February B 2018
Cover Story
Metaphysics
24
88
Linda Joy - Sacred Visibility
The Power of the Infinity Symbol We Are All Connected
Health & Wellness
94
36
Personal Growth
40 44
Are You At Risk For Autoimmune Disease? Using Energetic Techniques for Emotional Detoxing Understanding The Different Types of Integrative Medicine
Spirituality 50
The Real Meaning of Theism
OM Living 58 62 68
The Truth (and Untruth) about Mindfulness Feng Shui and Transgenderism Escalate Your Career as an Entrepreneur
Relationships 76 82
How To Survive Being Single On Valentine's Day 7 Steps to Help You Forget an Impossible Love
98
Getting Ahead by Doing Less 102 When Problems Persist. Are You Making Bad Choices? 106 3 Simple Exercises to Invite the Extraordinary Life
World Vision 118 Bringing Forth The Best In Our World
Books 118 SHINE!
VISIBILITY
™
How Healing Your Fears Helps You Shine Your Light BY LINDA JOY WITH DEBORAH KEVIN
Y
ou’re being called to shine your light and transform the world with your sacred gifts. It’s time to heed the call. As a heart-centered, mission-driven female entrepreneur, coach, author, therapist, or healer you are being called to embrace your fear of visibility so you can shine your light, attract your aligned clients, and create transformation in the lives of those you are here to serve.
Now more than ever, the world needs us.
“IT IS OUR LIGHT, NOT OUR DARKNESS THAT FRIGHTENS US.” – Marianne Williamson This excerpt from one of my favorite Marianne Williamson quotes says it all, “It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us.” This rings true for my journey as an entrepreneur and with my private clients and authors. Many entrepreneurs—and I’ve been there— are afraid to be SEEN! They are afraid to be VULNERABLE! They are afraid to be AUTHENTIC! They are afraid to SHINE! As I’m sure you’ve discovered, you can’t create transformation in the lives of those you’re called to serve if you keep your brand, your offerings, and your sacred message in the shadows—and if you keep your authentic self, sacred energy, and intent separate from your heart-centered brand.
It’s Time to Embrace Your Fears of Visibility Courageously As uncomfortable as it can be, we each need to do the deep inner work to heal the stories, wounds, and false beliefs that keep us from stepping fully into Sacred Visibility™ with our message. As the Bestselling Publisher and Visibility Catalyst for a sacred community of heartcentered female entrepreneurs, I am
blessed to serve the most extraordinary private visibility and marketing clients in the personal development genre—from emerging entrepreneurs to six-and-seven figure business owners. These visionaries continue to amaze and inspire me by their dedication to embracing their fears courageously, and continually stretching themselves by stepping into a more visible role in their business—even when it’s uncomfortable. It has been through my work with these courageous souls over the last six years, as well as the two-hundred-plus female authors that I’ve published through the Inspired Living Publishing sacred anthology division, that I discovered the stories, wounds, and false beliefs that arise when entrepreneurs step into an expanded level of visibility— what I define as Sacred Visibility™.
What is Sacred Visibility™? Sacred Visibility™
is the merging of your authentic voice, soul’s essence, vulnerability, and intention into your business and messaging, and into all of the physical manifestations of your visibility endeavors (blogging, writing speaking, etc.).
Sacred Visibility™
asks that you bring your full essence into all that you do. It lovingly requires, and gently nudges, you to show up fully in your business, projects, and relationships by embracing your spiritual truth and trusting that you are here to shine and illuminate the path for others—even when you can’t see the full path ahead of you. ™ When you step into Sacred Visibility, you commit to no longer hiding, no longer playing small, and no longer allowing your inner chatter to run the show.
ARE YOU AT RISK FOR AN AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE? By Kristin Grayce McGary LAc., MAc., CFMP®, CSTcert, CLP.
