Why Is It So Hard to Love Ourselves?

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Valentine’s Day is only days away. Why not make a commitment now to start developing a loving relationship with the most important person in your life? YOU.

Do you scoff at this idea? Do you think it’s egotistic or morally repugnant to focus on loving yourself? Know that loving yourself is not about selfish egotism or narcissism. It’s about a deep and knowing love for who you are, as you are. The truth is, narcissists are actually people who loathe themselves and compensate for this internal feeling by becoming selfish bullies.

It’s a truism but it’s true: if you don’t love yourself, you can’t truly love another. The love you can feel will be that much more limited, not just for your family and significant others, but for the world. Don’t believe me? Do a little experiment. Work seriously on loving yourself for a few weeks and find out how much more you start loving others.

Maybe you are saying, “Of course I love myself!” But are you sure? Try doing this: pick up a mirror, look deep into your eyes, smile, and sincerely and with all the heart you can muster say, “I love you. I really really love you.”

How do you feel? Is it awkward? Do you cry a little? Can you even bring yourself to do it? And how do you feel about beginning each day by doing this? If you have any qualms about it or think it’s silly, it’s time to get to work. And even if you don’t, know that incorporating this simple little exercise into your life will change it for the better.

Why is it so hard to love yourself, anyway? Societal messages are one explanation, but more important are childhood experiences. Within you are carried every criticism, every “should” imposed on you, parental neglect or abuse (both physical and mental), and a host of other reasons for feeling bad about yourself. It is also the natural inclination of any child to blame themselves for whatever is going amiss in the family, whether it be discord or misfortune. We may forget about it all as we grow older and learn to cover it up with busy-ness, but it still lies buried deep within. It is stored in our memories and often within our bodies as aches and pains and dis-ease.

But these memories are just thoughts and feelings about yourself. They can be changed. They are habits of being, and just like any habit, they can be broken. You just have to make an effort.

Why is this so important? How can it help you in practical ways? Well, if you’ve read my book Active Consciousness and are interested in becoming a person who can actively create his or her future, know that working on loving yourself will help you remove many of the blocks that inhibit your progress. As the Huna wisdom teaches, prayers sent to the High Self can be blocked by the subconscious self doubts and self-limiting beliefs of the Basic Self. For example, if deep down inside you fear or feel undeserving of achieving your conscious desires, all of your efforts to achieve them will bear weak fruit. But when you “prep the soil” first by working on loving yourself, you help to remove these blocks.

Author Anita Moorjani, whose book Dying to Be Me describes her near-death experience from terminal cancer and her miraculous and quick recovery after she returned, says that her discovery in the afterlife was this: self love is the key. She says that our mission here on Earth is to learn to love ourselves completely and to let our light shine as brightly as it can. I’m slowly learning that she is right.

I am currently working on Louise Hay’s course, Learning to Love Yourself. Already I feel a difference in my life. Although this online offering is free in its current form, I decided to buy it. Much to my amazement, my husband Steve is now doing the course too. I hope my children will too.

Steve and I are in our 60s. Most people will never do this kind of work. They simply accept that they must go through life in anger, resentment, guilt, and fear, never suspecting that a bit of self-love might be the answer. I figure, better late than never for me and Steve. I hope that many of you, who are much younger, can begin now to change your lives for the better! Give yourself the best Valentine gift you can possibly imagine: learn to love yourself.

Why Am I So Confident About Homeopathy? It Works! Here’s Some More Scientific Proof Too

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Just this week I got an email from someone who has begun to read Impossible Cure. (Actually, he’s listening to the audio book — something many of you might also be interested in.) He asked me how I could be so confident about homeopathy, given all the naysayers, quackbusters, and negative media about it. My answer went something like this:

First, I know from personal experience that homeopathy works and is extremely powerful. It isn’t a panacea and sometimes I need to use other healing modalities too (I’m currently writing a new book that, among other topics, focuses on many of the self-healing methods I’ve learned), but homeopathy is my family’s first “go to,” and has been for almost 25 years. So it doesn’t matter what anybody says. My only fear is that as I get older, I’ll be forced into the allopathic machine. I hope not!

