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04 August: 144 Birthday of Master CVV – Transmitting the Energies of Synthesis

 http://blog.good-will.ch/WordPress/2012/08/03/04-august-144-birthday-of-master-cvv-transmitting-the-energies-of-synthesis/

On 4 August is Master CVVs birthday. 1868, 144 years ago (12 x 12; in Indian counting the 144 years were completed already last year), he took birth in the South Indian city of Kumbhakonam.

His purpose was to transmit the Aquarian energies to the planet and to the beings living on it. He was the carrier of these energies of synthesis which were supposed by theosophists to come through a young man whom in the beginning of the last century they had prepared for this reception – the later J. Krishnamurti – but the energy took another way and manifested unnoticed by those who had done their own plannings. Many thought that the whole was a funny story of the theosophists – which caused many to leave the path or turn to other movements -, but it was only another way things developed.

When I first came to know of Master CVV in the 80ies I felt strangely “hit” by his energies, but it took a number of years before there was the second impulse: In 1996 when reading the book “The Aquarian Master” – it was for me like a clap of thunder. I felt more and more attracted by the profound energy he transmitted. When in January 201o I came to his birthplace, where, together with Sri Kumar (Master KPK), we had a group meeting with about 200 persons, the intense meditations there were for me a tremendous experience which left a deep mark in my life.

Master CVV was born under the sun sign Leo, the sign of the heart centre. During the seminar on Agni in 1991 Master KPK pointed out the importance of the mission of Master CVV in relation to the heart centre. Please find below some lines from that lecture.

“There is an internal journey that will be conducted through heart lotus. That is why it is said: ‘Heart is the gateway for the interior and exterior understanding’ – The meeting of the inner man and the outer man is in the heart centre. Hence the importance of working with the heart lotus. And it has such syllabus as covering the four triangles to meet the light, to develop the body which we call ‘the body of light’. And the Master whom we call Master CVV, He started pushing light from that centre into the petals, because in the scheme of the divine plan, time has come where humanity needed to be evolved rather quickly. And hence, He started emitting the Ray of Uranium from the heart lotus. So, when there is the invocation of the sound CVV, there is the piercing light of Uranium functioning from within the heart lotus which is a quality of the planet Uranus. And as this light shines forth into the lotus of the heart, there is the unfolding of the lotus quickly. That is why events happen very quickly in the personality life of the people.

And as many brothers and sisters expressed here in the beginning of the class, invariably everyone expressed that there is so much change ever since the last group meeting or the meeting before the last group meeting. And if we listen to the cassette which is recorded when they were speaking, many people said: “Many things changed in my life!” And the others said: “Everything changed in my life!” It is the stimulation of the Aquarian energy from within the heart lotus that makes it possible. That is what is called ‘the Mission of the Master CVV’ which you all can receive and then work with it. I told you yesterday that a flower cannot be opened from outside. Until there is an effort from within, there cannot be much cooperation coming from external sources. I also told that more often, if we try to open the petals of the flower from outside, the petals break. Even a high initiate like Madam Blavatsky has written that there is an eternal law where unfolding cannot be done from external support, unless there is an impulse from within to unfold. The outer is ready to help us, but the inner is not ready to receive the help. So, with much love, compassion and understanding, the Sons of Light have been waiting all through.

Then came a brilliant new law. Why not we work from within outside? And that law descended upon the planet, and that energy linked up the Cosmic Kundalini with the Earth Kundalini, and consequently the new energies started functioning from within outside with a new impulse. This is the extra dimension which the planet and the planetary beings are witnessing in this century. And hence, the speed of functioning and the progress achieved! In respect of all kingdoms, there is very speedy evolution. The speedy evolution is there with metal, with plant, with animal and with human beings.

All this is attributed to the visit of the new energy. And what is witnessed by the man of the 20th century was not witnessed in the previous ten centuries. To scope up with the speed, man is also prepared from within.”

Receiving the energies of synthesis – a painting I did in 2011

http://blog.good-will.ch/WordPress/2012/08/03/04-august-144-birthday-of-master-cvv-transmitting-the-energies-of-synthesis/

Documentary looking at the wildlife of the most stunning mountain range in the world, home to snow leopards, Himalayan wolves and Tibetan bears.

Snow leopards stalk their prey among the highest peaks. Concealed by snowfall, the chase is watched by golden eagles circling above. On the harsh plains of the Tibetan plateau live extraordinary bears and square-faced foxes hunting small rodents to survive. In the alpine forests, dancing pheasants have even influenced rival border guards in their ritualistic displays. Valleys carved by glacial waters lead to hillsides covered by paddy fields containing the lifeline to the East, rice. In this world of extremes, the Himalayas reveal not only snow-capped mountains and fascinating animals but also a vital lifeline for humanity.

Narrated By: Sir David Attenborough

Natural World: Himalayas (BBC)
http://youtu.be/yp8FISlHRdA

Land of God & Goddess - Dev Bhoomi !!! Discover the importance of Ma Ganga in this spellbinding journey to the Himalayas!

The epic journey to find the source of the Ganges . Reaching the temple of Gangotri - the place where Hindus believe that Ganges first appeared on Earth. Further on we will also trail Kedarnath, Valley of Flowers, Yamunotri and Badrinath.

Nanda Devi is India's second highest peak and shelters the Bhyander Valley, home to the remarkable Valley of Flowers. Covered in snow for the majority of the year, it is transformed when the snow melts during the short summer and the high meadows become carpeted in spectacular flowers of every colour. Fantastic cinematography from the epic series of Ganges. GK Travel & Tours.

Ganges or Ganga - A Complete Documentary: [MUST WATCH]
http://youtu.be/UM9aPy7H534

A Simple Mantra for Healing Your Dark Night of the Soul

When you can't see the sun shining, learn these steps to find the light within.
BY: Rajiv Parti, MD (aka Dr. Raj)

Healing form my ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ was not easy but the three main steps I had to go through were:

1. Forgive 2. Love and 2. Heal.

This mantra “Forgive, Love, Heal” will help one heal from a dramatic ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ as mine or even what I call a ‘Mini Dark Night’ – which can happen all the time to us in busy modern life: they could be simple things like being shown thefinger in an unloving exchange, or being cut off on the road in traffic!

In my own ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ I had to deal with prostrate cancer, surgical complications, life threatening sepsis, depression, chronic pain and dependency on pain medications. I had to sell my house, quit my job, all the while feeling how my marriage tethered and my health suffered.

I was very angry at myself, at God, the people, at the world – at the universe.

My healing happened in three steps.

The First Step is to Forgive

I had to forgive my self for any thing I had done, or contributed to the dark night. Forgive the circumstances. ‘Forgive’ God and accept God’s will. I had to surrender to the possibility that the Spirit alone has the infinite wisdom. There were the lessons I had to learn in this life time, so that I could evolve.

The forgiveness is defined as:

“the process of concluding resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offense,difference or mistake, or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution.“

To help in forgiveness process I re-discovered the serenity prayer:

“God grant me the serenityto accept the things I cannot change;courage to change the things I can;and wisdom to know the difference.”

It transformed me. I started to live in present in the ‘Now’ and not be stuck in what my circumstance once were in past or what I wanted them to be in future.

The Second Step is to Love

The second step was to start to love myself, my life, my circumstances.

The beauty is that when I started to love ‘myself’, my health improved in leaps. I started eating healthy, going to the gym regularly, meditating and praying regularly.

This self love should not mean a narcissistic way of prioritizing the self at the cost of others, for I truly believe one can only love others when one becomes ‘love’ itself. I started to have gratitude and love re-kindled for the Spirit, the people, the world, the environment; I even changed my car form Hummer to a Camry Hybrid.

Love is defined as:

“A virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection and the unselfish, loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another and oneself" As famous Mother Teresa quote comes to mind:

“We all can not do great things but we all can do things with great love”

We all can each become a sun of of love – radiating love all around.

So my friends start the ‘ripple effect’ from the heart, from inside your heart, from your Source.

The Third Step is to Heal

After the first two steps of change within our mind, and within our heart comes the step that addresses change at the level of the soul, our spirit.

I have observed in others, and personally experienced that to really heal, there has to be a ‘shift’ that has to happen at a deep level of our consciousness. Effectively, the consciousness has to not just heal but evolve too.

Healing is defined as:

“to make healthy, whole, restore to health; to rejuvenate ,to free from evil; cleanse; purify"
Looking back I am thankful to the Spirit for the circumstances I had to go through. It has brought love, compassion, ‘Seva’ (service with gratitude), sharing, and creativity as my guiding principles – where as before I lived for cancerous materialism, expensive toys, the satisfaction of myself above all others: it really was all about me: my status.

My ‘Dark Night’ transformed me to find my true Divine purpose and my Dharma to be a Healer at the Soul level. I wouldn’t be writing this but for going through the the heat of that Dark Night.It made me whole.

I learnt to embrace my Dark Shadow.

A Gandhi Quote comes to mind… “Be the change you want to see in the world”

Yesterday only I received a short email from a friend who had seen me last a few years back. It said: “Hi Raj – It was so nice to have you with us last weekend! you have changed a lot since I saw you last in India.”

Another friend said how after five years of knowing that one can see how even how I drive has changed. That is so true.I was always in rush in the fast lane.

But now I have what I will call ‘Buddha Driving’ !

I am driving in the middle lane. Somebody cuts me off? So be it – they must be in rush.

So my friends – my experience is that this approach works. Through the practice of my own prescription for Wellness in the Soul of Wellness, and through the adoption of this mantra – “Forgive, Love and Heal” – I have managed to reduce my doctor’s orders to take 36 pills every morning to manage my health crisis down to only 5 different pills a day.

The truth is that I have gotten myself out of intense pain, managed to free myself from depression, free myself of addiction, and reverse being overweight through this mantra. The quality of my relationships with my beloved wife, my beautiful children, mydear friends and working associates – is, I can tell you – genuinely infused with joy, understanding, love and laughter.

My advice is to not just say the mantra, but to practice it – to live it: to BE the change it beckons from us.

Rajiv Parti, MD (aka Dr. Raj) is a world leading specialist in pain management with over 30 years practicing clinical experience. He was the Chief of Anesthesiology at Bakersfield Heart Hospital where he specialized in cardiac anesthesia for 15 years. Dr. Raj founded the Pain Management Institute of California, and under his direction it has served thousands ofpatients for acute and chronic pain relief.

He now specializes in promotingspiritual wellness and personal growth with various non-traditional healingmodalities. His new book The Soul of Wellness is being released by Select Books in October 2012. www.drraj.com

Read more: http://www.beliefnet.com/Wellness/Articles/A-Simple-Mantra-for-Healing-Your-Dark-Night-of-the-Soul.aspx#ixzz20deWiQQO

Friends:

Bedside proof of the non-locality of Consciousness...

Dr. Pim van Lommel on the fact of a Consciousness Beyond Biological Brain Life...

Like the bottle contains the beer, but DOES NOT produce the beer...

Similarly: The brain contains consciousness, but the brain DOES NOT
produce the consciousness!

The Cardiologist on the Near-Death Experience 2
http://youtu.be/wFxc67bLrW0

Rebirth from an Early Buddhist Perspective:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/Rebirth.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Rare_Rebirth.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Divine_Rebirth.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Animal_Rebirth.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Samsaric_Dread.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/The_Minor_Hells.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Five_Destinations.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/Birth_is_Suffering.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/The_Hell_Destiny.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Endless_is_Rebirth.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/The_5_Destinations.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Kamma_and_Rebirth.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Mad_Demon_Rebirth.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/The_Samsaric_Round.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Human_Being_Rebirth.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/IV/Hungry_Ghost_Rebirth.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/V/Past_Cause_Present_Effect.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/drops/III/What_passes_on_by_Rebirth-Linking.htm

The Truth of Rebirth And Why it Matters for Buddhist Practice by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/truth_of_rebirth.html
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/truth_of_rebirth.pdf

REBIRTH VIDEOS:
Scientific Rebirth Research:
http://www.near-death.com/experiences/reincarnation01.html

BBC documentary on Near Death Experiences:
http://youtu.be/u8Ub2xx0KQ0

Near-Death Experiences on the Intensive Care Unit
http://youtu.be/fDwYCFiJ2Ys

Reincarnation research by Ian Stevenson Children's past life memories:
http://youtu.be/h6M-nXjh_9I

Scientific Evidence of Rebirth by Dr Jim Tucker:
http://youtu.be/z-1BvpDZwiw

The Cardiologist on the Near-Death Experience 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICdizzVY5h4

The Cardiologist on the Near-Death Experience 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFxc67bLrW0

Near-Death Website:
http://near-death.com/
Have a nice & noble day!

