Welcome to the November 2016 issue of Horizons Magazine

HURRICANE MATTHEW REBOOTED OUR CONSCIOUSNESS

It’s hard sometimes to recognize when your prayers are being answered, isn’t it? That’s because we’re being answered in ways we didn’t expect. Lotsa folks saying they want to shake up their life, they want a new beginning, to just wake up and have it be a new day, to be able to start fresh. They seek a new perspective or a spiritual reboot. It seems Hurricane Matthew has been a great catalyst for both this week for some of us. Shaken out of our habitual routine by having no power, by having no wi-fi, no internet access, no running water, by water and gas not being readily available — and not knowing when we’d get it restored — we are forced to look at who we are without the overlays we’ve grown comfortable with. If we take these as the soul lessons they are and contemplate the thoughts that arise in the silence, we will be guided to thoughts and ideas that will allow us to lead happier lives and answer all our internal questions.

HURRICANE MATTHEW came in at lower winds than predicted so our area got off easy. An oak came down in my east garden and a young pine branch snapped, falling on my power line and pulling the meter box off the wall. It would be 4 days before power was restored. During that time I chose to rough it at home with no power rather than hang at a the home of a friend a block away who had power. While power was down for 4 days, I ran a 100 feet orange extension cord run from my neighbor’s home to mine. It was attached to a power strip where I hooked up a fan, a lamp, a phone charger. When I was in the living room, I had the cord in there. When I went into my bedroom, I unhooked the fan and the lamp and hauled the giant cord with me to the other end of the house. When I woke up and went into my office, I picked the big cord up and I carried it all in there.

Being in charge of carrying the power around with me was kind of exhausting. The metaphor was not lost on me. Since I’d been doing a lot of yard clean-up and raking post-hurricane, I was aware of how heavy the power cord felt because my arms were kind of tired. But I didn’t have a choice if I wanted power in each room as I went about my day and night. I reflected that though sometimes I got tired of “hauling the power around” with me — not just with electricity just now but in my life in general as well. It beat the alternative of having no power at all. So when you’re feeling worn out and worn down from having to be the one responsible for the power in your life in every single moment, remember what an honor and blessing it is to have access to it at all.

Being on a well and pump, when my power goes out, so does my water. I had the use of a friend’s shower but chose to rough it and shower at home using pitchers of water poured from a 5 gallon water bottle I keep in the bathroom during power outages. To flush toilets I manually fill the tank, and to shower I stand in the tub pouring pitchers of cool water over me. It reminded me of camping. When I get too comfortable, I go camping. Hurricane Matthew gave me a chance to camp out at home. For the next time, I just ordered a Coleman 5-Gallon Solar Shower that I can just hang on the wall. I can also hang it outside — I have a very private, wooded yard — and it will keep the water warm as well. The evenings were cool, temperatures had dropped about 10 degrees after the storm so nights were mild, in the mid 70’s. Days were spent hauling fallen tree debris to the street and moving fences back into place, clearing more debris, and more debris.

Healing comes when we keep energy in motion

After the storm, I saw on Facebook that my spiritual brother Tod McNeal had offered chainsawing of downed trees in his area. My first thought was to yell at him because he has a severe cut injury on one hand that was just repaired last month. He should be resting it for 6 weeks while it heals, not doing heavy duty work with it. And then I remembered that I was buying into the illusion. Strength and healing comes when we keep energy in motion. No matter what limited resources you have, no matter what little bit of strength you have left in your body, if you use it to help someone in need, that can only be healing to mind, body and soul, despite any appearance in the temporary. Tod is a generous and gracious gentleman who always, and I mean always, goes out of his way to help those in need. May he always be blessed with those who appreciate him and show him love in return.

