In November 1994 newspapers carried a report about an Iraqi terrorist called Khay Rahnajet, who didn’t pay enough postage on a letter bomb he had made. It came back with ‘Return to Sender’ stamped on it. Forgetting it was the bomb, he opened it and was instantly killed.

To many folk, this is a classic example of karma. We pay for our bad deeds; we are blown up by bombs of our own making.

There is no need of human intervention, no need of judgement or a court; nature somehow ensures that we get what we deserve.

We each post letters to ourselves, both good and bad. They bounce around the universe and somehow end up back on our own doorstep.

Karma is an eastern word that has now entered the western lexicon. It is a vast, subtle and all-encompassing concept. It affects us all; it is one of the prime influences on our life’s journey. Most people are familiar with the idea yet, paradoxically, few understand it.

But in a sense this is true of many areas of human understanding. We in fact know very little, despite our certainties and our intellectual bravado. We have taken but a spoonful from a vast mountain of knowledge. Fortunately our understanding of the natural world is increasing all the time. It seems to come to us in fits and starts. The graph of knowledge versus time appears to be a series of irregular steps rather than a smooth upward curve. A new idea is born, followed by a period of reflection, confirmation and assimilation. Each step is constructed from small mosaics, discrete bits of information that combine to form a whole. As each piece is added a larger picture begins to emerge.

An example of this is what quantum scientists call ‘The Standard Model.’ It is a hypothesis, an abstract theory which describes the way elementary particles behave and how the fundamental forces of nature affect those particles. The standard model is not yet fully proven, but slowly, over decades, it is being verified one step at a time, using mathematics and experimentation.

It has intrigued physicists for over a century, and at the time of writing they are searching for a particle known as the Higgs Boson, which will provide one of the final and most significant pieces of the picture. The Standard Model will no longer be a theory; it will be a truth.

This seems to be how science works. This is how knowledge evolves. A new idea, a flash of imagination somewhere deep inside a scientist’s brain, opens the door to a new way of looking at the natural world. Other scientists learn about it, they discuss it and eventually somebody sets about verifying it. The verification process takes place in steps. A picture begins to take shape over years, decades, even centuries, as scientists fill in the remaining gaps.

Another example of this step-by-step approach is the periodic table, which lists in rows and columns all of the chemical elements. It was first proposed by George Mendeleev in 1867, though his table had more gaps in it than elements. But it proved to be an accurate predictor of what might later be found.

Chemists looked at the patterns and were able to deduce the existence of elements long before they were actually discovered.

Over many decades experiments confirmed their reality, and so the hypothesis was confirmed.

Few theories arrive fully-formed and open to complete verification.

Science seems to be a sort of cosmic paint-by-numbers game; the more we work at it the clearer the overall picture becomes. We start with a belief, develop a theory and then gradually fill in the blanks. On the way to completion our confidence in the truth of the theory increases, step by step.

Is there such a thing as a Standard Model for the spiritual side of life, of karma, of what some call the perennial philosophy? We have lots of disparate beliefs – which often seem at odds with each other – but is there a model that we can, step-by-step, verify and confirm, so that even though the verification will remain incomplete we can refer to it with ever increasing confidence?

If there is a standard model perhaps it would read something like this: We each find ourselves here on earth, vulnerable and maybe a little perplexed, and conscious of the short and brutish nature of life. We struggle for our allotted three score years and ten and then we die. But a part of us continues. We find ourselves in a different realm, a realm where thoughts predominate. The life we have just left and the way we lived it affects the situation in which we now find ourselves, a heaven or a hell that we have created for ourselves. We soon discover that the nature of this new existence is determined by the quality of our thoughts: if we are full of love then that is what we experience but if we give out hate then nature gives us that experience too.

We eventually return to this world in another body, with our circumstances largely determined by our desires, our thoughts, our karma. Gradually, over many such lifetimes, we begin to realise that there is a developmental process going on. We become slightly wiser with each lifetime and begin to recognise patterns. Our compassion grows and our values develop. We see that we are in a sort of cosmic game of snakes and ladders where we can, through our own behaviour and choices, make progress towards happiness and fulfilment. But we can also make mistakes and slide back to a lower level.

Over dozens, maybe hundreds, of these learning experiences that we call life we develop higher values and a greater understanding.

Eventually we become what some call ‘enlightened’ and we can, so the theory goes, choose to leave this earthly coil and pursue our spiritual growth in a different way, a way that may be beyond our current vision.

This is not a standard model that everyone would agree with, though it would in fact find a lot of common ground with Vedanta and Theosophy, and with eastern religions such as Hinduism, Taoism and Buddhism.

There are numerous belief systems in the world, but that is all they are, beliefs, dogma. Belief may be defined as the act of holding something to be true despite an absence of evidence. It can be a starting point for a theory, but it must then move on to something more tangible if it is to have value as knowledge. If a belief does not lead to investigation and evidence-seeking it eventually stagnates, a process that prevents debate and dampens curiosity. It only has value as an emotional comforter.

This can breed the arrogant certainty of dogmatism which, as history tells us, can so easily lead to tragedy on a massive scale.

The seeker of knowledge is one who attempts to go beyond belief, beyond dogma, towards understanding, verification and ultimately truth.

So can this standard model of spirituality lend itself to investigation?

Can these beliefs be verified, and so become a body of knowledge that we can have confidence in. Can we fill in some of the blank spaces in our standard model, so that we can be sure that we are travelling in the right direction?

