Maryam’s Holiday Hooray, Shiny Presents
Included, Loads ‘o Wisdom Winter News

CONTENTS
* Holiday Gratitude & New Direction
* Solstice (OMG!) Call Replay, Gifts & Rocky Roads
* French Ingenuity, Transparency Redux & My Motley Past
* Busy Women: Freebies For The Tired & Time-Starved Family
* Transformation Tool: EVOLUTIONARY ENVIRONMENTS
* Availability Pledge, Jaw Surgery & Are We Connected?
* Old Family Recipes: Organic, Gluten-Free Yuletide Wassail Bowl

Welcome To The Party…

This is my WHACKIN’ HUGE LOAD OF PRIMO CONTENT, tons’a prezzies, and catch-up letter for the year.

There’s some interesting stuff in here – teeth video, mom’s meal planners, transformers, my motley past, a commentary on gurus and a whole basket of yuletide g’ifts & goodness. Check the index above for juice-factor!

A very Merry Christmas and Solstice this week to you. I wanted to give you yuletide greetings while also telling you how very much I appreciate you.

I am deeply grateful for everyone who is tuned into the Now, and interested in raising consciousness on the planet like I know you are. At least, if you’re hip to joining this community, I hope you’re into waking up the planet and spreading a wave of consciousness throughout the world. We’re going to be doing a lot of that in 2010 together, so get ready – fun times ahead!

Oh by the way, I should mention that in this last year I’ve taken off to rest, reflect, refresh and retool, my business has changed a good deal. I’m not ready to say much more until after New Year’s, but Consciousness-bringing is definitely the direction. More later on that

*** FREE Replay of The Solstice World Transformation Ritual & Rocky Roads Ahead ***

We had an amazing time Monday during the exact time of Winter Solstice, doing a ritual of clearing out the old, bringing in the desired and learning how each of our lives is sacred and how we are all priest/esses in our lives. I’m not using that as a religious term, but a spiritual one, for we are all here as teachers and students of each other.

We had five beautiful Priestesses of Dawn attend us with blessings of sacredness & joy which I can’t begin to put into words. You should hear theirs – I’m offering the replay and the TEN different gifts we put together into a “Make 2010 The Year You REALLY SHINE” package.

It’s awesome-sauce! And available for replay to soak up those wonderful lessons & techniques, if you let me know your opinion on some really important issues:

http://bit.ly/SolsticeGiftReplay

I’m committed to serving you so much better in 2010 than I have in the past. There may be some rocky roads ahead for our planet, and some big changes for us as human beings. I’m stepping up in service of supporting and forearming people like you through those changes, with a magic bag full of easily learnable tools to help you accomplish that Big Mission of yours.

That’s one of my most cherished 2010 goals.

But to do that, I need you to tell me what YOU really want and need to have happen in your life this year.

I know that time is precious and valuable. So I’m willing to make it worth your time – there’s a bunch of goodness waiting for you at the end of this rainbow:

http://bit.ly/SolsticeGiftReplay

Thanks – it will help SO much!

From the Blog: French Ingenuity, Transparency & My Motley Past

An absolutely amazing video of French students doing stop-motion chair dance shows us a new Bliss Key: Cheerful Cooperation. When you engage this Bliss Key, the Bliss Blocker it unlocks is twofold:

1) The Need To Be Right – those who need to be right are rarely happy
2) Self-Isolation, leading to depression

Great winter blues cure here: http://bit.ly/CheerfulCooperation

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Transparency, Gurus, Gory Details & Telling Secrets – trending topics over at the blog and ’round about the web since the James Arthur Ray sweatlodge deaths. This is part of that discussion:

Transparency, translucence, living a conscious life – or whatever you call it, is not only the birthright and destiny of every human, but also our responsibility to the future. Our choices are essential, each one important, even east or west, choosing paper, plastic or bring-your-own, choosing to remain conscious in the face of frightening and destructive acts of unspeakable evil, or parking a block away.

We bear witness.

We choose with our intention and our energy the best and most evolutionary choices we can possibly make given our individual situation. Only we can make that choice, no one can do it for us. It’s called taking personal responsibility and it’s a Rubicon we all have to cross at some point in adult life to become fully human.

And we know that while (often intensely) impactful, our situation is not personal. Such a situation or lesson, if we choose to see it this way, is given to billions. Lessons are 100% Universal.

Thinking further on this brought me to the universals in how humans encode their experience that created The ETHOS Method.

What else is Universal? Living life asleep. And the ability to wake up, will do for a start. Spread the Wave – Consciousness will set you free. Really.

More on transparency and my motley past here: http://bit.ly/transparencysecrets

Here is the original post: http://bit.ly/translucentadvantage

And how to stay Unlimited: http://bit.ly/keepunlimitedstate

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The post that’s really got folks buzzing, on spiritual abusers in our midst, offer of abuse-prevention how-to and some details of my er, motley past – comment stream is also worth a read:

http://bit.ly/resurrectingthepast

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Head’s Up Moms: FREEBIES For The Tired & Time-Starved Family

Moms especially will love this collection of f’ree downloadable organizer pages for your day, week, month and year. Three whole pages, about eighteen different forms in all to print and help organize the chaos of an active family! There’s a fall cleaning checklist, the “Eat Sheet” for a week’s worth of meals, a weekly family calendar, baby’s schedule, infant babysitter checklist and more. You don’t even have to sign up, just download:

http://www.mommytracked.com/downloads

There’s more of the same (only different) over at http://www.cozi.com/ too. Check ‘em both out!