50 million Americans suffer from autoimmune diseases costing almost 100 million dollars a year. It’s a growing number. And while you may believe that you’re healthy, eat well and “never get sick” you could have autoimmunity – a prediagnosable disease state. Any autoimmune disease always begins with autoimmunity – where the body’s immune response attacks healthy cells Omtimes.com
and tissues, glands and organs eventually manifesting into a full-blown disease. Put simply, the body has misidentified a part of itself as a foreign invader and mistakenly attacks it. According to John Hopkins University’s Autoimmune Disease Research Center, autoimmune diseases are a special threat to women. Indeed, more than 75% of their patients are women.1 Sadly, autoimmune diseases are among the ten leading causes of death among women in all age groups up to the age of 65.2 I’ve had an autoimmune disease called Hoshimotos Thyroiditis. About 90% of all thyroid disorders are actually autoimmune issues but they are left misdiagnosed or undiagnosed until such extensive damage is done to the thyroid gland that it’s difficult to fully recover. I suffered for years before I discovered what was really going on. I needn’t have suffered and I can help you to protect yourself from autoimmunity by passing along some of the knowledge I have accumulated.
Conventional medicine practiced in the West has few answers for those suffering from autoimmune issues and there’s little sight of a cure. It has been my experience that autoimmunity and full-blown autoimmune diseases are symptoms of deeper issues. Allopathic medicine tends to focus on relieving symptoms rather than getting to the root cause of the problem. From my point of view, autoimmune issues, such as allergies, food sensitivities, digestive issues, foggy thinking, exhaustion, weight gain, repeated infections, even cancer are red flags. Clearly, as far as I am concerned, they point to a dysfunctional immune system. And that can lead to any one of a number of crippling autoimmune diseases such as MS, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. “Never getting sick”, may seem to you like a good thing. That you’re doing OK. But it could very well be the complete opposite and a sign of an under active immune system – it may even be the beginning of an autoimmune disease. It takes a well-regulated, strong, and balanced immune system to create a fever and kill a bunch of bad bugs that Omtimes.com
Using Energetic Techniques for Emotional Detoxing We often hear about detoxing our physical bodies. It is usually a 2 - 7-day process that we undertake to help the body to rid itself of toxins and impurities that tend to slow our natural cleansing processes down.
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But, how often do we think about doing an emotional detox? Our emotions are a fine-tuned, well-balanced set of processes, which are not only chemically induced, but mentally charged. To fully appreciate this, one must learn to view the body as a vast energy field with positive and negative poles. *Remember: “Energy follows thought.� The imagery of visualization is very powerful! As your client breathes, you may tell them to be inhaling and exhaling through the energy points. This will charge the aura, Chakra and energy centers and surrounding organs with vital energy.
Here is a list of energetic techniques to help in our emotional detox: 1. While meditating, you may choose to have them visualize the corresponding color of each energy point saturating and balancing each part of their body. 2. You may utilize the vibrational power of sound or
music during your session. The body will enhance a positive, reconnecting flow of energy, which will allow your or your client to bring up, recognize and clear emotional blocks. 3. Remember the power of scent can be used to enhance the experience. Use essential oil on the pulse points or diffuse it into the air. Burn soothing incense or one of the many sacred herbs such as sage, cedar, or lavender. 4. Use Reiki energy, qigong or breath work to increase your healing session and helping yourself or the client to prepare themselves to step back into the real world with less tension, stress, and apprehension. 5. Give a compelling prayer or affirmation, one that will empower your patient to move forward. 6. Acupuncture has shown to be very helpful for dealing with symptoms that pop up, as well as boosting the immune system, improving circulation, stimulating Omtimes.com
The Real Meaning of Theism By Cathedral of the Soul
Theism is a philosophical concept that defends the existence of gods or superior divine entities that would have been responsible for the creation of the Universe and all the things that exist in it. What is Theism and what it means to your concept of Divinity? Theism supports simultaneously the idea of the ​​ existence of only One God (monotheism) or several gods (polytheism). Despite the statement of belief, it is not Omtimes.com
considered a type of religion. This concept limits itself to classifying only that which is related to the existence of gods. Theology, on the other hand, is a discipline that is born and is based on the concept of theism.
Theistic philosophy began to be propagated from the seventeenth century by the English philosopher and theologian Ralph Cudworth (1617 - 1688). Its emergence came to oppose atheistic, deist1 and pantheistic movements.
One can divide theism into Monotheism (belief in one God); Polytheism (belief in various gods); and Henotheism (belief in several gods, one being supreme to all). In this way, the theists are formed both by Christians (Monotheists), believing in only one God; and by Pagans (Polytheists), who believe in various gods. Hinduism is not necessarily a Polytheistic religion as they believe in one God, that has infinite ways to manifest itself.
The main characteristic of theism is the strengthening of the idea of the existence of a single God, omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent, and transcending all things existing in the Universe.
