September 1, 2003

From the Inside Out
CHOICES AND RESISTANCE

The Universal Law that resistance creates more resistance is one of the simplest Laws, and yet one of the most difficult for us, as humans, to incorporate into our pattern of thinking. A large portion of the manifestation process for achieving our desires depends upon the choices we make. One of the choices, in order to successfully manifest, is the choice to not resist the way in which the Universe fills our needs.

For thousands of years Earth has served as the place where we, as humans, learn about free will. Our egos and personalities have been the tools we use to make choices. Now, with the opportunity to express more (or all) of Soul, it becomes necessary for us to learn how to teach our egos and personalities to merge with Soul, to the degree that all aspects of "Self" desire the same thing. This is a process, I've found.

One of the key "ingredients" is surrender. The term "surrender" has been batted around for a long time, people looking for an explanation and, perhaps, a "boundary." How far, how much, does a person need to surrender? The question doesn't really have an answer. There are no limits to what might be asked of us as we stand with one foot in one reality and one foot in the other. What is necessary is an absolute and total surrender to anything and everything that may or may not be beyond our imagination. What must be primary in our intention and awareness, while we are in the process of creating a new reality, is that we are in partnership with the Divine Source.

Using visualization techniques to "train" your mind, your ego, and your personality to adapt to the easy and natural (and fulfilling) flow of Universal energy is an excellent way to begin the process of incorporating your Soul's energy and wisdom into your present-day life. Visualize your goals and dreams being fulfilled by and through Universal means. The world/reality that we have lived in has had a base made up of limitations. The world/reality that we are NOW incorporating into our reality, has NO limitations and draws exclusively upon Universal energy, not upon the present or historical energy of Earth's reality. Containing, encapsulating, predicting, or otherwise confining the goals you hope to reach, and the means by which you reach them, disallows your Soul's interaction and wisdom in creating exactly what you need.

The Soul, in union with existence, has no resistance to how our physical lives play out. The Soul understands that we are creating an "illusion" in order to learn and understand how existence/creation works. There is no judgment and no restriction, from the Soul level, upon how the Universe fulfills our needs. And … the primary need that we have, but do not always acknowledge when we are not thinking with Soul, is the accomplishment of the wisdom we can gain from this physical expression of life.

Resistance is created when we form judgments about our experiences. We decide what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is bad, what we want and what we do not want. Our judgments are limitations that we place on the Universe and the free energy expression of our Soul attempting to gain wisdom.

Throughout history, humankind has used pain and suffering to learn. Now we are being given the opportunity to learn through enlightenment. As we let go of our "training" (the belief that achieving wisdom in this 3-D reality has to be through pain), we accept that we, as Souls, have achieved wisdom enough to begin learning in a different way. The level of surrender and non-resistance that is being asked of us, by our Souls, is an absolute trust that we are Soul in union with the Divine.

As we allow the healing to continue, as we reach for the star that we are, as we express the highest aspects of Self, our world/reality will continually change. Resisting change or forming opinions about how the Universe can best serve us and give us what we need causes delay and frustration. Having faith that we will be led by Soul and will be served by the Universe, will give us inner peace. In every moment miracles will be seen, for there are no restrictions on what can and will occur as our Souls create this new reality on our horizon. Without resistance, allowing the imagined separations to heal within us, we will manifest a reality based solely upon our Soul's needs. After all … that was the original Plan.

~ Visit Lauren Zimmerman.com
and www.EnlightPress.com

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Yes You Can!
EASE END-OF-LIFE DESPAIR

Having a sense of spiritual well-being — or an understanding of the meaning and purpose of life, regardless of religion — appears to help terminally ill people avoid spending their last months of life in despair, according to a recent report. Among people with less than three months to live, US investigators found that those with a strong sense of spiritual well-being were less likely than others to feel hopeless, want to die or consider suicide.

Patients who were depressed only tended to want to die if they also had a low sense of spiritual well-being. In contrast, those with a strong sense of spirituality did not wish for a hastened death, regardless of whether they were also depressed.

The current findings suggest that providing patients with a strong sense of spiritual well-being may enable them to avoid spending their last days in despair, according to the authors. 'Spiritual well-being is a really crucial, central aspect of how you cope with death,' study author Dr. Barry Rosenfeld of Fordham University in New York told Reuters Health.

While 'meaning-centered' therapy might also help patients who are not terminally ill, this type of assistance could be critical during the last months of life, Rosenfeld noted. 'It may be more important as you get older and closer to death, and have a more reflective perspective on life,' he said.

Numerous studies have suggested that spirituality can ease the blow from a host of difficulties, including a diagnosis of breast cancer, the death of a loved one, and even arthritis.

To study whether spirituality helps protect against the depression, despair, and hopelessness that can appear in patients told they have only a short while to live, Rosenfeld and his colleagues interviewed 160 patients with a life expectancy of less than three months. The researchers questioned patients about a number of aspects of their well-being, including depression, hopelessness, suicidal thoughts, whether they believed they were receiving social support, their symptoms and the state of their physical functioning.

Spirituality was measured in two ways: meaning, defined as the extent to which patients felt inner peace, and faith, which addressed the comfort and strength they got from their religious beliefs. Patients who expressed a strong sense of either type of spirituality were less likely than those with low spiritual well-being to show symptoms of end-of-life despair, the authors report.

In an interview, Rosenfeld said he would like to see health workers incorporate more psychological and spiritual elements into palliative care, which originally concentrated only on physical comfort during the last days of life.