So many spiritual books simply state beliefs as if they are facts, whereas upon investigation they prove to only have the veracity of speculation or wishful thinking. They are like poetry: enjoyable and perhaps comforting to read but in fact only able to offer a temporary solace. The shelves in many bookshops are laden with volumes about spiritual issues, some of them sensible, some of them strange and some of them quite bizarre. When I read any of these books I often ask myself: how does the author know this? Why does he or she expect me to accept this point of view? Where does this certainty come from? Such books will assert that there is a life after death, that there is a phenomenon known as karma, and we will be asked to take the author’s word for it. No proof is offered. Thus these concepts remain beliefs and do not mature into knowledge.

This is not enough for many of us. We are not innocent villagers in a primitive society, easily won over by the enthusiastic rantings of a witchdoctor. We need an informed viewpoint, one in which we can trust. If we are to value spiritual ideas we must have confidence that they are sensible and honest. We each have doubts and scepticism, so why should we accept an idea if we are not offered evidence to support it?

We have largely left behind the age of superstition and ignorance. We see the shortcomings of ideas that rely on blind faith, dogma or fear. We look instead for concepts that are tangible, that can be verified empirically, that have some basis in reason and logic.

And sometimes we find those ideas.

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This article was contributed by David Lacey, author of Karma of Everyday Life, The – A logical exploration of the law of karma. Paperback: 978-1-78099-874-9 | $16.95 | £9.99 | 8.5×5.5 inches | 216×140 mm | 156PP eBook: 978-1-78099-873-2 | $9.99 | £6.99. Published by Iff Books

There are many interpretations of Kabbalah that have developed over time. At The
Kabbalah Centre, we teach Kabbalahas a universal wisdom that predates the Bible or
religion, and can be studied by anyone regardless of his or her faith or path. We
present the wisdom from a lineage of great kabbalists, and the course of study
explains the physical and spiritual laws of the universe, describing the origin of
Creation, the role of humanity, and the journey of the soul.

2. What is the mission of the Kabbalah Centre?

The Kabbalah Centre seeks to provide a platform to help students improve their
lives. To accomplish this, Kabbalah Centre teachers provide spiritual tools and
kabbalistic principles that students can use in order to make better decisions to
benefit themselves and the world. We believe that the path of Kabbalah consists of
not only of studying of wisdom but also of actually applying that wisdom to everyday
situations for the purpose of positive transformation. This is what makes us practical. Kabbalah is not an intellectual pursuit, but rather learning for betterment.

3. How can people better detect past life lessons and use them to better themselves in the future?

The work we are meant to do this “go around” can be found in our challenges and in those things we avoid or run away from. For me, for example, the most difficult lesson to learn was how to be alone. When my husband, teacher, friend,and partner in this spiritual work had a stroke, I was left by myself in many ways to continue everything we had started together. Though this was an extremely difficult situation at the time, it was through this challenge that I uncovered a great gift: a deeper understanding of my work and life. 10, 20, or even 30 years ago, I would have thought that my purpose was something completely different than how I see it today. The point is we just never know what the Creator has in store for us: no matter what happens, no matter how hard life seems, our challenges only (exist) to bring us to become our best selves.

4. What is the role of soul mates in our lives? How can we be sure we’re with the right person?

In Kabbalah, we learn and teach that one of the most difficult things for the Creator is to bring two souls together. There are several reasons for this (which we elaborate on in many of our sources).  To start, let me explain that before the Creation of this world, human souls were one. Thereafter, the souls split, each one into two parts, that come into physical bodies seeking to reunite the other half.

Most of the time, this process of reunification is not an easy one, because there is a spiritual law in the universe that in order to have lasting fulfillment and light, we need to earn it. Soul mate relationships are earned through profound spiritual work that results in an elevated consciousness. For this reason we call it a “soul mate” not “body mate.” In order to merit this connection, we need to do our spiritual work of becoming more sharing, less reactive, tolerant, loving beings.

It is written that only one soul out of a thousand can earn its true soul mate. So what does that mean for the other 999? Well, essentially, the Creator sends us the perfect mate for where we are in our life right now–the person who will help us to grow and reach our next level on the journey of becoming our best self. If there is growth, struggle, and healthy challenges that support both partners to become better, more caring, and more conscious people, then it is a good relationship. However, if there is no growth, or if two people are together but continually bring each other down, then perhaps it might be useful for them to redefine the boundaries of their connection.

5. In TO BE CONTINUED, you explain that it may be possible to connect with our loved ones who have passed away, but urge others not to because it may interfere with what the souls are doing in their current incarnations. Could you discuss this further?

As we know, souls reincarnate. Therefore, sometimes, if we are trying to connect to loved ones who have passed-be it a mother, child or friend– we may be interfering with that soul’s current incarnation. In other words, we could try to contact a grandmother and not know that the grandmother has actually reincarnated as our daughter or niece. For this reason, it is usually best to pray for the elevation of the souls of our loved ones and send to them Light and love, but not necessarily to try to create contact with them through some sort of medium (though it is possible to do so).

This post was contributed by O-Books.

Rooted in positive psychology, focusing on cardiac prevention and recovery, Dr. Austen Hayes’s The Good Heart: 101 Ways to Live a Positively Long, Happy Life helps readers replace depression, stress and anger with self-confidence, generosity and optimism. The book, with its 101 one- to two-page tips, written in easy-to-understand language by a well-respected expert in her field, targets the 80 million people in this country and millions more throughout the world who suffer from some form of diagnosed cardiovascular disease, as well as the 77 million Baby Boomers dedicated to disease prevention.

Dr. Hayes’s formula for providing succinct, up-to-date research-based tips helps readers quickly absorb information on how to behave, feel and think, approaching heart health in a new way—emphasizing more than exercise and diet—with changed attitude as the key to prevention and recovery. Combining information gathered from 30 years experience in cardiac psychology, hundreds of cardiac studies, and the most recent findings of both cognitive and positive-psychology literature, The Good Heart will change readers’ lives.