Transformation Tool: EVOLUTIONARY ENVIRONMENTS

One of the evolutionary environments I indulge in frequently is
my back garden. From the covered deck, I can observe wildlife and
rejoice in my fur-daughters’ play. I love it, and it evolves me
uniquely well.

http://bit.ly/greengardenafternoon

This is a Mellowvision vid for you to relax to. I like making panoramas as turning in place is fun. Now you see what I see every afternoon. I’m out there rain or shine, it’s a must for mental health.

Enjoy!

Availability Pledge, Jaw Surgery & Are We Connected?

I pledge to be more available to you in 2010. For one thing, I’ll be making lots of videos from now on. I’ve gone a bit video nutty really, as I’ve used my Flip Mino to exhaustion and happen to know Santa is dropping off a Kodak zi8.

(will it be aqua or raspberry? dunno…the Bear wouldn’t tell)

Of interest is the fact that in the new year I’ll be having jaw surgery. Not cosmetic, apparently I have really strong bones (a good thing since Mom had osteoporosis) and they’re crowding my teeth too much – several teeth need to be reseated in the jaw. Yuck, yuck, yuck. It’ll be gnarly, but I’ll be documenting this and how I’m dealing with discomfort. We’ll be doing a pain management class next year.

Interested in learning to get rid of pain? Again, let me know here:

http://bit.ly/SolsticeGiftReplay

And I’m going to be offering ways in which we can easily talk together about what’s important in 2010. A few are available right now, and the team is hard at work developing more. Are we connected? I’d love it if you’d Friend me on:

Facebook: http://facebook.com/maryamwebster
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/maryamwebster
Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/maryamwebster

Old Family Recipes for Yule: Wassail Bowl

“Wassail and wassail all over the town,
Our Cup it is white and your ale it is brown…”

– Gloucester Wassail, arr. English Traditional

Wassail is a contraction of the old Anglo-Saxon phrase “wes thu hal” meaning “To Your Health”. And of course, the traditional toasting beverage of  this  “best time of the year”  ~ which in this case is a non-alcoholic hot apple cider punch we serve for the winter holidays. It is never served any other time of the year. You can twiddle the ingredients about a bit, Graines of Paradise may be hard to come by but you can substitute pink or green peppercorns or just leave it out.

Want to up the octane? Add a full bottle of mead (honey wine), barleywine or even a crisp  chardonnay to the mix, or a shot of Applejack to each mug.

To two gallons apple cider add:

15 dried dates
20 dried apple rings
1 orange cut into thin slices w/peel left on
1 lemon cut into thin slices w/peel left on
3 cinnamon sticks, whole
1tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1″ fresh ginger, sliced thin

Handful each:
Mixed dried fruit bits
Dried Cranberries
Dried Cherries

Large pinch each:
Whole coriander seed
Whole cardmom pod, well crushed
Whole cloves
Cinnamon chips or small pieces

Small pinch each:
Allspice berries
Damascena rose petals or 1tbsp rose water
Dried barberries (can substitute 1tsp lemon juice + tbsp raisins)
Graines of paradise (or pink or green peppercorns)

Add:
1/4 – 1/2 cup brown sugar or blue agave or maple syrup, to taste

Crush all the spices and add to the cider and fruits in a large stainless steel or enameled pan. Simmer until volume is reduced by a third. When cooked down to your taste, strain through coffee filter or paper towel to remove pulp and spices. Replace a few fresh lemon, orange and apple rings and add 2 new cinnamon sticks to serve. Serve piping hot.

How DOES it get any better…?

I’ll be back to you just before New Year’s with some more juice for your joyous life and ways for you to live in ease, grace and joy.

For now, just keep asking: “How does it get any better than this?” Don’t wait for an answer, just let it be out there, so it can return to you in wondrous ways!

All my Love & Warmest Holiday Blessings,
Maryam

This is my good buddy Andy Wibbels. He lives in San Francisco and works at Six Apart, the folks who bring you TypePad, Moveable Type and Vox. We’ve built our businesses together and been friends for years – ever since his very first Easy Bake Weblogs class in 2003. If I had little brothers, they would be Andy and his partner Ron.

Andy btw, is holding a boxed set of Seth Godin’s books that Seth sent him out of the blue this week. What a smile maker! Seth, ya scored big there.

Anyway, every time Andy and I get together it ends up being like an episode of Animaniacs. All photos taken of us together show complete silliness & often caffeine-fueled manic laughter. I’m rocking the asylum here after a tour of Six Apart, and talking blogging, speaking, product and class creation and general shop.

