Crude oil prices dropped last week to under $30 a barrel for the first time since 2003. Interestingly, that was the year SUV sales peaked in the United States. A dramatic fall in oil prices, along with smaller drops in the prices of natural gas and coal, should likewise be bad news for investments in renewable energy sources like solar and wind. Yet exactly the opposite has been happening.
In late November, just as the global climate change conference began in Paris, Bill Gates announced a multi-billion-dollar initiative to help developed and developing countries more than double their research and development budget for clean energy. In interviews given around that time, Gates said he hoped to attract even more funding for clean energy initiatives from governments and philanthropists around the world.
In fact, billionaires around the globe are investing heavily in solar and wind energy. Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the founders of Google, have solar panels installed at Google headquarters and are deeply involved in researching clean energy, as is headline-grabbing billionaire Richard Branson. Some, like Shi Zhengrong, have even made their billions in the clean energy sector. Suntech Power, founded by Shi Zhengrong, is the largest manufacturer of photovoltaic cells in the world.Though some venture capital investors became skittish about clean-tech investments after the “clean-tech bubble” of 2008, many other investors with longer timelines and less desire for immediate returns have begun to pour billions into solar and wind energy. Unlike the Gates and Bransons of the world, these investors are not making their investments for purely philanthropic reasons, but because they smell real financial gain. CleanTech Syndicate, a secretive collective of 11 families worth over $60 billion, has invested $1.4 billion in renewables in the last year alone with the goal of making a difference in climate change while reaping a healthy profit along the way.
Solar and wind energy have quickly been gaining traction over the past few years. Energy capacity from solar and wind has tripled since 2008. Though still far behind coal, the most optimistic forecasts for the growth of solar and wind energy for the year 2030 have already been met and surpassed. Several reasons account for this rise in renewable energy, including increased government investment during the recent recession, increased regulations on coal power plants and the natural efficiency that comes from repetition. Jenny Chase, the head of solar at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, put it simply, “The more of something we do, the better we get at it.”
But the real secret to the growth of wind and solar energy is rather obvious: They’ve both gotten much, much cheaper. Solar energy especially has benefited from innovations in technology, declines in cost of materials and an expanded manufacturing base, leading some to believe that by the year 2030 solar energy capacity could increase fivefold and be up to 50 percent cheaper.
This drop in cost led Dan Esty, an environmental law and policy professor at Yale, to argue that the recent drop in oil prices is actually a good thing for solar and wind energy as they will both be forced to become even more economical to compete with fossil fuels. This competition will leave them perfectly positioned when fossil fuels eventually become more expensive.
The issue of cost is especially important in the case of developing nations that are rapidly expanding their energy infrastructure due to growth and industrialization. One of the most pressing concerns of the climate conference in Paris was how to decrease carbon levels without stifling the growth of impoverished and developing nations. Increasingly, the hope is that wind and solar energy can bridge this divide. Recently, India announced an alliance of 120 countries that will work together to develop and implement solar technology. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi hopes that heavy investment in solar energy will allow the world’s second most populous country to keep its large coal reserves untapped while still allowing its economy to grow at a steady pace.
China, notorious for its smog-filled horizons, has become the world’s largest producer and consumer of solar panels in recent years and hopes to get 20 percent of its energy supply from renewables by the year 2030. Even Saudi Arabia, the definition of a petro-state, is investing heavily in solar energy, hoping to stem its own consumption of fossil fuels; though of course in the case of Saudi Arabia this is less than altruistic as they hope to sell fuel to other countries for greater profits.
More optimistically, the increasing accessibility of solar and wind technology has proved particularly useful for less economically stable countries, such as Afghanistan. In a country without a strong central government, it is difficult to develop the infrastructure necessary to generate power for citizens outside of major population centers. However, solar facilities can be built and maintained locally at modest expense allowing for the democratization of electricity in areas where it was previously not viable. This is especially helpful for developing nations, which are largely in tropical and subtropical regions and therefore receive abundant sunlight year round.
Solar energy is not only growing in developing countries, it’s heating up in the United States as well. In July, the White House announced an initiative to increase the use of “community solar,” a system designed to install solar panels for apartment buildings or neighborhoods instead of requiring each household to install and maintain their own systems. The initiative hopes to extend the use of solar power to those who rent or cannot afford the up-front installation costs of solar panels and is viewed by many as the most significant market for solar growth in the United States.
While solar and wind energy have made great strides in recent years, they still provide only a small fraction of the total energy output worldwide. Last year more than $250 billion was invested in renewable energy, but according to many analysts, that amount would need to quadruple in order to stem the climate change problems caused by fossil fuels.
On the upside, solar and wind energy have a record of far surpassing expectations and the investment and innovation in these technologies is only just beginning.
Karma is the law of cause and effect – an unbreakable law of the cosmos. Your actions create your future. The reason your fate is never sealed is because you have free will. Therefore your future cannot already be written. That would not be fair. Life gives you chances. This is one of them. – The Tree of Awakening
Karma is a somewhat abstract concept to many of us. There is a lot of confusing information on this non-religious topic – information which is unnecessary. So, we think it’d be helpful to paint a bit of a picture to help solidify the concept of karma.
To do so, just a quick example is necessary.
Say that we are all willing to go around and help people in any way we see fit – putting coins in expired parking meters, holding doors open for everyone, giving a couple dollars to a homeless person, buying someone’s coffee or tea, etc., etc.
Now two questions: What is the possibility that the person we’ve helped will reciprocate, or “pay it forward”? What’s the possibility that this action created a positive source of energy?
That’s a very basic example of everyday karma. Of course, there is negative karma as well. Gandhi explains such in a simple yet profound way:
“A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.”
Now that we’ve established a basic understanding of karma, let’s take a look at 12 of Karma’s laws that can change your life.
The Great Law: “As you sow, so shall you reap.”
The simple explanation of the Great Law is: our thought and actions have consequences – good or bad. If we desire peace, love, harmony, prosperity, etc. we must be willing to act accordingly.
This is also known as the “Law of Cause and Effect.” Also, energy (thought, action) that we put into the world has a consequence, immediate or not.
The Law of Creation: “What we desire comes through participation.”
The life we see around us was created by a person’s intentions. As we are one with the Universe, our intentions determine the evolution of creation. Since what we surround ourselves with becomes part of us, it’s our responsibility to ensure these surroundings are conducive to our desires.
The Law of Humility: “Refusal to accept what is will still be what is.”
Acceptance is a near-universal virtue in many belief systems. Simply put, we must first accept the present circumstances in order to change them.
In focusing on the negative instead of making changes to address the negative, we’re committing to a zero-sum result.
The Law of Growth: “Our own growth is above any circumstance.”
The only thing we have control over is ourselves. The subsequent action (or inaction) of motive will yield either positive or negative circumstances in our lives.
True change only occurs if we make the commitment to change what is in our heart.
The Law of Responsibility: “Our lives are of our own doing, nothing else.”
When there is turbulence in one’s own life, there is often turbulence internally. If we’re to change our life, we must change our frame of mind and surroundings.
The Law of Connection: “Everything in the Universe is connected, both large and small.”
Our past, present and future are all connected. As such, we must put in the work to change these connections if we desire something different.
No step – first, intermediate or last – is more important in the accomplishment of a task. All are required.
The Law of Focus: “One cannot direct attention beyond a single task.”
Relating to our spiritual growth, we cannot have negative thoughts or actions and expect to grow spiritually. We must direct full attention to achieve any desired task.
The Law of Hospitality and Giving: “Demonstrating our selflessness shows true intentions.”
Put simply: what we claim to believe must manifest into our actions. Selflessness is a virtue only if we’re accommodating something other than ourselves.
Without a selfless nature, true spiritual growth is nearly impossible.
The Law of Change: “History repeats itself unless changed.”
Conscious commitment to change is the only method of influencing the past. History will continue along an unconstructive path until positive energies direct it elsewhere.
The Law of Here and Now: “The Present is all we have.”
Looking back regretfully and forward pointlessly robs oneself of a present opportunity. Old thoughts and patterns of behavior negate the present chance to advance ourselves.
The Law of Patience and Reward: “Nothing of value is created without a patient mindset.”
Toiling away cannot be circumvented through wishful thinking. Our rewards are claimed only through patience and persistence, nothing else.
Rewards are not the end-result. True, lasting joy comes from the knowledge of doing what’s necessary in the rightful anticipation of a reward that is well-earned.
The Law of Significance and Inspiration: “The best reward is one that contributes to the Whole.”
The end result is of little value if it leaves little or nothing behind.
Energy and intentions are vital components that determine the significance of an end-result. Ideally, love and passion embody the motives of one that resolves to leave a lasting impression on the Whole.
