spiritualphilosophymymusings

gift of love

2009-10-07T09:56:00.000-07:00

I have been challenged with the deaths of my physical family unit to find solace and comfort within myself and expand myself to understand what it all means. I feel the biggest gift has been to know that I can still communicate with my mother! What a difference this made to me! A month after her transition… I was heart-sore, reading in bed, when I felt her vibration, then a scent of roses, and I saw an oval shape of energy above me and I knew unequivocally that it was my mother. I felt an intense love come over me (just writing this I can recall the experience and feel it again). It felt like a large volume of information was transferred between us. The next morning on awakening I was so very conscious of the absence of pain in my physical heart. I knew unequivocally that I could communicate with my mother and that there was no separation! This is because we are energy and energy never dies. I have taken much solace from this experience and have drawn on it many times. This is all part of my lesson in opening to the truth of who I am as energy and therefore a part of all that is. To not continue to expand on this experience is to basically deny my spirit and the love of all…to deny love.

I recognize and embrace the energy of love. My responsibility is to expand on it. I feel that the information “download” I received from the energy of my mother is within the emotion of love. I do not have conscious memory of what the information details were exactly, what I do know is the feeling of intense love and in this energy I will “retrieve” or know the contents. Perhaps I am trying to make it into something too small, like physical details, and it is too large and free to be contained and defined in such a way because it is energy. I have to live with love every second and to be conscious of being energy. As I experienced the healing of my heart ache through the energy communication of love from my mother, this is the pattern of healing that I use in helping self and others. It is energy and it vibrates and all senses are utilized. It is this energy as spirit consciousness that I continually try to balance…or rather I am energy continually striving for balance. This is the movement that comes from using my mind in a unified manner with the energy of love that creates dynamic and expansive energy! Energy is real!

To life, living, love.

2009-05-02T05:39:00.000-07:00

I have stumbled across an old poem I wrote many years ago. I recall my surprise at how easily the words and feeling tones flowed through me to empty onto paper and take on a physical shape. Sometimes I think that we “effort” too much instead of just being open to being and flowing, which is really the difference between control and freedom of our mind. At least freedom for/of my mind is what I have been striving for.

There have been many a time when I have said something and both the listener and I hear it at the same time. This was how I began my first class. I was chatting to others and the next thing I knew I was telling them of this class I was planning on doing…I was not conscious of this thought until I heard my words. This poem is another example of this in a way. I feel I write to show my mind where I want to be…and then I spend time growing into my words.

I learn by living, by doing. This is the value of studying Spiritual Philosophy… to begin to understand patterns of my mind, my life--of life. Spiritual Philosophy offers me very practical ways of living. It offers me answers that resonate in deep and abiding tones within me as my mind awakens to itself. It feels like the synthesis of life coming together in a harmony and familiar rhythm within my emotional heart, mind and spirit senses. I do celebrate life and toast the love of life!

To Life!

To life
where no ego-protective shell
needs hide the passionate soul.

To living
where music harmonizes in colours
and voices speak in shapes.

To love, truth and equality
forming dimensions of consciousness where
time does not exist and space IS.

The art is in the living, internally
supported, reflecting the trinity.
The healing has begun.

Raewyn. 1996

love softens all

2008-11-23T07:13:00.001-08:00

I have just re-read my last blog and the words “love softens all” leapt out at me. This led me to begin thinking about “forgiveness” and memories (past lives and present) and relationships and how all relates to change. To “forgive” anyone for anything is to really “forgive” self for judging perceived “transgressions” from others in the first place. Nothing is ever “done to us” but rather we invite the energy (event/drama/trauma) into our life to learn, and our soul is all about learning.

This brings me back to love (it makes the world go round). To intellectually “forgive” another/others is to suppress the lesson and ignore it. There is no healing in this action. I think of my early years and Mum insisting that anyone of us kids say we were sorry for “hurting” the other, usually through being inconsiderate in some way, and always reminding us that we love each other and that we were family and all in the boat together. This always made saying “sorry” easier. Love always triumphed.

When we have an understanding of why we invited the event/drama/trauma into our life, then the love that rushes through our body and mind is the softening agent. Therefore we can view all events and relationships from the internal perspective of love of learning and growing in understanding of who we are. This very same emotion flood lights our mind and cells to soften and dissolve all perceived “hurts” because ultimately our life is about us and learning and changing; other people are personally invited to play a part on our stage of life.