The word “theism” originated from the Greek Theos, which literally means “god.” Consequently, we can easily say that the concept of theism is directly opposed to that of Atheism, which does not believe in the existence of any kind of divinity. “The whole war between the atheist and the theist comes down to this: the atheist believes a ‘what’ created the universe; the theist believes a ‘who’ created the universe.” –Criss Jami, Killosophy
Open Theism It is a religious practice where some of God’s leading characteristics are removed: Qualities such as omnipresence, omnipotence, and omniscience. This line of thought is also known as “the theology of openness” or “ The openness of God.” From the so-called Theological Process, followers of open theism claim that the primary Creator or creative deity (God) does not have the ability to know of the future. In this way, it causes you to continually change your mind about your actions, according to the unfolding of events. Thus, for open theism, God can know all that is possible to be known, however, because it is Omtimes.com
The Truth (and Untruth) about Mindfulness by Linda Bloom
Mindfulness can provide a direct path to the experience that we desire. Those who believe that being mindful is blissful will inevitably be disappointed. Since being mindful is about
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being present with one’s experience, whatever that may be at any given moment, the range of possibilities of what can show up is infinite. Being complete isn’t necessarily synonymous with feeling right; it is merely about showing up and being at one with whatever is present in our field of experience now. “Mindfulness is not something that is only done in the meditation hall; it is also done in the kitchen, in the garden, when we are on the telephone when we are driving a car when we are doing the dishes.” –Thich Nhat Hanh Mindfulness has become a popular subject. Time magazine, an icon of mainstream American culture, featured a cover article on mindfulness. According to the article, all kinds of people, particularly celebrities, are engaging in this practice with surprising results. “Surprising” perhaps for those who haven’t been practicing mindfulness, but not for those who have been.
What may be surprising is that mindfulness is not so much a form of meditation that one engages in with eyes closed and legs crossed on a zafu (pillow) once or twice a day, but it is a way of being in which we experience clear awareness of our momentto-moment experience with a non-judging attitude. While to the uninitiated, this may seem simple; but simple isn’t necessarily easy. Learning How to Stay Present Since the mind tends to jump from one object of attention to another, we are subject to distractions. When this happens, we can feel fragmented and incomplete. What is missing is a sense of wholeness. Because we are not entirely present with our experience, there is a strong tendency to look for something or someone that will provide us with what we need to feel whole. When we experience a sense of wholeness, there is a feeling of being at one with the world, being at peace, lacking
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Feng Shui and Transgenderism by Kartar Diamond
At the heart of Feng Shui and all of Chinese metaphysics, we have the symbolism of the Yin-Yang, often called the Tai Chi symbol. The swirling black and white coding represent the masculine and feminine principle, with a notion that nothing is all masculine or Omtimes.com
all feminine, like the ratio of male and female hormones which exist in each human being. But we also have definitive chromosomal markers which identify us as male or female, even with quite a range of outward appearances or behaviors.
It is the ratio of yin to yang, which characterizes all that we are and what is around us. The Sun is characterized as yang or in the masculine category, and the moon is classified as yin, the feminine category. These distinctions go on and on, but they are also in a constant state of flux, just as night gives way to a day or “young” eventually turns into “old.” In one of the very first feng shui classes I ever taught, a student came up to me afterward to ask me a question. Part of the class had been devoted to one branch of Feng Shui called the East-West School, or the Eight Mansion School (as in the 8 basic directions). In that style of Feng Shui, distinctions are made between males and females born in the same year. For example, a man born in 1963 would be characterized as an east type person and a woman born in 1963 would be characterized as a west type person, with a unique order to their best and worst personal directions. I happen to no longer make that distinction between male and female trigrams, but it is a big part of modern-day feng shui practices. So much
so, that I make a big deal out of it, explaining to clients and students why I don’t practice that anymore. From that signature energy for the year of birth, unfolds all kinds of information about best sleeping direction, best entrance direction, best workstation position and even best house type orientation. It is very interesting, but also very rigid and I only offer up Eight Mansion advice to clients as long as it does not contradict or interfere with the other styles of Feng Shui, which I value more. In my current practice, if you are born in a certain year, you are the same trigram (also called a personal gua) whether male or female, in the same way, that if you are born in the year of the Rooster, you are a Rooster whether male or female. But back in 1992, I was also following along with the still-popular system which gives a woman a different personal trigram than a man born the same year. The student asked me, “Is my personal trigram based on my gender at birth?” Back then, we didn’t refer to the person as transgender. We Omtimes.com