UK scientists receive approval to modify human embryos
by Chuck Bednar
Less than one year after Chinese researchers revealed that they had genetically modified human embryos, scientists at the Francis Crick Institute in London have gotten the go-ahead to conduct similar experiments, officials at the medical research facility revealed on Monday.
According to Reuters and BBC News, Dr. Kathy Niakan, a stem cell researcher at the Institute, said she and her colleagues had been granted a license to conduct their experiments from the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the division of the UK’s Department of Health that regulates fertility clinics and regulates research involving embryos.
Dr. Niakan’s laboratory told reporters that the research would attempt to shed new light into the first moments of human life, and that they would be banned from implanting modified embryos into a woman. Nonetheless, the research is causing concern among some that it could eventually lead to genetically engineered “designer” babies.David King, director of the UK watchdog Human Genetics Alert, told Reuters that the move was “the first step on a path… toward the legalization of GM babies,” while Dr. Sarah Chan from the University of Edinburgh told BBC News that although such research “touches on some sensitive issues… its ethical implications [had] been carefully considered by the HFEA.”
Experiments will involve recently-fertilized eggs
Reports indicate that the experiments will use CRISPR-Cas9, technology that can identify and correct genetic defects. It is to be conducted during the first seven days following fertilization, a period in which the fertilized egg develops from a single cell into a blastocyst containing 200 to 300 cells.
Once a fertilized egg reaches the blastocyst stage, some of its cells have been organized to play specific roles – forming the placenta or the yolk sac, for example. Some parts of our DNA tend to be very active at this stage in human development, the researchers said, and it is believed that some of these genes play a key role in guiding our early growth.
How and why these processes take place remains a mystery, and experts are uncertain what they are going and what might go wrong genetically prior to a miscarriage. Dr. Niakan, who has been researching human development for more than a decade, will look to modify these genes during their experiments, and will only be using donated embryos, according to BBC News.
HFEA said that experiments could start within the next several months, and Paul Nurse, director of the Crick Institute, said that he was “delighted” that their application had been approved, and that Dr Niakan’s research would be “important for understanding how a healthy human embryo develops and will enhance our understanding of IVF success rates.”
“This project, by increasing our understanding of how the early human embryo develops and grows, will add to the basic scientific knowledge needed for devising strategies to assist infertile couples and reduce the anguish of miscarriage,” said Bruce Whitelaw, an animal biotechnology professor at Edinburgh University’s Roslin Institute. He added that the approval was granted “after robust assessment” of the proposed experiments.
Read more at http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1113412324/uk-scientists-receive-approval-to-modify-human-embryos-020116/#KozxSQibt8m8tv6o.99
What I find profoundly encouraging is the knowledge that the truth is out there and being feasted upon. We may not get the immediate gratification of this realization due to suppressed mainstream news but it is the truth.
Let yourself peruse other areas of information dissemination and you’ll see it. Not just the mainstream, although it’s leaking in there as well and can be identified by their occasional admissions and wildly erratic distractions, cover ups and damage control efforts.
Look at what’s happening in the Christian and other religious and belief paradigms and how much they’re getting much of what’s going on and obviously using our alternative resources to substantiate their newfound information. They and other previously isolated belief cliques are on to the transhuman agenda, genetic modification, geoengineering and the growing police state in a big way. What happens? This leads them down new pathways to discover other unsavory truths about the whirled around us.
And this naturally lends itself to new discoveries in a realm where truth vindicates itself in a big way.
The Truth Has Legs of It’s Own
Now extrapolate that out to the politically sincere looking for answers amidst such obvious media, political and economic chicanery and manipulation. Or the disillusioned patriot or freedom lover who sees no light at the end of the tunnel and is looking for empowerment and encouragement as well as solace.
And how about those directly affected by these psychopathic genocidal incursions into their countries, or are within a nation supporting such atrocities? Then there are the many people drastically affected by the clearly manipulated money, energy and housing markets. They are seriously reassessing what’s really going on.
These are the people of the growing mass awakening. It’s happening at many levels. Don’t hold your breath for all of them, but there is an insurgence of truth recognition that we can draw tremendous affirmation from.
The truth may not be predominant on the whirled scene just yet, but it’s being gleaned and digested at many levels for any and all willing and/or compelled to look for it.
So let’s keep getting it out there and keep heart in our efforts.
Information and Resonance
When the truth hits anyone, in most cases we stop and consider at some level. Sometimes it can be in the middle of a comedy routine, a wonderful outlet for truth and release. Sometimes it’s a news item, something someone said at the right time, an event, but we all experience these moments.
And they add up to eventually tip the scales.
The fact that humanity has been driven to an on-line existence is not all bad. There’s a hell of a lot more truth on the net than in senseless, meaningless shallow interactions in our politically correct paralyzed media defined whirled where contention and personal belief affirmation are the daily fare.
But despite that senseless banter in humdrum society, the internet is where many “stumble” on true, resonant information and a sense of compassion for humanity you find nowhere else in this current contrived social milieu.
People turn toward and respond to resonance – that which vibrates with their inner soul expression. Of course there are many layers of shallower responses but the drawing is there. And that’s what is compelling millions upon millions to seek greater truth.
A truly phenomenal epoch of which we are all part.
Trust Your Heart and Keep Your Shoulder to the Wheel
I can’t emphasize this enough. Don’t look for validation from outside sources, although I’m trying to identify how to spot those as well for extra encouragement. Trust your heart. You’ll know our current condition and situation by your intuitive sense most of all, assuming you are already a participant in one form or another.
You have to keep the intention going in order to pick up the signal.
The awakening is not some far off etherial notion. It is real, pragmatic and applicable in our daily lives. It involves information dissemination, personal intent, courageous activism and a redefined sense of our true selves. We have to be willing to buck the tide, and to do it wisely yet with fierce determination – in many small ways and often big ways which will take sacrifice of personal comfort and so-called security.
But the pay off? Priceless! The inspiration and enthusiasm that fills the committed life is inestimable.
Wanna give it a shot? What do you have to lose?
A lot if you don’t.
The new world is being born in our awakening. Let it happen.
Nine distinct personality types make humanity very special, not only in their interactions with each other, but within themselves. Synchronicity ties them all together in a beautiful system that makes everything work. No human being is ever represented by just one of these personality types, but rather a mixture of several. And while the western mindset focuses on happy moments as the ideal, it is unaware that each piece of the puzzle, each with its flaws, is integral in the spiritual evolution of humanity. Everything is shifting and changing so quickly and each of these segments is playing a critical role in human consciousness.
9 Personality Types – Do You See Yourself?
1) THE INITIATOR
Regardless of the initiative, these are the doers of our world. Being the number of ‘new’ in which all manifestation begins, they symbolize the principle of beginning or initiation through purity of purpose. It is the energy that begins all actions and leads the way in new directions. Without them, we would have a lot of trouble getting things done because when nobody else wants to do it, they step up and get it done with courage, originality and decisiveness. Their drive makes them magnificent manifestors and they require the support to keep them going. They do not tolerate laziness from the people within their circles, and they don’t like to ask for help from others. The Initiator is somebody we all depend on for monumental achievements because they are masters at self-sufficiency, invention, focus and rationality.
Key Strengths:
– Creators and primal force of consciousness and grand movements.
– Do not see an end to their journey and goals (retirement does not exist)
– The most powerful Initiators are those who awaken to their purpose to serve rather than rule (because they also make great rulers).
– Always at the forefront of directing and leading others
– Trust in their own ability to separate right from wrong regardless of what they are told.
– Often mentally stronger than most other people
– Live and breathe what they think they need to do and nothing will stop them from doing it.
– Generally optimistic people who have a great deal of inner strength and are often a source of inspiration to others.
– Self-motivated, striving for progress, with ambitious will, power and positivity.
– Pioneers with leadership qualities that attract many followers.
– Have an initiative, instinct and intuition that makes it all self-perpetuating.
2) THE HEALER
Since the Initiators often drive themselves into physical illness through their constant drive to keep moving forward, the healers are necessary to help bring balance back to their physical health. It is a feminine energy that dominates the healer, but many men exhibit very strong healing energies. They symbolize the principle of coming together with another, positive/negative, male/female, day/night, black/white, yin/yang. They unite like-minds, and like-ideals. Above all, life must have meaning for Healers. Their intuitive sense is very strong and among the strongest of all personality types. They reflect a quiet power in the natural flow of judgement, and the need for planning and communication to do what is best for our souls. A healer’s strength and power is resilient and lasting and are some of the greatest powers hiding behind the throne. Some of the greatest men and women to ever walk the Earth (especially Initiators) had a healer as their partner or confidant by their side. They are extremely effective at bringing peace, harmony and balance to many different experiences, and they do it with tolerance, patience, co-operation and sensitivity — particularly to the needs of others. They are more likely to suffer in silence if they cannot get people within their close relationships to understand what the problem is between them.