Here are 5 randomly selected tips.

1. At least two to three times each week someone tells me how much happier he or she would be if so and so would behave differently. This is usually accompanied with a vague, Of course, I know it’s not all him or her, but … Then the patient continues telling me how someone else’s way of behaving is interfering with his or her ability to have a positive outlook.

It’s not the way others behave, it’s the way you think. If you make other people responsible for your happiness, your reactions will be unruly.
- Your mate doesn’t take out the garbage. You’re unhappy.
- Your best friend is late again and you’ve waiting in the coffee shop for 10 extra minutes. You’re frustrated.
- Your co-worker didn’t respond to the message you sent yesterday. You’re insulted.
- You start thinking how inconsiderate everyone is, how completely undependable. They’re ruining your life and your mood.

Was it the trash, the 10 minutes, the delayed reply or was it that you turned these events into something intolerable, something more important than they should be?

Your thoughts, your mood. Yours, not theirs.

2. The angrier you are, the greater the likelihood you’ll develop heart disease. If you’ve already been diagnosed with cardiac illness, your anger may contribute to a first or second cardiac event. If you’re young and you’re angry, you may develop heart disease earlier in life than the average person your age. A recently published Harvard University study associated hostility with “poorer lung function and rapid rates of decline among older men.”

Know yourself. What are the triggers that most frequently lead to feelings of anger? Try to avoid waiting until you’re facing the things that most often lead to anger. Think ahead. Practice and rehearse before you reach your melting point. How will you respond to what bothers you most? For example, say to yourself, I expect that when I get stuck in traffic I’ll feel agitated and annoyed. But today I plan to handle this differently. Whether or not another driver does something that I don’t like, I don’t have to react. It’s foolish of me to expect that every driver on the road will navigate the same way—my way. There are many different models of cars and many different types of drivers.

Let me be the best driver I can be. My heart is too important.

3. There is growing acceptance in the medical community about the link between depression and heart disease. This isn’t a surprise to anyone who’s ever experienced a bout of depression. If you were to ask them where their sadness was felt, a hand held to the chest says it all.

Depression sends the body into a downward spiral with the same constriction of blood vessels, rise in blood pressure, increased levels of unhealthy fats in the bloodstream and turbulence within artery walls experienced by people who are hostile, anxious or fearful.

Personal habits begin to deteriorate as the depressed individual grows more withdrawn and less active. Memory fails, concentration and attention are poor, and a rational inner dialogue needed to lift the depressed individual up and out of despair disappears.

It’s time for action, not just thought. “There is support for a causal link between physical activity and reduced clinically defined depression” (Biddle et al., 2000). Is it possible to find a renewal of hope in a 10-minute walk? Absolutely.

If you’ve been diagnosed with heart disease while experiencing depression, the risk of a cardiac event, such as a heart attack, or need for life-saving procedure, such as angioplasty, is far more significant than with a diagnosis of heart disease alone. If you’re sad most of the time, if you cry easily or you’ve lost interest in activities that you once enjoyed, rather than thinking about how awful you feel, take action: let your primary care physician and cardiologist know what’s going on.

4. Is there room for gratitude if your heart is failing?

Maybe you don’t think so. You think you don’t deserve this fatigue, this breathlessness, this loss of interest in things you’ve always loved to do, this awareness of the limits of time. You’re sad.
Sometimes you’re angry.

No matter how bleak the day, gratitude has a way of shifting attention from what seems to be missing to what we’ve been given. In a grateful moment you see what you may otherwise ignore: the outstretched hand of a small child, the green of spring grass, a best friend’s smile, the stranger who went out of her way to show kindness.

When hope is dim, more than ever you need something to help you cope. Try gratitude. It may surprise you.

5. Placing complete trust in every person you meet might not be a good idea. But, if like many who eventually develop heart problems, your level of trust is so low it borders on cynicism, the very thing you do to avoid harm, may do harm.

If you regularly doubt the intentions of others, and even good deeds are met with suspicion—What does this person want from me?— being with people will be stressful. A doubting person is guarded, on alert, always assuming others will only do what’s best for them.

When this happens, stress hormones are released. Fear of harm will activate the fight or flight response, raising blood pressure and circulating cholesterol. The association between people and discomfort fosters more and more social avoidance and isolation.

Maybe there are thoughtless, insensitive people out there, but there are also caring and compassionate people. Tell yourself you won’t jump to conclusions. Look for the good in those you meet.

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Good Heart, The – 101 Ways to Live a Positively Long, Happy Life by Austen Hayes. Published by O Books.
Paperback 978-1-78099-525-0 | $14.95 | £9.99 | 109PP
eBook 978-1-78099-526-7 | $9.99 | £6.99

What is it that I hear in the hush of the night, through the owl’s cry, far beyond the roar of the aeroplane overhead, the traffic on the distant road? What is it speaking to me, calling to me?

What is it that I feel beneath my feet when they touch the dew of the grass in the early morning that meets my flesh with cool caress, and awakens remembrance of music, fragrance and rite long ago – when all things, as all movement were known to be one?

Who is it looking towards me through your eyes when words cease between us and an ancient yet timeless communication begins again, that takes up the thread of truth again where we left off, or forgot, or were sundered long ago? Whence the origin of this silent speech – and what is it saying?
Clare Cameron

These were the words of poignant invocation that opened an anthology by Clare Cameron, the sensitive, mystical poet, whose reflections form the substance of the book , Hidden Beauty of the Commonplace. They moved me deeply when I first read them many years ago and they touch my heart with their lyrical gentleness still – just as they always did. The anthology is long out-of-print, but I know more about it than anyone else, because as a young man I had conceived and compiled it out of an ardent admiration for Clare’s work.