4 DAYS LATER, POWER WAS RESTORED AND LIFE COULD GO BACK TO NORMAL

After 4 days with no power or water, on October 11th I woke up to 4 big handsome men stomping through my east garden. Which I could now see since the oak that had come down and been chainsawed away the day before. I heard big truck engines and got excited, then I heard crunching of work boots right outside. They were there to restore my power and rehang the power cable that a pine branch brought down during the storm. It pulled my box off the wall as well. Grand Electric came out and upgraded my meter box and riser, which I’d been meaning to do anyway. When I saw the damaged box, my spidey sense said $800 and I was only off by $3.50. An hour later, power was on, wi-fi was on and the water heater was heating up. I took a lap through the house checking all light switches. I flipped all breaker switches and reset all GFI and everything worked. I had to replace the small bulbs in my salt lamps, but they were the only ones blown.

Since I now had power and water, the focus turned from outside yard clean up to getting everything inside back to order since I had 1 week to get this November Horizons to the printer. I moved office equipment from the closet back into the office and hooked everything back up. I had wi-fi, I was in business! It only took about 20 minutes to clean the freezer because before the storm I’d packaged everything in grocery bags to easily lift out and discard if I needed to. I needed to. It was only a few Lean Cuisine meals, one chicken breast and 4 packages of frozen vegetables. The fridge was the same. I’d put perishables together in a grocery bag for easy clean up. There wasn’t much. I like my food supply to get way down and it was way down. I lost maybe $20 worth of food, total. I noticed that most of what I use my fridge for is as a pantry for my Asian spices and condiments, mustards, vinegars, pickled stuff as well as the bulk seeds (fennel, cumin, basil, tarragon) that I buy. Also things like bread crumbs, protein powders, molasses, go in the fridge. The freezer I use to store most of my leaves, grasses, roots, seeds and sticks: rosemary, lemongrass, ginger. cinnamon, mustard seed as well as my coffees and herbal teas.

I felt pumped that my power was back on! I enjoyed the few days roughing it but a huge weight of relief dropped as soon as they threw the switch. I ran the dishwasher and although the outside air was nice and cool, I ran the a/c to dry out the house. I ran over to my rental — a virtually unscathed-after-the-storm mobile home — and repaired a screen in the porch, the only real damage. I also stuck another few screws in the panel over the water heater. Then I came home to a hot shower and washed my hair. Ahhh! There was nothing that couldn’t wait and no more utility guys to wait for, so I got to crash. I awoke to find the 3-days-after-a-workout muscle soreness was setting in but I didn’t care. It felt good to have spent time rushing around, being unexpectedly active, using muscles I’d not used in awhile. Times like this show me that even when I think I’m getting lazy, I can just get up and get done what needs to be done.

WHY WOULD A PARTICULAR COUNTRY HAVE
CONTINUED HARDSHIP WEATHER WISE?

A Facebook friend asked why a particular country might have continued hardship over and over weather wise and asked if it might have to do with soul contracts and the pre-planning we do in between lifetimes. That’s a good question I’ve been asked before. Soul contracts and pre-planning before each birth certainly are factors but it is so much more than that. When we realize that the physical form dies over and over while the essential self or Soul lives on, it becomes less heart-wrenching when one physical form leaves because we know it will be reborn and we will continue to know them and be part of their soul group again. Of course most people not only don’t believe that, they’ve probably never heard the idea so it sounds weird.

Also factoring into it is, you ask why does any country or person for that matter who experiences hardship why does it happen again and again and again? It’s kind of like if you’re on a hamster wheel, if all you see is the next step on the wheel and you cannot envision a future any different than what you experience right now, there’s not much chance of escaping the path you’re on right now.

It all boils down to choice of focus of attention. But what if you live in a remote 3d world village and all you see are the same 13 family members every day of your life? You may not know you have other choices available to you. You literally see the same thing day in and day out. No wonder you think that is the only way your life can be.

Why then do some get out and not others?

When we stop to reflect on life around us and begin to wonder or ask internally “why,” that query activates our internal guidance system which brings new thoughts and ideas into our conscious awareness. Having a question you want answered attracts into your experience some one or some thing to respond.