Key Strengths:
– Skilled mediators exemplifying very high levels of compassion and empathy
– Their intuitive prowess is the highest of all personality types
– Eternally optimistic that the world is going to get better and that everyone will live in peace and harmony.
– Cooperate well with others in order to maintain harmony in their own lives.
– Avoid conflict and confrontation and instead see the big picture
– Tend to be selfless and focused on the greater good
– Concerned about seeing that everyone has the opportunity to develop their full potential.
– Want to be accepted for who they are and strive to maintain a job where that may be expressed
– Promote personal growth of themselves and others
– Exceptional nurturers and will always ensure that children are raised in a warm and loving environment, even at the expense of their own comfort
3) THE CATALYST
The Catalysts of the world have the unique gift of changing people and circumstances with consistency and creativity at all times. They are the meditators of the planet who allow others to tap into their energy. It is a vibrational state that is very stable throughout human consciousness and not necessarily of the stereotypical meditator with closed eyes in lotus position. The meditators may be one who can achieve the same energy while dancing, painting, crafting or using any artistry skill that enables them to achieve the vibration. When Initiators and Healers become frustrated, they look to the Catalysts for assistance on a quantum level. None of them may understand what they are doing for the other, but whatever comes the way of the Catalysts, becomes more peaceful because of them. When the Initiators and Healers unite, they often need the synthesis of the Catalyst to put all that energy into effective action. Those who exhibit Catalyst energy are enlivening, youthful and enthusiastic with their talents spread through communications of all kinds. They are masters are harmonizing energies with their emotions. Their energy does not work well with structure, plans or routines because of their ability to move out of linear thought. Catalysts are capable of very deep love, intuition and even psychic gifts and emotions, and this needs to be admired and loved by others.
Key Strengths:
– Carry the strong seed programming as ascended masters
– Can help anybody find peace, clarity, and love within
– Able to cope with life’s ups and downs and will not be disheartened for long by any setbacks.
– Many are truly gifted musicians, writers, dancers, and public speakers
– Broad-minded thinking, synthesis and triad
– Enthusiasm, youthfulness and enlivenment
– Great communicators and often have a brilliant command of language.
– Feel the need to inspire and beautify the world with their natural capabilities to take anything they have and create something beautiful from it.
– Encourage rather than discourage and always find solutions rather than problems
4) THE PROTECTOR
Before there was technology of any kind there was Gaia. Most modern day humans have lost this connection. Many “Protectors” are not aware they are light workers, but they do know they are connected to Gaia consciousness. They are the tree huggers, environmentalists, gardeners, animal whisperers, and all lovers of nature. Some ignore their own dietary requirements for energy and instead sacrifice those needs for their truth and love of Gaia. They love the Earth and Mother Nature for all she is and what she provides, and that passion never leaves them for the rest of their lives. They are born with it, infused at birth with a love for all that is Gaia. They are trustworthy, patient, conventional and traditionalists, yet seek security and ‘home’ as their haven. Protectors are extremely loyal to their cause, hardworking and security-conscious, with high values and morals. Their vibration needs disciplined harmony, dependability and responsibility in their lives. They are dependable, serious-minded individuals who need to be practical about all that they do. They have strong opinions and beliefs about what is right and necessary even if their perspective conflicts with the masses.
Key Strengths:
– Works steadily and can be very persistent.
– Finds great satisfaction in accomplishments with physical labor, especially on the land and favors results over financial reward or public recognition.
– Believes in effort and control, and is certainly goal-oriented, but goals are simple and down to earth.
– Doesn’t like to make waves, but values moral convictions and will not back down when convinced that they are doing “the right thing.” (also causes extreme intolerance in Protectors who cannot appreciate other perspectives)
– Long-term commitment is likely to be a priority since they are faithful and dependable.
– Very career-minded and are highly ambitious in this area
– Thought, consideration and contemplation goes into just about every decision or move they make
– Build a solid foundation for the self and others, and making sure that all is safe and secure.
5) THE GAME CHANGER
Game changers have the greatest number of old souls out of all personality types. They anchor all others and are extremely independent in mind and soul. They are multi-talented and with many interests. They are attractive, independent, free-thinking, fast moving, and potentially foot-loose. They are often very sexual beings. They are resenting restrictions and responsibilities while carrying instabilities and unpredictability. They draw our attention to the wonder of life, and it beckons us to appreciate the perception of chaos all around us. So why are they the game changers? Because they walk and spread compassionate action anchoring all others. They go about their lives without building a website, writing a book, talking on stage, but rather walk their talk before doing anything else. How they treat others is their strength in changing the planet. They have an uncompromising demand for freedom in thought and action.
Key Strengths:
– Practice the principle of multiplicity, progression and passion and symbolize the need for change, variety and new growth
– Broadcast and disseminate information like no other
– Very pragmatic and opportunistic and can be very, very persuasive.
– Intellectual, versatile, investigative and imaginative.
– Great flexibility and this allows them to stop something and go off in an entirely different direction.
– Does not hold onto anything that creates monotony in their life and abhors routine and a dull, monotonous occupation is ‘death’ to them
– Ability to adapt and change freely as they are free spirits who have a sense of adventure and curiosity about life.
– Highly inquisitive individuals who consider hands on experience to be the best teacher in life.
– Deeply intelligent, philosophical and spiritually-minded.
6) THE NURTURER
The Nurturer represents harmony, balance, sincerity, love, and truth. They are considered the most “harmonious” of all personality types. Creating an environment of peace and harmony is always the strongest impulse. They “light” our path in areas where we require spiritual and mental balance. They beckon us to administer compassion and consciously choose forgiveness in a situation. They are the mothers of the world. They are about sacrificing, caring, healing, protecting and teaching others. No family or community can function without the power of the Nurturer to keep them together and safe. They are the glue that keeps a family or community together. They are full of sympathy, and their sense of justice is well developed. So much in fact that when they perceive injustice, they will sacrifice all their time and effort to set things straight. They are right fighters of peace and harmonious integration. Unfortunately they often fall prey to forms of jealousy and small-mindedness, tending to be more focused on the minor details and self-righteousness while ignoring the bigger picture. Despite this, the Nurturer is actually the most harmonious and stable among the nine personality types.
Key Strengths:
– Symbolizes responsibility and service which they achieve through love, nurturing and protection.
– Innate desire within to bring harmony, peace, justice and truth to all experiences in life.
– Derive their greatest joy from taking care of everyone else and these people feel most useful when they are fixing things.
– Will fight for their ideals and principles on behalf of a deep concern for others
– Strong beliefs and opinions about what they feel is the truth
– Within relationship realms, they are loving, supportive, comforting and accommodating, and make for fair, balanced and stable partners.
– Make great hosts as they are welcoming to all and know how to bring a sense of beauty, balance and love to all family occasions and social gatherings and outings.
– Greatest expression of inner Divinity is through teaching and guidance and are happiest when they see the positive results of their influence blossom in other people.
7) THE EXPLORER
Resonate with the vibrations and energies of the ‘Collective Consciousness’, faith and spirituality. They deal with esoteric and scholarly aspects of reality. Focused on activation of imagination and manifesting results in our lives through the use of conscious thought and awareness. They carry what can only be defined as a magical vibration with an underlying understanding of the fundamental laws of the universe. They are secretive, mysterious, stand-offish, intuitive and introspective. They tend to have strong psychic tendencies and are natural healers with a core of inner-strength. They are visionaries, seekers, thinkers and searchers of Truth always trying to understand the underlying, hidden truths. What are termed as conspiracy theorists are some of the greatest Explorers on the planet. Many are interested in the metaphysical, not because they are believers, but because it allows access to the ambiguous, abstract world of questions for which there are no clear answers. They are often spiritual, but not religious and will never stop seeking answers about who they are and why they are here. . Money means nothing to them and will never make a choice or a decision based on an expected financial outcome. Most are not warriors but analysts or strategic planners. More often, however, you will find them in the world of academics and science.
Key Strengths:
– Some of the greatest thinkers and are often very perspective and intuitive.
– Have a love of natural beauty, and flourish when they spend time in natural surroundings, away from civilization.
– Outstanding ability to heal people on the spiritual, emotional and physical levels (work well with Healers).
– Able to intuitively tune into the emotions and needs of others.
– Investigator and inventor whose energy shines in solitude.
– Demand a lot of themselves and others due to their extremely high standards
– Have a love of natural beauty such as flowers, plants, oceans, seas and lakes
– Never satisfied until they can link the known with the unknown, and this leads to a great deal of research, analysis and investigation.
– Knowledge and wisdom are their goals and their quick intelligence and inquiring mind leads them to gather many sources of information simultaneously like no other. They are masters at sourcing knowledge.