Other people do not dictate how we are to feel, what emotions we will use or what thoughts we choose to think, because our life is not about other people. To make it so, is to deny our own internal power; to deny who we are, and this then becomes a perfect method to thwart any internal emotional change to love. We are all in the same boat of life and it is much easier to row together …we are all connected through the energy of love.

my head takes my body for a walk

2008-09-13T12:05:00.000-07:00

On my walk today I was very conscious of the beauty of the day; how the hues, shapes, textures of nature all blended so seamlessly with my senses and my physical body. In a moment of appreciation my mind opened to hear my mother’s voice saying “we must have an open mind” and immediately strings of memory nodes activated and I enjoyed a kaleidoscope of sensory joy rush through me and I savoured the moment, the memories. It has been almost 6 years since my mother transitioned and I still feel her presence keenly. This sensing of her energy, of seeing, hearing, smelling, feeling her hand on my shoulder on occasions, to name a few, all comes down to communication which has help to heal my sense of loss of her physical presence. This is no different than internal communication. The pattern is in place.

So what does having an open mind mean to me? I think of it as a mind of movement, of freedom from fear beliefs which hinder and flavour perceptions and dictate emotions, attitude, actions and my life. To engage in negative emotions is to show ourselves that we have no love for self and have no value. This is pretty bad but then we insist on sharing this energy with everyone and everything else. What a prime example of self absorption this is.

I thought about the question “what is my life about?” And immediately I heard:
Learning
Changing
Healing
Teaching
I look at these words and see how they link together in a very intimate manner and it allows me to see yet again the inseparability of everything or the unity of everything. I have to change the way I am thinking in order to learn and in order to learn I have to open my mind to change. In learning and changing I expand my mind, the energy of me because my perception of who I am continues to change. My mind continues to expand as the energy of love softens all experiences through understanding of the lessons.

What a wonderful moment in movement I have just had. I feel a huge shift in my energy as I recognize the positive emotions are my emotional safety net. Life is indeed good when the mind is encouraged to open and communication is the name of the game.

a stream of consciousness

2008-09-07T08:57:00.000-07:00

A walk through the garden and my mind….
I have been out and about walking and puttering around in my garden. My mind has wandered and has been a wonderful companion. Here is a stream of consciousness that I will share with you.

We practice self-alienation through our negative thinking based on our fear belief structure. We then reflect this distorted energy externally and interpret it as judgment, rejection and abandonment by whatever or whomever our fertile ego mind can drum up to blame. When our lack of thinking is the norm and we are really just living from a reactive energy. This energy field is familiar, and what is familiar and known to us is fear. Fear = separation/self alienation and this fosters a very negative and chaotic mind and energy field. This very same energy feeds in on itself and the alienation from our truth and love intensifies; the more “lost” we feel and the more controlling of self and others we become. This is living in chaos and separated from divine energy. It is practicing self destruction and abuse.

While in my garden I was examining the flowers and I recognized myself in them. I mean that all of life follows a pattern…the same pattern of birth-life-death-birth-life etc. To judge myself for something done or said is to deny who I am as a soul and spirit. It is this judgement that is the self-alienating process and it becomes stultifying to growth and change. I see my plants coming up and I am excited at each new change that happens – that I get to observe. The formation of a bud is beautiful yet it “loses” it beauty to change and growth as it becomes a full bloom. The full flower that offers my senses such delight only lives because the bud continued to change and grow and the change continues its full and perennial cycle.

My garden continues to teach me and like the fluid organic nature of the plants, no part is separate. Life is about growth and change. The plant grows flowers by letting go of the bud. The flower becomes is own expression and expansion of the young bud. For me to focus only upon the bud of a rose, for example, I totally miss the entire beauty of the life cycle. This could be analogous to trying to hold onto youth and judging age as something abhorrent and to be avoided at all cost. Perhaps this is the fear of death? It is the fear of change. It does not really matter because it is still fear, control, negative energy and denial of spirit. This is refusing to change and grow and experience life in full. The more I am willing to live the spiritual patterns of the ethical values, the more comfort I find within me and the more exciting life becomes. This is our perennial movement as our cycle of Being.

memories as colours

2008-06-30T08:54:00.000-07:00

I woke up thinking about memories and how they define life. I “saw” colours as the energy of my life, and not just from this lifetime but all lifetimes. It was not unlike a kaleidoscope where the colours are already set and each small turn changes the pattern and colour combination and presents an entirely new picture of the energy of me. This is what each lifetime does. A fractal of each lifetime is to take each experience in this present lifetime as a miniscule turn of the kaleidoscope’s tube as symbolic of a lesson learned. With each lesson learned I move myself forward and the pattern of colours change as my energy expands with learning. This was so clear to me this morning and when I sit here to put physical words to translate energy, the words feel clumsy and confining in a way. But it is in the writing down that keeps me grounded by making my thoughts physical so really I am taking the energy of memory and making it physical by writing. It is my perception that makes the point of reference for my energy and my perception is infused with experiences of lessons learned….therefore it is my relationship to my memories that I come to my understanding of life ….meaning that my understanding is through my senses and then I can have a relationship with my memories.