This was after dinner…and before the cognitive dissonance that later ensued… Dinner was at French restaurant Fringale (excellent) on 3rd, and thought I’d found a great garage under the Hearst building. Just a half block from the boys’ flat in the trendy part of Mission (just across the street from SFMOMA). What could be simpler? The sign said “closes at midnight” but I knew I’d be back before then.

Mind that, because assumption that people will do what they say is crucial to the madcap part of the evening. Fringale was great, even if my haricots verts were a tad underdone. The lambchop (which I have only a crappy picture of, sorry) was excellent as was the gluten-free flourless chocolate cake (like lava or mousse cake – omg) and a very perky cappucino. All in all – I’ll go back and take The Bear.

We take a beautiful ten minute walk back to Andy & Ron’s place, passing through Yerba Buena Gardens and ending up in this lovely view of the SF MOMA building all lit up for the holidays. It gets all cosy back at the plantantion with Ron’s enthusiastic telling of Filipino ghost stories and the mountain his family owns that sports its own hot spring and fumarole.

The time drew short so the boys were kind enough to walk me to my car. I paid the attendant and the fellows mention there’s no pedestrian exit.

There was no auto egress either, and now is where we descend gently into the madcap portion of the evening.

It’s a tale of roundy-ramp walking, yelling back and forth to other inmates, trapped behind their own chainlink curtains, searching for an emergency phone number or exit, finding none and finally calling 911.

I got a very nice dispatcher on the line who commiserated with me and promised not to leave us there all night. She got a car to come right away, which was amazing in a city like San Francisco on a Saturday night where there are just as likely to be knife fights, meth labs and killer disco to police. Kudos to ya, lady dispatcher.

Thank you as well to the officers of SFPD car 1257 who came, laughed at us just a wee bit (all in good fun, we were laughing too by that time – in the sheer terror of relief) and sprung us by summoning the California Pizza Kitchen manager who was still at work and had his own key.

Ron and I went up the roundy-ramp to get to the bathrooms and who should we see but the clerk who took our money. “WHERE WERE YOU AND WHY DID YOU LOCK US IN” got no reply but confused burbling. He keyed us into the gents though, and came down to apologize for locking up before we’d left. By then the cops and the CPK guy had done the business and Andy had the Murano pointed out of the garage and ready to go.

Cue more hugs and agreeing that we escaped lightly considering in many cities they’d let you sit until morning. In San Francisco on a Saturday night there were surely other more serious crimes like the knife fights, meth lab explosions and serial-killer disco of the Castro sprouting like dragon’s teeth on a field of bloodmeal.

But the police man and woman were prompt, professional, courteous and rescued our stranded butts. Kudos SFPD. Respect.

But the madcappery wasn’t finished. After dropping the boys off at their flat I took 280 which was clear as a bell until a fog giant slapped a meaty arm down on the tarmac ’round about Pacifica, and followed it with a leg and half his body. Socked in completely up through my Woodside exit, traffic slowed to a 25 mph crawl.

Fortunately, I was listening to a really good exposé on KQED done by the Brazilian arm of GreenPeace, on the Amazon rainforest environmental scofflaws. They were kicking ass and naming names like Adidas, Nike and McDonalds. They know exactly where these companies are slashing and burning the Amazon to grow meat and leather product cattle. And they’re outting the big box companies.

*yes*

I tracked the group when I got home – go here and read more:

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/busted-in-brazil100100

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/releases/with-just-10-days-left-to-aver

And that’s about a typical Saturday night in San Francisco with good buddies, good food, good conversation and a bitchin’ police force. Peace out y’all.

What do you think of guru-ification of teachers, and living a transparent life? What’s your take on all the “lifestyle gurus” out there preaching their own version of the Truth™, then dealing unfairly or abusively with their followers or family?

(Read this post, then let join the conversation and let everyone know your views by clicking the Facebook Community and/or Twitter icon in the orange toolbar below…)

I had the glorious good fortune to be landed with a beautiful, dear elder as a primary spiritual teacher: Corliss “d” deLarm. You’ve probably never heard of him, he was a local shaman in my Missouri hometown. His behavior was above reproach and his lessons deep and evolutionary.  What I’m seeing pass for spiritual teachings today, and from far less scrupulous teachers, is pablum. The fortunate circumstances of my own learning give me a sense of the standard I have to live up to, and what I need to teach.

d’s single most impactful teaching on us all was this:

“You are Love, You are Loved and You are Loving”

Simple words, but when you think about it – deep as the ocean. Everything pretty much does devolve back to love in the end, as anyone who has sat with the dying can attest. And d. would have had a conniption if he ever thought anyone saw him as a guru. Humble, loving and with enough patience and compassion to fill that ocean. That, by me, is a true spiritual teacher. And I didn’t for one minute turn him into a guru. He would never have allowed it.

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein is another teacher who’s come to some of the same conclusions and is conducting a scorching hot conversation on it at her blog. You might be interested to read her take on Transparent Living, guru-fiction and my own thoughts on this issue.