Second, I know so many brilliant people who use homeopathy, are homeopaths, or are supporters of homeopathy. The people who put down homeopathy, in my experience, either really know nothing about it and just regurgitate what the media says, or are so limited and threatened that they’re afraid to really learn anything about it. (By the way, it’s not just the media but also most politicians that are bought-and-sold by Big Pharma.) The reason the media and other attacks have escalated in recent years (in my opinion) is that the science is beginning to verify the effects of ultradilutions, including ultradilutions of allopathic drugs and products. If this phenomenon becomes widely accepted, it would absolutely destroy the pharmaceutical industry because medicines would essentially cost nothing. That is why Big Pharma would spend any amount of money and do anything to protect its power. And that means trying to discredit homeopathy.

Last month I promised some pointers to more studies that buttress what I’m saying. The media wants to keep this information from you, and that’s why it’s important to stay aware and share it. Who knows, maybe you’ll even convince your doctor that homeopathy is not “mere placebo”!

First, here are three places online to look for pointers to lots of research studies.
1) The most comprehensive and up-to-date is probably Saurav Arora’s site, researchinhomeopathy.org.
2) The National Center for Homeopathy — which you should all join and support — provides a nice link to “quotable research”. Some of the items below are derived from their monthly newsletters.
3) Our intrepid homeopathic author, Dana Ullman, also makes available an ever-growing database of homeopathic research and guide to treatment, in his eBook Evidence Based Homeopathic Family Medicine.

Now a smattering of studies:

Recent Lab-Based and Basic Research

Hot off the press (courtesy of Dana) — a new lab-based study that appeared in leading journal Nature in September 2018.
This study tested various potencies of Rhus toxicodendron (also called Rhus tox) in the treatment of neuropathy in rats. This study showed that the various potencies of Rhus tox (2X, 4X, 6X, 8X, 12X, 24X, and 30X) had significant and even sometimes substantially significant effects on various immunological markers as well as in various pain-relieving tests. Not only did this homeopathic medicine have remarkably beneficial effects as compared with a placebo, it was found to be as effective as a leading conventional drug, called Gabapentin, and was considerably safer than this conventional drug!

Another article by Dana, about a July 2018 basic-research conference in the UK, featuring several world-renowned scientists, that was entitled New Horizons in Water Science — The Evidence for Homeopathy?.

Clinical Studies

A new research study about autism and homeopathy by Dr. Rajalakshmi in India.

Efficacy of homeopathy in livestock (courtesy of the NCH) Homeopathy is widely used for livestock, especially in order to reduce the use of antibiotics. A comprehensive literature review has been conducted to assess the efficacy of homeopathy in cattle, pigs and poultry. Only peer-reviewed publications dealing with homeopathic remedies were included. Search results revealed a total number of 52 trials performed within 48 publications fulfilling the predefined criteria. Twenty-eight trials were in favor of homeopathy, with 26 trials showing a significantly higher efficacy in comparison to a control group. Peer-reviewed publications from 1981 to 2014 Vet Rec. 2016; 179(24): 628, Doehring et al

Chronic primary insomnia (courtesy of the NCH) Researchers from South Africa’s Durban University of Technology focused on determining the effects of constitutional homeopathic treatment for insomnia, when compared to a placebo control. Thirty subjects diagnosed with primary insomnia were randomly assigned to Homeopathy or placebo. An analysis of the outcomes showed that sleep duration and sleep quality improved significantly under homeopathic treatment, when compared to using the placebo control. Efficacy of homeopathic simillimum 2010, 99, 1, 63-8 Naudé et al

Homeopathic treatment of patients with chronic low back pain (courtesy of the NCH) Researchers from Charité University Medical Center in Berlin, Germany, evaluated 129 adults suffering from medically diagnosed chronic low back pain for an average duration of 9.6 years. They were treated by homeopathic physicians who prescribed according to their individual symptoms. Their progress was followed for 2 years. On analysis of the symptom severity and quality of life, changes demonstrated a marked and sustained improvement. In addition, the use of homeopathic remedies were associated with a significant decline in the use of conventional treatment and health services. A prospective observational study with 2 years’ follow-up. Clin J Pain. 2009, 25, 4, 334-9. Witt CM, et al.

Effect of homeopathy on chronic tension-type headache (courtesy of the NCH) Headache frequency and intensity was lower in the homeopathy group than in controls. Compared with usual care, patients randomized to homeopathy used 35% less medication (P = 0.001) and had 45% fewer visits to general practitioners (P = 0.0001). J Headache Pain. 2013; 14(Suppl 1): P56. Sharma et al

It’s Time to Turn Off the Trump Channel

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I know that I’m kind of going against the message of this article by even using the “T” word in its title. But the title’s message is so important. It’s the end of the year, a time for reflection. Soon we greet a new year, a time for change. Decide now to free yourself and turn to a new channel.

