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Horizons Magazine
SEPTEMBER 2000
Being a Hermit to Regain Perspective and Balance; Winning and Losing in Life;
Competition vs. Cooperation; How Horizons Began; Why I Don't Franchise Horizons;
We Don't Have To Play Dirty To Win and We Don't Have to Win Every Game Anyway
Hello and welcome to the September 2000 issue of Horizons Magazine. It's been a
hot summer and I'll admit to having hidden myself away in my air conditioned fortress
for most of it. When the heat rises and the air is thick with humidity, I find it easy to
hole up inside my icy kingdom and immerse myself in ? well? myself. While this is
good for reflection and contemplation, if we are to do any good to anyone with what
insights we've garnered, then we must take what we know out into the world and share it and live by it. Timely as usual, my friend Holger Pedersen, of the Institute of Noetic Sciences local community group, had posed the following question: " Solitude is usually considered good for the soul, and hermits seek to make it their permanent environment. Yet the purpose of life is to learn proper relations with our fellow beings. Can a hermit in the desert learn to deal rightly with other people?"
Being a little reclusive at times myself, I've been asked that before. I responded to him with: "The sole purpose in life is not to learn proper relations with our fellow beings. If so, then hermits would merely be escapists. Why do "hermits" seek solitude and appear to spend much of their time there? I'm not talking about anti-social neurotics who stay alone for various emotional and psychological reasons. The "hermits" I know (and often am) go to that place of solitude in order to regain perspective and balance in their own lives. To purify the filter they see the world through. To touch that deep place within, to drink from that deep pond and refresh themselves after becoming too involved in the mechanics of the physical world once they've allowed it to affect them. They know that they can affect the mindset of the world, they can affect mass consciousness whether they are in front of another person or not, by their dedication to meditation, creative visualization and kinda "holding the light" for those who aren't yet able to do so for themselves. Thus the hermit is able to more consciously stay singleminded in his focus and do the greater work to be done on behalf of the many."
I thought of how blessed I am to not have any responsibilities that keep me from being a vision keeper, or one that helps hold a vision for a group. I am blessed in that most of my time is my own and I do not have to answer to anyone. I have many friends who are parents that would love to live in the quiet, stillness as I do. To me, it is a great joy to be in the silence and to have plenty of time to sit alone and meditate and do creative visualization. I have friends who are moms that have not been without continual interruption in their home for years - or decades - and I honor the path they chose to take. Their path is not my own. I am grateful to live in solitude and silence and be able to devote much time to inner work, prayer and meditation. I am happy to help hold the vision of a better world for those who are so enmeshed in their daily challenges that they are unable to hold that vision for themselves.
It's not always easy to remember that someone who does not have much leisure time does not have much time to think lofty thoughts of a utopian world. Their focus is more likely on making sure they don't lose their job because they need to pay the bills and they have 4 mouths to feed. They're more focused on how many hours overtime they can work to help pay for the new refrigerator they finally got after 35 years, even though they're so tired they can barely make it through 40 hours a week at work. It is people like this that we can help hold the vision for. These are the ones that just can't do it for themselves just now and, as our dear brothers and sisters, we can help hold the light for them, hold the vision of a more abundant tomorrow. It matters not what anyone else's perception is, it is our perception that colors our world.
Think of adding a few exta minutes to your meditation every evening and begin to be a vision keeper for those around you. See all personal situations in the lives of those around you being healed and see all persons as healed and whole. Hold the vision of a better world, starting with where you are right now. "Wherever you are, " Ma Yoga Shakti says, "make a heaven of it." And recently Pope John Paul II said that Heaven and hell were not "places," but "states of mind." It's good to know that we have control over our "states of mind;" thus Heaven is indeed at hand, to the extent in which we realize it and express it so in our lives.
Since doing Horizons Magazine, I've met lots of other vision keepers in many walks of life, although many wouldn't call themselves that. One good case in point is Stacey Hillman, a ten year old who's featured on page 29, and sister vision keeper Gillian MacBeth talks about it on page 20. I'm always inspired by people who have a vision and move steadily toward it, despite what those around them think or say. Here in Florida, we're blessed with many vision keepers in the area of human potential and holistic living, and the number of publications similar to Horizons is ever increasing. I subscribe to as many of them as I learn of, to show support, welcome them and offer my help and friendship.
I've been asked a bit recently how do I feel about the franchising of a popular west coast magazine. I'm in the 'business' of compiling inspiring articles about personal growth, spirituality, conscious co-creation and how to live in harmony on this wonderful planet, and sharing these articles with those who are asking for it. The other magazine states its most important role is 'to provide the opportunity for local healthcare practitioners and holistic resources.' While we each have crossovers into both areas, our formats are clearly not the same and are not meant to be. I've had calls from readers asking if I'm nervous about "the competition" and the answer is a resounding "No," even if we weren't comparing apples and oranges.