In Haiti, for instance, often devastated by hurricanes, it’s too easy to say “Oh, the answer is you know where the storms are, so move away from there.” It’s often generations of families all living together in the only place they’ve ever known. Where are they all going to go and how will they all support themselves when they get there? But all that can change when one restless and curious kid has the thought “there has to be another way to live.” When someone internally has that thought and begins asking around, they will attract answers out of people who did not know they had answers. They will attract info out of strangers and through symbolism. There may be some lost hiker wander through their remote village and give them a glimpse of a different kind of life, maybe thru photos. More internal questioning attracts more answers. “How can I live there? How can we all live elsewhere, out of danger?” It can be as easy as having one person ask that and another get an agency involved who can help. But they have to be asking for it. If they are not asking, they may not attract it.

Faced with inevitable change, the choice is yours.
You can fight until you’re spent or you can
release all resistance and create something
new in your changed world.

It’s the path of least resistance to have the same type things happen if you are looking at the same things around you everyday and thinking the same thoughts about the same things you are seeing every day. You have to begin practicing having a different thought before you can begin having a new experience. That is why it is so important to pay attention to what thoughts you plant in someone else’s head. Like tv weatherman scaring folks about the approaching hurricane, saying, “If this storm moves 20 miles to the west, you are dead. All of you.” His uneducated opinion, and not true. But he said it on tv so people got panicked. The thoughts we plant in people’s minds helps direct what their future experience will be. Like gravity, it works whether you believe it or not. People who are hopeful of a good outcome are far more likely to have one. People who are running scared willy-nilly not taking responsibility for their own safety are likely to have a far different outcome.

Storms are good because they shake us up, they interrupt our habits, they yank us out of our rut and show us things we may not have known we are capable of.

Enjoy our offering this month.
Hari Om.

Welcome to the October 2016 issue of Horizons Magazine. I love when a lesson shows up just at the right time so I can share it with you. I received an email that alerted my spidey sense. “I need everything. Please help… I don’t know what to do.”

It was a couple of hours before I could respond back but in the meantime I thought to Google the sender’s name and email address. I found info reporting former involvement in financial misdoings, fraud internet crime and a fugitive warrant as well as local court case info for him. But whether he’s a scammer or a sincere seeker, he asked me a question and the answer is the same. Ride out past momentum, clean up your past, expand your belief about what’s possible for you and refocus your attention.

I thought you would appreciate seeing the process here. He wrote:

“My name is xx. I live in xxxx, xx. I’ve read your articles but nothing seems to stick. I’ll tell you my situation. I’m a struggling entrepreneur and I want to trade the financial markets. At this very moment I am typing this message to you from McDonalds because of the free wifi. I am 43 years old. I am homeless and I am presently illegally living in an abandoned house when I know it is safe to break in (my town has no homeless shelter). I have exactly 0.21 cents in my bank account and no money in my wallet. For food I simply kindly ask people at my local McDonalds for food. I have no car and no job since my town had no bus transit. I filled out a few applications but have not gotten a job. It is just me because I have no family members willing to help me. I do not smoke or drink or do drugs. My heart is 100% set on trading the financial market because I have a natural gift at seeing patterns that work great!! But because of my situation I seemingly need everything!! Please help… I don’t know what to do.”

HOW YOU ATTRACT YOUR LIFE EXPERIENCE

I responded to him: “Hi, you’re in a better position than you think you are. A quick Google of your email address tells me you’ve got an interesting background. I see a mug shot and arrest info for fraud internet crime and a fugitive warrant, and an article published in August 2015 about how you went from a homeless shelter in Hawaii to living on a 2 acre farm in DC.I’m not judging you for past actions, simply pointing out that iIf you did it once, then you know what is possible. You known you can do it again.
If you didn’t do it, by telling that story (because it’s a better marketing story to attract investors) you send a signal to the Universe that you believe you have to be dishonest (ex. fraud internet crime) to make dollars. If that’s what you believe, that is a big resistance to attracting income. It’s important to understand how you attract your life experience to you for better or worse. It matters not how you got where you are, the remedy is the same. While you’re riding out past momentum, clean up your past, expand your belief about what’s possible for you and refocus your attention.

RIDING OUT PAST MOMENTUM

If you’ve cleared up whatever led to those events — and you’re the only one who knows whether you truly have — if you’ve truly made amends, then you just have to ride out the past momentum. If you have NOT made amends, no kidding, do this process beginning today–> http://horizonsmagazine.com/blog/dr-lews-hooponopono-hawaiian-healing-process/ It will begin a subconscious line of inquiry and thought within you and you will begin to attract comfort and resolution of those matters.