8) THE EQUALIZER
Perhaps the most misunderstood of all personality types. When the Karmic equalizer comes knocking, you can be assured that you will reap what you’ve sown. They are practical, realistic and intelligent. They exhibit vibrations of authority and personal power, self-confidence, executive ability, inner-strength, professionalism, management, material freedom, success, good judgement, money. They know the difference between make-believe and genuine spiritual realizations. They are more comfortable in the realm of material, tangible facts, and will be truly exceptional as soon as they develop their spiritual connection and natural intuition. On the material plane, they are focused on results, often in the form of money, yet do not care much about money for the sake of money. They are not greedy and only see money as a tool, not an end-result. Some of the more recognizable traits of the Equalizer are drive, ambition, authority, efficiency, organization, management, discipline and control. They are goal-oriented, focused, have good judgment, can discriminate and are practical and realists. They are closely related to the Initiators and have strong leadership skills, never shying away from a confrontation. They tend to do well in business and in authority roles. The lessons of this path are many and varied, but generally have to do with learning to overcome adversity and learning about compassion for others through having faced and survived often horrendous life circumstances and/or situations.
Key Strengths:
– Generally content and sure of themselves.
– They know what they want from life and know how they are going to achieve their goals.
– Determined and strong-willed
– Will never betray their own beliefs and principles or another’s trust.
– Most often their life purpose is learning to manipulate money and power – without becoming corrupted in the process.
– Natural leadership qualities, great long term vision and can accumulate a lot of power, prestige and wealth in their lifetimes.
– Have tremendous potential for improving the lives of thousands, perhaps millions of people in practical ways, which is part of their Equalizing abilities
– Self-reliant and independent and do not feel at ease at the mercy of anyone else.
– Support anything that brings beauty, justice, meaning and profit to the world.
– Have an air of success and project an image of being at ease with themselves and their surroundings.
9) THE FINALIZER
Associated with universal love, eternity and faith and the height of vibrational frequencies. They have a wisdom and responsibility, and the ultimate goal of the Finalizer is to serve humanity. They deal with intellectual power, inventiveness, influence over situations and things. They make us recognize our own internal attributes, and extend these abilities out into the world to make a positive, influential difference. This vibration has come to serve the world and make it a better place for all to live in. They work without motive. Their purpose is for the greatest good of all. They have a protective energy and they have great power and love in their soul. They are aware that they have come with a mission that adheres to the principle of Universal Love and compassion. Intuitively, the Finalizer understands the connections between all of mankind. They get the end game. They see no real difference between their neighbor next door and the person living in a very different culture and environment on the other side of the world. They are the least judgmental of all types, the most tolerant and the most conscious. When circumstances require, they can be a powerful force, strong enough to take over and bend others to their will. Yet they are not leaders in the way both the Initiators and Equalizers are. Their leadership qualities are in the higher realms of philosophy and justice. When they are done with you, they will change your mind and you will see their perspective.
Key Strengths:
– Compassion, selflessness and generosity
– Wisdom, intuition and high idealism
– Charitable, benevolent and altruistic.
– Sympathetic understanding of the under-privileged and under-developed
– Share the aspiration and idealism of the more advanced souls
– The dreamer who feels at home in the realm of the arts, medicine, religion, drama, philosophy and metaphysics.
– Healer and educator, acting always for the benefit of others.
– Looks for solutions from the inspirational, intuitive and creative worlds
– Takes care of everyone else, but needs to learn to speak up when they themselves need help, love and support.
Each of the above are beautifully intertwined, masterfully integrated and perfectly synchronized in millions of people around the world. Each is playing a role in how we integrate the coming waves of energy into human and universal consciousness. All are beautiful and exactly as they should be, so whichever resonates with you, know that they all exist within you.
Michael Forrester is a spiritual counselor and is a practicing motivational speaker for corporations in Japan, Canada and the United States.
Thomas is a fifth-grader at the highly competitive P.S. 334, the Anderson School on West 84th. Slim as they get, Thomas recently had his long sandy-blond hair cut short to look like the new James Bond (he took a photo of Daniel Craig to the barber). Unlike Bond, he prefers a uniform of cargo pants and a T-shirt emblazoned with a photo of one of his heroes: Frank Zappa. Thomas hangs out with five friends from the Anderson School. They are “the smart kids.” Thomas’s one of them, and he likes belonging.
Since Thomas could walk, he has heard constantly that he’s smart. Not just from his parents but from any adult who has come in contact with this precocious child. When he applied to Anderson for kindergarten, his intelligence was statistically confirmed. The school is reserved for the top one percent of all applicants, and an IQ test is required. Thomas didn’t just score in the top one percent. He scored in the top one percent of the top one percent.
But as Thomas has progressed through school, this self-awareness that he’s smart hasn’t always translated into fearless confidence when attacking his schoolwork. In fact, Thomas’s father noticed just the opposite. “Thomas didn’t want to try things he wouldn’t be successful at,” his father says. “Some things came very quickly to him, but when they didn’t, he gave up almost immediately, concluding, ‘I’m not good at this.’ ” With no more than a glance, Thomas was dividing the world into two—things he was naturally good at and things he wasn’t.
For instance, in the early grades, Thomas wasn’t very good at spelling, so he simply demurred from spelling out loud. When Thomas took his first look at fractions, he balked. The biggest hurdle came in third grade. He was supposed to learn cursive penmanship, but he wouldn’t even try for weeks. By then, his teacher was demanding homework be completed in cursive. Rather than play catch-up on his penmanship, Thomas refused outright. Thomas’s father tried to reason with him. “Look, just because you’re smart doesn’t mean you don’t have to put out some effort.” (Eventually, he mastered cursive, but not without a lot of cajoling from his father.)
Why does this child, who is measurably at the very top of the charts, lack confidence about his ability to tackle routine school challenges?
Thomas is not alone. For a few decades, it’s been noted that a large percentage of all gifted students (those who score in the top 10 percent on aptitude tests) severely underestimate their own abilities. Those afflicted with this lack of perceived competence adopt lower standards for success and expect less of themselves. They underrate the importance of effort, and they overrate how much help they need from a parent.
When parents praise their children’s intelligence, they believe they are providing the solution to this problem. According to a survey conducted by Columbia University, 85 percent of American parents think it’s important to tell their kids that they’re smart. In and around the New York area, according to my own (admittedly nonscientific) poll, the number is more like 100 percent. Everyone does it, habitually. The constant praise is meant to be an angel on the shoulder, ensuring that children do not sell their talents short.
But a growing body of research—and a new study from the trenches of the New York public-school system—strongly suggests it might be the other way around. Giving kids the label of “smart” does not prevent them from underperforming. It might actually be causing it.
For the past ten years, psychologist Carol Dweck and her team at Columbia (she’s now at Stanford) studied the effect of praise on students in a dozen New York schools. Her seminal work—a series of experiments on 400 fifth-graders—paints the picture most clearly.
Dweck sent four female research assistants into New York fifth-grade classrooms. The researchers would take a single child out of the classroom for a nonverbal IQ test consisting of a series of puzzles—puzzles easy enough that all the children would do fairly well. Once the child finished the test, the researchers told each student his score, then gave him a single line of praise. Randomly divided into groups, some were praised for their intelligence. They were told, “You must be smart at this.” Other students were praised for their effort: “You must have worked really hard.”
Why just a single line of praise? “We wanted to see how sensitive children were,” Dweck explained. “We had a hunch that one line might be enough to see an effect.”
Then the students were given a choice of test for the second round. One choice was a test that would be more difficult than the first, but the researchers told the kids that they’d learn a lot from attempting the puzzles. The other choice, Dweck’s team explained, was an easy test, just like the first. Of those praised for their effort, 90 percent chose the harder set of puzzles. Of those praised for their intelligence, a majority chose the easy test. The “smart” kids took the cop-out.
Why did this happen? “When we praise children for their intelligence,” Dweck wrote in her study summary, “we tell them that this is the name of the game: Look smart, don’t risk making mistakes.” And that’s what the fifth-graders had done: They’d chosen to look smart and avoid the risk of being embarrassed.
In a subsequent round, none of the fifth-graders had a choice. The test was difficult, designed for kids two years ahead of their grade level. Predictably, everyone failed. But again, the two groups of children, divided at random at the study’s start, responded differently. Those praised for their effort on the first test assumed they simply hadn’t focused hard enough on this test. “They got very involved, willing to try every solution to the puzzles,” Dweck recalled. “Many of them remarked, unprovoked, ‘This is my favorite test.’ ” Not so for those praised for their smarts. They assumed their failure was evidence that they weren’t really smart at all. “Just watching them, you could see the strain. They were sweating and miserable.”