Every few years, new publications come and go and they survive when someone holds to their vision and keeps their heart in it. A few times a year, I'll be contacted by someone who's thinking of beginning a publication similar to Horizons Magazine and they'll ask me how to go about it. I've been glad to freely share my information with anyone who asked. I could charge a consulting fee and kept all the really juicy good connections to myself, but my philosophy is this: I'm in this for the outcome, not the income. When I give away free information, I consider it a tithe to the Universe toward upcoming critical mass in global human consciousness. Like Phillip Humbert's article on page 17 about using attraction to build your business. When we all begin to learn and know a certain thing, as soon as it reaches critical mass, everyone else knows it as well. You know, the Hundreth Monkey syndrome. Kinda like I've had a few generations of cats that have never heard an electric can opener in my house, and never been fed from a can that didn't have a pop top, yet they all now respond frantically when they hear one. Somewhere in their subconscious feline racial memory is the connection between that sound and food. Something they haven't known in their lifetime, and something their parents didn't know in their lifetime.
So when a new publication comes on the scene that serves the same 'market' I do - how can I find fault with that? As Deepak Chopra says, "It's amazing what can get done when it doesn't matter who gets the credit." There is plenty of business for everyone. You can't share inspiring and meaningful ideas often enough. You can't share too much love. I got an email from someone who'd spoken to the franchise person at the other mag and was told that with their new publication in her market, she could "knock Horizons off the block." I found that confusing since they are focused on nutrition and physical health, not an area Horizons goes into real often. While I'm sure she thought that was a big selling point, he didn't realize how that attitude hit his caller, and what ripples she sets in motion. What kinda consciousness thinks it has to knock anyone off the block in order to create abundance for themselves? I was flattered that Horizons was the standard for comparison, but no one needs to knock anyone off the block to achieve what they want. There is plenty for everyone and we each attract to ourselves that which we are entitled to by right of consciousness.
The caller have asked me why it costs $25,000+ for a franchise and why aren't I selling them. My answer is I'm doing what I want to do. They're doing what they want to do. While publishing a magazine like this doesn't generate income when ad rates are kept low, it doesn't cost anything either. In the entire past 8 years of publishing Horizons Magazine, there hasn't been a $25,000 investment by all of the principals combined for all 8 years combined. Three of us from 3 walks of life each had computers and a burning desire to fill an open (at that time) niche, and we learned as we went along. I had Microsoft Publisher and learned how to design a newsletter on that, and the others knew about the same, and we asked friends and local businesses for ads. By the 5th or 6th issue, the magazine was paying for itself and has continued to do so. This is the perfect business for someone who loves it and doesn't need an income from it.
When Theresa Richardson and Kristy Scott, the official founders of Horizons Magazine and both entrepreneurial single moms, both stepped out after a few years to go in other directions, the magazine became not for profit and a labor of love for me. The magazine pays no income to anyone in any form and I derive my income from my personal counselling practice. That's what I mean by being in this for the outcome, not the income.
I'm glad to spend a good 40 hours a week on various aspects of the magazine and not receive payment for it. Payment is not what it's about. It's about being so excited with the new things you're learning and discovering that you just can't wait to share it with as many people as you can. It's about waking up eager to see what's in the mail or who's on the phone and what you can do for each other. It's about connecting with people of like mind and making new friends and sharing this wonderful journey together and having every step of the way be full of deep joy and profound appreciation. That's what it's about for me. I can't speak for anyone else and I applaud anyone's ambition and business acumen in selling franchises, which is infinitely more profitable than having a free publication. And that is the point.
I've been watching Survivor on tv and it's really interesting the politics that happen when people begin to feel competitive. You could see the alliances being formed and broken, the talking behind the backs, the misrepresentations. You could also see that bonding had taken place on some level, by virtue of the experiences they were going through together. Toward the end, after having come through some hassles with each other, they mostly spoke of having respect for the others and knew that what was being done had to be done in order to win the game. That was a forgiveness of sorts for the bad behavior they'd displayed in the course of playing the game.
It's my experience that we don't hafta play dirty in order to win the game - any game. We don't hafta kick and claw to get anything we want, we merely have to think it through, decide what we want and why we want it, and then begin focusing our energy and attention into it and start loving it as much as we can, and everything else will fall into place with little effort on our part. I've given a lot of thought to the magazine and while friends always advise, "go bigger, go national," I hafta say that does not appeal to me. The work that goes along with that is not a life I want to live and it is not where my time is best placed. In the past few years, the market has become flooded with information, both electronically and in print, and the internet is a remarkable resource. I thought about stepping back a little, passing the baton as it were to my sister publications and just concentrate on where I am right now rather than trying to expand an empire with Horizons Magazine. That's what feels good to me. Empires take many forms.
Almost as soon as that was really prayed over and settled in my mind, the floodgates opened to support my decision. I used to wonder what it was I had to sacrifice in order to achieve my boon, but I eventually learned that nothing has to be sacrificed, that we can indeed have it all. I discovered the key - for me - is to never compromise my integrity or go against my beliefs. If I can remember why I'm doing something and if I can remember what kind of life I want to be living ten years from now, I will be guided toward my best good. I will have that Constant Companion if I ask for it. I can be sure that if I tell God what I'd like to have and then ask that His will be done in my life each day, I can be sure He will either give me what I seek, or He will be there with me when I get something less or more, and I haven't been disappointed yet. Enjoy our offering this month. Hari om.