Friendship is the Greatest!
Bhikkhu Samāhita_/\_ 
http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Home: http://groups.google.com/group/Buddha-Direct

Related Site: http://What-Buddha-Said.net

Message emails to: Buddha-Direct@googlegroups.com

May all beings become thus Happy!
Friendship is the GREATEST!

Have a Nice Noble Day!

Bhikkhu Samahita

Another high impact image from above - this stunning Nasa photo puts the 'art' into ‘earth’ thanks to its incredible resemblance to a Vincent van Gogh masterpiece. The satellite image shows massive congregations of green phytoplankton swirling in the dark water around Gotland, a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea. It has nicknamed the picture 'Van Gogh From Space' because of its similarity to 'The Starry Night', the 1888 work by the famous Dutch ... more

Another high impact image from above - this stunning Nasa photo puts the 'art' into ‘earth’ thanks to its incredible resemblance to a Vincent van Gogh masterpiece. The satellite image shows massive congregations of green phytoplankton swirling in the dark water around Gotland, a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea. It has nicknamed the picture 'Van Gogh From Space' because of its similarity to 'The Starry Night', the 1888 work by the famous Dutch artist. The photograph, taken 400 miles above Earth on July 13, 2005, was this week named the greatest photograph taken by the Landsat Program (Picture: SWNS)

Symbolic meanings associated with the butterfly

There are many symbolic meanings associated with the butterfly.

The Mandarin Chinese word for butterfly is "hu-tieh". "Tieh" means "70 years", therefore butterflies have become a symbol for a long life. In this culture butterflies have also become representative of young men in love.
In the Japanese culture butterflies are thought to be representative of young maidens and marital bliss. Many Japanese families use the butterfly in the family crest design.

Germany has a very unique belief about butterflies. As butterflies can often be found hovering about milk pails or butter churns, they have become associated with witches trying to steal the cream. The German word for butterfly is "Schmetterling", which is actually derived for the Czech word "Smetana" which means "cream".
There are many links with butterflies in mythology from all over the world, many of which, in particular Greek mythology, link butterflies to the human soul. The Ancient Greeks also considered butterflies as the souls of those who had passed away.

In ancient Greek the word for butterfly is "Psyche", which translated means "soul". This was also the name for Eros' human lover and when the two figures are depicted they are often surrounded by butterflies.

In one of the Russian dialects, butterflies are referred to as "dushuchka" which is a derivative of the word "dusha" also meaning soul.

There is also an Irish saying that refers to the symbolic meaning of butterflies. This saying is:

"Butterflies are souls of the dead waiting to pass through purgatory" Butterflies also symbolize:

Resurrection, Transition, Celebration, Lightness, Time, Soul. There is a small town in Mexico that also associate butterflies with souls. It is to this town that Monarch Butterflies migrate every year, around the holiday known as the Day of the Dead. The people of this town see these butterflies as the returning souls of the deceased.

We are all small and appear to be the same (like the caterpillar), but as we grow older our true beauty shows (like the butterfly). Like a butterfly, we are all different, and beautiful in our own way. In the Christian religion, the metamorphosis a butterfly undergoes is symbolic of the spiritual evolution all Christians go through. Butterflies represent rebirth and a new beginning. For Christians, it is considered a soulful symbol. In ancient mythology, the butterfly stands for wisdom and everlasting knowledge.

Butterflies symbolizes change.

First of all the butterfly symbolizes new life from and old one. Seeing that the color black is a strong yet subtle color, the black butterfly symbolizes the new strong but subtle life after a period of transformation.

In some cultures the butterfly is also considered to bring luck.
By a well established convention in literature and art, butterflies (usually) symbolize transitoriness, as they don't live long.

The butterfly exists in four distinct forms. Some consider that so do we: The fertilized egg is planted in our mother's womb. From our day of birth we are like the caterpillar which can only eat and creep along. At death we are like the dormant pupa in its chrysalis. After that, our consciousness emerges from the cast off body, and some see in this the emergence of the butterfly. Therefore, the butterfly is symbolic of rebirth after death.

There is a Native American legend that says, " If you have a secret wish, capture a butterfly and whisper your wish to it. Since butterflies cannot speak, your secret is ever safe in their keeping. Release the butterfly, and it will carry your wish to the Great Spirit, who alone knows the thoughts of butterflies. By setting the butterfly free, you are helping to restore the balance of nature, and your wish will surely be granted."

The butterfly is a reminder to make changes when the opportunity arises. Change and transformation are inevitable for us all, but it does not have to be traumatic. Butterfly symbolism is also closely tied to the idea of spirits and souls. It has been used in many religions and cultures. In the western world, the symbol of the butterfly stands for freedom, fun and joyous times. It is also symbolises a state of naturalness and purity.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_symbolic_meaning_of_a_butterfly#ixzz20ugtWbTK

Scam Watch: June update - the fraudsters you should be aware of

This article was written in response to messages from our readers. If you suspect a scam please let us know the details. We will investigate and warn others.
Moneywise – Fri, Jun 29, 2012 14:55 BST

Although we might pride ourselves on our ability to smell a rat a mile off, swindlers aren't stupid; they make their operations look as plausible as possible so we need to be on our guard.

MINISTRY OF PENSIONS SCAM

"One of our employees was called up last week from a man claiming to be from the Ministry of Pensions. The number was from a mobile phone and although it sounded suspicious, the caller knew her name and address and told her she was due a backdated pension payout of £5,000. To get the money released she would have to pay £200 and at this stage she wisely hung up the phone."
Gillian Morgan, June 2012

DHL SCAM

"A company pretending to be DHL emailed me to say it had attempted to deliver a parcel to my address but was unable to, and if I wanted to rearrange the delivery I needed to download a reference number.

"Attached to the email was a PDF, which I stupidly thought would be safe to download. As soon as I did every file on my computer became blocked and I had to take the laptop into a local centre to get it fixed."
Dave Hope, June 2012

SANTANDER SCAM

"An email arrived in my personal inbox this week supposedly from Santander. It said someone had tried to send me money but as the transaction looked suspicious it was declined and my account is now restricted.

"Therefore I was asked to confirm some personal details to be able to access my account again. Although it looked quite genuine there were also a lot of spelling mistakes in the text, which hinted it might be a scam."
Vanessa Preece, June 2012

ROMANCE SCAM

"I have been in contact with a man who is stuck in Ghana after finishing work on an oil rig there for the Ghanaian government. He says he hasn't been paid yet and needs money for a ticket back to the UK and claims he is a structural engineer living in Manchester. The money needs to be transferred online but I believe it's a scam so I have instead alerted the British Commission in Ghana."
Joanna Farrington, June 2012

CO-OPERATIVE BANK SCAM

"Someone posing as the Co-op emailed me last week to let me know about a potential fraud alert to my account. To avoid this, ‘the bank' has updated its security system I was told I need to hand over my sort code and account number by email to make sure my account is protected."
Frederick Burns, May 2012

DATING WEBSITE SCAM

"Ever since the end of last year, I've been in touch with a woman I met through an online dating website. Apparently she lives in Australia but is currently on a trip in London.

She emailed me yesterday to say that while over here she's been mugged and now no longer has her debit or credit cards or any cash. Therefore she's asked for me to transfer money to her for a flight back home. Instead, I'm alerting ScamWatch as I believe this is a con."
Phillip Hall, May 2012

STUDENT LOAN SCAM

"My inbox is regularly filed with scam emails and the latest claims to be from the student loans company. It says it’s being sent out to all students who have received grants and loans and asks for the student to verify their personal details. Within the email was an attachment which needed to be downloaded to complete the process."
Frederick Burns, April 2012

BT SCAM

"Although my phone account is with BT I was a little suspicious when I received an email from the company recently. It was titled "action required" and said my last payment wasn’t processed properly. This was either because my personal details had been changed or there was an error when I had paid the bill. To resolve the situation it asked for further details, and included a link, so instead of carrying on I marked it as spam and deleted it."
A Brooks, April 2012

LOAN SCAM

"I have been trying to get a loan so I can take my wife on holiday and we had a phone call recently from a firm offering this. It seemed completely genuine and we weren’t asked for personal or financial details. We were told we should buy a voucher for £50 and then we would have the loan deposited into our account. However, we were never called back and there seems to be no way to get our £50 back. If they can do this to one person I wonder how many more times have they done it."
Stephen Gibson, April 2012

INVESTMENT SCAM

"A lady with a Scottish accent called me this week suggesting I ring fence my assets, so that they could not be used in the event of entering a care home. The alarming thing is she mentioned a password I do actually use for some of my accounts but I’ve never had any dealings with this company before. I’ve now changed all my other passwords."
Margaret Herd, April 2012

http://finance.yahoo.com/video29147702

AMAZON SCAM 2

"The public need to be aware of yet another Amazon scam in circulation. It is a voucher that advertises a £10 voucher for Amazon. However, once you sign up to the voucher and give your personal details to the company £29 will be debited from your account each month and will be described as an administration fee."
Shan Lamptey, April 2012

CHINESE INVESTMENT SCAM

"Today I received a letter from a so-called private investigator in China to say someone with my surname had died and he was the lawyer representing the case. The deceased man apparently had millions of pounds in his investment portfolio and as there are no other interested parties, the funds could be split equally between the author of the letter and myself. Funnily enough I have taken this no further."

David Storrar, March 2012

PARCEL DELIVERY SCAM

"I arrived home from work today to find a card behind my door telling me a parcel had been left under my patio table. I had not ordered anything from this catalogue company and rang it up asking why these items of jewellery had been sent. I was put through to the fraud department and the member of staff asked if I was a company director to which I replied that I was. Apparently the latest scam is for con artists to use your name and address (which they can find on a company website) and then change the address for delivery once the account has been accepted. Thankfully I acted straight away and a fraud marker was put on my file and I was advised to check my credit record."
Angela Oakley, March 2012

DISASTER NEWS SCAM

"Last week an email arrived in my inbox from a friend and immediately alarm bells began ringing. For a start the language was strange and it went on to say she was on holiday in London and had been mugged and had everything stolen apart from passports. It then went on to ask for help settling the hotel bill and getting a flight. There were lots of things in it that didn’t match up so I contacted my friend and she confirmed it was a scam."
Ann Street, March 2012

THE HALIFAX SCAM

"Halifax, or at least I thought it was the bank, contacted me to say it had detected irregular activity in my Halifax online banking login. As I was the primary contact the email asked me to verify my account as a hold had been placed on my debit card so I couldn’t access my cash. There was an attachment with the email, which I had to download to verify the account. Alarm bells rang and so instead I checked my online banking in a new window and found no problems."
Aysha Begum, February 2012

THE AMAZON SCAM

"I received an official looking email from a company pretending to be Amazon to say the order I had placed had been cancelled. The email included a new order number and a link to what I thought was Amazon. I clicked on this and it directed me to the website of a Canadian pharmaceutical company selling drugs."

Barry Arrowsmith, February 2012

THE COMPETITION SCAM

"I’ve been emailed as apparently my email address was the star pick from an automated ballot system which means I’m entitled to receive the grand reward of 2.5 million dollars. The suspect email said the prize was from a reward program for the ‘patronage of internet services’ and the promotional draw is conducted in the Netherlands. In order to claim this prize the email says I must send personal details out immediately."

Bob Hope, February 2012

THE DEATH CERTIFICATE SCAM

"Apparently my death certificate has been handed into a branch of HSBC in Canada by a man who claimed to be my representative and also to have power of attorney of my finances. There is also a fund of 12.5 million dollars in my name, which I need to claim in the next 48 hours while at the same time confirming I am still alive. This is very clearly a scam."

Eirik Vestgard, February 2012

THE YAHOO SCAM

"A scam email arrived in my account supposedly from Yahoo. It said I needed to update my personal details after a series of illegal attempts on my email account from different IP addresses. It went on to say it was for my own safety and if I wanted to keep my account open I would need to fill in details such as, email address, password, date of birth and country of residence."

