the more life force. Chicken does not have fingers and the sheer volume of ingredients makes you wonder just exactly what is in a nugget, bite or finger of that type of non-existent chicken.”

Client: “I remember reading about a fast food hamburger that would not ever rot if left unrefrigerated on a counter. I guess there is no life force in that supposed piece of food.”

Tina: “Exactly. Food, in its most basic form, fresh from the farm or fresh/flash frozen is going to have the highest life force. Food that rots is full of life force. When it rots, that life force is leaving the food. Simple food is always your best bet and that will not have any extra sugars or fats.”

Client: “Alright, so chi comes from the food you eat. Where else does the chi come from that helps your body?”

Tina: “We all have something called ancestral chi. Ever wonder about the phrase you heard your parents use that noted that someone came from ‘good stock’? ”

Client: “Yeah, always sounded like we were being compared to live stock in a meat yard.”

Tina: “Well, basically, the stronger the gene pool throughout the generations, the stronger will be your ancestral chi. Look at the genes of your family. How long did your relatives live? One of the reasons for marrying someone and having children is to strengthen and extend the energy of a given gene pool.”

Client: “So if your personal gene pool is lousy, everyone dies at a young age, what can you do?”

Tina: “Well you can’t control that, but you can control the food you eat and your surroundings, which is the third source of chi.”

Client: “You mean that your home provides you with chi?”

Tina: “Yes it does. Think about it. If you enter a home that is immaculate, is well done, ie, well decorated, that makes you feel comfortable, and offers you a sense of peace and happiness, don’t you feel like that location is helping you when you are there?”

Client: “I guess so. That seems like common sense.”

Tina: “Well, we seem to have lost some of our most basic common sense in these times.”

Client: “So how a home is decorated makes a difference?”

Tina: “It isn’t just decoration, it is the overall look and feel of the home. Frankly, how do you feel when you are there? Is the location healing or harmful.”

Client: “So does clutter affect chi?”

Tina: “Heavens yes! Clutter takes up the space for chi to circulate. The more clutter you have, the less chi you will have. The less clutter, the better overall air circulation and the better you will feel.”

Client: “So a minimalist way is the best way. Nothing about to get in the way of chi - is that what you recommend?”

Tina: “Oh no, live, enjoy your home, but be aware of how it feels. Again, this is the point of Feng Shui. Balance your home using color, texture, placement, removing threatening things and things that creep you out. Over time, you will be able to walk into your home and feel an unmade bed because your home will feel so balanced. It’s wonderful!”

Client: “Sounds like a lot of work.”

Tina: “Not really. Once you elevate your home to that place of peace and happiness, there is a part of you that will always want to keep it that way and where something is out of balance, you will want to fix it because it will routinely bother you.”

Client: “Who knew just a discussion of chi could be so complicated?”

Tina: “This is the basic level. When you start studying chi on more esoteric levels, you come to learn that the more balanced your home, the more beautiful your surroundings the happier you will be emotionally. The happier you are emotionally, the less illness you will have. The healthier you are, the happier you are the closer you can feel to the Divine. Also, the better the chi in your home is, the healthier will your plants and animals be as well. It is all related. Even appliances in your home will need less repairs once the chi is raised.”

Client: “So, will doing all of this affect ancestral chi?”

Tina: “Absolutely. You come in with a set of genes or cards. Literally, life is how you play the hand that is dealt to you. If you take what you are given and then greatly enhance that chi, those genes, you will find that you are growing on profound levels and you may just change those genes for yourself and potentially future generations.”

Client: “But what if you didn’t grow up eating well, or in a nice place or really feeling healthy?”

Tina: “Change it! Who says that you have to accept what you are given? Be that maverick in the family and change you life by changing the chi in our life. It is a tremendous feeling!”

Client: “So chi can be life changing, life enhancing and life giving.”

Tina: “Exactly! Clean up! De-clutter! Put some art on the walls, play beautiful music, be happy. Imagine how happy the chi will be in your home and how healthy you, your plants and animals will all be!”

Halloween

The Goblins have come, as they do every year,

to fill all the children with excitement and fear.

The orangey pumpkins with gnarly faces,

are waiting for the moment to assume their places.