If you love my stuff, you’ll love hers too. Elizabeth  blogs at: http://elizabethpottsweinstein.com/ and Tweets at: http://twitter.com/elizabethpw/, so get connected. If you’re one of my energy coaches, or in the coaching field, you’ll want to check out her programs, videos and articles

In commenting in a great post she made (click here to read it), I ended up writing an article I’m reproducing here, on living an open, transparent life, the blessing divorce can be and keeping people’s secrets. Here these comments are:

…Have been enjoying your posts, especially the divorce related posts which I’ve only just found. I had a similar experience of divorce from my first husband in 2000. It was all about how I sucked being married to him and how very much that relationship pulled me down into the depths of our own private hell. I had to get out or face devolution.

How very empowering divorce is! We should all be allowed at least one starter spouse. <grin>

Transparency can be an uncomfortable place until we start paying more attention to inner direction rather than hooking into the persuasiveness of the painbody of those around us. Humans have a hard-wired urge to wallow in misery. Takes starch in your bonnet to get past that.   Brava for you!

Transparency for me must be 100%. When first online in the early 90’s someone threatened to “out” me from behind my screen name. Since I had nothing to hide, I outted myself and have opted for my own name over a false persona ever since. An object lesson in how other areas of life, for me at least, need to be run.  It’s so relaxing not to put feverish energy into maintaining a front. 

You mention transparency in business. Much of what I see in business, especially small business is not transparent, but built upon tissues of lies and airbrushing the inconvenient details to look as perfect as possible. We never have a year in the red, everything’s just dandy even after the iceberg hits our ship of business, and the gaping hole is apparent to all. The worst I’ve seen are the gurus, who present a shiny facade but are having problems, aren’t as wealthy as their press says they are, and are really NOT perfect.

No one is!

How much more attractive it is when we are able to cheerfully admit our foibles and go forward, for it places us then not in the lofty clouds of those who are icons, but with our feet firmly planted alongside the people we are meant to serve. Transparency may not seem to be sexy when you’re in the trenches, but it can and does become so, and much easier and more supportive, the more you exercise the transparency muscle.

There’s also an issue we’ve danced around here on transparency or “translucency” per Arjuna Ardagh (his book: The Translucent Revolution is a good read for folks interested in this – http://www.translucents.org).

As a therapist and later a coach privy to extreme secrets in people’s lives, I’ve had to be a secret-keeper for others even when choosing to live openly myself. Whether you’re a professional with privileged information or not, we all have other people’s secrets to treat with care and discretion.

P—’s example of her partner’s carefully constructed marital facade and her desire to bore through this to live in the open is one very useful example. Sometimes the urgency to live free causes us to say things that may feel right at the time but be inappropriate, because they are others’ secrets to keep, not ours to reveal.

I’m not speaking of P—’s situation in particular as I don’t know her, but of the many that are similar. For example, we might know that our partner has a sexual kink that she or he doesn’t want revealed in public. Or that they were involved in illegal activities as a teen. Or have a mentally ill family member. Or “secret” children from a youthful liason. None of these are our secrets to tell, no matter how bad the urge is to do so.

Example: I was married to a man who was a serial drug abuser. His alcoholism was well known, so in examining the ethics of our situation, his drinking was something I felt I could speak of when asked, without elaborating further on other things he would not want known. When I wrote my last book, our relationship figured mildly in the prologue as one of the prime motivators for changes I made.

It was necessary to describe the situation, but to do so in ways that didn’t betray the confidences he had entrusted me with.

Each of us needs to figure out what is fair, compassionate and ethical in revealing others’ personal details. It’s not something to treat in a cavalier manner or to decide upon in the heat of anger and the acrimony of relationship breakdown.

So much for personal secrets, but what about the “gory details” of the relationship itself?

Sometimes we think since we were there and it happened to us, that we have the right to publish. The he-said/she-said of anyone’s relationship is really no one else’s business, and is rarely illuminating or beneficial in public dissection. Certainly not for people who are striving to live a conscious life.

Why do people like to reveal “gory details” in public? It gives us emotional satisfaction for a variety of reasons. But not consciousness. Nor an open or transparent life. Never that.

You can see this in the current foofooraw surrounding Tiger Woods’ reported infidelity. Are you tired of hearing about this? Are you even interested? As I’ve observed, the less interest you have in this kind of thing, the more aware and conscious you tend to be. Now think on this – are any of the people in this situation conscious, or close to conscious? Much less living transparently?

I applaud the way Elizabeth is handling her divorce and teaching by sharing the universal themes around it without revealing intimate details. Well done, new friend, and I look forward to continued illumination.

To enhance your state of consciousness and life of transparency, choose compassionate discretion in the heat of the moment. You’ll thank yourself later on. If it ever becomes necessary, you can always share more down the line.

If a significant part of your life includes someone else’s secrets, to reveal them (especially without consent) is to be attached to both the secret/s and the outcome of your revelation. And to dive back down into unconscious living. If the person you’re in contention with wants to keep living unconsciously and under a facade, that’s their business and their right.

When we are beginning to live more consciously and out in the open, it’s important to remember that this is *our* choice – BUT – we do not have the right to make this choice for others. It hooks us into attachment which always takes us backwards.

Who’s for living life in truth, in the open and out loud? And what are your thoughts on “Fake Gurus”?