Richard Search, February 2012

THE NPOWER SCAM

"Quite unexpectedly we received a phone call one evening at 8 o'clock and my wife answered. She said npower, our electricity provider, was on the phone and wanted a meter reading there and then. We had just started to watch a favourite TV programme so I said I would send one online the next day. The caller was persistent but settled eventually and said they would call again – which didn't happen. I phoned npower the next day and was told everything was fully up to date and no reading was required. It's difficult to imagine what would have followed had we complied and gone to the meter and provided a reading. Doubtless the company would have tried to obtain some sensitive personal information on some pretext or other."

Clifton Pyrke, November 2011

THE ILLNESS SCAM

"This message arrive in my inbox from a friend in my address book. The subject of the email was 'Dearest Beloved'. The message said: 'As you read this, I don't want you to feel sorry for me because I believe everyone will die someday. I have been diagnosed with oesophageal cancer, view attached mail for full details.' My friend is not ill and the email had an attachment which I did not open."

Kunio Uematsu, November 2011

THE SKY SCAM

"I was checking through our bank statement online and discovered a transaction marked 'Sky Subscription' which is strange as we have not been with Sky for over six years.

We rang Sky to ask why and it told us all of its payments are labelled 'Sky Digital'. We rang the bank and stopped the debit card this transaction had been used on. The scam appears to work by taking random amounts from your bank account. We have spoken to others and found this is a growing problem with one friend being debited as much as £200. The message here is – always check your bank statements."

Peter Balshaw, November 2011

PAYPAL SCAM
"I sold a mobile phone on eBay and a bidder offered me double the price I had hoped for. I accepted this and he sent the authorisation code for the payment but no money arrived in my account.

I contacted PayPal who told me this was a scam as the authorisation code was an old one. The bidder looked genuine and had good feedback and I contacted him again. He sent another code but still no money arrived so in the end I sold it to someone else."

Joel Brown, October 2011

PUPPY SCAM

"I tried to buy a Chihuahua puppy on the free advert side Oodle for £150 plus delivery from Dundee to Edinburgh. I emailed the seller and asked a lot of questions about the puppy and delivery and he assured me that everything would be straightforward.

I was sent the details of the delivery agency and I paid the seller through MoneyGram. Next my husband spoke on the phone with the agency and suddenly it wanted another £600 to cover insurance and to deliver my puppy by plane. We didn’t want to do this so but the seller would not listen and he even said if we pulled out of the deal the dog would be put in quarantine and we would be in trouble with the police.

This was not the first advert I applied to and it seemed genuine. Looking back I shouldn’t have wired the £150 but I was so desperate for this puppy I went ahead with it."

Mrs Elizabeth Heppell, October 2011

SAD NEWS SCAM

"An old friend who now lives in America emailed me last month asking to borrow £2,000 as he was on holiday in Wales and had been mugged. The email was very convincing and said his cash, cards and mobile phones had been stolen but he still had his passport and flight tickets.

It said he had gone to the American embassy and police but had not had much luck and needed to settle hotel bills before getting a flight back to America the next day. I would have sent the money to him but the use of the headline ‘Sad News’ suggested a death in the family, which this was not, and made me feel uneasy.

I hadn't contacted him for years, but I found the number and rang his home in North Carolina. It turns out his emails had been hacked and similar messages had been sent out to everyone in his address book."

Victor Courtice, October 2011

COMPUTER HEALTH CHECK SCAM

"I was contacted by a man who told me my computer was not running at the right speed and offered me a free security health check. The caller asked me to switch on my pc and log onto a website. At this point the computer would be accessed remotely and cleared of any bugs.

When I asked the name of the company I was told it was part of Microsoft and the caller said this would be totally free. As a PC engineer I didn’t go any further as alarm bells began ringing and I believed the company’s intention was to get passwords and data off my PC."

Stuart Strong, October 2011

VITAMAIL SCAM

"My poor elderly mother was sent a letter from a company called Vitamail telling her she was in debit of her account by £5. She did not have an account with this company and the letter looked very convincing.

"However, I noticed the letter had her name but no initials, the company asked her to send cash, it was not signed and also threatened to send someone round to her house if she didn’t send her bank details.

"I searched for the company on the internet and found there were many people who had received the same letter who had never heard of this company let alone had an account with them. This company trades under many names and many addresses but is based in France."

Mrs S A Walsh, October 2011

BBC CHEQUE SCAM

"I received an email telling me I had won a £1,000,000 lottery prize from the BBC. I contacted a few names on their email messages and questioned the matter to see if it was for real. No one got back to me and after reading the email again I noticed they used a delivery services which asked for a £250 fee to release the cheque."

Mr M Chai, October 2011

AUTOTRADER SCAM

"I placed an advert through Autotrader on my partner's behalf and naively I put my personal email address on the advert. Within 24 hours I had emails from two different people expressing interest. Both said they would buy the car without viewing it, pay via PayPal and send an agent to collect vehicle.

My partner expressed immediate concern and a quick search on the internet confirmed a well-known scam whereby someone accepts an offer and their car is collected but the money is withdrawn from PayPal before the transaction is complete."

Debby Curry, October 2011

THE AVIS SCAM

"A company in Seattle rang me around six times trying to persuade me that I had 10 times as many shares in Avis Europe than I actually have. It also said it had a buyer for these shares at 10 times their value. In order to move forward I would have to sign a confidentiality agreement and send it some money. This is clearly proof that if it sounds too good to be true it probably is."

Guest - September 2011

PAYPAL SCAM

"Recently I received a message from PayPal about a transaction but I have never had an account with the company. When I queried it I was informed it was a type of phishing scam. Paypal says it will always address you by name when emailing you so if you ever get an email from Paypal addressing you as 'Dear Member' it is a scam."

Guest - September 2011

MILLIONAIRE FUND SCAM

"Today I received an email from someone supposedly representing Arab millionaires who have had their funds frozen after the 9/11 attack. The email says these millionaires have been investigated by the FBI and found to be clean but now the funds, for some reason, can't be returned to their rightful owners. It then says these funds are available to be claimed by first sending over card details. This is clearly a scam."

Guest - September 2011

WEIGHT TRAINING SCAM

"Having decided to up my weight training I searched the internet for items to help me out. I found a suitable website and then sent off several emails regarding price and asking how long an order would take. A man contacted me and was very efficient so I had no reason to suspect anything. He requested I deposit the payment of £50 into his bank account and sent me the sort code and account number. I was informed my order would take around a week to arrive but after this period had passed I emailed him to ask about my order. I had no further replies from him after this and have lost out on this money."

John Boyd - September 2011

The HMRC SCAM

"A member of staff has just alerted me to the fact that they have recently received a scam email which purports to be from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and appears to be advising them that they are due a tax refund. It offers a link for them to follow where it is likely that they would be asked to confirm their bank details. This is a scam."

June 2011

MINISTRY OF JUSTICE SCAM

"I received a phone call from a lady claming to be from the Ministry of Justice last week. She had a strange accent and although she gave me a number to call back on, this was different to the number she had called me on. I bank with Santander and the lady calling enquired about a payment to my bank account. I've now received another call from the same company and have tried reporting them to Consumer Watch and the Ombudsman but as no fraud as yet been committed neither will help me."

June 2011

The EHIC SCAM

"With the holiday season upon us, people need to watch out for scam websites charging a £10 renewal fee for the EHIC card. Renewal through the NHS website is free, so beware of the top picks on a google search for 'EHIC renewal'."

May 2011

CAMPHIRENOW SCAM

"I was contacted by a company called 'Camphire Now' [supposedly a recruitment firm] and a lady by the name of Julia Marks sent me an e-mail asking me to enter a code and fill out an application pending an interview in London in a few days.

"When I got to the IQ Test section of the website I discovered in order to carry on I would be charged £4.50 per month thereafter. I have e-mailed Julia twice now asking for information on the company as I cannot find it anywhere on the website. The links on the website provide no information at all. It's a scam. I have reported it to the OFT and trust you will warn others."
May 2011

If you think you've been scammed get in touch by leaving a comment below or emailing us on scamwatch@moneywise.co.uk and let us know exactly what has happened.

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The return of a classic scam

One of the classic scams is back. It's so obviously a scam, Tony Levene is laughing.

By Tony Levene | Lovemoney – Mon, Jan 30, 2012 15:43 GMT

There are times when I don't know whether to laugh or cry. And there are times when I feel like a parody of a bit part player in an old EastEnders episode – going into the Queen Vic, shouting: “Oh, my gawd. I don't believe it. Pull the other one. It can't be for real.”

But, straight up, it was for real. And it arrived earlier this week. It came in a white window envelope, with a first class 46p stamp, addressed very formally through the window to me as Anthony Levene.

Who writes to me as Anthony other than the taxman and my bank? Even solicitors complaining that I have traduced their scammy clients call me Tony.

What was this missive? Readers may not credit this but the envelope contained the classic “Nigerian 419” letter.

What goes around, comes around

Earlier this month, I was discussing scams with a police friend of mine. I told him that there were a number of rackets that I had not seen for quite a while. Among those was the Nigerian letter and the email which tells you that you have won a fantastic number of millions in a lottery which you have never entered, let alone even heard of.

Maybe he was wiser than me when he advised me “never, say never. What goes around, comes around”. And so it did.

The heading of the letter itself started with number of Chinese characters, followed by a Hong Kong fax number and an email address. The signatory – a Mr McKay Xu – told me that he is a private investment manager involved with the estate of a William Levene.

William, Xu writes, died (on an unspecified date but apparently between 2002 and 2008) in a hiking accident in mainland China (that's a big place but there are no further details).

In 1997, before his death, William went to Xu to ask him to act as an investment manager for his $17.5 million. This money was transferred in cash in 2002 to mainland China for an urgent business venture. But poor William went hiking and died, without leaving a will.

So as I share the same surname, Xu concludes that I must be the nearest to a next of kin. The letter has some spelling mistakes but the basic message is that Xu will share the money with me equally if I help him deal with a “specialist bank”. Xu is peeved William is dead as “he still owes me my percentage for service and naturally I deserve to have that money but cannot do it alone. So I need your help”.

There are at least four William Levenes in the UK and two companies with that or similar names. But if my surname had been Jones, then the letter would have cited a William Jones.

Funny

Why do I find all this rather funny? Firstly the mock serious English: “It would be legally confirmed as I am working with my local solicitor on this deal to make sure all legal aspects are covered.” Then there is the threat that if I don't go along with this, “the funds will revert back to the state where is may be shared by state officials for their personal use and enrichment”. Imagine, officials scamming the estate of poor William.

I can't believe that anyone still falls for this scam – named after the section in the Nigerian criminal code which outlaws the practice – although it is possible. But it is also hilarious that some poor guy has spent money on printing and posting all these letters. He must have paid out for loads of envelopes, paper and countless 46p stamps.

I wonder who is behind all this. It is obviously a false name – no one is going to use real details. It may well not be someone in Hong Kong at all. But whoever it is has got to be pretty stupid. Does anyone think I am going to hand over 50%. No way! I want at least 90%!!!

So I shall email Xu to tell him that I shall talk to him but only on the condition that I take the bigger cut. He'll probably agree – after all there is no money and he just wants me to keep paying $10,000 here and $20,000 there until I go broke. But I also intend to ask him to send $10,000 in cash to prove he is who he says. He won't like that!

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How to get your money back after a scam

If you have been scammed, you haven't received goods you ordered, or a product isn't as it was described to you, you could easily get your money back.
By Neil Faulkner | lovemoney.com – Thu, May 10, 2012 15:21 BST

Lost money to a scam? Getting it back could be easier than you think (Image © Fotolia)

The police and Financial Services Authority admit that they're usually powerless to get your money back after you've been scammed. However, there's a way to do so yourself in many cases, and with relative ease.

If you make any purchases of between £100 and £30,000 and pay for it, or even just part of it, using your credit card, your card provider should pay you back for the entire loss in the event of scam.

It isn't just obliged to do this for scams either. Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act ensures that the card provider must reimburse you if a retailer doesn't deliver the goods or service, or if the product is not as described.

How customers are getting their money back

Credit card companies don't always agree when a customer makes a section 75 request to be reimbursed. Often, customers then complain to the free Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). It's these borderline cases that give us the most insight into when and where this legal right can be used.