Having artificially induced a round of failure, Dweck’s researchers then gave all the fifth-graders a final round of tests that were engineered to be as easy as the first round. Those who had been praised for their effort significantly improved on their first score—by about 30 percent. Those who’d been told they were smart did worse than they had at the very beginning—by about 20 percent.
Dweck had suspected that praise could backfire, but even she was surprised by the magnitude of the effect. “Emphasizing effort gives a child a variable that they can control,” she explains. “They come to see themselves as in control of their success. Emphasizing natural intelligence takes it out of the child’s control, and it provides no good recipe for responding to a failure.”
In follow-up interviews, Dweck discovered that those who think that innate intelligence is the key to success begin to discount the importance of effort. I am smart, the kids’ reasoning goes; I don’t need to put out effort. Expending effort becomes stigmatized—it’s public proof that you can’t cut it on your natural gifts.
Repeating her experiments, Dweck found this effect of praise on performance held true for students of every socioeconomic class. It hit both boys and girls—the very brightest girls especially (they collapsed the most following failure). Even preschoolers weren’t immune to the inverse power of praise.
Jill Abraham is a mother of three in Scarsdale, and her view is typical of those in my straw poll. I told her about Dweck’s research on praise, and she flatly wasn’t interested in brief tests without long-term follow-up. Abraham is one of the 85 percent who think praising her children’s intelligence is important. Her kids are thriving, so she’s proved that praise works in the real world. “I don’t care what the experts say,” Jill says defiantly. “I’m living it.”
Even those who’ve accepted the new research on praise have trouble putting it into practice. Sue Needleman is both a mother of two and an elementary-school teacher with eleven years’ experience. Last year, she was a fourth-grade teacher at Ridge Ranch Elementary in Paramus, New Jersey. She has never heard of Carol Dweck, but the gist of Dweck’s research has trickled down to her school, and Needleman has learned to say, “I like how you keep trying.” She tries to keep her praise specific, rather than general, so that a child knows exactly what she did to earn the praise (and thus can get more). She will occasionally tell a child, “You’re good at math,” but she’ll never tell a child he’s bad at math.
But that’s at school, as a teacher. At home, old habits die hard. Her 8-year-old daughter and her 5-year-old son are indeed smart, and sometimes she hears herself saying, “You’re great. You did it. You’re smart.” When I press her on this, Needleman says that what comes out of academia often feels artificial. “When I read the mock dialogues, my first thought is, Oh, please. How corny.”
No such qualms exist for teachers at the Life Sciences Secondary School in East Harlem, because they’ve seen Dweck’s theories applied to their junior-high students. Last week, Dweck and her protégée, Lisa Blackwell, published a report in the academic journal Child Development about the effect of a semester-long intervention conducted to improve students’ math scores.
Life Sciences is a health-science magnet school with high aspirations but 700 students whose main attributes are being predominantly minority and low achieving. Blackwell split her kids into two groups for an eight-session workshop. The control group was taught study skills, and the others got study skills and a special module on how intelligence is not innate. These students took turns reading aloud an essay on how the brain grows new neurons when challenged. They saw slides of the brain and acted out skits. “Even as I was teaching these ideas,” Blackwell noted, “I would hear the students joking, calling one another ‘dummy’ or ‘stupid.’ ” After the module was concluded, Blackwell tracked her students’ grades to see if it had any effect.
It didn’t take long. The teachers—who hadn’t known which students had been assigned to which workshop—could pick out the students who had been taught that intelligence can be developed. They improved their study habits and grades. In a single semester, Blackwell reversed the students’ longtime trend of decreasing math grades.
The only difference between the control group and the test group were two lessons, a total of 50 minutes spent teaching not math but a single idea: that the brain is a muscle. Giving it a harder workout makes you smarter. That alone improved their math scores.
“These are very persuasive findings,” says Columbia’s Dr. Geraldine Downey, a specialist in children’s sensitivity to rejection. “They show how you can take a specific theory and develop a curriculum that works.” Downey’s comment is typical of what other scholars in the field are saying. Dr. Mahzarin Banaji, a Harvard social psychologist who is an expert in stereotyping, told me, “Carol Dweck is a flat-out genius. I hope the work is taken seriously. It scares people when they see these results.”
Since the 1969 publication of The Psychology of Self-Esteem, in which Nathaniel Branden opined that self-esteem was the single most important facet of a person, the belief that one must do whatever he can to achieve positive self-esteem has become a movement with broad societal effects. Anything potentially damaging to kids’ self-esteem was axed. Competitions were frowned upon. Soccer coaches stopped counting goals and handed out trophies to everyone. Teachers threw out their red pencils. Criticism was replaced with ubiquitous, even undeserved, praise.
Dweck and Blackwell’s work is part of a larger academic challenge to one of the self-esteem movement’s key tenets: that praise, self-esteem, and performance rise and fall together. From 1970 to 2000, there were over 15,000 scholarly articles written on self-esteem and its relationship to everything—from sex to career advancement. But results were often contradictory or inconclusive. So in 2003 the Association for Psychological Science asked Dr. Roy Baumeister, then a leading proponent of self-esteem, to review this literature. His team concluded that self-esteem was polluted with flawed science. Only 200 of those 15,000 studies met their rigorous standards.
After reviewing those 200 studies, Baumeister concluded that having high self-esteem didn’t improve grades or career achievement. It didn’t even reduce alcohol usage. And it especially did not lower violence of any sort. (Highly aggressive, violent people happen to think very highly of themselves, debunking the theory that people are aggressive to make up for low self-esteem.) At the time, Baumeister was quoted as saying that his findings were “the biggest disappointment of my career.”
Now he’s on Dweck’s side of the argument, and his work is going in a similar direction: He will soon publish an article showing that for college students on the verge of failing in class, esteem-building praise causes their grades to sink further. Baumeister has come to believe the continued appeal of self-esteem is largely tied to parents’ pride in their children’s achievements: It’s so strong that “when they praise their kids, it’s not that far from praising themselves.”
By and large, the literature on praise shows that it can be effective—a positive, motivating force. In one study, University of Notre Dame researchers tested praise’s efficacy on a losing college hockey team. The experiment worked: The team got into the playoffs. But all praise is not equal—and, as Dweck demonstrated, the effects of praise can vary significantly depending on the praise given. To be effective, researchers have found, praise needs to be specific. (The hockey players were specifically complimented on the number of times they checked an opponent.)
Sincerity of praise is also crucial. Just as we can sniff out the true meaning of a backhanded compliment or a disingenuous apology, children, too, scrutinize praise for hidden agendas. Only young children—under the age of 7—take praise at face value: Older children are just as suspicious of it as adults.
Psychologist Wulf-Uwe Meyer, a pioneer in the field, conducted a series of studies where children watched other students receive praise. According to Meyer’s findings, by the age of 12, children believe that earning praise from a teacher is not a sign you did well—it’s actually a sign you lack ability and the teacher thinks you need extra encouragement. And teens, Meyer found, discounted praise to such an extent that they believed it’s a teacher’s criticism—not praise at all—that really conveys a positive belief in a student’s aptitude.
In the opinion of cognitive scientist Daniel T. Willingham, a teacher who praises a child may be unwittingly sending the message that the student reached the limit of his innate ability, while a teacher who criticizes a pupil conveys the message that he can improve his performance even further.
New York University professor of psychiatry Judith Brook explains that the issue for parents is one of credibility. “Praise is important, but not vacuous praise,” she says. “It has to be based on a real thing—some skill or talent they have.” Once children hear praise they interpret as meritless, they discount not just the insincere praise, but sincere praise as well.
Scholars from Reed College and Stanford reviewed over 150 praise studies. Their meta-analysis determined that praised students become risk-averse and lack perceived autonomy. The scholars found consistent correlations between a liberal use of praise and students’ “shorter task persistence, more eye-checking with the teacher, and inflected speech such that answers have the intonation of questions.”
Dweck’s research on overpraised kids strongly suggests that image maintenance becomes their primary concern—they are more competitive and more interested in tearing others down. A raft of very alarming studies illustrate this.
In one, students are given two puzzle tests. Between the first and the second, they are offered a choice between learning a new puzzle strategy for the second test or finding out how they did compared with other students on the first test: They have only enough time to do one or the other. Students praised for intelligence choose to find out their class rank, rather than use the time to prepare.
In another, students get a do-it-yourself report card and are told these forms will be mailed to students at another school—they’ll never meet these students and don’t know their names. Of the kids praised for their intelligence, 40 percent lie, inflating their scores. Of the kids praised for effort, few lie.
When students transition into junior high, some who’d done well in elementary school inevitably struggle in the larger and more demanding environment. Those who equated their earlier success with their innate ability surmise they’ve been dumb all along. Their grades never recover because the likely key to their recovery—increasing effort—they view as just further proof of their failure. In interviews many confess they would “seriously consider cheating.”