What I am saying here is that my memories define me….(define all of us… and therein lies our individuality). I am the sum of my memories as energy. It is all the experiences I have had throughout “lifetimes” that offer me a tremendous depth of knowledge (memory) and I think of this as having all the wisdom of the universe available to me.

All I have to do is know who I am (as energy and matter) and to do this I have to live personal responsibility to examine self, my creations (experiences) and clear out/away all negative thinking so I can “know thyself” and open my mind to all memories to live the behaviour of all the ethical values. This is the value of studying Spiritual Philosophy (www.Kathyoddenino.com) in learning that I am eternal as energy and as I open my mind I feel the balancing effect of the loving emotions coming into play and memories begin to come in and relationships are made. It is the most comforting learning I have ever experienced. When I say “all I have to do is know who I am…” it sounds a bit glib but it is the most exciting mind traveling I have ever done and it is evolution because the change occurs in how I am thinking. This changes everything!

I create memories by physical experiences and I stimulate them through my senses. I have gone back through this life and looked at various experiences I created and have asked myself why. In asking “why” my mind opens and in my growing understanding of who I am my perceptions have changed. What was once a drama is now valued for what I learned from it. This is how the analogy of the kaleidoscope works for me. I have learned and therefore changed my perception through understanding. This shift in thinking changes my internal and external energy field. It is the movement of my mind that changes my energy. This is the changing colours of the kaleidoscope of the energy of my mind.

Healing Kidney Stones with Neural Depolarization: My Story

2008-06-20T14:49:00.000-07:00

Mr Buckley, I miss you

2008-02-29T09:13:00.000-08:00

I was watching the Daily show the other day and Madeline Albright was Jon’s guest. I was so impressed with her that I decided I would buy her new book. Yesterday I bought Madeline Albright’s book and Tolle’s latest book as well. Tolle’s book is so I know what my clients are reading. I tried to read it last night and just could not bring myself to focus instead I got into the “President Elect” and began to read political material. I have become much more involved politically than I have in the past (in this country)…involved in my mind and emotions and seeing the larger picture…or trying to. I have always been interested in history and how the thinking of the times has shaped our world. I find it fascinating to see how we have moved ourselves as society, locally and globally, through time. Plato said something along the lines of when we ignore politics we agree to be governed by fools. We have the privilege of having our voice count through our vote in this country.

Our internal working of this country is in disarray and this energy is reflected out the rest of the world. The world is run amok! It is Ego at full throttle if you wish. The energy is negative and change has to happen before we all create major destruction on all levels. As a registered Democratic voter, I really feel that Hillary is the person to bring these changes about more so than Obama. Not because of gender or race or anything in between, but because of her foreign policy experiences. I feel we have to think globally and integrate all because none of the issues are separate. Albright’s book points out a lot of these issues and it would be just great for all people who are going to vote, read this book with an open mind.

I feel that there has been a lot of “dumbing down” of voters and I hear people voicing their support for various candidates in all parties, and not really being able to say why with any depth. Some people appear to be globbing on to the “identity” of candidates as a way of defining themselves. A lot of people appear to not want to think and stand on their own if it looks like they are out of step with the popular crowd. Why is this? Are we afraid to truly think further than what we are told? Why are we afraid to think for ourselves and speak out with thoughtful questions to the candidates well rehearsed rhetoric? Are we afraid that we will be judged as “wrong?” I am sure that any candidate worth their salt would welcome questions that allow them to define their thinking...rather than rhetoric.