The Ombudsman has just published some recent examples of its decisions relating to section 75. Here are some of the customers who succeeded in getting their money back.

Broken promises

Mrs S paid £3,500 for a holiday club on her credit card on the assurance that she would get the whole membership fee back after five years. On receiving the paperwork, however, she realised she'd been tricked.

She complained to the FOS when her lender didn't believe her “recollection of events”. The FOS found public accounts of others taking legal action against the holiday club, so it considered there to be enough evidence and justification for the card provider to reimburse Mrs S, and ordered it to do so.

Ill-fitting suits

Mr C paid £800 for a tailor-made suit on his credit card. When the finished suit was delivered to him, it didn't fit properly. He asked the tailors to make alterations, but they didn't show up for the appointment and Mr C had no luck when he complained further.

The lender refused to reimburse Mr C, but the FOS saw evidence from both sides, including photos of Mr C wearing the badly fitting suit. It decided that Mr C had done everything he could to get the tailors to correct their mistakes, and so it ordered the lender to reimburse him.

Paying a deposit below the £100 limit

Miss N paid a £99 deposit on her credit card for a £1,000 sofa but, before delivery, the retailer went out of business. Her lender refused to compensate her under section 75, saying she had spent less than £100, so she complained to the FOS.

Although Miss N had only lost £99, the purchase price was £1,000, which means she is covered by section 75. The FOS ordered the card provider to reimburse Miss N.

Video: Don’t be tricked by share fraudsters
http://finance.yahoo.com/video29147702

Make sure you understand section 75

Not everyone is successful when they claim under section 75, even if they take a complaint to the FOS. Indeed, Phillipa Cook, spokeswoman for the Ombudsman, told me that probably a little under half of the section 75 complaints the Ombudsman hears are successful.

We can learn from other customers' mistakes.

Paying a deposit below the £30,000 limit

Mrs T used her credit card to pay a deposit of £3,000 to a building company for an overseas property that was going to cost £162,000. The property was never completed and the building company didn't return her calls. Her lender refused to reimburse her and she complained to the FOS.

Unfortunately, it's not the size of the deposit that counts for section 75, but the value of the entire purchase. Since that was over the £30,000 limit, the FOS rejected Mrs T's complaint.

Changing your mind

Mr W joined a holiday club, but later changed his mind when he realised he could pay less by shopping around for holidays by himself. He asked his card provider to reimburse him. When it refused, he complained to the FOS.

The FOS decided that the holiday club had not given false or misleading information to Mr W, nor had it breached the contract. Finding that there are better deals elsewhere is not grounds for section 75, so it rejected Mr W's complaint.

Bangladesh rickshaw puller starts clinic for the poor
By Anbarasan Ethirajan BBC News, Mymensingh

Joynal Abedin started a clinic with his savings as a rickshaw puller, and then launched a coaching centre for children

Related Stories
• New horizons for Bangladeshi doctors
• Bangladesh healthcare crisis
• Clampdown on rickshaws in Dhaka

Joynal Abedin still remembers the rainy and windy night when he saw his father die because there was no medical treatment.

His village in the northern Mymensingh district of Bangladesh did not have any medical facility at that time, and the nearest hospital was about 20km (12 miles) away.

The death of his father, about 30 years ago, changed the life of Mr Abedin, who was working as a farm labourer then.

He could not console himself and vowed to establish a basic medical centre in his village of Tanashadia, about 100km (60 miles) north of the capital Dhaka, so that lives of poor villagers could be saved.

Though he had the ambition, he had no money, so he set out for the capital Dhaka with his wife.

Mr Abedin vowed to start a clinic to help villagers after his father's death

"When I landed in Dhaka it was a new experience for us. We were amazed by the size and energy of the city. Initially, we were not sure how we could survive there," Mr Abedin, 61, remembers.

Like many other migrants, he started pulling a rickshaw. But it was not easy in the city's busy traffic. Gradually, he learnt how to negotiate swerving cars and trucks. For two decades, Mr Abedin pulled rickshaws, carrying passengers and goods from one point of the city to another.

His wife, Lal Banu, managed to find a job as an assistant in a local clinic. But Mr Abedin always kept a secret from his wife.

He opened a bank account to save money and start a health clinic in his village. His wife did not know about it.

"Sometimes my wife used to argue with me for not bringing enough money to run the family. But I always saved some money. Even during difficult times, I never touched my savings," Mr Abedin recalls.

After he had saved more than $4,000 (£2,550) Mr Abedin decided to return to his village.
Disbelief

“Start Quote

Previously, when I was a rickshaw puller, people use to ignore me and I faced lots of abuses”
End QuoteJoynal Abedin

It was a surprise move as villagers who come to Dhaka seeking livelihoods normally prefer to stay in the capital - given its better hospital and school facilities - and better basic services.

Mr Abedin bought a small plot of land with his savings. He built a tin roof house for himself and then built another shed for the clinic.

With the remaining money he bought a few tables and beds for the clinic.

When he shared his idea of starting a clinic with his fellow villagers, they did not take him seriously.

"People were making fun. They did not believe that a rickshaw puller could start a clinic. Even doctors were not willing to come to this centre," reminisces Mr Abedin.

Mr Abedin named his clinic as Mumtaz Hospital. He initially requested a paramedic to give first aid treatment.

The clinic treats several people every day

As the news went out, more villagers came to the clinic to get basic treatment. Those with serious conditions were referred to a hospital in the town of Mymensingh.

Every day, the medical centre treats around 100 patients. A local paramedic treats patients in the clinic and a doctor pays a weekly visit.

With the help of some individuals and companies Mr Abedin has also set up a basic pharmacy, which distributes medicines for free to the patients.

The health centre treats minor ailments like fever, diarrhoea and simple injuries and helps those who suffer from asthma.

It also has a small maternity ward, but those with complications are immediately referred to a hospital. The staff members also talk to rural women on maternal health and child care.

Hospital dream

Villagers from neighbouring areas speak highly of Mr Abedin's work. They commend the former rickshaw puller's determination and courage.

"This hospital helps poor people like us in this area. The government hospital is far away and I cannot afford private clinics. So, I come here whenever I require treatment and it's free," said Abdul Malik, a farmer living in a nearby village.

When the local media reported on his work and his clinic, some individuals donated money to him, which he used to build a couple of more tin roof sheds and started a coaching centre for primary school students.

The coaching centre caters to the children of day labourers and farmers. More than 150 students are studying Bengali, Arabic and basic maths and English.

The clinic is popular with locals, and has received praise from local media

"Though it is not a proper hospital, Mr Abedin's clinic offers vital support to the villagers. He has become a role model in our country," Lokman Hossain Miah, a senior government official in Mymensingh district, told the BBC.

"We have given free books to the students there and are also trying to arrange donations from individuals for the clinic."

It is unusual in a country like Bangladesh for a rickshaw puller to invest his entire savings to start a clinic for others.

Rickshaw pullers are among the bottom rung of society and earn less than a dollar a day.
Mr Abedin stopped being a rickshaw puller late last year because of ill health. He spends his time looking after his clinic.

"Previously, when I was a rickshaw puller, people use to ignore me and I faced lots of abuse. Now people are showing respect, they are inviting me to their houses to have tea with them. This would have never happened if I had been a normal rickshaw puller," said Mr Abedin.

"My dream is to convert this clinic into a full-fledged hospital with the help of the government and other donors."

Everyone knows that sometimes accidents just happen, but some accidents are truly too horrible to fathom. In the video below, you will see a mother watch her baby’s stroller roll onto
subway tracks. What happens next can be described as nothing short of a miracle. In fact, many people who watch this video see and angel watching over the endangered infant.

Watch carefully to see if you notice the angel and then share this amazing video to all your friends!

A Huge Miracle for a Tiny Baby (and her mother)

http://youtu.be/xJFETFgZRKk

Our 5-yr-old: Alone But Not Lonely

You cannot be lonely if you like the person you're alone with. --Wayne Dyer

Our 5-yr-old: Alone But Not Lonely
by Ragunath Padmanabhan, Jan 15, 2012

Our 5-yr-old son Aum had been playing on his own at the farm for two hours. About an hour into it, my wife Nisha admonished me: "You really enjoyed your childhood with your two siblings, kids in the neighborhood and at school.

Now look at him, being alone, no one to play with and nowhere to go. Do something!" 4 years ago, we'd made a conscious leap into a rural India, leaving high-tech careers in the Silicon Valley to do natural farming.

Nisha has just as much conviction about our decision as I do, and yet, on occasion, she and many other loved ones have genuinely felt bad because Aum does not have company. He is our only child and he doesn't go to school (we farm-school him) and there are only three kids in the nearby farms, none of whom have much time for him since they go to school).

Everyone in Aum's life is concerned about his loneliness. Except Aum and me. The evidence that he is not "lonely" or "bored" is right in front of everyone's eyes -- when we are not engaged with him, Aum is busy most of the time with his own thoughts, things, games, dancing, etc. Occasionally he throws in his share of mischief and tantrums, just to remind us that he is a kid. Otherwise, I have never seen him unhappy for the reasons most adults in his life feel he "should" be unhappy.

Aum does not have the company of his peers as much or as frequently as other kids. We don't have a TV at home. We have never bought him any toys except one lego set and one tinkertoys box that Nisha got after she felt bad about not having bought any toy for him. Most of his clothes are gifted by family and friends. We give him one or two candies a week and ice cream once a month. He doesn't have cookies, chocolates, carbonated drinks, fast food or any snack that comes in a package and is sold in a retail store. He must be one miserable kid, right? If I say, "No", one might respond with, "Well, he doesn't know what he is missing and he is being brought up in an extremely protective environment." Not true either.

He knows the reasons for all the choices we have made for him and he has willingly embraced them. In fact, he is ever-ready to explain his choices to anyone who wants to know. He has tasted/experienced everything other kids have and is presented the opportunities many times, given our frequent visits to many relatives and friends in different places. Of course he gets tempted at times and rebels. Steering away from the extremes of bribing and punishing, we manage to strike a balance and help him stick to his better choices.

He doesn't have grand ideas and concepts for what would bring him happiness. He is just fully living his life. Everything has meaning for him. He doesn't overlook this moment expecting another; he is not chasing after anything and has no plans for tomorrow. He goes around as if he has an unlimited reserve of energy, curiosity, time, faith and willingness to be engaged with whatever and whoever comes his way as if ... as if he intuitively knows what he wants. If he could answer the question "What do you want in your life?" it would probably be, "I don't know, but I want it all anyway, moment by moment." And he does not seem to be bothered if many of those moments are spent alone. But it does rattle quite a few others.

To my mind, the rural and middle-class people of the last generation and before, had the right perspective on elusive states like peace, happiness, joy etc. They communicated through many proverbs and clichés -- that meaningful engagement at work, being with family and friends and with oneself, pretty much covered all the real causes of happiness and peace. The meaning for engagement could come from both tragic and comic life situations (and more often than not, their lives were full of tragic meaning). People did not make decisions with the sole focus on whether it would make them happy. Happiness was just one of the considerations. Perhaps meaning was a more important consideration. There is no other way to explain sacrifices that I know of in history and even in my own family. My own father has always been a happy-go-lucky man all his life, in spite of having access to very limited resources, very few choices and very many responsibilities. I look at him and I know I can be happy, no matter what.

Being in the farming world, someone asked me recently whether there is a specific gene in fruits that give them sweetness. He speculated that if we could find that gene, then we could increase the quality and quantity of sweetness in fruits. But what if sweetness is not an isolated characteristic of a fruit? What if it is the culminating effect of the entire growth process -- from seed to ripening?

Of course, we don't eat fruit that is not ripe and sweet. But do we eat fruit only for its sweetness?

Would anyone be satisfied to extract only the sweetness of a fruit and take it as a tablet?

Can happiness, then, be had at any moment as an instant thing to be consumed?

Yet, we behave every moment of our lives as if our only aim is to avoid everything that would bring unhappiness and seek things that would bring happiness:

Being alone, having nothing to do, sacrifices, inconveniences, criticism, waiting, bad luck, randomness, an uncertain future ... these are supposed to bring unhappiness and we avoid them.
Constant engagement of mind/and or body with work, people or entertainment, selfishness, creature comforts, instant gratification, security, certainty, greed ... these are supposed to bring happiness and we seek them at any cost.