YOU KNOW WHAT YOU BELIEVE BECAUSE YOU SEE EVIDENCE OF YOUR BELIEFS ALL AROUND YOU, RIGHT NOW

We don’t always believe what we think we believe, but we can SEE what we believe by the evidence of what we have attracted into our lives up to now. If you had the belief that you could succeed as a financial trader and consistently earn a good return on investments, you would see evidence of that belief and the money would come in from your investments. You’ll stay in poverty until you expand your belief about what is possible for you or until you take your heart OFF being set on trading the financial markets and instead let yourself be led in another direction and — for good example — out of a town you have no ties to and are having no success in.

I’m making no judgment and mean no disrespect, but if you instead had the belief that it was easy to make people invest when you say certain things, whether those things are true or not (ie. the fraud internet crime conviction), it’s simple cause and effect. If you’re depriving people of their dollars and they are not delivered the return they were promised, that is what will come back to you in the form of future experience. It may be what you’re experiencing now. Momentum has to play itself out.

I am not making a judgment, it’s pure physics, but when you misrepresent yourself as successful and engage in scams for financial return, you’re telling the Universe that you don’t believe you can make a great deal of money unless you misrepresent and make promises you know are unlikely or false.
Seth said: “Remind yourself that in many ways you are a very successful person as you are. Success does not necessarily involve great intellect or great position or great wealth; it has to do with inner integrity. Remember that.”
“I need so much so quickly, can you please give me a method or techniques that will give me what I need in order to survive?”

Things can change in the blink of an eye and if they do not, you have to wait until the past momentum catches up. If you can consider that you have within you right now the power and ability to make things turn around in your life and go in a good direction, I’d say do a little inner work.

Seth has said something powerful here: “When you do not know what to do, relax and tell yourself that other portions of yourself DO know; they will take over. Give yourself some rest.” This is one of those “secrets to enlightenment” everyone asks for but few hear and understand. That means say to yourself “I know there are other parts of me that understand what I do not. I ask that these parts help me understand, help me become aware of what I need to know to overcome this situation, have a new experience or just be the best I can be.”

HOW DO YOU ACTIVATE GUARDIAN ANGELS AND SPIRIT GUIDES?

Then practice relaxing into the knowing that you have set something in motion that you will soon see evidence of. Relax into the knowing that these other “parts” of you can be thought of (if it makes it easier to accept) as guardian angels or spirit guides here to help you with whatever you ask help for. You “activate” them by talking to them and asking them for help. If it makes it easier to accept, these other parts of you can be thought of as God whom you are asking in prayer. You might do this twice a day during meditation.

Do the Ho’oponopono process daily as needed as well. How you you know when it’s no longer needed? You will stop having financial problems. You’ll get a chance to work with good people and you won’t feel any desire to rip them off. You’ll be able to look at it as a sacred service you are doing for a fellow man and you will be rewarded for your efforts. Everything will change when your desire to MOVE on to something new and improved exceeds your desire to HOLD on to something known and familiar.
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HELP A STRANGER OR KEEP YOUR DISTANCE?

A Facebook friend wrote on the Palm Bay Crime Watch page that a young woman knocked on her door, said she was a neighbor’s daughter locked out and asked for a ride to her mom’s work to get the key. Mom of course not “at work,” she caught on that she might be being set up for a robbery. She dropped the woman off and returned home. So, how do you know when to help a stranger and when to keep a distance? There’s always a fine line, isn’t there, between wanting to do the right thing and be a good samaritan, yet stay safe and leave people to the consequences of the choices they made before they knocked on your door. You have to ask yourself, “Why does this person have no one but a random stranger to ask for help? Where are their friends, or anyone else who knows them?” Sure, maybe it’s “Jesus in disguise” (isn’t everyone?) but who knows what lesson this particular “Jesus” may have in store for you today? What determines how you will respond? These are good soul searching questions to ask yourself while keeping your doors locked.

