Something to Ponder

In a study to measure our ability to send emotion and to be contagious, Howard Friedman, a psychologist at the University of California at Riverside developed the Affective Communication Test. In short, here was an interesting outcome:

From Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell:

"If a charismatic person started out depressed, and the inexpressive person started out happy, by the end of the two minutes the inexpressive person was depressed as well. But it didn't work the other way - only the charismatic person could infect the other people in the room with his or her emotions."

Whether you are a charismatic person and can influence people in a positive way, or a quieter, more low-key person, we need to accept the fact that we all have an impact with those we come in contact, at least to some extent. We can infect those around us by being positive, happy, uplifting, or we can have the opposite effect.

If you pay attention, you can become aware of your impact on others, whether you are interacting consciously or unconsciously.

How do you answer the phone? How do you treat your waitperson? How do you deal with a distracted sales clerk? How much do you send your food back to the kitchen when dining out? How patient are you with your children, your mother, your significant other?

Do you ever notice the look on people's faces when you are unconsciously talking to them? What are you saying?

How about when you are consciously talking to them? What are you saying? What are you not  saying? What is the difference?

Mindfulness is important whether we are doing something as mundane as cooking, or as important as impacting the world around us.

Are You Feeling Odd?

My husband has been complaining of feeling very tired at odd times lately. He is a very high-energy person, training for a marathon in October, so being really tired is usually out of character for him. It is not all of the time - just at odd times. He has also been having very vivid dreams. I've had similar symptoms. Lee Harris's August Energy Report suggests these symptoms may be part of a larger picture:

Ongoing 2012 symptoms which have been strong in July and will continue through August are:

• Strong Dreams – Dream activity is stronger than normal for most and intense for some – death/destruction featuring strongly, or beautiful visions of the future

• Strong/sudden tiredness – Solar Flare activity and the movement of our planet giving you a kind of spiritual jet-lag experience. Rest and sleep as much as possible.

• Mental conflicts – Mental confusion involving doubting aspects of life/doubting yourself and your decisions. Everything is changing – you couldn't avoid these mental shifts.

• High highs and low lows – New heights of clarity and feeling and/or intense burning off of the old emotional memories within you. The burn is fast if you allow it.

• Fear/anxiety/emotion – working through the body, in response to everything that is changing fast. Breath, re-find your centre and stop 'doing' until you do, let go of a need to control, and surrender the past.

You're Right Where You Need To Be

The realization that I'm right where I need to be has been a very recent discovery. I think we spend an enormous amount of time thinking about where we need to be and lose track of the fact that everything flows in its own time. We learn those things we need to know when we need to know them - and not before. That is how our world is designed.

It's been a challenge for me to relax in that thought. I am only responsible for what I put into the matrix, certainly not responsible for what others feel obliged to offer up. My path is different from yours. You can't prescribe to me what is best for me because you simply have no idea what I need.

Humanity is evolving but in its own way and time. No one needs to feel responsible for anothers awakening or enlightenment because the Universe is designed to create just what is needed for each individual when it is needed.

Synchronicity. Just follow the signs.

For a great talk on this subject go here.

Pole Reversal & New Ice Age

I have listened to many people talk over the last few years about what they think is happening in terms of 2012, weather changes, where we are in the cosmos, etc. With this in mind, I think the two segments  on Veritas with Robert Felix offers a possible winning theory. He believes, after years of research, that we may be entering a new ice age. He bases his assumptions on hard science and thinks that it is part of the pole reversal process that comes around about every 11,500 years and is involved in the precession of the equinoxes. He has graphs that show how temperatures have dropped worldwide, and uses the past freeze in the Baltic countries as an example.

I won't go into all the details he lays out in his talk because it would take too long, but the gist is that in a magnetic pole reversal you find many of the same anomalies that we are currently experiencing. He believes that the earth warming is really the result of some 3,000,000 volcanoes under the sea that may be warming the water. The water temperatures rise, volcano eruption above ground cools the skies with ash, and you have the perfect set up for a new ice age. In the last ice age it was determined that rain dropped to the tune of 1500 inches per year causing glaciers to form over time because of the rain that turned to snow in the winter months. These events happened very quickly. There are mountains in central Oregon and rocks in Nevada that seem to suggest it could happen in less than 30 days. Woolly Mammoth found in glaciers had grass in their throats and mouth as though they had just been having dinner.

However, glaciers did not form everywhere. Seattle, Washington was under 4,000 feet of ice but Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, was not under ice at all. It essentially stopped at the Missouri River in a 15-story cliff of ice. Entering an ice age may mean only a change of temperature of seven degrees. Radical but survivable. By moving South one could easily survive an ice age. The climatic changes, coupled with the radiation, soot, buckyballs, and electrical storms are the problem. It's hard to grow food in that climate. Which begs the question -  what can one do to protect their family in the event of a pole reversal?