I listen to moderators and interviewers and wonder if they are just rattling cages to be difficult and contrary to create a story where none really existed? So far I have not really heard any true questions of depth that would require candidates to voice their own thoughts and feelings. Hillary has done this fleetingly and has been slammed by the talking heads for doing so. I end this morning with this thought...Mr Buckly, I miss you!

love is the healer

2008-01-28T08:21:00.000-08:00

It has been said that pain is the great equalizer as it brings us all to our knees. I agree with this to a point. Pain does not recognize artificial or social inequalities, whether they be in the realm of financial, fame, and everything in between. Pain is a human condition and provides an opportunity to open our hearts and minds. It can be an opportunity for healing. When this occurs, we can then open our hearts more to others as we recognize the heart-aches they may be going through as they challenge themselves with their own lessons. This does not mean I have to charge in and attempt to fix their life for them, but it does offer me a chance to allow compassion to fill me and spill out to them through words of encouragement and acts of kindness.

The words become an acknowledgment of their life choices of lessons. This has been brought home to me over the years as family members have died. The gift the older generation offered me was the gift of compassion. The simple acknowledgement of how I was feeling and the heart ache I was experiencing was the most perfect balm to be offered and I readily accepted all. Their gift of compassion was born out of their own life experiences and they had learned the value and respect of love. It is love that heals our heart and mind, and we know this when we have had own hearts touched with pain and healed with love.

Time has to be factored in here to. I speak from my own experience of having to allow time to adjust to the rents in the fabric of my emotional life after the deaths of family members. As my mind grappled with the initial emotional shock, and then the smaller after shocks, until eventually the heart and mind found equalibrium. Love is the equalizer and the healing.

When the mind and heart are in unity then love is the equalizer because we recognize ourself in others as loving beings. This is our humanity. This does not mean that life events that impact each and every one of us suddenly stop happening. Far from it! Life in all it vagaries and vicissitudes continues. The defining element is in how we chose to deal with them. How are we engaged in the art of living? This is a perfect question to ask ourselves. And so begins my morning.

Hillary vs Obama. Optimism and Hope.

2008-01-10T07:29:00.000-08:00

I am thinking about the NH primary and the results. I am happy. The shift for me was to see Hillary truly connecting on all levels, physically being present, mentally and emotionally showing her depth. To do this shows the strength and courage within her. It was her moment in truth. I have listened avidly to the candidates and have concluded that Hillary will get my vote because she is optimistic and hopeful. Obama is hopeful; both are full of passion.

Let me explain my thinking here. Optimism is backed up with data and in this case it is labeled experience; and given where this country is at the moment and what the incoming president is inheriting, there is going to have to be a lot of experience backing up the optimism to make a difference. Obama is certainly electrifying and inspiring in his message of hope and he and Hillary are both galvanizing the voting population like few before them. I have no doubts that Obama could make a fine president but (yes, there is a But) my reservation is that he will have a slow start because of inexperience and I feel this country cannot afford to wait.

The passion for this fine country has to run deep and be the internal compass for change. Passion with experience gets my vote. I am so over the talking heads pontificating and projecting. It has become like white noise to me, and perhaps to others as well.

Carpe Diem!

2007-12-31T08:17:00.000-08:00

GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old time is still a-flying
These are the opening lines from a poem by Robert Herrick. I read them and I think Carpe Diem! It brings home to me that all we have is time and that time is this precise moment of my existence. Time is then tied into memory as we measure one experience with another. These are our pearls...experience and movement.

What of the movement of my mind? My mind is energy and energy is movement. Therefore I have to think to move my mind. I have to want to use it, stretch it, to be movement and change. How I think determines how I live and perceive life…my reality. My choice is to be conscious or not. The gathering of rosebuds for me is the gathering of information to learn the truth of me. To move from the static information to dynamic knowledge can only be so when it is lived; put into action and become a part of my experience and memory. Spiritual Philosophy offers these tools.

I look back over this year and see the moments where I have lived in a lazy mind and then see clearly when I moved my mind and the difference is as night and day. Overall though, with all the ups and downs that make up life, 2007 has been a good year of learning for me and I feel the change in my energy as my mind shifts. This shifting and learning has opened to deeper levels of knowledge and with this comes a greater sense of excitement about life...about creating.

As I let go of one physical marker of “time” (2007) and move into another calendar year I think Carpe Diem! To seize the day and live with my mind open, questing, sensing and connected to my heart. When I close my eyes at night I want to know that I lived to my potential and left the day better than when I greeted it. I wish the same and more for all..

plasticity of mind...a few thougths this morning

2007-12-10T07:39:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking about the plasticity of my brain and about learning. I have always enjoyed learning new things and I have a broad array of interests, at least I think I have, but does this mean I have a growing mind? Have I truly been learning and growing new neuronal pathways? Or, have I just been remaining in my comfort zone and repeating things “known” to me and living out various scenarios of Groundhog Day? This thought is enough to make me shudder! In speaking with a friend the other day I was mentioning that if I viewed each day as a new lifetime, with sleep being a mini death, then I have to ask myself: am I learning and stretching myself or am I just repeating the day/life before? I think of doing a crossword puzzle and have “used my mind” but was I really using my mind or was I just doing what I already knew to do? This thought brought me up short. I know how to read and write but am I really thinking? In doing the crossword puzzle I really am remembering and going over learned familiar neural pathways. This is solely intellectual puttering around. What of the emotional and sensory component to me?

