Matters Of The Heart

“The human heart is an amazing organ. Although we all know it is the main organ of the body and is the pump that keeps us alive, there is evidence to show that it is so much more”

Gregg Braden

When it comes to matters of the heart, we must remember that the heart is not just another organ that pumps blood through our system but we can also learn to feel from our hearts.  Listen to what your heart is telling you and start looking after your heart.

I have discussed strokes and shared an amazing video on how a woman followed her own stroke. Now we are going to find out what causes heart attacks.

What is a Heart Attack?

The heart works 24 hours a day, pumping oxygen and nutrient-rich blood to the body. Blood is supplied to the heart through its coronary arteries. If a blood clot suddenly blocks a coronary artery, it cuts off most or all blood supply to the heart and a heart attack results. Cells in the heart muscle that do not receive enough oxygen-rich blood begin to die. The more time that passes without treatment to restore blood flow, the greater the damage to the heart.

A heart attack is an emergency. Call emergency services if you think you or someone else may be having a heart attack. Prompt treatment of a heart attack can help prevent or limit damage to the heart and prevent sudden death. If blood flow in the blocked artery can be restored quickly, permanent heart damage may be prevented. Yet, many people do not seek medical care for 2 hours or more after symptoms start.

Angina is chest pain or discomfort that occurs when your heart muscle does not get enough blood. Angina symptoms can be very similar to heart attack symptoms. If you have angina and notice a sudden change or worsening of your symptoms, talk with your doctor right away.

Coronary artery disease is the most common underlying cause of a heart attack. Coronary artery disease is the hardening and narrowing of the coronary arteries caused by the buildup of plaque inside the walls of the arteries.  Over time, the buildup of plaque can:

·         narrow the arteries so that less blood flows to the heart muscle,

·         completely block the arteries and flow of blood, or

·         cause blood clots to form and block the arteries.

Symptoms of a heart attack

The most common symptom of heart attack is chest pain or discomfort. Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center of the chest that lasts for more than a few minutes or goes away and comes back. The discomfort can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness, or pain. It can be mild or severe. Heart attack pain can sometimes feel like indigestion or heartburn.

The symptoms of angina can be similar to the symptoms of a heart attack. Angina is pain in the chest that occurs in people with coronary artery disease, usually when they’re active. Angina pain usually lasts for only a few minutes and goes away with rest. Angina that doesn’t go away or changes from its usual pattern (occurs more frequently or occurs at rest) can be a sign of the beginning of a heart attack and should be checked by a doctor right away.

Other common signs and symptoms that a person can have during a heart attack include:

·         Upper body discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw, or stomach

·         Shortness of breath may often occur with or before chest discomfort

·         Nausea , vomiting, lightheadedness or fainting

·         Breaking out in a cold sweat

Not everyone having a heart attack experiences the typical symptoms. If you’ve already had a heart attack, your symptoms may not be the same for another one. The more signs and symptoms you have, the more likely it is that you’re having a heart attack.

Sometimes the signs and symptoms of a heart attack happen suddenly, but they can also develop slowly, over hours, days, and even weeks before a heart attack occurs.

Risk factors

Certain factors make it more likely that you will develop coronary artery disease and have a heart attack. These risk factors include some things you cannot change:

·         Being a man over age 45 or a woman over age 55 you are at greater risk

·         Having a family history of early heart disease

·         Having a personal history of angina or previous heart attack

·         Having had a heart procedure such as angioplasty or heart bypass.

Importantly, there are many risk factors that you can change. These include:

·         Smoking

·         Being overweight or obese

·         Physical inactivity

·         High blood pressure

·         High blood cholesterol

·         Diabetes

Certain risk factors tend to occur together. When they do, it's called metabolic syndrome. In general, a person with metabolic syndrome is twice as likely to develop heart disease and five times as likely to develop diabetes as someone without metabolic syndrome.