The kids have decided what they will and won’t be,

a flapper, a gangster, a kook from TV.

The trick or treat candy now sits in the basket

just waiting for someone to dare for to ask it.

The witches are watching from rooftops and trees

while trolls terrorize the insects and scare away the bees.

The Trick or Treat players have begun their patrol,

seeking candy and fun from around every knoll.

But there’s just no Halloween at sea I’m told,

just the wind and water and the ever present cold.

So think off us brightly on Halloween night

as we ward off the scary, the hairy, the fright.

We’ll think of you braving the dark anyway

with nothing to scare you but the lack of the day.

So wrap your Halloween in our love and light

and you won’t have trolls or scares or fright.

For Halloween time is about love after all

the love that comes from the feel of Fall.

That love that comes from the fun painted faces,

and the knowledge that we miss you in your far away places.

Halloween is an excerpt from the future book:

Poems from the Mariner's Wife by Tina Erwin

KS&L 364 Karmic Nobility

There is a questionable story that came out of the emotional rubble of the Japanese Tsunami of 2011. As the story goes, a young mother realized that she could not escape her home as the five-minute monster 9.0 quake shook her home to its very foundation. In desperation to save her three-month old son, she got down on all fours and placed the baby underneath her to protect him as her home collapsed on her body. Somehow she also managed to text him a message.

The story goes on to describe how rescuers found her body in the rubble, realized that she had perished and then quickly moved on to search other areas. However, the lead rescuer hesitated for some reason and had a nagging feeling that he should return to that particular house because this woman had been found in a rather odd body position. The others were in a hurry, but he urged them to return. As they pushed her lifeless form aside, there was her three-month old son sleeping safely underneath her. They quickly cleared the area to extricate him. It was at this time that they also found her cell phone and the message she had supposedly texted to him: if you survive this, remember that I love you.

As this story circulated throughout the internet, it was hard to read this account of love’s ultimate sacrifice without weeping. True or not, the sheer poignancy of this story moved many of us to almost instant tears. I admit it: I cried. Then I asked myself why I cried so readily. I pondered this throughout that day and the next. I shared the story with my husband and he instantly teared up [but then he has always been rather sentimental.] So I continued to ask myself what it was about this story that so moved me. Even after I discovered that the story might not be entirely true, I still found myself pondering my own reaction to it.

The answer that came to me repeatedly was quite simple really. It was the story’s elegant simplicity that so brightly stands out. There was a karmic nobility to this young mother’s actions. With each increasingly violent shaking, she had to know that she was dying, that her house would collapse around her, and yet she thought to try to save her son. In the face of the greatest challenge to her own survival, she set aside her own feelings, her sheer panic and thought of her son.

All of us want to know that our own mother loves us so much that she would sacrifice her life for us – willingly. The child in this story may have to grow up without her, but he will always know to the depth of his core, that she profoundly loved him.

But there is more to this [if it is true and I do not know if it is true], and that is why the rescuer returned to that house once he had determined that she had died. There was no logical reason for him to go back. Yet, he had a ‘nagging feeling’. What was that? Where did it come from? Was that feeling the mother, now a ghost, still watching over her son, even in death? Did she watch in horror as her son’s salvation moved away from her home? Was that ‘nagging feeling’ really the ghost mother screaming at the lead rescuer to return to the house? Could that be?

Perhaps my own tears were for that part of the story. Even in death, her loyalty, dedication and persistence prevailed. Literally, she was screaming at this man to save her son – and he did save the child. Perhaps only then could she find peace. Death does not stop the feelings of love that we carry within our souls for those we love. Nothing can change or alter those feelings. Life and death are only dimensions of reality: they do not define the limits of love.

This mom did not have the karma to have a whole life with her son this lifetime. However what she did have and what she did display were the finest elements of karmic nobility, the most golden elements of love that one human being, one immortal soul can have for another.

Book Excerpt: She Left the Light on For Me

The Following article is an excerpt from my new mini-ebook "His What is rising?" due out this fall.

Client: “I don’t believe in ghosts.”

Tina: “OK. No problem.”

Client: “I am a rocket scientist. I work for NASA and I want you to know that I really, really, don’t believe in ghosts. All that airy fairy stuff about spirits and haunted houses is just so much garbage in my opinion.”