The book, published in 1980, was entitled Mystic of Nature and it is an inspiring collection of essays by a remarkable writer, who was at the peak of her creative powers during the colourful but challenging decades of the 1960s and 1970s. Just as now, that time was a period of great social and political upheaval – a kind of crucible of change when our contemporary world with its high expectations and dangerous pace was beginning to take shape.

We are living in especially critical times yet again and nobody is immune from the challenging impacts of sweeping change in an era being rendered increasingly bleak and uncertain by austerity and danger. It is this fact that gives the present study of Clare’s life and spiritual teachings such immediacy and special relevance now – and invests it with enduring value. Because what the world needs above all in its continual travail is not judgement or condemnation but genuine compassion and understanding.

It is only words of conviction flowing from authentic wisdom that have real power of transformation – the capacity to clarify confusion and ease the great suffering to be seen all about us. And the writings of this sensitive and unassuming nature poet have this radiant quality in overflowing abundance.

Of a deeply mystical temperament, Clare may be regarded as having had in addition the gift of prophetic vision. No stranger to periods of instability and warfare during her long life, she foresaw with remarkable acuity in her later years the present era of great unrest, which has culminated in such a dangerous clash of cultures between East and West as we are currently experiencing.

Firstly there was the brutal Islamic jihad leading up to the merciless and unprecedented attack on the New York Trade Centre; then came the long drawn-out wars of attrition in Iraq and Afghanistan, followed by the turbulent Arab Spring of 2011, which has released the pent-up fury of aggression mixed with hope of freedom. Clare Cameron had clearly foreseen these grim events long before they came to pass. As far as she was concerned, the writing for humanity was plainly on the wall in all manner of respects, and she issued a series of sober warnings in the spiritual magazine she edited, together with sound advice about how best to cope in the difficult days and years ahead. It is certainly bad news, but strangely one does not feel totally discouraged because of Clare’s resolute and uplifting tone. Her words instil great hope and awaken a strong determination for one to help as best one can. It is a rousing call to arms – but not of the usual sort, for patience and non-violence are always the chosen ways forward for warriors of peace.

Using dramatic imagery, Clare Cameron writes of the battlefield and the armour of light as well as the day of reckoning as she refers to the strong tide of catastrophic events such as we are witnessing in our own era:

It is coming in with increasing rapidity, sweeping away all the debris on our shores, all our former concepts, ideas, beliefs, attachments and, if only we can understand the promise it holds, the habits perhaps of a lifetime.

We are being cleansed and purified as never before, that we may be more worthy channels for what lies ahead for us in service to others. And those of us who have the knowledge will be needed to help others understand when the waters go over their heads in days to come. We shall reach out hands to those who could so easily drown under the waves of fear, anxiety, depression, despair. Even we ourselves at the present time can sink into inertia, indifference and a feeling of helplessness – or ride the waves with courage and hope.

For there is no doubt that just as the whole world is changing, now that the old order of things is breaking down to release the beginnings of the new, so we ourselves are changing. We are obliged to recognise it.

There is no more security in any aspect of life, no more security in the familiar and comfortable – either physically, mentally, emotionally or in the kind of spirituality that has served us in the past. Under this tide of higher vibrations and cosmic energies, the ground is going under our feet. There are new shores ahead, but only this tide can carry us to them.
Clare Cameron

I never ceased to be amazed how Clare calmly made sense of the most troubling of world events in this incisive and matter-of-fact way. I sought glad refuge in the warmth of her unruffled serenity, for she was like the loving grandmother I never had – and she has been a cherished spiritual teacher for me too. When I compiled her anthology all those years ago on behalf of the publisher for whom I then worked, my life had already become deeply entwined with hers. But I did not realise then how potent and far-reaching her influence upon me would prove to be.

*****************************

This article was contributed by Philip Pegler.  Hidden Beauty of the Commonplace – A nature mystic’s reflections upon the true meaning of freedom, by Philip Pegler. Paperback 978-1-78099-337-9 | $26.95 | £15.99 | 8.5×5.5 inches | 216×140 mm | 324PP eBook 978-1-78099-338-6 | $9.99 | £6.99. Published by Changemakers Books, March 2013. O-books (www.o-books.net) helped contribute this post…

1.  What is your comedy show about?

My show is about inner freedom. How not to lose yourself in any life situation. But here’s a thing… How can you “lose yourself” if you do not actually know your real self? Quite a long time ago I started this exploration, and what luck, my search was miraculously boosted when I found out that I had a huge tumor in my belly and needed a serious operation. This situation taught me a lot about myself, my deepest fears, patterns of behavior as well as people around me. Especially my parents… I looked back to my past: to the most painful memories that I had been unconsciously carrying around all my life. It opened my eyes to games of my mind and our “normal” automatic way of life. And finally, after endless wandering, I came HOME. And it felt so good!

2.  Why did you create your comedy show and how can we watch it?

When I was going through that “surgical nightmare,” I was trying to be present, observing everything that was occurring around me. Realization of games of the mind gave me enormous power, courage and inspiration to open myself and share my experience that actually turned out to be not that personal at all!

I’m sure that everyone faces challenging situations and can connect to my story. Everybody shares the same patterns of thinking and emotions. We just have slightly different “personal” stories. But ultimately, we all want to be free.

Currently, the show is in post-production. It will be available in several months. I am soon going to announce the release date on the official website http://www.sogoodtobehome.tv and social accounts. I have decided to use the pay-what-you-want model as I want everybody to have a chance to see the show. Financial profit is certainly not the main priority of this project. Making the audience laugh and sharing what I have learned is. In addition, those who will subscribe to the show’s newsletter at http://www.sogoodtobehome.tv/subscribe/ will participate in a free online presreening with subsequent live discussion.