Don’t worry. You won’t miss a thing except a never-ending background stream of anxiety, anger, and fear. And you will know what’s going on. You won’t be able to escape it unless you live off grid and never talk to anyone. You will find that any tidbit that passes you by isn’t very important for you to know.

You will now have time to think and talk about new things. You’ll also have some new space in your heart and mind (once it is freed from all that anxiety, anger, and fear) to actually do something that helps others. You will become happier and healthier and you’ll sleep better.

I recently read this quote by C.S.Lewis, written after World War II. It could have been written today:

“One mustn’t assume burdens that God does not lay upon us. It is one of the evils of rapid diffusion of news that the sorrows of all the world come to us every morning. I think each village was meant to feel pity for its own sick and poor whom it can help and I doubt if it is the duty of any private person to fix his mind on ills which he cannot help. (This may even become an escape from the works of charity we really can do to those we know). A great many people… do now seem to think that the mere state of being worried is in itself meritorious. I don’t think it is. We must, if it so happens, give our lives for others: but even while we’re doing it, I think we’re meant to enjoy Our Lord and, in Him, our friends, our food, our sleep, our jokes, and the birds’ song and the frosty sunrise….It is very dark: but there’s usually light enough for the next step or so.”

At this darkest time of year, let us dwell on the light. Remember that a constant focus on worry, anxiety, anger, and fear just brings more negativity into our world. It actually feeds what you are trying to resist.

Instead, if you want to create something positive, you must feel and think positive thoughts. As I discuss in Active Consciousness, your world is created by your imagination, your thoughts, your beliefs. This is not pollyanna-ism or ostrich-head-in-the-sand-ism. It’s just the most effective way to get something new and positive accomplished.

How about trying it out as an experiment until New Year’s? Stop reading those Twitter feeds and Facebook posts. You know the ones. Talk to your loved ones. Meditate. Envision the coming year and what you’d like to experience in positive terms. Go outside and breathe. Take a walk. Love your Self. And have a joyous finale to 2018.

Homeopathic Reflections for Year’s End

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Last month I promised to provide a list of studies in this month’s newsletter. However, I decided that this would be a better way to begin 2019 — with new energy and information. December seems like a better time to sit back and reflect a bit.

All of us cannot help noticing that today’s world is facing an increase in polarities — the yin and yang between growing brightness and ominous darkness. Various philosophers and historians tell us that increases in polarity portend that a major shift is coming our way. I talk about this in my book Active Consciousness. Personally, I am excited and quite hopeful about these incoming shifts to our society and the evolving consciousness of humanity.

One of the polarities we are experiencing affects homeopathy. I alluded to this in last month’s newsletter. Crackdowns on access to homeopathy and other alternative health approaches and views are expanding. These attacks are, ultimately, all fueled by Big Pharma, which many people say has grown to be even more powerful than the military industrial complex. The fact that Big Pharma is investing such effort and money into all of these efforts indicates that they are feeling threatened. It means that, at some level, they see the writing on the wall and are getting desperate. This also means that now is not time for us to give up in despair; it’s time to knuckle down and redouble our efforts and enlarge our voices!

Here are some growing signs of darkness and light:

Darkness: The FDA is trying to slowly whittle away our access to homeopathic remedies.

Light: (Excerpted from the National Center for Homeopathy newsletter. The NCH is the largest homeopathic consumer-based organization in the US) — “NCH has experienced tremendous growth over the past year; we’ve seen a 283% increase in new individual members, 90% increase in Organizational membership, 900% increase in lifetime members and new Student memberships. NCH also experienced a 17.9% increase in new followers on social media especially related to advocacy efforts by NCH to create awareness around the draft guidance proposed by the FDA: Drug Products Labeled as Homeopathic Guidance for FDA Staff and Industry.”

Darkness: Major outlets of information are beginning to brand alternative medical views as “fake news” and block them. For example, Pinterest, a major social media platform with 250 million users, banned The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) and GreenMedInfo for posting natural health information, including research questioning vaccine safety. This is an extremely alarming trend. We already know that Wikipedia is a completely biased and untrustworthy information source on anything pertaining to alternative medicine, from homeopathy to chiropractic. (You can read an article I wrote about this all the way back in 2008.) Please do not support them! Unfortunately, even more important outlets for disseminating information, like Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook, might become banned to us.