Two options for comments now: either below in the comment box OR – at the bottom of the page is an orange toolbar:  just click on the Facebook Community icon to post a reply to Facebook, and/or the Twitter icon to post to Twitter.

I’m happy to share this “3-in-One Easy” way to Get Your Point Of View Out There, while seamlessly creating content for your Facebook and Twitter pages AND being part of the ongoing conversation. I hope you enjoy it, and use it to share YOUR views! 

Learn To Love Your Life Again: The Tools, Techniques and Coaching To Get and Keep You Conscious, In Joy and Aligned With Your Highest Purpose Every Day

This is a Four Week Online Class with BONUS 5th Week in a private, state-of-the-art online eCampus, with Forums, Community Center, Audios, Videos & extra Resources. Facilicated by Maryam Webster, creator of the Energy Transformation and Healing Open Source Method.

Class takes place ENTIRELY online, and at your OWN PACE. You will have access to this class FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR and can download its resources, or listen/view online if you like

Using Maryam’s Everyday Bliss Process coupled with the powerful tools of energy therapy and The ETHOS Method in particular, you will learn these power tools:

• Grace Under Fire: Drop stress like a hot potato, the second it starts
• FightFear.fm: Keep the fear off your “radio station” to avoid attracting bad things
• Comfy & Clear: Get Conscious and Stay that way – be comfy inside your own skin!
• Trap Mapper: Avoid the 3 common traps that suck us back into unconscious misery
• Outsmart Your Own Brain: Short-circuit your primitive biology to stay Conscious
• FastChange: Hate your thighs? Your job? Your relationship? We’ll deal with it!
• Bring On Abundance: Wade out of financial muck using ETHOS in this EXTRA program!
• Fire Your Inner Executioner: Free yourself from those inner voices that torture you
• Painbody Pulverizer: gain immunity from the hateful situations it attracts
• Calm Children: Use ETHOS with your Children to deal with their issues & aid school success
• Goal Magnetizer: Use ETHOS in a startling new way to realize goals you never have been able to before

In addition, you’ll grab THREE  juicy bonuses that make up an entire SECOND CLASS in how to improve your life & success rate in every way:

• Maryam’s 9-Day Spiritual quick-read Self-Improvement Program: “Just For Today”
• The bombshell “Unquenchable Ethusiasm” by Napoleon Hill, which contains simple yet profound directions on how to get happy again. If you haven’t read this amazing work, it’s the foundation of “The Secret” and most other New Thought teachings.
• A TWO HOUR 5th Week of ETHOS Coaching over the most common issues participants have

Investment in Your Consciousness and
Happiness with Lifetime Access: $197
Invest now:

So much has happened in the last month and few months that this post is more in the way of a documentary of the evolution the world, ideas and my further research into dealing with the Painbody. There are good lessons all around for those who are interested in cultivating greater Consciousness, sustainable living, international fellowship and personal evolution. This first one is potentially going to be painful for some of us. But don’t worry, there’s energy coaching to help us all deal. Deep breath…here goes…

“…..Freedom!”

Remember in the movie Braveheart, William Wallace’s final word “…Freedom!” as he was being executed? That word echoed in my ears as aghast, I watched along with the rest of the world, the horrific scenes coming out of Iran in the past month. It was chilling to see people who were peacably and simply demanding their right to free speech, be stoned, shot at, beaten and killed.

Forty years ago though, the same thing happened here, in America.

Are you old enough to remember the May 4th, 1970 Kent State Massacre? I was ten. It shocked, grieved and scared the hell out of me and everyone I knew. Even my parents and teachers went numb and wept openly. The National Guard had attacked our own people. Shot and killed four college students peacefully protesting injustices of the Vietnam War: Allison Krause, William Schroeder, Jeffrey Miller and Sandra Scheuer. Paralyzed another student, and wounded eight others.

As in Iran, some of those killed were not even involved in the protest. The National Guard, like the Iranian Basij, fired randomly into a peacefully demonstrating crowd, releasing 67 rounds over 13 seconds. Four dead in Ohio. As a result, students nationwide, eight million strong, went on strike, closing high schools, colleges and universities. How could this happen here, in America, the land that was supposed to be the best in the world?

Now when I see the footage coming out of Iran and recall the beautiful, creative young life and horrendous death on a city street that was Neda Agha-Soltan’s (1) Neil Young’s “Ohio” lyric automatically rolls:

“What if you knew her and

found her dead on the ground…

how can you run when you know?”

If like me, this brings tears to your eyes even as you read, remember that awful and heavy as this is, when it happens, you are plugging into a heavy, and seductively attractive Painbody. Remind yourself that your tears do no one any good, your Consciousness is NEEDED in the world, and you can just as easily choose to unplug.

Stop. Focus. Breathe.

Recognize the Painbody rising to feed upon your tears and grief.

Deny it firmly. With your breath, return to Consciousness & center.

Tap vigorously on your collarbone points, thymus or

under-eye points to aid your return to balance.

When asked about releasing the song “Ohio”, Graham Nash responded:

“Four young men and women had their lives taken from them while lawfully protesting this outrageous government action. We are going back to keep awareness alive in the minds of all students, not only in America, but worldwide…to be vigilant and ready to stand and be counted… and to make sure that the powers of the politicians do not take precedent over the right of lawful protest.”(2)

Amen, amen, amen.