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3. What do you mean by the games of the mind and our “normal-automatic” way of life?

Oh, our mind is a real joker, and if we believe everything it tells us, we are in big trouble. It is like 24/7 3D film production in our heads. We usually do not recognize it and get totally absorbed into this dream world. Consequently, we act mechanically and not according to the situation. This has been a “normal” state of consciousness for a long time which makes it harder to see its abnormality.

4. What were your deepest fears and most painful memories?

Well, I faced the fear of death, to begin with. You see, in that vulnerable and sensitive state many subconscious anxieties emerged to the surface. Those were multiple complexes developed in my childhood, many of which had been reinforced by my parents. I suddenly encountered them all again and recognized their influence on my further life. For example, I had extremely low self-esteem connected with how I looked that later led to a shopping phobia. Or my feeling of loneliness, not only because my family rarely let someone become my friend, but also because they didn’t really understand me.

5.  How did this experience help you understand your real self and real home?

I learned to see things directly as they are without my usual distorted and limited perception. And it turned out that my home was closer than I THOUGHT! J Everybody has this home inside. We just need to remember the walkway to it.

6.  Any closing remarks?

Life is too short for tragedies. It’s time to have some fun! Join me for a cup of tea!

Most of us think of caring for ourselves as an extra-curricular activity. Something we squeeze into our lives at the end of the day. Or when everyone else in the family is taken care of. Or when we’re sick.

If I’ve learned anything at all about the subject as it relates to me personally and professionally it would be this: Supporting ourselves with daily doses of self-care is not optional. Without it, clearing the stress and stuff in our life becomes a tedious chore, and a big reason why most clutter clearing efforts do not last.

Self-care is not just something you do when you’re on vacation, or your circuits are fried, or you need a special treat after a long hard day at work. Self-care is something you cultivate and practice every day because it is as essential to the body and spirit as eating, or breathing.

Plus, why the heck not include it. It feels really good! The self-care model works because it is body-centered, and immediate. It softens and quiets the nonstop chatter of the critical mind. “I’m overwhelmed by stuff,” “This house is a disaster,” “If I slow down how will I get anything done?” for example, is unhinged in the presence of pure ease.

Self-care is something that you do because it supports your intentions and ongoing practice in letting go. Here are ten ways you can cultivate it (in no particular order):

1. Do at least one thing that makes your heart sing (read: love madly, adore) every day.
2. Listen to one fabulous song that is guaranteed to lift your spirits.
3. Light a candle and set an intention.
4. Take a “salt and soda” bath or shower (equal parts of coarse sea salt and Arm and Hammer baking soda).
5. Clap, dance, rattle, sing––anything to get the energy moving and awaken the senses.
6. Repeat the phrase “I choose ease,” every time you think of it and notice how your body responds.
7. Remove the word “should” from your vocabulary. Replace it with the word “could.”
8. Talk to or spend time with someone who is cheerful, optimistic, and supportive.
9. Avoid negative or sensational media and notice what it feels like after one week of “news fasting.”
10. Read or watch something every day that makes you laugh out loud.

Try each item on the list for a period of ten days. Or better yet, practice one every day for ten weeks. Notice how you feel after a while: Do you feel lighter? Calmer? More energized? Is it easier to clear out a closet or a drawer?

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• What helps you feel better fast?
• In what ways do you nourish yourself?
• What is one thing you can do this week that honors and supports YOU?The bottom line: Self-care is about lightening up and having fun! If you’re not having fun you’re not clearing!

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Stephanie Bennett Vogt is New England’s leading space clearing expert and the author of Your Spacious Self: Clear The Clutter and Discover Who You Are. She brings over 35 years of experience to SpaceClear, a teaching and consulting practice she founded in 1996 to help homes and their occupants come into balance. Stephanie shares her unique perspectives on simplifying, personal reinvention, and letting go as a course contributor for DailyOM and a columnist for the Huffington Post. Learn more: http://www.spaceclear.com.

This article is a guest post written by Adele Vincent, author of A Circle of Light: Transform Grief into a Unique Opportunity for Guidance.

The Ultimate Transformation

People enjoy speaking about transformations in their lives. We all like to take on a new challenge, where we can grow and excel. That’s why we strive for job promotions, higher education or a more fulfilling relationship. We are comfortable talking about our personal journey, traveling, dating and career plans. Yet, we avoid discussing the bigger picture and the ultimate taboo, death.

Why is this?

Partly cultural, partly psychological our fear is deep rooted. Fear itself is a complex emotion. While it’s natural to be afraid of death, most of us have a morbid fear of the subject. A very wise man once said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

How we approach the subject of death directly determines our spiritual gains. We can view it as an ‘end’ or we can view it as a new beginning. The choice is ours.

Rethinking Death

People tend to think of death and grief as a linear finite process. However, they fail to comprehend the cyclic nature of energy. In physics energy can neither be created nor destroyed. In other words, energy is in perpetual motion.  It forever changes forms. If we apply this principal to our physical existence, a new pattern of thinking emerges. Death isn’t the end; it is simply a change in form. The word, “transform” or “transformation” means to change shape. The actual Latin root of the word is closer to “across, beyond, through” which links back to the idea of “the other side” or life after death.

If we think of death as a spiritual transformation, it becomes a unique opportunity to change for our betterment. This is also true of loss. When we lose a loved one, the experience can refocus us on what’s truly important in our lives. It is possible to turn grief into guidance.

Changing Attitudes

In her newly published book, Adele Vincent argues that while the death of a loved one may seem like an insurmountable loss, it represents a unique opportunity to grow. Here, she describes her experience and the premise behind her book.