You can help prevent a heart attack by knowing about your risk factors for coronary artery disease and heart attack and taking action to lower your risks. You can make lifestyle changes to lower your risk by doing the following:

·         Eating a healthy diet to prevent or reduce high blood pressure

·         Eating a healthy diet to prevent or reduce high blood cholesterol

·         Maintaining a healthy weight

·         Following a low-fat diet rich in fruits and vegetables

·         Paying careful attention to the amounts and types of fat in your diet

·         Lowering your salt intake

·         Quitting smoking

·         Exercising as directed by your doctor

·         Losing weight gradually if you are obese or overweight

Get treatment for related conditions that might make having a heart attack more likely:

·         If you have high blood cholesterol, follow your doctor's advice about lowering it

·         If you have high blood pressure, follow your doctor's advice about keeping it under control

·         If you have diabetes, follow your doctor's advice about keeping blood sugar levels under control

·         Take your medicines for the above as directed by your doctor

(Information taken from News Medical, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Stroke".  All material adapted used from Wikipedia is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Wikipedia® itself is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)

Much research has been done on the other functions of the heart and what an amazing organ it actually is – take the time to hear what Gregg Braden has to say:

“When we form heart-centered beliefs within our bodies, in the language of physics we're creating  the electrical and magnetic expression of them as waves of energy, which aren't confined to our hearts or limited by the physical barrier of our skin and bones.  So clearly we're "speaking" to the world around us in each moment of every day through a language that has no words:  the belief-waves of our hearts.

In addition to pumping the blood of life within our bodies, we may think of the heart as a belief-to-matter translator.  It converts the perceptions of our experiences, beliefs, and imagination into the coded language of waves that communicate with the world beyond our bodies.  Perhaps this is what philosopher and poet John Mackenzie meant when he stated, "The distinction between what is real and what is imaginary is not one that can be finely maintained ... all existing thing are ... imaginary."

Gregg Braden

Healing With Ho’oponopo​no

“You have two ways to live your life – from memory or from inspiration. Inspiration is the Divine giving you a message. You want to come from inspiration. The only way to hear the Divine and receive inspiration is to clean all memories. The only thing you have to do is clean.”

Dr. Hew Len, Zero Limits, Pg. 31

Ho’oponopono is an ancient Hawaiian technique for solving spiritual, emotional, mental or any type of problem. The use of this advanced technique of problem solving can be traced back to the original inhabitants of Hawaii some of who are fabled to have come from other galaxies.

Hoo in Hawaiian means cause and ponopono means perfection. It is the state of perfection that we came in with before the fall into the knowledge of ‘good and evil’ and it is to this state that we can return.

When a so called problem surfaces in our lives, rather than emotionally attacking the situation we need to recognize the deeper reality of why this problem surfaced in the first place and love and forgive ourselves for it. That’s the energy that heals.

This process, which has the ability to release us from past karmic ties, gives us complete freedom to develop a personal relationship with Divinity - the power within us. It is an understanding that every moment we have the ability to cleanse ourselves of error whether in thought, word, deed or action.

We can easily free our minds from past memories and restore the purity of our hearts using this ancient art to clean up repetitive issues that keep surfacing from our subconscious mind, replaying over and over.

Our memory banks are our enemies. They harbour fear with all its resident buddies - resentment, hate, anger, attachments and judgments from the past and replay them over and over. The only way to release ourselves from these tyrants is to take responsibility for them and love them.

Use Ho’oponopono during a crisis by simply asking for whatever is causing division in your thoughts to be brought to the surface to be loved, healed and released. Simply ignoring issues will not change a thing. It only buries it temporarily until the next trigger sets it off and the issue you ignored has reared its ugly head again. You must engage your conscious powers to effect healing and Ho’oponopono does this very thing.

Not only is Ho’oponopono used to heal one’s inner issues, it is also used when confronted with someone else’s seeming problem. Rather than going into judgment at these trying times, we must once again reflect into ourselves and ask to clear our own consciousness of division so that we no longer see this situation as a problem or experience division in thought in ourselves or others.

We are the problem not them. We can only change ourselves, which in turn changes the world and that is the power of Ho’oponopono.

We affect change in the world by affecting change within ourselves.  It is that simple. Taking 100% responsibility for our lives removes the victim mentality and places us in a place of authentic power.

Just as the light in a room shines on everyone with the same intensity, no matter who turned it on, Ho’oponopono uses the same principle. We are all connected. We live in a holographic Universe. By affecting ourselves we affect others.