WHAT DETERMINES WHAT YOU ATTRACT?
WHO YOU ARE AND HOW YOU VIBRATE!

So what determines whether you attract a true damsel in distress or a scam artist in the first place? The answer to that lies with knowing what factors you’re resonating in harmony with currently. How are you vibing lately? Happy or ticked off? What have you been attracting this week? Good stuff? Challenges? How severe are the issues and relationships from the past that you’ve left unresolved? What is in your past is what determines what’s getting ready to come back to you. Factoring in your answers to these questions, in any given moment you are the one who knows whether you’ve created past momentum for blessings or lessons. A good thing about knowing who you are and taking responsibility for what you’ve come thru is that the life surprises that come your way are more likely to be good ones.

IT’S ALL ABOUT PERCEPTION

What can you look at with a different eye? A friend asked how I could have been a criminal defense paralegal for so many years and had to look at crime scene photos of violent crimes. It’s all in the perception. If it’s a job and I’m just organizing and categorizing, I’m looking at it with a different eye. I learned in my 20’s that I could distance myself from the emotion of a situation if I had to to do my job. So I never thought of them as gross photos, they were simply evidence of an incident. It’s all about perception. You can train yourself to look for other specifics, to look for the lesson so you can move on to look for the good, to look for the benefit, to look for the opportunity. Everything you ever look at contains all of that, I promise you. Wayne Dyer says “Shy people make shy pictures over and over in their minds. Until they see themselves as unafraid, they will always act on the pictures they create.“ Are there any pictures you keep creating over and over in your mind that it would be helpful to see with a different eye?

Everything in your life is a metaphor and has a message for you. And you can’t always rely on what your eyes tell you is so. Sometimes you have to rely on memory and faith. Like the french fries I just took out of the oven, for instance. My eyes tell me they’re not yet done but I remember if I take them out NOW, they will continue to brown and will taste perfect. And they do. Have more faith that when it looks like things in your life are really goofed up, they are really cooking to perfection.

I spent time watching a fire one early morning. I love to watch the logs and how they burn and interact with each other at the various stages of engulfment and disintegration. Just like we humans as we cook the ego and become more ash, more of the essence we are. I watched the logs burn more brightly when they were together, and eventually mesh into one mass of ash. I watched a log off by itself, still burning though not as brightly. Just like us. We can be a small bright light in a dark world but when others join, we can light up the sky. I put a marshmallow on a stick and tried various cooking distances from the flame. I found it cooked even when just barely within the space of the pit, and cooked faster as it approached the flame itself. A great metaphor for my own social interaction. I am cooked faster by some people and events than by others, depending on how close to the situation I want to get, and how much I allow. Sometimes all it takes is a light toasting, other times a scorching. It’s nice to know I’m in charge of whether or not I ever get burned.

FACTORING IN RESIDUAL HEAT AND PAST MOMENTUM

I’ve learned that everything in life is a metaphor for my own personal growth. I’ve been buying frozen french fries and cooking them in my new oven. The directions on the package say 450 degrees for 20-24 minutes. Each time, when I checked a few minutes ahead of time, I saw they were beginning to get golden. Two minutes later they’d be burnt. The third time, I put them in at 425. At 16 minutes they would begin to get golden. At 18 minutes they were burned. I tried again, this time removing them from the 425 degree oven at 16 minutes. They looked too beige. They didn’t look golden enough. But by the time I took them into the kitchen to plate them, they were perfect. Ah, I forgot about residual heat! A good lesson to me. Remove them from the oven when they still look uncooked.
If I wait until they looked cooked, the residual heat will burn them up. Looking back, I recall times I did that with people as well: giving them the heat they asked for, not factoring in past momentum I wasn’t privy to. I learned that sometimes I’m the marshmallow, sometimes I’m the flame and why we’re cooked faster by some people than others. It’s all just a dance as we get our personal energy under control. It’s all about energy management. Knowledge is power. When new friends appear before you, assume their cooking process is already underway, more so than any of you know. Be gentle with the heat. No matter how much they ask for.
Enjoy our offering this month. Hari Om.