Students turn to cheating because they haven’t developed a strategy for handling failure. The problem is compounded when a parent ignores a child’s failures and insists he’ll do better next time. Michigan scholar Jennifer Crocker studies this exact scenario and explains that the child may come to believe failure is something so terrible, the family can’t acknowledge its existence. A child deprived of the opportunity to discuss mistakes can’t learn from them.
My son, Luke, is in kindergarten. He seems supersensitive to the potential judgment of his peers. Luke justifies it by saying, “I’m shy,” but he’s not really shy. He has no fear of strange cities or talking to strangers, and at his school, he has sung in front of large audiences. Rather, I’d say he’s proud and self-conscious. His school has simple uniforms (navy T-shirt, navy pants), and he loves that his choice of clothes can’t be ridiculed, “because then they’d be teasing themselves too.”
After reading Carol Dweck’s research, I began to alter how I praised him, but not completely. I suppose my hesitation was that the mind-set Dweck wants students to have—a firm belief that the way to bounce back from failure is to work harder—sounds awfully clichéd: Try, try again.
But it turns out that the ability to repeatedly respond to failure by exerting more effort—instead of simply giving up—is a trait well studied in psychology. People with this trait, persistence, rebound well and can sustain their motivation through long periods of delayed gratification. Delving into this research, I learned that persistence turns out to be more than a conscious act of will; it’s also an unconscious response, governed by a circuit in the brain. Dr. Robert Cloninger at Washington University in St. Louis located the circuit in a part of the brain called the orbital and medial prefrontal cortex. It monitors the reward center of the brain, and like a switch, it intervenes when there’s a lack of immediate reward. When it switches on, it’s telling the rest of the brain, “Don’t stop trying. There’s dopa [the brain’s chemical reward for success] on the horizon.” While putting people through MRI scans, Cloninger could see this switch lighting up regularly in some. In others, barely at all.
What makes some people wired to have an active circuit?
Cloninger has trained rats and mice in mazes to have persistence by carefully not rewarding them when they get to the finish. “The key is intermittent reinforcement,” says Cloninger. The brain has to learn that frustrating spells can be worked through. “A person who grows up getting too frequent rewards will not have persistence, because they’ll quit when the rewards disappear.”
That sold me. I’d thought “praise junkie” was just an expression—but suddenly, it seemed as if I could be setting up my son’s brain for an actual chemical need for constant reward.
What would it mean, to give up praising our children so often? Well, if I am one example, there are stages of withdrawal, each of them subtle. In the first stage, I fell off the wagon around other parents when they were busy praising their kids. I didn’t want Luke to feel left out. I felt like a former alcoholic who continues to drink socially. I became a Social Praiser.
Then I tried to use the specific-type praise that Dweck recommends. I praised Luke, but I attempted to praise his “process.” This was easier said than done. What are the processes that go on in a 5-year-old’s mind? In my impression, 80 percent of his brain processes lengthy scenarios for his action figures.
But every night he has math homework and is supposed to read a phonics book aloud. Each takes about five minutes if he concentrates, but he’s easily distracted. So I praised him for concentrating without asking to take a break. If he listened to instructions carefully, I praised him for that. After soccer games, I praised him for looking to pass, rather than just saying, “You played great.” And if he worked hard to get to the ball, I praised the effort he applied.
Just as the research promised, this focused praise helped him see strategies he could apply the next day. It was remarkable how noticeably effective this new form of praise was.
Truth be told, while my son was getting along fine under the new praise regime, it was I who was suffering. It turns out that I was the real praise junkie in the family. Praising him for just a particular skill or task felt like I left other parts of him ignored and unappreciated. I recognized that praising him with the universal “You’re great—I’m proud of you” was a way I expressed unconditional love.
Offering praise has become a sort of panacea for the anxieties of modern parenting. Out of our children’s lives from breakfast to dinner, we turn it up a notch when we get home. In those few hours together, we want them to hear the things we can’t say during the day—We are in your corner, we are here for you, we believe in you.
In a similar way, we put our children in high-pressure environments, seeking out the best schools we can find, then we use the constant praise to soften the intensity of those environments. We expect so much of them, but we hide our expectations behind constant glowing praise. The duplicity became glaring to me.
Eventually, in my final stage of praise withdrawal, I realized that not telling my son he was smart meant I was leaving it up to him to make his own conclusion about his intelligence. Jumping in with praise is like jumping in too soon with the answer to a homework problem—it robs him of the chance to make the deduction himself.
But what if he makes the wrong conclusion?
Can I really leave this up to him, at his age?
I’m still an anxious parent. This morning, I tested him on the way to school: “What happens to your brain, again, when it gets to think about something hard?”
“It gets bigger, like a muscle,” he responded, having aced this one before.
“Breathing in, I know that I am breathing in.” It is such a simple practice, but it can transform your life. The great meditation master Thich Nhat Hanh teaches five mindfulness exercises to help you live with happiness and joy.
Our true home is not in the past. Our true home is not in the future. Our true home is in the here and the now. Life is available only in the here and the now, and it is our true home.
Mindfulness is the energy that helps us recognize the conditions of happiness that are already present in our lives. You don’t have to wait ten years to experience this happiness. It is present in every moment of your daily life. There are those of us who are alive but don’t know it. But when you breathe in, and you are aware of your in-breath, you touch the miracle of being alive. That is why mindfulness is a source of happiness and joy.
Most people are forgetful; they are not really there a lot of the time. Their mind is caught in their worries, their fears, their anger, and their regrets, and they are not mindful of being there. That state of being is called forgetfulness—you are there but you are not there. You are caught in the past or in the future. You are not there in the present moment, living your life deeply. That is forgetfulness.
The opposite of forgetfulness is mindfulness. Mindfulness is when you are truly there, mind and body together. You breathe in and out mindfully, you bring your mind back to your body, and you are there. When your mind is there with your body, you are established in the present moment. Then you can recognize the many conditions of happiness that are in you and around you, and happiness just comes naturally.
Mindfulness practice should be enjoyable, not work or effort. Do you have to make an effort to breath in? You don’t need to make an effort. To breathe in, you just breathe in. Suppose you are with a group of people contemplating a beautiful sunset. Do you have to make an effort to enjoy the beautiful sunset? No, you don’t have to make any effort. You just enjoy it.
The same thing is true with your breath. Allow your breath to take place. Become aware of it and enjoy it. Effortlessness. Enjoyment. The same thing is true with walking mindfully. Every step you take is enjoyable. Every step helps you to touch the wonders of life, in yourself and around you. Every step is peace. Every step is joy. That is possible.
During the time you are practicing mindfulness, you stop talking—not only the talking outside, but the talking inside. The talking inside is the thinking, the mental discourse that goes on and on and on inside. Real silence is the cessation of talking—of both the mouth and of the mind. This is not the kind of silence that oppresses us. It is a very elegant kind of silence, a very powerful kind of silence. It is the silence that heals and nourishes us.
Mindfulness gives birth to joy and happiness. Another source of happiness is concentration. The energy of mindfulness carries within it the energy of concentration. When you are aware of something, such as a flower, and can maintain that awareness, we say that you are concentrated on the flower. When your mindfulness becomes powerful, your concentration becomes powerful, and when you are fully concentrated, you have a chance to make a breakthrough, to achieve insight. If you meditate on a cloud, you can get insight into the nature of the cloud. Or you can meditate on a pebble, and if you have enough mindfulness and concentration, you can see into the nature of the pebble. You can meditate on a person, and if you have enough mindfulness and concentration, you can make a breakthrough and understand the nature of that person. You can meditate on yourself, or your anger, or your fear, or your joy, or your peace.
Anything can be the object of your meditation, and with the powerful energy of concentration, you can make a breakthrough and develop insight. It’s like a magnifying glass concentrating the light of the sun. If you put the point of concentrated light on a piece of paper, it will burn. Similarly, when your mindfulness and concentration are powerful, your insight will liberate you from fear, anger, and despair, and bring you true joy, true peace, and true happiness.
When you contemplate the big, full sunrise, the more mindful and concentrated you are, the more the beauty of the sunrise is revealed to you. Suppose you are offered a cup of tea, very fragrant, very good tea. If your mind is distracted, you cannot really enjoy the tea. You have to be mindful of the tea, you have to be concentrated on it, so the tea can reveal its fragrance and wonder to you. That is why mindfulness and concentration are such sources of happiness. That’s why a good practitioner knows how to create a moment of joy, a feeling of happiness, at any time of the day.