Tina: “Sir, truly, I believe you. You don’t believe in ghosts. I get it. No problem. However, you called a psychic who removes ghosts, so are you sure you have the right number”?

Client: “Of course I have the right number! I’m talking to you about ghosts aren’t I?”

Tina: “Okay Mr. Rocket Scientist, I’m listening, so just why did you call me?”

Client: “My beautiful house in Ghent is haunted. I haven’t lived there very long but everyone tells me it is haunted.”

Tina: “Well, lots of houses in Norfolk are haunted, that’s nothing new. All of Virginia is haunted give or take a house here and there. What makes you think your house is haunted. And mind you, I know you don’t believe in hauntings, but something has unnerved you or obviously, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

Client: “I can’t seem to start any relationships. Every single time I bring a lady to my house, they get completely creeped out and leave immediately. Usually they aren’t in the house more than, a good five minutes.”

Tina: “Do they tell you why they are leaving so hurriedly? Surely they give you some explanation.”

Client: “One lady said that the house gave her the creeps. Another one said that she felt an angry presence near her. One lady I really like said that ‘someone blew cold air in her face’ and she literally ran out of the house.”

Tina: “Let me guess, you told her that there is no such thing as ghosts.”

Client: “Yes I did. She got mad at me, said she was not a liar and stormed out of my house.”

Tina: “Is that the only sign you have of a ghost; is there any other anecdotal evidence?”

Client: “No, there’s more. When I leave my house, I make sure that all the lights are off, especially the outside front porch light. Yet, every single night when I return that light is on. I know I didn’t turn it on. I even had an electrician look at the switch and the switch is fine. No one can explain why that light is always on when I return at night. I always turn it off, but the next night, it’s on again. Can you remove the ghost? Do you think I have a ghost?. . . .I can’t believe I’m even having this conversation.”

Tina: “I bet this is shaking all of your paradigms about life and death isn’t it.”

Client: “Shaking is an understatement. Will you help me?”

Tina: “Of course. I’ll get back to you.”

…. About a week later:

Tina: “Ah, Mr. Rocket Scientist, I am here to report that you did indeed have a very possessive, jealous female ghost. Neither you nor your lady guests are crazy.”

Client: “Who is it? How did she get here? Did you order her to leave at once!”

Tina: “Well, the problem is that she was in love with you and had been nuts about you since the moment you moved into your home. She has issues, issues that go back to the Civil War.”

Client: “You mean she’s been here since the 1860’s?”

Tina: “Yes, her name was Georgia and she was an old maid spinster who died as a result of the Civil War, lots of women starved to death or were brutalized by marauding, renegade soldiers from both sides. She, however, died in her forties of disease and this property was where her house stood. She has felt possessive of this land. She did not move into the light, or ‘cross-over’ because she felt cheated by mortal life and wanted to have more experiences. When you moved into the house, she literally fell in love with you and vowed that you would be hers and no one else’s!”

Client: “You mean she was trying to possess me?”

Tina: “She wanted a relationship with you and she did blow in the faces of your girlfriends and terrify them. She felt this was great ‘sport’ - how fast could she get each one to leave. She told me she turned on the light for you each night so you would somehow know that she was always there for you. Let me assure you, she wasn’t any too happy to see me when I came to remove her.”

Client: “Did you remove her?”

Tina: “Oh yes, she’s quite gone now. I moved her into the correct realm of the heaven world.”

Client: “I guess I realized that the ghost was gone, when the light wasn’t on for me the last couple of nights when I came home. The house felt oddly empty, like there had been a presence there and now it is gone.”

Tina: “You may want to invite your girlfriends back and tell them that you did believe them and you had her spiritually removed. They will appreciate your believing them and taking action.”

Client: “Thanks. Maybe I didn’t want to believe in ghosts. Maybe that shook my whole belief structure. I’m not sure how I feel but I am grateful to you for helping me, or, her or the situation.”

Tina: “You’re welcome. Always remember that there is no such thing as no such thing. Energy is neither created nor destroyed, so the energy of the animation of the human body has to go somewhere at death and that somewhere is into another dimension as a ghost. When a soul is assisted in crossing over into the 5^th dimension, then they are no longer a ghost and their process of soul evolution and reincarnation, can reasonably continue.”