Light: Many alternative organizations have begun to embrace homeopathy more wholeheartedly! Most notable is the Mercola Newsletter. This is the number one alternative health site on the entire web. They printed a review of my book Impossible Cure and an interview with me back in 2003, after my book first came out. This media was critical in making Impossible Cure a number one book about homeopathy worldwide. Nevertheless, Dr. Mercola was not really a big fan of homeopathy at the time. That seems to be changing now. For example, the Mercola Newsletter has recently been featuring articles by Dana Ullman, complete with an hour-long video interview with Dr. Mercola himself!

Let’s face it, the more the crackdowns happen, and the wider their net is cast — way beyond homeopathy — the more allies homeopathy gains. It’s an example of intersectionality. We are all being persecuted so we will all band together. And there is strength in numbers.

In the end, censorship will fail, especially as the conventional medical system continues to collapse around us. Information has a way of getting out. It may only take an epidemic outbreak or the expansion of antibiotic resistance, along with news that these problems are effectively addressed by homeopathy, to turn the tide. In fact, it is exactly these kinds of events that can cause a shift to happen! And it’s even secret sauce of homeopathy. A small dose at just the right time and place does the trick!

How to Break an Emotional Habit

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At New Year’s time, we often decide to break old physical habits that don’t serve us anymore. We may resolve to eat more healthfully, exercise more, or stop smoking. With the holidays coming up soon, perhaps now is a good time to think about addressing your negative emotional habits — those chronic, habitual, almost reflex-like ways of thinking and feeling that cause suffering for you. When you visit with family and friends, emotional habits are sure to become activated. Why not prepare in advance?

The truth is, emotional habits are even harder to break than physical ones. They have likely been with us since childhood. As a result, we don’t even notice them anymore. Typical examples include tendencies to react to social interactions with feelings of hurt, resentment, guilt, anger, abandonment, anxiety, or irritation. Usually we think these habitual reactions are warranted, and we certainly justify them to ourselves that way. But as Byron Katie suggests we ask ourselves, “Is that true? Is that really true?”

Even if our beliefs about a social situation are true, do we really need to react in the same old habitual way? After all, our negative emotional habits have toxic effects on our own bodies and also serve to perpetuate tired old social patterns of interaction from the past.

For example, suppose that you have a feeling of jealousy whenever you are around a sibling. As a result, whenever you hear that something good has happened to them or you hear a parent praise them, you react with a feeling of jealousy, abandonment, and self-loathing. In reaction, you slink away into the next room and grit your teeth.

What if, instead, you first said to yourself, “There I go again!” or as Henry Grayson recommends in his book Your Power to Heal, quietly say to yourself, “There is one of those enemy thoughts that is just here to make me suffer!” What if you then said to yourself, “I love myself just the way I am” or “All is well” — and you really tried to believe it? Finally, what if you forced yourself to stay in the room, put a smile on your face, and say with genuine feeling, “That’s really great! I’m happy for you!” You never know how people might react.

The bottom line is, habitual emotional reactions are just that — habits. That means they can be broken. The first step is to notice them. That alone goes a very long way. I myself have always had a tendency to be a worrier. I now can laugh at myself (with kindness and compassion) when a “worry” thought pops into my head, and I also say to myself, “There I go again!” This goes a long way towards dissipating my worry.

The next step is to introduce a new thought or feeling to replace the chronic one. Warning: this won’t feel comfortable or natural! A part of you will argue and try to keep you from doing it. Emotional habits hate to be broken and will fight you tooth and nail. It may feel awkward at first, but just do it. It helps to say the new positive thought or feeling out loud, even if it feels artificial at first. Nevertheless, you’ll likely feel a difference within.

Finally, it’s helpful to perform a physical action to reinforce your new replacement feeling. Say something positive out loud. Do something that reinforces or derives from the new intended feeling.

In summary: notice, replace, reinforce. And repeat! With some effort and enough repetition, you can break your negative emotional habits. As I discuss in my book Active Consciousness and will stress even more in the book I am currently writing, your thoughts and emotions help to create your reality. As a result, you may find that your new emotional habits change your life for the better!