I have a very long history with Iran. I am not Iranian but while an honors English student in high school, taught Iranian students English as a Second Language (ESL) in the late 1970’s to help overburdened staff. I continued teaching ESL in college, learned Farsi to a first-grade level, and made many Iranian friends.

Despite the negative perceptions of western media on this country, I have found Iranians to be the same mixed bag as any culture, though predominantly hospitable, highly intelligent and kind. Plus which, ethnic Persian food rocks. Who doesn’t like kebab, rice, fresh veggies & yogurt dip?  In addition to Farsi, I learned Persian cuisine, and make a ghormeh sabzi wicked enough to make your Persian granny cry.  (Really.)

Recently I became involved in the struggle for civil rights in Iran through the horrific events surrounding its stolen election. This too happened here – remember our little “hanging chad” issue of  2000? Though there was an outcry, in America, people said “that’s terrible and I’m pissed about it but ultimately…whatever”. Our election too, was stolen. But what exemplary milquetoasts we were in response. Our new national motto might well have been “que sera, sera”. As for our middle eastern cousins, their slogan might well be -

Cry “Havoc!”, and let slip the dogs of war…

I can think of no more fitting phrase to sum up what happened in Iran than this famous line from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar – followed appropriately as it is by Antony’s plaint:

That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.

Indeed. In Iran, people took to the streets and died in the still-ongoing fight to secure basic civil liberties most Americans take for granted. As far as I can see, agree with them or not, the people of Iran have solid stone cojones. Furthermore, as in the People’s Revolution thirty years ago, it’s the women who are leading the way. Here’s an amazing historical video from the 1979 Iranian revolution in which American feminist  Kate Millet laments that it would take years to organize the kind of protests in the USA that in Iran were convened, successfully, in less than hours. A little over eleven minutes and well worth the viewing:

The Liberation Movement of Iranian Women – Year Zero

And in strong support of this thirty-year-old historical view, is Golbarg Bashi’s interview of Zillah Eisenstein, leading feminist theorist and professor of politics at Ithaca College, NY on the topic of:

Feminism in 2009 Iran

For those of you who might be interested in one of the most feminist of Muslim countries, a timeline:

Chronology of Events Regarding Women in Iran from 1979 To Present

But back to the present. Ahmadinejad is elected, and Iran erupts into civil unrest, governmental violence and murder the like of which has not been seen since the Shah was deposed in 1979.

I thought this insupportable. So, on day two of Iran’s post-election carnage, like many other concerned people worldwide, I provided access to my computer’s IP tunnel (address) to Iranian bloggers and Tweeters whose freedom of speech was otherwise blocked by those in power.

My tunnel lasted almost 72 hours (a minor miracle I’m told) before the IP was blocked by the Iranian government. No matter, hundreds of others provided still more access and the IP numbers were passed around in an endless loop for the use of eyewitness reporters from the front in Tehran, Shiraz, Abadan, Qom, Esfahan and other Iranian hotspots.

@powerwriter on Twitter tweeted: “Iran is symptomatic of complete shift in consciousness being demanded of all of us.”

Spurred by the death of Neda Agha-Soltan and other protestors, plus Iranian eyewitnesses whose desperate cries for help we heard before internet and cellphone access was cut off, I tweeted and re-tweeted open IP access tunnels, first aid information, my own advice on how to avoid post traumatic stress syndrome and other useful items, for four days straight, barely sleeping. I attended Iran Azad (Freedom In Iran) rallies in Palo Alto and San Francisco and several dialogues in my attempt not only to understand what was at stake, but also why I personally was there.

It was about freedom…but it was also about something else.

I went to study an active cultural painbody (or “supermind”) at work & to trial methods of surmounting its influence. What a rich experience it was.

There were ample lessons for a consciousness researcher, some of which I invite you to partake of here:

Spiritual Lessons from the Resistance

And if you’re interested, here are more of my short videos of the rally:

Freedom In Iran – Palo Alto, CA protest & rally

I believe heartily in freedom of speech, and when I learned people were being shot in the streets for demanding civil liberties, I felt a passionate need to get involved. Maybe you did too. But even if not, the cause of Freedom is universal, and the struggle in Iran is ongoing. Repression is becoming harsher, governmental murder sanctioned and citizens have no rights.

This is also symptomatic of the struggle between Consciousness and the active, cultural Painbody. Consciousness is winning the struggle, planet-wide. We are witnessing the birth-throes of what Eckhart Tolle calls the “New Earth”. Iran’s struggle is a very visible symptom of this upwelling and transformation of the planet.

My .02 – and to speak for those who cannot:

CONSCIOUSNESS IN IRAN

And, insha’Allah (God willing) worldwide.

For those of us who want to help and aren’t there, what can we do? Stay conscious. Stay awake. Listen with awakened ears. Bear witness, bear witness, bear witness.