He added that even patients with only a few months to live can respond to efforts to help them glean meaning and value from their lives, and it may never be too late to try. 'I think you can gain something up until the very end,' Rosenfeld said

~Allison McCook, REUTERSHealth.com

Photo: B. Carmichael. Lonely Planet

Ethiopia, often misunderstood as a dry, barren country devoid of flora and fauna, is in fact a land that has much to offer. Some 25 million years ago, Mother Nature decided to split Ethiopia into two diagonal halves. This continental crack, which is visible even from space, is named the Great Rift Valley. Wide flowing rivers, including the famous Blue Nile and its breathtaking Falls near Bahar Dar, feed the land. Naturally, such diverse landscapes provide an inexhaustible variety of habitats for a myriad of different life forms, among which include some 103 mammalian and 800 avian species. Of the 7,000 native plant species in Ethiopia, one in particular is relished by millions around the world — coffee. Coffee arabica has its humble origin in the Kaffa region of Ethiopia.

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Fascinating Facts
DENTAL CARE AIDS PET LONGEVITY

Taking care of a pet's teeth not only can give the animal a better quality of life, it also can lead to longer life. "Twenty years ago, dogs died at around age 10 but they now live to age 14 to 15," Steve Thompson, director of the Pet Wellness Clinic at the Purdue University School of Veterinary Medicine, in West Lafayette, Ind., told United Press International. "That's a 50 percent increase in a relatively short period of time, and the reason for it is better nutrition, better medical care and better dental care."

Just as in humans, a tooth cavity or tooth trauma can result in an infection that can spread out from the root of the tooth to the bones supporting the tooth. A painful toothache can result, the pulp of the tooth dies, but the infection remains active and continues to spread and destroy tissue, Thompson said.

"Cats are more prone to dental caries (cavities) and dogs are more prone to a tooth fracture or trauma, that can result in an infection," said Charles Williams of The Animal Dental Clinic in Vienna, Va. "By brushing when the plague is still soft, the rate of tartar is reduced and there is evidence to suggest that with less calcification of the tartar, there is less periodontitis." Plaque and tartar, also known as calculus, accumulate at the base of the teeth, especially in the back and sides where it can't be seen, Williams said. The plaque contains bacteria and infection is more likely to develop spreading from the gums to the ligaments and bone that support the teeth. This loss of support causes the teeth to become loose and eventually fall out.

"Changing the behavior of animals, to accept teeth brushing, and the behavior of the owner to do pet teeth brushing is key to developing good oral hygiene," Williams said. "If an owner did brush a pet's teeth every few days, that would be great. It's most effective if it becomes a habit and not just an occasional thing."

"Since animals are so good at hiding pain, a dog can have a fractured tooth or an abscessed molar and we the owners might not notice, but it could manifest itself as a behavioral problem," said Gary Burt, a veterinarian at the Animal Care Clinic in Oxford, Ohio.. "If an animal abruptly changes behavior, having a veterinarian check its teeth for problems could save both pet and owner a lot of grief."

~Alex Cukan, UPI, Reprinted from ArcaMax.com

Who was the first (and last) emperor of the US?

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Laughing It Off
SAD S.A.T.s

The following questions and answers were collated from SAT tests given in 2002 to 16-year-old students!

Q: How can you delay milk turning sour?
A: Keep it in the cow.

Q: Name the four seasons.
A: Salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar.

Q: Explain a process by which water can be made safe to drink.
A: Flirtation makes water safe to drink because it removes sand, dead sheep and large pollutants like grit, canoeists.

Q: How is dew formed?
A: The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire.

Q: What is a planet?
A: A body of earth surrounded by sky.

Q: What causes the tides in the oceans?
A: The tides are a fight between the Earth and the Moon. All water tends to flow towards the moon, because there is no water on the moon, and nature abhors a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins in this fight.

Q: What are steroids?
A: Things for keeping carpets still on the stairs.

Q: What happens to your body as you age?
A: When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental.

Q: Name a major disease associated with cigarettes.
A: Premature death.

Q: How are the main parts of the body categorized? (E.g.,abdomen)
A: The body is consisted into three parts -- the brainium, the borax and the abdominal cavity. The brainium contains the brain, the borax contains the heart and lungs, and the abdominal cavity contains the five bowels, A,E, I, O and U.

Q: What is the Fibula?
A: A small lie.

Q: What does "varicose" mean?
A: Nearby.

Q: Give the meaning of the term "Caesarian Section."
A: The caesarian section is a district in Rome.

Q: What is a terminal illness?
A: When you are like sick at the airport

Q: Give an example of a fungus. What is a characteristic feature?
A: Mushrooms. They always grow in damp places and so they look like umbrellas.

~Contributed by Ellie in Albuquerque, New Mexico

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Photo: AFP

3/4 inch long Kihansi spray toad...
was helped by millions in World Bank cash to win its battle for survival against the electricity needs of a developing nation. After water was diverted to a hydro-electrical generating plant in Kihansi Gorge, in the Udzungwa Mountains, the toad's population plummeted to around 1,200. When Tanzania's power generator Tanesco reduced the output from the hydro plant to allow spraying of the habitat a couple of years ago, farmers in surrounding arable land were taught efficient irrigation techniques to minimize water wastage."The population size of the spray toads appears to be returning to the October 2000 levels," says Wilfred Sarunday, head of the project to save the protected amphibian, also known as Nectophrynoides asperginis. ~AnimalPlanet.com