The Art of Happiness has been lost perhaps because by chasing it, we have chased it away. The Art of Suffering has been lost perhaps because by running away from it we have tightened its knot on us.
Many saints and religions have said that it is human nature to be constantly oscillating between cravings and aversions. Knowing this, throughout history, people in all cultures created norms, rituals, customs, traditions, practices, ceremonies and attitudes to contain excitement and embrace difficulties (the middle path, the golden mean). In fact, “to mature into an adult” was supposed to mean that one has learned to discern and implement his or her cultural baggage without superficially considering it as a burden. Even blindly following one’s culture was considered better than simply being blind to it. Yet that is precisely what seems to have happened on the backs of our over-sized, over-paced materialistic and technological growth. If we were to personify our zeitgeist, it would be a person with over-sized hands, legs and brain. And a small, feeble heart. No wonder we eat but we starve; we have more of everything and feel empty; we can do everything super-fast and yet do not have enough time for anything.

Our idea of moving to a farm in a village was to create a space from scratch in which we could reinvent many of those old, middle-path practices to suit our current potentials and pathologies.

Outside of the context of our farm (and sometimes even within), I find it difficult to follow these values and practices because, I guess, the human psyche has seen too much evidence of the inefficacy of the old secrets. I often feel like a fully-suited man in a beach. But it is only because we have hurriedly created suffocating spaces that have given birth to many unskillful and even vicious cycles. What we need are airy and nourishing spaces where we can relearn the old arts.

I am only 38, yet I feel like an old man of another era when I catch myself reacting to someone's complaints or ambitions that are normal in this era. I am neither poor, nor rich, nor middle class. I am in the process of going off-the-class. Yet, I'd like to keep the older middle-class attitudes towards life.

Without the aid of great philosophy or religion, all the secrets of everyday happiness - hard work, honesty, grit, grace, patience, wonderment, contentment, romance, even innocence – it was all there in that class. I'd like to be a permanent student in that class and have my son Aum be the teacher.

________________________________________

This story is printed here with permission from the author. Ragunath Padmanabhan and his wife Nisha Srinivasan share updates on natural farming and holistic living at Greenlocal.org -- their "experiment in laying a new path on an old road that leads to simplicity, sustainability and, dare we say, spirituality."

A Shoe Seller Walks in the Shoes of Kindness
posted by febrihana on Nov 13, 2010

 
Today, I felt terrible. My head was full of problems and confusion. I decided to take a walk even though I didn't know where I would go. The most extraordinary thing happened when I was out on this walk.
I saw an old man sitting on a chair. He was a seller of second-hand shoes. I thought he looked at least 70 years old. He seemed so tired and nobody was buying his shoes. I wanted to give him something but I had not brought anything with me.

 
Then, a little girl came toward him. I heard the child say, "Grandfather, may I polish your shoes?" That old man took pity on her, smiled and he gave her a shoe to polish.
The girl said, "I polish the shoe because I need money to buy my brother a new school uniform."
I heard this and tears came to my eyes. The old man answered, "Oh, little girl. Just stop doing this. Come with me and I will buy you a uniform." Then they walked to a market (I followed behind) and he bought her a uniform.
The girl was so happy. She said, "Thank you so much for doing this. May God bless you." Then she left, leaving the old man smiling.
He walked away from the market, but I stopped him. I whispered in his ear, "You are a hero! Thank you for your kindness!" As I walked away, I glanced back and I could see him still smiling.
I was blown away by the kindness I had just seen. Someone who had so little themselves, was able to show such incredible generosity! Amazing! My own sadness had completely disappeared, chased way by the light of this kind act.
I began realizing that I have a lot to be thankful for. I hope, some day, I can show my appreciation of what I have by following the example of the old man who only had a little, but shared it so beautifully with someone who had nothing.

http://www.helpothers.org/story.php?sid

Top Five Regrets of the Dying
by Bronnie Ware, Original Story, Feb 23, 2012

For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.

People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learnt never to underestimate someone's capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.

When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.

It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.

2. I wish I didn't work so hard.

This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.

By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.

We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.

It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.

When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.

Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.

This article was reprinted with permission from Bronnie Ware, a writer and songwriter from Australia who spent several years caring for dying people in their homes. She has recently released a full-length book titled 'The Top Five Regrets of the Dying - A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing'. It is a memoir of her own life and how it was transformed through the regrets of the dying people she cared for.

For more information, please visit Bronnie's official website at www.bronnieware.com or her blog at www.inspirationandchai.com.

Heavenletters #3815 Bright Golden Light , May 6, 2011

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HEAVEN #3815 Bright Golden Light , May 6, 2011

God said:
Do you have any idea of how enchanted I am with you? Yes, you. You with all your foibles, I adore you. That’s how it is. I love you, and I love the core of you.
With each of My children, I see a bright golden light. Each of you has that, is that. This is what I see. I see this golden reflection of Myself. That is the core of you. That is you without all the encumbrances you wrap around yourself.

I see your essence, and what I see is the essence of you. Your light, My light, are the same.

Your light is covered with a body and all your thoughts.

Imagine yourself for a moment, if you will, as bright beautiful radiating golden light.

Imagine your heart as a bright sun revolving in your chest. That’s it. That’s who you are. A bright sun spinning. How Our light embraces.

At the core of you, you are no less than the Great Ones. What they had, you have too.

It is all there within you. If only you could see yourself as this bright golden light, you would own the world. You would own Heaven. You would own love. You would own to love is what I mean. You would admit it. You would know Who you really are. You would not be blinded by your radiance. You would see for the first time. You would see yourself as I do see you. You would be light itself.

And then you would see everyone else the same. You would see Truth. You would move in Truth. You wouldn’t compromise Truth. You wouldn’t be distant from it. You would embrace the light of yourself which is Truth abiding. There is no other Truth than love, and you are the bright light of love. You feed the Earth and all in it with your abiding light. You are the light that shines. You are My Shining Light. You are the light of the Earth and you are the light of My love, resplendent on a world that needs Our light.

What could possibly trouble such beautiful golden swirls of light as My children are? What strength you are. What a Being. What nothings can you be entangled with? Let the entanglements go. Allow yourself to be the bright light that you most certainly are.

You are nothing but bright light. All the rest is illusion you have been carrying on with.

You have been talking to phantoms.

You are light and nothing but light. You are the radiance of My heart. You are My glance upon the world.

There are no conditions to My love, for I see My light in you. There is no fault to find with your beautiful light, and, when I look at you, that’s what I see, the magnificence of My light as if I were looking into a mirror. I am looking into a mirror that is you, and I see Myself. What is not to love?

I have said before that you are love and nothing but love. And now I tell you that light and love are One. Do not hide under the covers, beloveds. Bare your light so that the world and everyone in it is lighted. You are not this mortal dust. You are not meager.

You are not suffering. You know not illness. You are not timid. The Bright Light that you are knows not fear. What is there to fear? All bright light is One. You and I are One Bright Light. We are like laser light that pierces the world into knowingness of itself.

The seeming world is made of many bright lights, and so the world is lighted, and you are the lighting of it. You are the lighter of the world and the brightening of it.

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Heavenletters #3822 Life Holds Great Wonders, May 13, 2011
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Heavenletters #3822 Life Holds Great Wonders

God said:

However…whenever…whoever…life is a beautiful apparition. There is nothing like life, is there? What a richness is life! What a story! What a happily ever after or not happily ever after. There is always ever after. Life continues on whatever plane. There is no end to life. Nor does life have to be stored.

Your life writes itself as it goes along, and then it is to be erased and room made for more life, more new life, spontaneous life. Life is not to be revisited. It will revise itself. In any case, life, as viewed in the relative world, will not stay the same. Hop on one foot or hop on two, life is always moving merrily along. Life is merry. You may not be, and, yet, you can be regardless of what journeys life takes you on.

Just think of this miraculous gift of life. Its richness. Its abundance. Its surprises, its hilarity, and, yes, its disappointments. Nevertheless, life is not to be slandered, thought ill of, disparaged, put down, nor is life to be swept under the carpet. In this moment, you live it. In the next moment, is another opportunity of life. You don’t keep peeking at the underside of the carpet. When a moment is past, it is past. Be done with it, and move on to the next.

Life does not have to be crafted. You don’t need to draw designs for it. Have ideas, have intentions, have dreams to build on. Yet, in the moments of having your dear dreams, also let go of them. Do not hold on too tight. You do not let go of your dreams too easily either. There is a fine balance. You have seen life like the porridge in the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. One bowl of porridge is too hot. One bowl is too cold. One bowl is just right. And so it goes with the chairs, and so it goes with the beds.

Life does not have to be your cup of tea. What you can know is that life holds great wonders in store for you. What wonder is life going to perform for you today? Life may even hold greater for you than you imagined. In that case, you may have to turn in old dreams for new. You don’t want to be stubborn with life. Life has to have its broad swath. Life does not want to be confined any more than you do.

Life is a picnic, beloveds, only this picnic does not always have the delicacies you most favor. There are many tastes in life, and you will get a taste of each. The taste matters, yet how you digest the various tastes matters more. Let life go down your gullet easily.

Life in the world is not permanent. Life grows. Life evolves. Even when you can’t see your growth, you are growing, and you are evolving. Keep up with life. Be happy when life gives you sweet honey. Be happy when life gives you manna from Heaven. Be happy just the same when life gives you a turnip.

And when there are bumps in the road, be happy too. You have many resources at your disposal. Support your heart. Support life. How about your making life happy?
Know this. You are never singled out for heartache. There are those who fear that they are being neglected. They don’t see My helping them. They are perhaps seeing either or or. They are perhaps short-sighted. They most certainly are short-sighted when they don’t see Me coming down the road, for here I am.

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Heavenletters #3825 Stay in Peace , May 16, 2011

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* Our belief in ourselves *
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HEAVEN #3825 Stay in Peace , May 16, 2011

God said:
Let it be easy to stay in peace, and hard to blow up in anger. Anger doesn’t become you. No matter how justified you may feel, anger is not in your best interest. When you are irate, you are not yourself nor are you an example to yourself or to the world.
What are you afraid of that you let anger get the better of you, that you raise your voice or jump out of your seat, or that you fume however it is that you fume?
If anger that rises within you is too much for you, remind yourself that while you are in the heat of anger is not the time to forcibly to discuss it, for it is not a discussion then at all. It is like a raid. It is certainly a tirade. In the heat of anger is not the time to go physically near the supposed cause of your anger. If you cannot contain yourself, then leave the room and take a walk around the block. Under no circumstances, when you are so angry, are you to unleash your anger. Never mind about repression and all that at this time. Above all, when you are so angry, at this time is exactly when you must not vent your anger.
Anger is anger, and anger is not very nice. One lit match lights other matches. Regardless of the circumstances, you are not right to incite or ignite anger. You can keep the extent of your anger to yourself without harm. Otherwise, you escalate anger. Anger is inflammatory, and you will get burned.
This is your anger. No one else is the cause of your anger. No matter what, it is you who got angry.

You alone are responsible for your anger. You are responsible for taming it. Anger is not to be the ruler of you. Would you take boiling water and pour boiling water over everyone in the room? Yet you take boiling anger and pour it over the hearts and souls of everyone in the room, the innocent bystanders as well as the presumed guilty.
Let Me tell you something. Anger, no matter how righteous it seems to you, is ego at its prime. You are sure that so and so had no right to say or do whatever it was he said or did. I want to make sure that you know you have no right to get so angry that you lose your cool. You have no right. Feeling furious is one thing. Lashing out your anger is another. Even with anger, you can keep your wits about you. Anger is no excuse for you to create havoc. Anger is nothing to be proud of.
What is it you are so afraid of that you must let everyone know how angry you are? What would happen if you did not have to react angrily? Does anger make you look big or small? What would the gain or loss be to yourself or to the others if you did not fly off the handle?
Do not think you are timid to silence your anger. Do not think you are currying favor to hold in abeyance how livid you feel. Reining in your anger is being responsible, and it takes great strength to keep your anger within bounds. The world does not have to know how angry you are at the moment. Give peace to the world.
And if you really must express your sorry anger, then do it privately with the one person you feel caused your anger. Do not reveal your anger in front of an audience. You are the one who will pay for it, and you pay too high a price for it. When you express your anger in a group, everyone has to pay for your flaunting your anger.
This Heavenletter is meant for you if you are someone who lets your raging anger get the better of you. If you are already someone who keeps your anger within bounds, I congratulate you.