In thinking about the plasticity of the mind and I realize that it works with either a positive or negative input from what we are thinking. The mind will not change its perspective unless it is offered another way to view something. In offering a different view the mind can stretch to learn new ways of thinking, and creates new pathways and reality can change. This is the flexibility of the mind, and this is the very component required for agile, creative thinking and how the opening of the mind occurs. Conversely, the opposite is also true. To go over the same pathway is to create a strong connection and after a while it becomes a rut that is a challenge to go beyond, to get out of. This is an inflexible mind, content to remain inside its intellectual “comfort” zone and live out stasis. It is a closed mind and it has no loving emotional component to soften and stretch. This is when I have to ask myself if I am really learning or am I staying in my comfort zone of what I have already intellectually learned? This means to me that I am trying to control my self and my environment (others) and there is no freedom or openness in this scenario. This is trying to remain within the line or pathways already established through a limiting thought pattern and fearful emotions.

This question then leads me to ask about memory. What memories stand out for me and why? I think back through my memories, which is a bit like “defraging” my mind, to sort my memories into groupings of experiences; the most potent memories are the ones that have a strong emotional attachment to them. I feel it is because of this strong emotional addition that the memory is enhanced. Just in writing these few words I am seeing immediately that the sensory response is interwoven and part of the whole. This is defining consciousness as the mind, loving emotions and senses all working in unity with awareness and understanding.

In asking questions of self, exploring the answers and locating and defining patterns of thinking, behaviours, language then I can change. Once my mind has been presented with new information and I have made a relationship, then my awareness level has shifted and I cannot go back to being unaware. I can make a choice to change or not….either way, I have made a choice. This is how I can stretch my mind, by building on what is “known” and “learned” through opening to the loving emotions and senses. The warmth of the loving emotions adds to the plasticity of my mind. The words “choice” and “change” take on new meaning for me this morning.

a snapshot from Carl Jung

2007-11-06T08:25:00.000-08:00

I came across this quote from Carl Jung “the function of religion is to protect us from the experience of God.” It makes sense to me as how can we express the good within us when we continue to hang onto the belief in an external God/saviour, belief in judgement, unworthiness, and other negative thoughts and behaviours? When these thoughts are lurking in the neurons of our mind we cannot access the first level of the 33 ethical values. Wisdom can only come from living the ethical values as our personal experience of living.

A Healing Vision continues to heal

2007-10-20T07:11:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about my older brother of late and the role he has played in my life. I grew up between two brothers with 3.5 years between us all. The closeness in age and family dynamics added to the sense of unity and loving support. I have been blessed with this tight knit family (and extended family) to begin my life. I had this wonderful sense of security of love that a family provides. On page 119 of Sharing: Self Discover in relationships, by Kathy Oddenino, I came across these two quotes:

“Know that you have chosen to live this life together, to learn and grow together, and that the lesson, the ultimate lesson of creation is unconditional love.”

and

“Your immediate family is there to be your safety net, because on a soul and spirit basis you have been around with them thousands and thousands of times before.”

This sense of familiarity and safety was indeed felt by me.

My immediate family is all physically gone and I continue to learn and expand my internal sense of comfort with their passing from my present life. I am remembering the strength and courage displayed by my mother as we discussed my older brother’s absence. Was he alive or was he dead? This was always the question. He had sailed off in his boat many years before and we had not been able to trace him. After 9 years of silence, of not being able to find him, together we agreed to do a legal death on him. I remember the day vividly.

Mum had not been feeling well and we had been going over her Will. I had asked her if she would consider changing the way she had written it, because as it stood, I would not be able to bring her estate to closure until my brother was located. I left it up to her on how she wanted to do it. Nothing was really going smoothly. I recall how angry I had felt. Everything felt stuck.

