Air Strikes, Ebola, Down & Missing Planes, Double Hurricanes and other Natural Disasters

Messages via Meditation

It's impossible to miss the fact that the news of the world is more dire in the last couple of months than the usual reporting of bad things happening.  I've been turning on The Today Show each morning asking, is this the end time?  Is Revelations upon us?

In 2007 I was really sick, I was suffering from an autoimmune that was partially diagnosed as Lupus, but they were still making a determination.  Eventually, I sought out an Alternative Medicine Physician who told me emphatically to start practicing meditation.  I resisted for a long time, wanting to be actively curing my illness, not sitting in the dark with my eyes closed.  However, eventually I gave in through a method that's both meditation and yoga called Kundalini.  Truthfully, I did a number of other things to help heal, but I have to say, I attribute the bulk of my wellness to making a commitment and really giving in to Kundalini yoga.

Over the years since recovering, I stopped taking yoga classes of any type and sporadically attempted to meditate, but without any consistency.  Life got busy and I felt fine.  However, over the last couple of months, I really started breaking down again. My stress level was high and some symptoms started returning. I love being the editor of Tinsel & Tine, but it's difficult to do everything I need and want for it and work a full-time job - which isn't where I want to be, which pays very little, and comes with a long commute everyday. Then there's other things that I won't go into.  On top of which, we have all this scary stuff going on in the news!

I of course considered going back to meditation, but I kept saying I don't have time, I go to bed too late, can't get up in the morning... No time before bed, too sleepy, work all day, blog at night etc.. etc.. etc..  But I also kept getting messages through random people and stuff I happened to read online, things that had nothing to do with spirituality, yet would somehow come back to meditation.  2 weeks ago, I happened to meet a Life Coach through my job, during the course of handling his account, we got to talking and he offered to meet with me free of charge for a consultation.  We spoke about a lot of personal matters, that I don't feel comfortable writing about, but his biggest push was, you guessed it ... MEDITATION!  So I couldn't fight it anymore, and once I made up my mind to commit, I've been able to wake up a half hour earlier to do it, following his instructions (so far).

Alright this is a long build up to the reason why I was compelled to write this post this morning, during my meditation today, I got a strong message that said I and the collective "we", should not be distracted by the disasters and wars happening in the world right now (easier said than done, I know), BECAUSE where there's this much negativity, there's that much more light.  That this is a time for obtaining ones heart's desire, that the Universe is really open, but because of the Ying/Yang - balancing thing that seems to be a universal law, it also creates havoc.  The "devil" wants us to miss this opening, this time of being able to align more easily with light and joy.  If we can shut out the noise and fear happening now and instead concentrate, each of us, on our inner spirit, AMAZING things could be in store!

Am I a prophetess? - certainly not.  Do I have other things I need to be working on for Tinsel & Tine, instead of taking time to write this? Yes. Am I worried that this sounds too airy fairy, crunchy granola?  Yes. Could it just be wishful thinking? Denial?...  All I can say is, it was just there, first a fleeting thought after yesterday's meditation, and really strong today.  Nor do I consider it an earth shattering, original thought. All I know is, I felt compelled to write it down, so I have.

The other thing that keeps coming up recently, is a book I read a couple of years ago, which now I seem to be better able to see its merit:

 The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom,― Miguel Ruiz

1. Be impeccable with your word - 
Follow through with what you say or promise otherwise keep your mouth shut.

2. Don’t take anything personally - 
99% of the time people are not trying to dis you, even when you feel you're being ignored or under appreciated. They're  just doing their own thing and will get back to you or seek you out when they need to, but it's not personal.

3. Don’t make assumptions - 
More or less a continuation of #2. Don't try and figure out what people are thinking. Be as clear in your communication as possible and then let it go.

4. Always do your best - 
I love the part in the book that says your best differs depending on the day and the subject matter and your frame of mind, but if you can say I did the best I could as each moment  comes, you've done enough.

Earth Abides

I love audiobooks evermore now that I can listen to them on my phone (Android). It seems odd to me now to think of sitting stationery in one place, using all your concentration on only the task at hand; where in contrast, if you listen to a book, you can do chores, walk, work, cook, drive, shop...

Most recently I finished listening to Earth Abides by George R. Stewart.  It's a post-apocalyptic story of sorts written in 1949, but for all accounts you would swear it was written within the last decade or so.  Of course there's no mention of internet or cellphones; but otherwise, I feel Stewart does an uncanny job of depicting an earth populated with only a handful of survivors of a deadly plague.

The main character Ish is a studious young man who considers himself an observer of life. A trait that serves him well in the aftermath of the disaster, helping him to keep his equilibrium, where other survivors lose their minds trying to comprehend and live with the magnitude of loss.

Eventually, Ish takes a wife, father's offspring and gathers together a few people to form a community - "The Tribe". Soon the tribe begins to procreate and eventually those children inner marry.

Throughout we witness the changes in nature due to the lack of population and how it affects Ish and his tribe.  Before long, a great deal of fear and desolation gets replaced by the joy that freedom brings - freedom from government, currency, most diseases get wiped out, there's no need to work, no need to rush around or keep exact time; instead play, relaxation and the enjoyment of each other become the way of life. Of course there's day to day necessities, still, it's an existence without ambition and stress.

And here in lies the crux of the novel. Ish is concerned about the deterioration of society and civilization, but he's the only one who seems to feel a sense of responsibility to maintain and restore it. The other survivors are simple people, perfectly content to scavenge off of what was left behind. And much to Ish's dismay the next generation are not thinkers or doers either. He struggles in vain to teach them to read and write and to learn history, but only one child has the least bit of interest in anything academic.  So we see the world reverting back to an almost primitive society.

Well actually, Ish and the others don't know what's happened all over the globe, they have very little knowledge of who has survived outside of a small section of CA, but the book spans over 50 years after the plague and no one strives to reestablish electricity, running water, transportation, phones, TV, stores, government, schools etc...

Normally when one thinks post-apocalyptic, thoughts go to aliens and/or  nuclear war, where the earth is uninhabitable.  Or even Noah's Arc where everything has to begin again from scratch; but it's interesting to think about a world in which everything remains the same for a long time, but without the excess people to muck it all up.

But then, without the excess people, there's no one to run things. So, although you no longer need to have a fortune to vacation along the Amalfi Coast, who's going to fly you there? Who's going to wait on you?  Whose going to cook your 4 star meal? Can you really enjoy it without posting pictures to facebook and tweeting it to make others envious?... hmmm....