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Heavenletters #3829 A Bond between the Mind, Heart, and Body , May 20, 2011
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HEAVEN #3829 A Bond between the Mind, Heart, and Body , May 20, 2011

God said:
Sadness isn’t so bad. Much of the time you don’t even know what you are sad for anymore than you know why it rains one day and is sunny the next. Like rain, sadness comes, and sadness goes. And sadness comes unbidden. Maybe you weren’t even expecting it. You did not want sadness to fall at your feet. You never asked for sadness, and yet it came.
Of course, logically, sadness comes from attachment. Attachment is a funny thing. You want a bond with another and yet not be attached. You want to hold hands, and yet you don’t want to let go, yet you know there is such a thing as letting go, and you know you can’t hold hands forever. You know you have to use your hands to wash dishes and other things.
Is a bond a giving of love then, and is attachment tying the bond tight then? Is attachment needing and love giving?
In any case, whatever breaks the bond, whether in life or by death of the body, it is heavy-duty. You feel left. It is a mystery to you how you can be bonded to another and not be attached? And how can you let go when you don’t want to let go, and you think you will never be ready to let go?
It must be that you consider letting go of attachment as letting go of love, letting go of caring, letting go of meaning. Does loss of a loved one emphasize separation to you, even when you intellectually accept the concept of Oneness? Does the loss of a loved one, regardless of the reason, make you feel that you are less? Was your loved one a wall that you could lean against and that held you up?
And what is crying anyway? It surely is a bond between the mind, heart, and body. That can’t be bad, can it? Certainly, mind, heart, and body are intimately connected. You and a loved one are connected wherever you are or are not. Letting go of attachment does not have to mean letting go of love, yet perhaps you have only known attachment. That could be.
You love to see a loved one arrive, and you do not love to see a loved one go. And yet entrance and exit are part of life. There is no going around it.
Perhaps non-attachment is the ability to say to your loved one: “Farewell. Enjoy your journey. Enjoy your journey whether it is a trip to the store for a pack of cigarettes or it is your final journey this lifetime to Heaven. I know you still have many journeys before you, and I cannot go with you. Enjoy yourself. Be happy without me. I would go with you if I could. I have to stay here. The day will come when I join you, and we are reunited again. Meanwhile, I give you my heart for safe-keeping, and I kiss you goodbye. Farewell. I promise to let you go with my blessing. I will not keep you from your travels. You were mine for a while. Always isn’t really better than a while. I give you my love so that you may take it with you, not as a keepsake, but as a giveaway. You gave me a lot, and now I give you your freedom. Here, here it is.”
And, now, tell yourself to fare well as well. You are also on a journey, even when your body stays where it is, even when it is hard for you to turn around and say goodbye.

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Heavenletters #3832 God Has No Secrets, May 23, 2011
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HEAVEN #3832 God Has No Secrets, May 23, 2011

God said:
My holy child, I tip your chin so that I may see your face and so you may look at Me and see My smile and see Me smiling. I am smiling at you. You make Me smile. I pull you to Me. I pull you close. Do not resist. Abide with Me a while. Abide with Me a longer while. Keep abiding with Me in your awareness.

You are ever with Me, and I am ever with you. We are made for each other. We are Twin Souls, so to speak. We Who are Oneness are entwined. It is only as if We are two, for We, beyond a doubt, are One. Beyond My doubt, that is. Well, of course, I have no doubt. I have never doubted anything. Least of all do I doubt you. I am doubtless. You are doubtful.
You have My confidence. I confide in you, for I know your strength. Your strength is mighty. It is Our strength. I am infinitely true to Myself, and I am true to you Who are also Myself. Oneness Supreme is Who I AM, and it is the same for you, only you doubt. You doubt your own wonderment.
Let Us put that aside for a while. Is that a strange thing for Me to say, to put Truth aside for a while?

I say that only so that you turn your face toward Mine and give Me your attention. What point is there in My talking unless you are listening? So that you will be able to listen, I go along with your view of things that We are two. Now you can talk to Me. Now you can hear Me. You would like to hear a booming voice that could only be God’s.
Of course, I am silent. What a listener I am. I can even hear the unspoken. Truly, beloveds, so can you. You can hear My innermost thoughts. I keep nothing to My singled-out Self. I am an Open Book. I am total transparency. I have no secrets. I have no secrets from you. I withhold nothing. I give Everything. I gave Everything. The giving continues. It rolls out. It never stops. I never stop loving you. I love in one motion as it were. I love relentlessly. You can’t get away from My love.
Absurdly, you have tried. Absurdly, you have distanced yourself from the very Heart of the Matter. We are the Heart of the Matter. Oneness is the Heart of the Matter. There is heart and no matter.
You are branded My love in your DNA. What a set-up that is. What a pre-organized amazing miracle. And yet it is so simple. It is My DNA that you carry. It is important for you to know this. With this knowledge, you allow the entrance of all possibilities. Heretofore, you have limited the possibilities.

You have believed in and supported impossibilities, including the idea that you are My beloved. You have made a certainty into an implausibility.
If you think it is not possible that I love you, My creation, then love Me. That will do it for you. That is a step in the right direction. Love Me, and all My love will seep into you. Soon enough, you will not know Whose love you feel. All love is Mine, and all love is yours. I am Unbounded Love, and you are Unbounded Love. Unbounded Love is all. We are All. We are all Oneness.
The simplest may be the hardest for you to grasp. You cannot even grasp what it might mean that We are One. There are so many ideas you would have to abandon that it seems difficult to you for Us to be One. The gist of it is that We are One. The Whole Universe is One. There is One Heart, One bond, One Love, and it is Mine. You are My Love. That’s it.

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Heavenletters #3836 Come to Life Now, May 27, 2011
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HEAVEN #3836 Come to Life Now, May 27, 2011

God said:
Leave the floodgates open. I am speaking of the floodgates of love. I am speaking of your admitting Me into your life and your view of life. Let love and its organizer, I, God, into your world. Let Me be a force in your life. Let Me have some say in the design of what is referred to as you, as the human you, as the body and heart and mind and soul that walk around in a cumbersome body. Let Me have some of the attention you presently may give to your erstwhile body. Absolutely, take care of your body, only make room for Me as well. The body is mortal. In a sense, the body is a losing game. In the world, you cannot stem the tide of time. Come into Infinity with Me.
That which you see is what you get. See better and bigger than you have been seeing. You have been seeing a crumb of what you are.
I exist. Even if you think that I do not exist, let Me exist for you. Life in the world is too much for you without Me. The world holds terrors for you. You see shadows around every turn. Substitute Me for the terrors. Call Me in instead. Let Me in. Do yourself a favor and bring in a Presence that is often called God or words to that effect. If you do not like the name God, then call Me Friend. Then call Me Guy. Then call Me Love in its Wholeness. Call life sublime, and make it so.
It is yourself I would love you to believe in. I will help you. Together, We will wonders perform.
You are safe. The body is not safe. The body is in peril. No longer identify so much with the body and its wavering emotions. Instead of emoting, love. Start with Me. Leave emotions behind. Leave fraughtness of emotions behind. Emotions, no matter how serious and important to you, are frivolous. Emotions adhere to the past. Get the past and the emotions that surround the past out of your way. Past emotions are not your friends.
Hate and anger and such are your out and out enemies. They are ego, and they mimic you. Believe Me, if you wish someone ill, you will not feel safe. Your thoughts become real. Your thoughts manifest in one way or another. That which you perpetuate upon another comes back to roost.
You may think that people in your life are your enemies. All the while, it is your thoughts that are. With your thoughts, you bet on the validity of a dark past. Get the past out of the way. It does not serve you. If the past did not serve you in the past, what makes you think it will serve you now?
When you operate from the injustice of the past, you bring the past to life. When you harp on injustice, you bring injustice to you. If you want injustice in your life, keep thinking of how you are victimized, and so you victimize yourself. You punish yourself with the past. The true villains are your thoughts. It is for you now to change them. Old thinking brings you your old life back. It manifests before your eyes. The cruel stepmother does not come back, yet someone steps in to take her place. You bring her to you.
For your life to change, you have to change. No one is going to change your life for you. Life is of your making. And you make it with your thoughts and your hanging on emotions. Get out of the past where you have been living. This is how to change your life. Enough of reliving the past. Come to life now.

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Heavenletters #3843 A State of Happiness, June 3, 2011
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HEAVEN #3843 A State of Happiness, June 3, 2011

God said:
There is no need to ask yourself the question: “Am I happy?” You are happy until you start asking yourself if you are. You lose your immediacy as soon as you question the state of your Being.

Happiness is not a self-awareness technique. As soon as you call your attention to your happiness, it leaves. Happiness takes your asking as a dismissal.
As soon as you ask yourself, “Am I happy?” you start thinking of reasons why not to be happy. As soon as you ask yourself, “Am I really really happy?” you lose your state of happiness. It is like happiness is embarrassed and covers its face. Your natural state is of happiness.
If someone were afraid of heights, and did not know he was walking on a ledge twenty feet above the sidewalk, he would not be afraid. As soon as he becomes aware, fear sets in. Conscious awareness is not always the best place to be.
Better not to question where you are.
When you are involved in a creative project, painting or music or story-writing, for example, you are not thinking, “Am I happy?” You just are.
We could consider a state of happiness something like Godwriting. When you are Godwriting, you are in that state of Godwriting. If you say to yourself, “Am I Godwriting? Is this really Godwriting?” then you are out of the state.
When you ask yourself such questions, you put your attention on your motley self. When you are in a creative state, your attention is not on yourself. You are out of awareness of your little self.
Nor is this a good question for you to ask about someone else. “Is so and so happy?” Happiness is not to be thought about. Do you understand what I mean? Asking such questions is putting up a barrier to happiness. Happiness is not conscious of itself.
If you continually asked a rose, “Are you a rose? Are you really a rose? Are you always a rose?” even a rose will start to wonder about its own identity. A rose knows its rose-ness. Rose-ness is. A rose is a rose is a rose. And your natural state is happiness.
When you ask if you are happy, you interrupt happiness. When you ask, “Am I doing the right thing?” you waver. When you ask, “Should I spend my money on this object,” you waver.
When you ask yourself, “Am I happy?” you can only waver. A minute ago, you were happy. And now you ponder. And you push happiness off a cliff.
However, reversely, it does not work the same. If you say, “How unhappy I am. How can I be this unhappy?” the state of unhappiness deepens. You become sure of it. Your unhappiness is probably even worse than you thought. Now you become desperately unhappy.
Think about other things rather than about your state of happiness or unhappiness. Happiness is not a state of thinking. You cannot make yourself happy. The best thing you can do for happiness is to not think about it. Be it.
You do have a well of underlying happiness. Don’t muddy it. When you analyze the water, you stir it up. That’s how you muddy it. No longer muddy your happiness. Let it be.
If you want to add to your happiness, add to someone else’s happiness. Certainly, don’t add to someone’s unhappiness. Even when you have the thought, “I would like to do something that will make my friend happy,” you are adding to your own happiness.
Going within does not mean to ask about your happiness. Happiness is always yours, yet it is not something you possess. It is something you are.

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Heavenletters #3846 Almighty You, June 6, 2011
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HEAVEN #3846 Almighty You, June 6, 2011

God said:
Almighty you!
This is today’s Heavenletter.
You fill in the rest. Say what it means to you that I call you Almighty.
You, Almighty you, speak to Me this morning.
Tell Me everything that is in your heart, and you will be rendering what is in Mine.
Almighty you, speak, and I will listen to the beat of My own heart.
Begin now.

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Ear Candles and the Great Disappointment

I will humbly share a funny story with you today. If you promise not to laugh. Promise? PROMISE?
We took someone else’s word for it. This always gets us in trouble.
Matt and I were in the health food store standing over a display of ear candles. You know the ones? People talk about all the disgusting junk that comes out of their ears, how clean their ears feel afterward, and how well they can hear. We had heard all of this, but never did any research on the benefits or tried them ourselves

We laugh all the time about feeling like an old 80-something year old couple who can’t hear each other. “What’s that?” “Come again?” “Huh?” It’s frustrating and funny at the same time… and we stood there wondering if the ear candles would finally deliver us from the “feeling-much-older-than-we-actually-are” syndrome we’ve been suffering from for several years.