I went to the beach and on the way I had a vivid image/vision of 3 pieces of wood fixed firmly in a triangle, so that the entire piece moved as one. I was so angry at my brother that I mentally brushed it aside. I walked along the beach and gave full reign to my anger. I was angry at my brother’s silence…of his not communicating with the family. There was no ranker or dissension. So, to my mind, there was no reason to just ‘disappear’ from the family. I had walked…well, more like stormed along about a 100 meters when I I had the thought that on a soul and spirit level, the family offers unconditional love. This thought stopped me in mid step and so I asked what his gift to me was. I was startled and overcome with the overwhelming rush of softening response within me. Immediately I saw how he has helped me in learning another view of unconditional love by realizing I had no control over his soul’s agenda…anymore than he had over my life and how I wished to live it. I saw in that split second how I was reflecting my sense of rejection and abandonment of my internal dual soul and spirit externally. My brother had become my lighten rod for my own internal discomfort. I also saw that with him being away from the family, Mum and I became a lot closer and it opened up an avenue for metaphysical discussions that may not have otherwise been available. In his removal from the family unit, my sense of competition and jealousy (unconscious) was put aside enough for me to see that my mother loved all of us equally.

There were so many levels of love and images that I write only a few here. Suffice to say, it was a powerful moment for me, and continued to be.

On my return from the beach I felt an expanding softening within me and warmth around my heart and once again the image appeared in vivid form. It was the same 3 pieces of wood, with the difference being that instead of being a fixed structure, they were joined by string. Showing me that the three of us were eternally connected and free to move independently of each other. When I got back to the house, I could feel the large ‘space’ open between the three of us. My releasing of the anger and resentment towards him (towards myself), had freed us all. The solicitor was called and a date and time fixed to makes changes to mother’s Will. The details flowed and changes were made without fuss and bother. I felt a tremendous surge of compassion for all of us in this shared experience.

In my mother, I saw and felt her incredible inner strength and courage as she signed the document declaring her eldest son dead. She had lived the death of two sons and a husband. She lived the power of love. “Releasing judgement creates the positive energy of love that will heal your mind and body”. Page 119, Sharing: Self Discovery in relationships. By Kathy Oddenino. What a gift this knowledge is to me!

Healing neuropathy with Neural depolarization, nutrition, spiritual philosophy

2007-10-08T06:16:00.000-07:00

A brief background:
In 1975 I was a fit and healthy person when I left my native land of New Zealand and was hitchhiking through Europe. After about eighteen months of this I was on my way to Africa. I had to have vaccinations in order to take up a teaching position in Rhodesia (now known as Zimbabwe). One of the vaccination serums used was contaminated and I ended up with a virus that chewed away at the myelin sheath in my legs and arms and my right kidney was also affected. My weight dropped off me, my gait became unsteady and my balance gone once I closed my eyes and lost my visual markers. The muscles in my legs began to atrophy and I was conscious that the nerves were also being affected because the chemical messages sent by my mind to move were not completing the circuit and I could feel the sensory responses short circuiting. It was not a pretty sight nor comfortable to be in my skin. My tremors made eating interesting! The medical opinion at the time was that I had a couple of years before I would require a wheel chair so they offered me a bunch of cortisone pills in the hopes it “knocked out” the virus. I had many diagnoses and not liking any of them I “settled” for Peripheral Neuritis as it sounded less ominous than others.

Fast forward 25 years. I am healthy and have no atrophy. My nervous system is in fine working order. How did this happen? In the intervening years I have used exercise, visualization, Acupuncture, Physical Therapy, Rolfing, “energy” work such as Reiki and Healing Touch, massage and varying methods of body work, and nutrition (organic and from the earth and nature) as my method of healing my physical body. Our family motto of “Think yourself well and you will be” played a large part in my recovery. When I met up with Kathy Oddenino I still had nerve damage, a little pain and atrophy was noticeable. I credit her with my full recovery as she gently coxed my nerves to awaken using Neural Depolarization™ (NDP™) therapy. No other therapy I experienced came anywhere close to my experience with NDP™. I recall my excitement when I could walk on the beach and actually feel the sand under my feet! And actually fit shoes correctly because I could feel the shoe and not just guess and hope for the best.

It was a full package deal. Thoughts, Air, Food Water were all examined. One thing that was consistent in my approach was that the foods be organically grown and the water be clean (non fluorinated or chlorinated) and with minerals from the Earth, so I was conscious of quality and quantity. This physical side of my healing was enhanced and expanded with the beautiful spiritual energy pouring into my nervous system from the NDP™ work and with the Spiritual Counseling I was able to stretch and engage my mind to understand my dual soul lessons from the neuropathy. The nutrition supported the energy work and opening my mind completed the circuit to full healing.