Book Excerpt: The Dangerous Resonance of Pink

The following is an excerpt from my new ebook:

The Lightworkers Guide to Everyday Karma [2011]

[available everywhere eBooks are sold!]

The Dangerous Resonance of Pink

Resonance is a critically important metaphysical concept to understand. Everything has a frequency. Resonance is the concept that you resonate, or are in harmony with something, someone, some place or with some concept that is the same frequency as yours, or is close to that frequency.

When you resonate with something, you take on those characteristics because you agree with what it is saying. So, it is exceptionally important to pay attention to all those things in which you are in resonance.

You have to consciously decide, and choose with what you will be in resonance. However, what if you are not aware that somehow you are becoming in resonance with a concept that could be exceptionally harmful to you? Could this happen? Is it possible?

It is possible and it is happening right before your eyes. Women today are being made to believe on an exceptionally subtle level that they will inevitably get breast cancer. At some point, there is a subtle pressure to believe that no matter what you do, this terrible thing is going to happen to you. Some women are so afraid of this that they are going ahead and having whole body parts removed in advance. They are allowing themselves to be mutilated to preclude breast cancer. American women are becoming completely in resonance with breast cancer.

How is this resonance being perpetrated? Pink! Wear pink for the Cure! There is Breast Cancer Awareness Week, Month, Year, Day, Sale, Offer, and on and on. At first it started out with pink bracelets, and then pink ribbons. Now everywhere you look, you see this toxic manipulation of your psyche through the most astounding things such as selling pink kitchen appliances, pink computer/phone technologies, Fight For the Cure jewelry - which you wear in the vicinity of your breasts - of course.

There are also marathons. “Race for the Cure!!!” they say. Imagine hundreds of women running a marathon, all in resonance with each other and all thinking about breast cancer. All mistakenly thinking their running is going to somehow stop what they now believe in the recesses of their minds is inevitable: breast cancer.

Some soup now comes in cans with pink labels, so eat the soup and think of breast cancer.

Carpet companies give discounts if you buy ‘pink flooring’ and they will donate to ‘the cure for breast cancer.’

One bakery in Virginia even sells bagels in the breast cancer ribbon shape and wraps them in pink paper.

And the absolute worst pink product: breast cancer awareness underwear in pink bras and panties. Think about it. You are being asked to wear the representation of breast cancer directly on your very breasts. So even as you get dressed, you are putting on a pink bra that will cradle the very breasts that just may have to be removed.

That is a lot of fear. That is a tremendous number of women to place in fear and to place this fear in front of them day after day, week after week, and year after year. The drug companies are literally creating the very market they are telling people they want to eliminate - breast cancer patients. But breast cancer is very, very big business. Breast cancer advertising is an even bigger business on very subtle levels.

Over the past seventy years, billions of dollars have been donated to find a cure. Where is this money from all of these fund raising activities actually going? Where is the cure for cancer?

This resonance issue goes a step further. Not only are you being made to be afraid of your very bodies, you are being made to believe that fighting your body will somehow keep you safe.

There are now millions of extremely sincere, conscientious women, in resonance with each other, wearing an insipid shade of pink thinking that they are standing side by side with other women of like mind who want to find a cure for a disease they do not even have but believe that they will probably, eventually get. There is no logic here, only exceptionally brilliant advertising. You surely don’t see men wearing shiny brown ribbons to fight prostate or testicular cancer. You absolutely don’t see men having their prostates removed or testicles lopped off - just in case. No man in his right mind would do such an illogical thing.

These resonance issues also apply to women who have already had breast cancer. By keeping them in resonance with breast cancer, they stay labeled ‘breast cancer survivors’ forever. When do they heal? When is it over? When do the support groups end?

People who wear these bracelets and pins think they are being supportive, but potentially, they could be harming themselves.

So, what can you do to change your resonance? Look forward to karmic opportunities to keep yourself happy, healthy and potentially forever cancer free. The time has come to shift your resonance to being with people who are happy, healthy and who are enjoying the life and the body they have. Now is the time to become in resonance with a whole new wonderful reality and enjoy a healthy life for the rest of your life.