Low and behold, an unsuspecting shopper… minding her own business. As she grabbed for a few packages of the candles – yup, we thought we had found our potential “expert testimonial” for the product and we fired away with an arsenal of questions.

We were convinced to purchase after she told us how long she had been using them, how well they cleaned her ears out, and how safe they were. (And really, I just wanted to see what repulsive goo would remain in my candle after the treatment. I’m gross like that.)

Our first ear candling experience

We set up a small station, watched the YouTube instructional video to make sure we didn’t burn the house down, and got out the camera. (Yes, I had intended to write a super serious piece on ear health and the superhuman hearing abilities I would have after ear candling–complete with pictures.)

"Yay! I'm going to hear better after this, right?"

After getting over the fear that my candle was going to burn too quickly and catch my hair on fire if Matt took his eyes off me, I was able to relax. The candle created a warm feeling in my ear. The slight crackle almost sounded like a cozy fireplace. I almost dozed off. With a small torch burning over my head. (Probably the exact reason the instructions strongly suggest using TWO people for this.)
We had a nice relaxing Saturday afternoon as we lit small fires on our couch, just above our very flammable hair, and awaited the promised results.

We couldn’t WAIT to cut open the remaining portion of the burned candles. We hovered over the hollow candle as it was exposed… a powdery, yellowish, laced-with-dark-clumps-of-something, waxy inner residue. We sounded like 3rd graders as we admired the atrocious gunk that had appeared. We weren’t so easily convinced though. It was almost too much. Matt said he wanted to do an experiment during which he would burn a candle outside of his ear to see if this same residue accumulated. Unfortunately, we had used up all of our candles.

"Matt! Don't you ever use the Q-tips I put in the bathroom?"

You should have heard our deep discussion afterward, acting all science-y, like we knew exactly how the candles worked.

“I suppose I’m not surprised the candle drew so much out of my ear. The Eustachian tube is long and curving, like our intestines, so there was obviously just a lot of wax buildup in there.”

“Well, when the candle is lit, it must produce a vacuum of sorts – pulling stuff out of the ear canal.”
False, and false some more. Good thing neither of us is a doctor or scientist.

In the days that followed, we continued our same communication patterns…

“Huh?”

“What did you say?”

“Those candles didn’t work, did they?”

“I don’t feel any different.”

What I later learned about ear candling

As I prepared to write an article on our disappointing (yet relaxing) experience with ear candles, I found some very interesting information. I dug and dug and dug because I still didn’t know what legitimate reasons the manufacturers had for selling this product.

For starters, I found out today the Eustachian tube is only about 1.3 inches long. (Not long and winding like our intestines.) Ooops.

Then I went to the Harmony’s Candles website to find more information about the candles we used. One of the first things I read:

“NO! Ear Candles are not medical devices, therefore, they can not remove objects, including wax, yeast/candida, bacteria and/or fungus from the ear. Ear Candles do NOT create a vacuum. They create a vortex which is a big difference. A simple test proves this: Close the tip of an Ear Candle, burn it down while holding it outside of anyone’s ear – now look and see what is inside. Or you can take another Ear Candle and hold it over salt or sand … there will be NO upward movement.”
{cough}

Ooops again. Thanks a lot, lady in the health food store! (Yes, I’m totally blaming it on her.)
So Matt was onto something; we would have found the same unpleasant waxy buildup in a candle burned outside of our ear.

I read on and found more interesting dirt on Harmony’s Candles. Apparently, they are designed as a holistic wellness treatment, meant to be “natural and relaxing,” and in some cases healing. The site stresses the importance of correctly using a candle that is made of quality materials (food-grade wax and unbleached muslin), and making an educated decision about whether candling is right for you.

This specific company actually appears to be working hard to debunk any myths and misinformation that may be circulating about ear candles. I respect that. (Apparently there are companies making false claims about the health benefits of using ear candles. This has the FDA up in arms about the product, which is not a medical device.)

(Here is more information from the maker of Harmony’s Candles if you’re interested in learning more.)
The great disappointment

We didn’t get exactly what we hoped for when using the ear candles, but it was a fun little experiment. I learned a lot about the ancient practice, and we may even give them another shot (with new, more enlightened expectations) at some point.

So we don’t have clean ears after all. We can’t hear each other any better. And we will continue to “What?” and “Huh?” each other to death.

Oh well, it provided for a nice little photo shoot and an almost-nap. Next time I’ll smile at the lady in the grocery store and say, “Oh really?” about any product she endorses. Then I’ll quickly come home and Google it.

The upside? You get to learn from our experience.

http://www.diynatural.com/ear-candles/

A "supermassive" black hole in the process of devouring a star.

For the first time, astronomers have captured a "supermassive" black hole in the process of devouring a star. This computer-simulated image shows gas from a tidally shredded star in a galaxy 2.7 billion light-years away being swallowed up by a black hole. Using ground- and space-based telescopes, a team of astronomers led by Suvi Gezari of Johns Hopkins University has identified the victim as a star rich in helium gas.

Before 9 / 11 and 7 / 7 there were clues in card games, comics, film and TV programmes, of the events that would later take place.

Similarly, the BBC has broadcasted a series imagining a nuclear explosion at the London Olympics.

The series includes several clues that suggest that the 'illuminati' are behind the making of the series and that therefore the events that the series imagines, are being planned to take place in the real world.

There are also clues that suggest the 'illuminati' are plotting an attack on the London Underground.

BOTH THESE PLOTS CAN BE STOPPED IF ENOUGH PEOPLE BECOME AWARE OF THIS INFORMATION AND THE 'ILLUMINATI' ARE FORCED TO CANCEL THEIR PLANS.

PLEASE PASS ON THIS VIDEO TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE.

Please press the link at the end of the film TO SHOW YOU THESE THINGS HAVE BEEN DONE BEFORE!! =
Just like 9/11 where the American Air Defence was having a "Terror Rehearsal" on the same day as the tragic catastrophe..Guess what happened to the people who was suppose to be defending London from Terror Attacks ON THE SAME DAY?? Oh yes you've got it-THEY WERE HAVING A "Terror Rehearsal"-If you really do believe Peter Power you honestly need to be shot!

Live ITV News interview with Peter Power, the Managing Director of Crisis Management firm Visor Consultants who was 'actually running an exercise... based on simultaneous bombs going off precisely at the railway stations that happened'.
Recorded at 8:20pm on the evening of the London Bombings.

Broadcast on May 16th 2004, this show features a fiction terrorist attack very similar to the real attack of 7/7 a year later. The show's panel of experts included Peter Power, the former anti-terrorism police officer who was running a training exercise on the day of 7/7.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7uIjg9dtoIWILL 100,000 Die at the London Olympics 2012 ?

http://youtu.be/B72WB86_Zck

One in five Americans believes the world is coming to an end; many point to 2012 prophecies

Friday, May 04, 2012
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com

(NaturalNews) Even I was surprised at the results of a recent Ipsos Global Public Affairs poll of over 16,000 people around the world. The poll, underwritten by Reuters, sought to determine the percentage of people who believe the world is coming to an end in their own lifetime. Astonishingly, the two countries with the highest percentage of people who believe in such a thing were Turkey and the USA.

The nations with the lowest number of people believing the world is coming to an end (in their lifetimes) include Belgium and Great Britain.

Globally, about one in seven people believe the world is coming to an end, and about one in ten believe it will happen in 2012.

Of course, the meaning in all this is difficult to nail down, given that everybody's definition of "the world coming to an end" is different. For some people, the shopping mall being closed is the end of their world. For many of today's teens, the "end of the world" means losing their texting device.

In my mind, the "world coming to an end" means TEOTWAWKI, or a total grid-down situation with economic collapse, mass starvation and a massive collapse of human population. But even I don't think that's going to happen in 2012.

Don't get suckered into believe the Mayan prophecies

This is a good time to remind well-informed NaturalNews readers not to get suckered into the December 2012 Mayan prophecies. Those popular predictions are based on wild misinterpretations of the Mayan calendar... combined with fantastic exaggerations of Central and South American lore.

Come December 22, 2012, we will all still be here, stuck in the same mess of a world increasingly being run by police state criminals and the global corporate elite. In some ways, the 2012 Mayan prophecies are a strategy to dis-empower the People by making them not care what happens in 2012 because "the world is coming to an end anyway."

That's pure foolishness. Smart people are getting well prepared for 2012 and beyond. They know there isn't some magical universal stargate that's going to open up and free them from all the burdens of being a human being on planet Earth. Those who are spouting the Mayan doomsday prophecies are sadly leading people in precisely the wrong direction.

  The world as we know it will certainly undergo radical change

Of course, in some sense, TEOTWAWKI is coming true from the mere fact that much of what goes on in our modern world is wildly unsustainable. The fiat currency system and global debt; the cancerous growth of government; the rampant destruction of the world's natural ecosystems... these are all unsustainable things that will -- and MUST -- come to an end.

So the world we know today is, indeed, existing with an expiration date, and it's not yet clear what's going to replace it. I'm quite certain, for one thing, that the next age of human civilization will see a greatly reduced population from its current levels, meaning that at some point a mass die-off is probably in the works. (That's the aim of the global elite, actually, including Bill Gates who is actively working to reduce human population in order to "save the planet." Bring in the vaccines!)

So it's not really a question of whether the world as we know it will come to an end, but how it will happen. Bill Gates is working on a "soft kill" approach, using vaccines to cause widespread infertility. Interestingly, this may be among the least cruel approaches offered by the globalists, who are also considering things like global thermonuclear war, detonation of EMP weapons to cause a "grid down" situation, and the release of a new global pandemic with a 90% kill rate.

There could also be natural events that lead to various "end of the world" scenarios, including solar flares and the eruption of the massive Yellowstone cauldron -- an event that would thrust Earth into a two-year nuclear winter that would collapse the global food supply and lead to mass starvation.

But the time scale on such events is significantly larger than a human lifetime. Yellowstone Park may not blow for another fifty thousand years. A massive grid-disruption solar flare might happen every few hundred years, which IS something to consider on the scale of a human lifetime.

The far bigger threat we all face right now, by the way, is the failure of Fukushima reactor No. 4. According to UN Ambassador Murata, "the fate of the world" depends on reactor No. 4.

(http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2012/05/02/ambassador-exaggeration-f...)

The failure of this reactor has the potential to "destroy civilization as we know it," he says.

So it's not irrational to think that the world (as we know it) might end in our lifetimes. In fact, given the status of reactor No. 4 -- as well as the possibility of an EMP weapon causing a national grid failure (http://www.naturalnews.com/033564_solar_flares_nuclear_power_plants.h...) -- it's surprising that only 1 in 5 Americans recognize these legitimate threats to our modern, fragile civilization.

Learn how to stay safe in almost any scenario: www.HealthRangerLIVE.com

Sources include:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/01/us-mayancalendar-poll-idUSB...

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/035767_apocalypse_2012_end_of_the_world.html#ixzz1u85UUZ18

End of the World - Lahkota Medicine Man Prophecy Pt 2
http://youtu.be/nuh-KhSVvT8

Lahkota Medicine Man, talks about his visions of the end of the world. Man has lived on this earth for thousands of years, but in the last 100 years, man has been a parasite that takes and takes without giving back and finally the host, Mother Earth, fights back killing many. But those that survive become holistic and learn to live in balance and harmony with each other and Mother Earth and give back what they take.

Soldiers are being trained to kill and not disaster recovery search and rescue. Our armies are in other countries and should be at home.

Floyd Looks For Buffalo Hand, Medicine Man, Treaty Delegate, Author

  www.LooksForBuffalo.comwww.LakotaMedicineMan.com

Removing the CabalPhase 1: Arrests

The Cabal has done so much damage to the society that it has to be
stopped immediately. Arrests of the Cabal are the only course of
action left. There are some New Age people against that procedure,
saying violence only provokes more violence. They need to understand
that this action is not promoting violence, but protection of innocent
people from the sociopaths of the Cabal. Each day this does not
happen, 25,000 people die of hunger because of the actions of that
Cabal. Therefore action will be taken as soon as everything is ready
and it will remove the Cabal from the society.