First Mindfulness Exercise: Mindful Breathing
The first exercise is very simple, but the power, the result, can be very great. The exercise is simply to identify the in-breath as in-breath and the out-breath as the out-breath. When you breathe in, you know that this is your in-breath. When you breathe out, you are mindful that this is your out-breath.
Just recognize: this is an in-breath, this is an out-breath. Very simple, very easy. In order to recognize your in-breath as in-breath, you have to bring your mind home to yourself. What is recognizing your in-breath is your mind, and the object of your mind—the object of your mindfulness—is the in-breath. Mindfulness is always mindful of something. When you drink your tea mindfully, it’s called mindfulness of drinking. When you walk mindfully, it’s called mindfulness of walking. And when you breathe mindfully, that is mindfulness of breathing.
So the object of your mindfulness is your breath, and you just focus your attention on it. Breathing in, this is my in-breath. Breathing out, this is my out-breath. When you do that, the mental discourse will stop. You don’t think anymore. You don’t have to make an effort to stop your thinking; you bring your attention to your in-breath and the mental discourse just stops. That is the miracle of the practice. You don’t think of the past anymore. You don’t think of the future. You don’t think of your projects, because you are focusing your attention, your mindfulness, on your breath.
It gets even better. You can enjoy your in-breath. The practice can be pleasant, joyful. Someone who is dead cannot take any more in-breaths. But you are alive. You are breathing in, and while breathing in, you know that you are alive. The in-breath can be a celebration of the fact that you are alive, so it can be very joyful. When you are joyful and happy, you don’t feel that you have to make any effort at all. I am alive; I am breathing in. To be still alive is a miracle. The greatest of all miracles is to be alive, and when you breathe in, you touch that miracle. Therefore, your breathing can be a celebration of life.
An in-breath may take three, four, five seconds, it depends. That’s time to be alive, time to enjoy your breath. You don’t have to interfere with your breathing. If your in-breath is short, allow it to be short. If your out-breath is long, let it to be long. Don’t try to force it. The practice is simple recognition of the in-breath and the out-breath. That is good enough. It will have a powerful effect.
Second Mindfulness Exercise: Concentration
The second exercise is that while you breathe in, you follow your in-breath from the beginning to the end. If your in-breath lasts three or four seconds, then your mindfulness also lasts three or four seconds. Breathing in, I follow my in-breath all the way through. Breathing out, I follow my out-breath all the way through. From the beginning of my out-breath to the end of my out-breath, my mind is always with it. Therefore, mindfulness becomes uninterrupted, and the quality of your concentration is improved.
So the second exercise is to follow your in-breath and your out-breath all the way through. Whether they are short or long, it doesn’t matter. What is important is that you follow your in-breath from the beginning to the end. Your awareness is sustained. There is no interruption. Suppose you are breathing in, and then you think, “Oh, I forgot to turn off the light in my room.” There is an interruption. Just stick to your in-breath all the way through. Then you cultivate your mindfulness and your concentration. You become your in-breath. You become your out-breath. If you continue like that, your breathing will naturally become deeper and slower, more harmonious and peaceful. You don’t have to make any effort—it happens naturally.
Third Mindfulness Exercise: Awareness of Your Body
The third exercise is to become aware of your body as you are breathing. “Breathing in, I am aware of my whole body.” This takes it one step further.
In the first exercise, you became aware of your in-breath and your out-breath. Because you have now generated the energy of mindfulness through mindful breathing, you can use that energy to recognize your body.
“Breathing in, I am aware of my body. Breathing out, I am aware of my body.” I know my body is there. This brings the mind wholly back to the body. Mind and body become one reality. When your mind is with your body, you are well-established in the here and the now. You are fully alive. You can be in touch with the wonders of life that are available in yourself and around you.
This exercise is simple, but the effect of the oneness of body and mind is very great. In our daily lives, we are seldom in that situation. Our body is there but our mind is elsewhere. Our mind may be caught in the past or in the future, in regrets, sorrow, fear, or uncertainty, and so our mind is not there. Someone may be present in the house, but he’s not really there, his mind is not there. His mind is with the future, with his projects, and he’s not there for his children or his spouse. Maybe you could say to him, “Anybody home?” and help him bring his mind back to his body.
So the third exercise is to become aware of your body. “Breathing in, I’m aware of my body.” When you practice mindful breathing, the quality of your in-breath and out-breath will be improved. There is more peace and harmony in your breathing, and if you continue to practice like that, the peace and the harmony will penetrate into the body, and the body will profit.
Fourth Mindfulness Exercise: Releasing Tension
The next exercise is to release the tension in the body. When you are truly aware of your body, you notice there is some tension and pain in your body, some stress. The tension and pain have been accumulating for a long time and our bodies suffer, but our mind is not there to help release it. Therefore, it is very important to learn how to release the tension in the body.
In a sitting, lying, or standing position, it’s always possible to release the tension. You can practice total relaxation, deep relaxation, in a sitting or lying position. While you are driving your car, you might notice the tension in your body. You are eager to arrive and you don’t enjoy the time you spend driving. When you come to a red light, you are eager for the red light to become a green light so that you can continue. But the red light can be a signal. It can be a reminder that there is tension in you, the stress of wanting to arrive as quickly as possible. If you recognize that, you can make use of the red light. You can sit back and relax—take the ten seconds the light is red to practice mindful breathing and release the tension in the body.
So next time you’re stopped at a red light, you might like to sit back and practice the fourth exercise: “Breathing in, I’m aware of my body. Breathing out, I release the tension in my body.” Peace is possible at that moment, and it can be practiced many times a day—in the workplace, while you are driving, while you are cooking, while you are doing the dishes, while you are watering the vegetable garden. It is always possible to practice releasing the tension in yourself.
Walking Meditation
When you practice mindful breathing you simply allow your in breath to take place. You become aware of it and enjoy it. Effortlessness. The same thing is true with mindful walking. Every step is enjoyable. Every step helps you touch the wonders of life. Every step is joy. That is possible.
You don’t have to make any effort during walking meditation, because it is enjoyable. You are there, body and mind together. You are fully alive, fully present in the here and the now. With every step, you touch the wonders of life that are in you and around you. When you walk like that, every step brings healing. Every step brings peace and joy, because every step is a miracle.
The real miracle is not to fly or walk on fire. The real miracle is to walk on the Earth, and you can perform that miracle at any time. Just bring your mind home to your body, become alive, and perform the miracle of walking on Earth.
One of the questions I hear over and over is “what is intuition anyway?” The short answer is that intuition is a natural gift that we are born with. Along with our five senses of touch, taste, sight, sound and smell, we have a sixth sense: intuition.
For most of us our intuition went underground in early childhood. When we sensed things at a subtle energy level we were often told it was “not real.” It is “just your imagination.”
You can credit René Decartes, 17th century French philosopher who is famous for the phrase “I think, therefore I am” for giving our sixth sense a bad name. As an early proponent of rationalism he taught that if it can’t be measured and studied, it is not real.
As patriarchy took over, rational thinking became valued and imagination became devalued. Bit-by-bit humans lost touch with their sixth sense.
The positive side of this was it made the space for humanity to develop its intellectual capacity. However, now that we have a fully developed intellect, it is time to “come to our senses.” It is time to get back into balance with all of our capabilities. And this means recognizing, cultivating and using our sixth sense.
Here are 8 steps for developing your sixth sense:
1. Acknowledge that your imagination is real. Imagination is a sensing device and a creative tool. It is a major component of our sixth sense. Can you think of anything that has been created that didn’t first show up in someone’s imagination?
2. Set your intention to develop your intuition. Simply decide it is important to you. When a door opens up that leads to developing your intuition, walk through it.
3. Start paying attention to the little whispers that pop up in the back of your mind. Things like “take an umbrella today” or “call to confirm the appointment before you go.” Usually when we get these little whispers we run it by our logical mind and let it decide. For instance, if you get the “hit” to take an umbrella, it is natural to take a look outside and see if it looks like rain. If not, we usually ignore our intuition and leave our umbrella at home.
4. Keep a journal of the “hits” you get each day and record how many were right on. The main purpose of this is to encourage you to pay attention. Secondarily, it validates how often your “hits” are on target.
5. Hang around other people who are intent on developing their intuition. You will learn faster when you can share your experiences with others.
6. Keep a daily meditation practice. It will make you more alert to the whispers.
7.Take classes in intuition development. The more you know the quicker your progress.
8. And lastly, channeling psychic energy through your body affects your body’s systems. Eating right and exercising will help keep your body in balance.
Keep in mind that your sixth sense is a natural gift. There is nothing unusual or out of the ordinary about it. It is not a talent reserved for a few special people. Anyone can develop their intuition. Begin by following the 8 steps outlined above. Especially gather with others who are interested in developing their intuition. Take classes. Pay attention. Practice, practice, practice.