When faced with adverse conditions ask yourself “What is it in me that is causing this event to take place, this person to behave this way, this sickness to manifest?” Ho’oponopono practitioners are aware that to blame others is the surest way to make sure the problem happens again, and again and again.

It is easy to master the basic principles of Ho’oponopono using these powerful mantras:

Dear Father:  

The very first thing we must do is to acknowledge our Creator, after all, only the Creator can fix the mess that we’ve created. Begin with your own personal connection to Source…whatever those feelings or words are.

I am sorry:

The power to heal any situation lies in our willingness to take responsibility for negative conditions. Using this statement opens the door to unity and atonement with all life.

Please forgive me:  

With absolute certainty that it has been granted, ask for forgiveness for having shut the Creator out of your life as well as forgetting the love the Creator holds for you. (that’s why you ended up in a negative state)

I love you:  

Sending these powerful words through your psyche generates an immediate feeling of contentment. Love is the greatest healing power there is and just thinking loving thoughts tunes your mind to that frequency amazingly fast.

I thank you:  

The moment you take responsibility for any issue that presents itself in your life and consciously seek a solution, you set in motion laws that guarantee a response. By saying “thank you” you are affirming that your plea has been acknowledged and needs no further action.

As with all energetic healing you must not harbour expectations as to how or when the results will occur. You must allow the Universe complete freedom to act and choose whatever method is needed. Your only job is to act in accordance with Ho’oponopono mantras and have the Faith to know that it is done.

The Huna Process of Ho'oponopono:

We carry inside us as parts of the Unconscious Mind, all the significant people in our lives.  Ho'oponopono makes it "all right" with them. The process of Ho'oponopono is to align with and clean up our genealogy as well as to clean up our relationships with other people in our lives.

1.   Bring to mind anyone with whom you do not feel total alignment or support, etc.

2.   In your mind's eye, construct a small stage below you

3.   Imagine an infinite source of love and healing flowing from a source above the top of your head (from your Higher Self), and open up the top of your head, and let the source of love and healing flow down inside your body, fill up the body, and overflow out your heart to heal up the person on the stage. Be sure it is all right for you to heal the person and that they accept the healing.

4.   When the healing is complete, have a discussion with the person and forgive them, and have them forgive you.

5.   Next, let go of the person, and see them floating away. .If you are healing in a current primary relationship, then assimilate the person inside you.

6.   Do this with every person in your life with whom you are incomplete, or not aligned.

The final test is, can you see the person or think of them without feeling any negative emotions. If you do feel negative emotions when you do, then do the process again.

“If we can accept that we are the sum total of all past thoughts, emotions and words, deeds and actions and that our present lives and choices are coloured or shaded by this memory bank of the past, then we begin to see how a process of correcting or setting aright can change our lives, our families and our society.”

Mormah Nalamaku Simeona

For more inspiration or information visit:

Your Personal Agreement

Ancient Huna

What Is Love?

“Finally I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already am. That I will never fulfil my obligation to surpass myself unless I first accept myself, and if I accept myself fully in the right way, I will already have surpassed myself.”

Thomas Mertin

The media, our families and our friends tell us that our goal is to be somebody. It’s the American Dream. Many of us have chosen a particular career, relationship status or some sort of accomplishment that assure a future of being that somebody, getting somewhere and hopefully being spared from debt, despair, or vulnerability in the process.  There is nothing wrong with having goals or plans but when we use these to overestimate our potential than we let ourselves down and become disappointed.

I have spent over half of my life trying to be the best wife and the best friend only to get rejection, obtaining a university degree and working my butt off in demanding jobs only to be taken for granted,  and after all of this ending up suicidal on a therapist’s couch and escaping into the dark abyss of addiction.  Perhaps this was the best thing that happened because in reaching the bottom and realizing my options, my spiritual journey began.

I have redefined the goal of getting somewhere and being somebody to loving who I already am. Healing comes from within.  I have accepted pain as lovingly and with as much compassion as I would success.  I have and continue to forgive my mistakes and my resentments and overcome my fears. They are the very things that propel me forward into gratitude and self-love – and in turn, love for you.

Place your hand over your heart. Feel that? That’s called purpose. You’re alive for a reason. No matter what your circumstances are, embrace each day. Find one thing you are grateful for in this moment right now. Remember that any struggle is just as important as the lesson and awareness it provides. In the midst of movement and chaos, find serenity within. Love yourself because without you, perfectly imperfect you, the rest of us are without a source or many wonderful things.