Welcome to the September 2016 issue of Horizons Magazine. To begin, no I’m not concerned about the election. I know that no matter who is elected, no matter what the universe throws my way, i’ll make the best of it and be so strongly the attractor of my own experience that nothing less than good times will come my way. My experience tells me that it is possible to find heaven in the midst of hell. The reason it’s possible to live a completely different life from the people living alongside you is vibrational resonance. I got a reminder of that the last few days. I belong to a FaceBook page of people who live around me and some of them can be real hot heads, arguing amongst themselves, threatening vigilante action for perceived wrongs. Some of them listen to the police scanners and update everybody with what’s going on. Some call the police regularly for updates then complain it takes so long for law enforcement to respond at a scene (you’re keeping them on the phone!) Some drive around looking for trouble to report or get into. Until I joined this group, I had no idea I even lived in the middle of that.

What I experience in my everyday life is that the people within a few blocks of me are all pretty happy. I seldom hear complaints or sob stories, everyone gets along and everyone goes out of their way to help each other. The people I see in the stores, the post office are all friendly and helpful. So I was kind of surprised to find such a gang of malcontents and know that they literally live right here and I never even knew it. The fact of the matter is we ARE living parallel lives, we ARE living in different dimensions from each other, the same as if we were different radio stations playing side by side. So if you think you are at the mercy of the people around you, I promise you that you are not. You are only at the mercy of what you attract by virtue of what you pay attention to and continue to think about. And you always have the option to turn your attention to something more pleasing.

A friend told me: “I avoid Walmart like the plague but occasionally run in and out for a couple one stop shopping items. I can always tell it’s not vibrationally in sync and take extra measure to protect myself. Yesterday was one of those times and the worst one yet. I went to see if they carried a clock radiio/cd player and figured I’d get the dog treats for the dogs I’m sitting. As soon as I walked in I became highly confused, was approached by a man in the dog aisle who I believe was trying to attach negative hitchhikers to me, changed checkout lines 3x with my 4 items trying to get out as soon as I could and when I got to my car I really thought I was going to puke and pass out. Once I was out of the parking lot and headed home everything went away and while I was wiped out for the rest of the night I was no longer nauseated or confused.”

I responded: “That’s an great example! I shop equally at Publix and WalMart and have the same experience at each: friendly, helpful employees, I meet fun people in the store, we dig on the music and chat in the check out lines. That’s because everywhere I go, there I am. I take my “vortex” with me. Had I stepped into a store I felt I had to avoid like the plague, I’m sure I would have the same experience you did. By taking extra measures to protect yourself, you’re stating your clear expectation and belief to the Universe that there is something that you need protection from. I personally don’t care who is “trying to attach negative hitchhikers to me,” I don’t have to accept them or even be aware they are being offered. I don’t freak out about misquitoes when I’m swimming in the pool, I know they don’t go there, the water would overwhelm them. Same as my good mood. Nothing can attach itself to me unless I’ve left an opening for them, such as expecting and believing I need to be protected from them. It doesn’t matter if there’s a monster in the bushes or if I just THINK there’s a monster in the bushes. If that’s my mindset, I stay out of the bushes.”

ALL YOU NEED IS A HANDFUL OF GOOD CLIENTS

“You don’t need a gazillion clients. You just need a handful of the right clients. You don’t need more workers. You just need the right workers.” The first time I head those words, I could hear the bells going off signalling a big, giant truth that had just been revealed to me. And over the years, I’ve found that to be true. While doing the billing this week, I decided to look at my “card list” for all clients and advertisers. I couldn’t believe how many I had. Some of them had just advertised once, perhaps, so I didn’t recognize their names. But many names were very familiar to me. I thought about how I’ve had so many of the same advertisers for the past 10-15 years and how grateful I am that I don’t have to run around selling ads to get each issue printed. I would be more industrious if I had more time, and make ad calls, but it’s too easy to just keep things the way they are. Comfortable. Manageable. Then I realized, that’s it. I am comfortable with the clients and advertisers I have now, and we make a good family and it keeps the cats fed.