To bring it back down to brass tacks, a word on maintaining ongoing consciousness. Again another quote from the Neil Young blog ThrashersWheat.org:

“Neil Young’s other anti-war anthem came with his group Buffalo Springfield. ‘For What It’s Worth’ co-written by Stephen Stills in 1966. The lines:

“Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you’re always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away”

speak of the control that the government had over the people of the United States, and how those people were feeling at the time. The chorus:

“I think it’s time we stop, children,
what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down”

speaks to the listeners and tells them to evaluate the war effort in Vietnam, and how futile it is.”

Or indeed, the “war effort” or effort to create war in America, Iran, anywhere. A futile waste of time, life and our young. Beware fear, for it is Unconsciousness made manifest. Paranoia is fear personified and given power over you, to keep you unconscious.

Stop, pay attention, don’t go to sleep again!

We truly cannot afford the luxury of unconscious living any more.

Wake up,

Breathe -

Live.

Remember: Any time you get caught up in shouting slogans with real fervor and deep feeling – you’re deep in the clutches of the Painbody. Any time you get involved in weeping for the state of things, of lost lives, of the injustice of it all, (or in your own life) you’re in the grip of Painbody.

To remain Conscious and in the place of limitless options, simply be aware of these things:

• Who’s Running You (you, your Painbody, or someone else?)
• What You’re Feeling
• Why You’re Feeling what You’re Feeling  (genuine grief
  over an immediate loss, or Painbody?)

Once you ask yourself why, you have a choice in whether or not to feed into Painbody. If you choose to feed it, you will go unconscious and be acting from an unconscious place. If you choose to breathe, come back to your center and break away from the Painbody, the reward is Consciousness.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

There is much, much more to share with you but this post is long enough. In posts to come, I’ll tell you about

• a new Consciousness Blocking Syndrome I’ve been researching
• a perspective on the swine flu you haven’t heard
• sex, money, the housing market and what they have in common
• plus new info on dealing with fears of all types that will keep you conscious

Wait for it…

See you soon!

From friend Lisa Wilder’s blog comes this great though anonymous “Alternative 10 Commandments”

Ten Other Commandments To Live By

1.  You shall not worry, for worry is the most unproductive of all human activities.

2.  You shall not be fearful, for most of the things we fear never come to pass.

3.  You shall not carry grudges, for they are the heaviest of all life’s burdens.

4.  You shall face each problem as it comes. You can only handle one at a time anyway.

5.  You shall not take problems to bed with you, for they make very poor bedfellows.

6.  You shall not borrow other people’s problems. They can better care for them than you.

7.  You shall not try to relive yesterday for good or ill, it is forever gone. Concentrate on what is happening    in your life and be happy now.

8.  You shall be a good listener, for only when you listen do you hear ideas different from your own.

9.  You shall not become bogged down by frustration, for 90% of it is rooted in self-pity and will only interfere with positive action.

10. You shall count your blessings, never overlooking the small ones, for a lot of small blessings add up to a big one.

~ Author Unknown

What is this thing we call Consciousness?

What is being continually Aware?

What is possible with expansiveness of Presence?

What is:

out of space

out of time

no-dimensional

all-resourceful?

What is the nature of that with no limits?

Uncreate, dissolve and release what binds

Create, empower and amplify what expands

The rose opens, expansiveness beckons

Step within.

This is the essence,

of that we call ETHOS

In preparation for the courses in practical-magic-for-all I’m developing, it’s been important to get the most complex of concepts reduced to the commonest of memes.

“Reducto!” the mage shouts and the dragon shrinks into a gecko.

The above is an attempt to reduce what may seem to be the compex concept of ETHOS into a compact meme, which in olden times might have been referred to as a spell, charm or incantation. These grammatic forms of learning through recitation were all ways of compressing an important amount of wisdom into the smallest most compact space possible for oral teaching – which is how learning was passed for centuries.

ETHOS is something that can and should be taught orally, by talking to people we know. Asking questions is the most powerful form of teaching, because it frees the student to come to their own conclusions, which is an essential part of stepping into Unlimted Self.

What energy, space and consciousness can you be, to share the question of ETHOS today?

Something to wonder about…

The astute Dr. Judith Orloff gives good advice on energy drainers and funky family members you may not want to deal with. This is especially for Shelley’s friend Donna – check this out.

I belong to the Global Business Women’s network on Xing.com. One of our group members posted the call to light candles for Tibetan Freedom from Chinese occupation in our group. Since receiving the blessing of teachings from that avatar of personal freedom, His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 2001, I’ve been very involved in this cause. In gratitude, I am passing on the word-for-word notification here.  Bring your Presence to this event if you can…

Event start date: 07 Aug 2008, 12:00 am (local time)

Description http://www.candle4tibet.org/

On the night before the Olympic flame will be lit in Beijing, at least 100 million people all over the world will light a candle for a free Tibet. That aggregate flame will be brighter and will call for freedom in Tibet and in any other place in the world.

"Take part in our Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games. Light a candle for Tibet."

One candle, in a hundred million of windows all over the world, is symbolizing the right of all human beings to self determination, freedom of speech, thought, conscience and religious belief."

The Olympic Games in Beijing are a unique opportunity to focus the world’s attention on the annulment of those rights in Tibet and in many other places in the world.