“It took me a long time to realize I could do something with the grief I felt for my mother. This was nothing short of an epiphany. I carried around this terrible burden. I liken it to a very large suitcase without wheels. Wherever I went I lugged invisible ‘emotional baggage.’ Friends and family couldn’t see I was weighed down by emotions, but I think somehow they sensed I was suffering. I wasn’t myself. It never occurred to me that the suitcase was useful. If I had paid more attention, I would have realized I was being prepared for a journey. Everything I needed was in the contents of the suitcase. Each of us has an invisible suitcase we carry around with us. At times, its presence is barely noticeable. Other times we feel its weight more acutely. It becomes a burden which we find ourselves constantly thinking about.

 What’s Inside Your Suitcase?

• Emotions

• Memories

• Unresolved conflict

• Insecurity

While much of this content may seem negative at first glance, the issues represent golden opportunities for healing and growth. Insecurity and unresolved conflict are the pillars of grief. They often keep us from moving on from the loss of a loved one. We find ourselves consumed by feelings of guilt, remorse, anger or hopelessness. Because we can no longer engage in physical discourse with our loved one, we feel their absence all the more.

I often hear people express a simple desire to speak again with a loved one. ‘If only I could tell them how I really feel’ is a common refrain in many of my discussions. I usually reply, ‘You can! I did and you can too.’ What if I told you your loved one was patiently waiting for you to contact them with the help of angels (higher spirits)? There is nothing stopping you from making contact, except you of course!

Sometimes we are our own worst enemy. Disbelief is the skeptic’s crutch. People forget that skepticism means to question, not to refute information! I think of myself as a reformed skeptic. I regularly question the information I encounter, but I make a point of researching any questions I have, before making a decision to accept the information as true or false. So feel free to question the information you encounter in this book, but make an effort to be open and complete the 11 steps of your personal journey.”

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Adele Vincent, author of A Circle of Light: Transform Grief Into A Unique Opportunity for Guidance is a freelance writer, editor and writing coach. She regularly holds women’s workshops in London. Please visit her website for more information about upcoming events and her book: http://www.adelevincentbooks.com/.

This post is an excerpt from One Year Lived written by Adam Shepard.

Americans—young Americans, especially—need to experience the world more. A mere 35 percent of Americans have a passport, and New Passports Issued is down one-third from five years ago. Even my Stateside friends who do have passports either used them just once for a specific trip or on weeklong, all-inclusive package deals to France or Italy or Caribbean beaches.

Worse, Foreign Policy magazine recently reported that almost one in three American teenagers doesn’t pay any attention to daily news. “Another 32 percent are merely ‘casually attentive,’” they write. Combined, that translates to over 60 percent of America’s youth who are unaware of or apathetic about world events.

On the last leg of my trip, I considered the shame of this during a day trip to Auschwitz. I had previously read Anne Frank’s The Diary of Young Girl and seen Schindler’s List and watched a couple of documentary accounts, so I thought I had some perspective on these awful places where Germans herded Jews. But when the moment came, and I found myself walking where the persecuted walked and brushing my hands over the walls where their frail bodies leaned, I realized my teachings had left me short of a complete education on the devastation of Auschwitz.

People were tortured here. They were starved and beaten. They were refused a change of underwear. They were stuffed into that chamber and gassed. They were hung on those gallows, displayed for the torment of their peers. They were lined up on that wall there and shot in the head. Brothers and sisters, friends and lovers were forced to carry the dead bodies away and burn them. Creativity died here. Talent died here. Visionaries and innovators died here. Future doctors and researchers and mathematicians and journalists—they all died here.

These were their eyeglasses and shoes and dishes. The prisoners were told they were simply being relocated, and this was the luggage they brought with them for the promising journey.  Hitler once said, “we shall regain our health only by eliminating the Jew,” and I know there are a lot of angry people like him, but that kind of anger became more real once I actually stood among the effects. At Auschwitz, the most extensive murder campaign in human history had been carried out. I could sense the corpses, the souls tormented in this place. Women and children sent on arrival to the chamber, men forced to work and then sent to the gas chamber when their utility had been exhausted.  These were the gravel roads where they marched to their death, bare feet bloodied and frozen. These were the barracks where they slept, huddled together on tiny wooden bunks as a bitter winter raged around them.

I left Auschwitz after only seven hours, my emotions still on edge. Upon returning to America, I knew I would want to tell my friends about this place, but I also knew that words would fail to describe my experiences. It’s a place that must be experienced, not read about. It’s a place that must be touched, not seen in blurry photographs. Yet I know that most of my friends will never visit Auschwitz, not because they feel as though they’ve figured it out, and not because they don’t care about the horrors that took place there, but because they simply don’t travel. It’s an American affliction.
It’s puzzling. Why don’t we travel? Do we lack imagination? Are we scared? Too busy? Too skeptical? Too worried that we’ll be forced to like soccer? Are we working too hard? Are we ignorant of the possibilities of world exploration? The United States has some amazing landscapes to discover, but do we just figure that’s good enough and there’s no need to step beyond our borders?

There’s cultural diversity in the States; indeed we’re one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world, but maybe that diversity still leaves us short of complete educations. Fantastic traditional restaurants populate cities big and small across the country, but we don’t have chicken satay served up freshly grilled in two minutes, street side, by an Indonesian dude in Bogor. We have Irish pubs, but we don’t have The O’Sullivan Brothers playing live in the corner at The Quays in Dublin. We have first-generation immigrants from Latin America—both legal and illegal—but we’ve never seen the plight they’ve escaped.   There is only one way to gain firsthand experience: firsthand.