I posted this Self Love Poem by Charlie Chaplin previously, but it is fitting to repeat it here:

AS I BEGIN TO LOVE MYSELF

As I began to love myself I found that anguish and emotional suffering are only warning signs that I was living against my own truth.

Today, I know, this is “AUTHENTICITY”.

As I began to love myself I understood how much it can offend somebody As I try to force my desires on this person, even though I knew the time was not right and the person was not ready for it, and even though this person was me.

Today I call it “RESPECT”.

As I began to love myself I stopped craving for a different life, and I could see that everything that surrounded me was inviting me to grow.

Today I call it “MATURITY”.

As I began to love myself I understood that at any circumstance, I am in the right place at the right time, and everything happens at the exactly right moment. So I could be calm.

Today I call it “SELF-CONFIDENCE”.

As I began to love myself I quit steeling my own time, and I stopped designing huge projects for the future. Today, I only do what brings me joy and happiness, things I love to do and that make my heart cheer, and I do them in my own way and in my own rhythm.

Today I call it “SIMPLICITY”.

As I began to love myself I freed myself of anything that is no good for my health – food, people, things, situations, and everything the drew me down and away from myself. At first I called this attitude a healthy egoism.

Today I know it is “LOVE OF ONESELF”.

As I began to love myself I quit trying to always be right, and ever since I was wrong less of the time.

Today I discovered that is “MODESTY”.

As I began to love myself I refused to go on living in the past and worry about the future. Now, I only live for the moment, where EVERYTHING is happening.

Today I live each day, day by day, and I call it “FULFILLMENT”.

As I began to love myself I recognized that my mind can disturb me and it can make me sick. But As I connected it to my heart, my mind became a valuable ally.

Today I call this connection “WISDOM OF THE HEART”.

We no longer need to fear arguments, confrontations or any kind of problems with ourselves or others. Even stars collide, and out of their crashing new worlds are born.

Today I know THAT IS “LIFE !

And here is an awesome video about love from the movie "The Cure Is":

“When I loved myself enough, I began leaving whatever wasn't healthy. This meant people, jobs, my own beliefs and habits - anything that kept me small. My judgement called it disloyal. Now I see it as self-loving.”

Kim McMillen

Happy National Braille Week

“Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn't mean he lacks vision”

Stevie Wonder

National Braille Week will be celebrated from 4th -11th January 2013 - more than 200 years after the birth of Louis Braille. And each year 4th January marks World Braille Day commemorating the birth of Louis Braille on 4th January 1809.

Louis Braille was born in a small town near Paris. Playing in his father's leather workshop when he was 4, Louis tried to use a sharp, pointed tool called an awl, used for making holes in leather. He bent over, intending to try making shoes like his father did, but the awl slipped and went into his eye, blinding it.

With sight in just one eye, he attended school for two years, but his other eye became infected by the first, and he became totally blind. He had to leave school because he wouldn't be able to learn much more without eyesight. In those days there was little assistance for blind people, and most blind adults were forced to become beggars in the street as their only means of making any sort of living.

When he was 10, a school for blind boys opened in Paris, one of the first such schools in the world. Louis was lucky enough to be accepted there as a pupil. As in all schools at that time, discipline was harsh, and pupils who misbehaved were beaten, locked up and fed bread and water. Most people left school at the age of 12 in order to work in factories or down mines.

At the school for the blind, pupils were taught practical skills like weaving cane seats on chairs or making slippers so that when they left the school they would be able to earn a living. Once a week, the boys were taken for a walk in the park, linked together by a long rope. They were taught to read but not to write. The writing they read was raised on the page so that they could feel the words with their fingertips. The letters were made by pressing copper wire alphabet shapes into one side of the paper to make a raised shape on the other. It was very difficult to tell the letters apart. Because each letter had to be made out of wire first and then forced into the paper with a press, blind people couldn't write anything for themselves.

In 1821 a soldier named Charles Barbier came to give a talk at the school. He told them about a system he had invented called 'night writing', so that soldiers could pass instructions along at night without having to talk and let the enemy know where they were. Because they couldn't use a light, which would let the enemy spot them, they had to feel the messages. Night writing consisted of twelve raised dots which could be combined to represent different sounds. Unfortunately, this system was too complicated and the army didn't use it.