Mr. Felix lives in Washington State with his family and friends and does not want to move at this time. He does have food and water set aside, however. As well as a place further South that has the same supplies in the event there is time to move. Science suggests that the animals that survived the last ice age were slow moving (lower matabolisms) and were not in the oceans where salt would increase electrical conductivity.  The animals such as the crocodile and the turtle that were in fresh water survived mostly intact. (Although that doesn't explain the shark.) He believes that during a pole reversal carbon and radioactive materials rain down in massive quantity. The have found a band of carbon that literally circles the earth.  Another thing they found on top of dinosaurs covered in carbon were diamonds! One would have to wonder what sort of electrical storm would cause diamonds to rain down...

If you don't have to run out into the holocaust you might have a better chance of survival. Those forced by need to find water and food would be at greater risk.

As an aside, I have heard, from more than one source, that if we are in a situation where it is dark for three days we are supposed to put blankets on the windows, seal the edges with tape, stay inside and not look out no matter how tempted. It is suggested that we play games and sing songs. (Sounds crazy, but file that away somewhere, just in case.) I wonder, after listening to Mr. Felix talk, if that is because of this massive dump of radiation? Could this event have been prophesied? Maybe because it's happened in the past?

In the end we are all in this together. Whether you put some dried foods in a pantry or live in the moment, it's nice to know humanity has survived such an event in the past and will surely survive again. But I'm feeling less and less inclined to pay a Carbon Tax.

Revelations

If anyone is still in doubt that we are in times of Revelations - the revealing - then this radio segment on Red Ice Creations is for you. I was absolutely blown away by the information revealed on this (free) segment. You can follow up with more information on this topic here.

It's time to stand up and be counted. It's time to rip away the masks and curtains.

I applaud all of those brave individuals who are now fighting for what is right and just, especially when it comes to children. Their time has come.

A Wonderful Teacher

My youngest heads out into the world tomorrow morning giving her all to land the job of her dreams. She is now considered HQT -  highly qualified teacher - a designation given to teachers deemed fully qualified to take on one of the most important jobs in America. She will bear the full responsibility to be not only a teacher, but a developmentalist, a social worker, a psychologist, a friend, a family counselor, a front line against abuse, neglect, and so much more. She'll use acting skills, art skills, reading and writing skills, dance skills - all in the sometimes thankless job of educating our Littles.

Her dream job is a home room teacher for middle school. But not just any middle school. A Waldorf-inspired middle school that is also a charter school. The synchronicity here is that Waldorf is the education I have my eye on for my grandson when he starts school next year. A Waldorf education is one that is hand picked by many of the movers and shakers in the Silicon Valley for their children. It doesn't come cheap - the average tuition is $12,800 per year for a middle school student. But this school is special - it's free. At least it's free to the students - it still receives federal funding. 36% of this school has students that qualify for the free lunch program - an indicator of need. When asked in the first round of interviews why she wanted to work in their school, her answer was that it offered a Waldorf education to everyone - even those that could not afford it.

Social justice is very important to her.

So off she goes - I know she will give it her all, just as she did in the Master's program. Graduating with almost a 4.0 will not hurt her chances, but there are many HQTs out there that are just as qualified to land this wonderful position, many with more experience.

My hope is that they will see the heart of my girl. She really loves those children, but more than that - she sees them. Each and every one.

Good luck, Jilly.

What's Working

One of my writing and researching interests at the moment is to seek out what is working in the world. What I would like to do is find the small business ideas, emerging paradigms, changing mores, educational opportunities, that are already here and effective. My personal cosmology is that our intentions and focus create reality. I also believe that when we are doing what we are meant to do, our true purpose for being here, energy organizes and things begin to happen faster and faster. Sychronicities are more apparent, people enter our lives, doors open, life becomes magical.

Enter the newest social constructs to emerge - renting resources. Nightline did a segment on how people are realizing that they do not need to have things all to themselves. They are renting their cars, extra rooms, even clothes. At least two of the people interviewed in the segment, when asked why they would want to rent out such things, answered by saying that people no longer feel they have to be judged by what they own - therefore, ownership has lost some of its cache. They would rather rent a house than buy it - even if they are qualified and able for ownership. It is just not a big deal for them to own things outright. Whole businesses have been created around this concept. One company is estimated to be worth over a billion dollars. Someone recognized an emerging paradigm and ran with it.

Our friends were telling us about an app that allows you to get a ride anywhere in the San Francisco metro area for $8. It works the old fashioned way - trusting people. The drivers are everyday people that have been vetted by the company. The closest one to where you are calling will come pick you up. You are expected to pay $8. The driver rates you to the company - so if you do not pay, then the next time you call everyone will be too busy to pick you up. Pretty simple, really.

These new entrepreneurs are the wayshowers for the rest of us. Follow your passion, your innate abilities, let go of fear, have some fun! Above all, it is time to have some fun. What's working is us - we are working. We are finding ways to make lemonade out of lemons. We're evolving. Hand us a bad economy, and a banking/mega corporate system determined in their greed to own everything, and we will no longer want what they have to sell. Instead, we will follow a more sustainable path - we'll share!

And we'll make a living while we're doing it.