The more we travel, the more we develop either a distaste for or an attraction to our home country. For me, it was the latter. Each day brought new adventure, and, just the same, each day hastened my arrival back to my favorite country in the world. I appreciated each place I visited, and I worked to make the most of my journey, but not once did I think, Hm, yeah. I’d like to live here one day. The longer I trod, the closer I drew to the traditional American values of courage and liberty and tenacity.

But I also started to see clearly my own ignorance, as well as the erroneous presumptions people make about the world. The beliefs I encountered on my travels were almost as outrageous as the ones I brought along with me. Aldous Huxley once wrote that “to travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries,” and after most locales visited, I’ve saluted this philosophy…

In the Philippines, I met Olle, the only Swedish person I encountered on my travels. I didn’t like him. Constantly cold and aloof, he complained an awful lot. He made plans with Ivana and me and then failed to show up. So does that mean I won’t like any Swedes? Did he not like me, either? Was he a jerk that day merely because of other events and circumstances in his life? Had he recently received a bit of bad news?

In Kraków, Poland, a young man named Jeff arrived at my hostel after a long day of travel. Despite being weary and hungry, he nevertheless maintained a cordial and upbeat demeanor. Kazimiera, the receptionist, glanced down at his passport as she signed him in. “It’s your birthday!” she chimed with a thick accent. “Yes, it is,” he said. He’d been on the road for several birthdays and didn’t mind if this one passed in the dark, as well.

Ivana and I went for a run. We came back. We showered. We pulled on clean clothes. We walked into the kitchen–dining room area to make a salad for dinner. Kazimiera entered, balancing a croissant on a plate, bridged by two candles, and tucked under her arm, a bottle of rum purchased with her own money. She sang “Happy Birthday” to Jeff in halting English. Just met this dude, didn’t know him from any other traveler, hadn’t exchanged more than a few hundred words with him in her life, and she made his day. We divvied up shots and laughs as Jeff declared that this was his favorite birthday ever.

And I remember thinking, at that moment, about my view of Poland. That it can get brutally cold. Wars had been waged there. Their economy festers in the dumps, much as it always has, much as it most likely always will. Nothing revolutionary comes from there, save a tasty kielbasa. And when we arrived, no one in the street really gave me much of a nod or a smile.

Yet here was Kazimiera, the warmest, most generous stranger I’d met in a year.  I used to think that Americans reigned supreme, and many of my peers have shared this sentiment with me. My friend Michael Virchow, a self-described redneck, once told me that he didn’t need to ever leave the country. “All of the great people of the world are right here,” he said. That seems a wild statement to me now. Traveling has heightened my understanding of the vast assimilation in America. If I’ve learned anything from one plane ride to the next, I’ve learned that no society is better than another. People all around this world are just as scummy or loveable as those found in America. Some hate homosexuals; others invite them into their lives. Some beat their dogs; others cuddle with them. Some prefer sunsets; others sunrises. You assume all this before you step outside your border, but it’s humbling nonetheless to actually experience it for yourself…

Shouldn’t we be excited to meet the wonderful people of this world, to learn the history, to see the scenic places and taste the yummy food? And what about the darker side of this globe? Even if it’s not practical for everyone to save their money to go travel for a year, I see no reason why everyone couldn’t scrape together the change for a plane ticket to go volunteer for a little while, at the very least. There’s suffering in this world, and that suffering ain’t in America.

Get out there. Meet people. See places. Eat street food. Take a class or teach one. Inform yourself about the world and inform the world about you. Choose your own adventure.
• Stand in Auschwitz.
• Dig a trench.
• Muster a mob of cattle.
• Sing karaoke in an unfamiliar tongue.
• Test local beers.
• Go fishing in alien waters.
• Take a kid for a ride in an airplane.
• Play rock-paper-scissors.
• Observe the treatment of the natives.
• Hike a mountain your friends have never heard of.
• Put the moves on a good-looking stranger in a strange bar in a strange land.

Samuel Johnson was right when he said, “The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.”

THE HIGHEST PASS tells the story of how Adam Schomer and seven motorcyle riders drove across some of the most dangerous roads of the Himalayas in Northern India with his yogi and guru, Anand Mehrotra for a journey of a lifetime.

These riders and Adam, who learned to ride two weeks before the trip, are guided by the inspiring teachings of Anand who bears the burden of a Vedic prophecy that predicts he will die in his late twenties in an accident. He is that age now, yet leads with a fearlessness and wisdom that reminds us that “Only the one who dies, truly lives.”

But wisdom in words and wisdom in practice can be very different indeed, especially when riding along the sheer icy edges of Himalayan cliffs. The bikers ride on that edge, navigating dirt, gravel, snow, ice and the onslaught of loaded trucks, known as “road killers”, as they journey for 21 days towards the highest motorable road on earth. It is a pass open only three months a year and at a height 18,000ft, is on par with Everest base camp. Low oxygen, altitude sickness, river flooded roads, and a constrictive fear all live along this one lane road.

Yet they choose this path to seek Ladakh, the land known as the Little Tibet. Why this path? Because it’s a road that leads to incredibly isolated mountain lakes, ancient monasteries, inside the knowing eyes of a mystic oracle, and ultimately deeper into themselves…

It’s amazing that their guide himself is battling a prophecy and yet is determined to ride one of the hardest roads in the world. It is both haunting and inspiring. It brings up our worst fears and our deepest courage. Adam must ask if the possibility of a spiritual breakthrough worth the risk of serious injury or death? Will it help us all understand what it means to live our lives?

This adventure cracks the foundations we think we stand on. And in this case, the foundation is a one lane road winding through the Himalayas. The Highest Pass

I recently had the chance to interview Adam about what it was like for him and the film crew to make THE HIGHEST PASS and what they learned from it…

Adam told me why he went on this journey, how the film helped him overcome his fears, and even spoke about how the film inspired him to get over a fear he had about asking out a girl in a coffee shop!