The first few sessions of NDP™ were most uncomfortable as my “frozen” nerves came “back to life” and if you can try to imagine very cold hands or feet placed in hot water and discomfort of feeling the nerves return to life, this was the sensation I experienced. I was actually excited about this as it meant the nerves were alive and responding. My entire body began to feel very different and over the years

I continue to have this work done as it helps keep the nerves healthy and therefore all of me. Within a few sessions my neuropathy was noticeably changed. So here I am now fit and healthy and settled in Chatham County. I attribute the quality (quantity yet to be determined!) of my life to learning to “Know Thyself” through Spiritual Philosophy as the science of life, taught by Kathy Oddenino, (www.kathyoddenino.com) and for the healing energy of Neural Depolarization™. I continue to study with Kathy and live and share this knowledge through my own experience and my practice.

Raewyn Cooper, MS, CSPP, CNDP
www.healthischoice.com

consciousness 101.... what is it?

2007-09-29T07:51:00.000-07:00

I have been viewing the following blog site http://consciousnessasthetheoryofeverything.blogspot.com/
and for all those interested in Spiritual Philosophy and Consciousness, then this is a "must see" and i think you will be as excited as i am at the information.

I feel privillaged to be studying with this very wise woman and to be able to attend her seminars and conferences. This knowledge has changed my life and these are not just idle words for me. I now have "tools" to help me make sense of the "why's" of life. This is a huge gift.

I feel very blessed indeed!

we have to become conscious....

2007-09-22T08:56:00.000-07:00

I have a greater recognition of the divinity in All; Us, Nature, Earth, Universe as consciousness and it brings tears to my eyes.

How can we evolve as a consciousness when we cannot see the wonder and the beauty around us?…to feel Earth as our home, know our bodies as our home with sense-certainty?My heart hurst to see the abuse we are heaping upon All. I feel that when we take care of Nature, Earth, Universe, and allow everything to have its place in balance and harmony, then our health and the health of all, will be reflected as harmony and balance.

The root word of Health is the same as for Wholeness and from this we get Holy. The Taoists recognize health through the integration of heaven and earth as harmony of all.

As a society, we are far from this state of being.We have chemically made our lives artificial. We have basically stripped away our delicate sense-certainty in every area of living. For example; when we are eating from nature in a balanced manner with clean food, air and water then our hormonal output is balanced. This means that we will have our natural scent being produced from the hair follicles on our bodies. This is the natural order…and odour.

Our false self is presented to the world. It is external and synthesized. This is a mind at war with itself. There is not a lot of truth to be had at the moment. Just take one sense such as the sense of smell. First we remove a lot, if not all body hair and then we apply a lot of chemicals to camouflage our natural scent. We use highly scented soaps, shampoos, creams, toothpastes, mouthwash, deodorants, colognes, perfumes before we leave the bathroom in the morning. What we are presenting to the world is a false self that has been manipulated to appear smooth. How can we know the “real” person when our senses are confused? Internally and externally for ourself and others?

I am not saying we have to revert to being unwashed, unkempt by any means. I am asking us to think and become more aware of what we are doing. Why do we have to use all these chemicals to begin with? If we are eating clean food, drinking unpolluted water and breathing clean air as possible, then our natural body odour is not offensive. The moment we put a foreign chemical into our body, we have polluted it and set the stage for inflammation of the cells. This in turn is another stage setting for shorter lifespan, disease and more chemical toxicity. We are absorbing these very chemicals into our bodies not only through our nose, mouth, eyes but also through our skin. These “toiletry” chemicals are foreign to our design and this is before we leave the house in the morning…for some of us.

When in this state, we are challenged to evolve our consciousness and live in health. The body has to be clear and have cellular viability before the spiritual patterns can be lived. We have a choice. Clean up our mind, our body, our environment and live as aan evolving consciousness or remain in an unclean state and be challenged to be spiritual. Does this sound harsh? I hope it gets attention because we are killing ourselves ...Nature, Earth and impacting the Universe by our lack of mindfulness

. It would behoove us to be mindful and realize that we are all connected which means what one person does impacts others. How we treat ourself, our family, friends, colleagues, all has an effect on Nature, Earth and Universe and the health of All.

weight is about the mind

2007-09-15T12:47:00.001-07:00

I have been thinking about this blog and trying to find a rhythm in writing and not limiting myself to physical weight loss. It is challenging to show that everything is related. As the book title by P. Costner says “We all live downstream.” This is a physical situation yet it is just a reflection of our thinking. Our thoughts create our reality. It is our choice what our thoughts are. Our choice of what words we use. Our choice of what actions we take. Everything is Choice. It is our choice to be in a negative energy field and chase or obsess on things/people/actions. Or we can focus our mind in a positive way and produce a positive and expansive energy field…no-one else can make this choice for us. To eat an entire packet of cookies in one sitting (or as a “reward”) is our choice. To allow another’s fear and negativity to expand ours is to create dramas and live in chaos. This action is also showing how a negative mind is running the show and dictating actions.