 

As More Research Supporting Homeopathy Pours In, Efforts to Eliminate It Double Down

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Almost every week I find out about new research supporting the efficacy of homeopathic remedies. It ranges from focused clinical studies, to broader studies that focus on overall patient wellness and satisfaction, to laboratory studies on animals, to basic research studies that prove that homeopathic dilutions are not merely “plain old water.” At the same time, the attacks on homeopathy have escalated.

After the mid 1900s, when the heyday of homeopathy came to an end, homeopaths and homeopathic remedies were, at first, largely ignored by the mainstream and relegated to a small group of followers and the pharmacies that supported them. In the late 1900s, homeopaths and remedies began to be derided as bunk by a group of paid “skeptics”. Small studies were ignored or downplayed. Nevertheless, the use of homeopathic remedies grew and homeopathy became more popular, as other forms of alternative medicine also began to gain ground, especially after the 1970s.

Earnest homeopaths and researchers started to do more studies. Clinical evidence began pouring in. Meta-analyses began to show that the effects of remedies were definitely not due to the placebo effect. (By the way, as I discuss in my book Impossible Cure, the whole idea of a placebo-controlled study was devised by homeopaths.) Animal studies also proved that the remedies were not acting via a placebo-effect.

Then, famous and otherwise-traditional medical researchers, like Jacques Benveniste and Luc Montagnier (who won the Nobel Prize in 2008 for the discovery of HIV) started investigating the efficacy of ultra-dilutions prepared using methods essentially equivalent to homeopathic potentization. Despite the reputation of these doctors, their research was blocked and defunded. Montagnier moved his lab to China. More clinical studies poured in. A fraudulent meta-analysis by Chang, et.al was then concocted to undermine previous meta-analyses and was widely publicized (unlike the others) and declared the “nail in the coffin” for homeopathy. Numerous articles outlining methodological problems with this study (including an entire issue of a journal) were ignored.

Recently, an Australian report was coordinated to study past homeopathic research, but it was abandoned and buried when it found results that were positive for homeopathy. A new report was then created that yielded the “desired” result (by omitting research that was positive for homeopathy — the same tactic used by the Chang study). This newer report was soon widely touted by world-wide media as another “nail in the coffin” for homeopathy, and has even been used as an excuse for more attacks. The movie Just One Drop focused on this duplicity. And more basic and clinical research keeps pouring in.

Now the efforts to suppress homeopathy have doubled down. In the old days, the practitioners of homeopathy were largely the targets. The AMA banned members from practicing or consorting with homeopaths (one of the reasons the organization was formed). Homeopathic medical schools were shut down in the early 1900s or converted into allopathic medical schools. Unlicensed homeopaths of the late 1900s were prosecuted for “practicing medicine without a license.” Today, with the health-freedom movement in full swing and naturopathic physicians (who use some remedies) getting licensure, this strategy is no longer working. Big Pharma and its skeptic henchmen have now decided to attack the remedies themselves. No remedies, no homeopathy.

At first, the skeptics tried to assert that remedies were just sugar pills or plain old water. Then they tried to say that homeopathy was dangerous because people who used it weren’t seeking “proper medical treatment”. When this strategy failed, homeopathic “sugar pills” suddenly became dangerous drugs! Oblivious to the inconsistency behind this sudden change in tactic, the media (which even mainstream politicians acknowledge is bought-and-sold by Big Pharma) has been fed horror stories about “poisonous substances” in homeopathic baby teething tablets! Of course, these dire warnings ignore the fact that the “poison” has been diluted beyond any possible toxicity, even if a baby was given 1000 tablets. Nor were there any reports of harm. It’s all too ironic, given the fact that pharmaceutical drugs are killing people every day.

Enter the latest strategy. Why not make homeopathic remedies…. illegal?

The legislation that formed the FDA in 1938 was written by Senator Royal Copeland, who was not only an MD but a homeopath. Because of this, he enshrined and protected the homeopathic pharmacopeia as part of that legislation. Oops! Time to change that! That’s what is currently happening. A little bit at a time, access to homeopathic remedies is being whittled down by the FDA. Say goodbye to your access at the local health food store. At first it will be only some remedies. Then more. Soon, many remedies may only be available by prescription. Given that there are very few medically-licensed people who would be willing to prescribe them (and most of whom know little about homeopathy), that won’t be very helpful. Time to stock up and build your own pharmacy folks! Luckily, remedies tend to last indefinitely…

So that’s the state of things. What’s next? Unfortunately, fewer and fewer people are studying homeopathy these days, given the embattlement of practitioners and their remedies. Many schools in the US have shut down over the past 10 years. In the UK, the homeopathic hospitals are being shuttered and treatment defunded by the National Health Service. Luckily, things continue unabated in India where homeopathy thrives. More studies continue to pour in, especially from the rest of Europe and India.