  Phase 2: Adjudication

After the Event, members of the Cabal will be taken to prisons with
zero contact with the outer world whatsoever and will be isolated from
each other.

Adjudication process will then start and this will involve humanity as
a whole. It will be a mass catharsis and dramatic healing for humanity
to see those criminals finally being held accountable for their
actions. Humanity as a whole will decide what will happen to those
individuals so that new balance is reached.

Amnesty will be granted to some of them. This pertains mostly to those
that were born into the Illuminati and basically had no choice but to
go along with the program or risk being killed. There are many good
souls in there that want to get out. A few of them have already done
that and are now fighting for the Light. Many will defect just before
the arrests get started. Many of the younger generations Illuminati do
not agree with the program and some have been secretly helping the
Light forces to take down the Cabal. After the Event, psychological
help will be offered to them and they will be able to be integrated
into the society.

For many members of the Cabal, amnesty will not be granted. They will
have to balance their past actions. Those who are unable or unwilling
to do that will be removed from the planet.

This must be a lawful process during which humanity as a whole will
adjudicate. No private witch hunts will be allowed as this deprives
others of the catharsis and balancing process. This will not be done
out of revenge but to restore balance. Revenge is a trap and it does
not solve anything. Just remember what happened in French revolution.
After the Event, private acts of violence against members of the
former Cabal will not be tolerated and will be treated as crime under
common law.

  Phase 3: Integration into society or disintegration into the Central Sun

Those who have balanced the consequences of their past actions will
begin their process of integration into the society. They will not be
allowed to hold any office in the new society. Anybody else who would
like to hold any office in the new society will need to take
sociopathy test. This test will determine if they are capable of
holding that office without doing harm to the people.

Most members of the Cabal are sociopaths - in short they are not
capable of positive emotions that make us human. You can read a quite
good summary of what sociopaths are and how they behave:

http://www.mcafee.cc/Bin/sb.html

Those members of the Cabal that will be removed from the planet will
be then taken to the Galactic Court and will be judged according to
the Galactic Codex, section III:

http://2012portal.blogspot.com/2012/04/galactic-codex-normal-0.html

Some of them will be able to accept the Light and balance the
consequences of their past actions. First they will be taken to
virtual reality simulation chambers to understand how their victims
felt and then they will do whatever they can to rectify the situation.
After that they will be integrated into the Galactic society.

Others will be unable or unwilling to accept the Light and will not
balance the consequences of their past actions. They are unredeemable
and will be taken to the Galactic Central Sun for restructuring.

Their personalities and soul essences will be destroyed with the
Electric Fire into the basic elemental essence. Electric fire of the
Central Sun will disintegrate their Causal body (vehicle of the soul).
Individualized spark of the soul will be then dissolved, with all
memories and individual traits erased. It will return into the Source
and will have to start a new cycle of evolution from the beginning.

This process will be completed before the First Contact. After First
Contact with the Galactic Confederation on Earth, no dark individual
will exist anywhere in the universe.

Aw-rick-cue-lo-what?! Does the Ear Contain a Secret Map for Healing? : Exculsive Renegade Health Article

Could this type of healing be as easy as watching a sunset?

(Fisherman’s Beach outside of Nosara, Costa Rica)

A good number of years ago, I was sitting in my friend Nick Ortner’s apartment (you may know him from The Tapping Solution)…

He had just purchased a massive DVD set from a guy named Gary Craig. The DVDs were a complete course on how to use meridian point tapping (or EFT) to help with anxiety, weight loss, fear and phobias, physical pain, disease and more. Gary developed this strange technique by following many of Dr. Roger Callahan’s work with a practice called TFT or Thought Field Therapy.

Usually, we’d watch movies or a football game, but that day he wanted me to watch one of the DVDs where Mr. Criag manages to completely eliminate a man’s fear of water.

As the program started, there was a montage of images of people pressing and tapping their faces and torsos. I looked at Nick wondering if my friend had finally gone too far. He’d always been into self improvement and energy techniques, but this was absurd.

He told me to keep watching.

Reluctantly, I did.

What I saw was amazing…

We both sat in awe as Mr. Craig brought a man – who was obviously deathly afraid of swimming – into a pool using this crazy tapping technique and eventually managed to make him comfortable enough to float around on a few pool noodles.

My perspective on energy techniques completely shifted that day.

Eventually I watched the whole series, interviewed and met other practitioners of EFT like Carol Look and Rick Wilkes, read Donna Eden’s energy medicine books and promised to keep my mind open to possibilities I otherwise might have written off a foolish.

Recently, I was introduced to another type of energy therapy that – before I got into EFT – I would have laughed at, but these days, I’m kind of excited about.

The technique is called Auriculotherapy (aw-rick-cue-lo-therapy) and its roots are planted deeply in Chinese medicine. This is an ancient form of acupressure that has been used for years to help eliminate pain, anxiety (did people have anxiety 5000 years ago in China?), physical aliments and more.

In the 1950’s, a French physicist named Dr. Paul Nogier took the technology and turned it into more of a “western” science by mapping the ear. His findings determined that the ear was similar to the fetus (upside-down) and points on and around the ear corresponded to certain meridian points in the body.

Keep in mind, if I hadn’t found EFT or tapping, I would have scoffed at all of this, but any type of acupressure technique I come across these days, I explore – my thought is that if they work there’s little risk at all – they’re non-invasive, cheap and may have significant returns.

I purchased a book Nick tipped me off to called The Amazing Science of Auriculotherapy to start my research. Basically, wanted I wanted to find out was if there was any truth to the claims that it could “unlock” the body’s own “pharmacy” to relieve pain, reduce high blood pressure, quit smoking permanently, revive low sex drive and effectively treat hundreds of other health problems and diseases.

Pretty big claims, but were they true?

Here’s what I found (and you might be surprised…)

1. Healing through the ear is deeply rooted in Chinese, Ayurvedic and Western Massage practices.
When I look to see the efficacy of any type of therapy, the first thing I ask is how long has it been around?
While the name Auriculotherapy has been around for only about 50-60 years, the manual manipulation of the ear as therapy has been around for thousands more.
You can find roots in Chinese medicine as well as Ayurvedic practices.
Here’s a quick video of a Chinese practitioner demonstrating some of the meridian points in the ear…
Ear Massage, Chinese Medicine DVD, English Subtitled, Buy atwww.HeyChinese.com

http://youtu.be/Qj2wCn79MLY

These practices have been adopted by modern massage therapists too. As you can see here…
http://youtu.be/XQBEtcax3BY

Qi Gong masters will sometimes advocate the massaging of the ears as a daily practice as well.
While history may not be able to determine if something is effective or not, generally things that stand the test of time are worth looking into.
2. What about the science?
Unfortunately, there’s little money to made by proving the efficacy of a technique that is free to do and can be done by anyone at home. This makes finding science on most natural techniques very difficult.
What’s promising about the science behind – at least acupuncture and acupressure – is that they have been studied sufficiently to determine that they’re viable and useful tools. In fact, the NIH has approved acupuncture for medical usage, and inside of this approval includes using the technique on the ears and other meridians.
I’m generally hot and cold with scientific research anyway. Sometimes it’s necessary and sometimes it’s not – other times the science is just wrong or interpreted poorly.
So when I look to something like this, I understand that the value of a therapy may not lie in it’s body or research, but what it physically or effectively does for you.
I’ll explain here…
3. If it feels good, something must be happening.
After reading the book, I spent some time practicing pressing some of the target points that have been mapped out originally by Dr. Nogier.
The first thing that struck me was how good it felt to press these points on my ear. This wasn’t just a feel-good-because-I-hope-I-will feeling. I actually felt a physical endorphin reaction in my body.
This chemical release is one of the first indications to me that a protocol like this could actually unlock the body’s ability to heal – since our emotions are so carefully linked to your physical well being.
The only other massage technique that gives me this similar feeling is foot reflexology. If you’ve ever had this type of therapy, you understand how amazing your whole body can feel afterwords.
It’s true that your disease state is directly related to your feeling state.
4. The hunger and cravings point works!
I don’t have many health complaints. I shouldn’t really. I’m young, I’m active, and upbeat.
Some of you may know about my 100% raw food experiments that went haywire, but I can share those again some other time.
As I was looking through the book at all the points (it must list over 50 or more for specific issues) the one that struck me the most was the cravings / hunger suppression point.
I was hungry at the time – I hadn’t eaten in probably 8 hours or so – and I decided to push on the point to see if there was any instant relief. I was doubtful when I did, but very quickly I felt the pangs in my stomach disappear. It seemed that my squeezing was like the equivalent of sliding a dimmer switch. The harder I pressed the less hunger I felt.
After doing this a few times, I was amazed that my hunger and cravings for food had completely gone away. (Which, if you ask Annmarie, is quite an impossible feat, LOL!)
In case you’re wondering, I’ll share this point with you right now…
It’s actually right on the “tragus,” which is the little flap that sticks out in front of your ear canal.
Give it a squeeze and see what happens…
Pic - Aw-rick-cue-lo-what 2

5. Mercury toxicity point?
Every therapy has it’s pluses and minuses. I personally think that Auriculotherapy is a great tool for many issues related to stress, anxiety, pain, cravings, and dealing with the emotions that are associated with disease. I also know that acupressure channels can open up meridians to allow the body to heal, so yes, it’s likely that the healing process can be assisted using this tool (in conjunction with a well thought out treatment plan.)
Where I think the therapy does fall short is at the “mercury detoxification point” and a few others that were mentioned in the book (including Tuberculosis). I’m sure there’s no science behind this particular claim (or a few others), nor would I rely on pressing points on the ear to effectively remove toxic metals from my body.
But like all therapies, you have to know their limitations and by working within those parameters, you can have success.
6. Cost effective, “no harm, no foul,” and high value proposition.
When I take a look at therapies the other thing I like to do, besides looking at its actual effectiveness is compare the cost to value in terms of healing.
Some therapies cost thousands of dollars and can save your life. Others cost pennies and can harm you.
So there’s a value vs. cost vs. potential effectiveness play that goes into what I do for myself and what I don’t.
So for instance when it comes to water filters, you can buy a good reverse osmosis system for a couple hundred dollars and completely clean and filter your water. On the other hand, you can buy a water ionizer for $4000 that doesn’t even remove fluoride.
I’d – every time – recommend that reverse osmosis system because it does more for its value.
When it comes to Auriculotherapy, this is a no-brainer. Why? Because you just need to get a book for $39.95 – your only investment – and take the time to do it yourself. (You don’t even need to buy a book, but it’s best to have a road map!)
There’s no harm in pressing points on your ear and the rewards could be significant for you. What if you could eliminate smoking or other addictions, stop being nervous, eliminate stress, lose weight, control cravings, relieve constipation, headaches, insomnia or more?
In my time working on the American Stock Exchange (very short time, BTW), I learned that you wanted to hedge your trades to limit your financial exposure.
Health is obviously much different than trading “puts” or “calls” of International Paper, but this same concept applies in this way – you want to make sure that you’re measuring the risk vs. reward in any proposition. Does the cost of the treatment yield great results or are there risks involved that could point you toward another treatment that could give you the same results with less financial or health risk?
This is, of course, up to you to to determine based on your own goals, lifestyle disease and whatever other considerations you may have.
7. Find out for yourself…
I don’t want you to rely on me to determine what works or what not. I want you to try things on your own and come to conclusions that work for you.
In terms of Auriculotherapy, I’d suggest getting a copy of this ebook that maps out completely over 50 different points on the ear that can help you heal – or at the very least – release your cravings and hunger pangs like it did for me!
Here’s where you can read more about this therapy and get the book now…
http://www.renegadehealth.com/ear
Your question of the day: Have you tried this therapy? Do you believe energy therapy works?
Live Awesome!
Kev
P.S. You can learn more about my friend Nick’s work here:
http://www.thetappingsolution.com
http://renegadehealth.com/blog/2011/11/16/auriculotherapy-does-the-ear-contain-a-secret-map-for-healing/

IS SOMEONE PLAYING WITH CHEMTRAILS, LIKE A CAT TO A MOUSE? – Indian in the machine

http://indianinthemachine.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/is-someone-playing-with-chemtrails-like-a-cat-to-a-mouse-indian-in-the-machine/