The message is simple: Every human being who cares about freedom has a responsibility of lighting a candle. The act of lighting a candle, being personal and spiritual, can also be viewed as a vote. Such massive vote that world leaders will not be able to ignore.

The internet is bringing people together and empowering them to act and effect change. If individual users from all over the world learn to organize themselves not by country borders, but behind common ideas, causes and values they will promote freedom in their own lives.

It’s all about solidarity in standing unified behind Tibetan aspirations. When people unite in large enough number behind an idea, regardless of their nationality, gender, religion or political views, and take a stand, they can change their reality. The internet provides the individual today an opportunity with being seen and heard.

We are going to create a unique moment when so many millions who otherwise would do very little or nothing for Tibet, or any other cause, would actually do something spiritual and meaningful. And do it together!

Our modest objective is to reach 100 million people.

People from all over the world have volunteered and turned the web site that coordinates the action into a true global one. By the end of this week it will be fully operational in 20 languages, and we promise that they will have 50 languages before the event.

I would like to urge you not only to join us at www.candle4tibet.org/ and read all the details about the event, but also to use your connections and help the campaign grow. Please invite as many contacts as you can and talk about it with people of the media.

You can also help by organizing public candle vigils in your area, and by enlisting performing artists and other celebrities to help promote this important event.

Needless to say the whole campaign and the web site are totally non profit and are financed by private funds.

http://www.candle4tibet.org/

Please join us and forward this message to all your friends

When a need is felt, heroes arise, doors open, poets are inspired and birds sing new songs. When God closes a door, s/he opens a window. And when things we think we need are taken away, better and more elegant things arise to not only take their place, but provide superior levels of service…if we but open our eyes to them.

I’ve long been pondering energy therapy methods and why they sometimes work and sometimes fail. It’s a particularly interesting conundrum, as when energy therapies work, they work spectacularly well.

Let’s start at the beginning. From the very first premise, I think most therapies are taking a direction somewhat skewed from that which would provide the best chance of success. Most therapies start with the premise that something is wrong, there is a ‘problem’ and the person with the problem is in need of fixing in some way.

I say, no.

I say that the real problem, the only problem that truly exists, is the fact that we’ve managed to convince ourselves both individually and as a species that we have limits. That we in fact can be limited: by ourselves and by others and by circumstance.

What if….

What if we truly have no limits?

What if that is true?

And being true, what does that mean? What does this realization give you?

It gives you your Unlimited Self – your perfected self, minus all the sludge, junk and limitations. And this is where a consistently workable energy therapy might choose to begin – with that template of you without any limitations whatsoever.

The template for that Perfect You, that Unlimited Self is out there. Not in our DNA, as many therapies are now concentrating, for genetic abnormalities can begin literally as sperm meets egg. Look further, right next to you, right inside you. Your Unlimited Self template exists in the energy field – has always existed, will always exist.

Myself and now a close group of energy therapists and coaches have been developing a new personal transformation method over the past two years. It includes its own, very new brand of energy therapy, somewhat superficially similar to several other methods, yet completely unique. The last few months have seen significant strides on both the tools of this method and in client studies I have conducted with over two hundred different clients and issues.

The name of this method is ETHOS, which stands for "Energy Transformation and Healing: Open Source". The ETHOS Method was created in response to the need for a permanently free and very easily learnable energy therapy that would be useful in a variety of issues, with a variety of different cultures and in all possible situations where one may be able to use the hands and may not be able to do so.

It is "open source" in much the same way that some software is open source – the source code is free to all and development is done by a large developers community who donate their time to create this free gift to the world. You can use it, teach it, make money with it, create a revenue stream with it  – anything you want. And you don’t have to pay us a dime.  All you have to do is promise to teach this method to as many people as you can, forward them to the original ETHOS website and to assume your own liabilty in using the method. And, if you make any significant  changes or additions, to post those to our "Addendum" board.

Interested? We’ll be releasing the website and further content very soon. And you’ll be invited to a free class on how to use ETHOS for yourself, your family, friends and clients.

We’ve come to understand it’s not the issue focus that makes an energy therapy work….

It’s not "getting specific"….

It’s not holding, tapping, breathing, visualizing or repeating a mantra…

It’s not your choice of tool at all… they all work.

It’s where you start.

When we start out with every problem we encounter as a limitation we have somehow bought into, the goal is really removing all limitation back to that template of our Unlimited Self. When we start with Unlimited Self as the focus, we don’t need to know the specifics and it doesn’t matter which tool we choose to go forward with, as the power of your intent is fully enough to get the job done.

Tools are nifty though, and our old-brain monkey minds just love tools as focusing aids.

We are now in active beta-test trial of the new ETHOS Method. After several years of having my private client list closed, I am reducing my usual session fees and opening to new clients willing to test-drive this most extraordinary method for the next few months. Want to book an appointment to go further with me in recovering your Divine / Perfect / Unlimited You? I promise you’ll leave each session walking on a cloud – and you’ll learn in session how to stay that way.

These appointments won’t last long – get ‘em while they’re hot! Click here to proceed.