However, Louis was quick to see the possibilities of the system. He worked over the next few months and came up with a simpler version made up of 6 dots. For several years he developed it further, adding maths and music codes.

In 1827 the first book in braille was published.

It took a while for the system to catch on. Sighted people did not realise how useful it could be, and it was not taught in the school for the blind. However, blind children began learning it in secret. Eventually, the benefits of the system were realised and it was put into use. One major benefit was that at last blind people could write, using a simple tool to make the dots. This was the beginning of true independence for blind people.

Later in life, Louis Braille invented another new method for writing, called raphigraphy. It was a method that enabled both the blind and the sighted to read it, so that now blind people and sighted people could write to each other. He also invented a machine similar to a typewriter that produced raphigraphy.

Louis Braille became a teacher in the school where he had been a student. He did not live to see his system widely used. He had always had poor health, and he died of tuberculosis in 1852, at the age of 43.

So who uses braille? Millions of blind, deafblind and visually impaired people worldwide. In a world where communication is everything, living without it would be impossible.

Braille allows people to read books, exam papers and other important documents that need to be understood to get through life and the working world. It also lets people use computers in a society where technology is used nearly everywhere we go. Even some mobile phones are fitted with braille coding!

Although helping people with braille has been a huge success, there is still lots more to be done. Braille on mobile phones is miles away from developing countries who just can’t afford enough braille books. Some facilities like bank machines and button panels on elevators still don’t have braille. These are basic tasks that should be easy to come by when you’re getting through the day.

When the important day comes around, visually impaired people along with their family and friends, will be taking part in events all around the globe. In the past people have celebrated by taking part in essay competitions or braille readings.

It really is happening everywhere. Postage stamps with Louis Braille’s picture have been published in many places and an asteroid called Braille orbits our planet in space!

If you’re interested in finding out more about braille, visit the National Braille Week website.

Here is a quick Braille lesson:

Not so easy after all – what do you think?

“Sometimes, I feel I am really blessed to be blind because I probably would not last a minute if I were able to see things”

Stevie Wonder

A Stroke Of Insight

“In the course of four hours, I watched my brain completely deteriorate in its ability to process all information. On the morning of the hemorrhage, I could not walk, talk, read, write or recall any of my life. I essentially became an infant in a woman’s body.”

Jill Bolte Taylor

Jill Bolte Taylor is a neuroanatomist - a brain scientist who studies the anatomy of the brain. Her training is in the postmortem investigation of the human brain as it relates to schizophrenia and the severe mental illnesses.

Dr. Jill experienced a severe hemorrhage in the left hemisphere of her brain in 1996. On the afternoon of this rare form of stroke (AVM), she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life. It took eight years for Dr. Jill to completely recover all of her functions and thinking ability. She is the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey (published in 2008 by Viking Penguin). In 2008, Dr. Jill gave a presentation at the TED Conference in Monterey, CA, which has become the second most viewed TED Talk of all time. This now famous 18-minute presentation catapulted her story into the public eye. As a result, she was chosen as one of TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World for 2008. In addition, Dr. Jill was the premiere guest on Oprah's Soul Series web-cast and was interviewed by Oprah and Dr. Oz on The Oprah Winfrey Show in October, 2008.

Dr. Jill is working on the creation of a serious game for health for neurological recovery. She feels passionate about helping others find their way back from neurological trauma. In addition, she is working on her next book and is excited about the upcoming feature film of her life. She has just created Jill Bolte Taylor BRAINS, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing educational services and promoting programs related to the advancement of brain awareness, appreciation, exploration, education, injury prevention, neurological recovery, and the value of movement on mental and physical health, as well as other activities that support this purpose. The Brain Extravaganza! is the not-for-profits first educational awareness program she is bringing to the community of Bloomington, Indiana, and then the world.

Here is a photo of Jill with one of the big brains. This is the right hemisphere of the 'religion' brain sponsored by Rev. Dr. Hal Taylor (her dad) and decorated by Michele Gingras (michelegingras.com, Distinguished Professor at Miami University, Oxford, OH):

Now that is true love!