Escalate Your Career as an Entrepreneur By Maria Khalife
Some experts say that entrepreneurs are born with an entrepreneurial spoon in their mouths. Others say, the skills to become an entrepreneur can be taught
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and learned. Entrepreneurs have courage because their unique way of solving life’s problems are sometimes labeled “crazy” by naysayers. Looking back through history, we seldom recall the names of the finger pointers. We only remember the success of the “crazy” entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs don’t work from “inside the box.” They step out of the box, and then they shred the box! They are groundbreakers, risk takers, and definitely non-traditional thinkers. In addition to their thinking up unusual, non-conventional ideas, entrepreneurs put their ideas to work. They create un-thought-of-before opportunities, they design unique solutions, and they don’t accept “No” for an answer. They are about improvement and forward progress. Consider adopting the entrepreneurial mindset
in your current career to make improvements, make your co-worker’s tasks more manageable, and make the client base more satisfied with your product or service. If you haven’t considered this approach before, it could become the basis for a significant escalation in your career and the fabulous feeling of being in full charge at your work. If you can adopt the “I am a problem-solving entrepreneur,” you’ll start looking at today’s same-o some-o with brand new eyes. Your level of comfort and contribution will go up in the job you’re doing now, and you’ll enjoy a new sense of fulfillment as never before. You’ll begin to be noticed, and you’ll recognize this unique force for good is the entrepreneurial power at work creating your next step forward. Instead of living with the
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7 steps to Help you forget an Impossible Love By AscendingHearts
Forgetting an impossible love is not an easy task. We call it Impossible that love that can never become a stable relationship, or that one that ends before it has begun or matured. It is these types of love interest that give birth to the most profound mourning, and sometimes they are the most difficult to forget. It is paradoxical because, if they did not finally flourish, in theory, Omtimes.com
they should not give rise to inflict so many sufferings, but they do. The more practical people tend to do not complicate their life with an impossible love. When they realize that there are no conditions to build or maintain the bonds of love, they immediate accept and put an end to it in time. But most of us, on the other hand, find it very difficult to give up the
expectations, illusions or dreams that have been created around that problematic relationship. For us, the feeling is stronger than the evidence of its unfeasibility. One way or another, an impossible love is not an easy one to forget. It leaves profound marks, precisely because it was not lived or worn until the moment when it was necessary to renounce it: the idealization was not broken. But while you do not forget everything, you can process that feeling and set it aside to move on. Here are 7 tips to achieve this goal. “Love is like a war, easy to start, difficult to finish, impossible to forget.” -Henry Louis Mencken1. Define to yourself what makes this love an impossible love There is a big difference between a challenging or conflicted love and an impossible love. The latter cannot exist. The most typical case, and also the one involving the most emotional difficulties, is that of someone who loves and is not reciprocated. It may be more accurate to say that one person loves and needs another, but this
other does not feel the same. True love is always two. Of course, you can try to win someone who shows no interest in a beginning. At the same time, it is also important to understand that there is a point where it is necessary to accept that the investment has no future. The same applies to other impossibilities that usually have this same element in common: one wants, and the other does not. If there is no mutual feeling, there is no viability. 2. Examine your fantasies about love It is very common that the difficulty in renouncing an impossible love comes from some fantasies that have settled down in the culture. For example, the “half orange” or the “love of life.” From these imaginaries comes the idea that there is only one person “predestined” to be our partner. 3. Recognize the negative aspects of this relationship Passion, not love, quickly leads us to idealize people and situations. Sometimes we project into them virtues and attributes that they do not really have, or that they only possess in a modest measure. Omtimes.com
The Power of the Infinity Symbol By Barbara Heider-Rauter
What is the infinity sign really about? There was a time when knowledge of the power of symbols was the preserve of initiates only, and it was passed on in secret. The infinity sign, or lemniscate, is one such fascinating symbol and produces its power regardless