He also offered some practical advice that anyone can use to help them deal with their everyday fears…

You can listen to our interview by right clicking on the text below. Simply right click and save the MP3 to your desktop and you can listen to it in iTunes or on your MP3 player…

RIGHT CLICK HERE to DOWNLOAD MP3 of Interview with Adam Schomer

Adam also created an online course that will help people apply the teachings of the film to their daily life. He generously told me that the first 10 people who share this post on their blog or Facebook page will receive a free copy of the course, “Himalayan Wisdom for a Life Beyond Fear”. Simply share the post and link to the post on your blog or Facebook page, email me at
Editor@SpiritualMediaBlog.com and I will email you this course, produced by Adam Schomer written by Anand Mehrotra.

For more information about the film you can visit its website at http://www.thehighestpass.com/

This post is an excerpt from The Dimensions of Love: 7 Steps to Divine Love, written by Padma Aon Prakasha.

You can never fully be with or recognize your soul mate until you have developed more love within yourself first, and know yourself better, understanding the deeper feelings and experiences of the soul. It is love that draws and magnetizes you to your soul mate. In addition, you cannot fully enjoy being with your soul mate until the soul mate part of your heart opens, which is a definite feeling that you will know has happened or not.

Your soul mate may be found, but not acquired, until the love of the less developed soul comes into resonance with the love possessed by the more loving soul. This means you can be with your soul half physically and still not connect truly because of your own unfelt wounds and lack of humility.

Soul mate love lasts forever, providing the twin souls seek and obtain Divine Love. This love is only a complete One when these two apparently independent soul ‘halves’ come together in perfect unity. This unity comes when both have become At-One with God FIRST. One cannot unite fully with their soul mate until one is united with God first, although glimpses can be tasted and even lived in.

The fullness and eternal nature of human love is only possible between Twin Souls. Until a soul tastes and lives this, they will not experience the fullest potential depth of human love and how God created the human soul. God has created us to live this: He really loves us all so much.

The love of soul mates makes the happiness of two humans seemingly complete. Yet this love is not of a Divine nature, but the highest, purest and only eternal form of natural love. God has designed it so we can have both. Once it is included with Divine Love, love reigns in its fullness on every level. Only when we have the Love of the Divine can we fulfill the laws of the Divine; and if we have natural love only, we can only fulfill natural laws.

But if we fulfill and live both, then all forms of love are realized! And this is God’s Wish for us: to enjoy the fullness of love on every level, in every way we can imagine, and in ways we cannot yet imagine.

Soul mate love is an eternal love, and this great love requires that at some stage these two parts become One again. The fundamental law of the universe is that all things will come into harmony with the Will of God. Soul mate love is the only love that can have a separate and individual existence in the Celestial Heavens, where Divine Love exists to the exclusion of every other love save the soul mate love; and the more the two-in-one possess the Divine Love, the greater will be their possession of the soul mate love.

There is no other love or thing, except Divine Love, that can surpass it, or make two souls so united that even death cannot sever it. The relationship between soul mates is a very strong attraction, and has great importance in natural love. But it is important to remember all forms of natural, human love disappear when you are At-One with God, as the natural, human soul is transformed into a Divine Soul.

In the Celestial Heavens, there is no trace at all of the human soul, which makes this everlasting bond between soul mates even more special, and why it is even more important that each soul mate reaches At-One-ment with God so they can enjoy the fullness of their Union with each other, and take it to even greater heights within the Kingdom, within God Itself.

The strong attraction between soul mates is due to the resemblance of their soul’s structure. One can easily tell soul mates just by looking at them, as they share a similar vibrational signature, or the same soul signature. Even with the soul’s transformation this attraction continues to exist, because the change has not been structural, but substantial.

However, the union of separate soul mates is not necessary for enjoying the full happiness of Divine Love. It is not necessary for becoming At-One with God, and indeed cannot be fully enjoyed as the perfect One Soul until well after At-One-ment with God has occurred. So, At-One-ment with God is still At-One-ment with God, and is the primary goal, the focus of each soul mate’s life. At-One-ment with God is not dependent on being with your soul mate.

When we use the gift of free will to turn to God for Divine Love, what is the one thing that God imagined would bring us complete happiness throughout eternity? To find our soul mate, one whose qualities and unique perceptions bring the puzzle of ourselves to completion. This is how we were created.

God’s Will for us to become At-One with Him has provided us with the treasure of loving another who will remain for us a window into the heart of love. When we are At-One with God, we can enjoy the fulfillment of soul mate love completely because true soul nature and its qualities have become Realized. Because of the intensity of the pleasure and the pains involved in meeting and being with your soul mate, the wisest thing to do is to prepare: fully feel and release the wounds of all previous intimate relations and do as much soul healing as possible before even calling in your soul mate.

Ask to feel:
• the times you did not love yourself
• the times you projected mother and father wounds onto the other and vice versa
• all the times you felt and received emotional pain and did not express or release it (even if you did not feel it at the time)
• all the times you allowed yourself to be used or abused because you did not love yourself or allow yourself to feel your own pains
• all the times you felt betrayed and abandoned; or all the times you felt judged and separated from, not just in intimate relations but for all the instances this has occurred in your soul

Free your soul to meet your soul mate in a truthful and loving way!

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The Dimensions of Love – 7 STEPS TO DIVINE GOD, Padma Aon Prakasha, 978-1-78099-513-7 (Paperback) £17.99 $29.95, 978-1-78099-514-4 (eBook) £6.99 $9.99, publishing 28th June 2013 by O Books.