I believe that no matter what happens, homeopathy will definitely not die. Instead, it may go underground or dormant for a bit and then spring up in full bloom, like a plant in the desert. It always has! This will be made more likely by the increasing unsustainability of conventional medicine. When people cannot be helped or cannot afford to get help (or are afraid to get help) from conventional doctors, they will turn to other modalities like homeopathy. When an epidemic arises and homeopathy provides the only cure, people will flock, just like they did in the 1800s.

Another scenario, of course, is that Big Pharma will co-opt homeopathy. The science of ultradilutions will yield such incontrovertible evidence that it will not be able to be ignored. Big Pharma will fight this tooth and nail — because ultradilutions inherently cost next to nothing — but they may find a way to charge big bucks for remedies. Who knows? In the meantime, hunker down folks and keep the faith!

In next month’s newsletter, I’ll provide links to some interesting new studies. That’s what I intended to do this month, but I got a bit carried away!

 

Are Relationships Forever?

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Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the nature of relationship. Over the past few years, some long term friendships ended for me, and truthfully, in each case, it came as a relief. However, mixed with relief came a lot of other feelings — especially guilt and sadness. I felt like I had failed in some way. In some cases, these feelings have lingered for years.

I’d like to think of myself as a loyal friend. I tend to go out of my way to “be nice”, and as a result, I sometimes put off confrontation and don’t assert my own needs and feelings right away. For me, this is mostly true of my relationships with women. We women are socialized to be “nice”. We are supposed to be understanding, supposed to be supportive. But sometimes there comes a time when there simply has to be a parting of the ways. Things have just become too difficult, too strange, too toxic.

So what is really going on beneath the surface of friendship and relationship on an energetic level?

I believe that when we meet a new friend or lover, the vibrations of our energy bodies literally “synch up.” We feel this emotionally as a kind of commonality or familiarity. Indeed, the word “familiar” literally means a feeling of “family.” Of course, in the case of our actual families, we live or have lived together, share genetic material, even sleep with each other. This automatically guarantees an intrinsic “synch” between our vibrational energy bodies (to learn more about these bodies, read Active Consciousness). Indeed, perhaps the very notion of a “best friend forever” comes from a yearning to recreate family bonds, especially our bonds with our parents. Perhaps the yearning for a friend of this kind becomes especially strong if our relationship with our parents was less than ideal. Unfortunately, projecting parental need onto a friend can also be a recipe for disaster.

In the early days of a relationship, our sense of “synching” up with someone might simply be a projection — we believe something about the other person that may not actually be true. We are synching with an idea, not with the person.

With time, however, the truth of who another person is energetically will be palpably felt by us. That’s because we are energy beings too. If a relationship is just not meant to be, we’ll experience an internal sense of grating discomfort of some kind. If, on the other hand, things are going well, things deepen and synch up even more.

Over time, of course, people change. If the result of these changes causes two people not to “mesh” anymore, one or both of them will begin to feel it. They might stick with things out of habit, “old times sake”, loyalty, or responsibility. But they will know or at least feel that things just aren’t the same.

Of course, sometimes that’s okay. We might occasionally see a friend we have nothing in common with anymore — indeed, that kind of friendship has its own rewards. But if the disconnect with an old friend is energetically palpable, we will also realize that we don’t really want to spend extended periods of time with them. In fact, if we want to maintain a friendship with them, we know that we shouldn’t do so, for the sake of the friendship.

Family, of course, has its own issues. If we’ve really shared a lot of time with someone, that relationship can also take on the quality of family. In such cases, past history and even genetics creates energetic links and “synching” that will remain with us. Even if we’re not “feeling it” with a family member anymore, we may choose to remain connected out of responsibility or the comfort of a familiar face. Or we might sense that doing so is part of our spiritual and evolutionary growth.

In other cases, however, we just know that our true path is to leave that grating energetic sensation with a person behind and move on. When that time comes, perhaps it is best to do so without self-recrimination.