What is a stroke?

A stroke (sometimes called an acute cerebrovascular attack) is the rapidly developing loss of brain function(s) due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia (lack of glucose & oxygen supply) caused by thrombosis or embolism or due to a hemorrhage. As a result, the affected area of the brain is unable to function, leading to inability to move one or more limbs on one side of the body, inability to understand or formulate speech, or inability to see one side of the visual field.

A stroke is a medical emergency and can cause permanent neurological damage, complications, and death. It is the leading cause of adult disability in the United States and Europe. It is the number two cause of death worldwide and may soon become the leading cause of death worldwide.

Symptoms

Stroke symptoms typically start suddenly, over seconds to minutes, and in most cases do not progress further. The symptoms depend on the area of the brain affected. The more extensive the area of brain affected, the more functions that are likely to be lost. Some forms of stroke can cause additional symptoms: in intracranial hemorrhage, the affected area may compress other structures. Most forms of stroke are not associated with headache, apart from subarachnoid hemorrhage and cerebral venous thrombosis and occasionally intracerebral hemorrhage.

In most cases, the symptoms affect only one side of the body (unilateral). The defect in the brain is ''usually'' on the opposite side of the body (depending on which part of the brain is affected). However, the presence of any one of these symptoms does not necessarily suggest a stroke, since these pathways also travel in the spinal cord and any lesion there can also produce these symptoms.

Prevention

Given the disease burden of stroke, prevention is an important public health concern. Because stroke may indicate underlying atherosclerosis, it is important to determine the patient's risk for other cardiovascular diseases such as coronary heart disease. Conversely, aspirin prevents against first stroke in patients who have suffered a myocardial infarction.

Risk Factors:

·         high blood pressure and atrial fibrillation

·         high blood cholesterol levels

·         diabetes

·         cigarette smoking (active and passive)

·         heavy alcohol consumption

·         drug use, particularly cocaine, amphetamines causing hemorrhagic stroke, but also over-the-counter cough and cold drugs containing sympathomimetics

·         lack of physical activity

·         obesity and unhealthy diet

Treatment

Ideally, people who have had a stroke are admitted to a "stroke unit", a ward or dedicated area in hospital staffed by nurses and therapists with experience in stroke treatment. It has been shown that people admitted to a stroke unit have a higher chance of surviving than those admitted elsewhere in hospital, even if they are being cared for by doctors with experience in stroke.

Other medical therapies are aimed at minimizing clot enlargement or preventing new clots from forming. To this end, treatment with medications such as aspirin, clopidogrel and dipyridamole may be given to prevent platelets from aggregating.

In addition to definitive therapies, management of acute stroke includes control of blood sugars, ensuring the patient has adequate oxygenation and adequate intravenous fluids. Patients may be positioned with their heads flat on the stretcher, rather than sitting up, to increase blood flow to the brain. It is common for the blood pressure to be elevated immediately following a stroke. Although high blood pressure may cause some strokes, hypertension during acute stroke is desirable to allow adequate blood flow to the brain.

(Information taken from News Medical, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Stroke".  All material adapted used from Wikipedia is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Wikipedia® itself is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)

A Stroke of insight

Brain researcher Jill Bolte Taylor studied her own stroke as it happened -- and has become a powerful voice for brain recovery.

Jill Bolte Taylor got a research opportunity few brain scientists would wish for:  She had a massive stroke, and watched as her brain functions -- motion, speech, self-awareness -- shut down one by one.  An astonishing story:

“I am the life-force power of the universe. I am the life-force power of the 50 trillion beautiful molecular geniuses that make up my form, at one with all that is.”

Jill Bolte Taylor

Perception: How Do You View The World?

“Anybody who's ever gone through a hard time - any outsider's perception, no matter how much information they're given, they have no idea what the person's life is like”

Amy Grant

Let us look at the definition of Perception:

1.  The act of perceiving; cognizance by the senses or intellect; apprehension by the bodily organs, or by the mind, of what is presented to them; discernment; apprehension; cognition.

2.  The faculty of perceiving; the faculty, or peculiar part, of man's constitution by which he has knowledge through the medium or instrumentality of the bodily organs; the act of apprehending material objects or qualities through the senses; -- distinguished from conception.