Having a fully developed sixth sense will help you be in the right place at the right time while you navigate the topsy-turvy world we currently find ourselves in.
Everything has a life force of some sort or another and this is especially true of crystals or gemstones. Many people find them full of useful energy. Some people even think they have a form of consciousness. “I do feel that they have been infused with energies throughout their life, be it from their development into being (time, minerals, energy, water) or by those who imprinted their consciousness into the crystals themselves.” (Healing Crystals)
So the energy infused in the crystals is what allow them to do the amazing work they do.
Crystals and Gemstones for Beginners
Clear Quartz
Clear quartz is highly versatile and is a powerful amplifier. It is believed to amplify any frequency including the natural frequency of one’s own body. Our bodies have their own EMF (electromagnetic frequency) and that is what the silica, in the quartz, picks up.
Citrine
Citrine’s energy is happy & creative so if you’re feeling down or need to get out of a creative block, reach for this. It gives a great boost to anything to do with finances or prosperity & abundance. Its also a great manifestor with it’s sunny energy. (Hibiscus Moon Crystal Academy)
Rose Quartz
Rose quartz’s energy is very calm, gentle, and compassionate. It is truly a stone of love, all sorts of love. If one is feeling the need to feel loved or if they are wanting to project compassion towards another person, rose quartz is the way to go.
Green Aventurine
Green Aventurine is a healing stone of all kinds because is has great vitality. If one needs healing with anything, finances, friends, health, growth, or confidence, this is the stone to have in one’s arsenal.
Amethyst
Amethyst is a great stone of protection & purification. Its also known to enhance intuition & helps with the release of addictions. Basically, it is a great crystal to have around. It is always needed.
How to Pick the Perfect Crystals for You
Once one has decided what crystals they need, now it is time to pick the right ones. Certain crystals will work better for some people, but not so well for others.
Here are 3 steps one should follow to find the right crystals for them!
1. Set an Intention
Before starting the process to find a crystal or gemstone, set an intention. This means one should speak aloud or inside about what crystal or gemstone they are hoping to find. For example, “Thank you amethyst for becoming my next gemstone. Please reveal yourself to me.”
2. Follow the Senses
We have the physical senses and the intuitive senses. Physical senses include sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. The intuitive senses include clairvoyance (clear seeing), clairaudience (clear hearing), clairsentience (clear feeling), clairalience (clear smelling), clairgustance (clear tasting), and claircognizance (clear knowing). (Oprah) Use all of these to pick the perfect stone.
3. Wait for a Feeling
Sometimes a crystal or gemstone will just stand out to a person. If a stone keeps on grabbing one’s attention, it might be the right one. Also, some stones will vibrate or give off a form of energy when held by the right person. Feel for this.
Re: The deliberate subjugation of our people and planet
While you continue to hypocritically blame humanity for the dire plight of our world, we hereby put you on notice that we are well aware that it is you, the financial, corporate, military, scientific and governmental agents and most of all the dark shadow forces behind you, that we know full well comprise and empower the destructive global power grid, that are responsible for our current engineered crises and overall social condition.
You’ve brought us and our planet to the precipice. If you do not cease and desist, what is soon to come will be blood on your hands, cause untold suffering, and all for naught as far as your designs are concerned. You too will shrivel up in the dustbin of history as just another invasive parasite that couldn’t succeed in its self-serving designs for all its efforts.
Know that.
We hereby officially notify all those complicit in this massive control program that:
We are aware of your efforts to dumb down, anesthetize and control the world’s populations.
We are aware of your destructive programs to sicken and alter humanity through the chemical, electromagnetic and genetic modification of our food, plants, animals and ourselves.
We are aware of your wanton destruction of our earth, skies and oceans through resource exploitation, geoengineering and weather modification.
We are aware of your many false flag events and surreptitious “strategy of tension” schemes purposely designed to keep the world in perpetual fear and continual wars against fabricated outside enemies for control and profit.
We are aware of your fascist medical designs to drain and destroy humanity via the decrepit allopathic medical system based on profit and ill health at every level, including the proliferation of pharmaceuticals, invasive and debilitating treatments and deliberately damaging vaccines.
We are aware of your moves toward a worldwide police state based on hyperbolized fear and disinformation to manipulate humanity in order to get an unspoken imprimatur to execute your program of control and subjugation.
We are aware that your political crony establishment is all staged and designed to distract from the real issues and keep the populace occupied and feeling like participants while you work your nefarious program.
We are aware of your falsely imposed vampiristic taxation system to fund further bureaucratic bloat, controls and an overarching agenda of genocidal wars on innocent peoples, and that it is arbitrary and our sovereign choice to simply not participate in any longer.
We are aware that a select few major corporations with vested interests in this global agenda now control almost all media and that mass media is nothing more than a mouthpiece of propaganda to these ends.
We are aware that your “entertainment” industry is simply socially engineered entrainment towards personal and social distraction, chaos and degradation.
We are aware of your AI, electromagnetic grid and mind manipulating designs and technologies that are being imposed to further expand your psychopathic control program.
We are aware that you repress emerging technologies that threaten existing parasitic profitable ones, such as the hazardous petroleum and nuclear industries, when alternative energy sources and other such solutions have arisen for many decades which you have suppressed.
We are aware that you sequester knowledge and information in a vast array of fields to keep the general populace in the dark and thereby disempowered as to our true historical context, while you are coveting secret information and carrying out advanced covert research for your own ends.
We are aware that you have stigmatized, marginalized and seek to outlaw any form of criticism, questioning or dissent using whatever excuse you can manufacture.
We are aware of your oppressive, enslaving monetary and legal control scams, private fractionalized banking pillaging, and twisted cravings for money and power in an imposed control system that never needed to exist in the first place.
We are aware of your falsely postured institutions, foundations, institutes, charitable organizations and international bodies such as the so-called United Nations and its many agencies and agendas being used to further develop your global control plans and programs.
We are aware of your secret societies, blood line allegiances and luciferian, freemasonic, Babylonian and otherworldy roots that propel the wickedness of your self appointed leaders. We are aware of your ritual sacrifices, paedophelia and bestiality inclinations and other sordid practices, all of which are anathema to our conscious race.
Ad nauseum…
This will be tolerated no longer.
Furthermore…
We are aware that you know we are on to you. We stand fearless, fully committed to humanity’s well being. You are shallow, self-serving and seriously misled guns for hire working for a control system being engineered by powers beyond your knowledge that will devour you, just as you seek to devour us.
We are aware of who you are. Your days are numbered. Your designs will soon be visited upon your heads if you do not drastically change your ways. Universal law dictates it. You know it, and we know it. Hence your sloppy, miscreant behavior being so thoroughly exposed which you so furiously attempt to deny and suppress. This futile lashing out only works toward the exposure of open truth and the awakening’s favor.
If there is an ounce of humanity left in any of you, defect and help us expose and bring down these life ending forces. You, your children, your grandchildren and anything you may still hold dear are already suffering and will also perish in the catastrophe we are soon destined for if you do not respond.
Now.
A last warning.
We are aware. We are awake and activated. We will do everything within and without our personal power to see our race and planet survive and shake this parasitic invasion. Our planet itself will not take this attempted overthrow. Know that, and expect repercussions from Her, as well as us, a gathering storm of sacred truth you cannot possibly fathom.
Your opposition, resistance and puny, short-sighted efforts are dwarfed by what awaits you.
Will you find your humanity in time? We think many of you could, and those of you who do will be welcomed amongst the awakened. However, we realize many are beyond redemption.
But don’t try to fool us. We’re more on to you than you could ever imagine.
Just watch and see. We will surprise you, just as you fear.
We’re here. We live. We cannot be stopped nor thwarted by any means despite your flimsy efforts.
The truth and love we bear are coming for you. Truth and cosmic resonance cannot be denied and any aberration from it will be mitigated.
More optimistically, the increasing accessibility of solar and wind technology has proved particularly useful for less economically stable countries, such as Afghanistan. In a country without a strong central government, it is difficult to develop the infrastructure necessary to generate power for citizens outside of major population centers. However, solar facilities can be built and maintained locally at modest expense allowing for the democratization of electricity in areas where it was previously not viable. This is especially helpful for developing nations, which are largely in tropical and subtropical regions and therefore receive abundant sunlight year round. 
intelligence,” Dweck wrote in her study summary, “we tell them that this is the name of the game: Look smart, don’t risk making mistakes.” And that’s what the fifth-graders had done: They’d chosen to look smart and avoid the risk of being embarrassed.
It didn’t take long. The teachers—who hadn’t known which students had been assigned to which workshop—could pick out the students who had been taught that intelligence can be developed. They improved their study habits and grades. In a single semester, Blackwell reversed the students’ longtime trend of decreasing math grades.