Ending a relationship is never easy. Sometimes, life simply takes care of the problem for us — when the other person decides to move away geographically. Other times, however, maybe it’s best to acknowledge that the purpose of a relationship has now run its course. Hopefully, both parties will agree to move forward and wish each other well as each person continues on with their life journey.

 

Preparing for This Year’s Flu

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The yearly hype about the flu shot has begun, so it’s time to consider your response. First and foremost — assume that you won’t get sick! In fact, I hesitated to use the above title and corresponding image for this article because it may just serve to prime your belief that you’ll get the flu. All the hype about the flu each year serves as a “no-cebo” that has the opposite effect of a “pla-cebo” — that is, it instills a belief in you — and thus your body — to become susceptible to the flu.

Here is one thing you can do in response to any no-cebo. Say the words: I am an infinite being and I am not subject to that. This does not apply to me. I hereby cancel and refuse it.

Next, know that taking a flu shot is marginally helpful (already, reports are stating that it will prove to be only 20% effective this year) and potentially harmful. Be aware that almost all flu shots (and definitely those you get at a place like a pharmacy or grocery store where they vaccinate lots of people) include a dose of mercury and/or aluminum in them. Some health writers believe that the flu shots given regularly to the elderly (despite the fact that they have been shown to be less effective for infants and the elderly) are contributing to the increase in Alzheimer’s disease.

On an immunological level, a flu shot merely primes your immune system to focus itself on a particular flu antigen or antigens. If you become susceptible to a different flu, you will get no protection and will likely become even sicker than you normally would, because your general immune response has been weakened by this erroneous focus. Indeed, getting a flu shot every year perpetuates and deepens this general immunological weakening.

So what to do?

First, be as healthy as you can be so that you are not susceptible to disease. Eat well, get rest, exercise, get sun, drink water, and perhaps add in a few supplements like Vitamins C and D3. Get a “homeopathic checkup” with your practitioner and take a suitable constitutional remedy if necessary.

Next, build up your knowledge and remedy kit to be prepared, just in case. I have written before about common flu remedies. Some practitioners also advise taking the remedy Influenzinum preemptively, made from the year’s flu shot. Personally, I have never done this. Another useful remedy to have on hand is Oscillococcinum, which studies have shown to be effective at nipping a flu in the bud if it is taken at the first sign of symptoms. This remedy is made from duck liver, and ducks are known vectors for the transmission of the flu.

Finally, it pays to be aware of the developing genus epidemicus for the year — that is, the set of particular symptom pictures emerging and the corresponding remedies that are proving effective (read Impossible Cure  to understand more about this methodology). One homeopath who performs this service admirably is Paul Herscu ND. You can keep tabs on his thinking for this year’s flu at his website. For this year, so far, he is suggesting keeping in mind Nux Vomica (a very common flu remedy and one that has benefited me personally many times in acutes) and Phosphoric Acid, especially in cases of extreme fatigue (a less commonly-used alternative to the standard flu remedy associated with deep fatigue, Gelsemium). For young children, he is finding that their chronic remedy is most helpful, as well as Chamomilla for fussiness and clinginess.

Bottom line: prepare yourself with flu remedies and knowledge, engage in healthful practices, and assume that you won’t get the flu!

 

Where Can You Find Meaning?

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One of the books on my summer reading list this year is Victor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. Reading about the experiences of a concentration camp survivor might be considered rather harsh summer fare, but I have repeatedly heard people talk about the inspirational power of this book. I agree — and I recommend it to you as well.

Frankl’s perspective is that of a psychiatrist who experienced the horrors of both Auschwitz and Dachau. Rather than focusing on the details of those horrors, however, he concentrates more on the psychological effect they had on the inmates. I’d like to share one particular passage with you that has given me food for thought:

“An active life serves the purpose of giving man the opportunity to realize values in creative work, while a passive life of enjoyment affords him the opportunity to obtain fulfillment in experiencing beauty, art, or nature. But there is also purpose in life which is almost barren of both creation and enjoyment … namely, in man’s attitude to his existence, an existence restricted by external forces. A creative life and a life of enjoyment are banned to him. But not only creativeness and enjoyment are meaningful. If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete. The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails … gives him ample opportunity — even under the most difficult circumstances — to add a deeper meaning to his life.”