I found when I began writing the draft for my Holistic Approach to Weight Loss and Health booklet that every which way I turned I ran into the Ego beliefs…or Cosmic egg as it is referred to sometimes…and it is from this negative state that we have to hatch ourselves out of our own shell. Our subconscious negative beliefs that we have brought with us lifetime after lifetime are our limiting template that we mindlessly follow in life. To effectively change our life we have to address our beliefs which means using our thinking mind. Typically a lazy mind will sit on top of a lazy body.

I had clients who lost weight through exercise and food changes (minimal) but refused to look internally at themselves. The weight invariably returned and with vengeance. Why? They had not changed their relationship to their beliefs. Their fear of change was greater than their control/war-like attitude of “battling” their waistline. Their thoughts were negative and therefore inflaming to their cellular structure. To live with negative thinking dumps stress hormones into the nervous system on a 24/7 basis and eventually our bodies break down in some area.

I will begin by stating that the body is challenged to drop excess fat when the cells are in a state of inflammation. This is not a new concept. It has been around for a while and has been recognized as the basis of a lot of pain and even disease processes. Typically the common course of action is to alleviate the “issue” with more chemicals that put our nervous system further out of balance. I wonder how many people have asked themselves why they are in an inflamed state? We know that pesticides, fungicides, artificial “foods” (man-made and not from/of nature) added sweeteners and dyes are all out of sync with our chemical design. So changing our foods to be of Nature and organically grown is to use food as medicine. It is also the first step towards loving, respecting and valuing self (Nature and Earth) and taking up the reins of personal responsibility to help in change of the health of All. Also well known is the pH of the body has a large bearing on the health of the cells. When our body becomes too acidic we become “ripe” for dis-ease, disease and basically a sick body. To have a sick body means that our mind and emotional state is also ailing.

Weight is about the mind! Well, everything begins in the mind; we have to become conscious of what we are thinking. Sometimes it is not easy to catch our thoughts but not to worry because our thoughts are going to show up in our language and in our actions. So there is no hiding what is going on inside of us and our level of consciousness.

our fundamental nature is not personal—it

2007-09-11T06:36:00.000-07:00

"What distinguishes faith in ourselves from conceit is the fact that conceit lays claim to specialness, while our fundamental nature is not personal—it's universal, it's shared. When we look at the Buddha or a great teacher, we can see our own potential for happiness, for vibrant wisdom and sustained compassion—a potential that all beings share. However, if we stop at faith in another, admiring him or her and overlooking ourselves, our faith remains incomplete."

I was thinking about the above passage of Sharon Salzberg and recognizing teachings of Kathy Oddenino…to “Know Thyself” as energy and matter. When we know who we are then we live our potential as a human through the patterns of the ethical values. The more we consciously live them the more they become us. This is living our expansive potential. We have to live them to learn them. I see our human potential as dynamic and expansive with no end to be had. This is exciting! When we know thyself we are “of self.” This is our shift in consciousness and we feel the internal buoyancy of love and know truth of the inseparability of All. When we are living “for self” we are self absorbed, egotistical and living out the external negative patterns of fear, untruth and inequality. When we are in this externalized space we live in a state of hunger for love and attempt to grab it from others any which way we can. We cant give away what we do not have.

While at a 3 day conference (Institute of Metaphysical Studies) we did an exercise of looking into another’s eyes. I was heart touched by this experience. I paired up with a woman closer to 80 than 70 years old and I felt my mind move as I saw the universality of us and it was at that moment that I recognized we are all one. It was, as Sharon Salzberg say…”…our fundamental nature is not personal---it’s universal.”

returning to blogging

2007-09-09T11:25:00.000-07:00

Hi,
I have returned to my old blog name as i had left it too long beween posts and i lost my access to it. However, the name was available so here i am again.
http://holisticweightlossandhealth.blogspot.com/ is the address of my other one and i may go between the two. You can also check out the website as well for more information www.healthischoice.com

it is good to be back.
Raewyn