3.  The quality, state, or capability, of being affected by something external; sensation; sensibility.

4.  An idea; a notion.

2012 was a long year full of fearful predictions but we have made it through the holidays, the end of the Mayan calendar and the world has not come to an end.  Most of us have started or already set some goals or intentions for 2013 but these probably all focus on external materialistic things.  Depending on our perception of this crazy world, our plans may be sourced in fear and ego.  The ego is tricky and it's easy to end up letting it be the one who creates our vision board or goals for the year ahead, setting us up for disappointments and a sense of failure.

Direct Perception Checking is a three step process (Floyd, 2009):

a.    Acknowledging the behaviour you witnessed

b.    Interpreting that behaviour

c.    Asking whether your interpretation was correct

IS THE GLASS HALF FULL OR HALF EMPTY?

Depending on the source of our perception, we will interpret life in different ways.  The definition above refers to the normal five senses:  Touch, Sight, Hearing, Smell and Taste.  It also refers to bodily organs including the mind.  The mind can play tricks on us but when we start feeling from the heart, really feeling from the heart, our visions and interpretations can change for the better.  The heart is the source of love, happiness and gratitude.

Jafree Oswald of Enlightened Beings gave me some great advice when it comes to being positive:

“When you are positive about everything in your life, something magical happens. Everything good seems to effortlessly flow your way and people just love hanging around you. People in your presence smile and laugh more, which makes you feel even better inside about being alive. Being positive is more important than you think. It's the foundation of your very survival. If you could only think a stream of negative thoughts for the next few weeks, you might start believing suicide is the only viable option. Once you learn how to find the good within the bad, you'll easily manifest a continual flow of success wherever you go.

Life contains both polarities of nature, the deep and dark as well as the light bright, and everything between the two. The dark always contains the light, and the light always contains the dark. Just like the eastern Yin-Yang symbol. They co-exist as complementary energies that cannot exist separately. This melting light/dark energy is found in the fabric and matrix of every atom in our Universe. When you remember this, you'll know that somewhere inside the negative you can find a seed of something positive. You just have to get out your microscope and look more closely at the situation with a creative mind and an open heart.

The greatest advice I've ever received for being unstoppably positive about life is the thought that "anything is possible". This one little concept has allowed my mind to continuously open, even after it became momentarily closed. Believe it or not, it is possible to be positive about everything that happens to you in life. There is always something to be learned from each situation, person and circumstance no matter how challenging it may be. Being consistently positive is simply a choice that you make in each moment. It's a creative choice where you decide that you are 100% devoted to finding some possible way to enjoy this experience. Finding positivity in everything stems FROM believing in the impossible. You start realizing that you're living in an infinite Universe that has no boundary to it, thus there is no boundary to your mind or imagination. How would you view your life differently this week if you knew without a doubt that anything and everything was possible?

I'd like to give you a little exercise that will help you find the power to be positive about everything. Right now, focus your attention on your heart. What emotions and sensations do you notice are going on in there? Allow the energy around and inside your heart to soften and relax until you feel your mind follows along, and becomes more relaxed and quiet with it. Breathe slowly and deeply, focusing only on your heart relaxing. Do this for 5-10 minutes and enjoy the process of relaxing and letting go. Just explore the experience of relaxing your heart. You'll soon notice as your heart relaxes, it feels like there is more space for you to think positive thoughts about your life.

The mind is like a parachute, when it opens up it will save your life. With an open mind you don't have to try so hard to only think positive thoughts. You can allow for any life experience to show up and simply open your mind to seeing the positive come out of it. It is a constant moment to moment choice to have an open positive mind. If you can just choose to have an open mind, you'll be able to manifest anything and everything you want in life. If the mind is impatient and continues to stay closed and will not open, embrace it with curiosity. The more doubt, disbelief, and resistance you have, the greater the transformation will be! If you can maintain an open mind and a relaxed heart for the next 30 days of your life, an orgasmic experience of constant bliss will be awaiting you. That is something to look forward to!!”

I do not normally say affirmations but here is one that can truly change your perception of life:

“Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself:  I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today.  I can choose which it shall be.  Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.”

“Miracles happen every day, change your perception of what a miracle is and you'll see them all around you”

Jon Bon Jovi