For most of us, our sense of meaning is wrapped up in either creation or enjoyment. Are we making something, building up a business, raising children, creating a beautiful home, working for political or social causes? In the West, a focus on creation is given the highest emphasis and esteem.

Or, alternatively, are we focused more on enjoying art, music, entertainment, food, and our leisure time? For most people, enjoyment is seen as a side pursuit or enviable luxury. Indeed, when life becomes limited simply to the pursuit of enjoyment, many people begin to feel an inner sense of meaninglessness. I must admit that I am prone to this! In fact, it was important for me to hear Frankl’s view that the pursuit of enjoyment, in itself, can provide worthwhile meaning to life.

Even deeper, however, is the realization that life’s inevitable sufferings, be they disease or loss or hurt feelings, can provide an avenue for meaning. We don’t need to experience a concentration camp to be provided the meaning-inducing power of life’s sufferings. But knowing that meaning can be found even in such an environment — one devoid of the possibility of creation or the pursuit of enjoyment — is quite profound. As Frankl describes, even as all trappings of their former existence disappeared to be replaced by unending degradation, starvation, and brutality, some people experienced inner growth and a deepening of their inner spiritual life. This is so heartening to hear. Not all people were reduced to a brutal consciousness.

Returning to a much more mundane subject, I recently attended my 45th high school reunion. It was fun and joyful to talk to some old friends and acquaintances and even people I didn’t know (I was in a high school class of 1000 — one couldn’t know them all!), but inevitably, memories of rejection by peers and losses I experienced in high school also came up for me. In fact, the reunion left me feeling somewhat morose for a couple of days. However, upon reflection, I realized that the rejections and losses of my youth comprised the very impetus that steered me toward creating a new self, a new sense of being that had nothing to do with high school or my family or my hometown. My teenage sufferings ended up liberating me to become the person I am today.

I am grateful that, most likely, none of you reading this article will ever experience the horrors of Frankl’s life in a concentration camp. But however major or minor your life’s sufferings may be, each of us has a choice about how we respond to them. Do we ultimately find some kind of growth or courage or inner awareness as a result?

How you use your life’s experiences is up to you. You may create, you may enjoy, and you may grow — even through suffering. It is all of these choices that can give your life meaning.

Think HOMEOPATHY! — for Summertime Woes and Back to School

AmyLansky.com Posted on by

Summertime is waning and school days are nearly here. Remember that homeopathy can come to the rescue for all of those summer bumps, bruises, and stings. And when you’re sending your kids off to school, don’t forget to send remedies too! I’ve always bought or created a kit for my children when they went to camp, traveled, went to university, or set up their new home as adults.

Here are some useful ideas:

Homeopathic Creams

My own own homeopath, Deborah Olenev, sells a suite of very useful and effective homeopathic first-aid creams. Recently, I have been using one of her creams for a coccyx injury. Be aware that, just like any remedy, these creams shouldn’t be used repeatedly like some kind of salve. Apply, wait a few days to see the response, and if effective, apply only as needed (that is, only when the symptom returns or starts getting worse again).

At her homeopathic creams site, firstaidcreams.com, Olenev provides a lot of useful and educational information. This includes a comprehensive article about the uses of each cream, repertorizing charts, and tips about the use of creams for certain needs (e.g., for children and for numerous common complaints). In fact, I’ve learned a lot from reading her articles!

Useful Articles from Washington Homeopathics and Homeopathic Educational Services

I get the monthly newsletters from Washington Homeopathic Products and Homeopathic Educational Services and find them to be loaded with handy information. In addition to product information, they include articles or pointers to articles about the uses of remedies, new research results about the effectiveness of homeopathic remedies, information about homeopathic practice and philosophy, and timely alerts about supporting your access to homeopathy.

The Homeopathic Educational Services site includes a blog, videos, and much more. You can see the latest Washington Homeopathics newsletter at this link. The August issue includes articles about the most important travel/vacation remedies to pack, and research projects in Belgium and Italy that followed the progress of hundreds of patients who used homeopathy (successfully!) for serious medical conditions.

Buy Kits for Yourself and Loved Ones!

I love my homeopathy kits. You can get them from many suppliers, but my own personal favorites are from Helios, Washington Homeopathic Products, and Natural Health Supply.

Don’t forget — when you or a family members has some kind of health issue, consider turning to homeopathy first, not last. More often than not, you’ll save a lot of time, money, aggravation, and get well quicker too!