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of whether we believe in it or not. In this article, you will discover how it has been used in many different cultures and how we can make use of this powerful symbol today. Let us immerse ourselves in the magical world of ancient symbols. I wonder, will we feel its force straight away? We all know what the infinity symbol – the sign that represents the immeasurable and the boundless – looks like, but very few of us know what power it holds. It has been highly prized for centuries, used for protection and the bringing of harmony and balance to opposing entities in many cultures. The band across the forehead of Egyptian pharaohs bore the image of a snake in the shape of figure eight. It was also the number of Thoth, the Egyptian god of the Laws and of wisdom and magic. In Indian cultures, we see the infinity symbol in depictions of Kundalini energy and in the staffs carried by Hermes and Asclepius. From a spiritual perspective, eight is the number of the
initiate – those who have transcended the seven stages of awakening and passed through the seven heavens. Eight is the number linked with the power of resurrection and regeneration, symbolizing happiness and paradise regained. In Chinese tradition, it represents wealth and prosperity and is used in Feng Shui to arrange living spaces harmoniously. The infinity sign is also within us, in our very cells and the basic structure of our genes. It is in the double helix of the strands of our DNA, a continuous chain of figures-of-eight. How can we make conscious use of the infinity symbol? How can this powerful and dynamic symbol help us in our daily lives? I suggest that when we feel the need for something, for example, greater richness and serenity in our lives, we can draw an infinity symbol and inscribe these two words in each of the loops. A single loop can contain more than one concept. The lemniscate will bring dynamism and balance to whatever is important or of
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Get ting Ahead by Doing Less Carl Greer, PhD, PsyD
If technology makes you feel you have to be on call twentyfour hours a day, and your To Do list keeps expanding no matter how much you accomplish, you may need to learn the lesson of being less Omtimes.com
productive. The harder you work to get ahead, the more you may fall behind. Then, your stress can intensify. In response, you can start to panic and work harder when what you most need to do is slow down and consider the bigger picture. Getting ahead by doing less is a possibility you might not have thought about. Even if you feel you are multitasking well and getting a lot done, reducing your activities for a while can be the best way to make you more productive. Take a break so you can reconnect to your feelings and spend time being contemplative. Just sitting or walking alone in a natural area, observing all that is around you, can help you remember universal truths that are easy to forget in the hustle and bustle every day: Things go in cycles, and there are times for activity and times for rest.
While we tend to focus on what is dying or being lost, something new is always being born or coming in. Nothing in nature works in isolation. Different plants and animals support each other, working together collaboratively. As you consider the truths in nature, you might start to discover ways you can do less. Maybe you can let some tasks go and ask people to help you complete projects you are having trouble finishing on your own. What activities can you say good-bye to? You might start reducing your To Do list by letting go of whatever you find draining rather than energizing. Watch the flow of a river and consider the flow of your life. Observe the changing light at sunset and connect with your feelings about no longer engaging
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3 Simple Exercises to Invite the Extraordinary Life By Guy Finley I can think of no greater encouragement than the self-evident Truth that there dwells in each of us the opportunity to explore and know the Extraordinary Life. The meaning of Extraordinary I wish to convey points to the
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immutable and inexhaustible source that is the secret center of each of us: a timeless resource open and available to anyone who would seek this Life that sits behind life as we know it. Will we spend our lives in mere dreams of winning a limitless life, or will we do the inner- work of awakening from this dream? Choosing the Extraordinary Life begins with our conscious work to realize it, which the following special practices help to ensure. 1. Let Nagging Questions Go Unanswered: In stressful moments, listen to what life is trying to tell you about you instead of searching anxiously for familiar answers to make life feel “right” again. All fearful, doubt-filled moments are secret reflections of what we have yet to understand about life and ourselves, not life’s rejection of us or our wish for happiness. Choose to go consciously quiet whenever there is a riot in you. Refuse to take part in the search to
repair what you fear may be coming undone. Let go and watch what happens when you consciously sacrifice the fear-filled self. This new action allows the Extraordinary Life to enter into you where its presence alone proves that all is well. 2. Don’t Make the Rescue Call: In times of anxiety and fear, we almost always call upon someone or something to help us get through our stress. This dependency on others for strength not only weakens our soul, but also steals from it the possibility of being educated by the Extraordinary Life, which means we miss two major lessons. First, the crucial lesson that all our fears are based upon false evidence that appears real. With this revelation comes our second realization that the same frightened self that seeks rescue secretly confirms its imagined condition as being real each time it cries out for help. Refusing to rescue
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