So I’ve found it’s very true. I don’t need a gazillion clients. All I need are a handful who are fun to work with, who have similar goals and motivations, with whom I feel spiritually connected. Then work and income blossoms from there. Here’s the process I used.

I know several business owners who have customers of their own, and these days everyone is looking to expand their business to make more money. I’ve learned that you don’t necessarily need to expand your business to make more money, but you DO need to expand your perception of how much income you are able to glean from just a handful of clients.

BE PROFITABLE WITH JUST A DOZEN CLIENTS

One friend lamented to me last year that she had only a dozen clients left. Gretchen has a lawn maintenance business and many of her clients had begun doing their own lawns. She was worried that she wouldn’t be able to replace them and that she’d have to fold up her business and go to work for someone else, if anyone was even hiring.

CLIENTS LEAVING ARE NOT YOUR TARGET MARKET

I reminded her that those clients who had begun mowing their own lawns were not her target market anyway. Those were not the people she wants for clients. She wants people who do not do their own yard work and who need what she can do. She just needed to expand her perception of who her clients actually were.

One of the favorite jobs I do is biggifying and destucktifying. Ok, some people call it coaching, but coaching sounds so – yawn – regimented, when biggifying and destucktifying is the goal anyway. So when I spoke to Gretchen, I knew she just needed some B & D. She first needed to understand that the people who used to be her clients, stop focusing on them right now. Focus on the customers she still has and she how much more she can offer them. I told her to realize it was possible to make a good living from just a dozen clients.

The first thing I did was create a newsletter for her lawn maintenance business to enclose with her bills, which she always handed to the client at the end of the job. On one side was a calendar with her photo and business name and phone number. On the other side was a short newsletter, telling what extra jobs she did, like cutting branches, repairing irrigation, and putting in water gardens. We gave her an “Ask Gretchen” advice column, suggesting what jobs should be done in the yard this time of year. We listed her special prices of the month for extra jobs like fertilizing and seeding grass.

In the winter time, November through March when the mowing schedule is down to once a month, we highlighted her deadfall cutting and limb removal. We had specials on yard clean up and palm trimming. We created a basic water garden package of a 4 square feet landscaped area with rocks, plants, birdbath for a special price. We did the same for a shady corner, with a hammock and hanging spider plants and bird feeders. The December newsletter offered special prices on Gift Certificates as Christmas presents. It also included a sincere Thank You letter from Gretchen, letting each one know how much she appreciated their business. We also enclosed a stamped return envelope, to make it easy to send next month’s check or buy a gift certificate. She was surprised at how many Christmas tips got returned in those envelopes. There were lots of ways for her to make extra money during her “slow” season, and it was right in front of her all the time. All I did was hold her eyes open.

Her customers got the first newsletter and told her, “I didn’t know you did ___ and ___.” She could have been making the extra money all along. Most of her clients were older and she’d known them for years. But didn’t know them well. After the newsletter, some of them told her it made them feel like they knew her more now. She began talking to me about them in a different way, a more appreciative way.

MAKING A LIST IS YOUR BLUEPRINT FOR DOLLARS

We sat to make a list and I asked her to name one of her clients, and to tell me what she does at his yard. Then I asked her, if she could do anything creative to that yard, what would she do? What would it be perfect for? And we went down the list of each of her clients and answered the same questions. For each one, it gave us ideas of what other jobs to suggest to the homeowner. Not a heavy handed sales pitch, but simply, “Hey, I was thinking about your yard the other day and had some ideas I wanted to tell you about if you were interested.” She got dozens of new jobs just from the ideas that came to her by asking and answering those questions to herself.

Suddenly, she began getting calls from homeowners who had seen the sign on her truck. That sign had been there for 2 years with few calls, but suddenly she was being seen and noticed by the neighbors. What had changed? What put her on the radar? Law of attraction. She went from someone who focused on “good grief, what if I lose all my clients, what will I do then” to “I am having so much fun doing neat new projects with people who really appreciate and want what I do“. Who wouldn’t want some of that action?

Gretchen went from having almost 30 clients, down to having an even dozen, and doubled her income for the year. Go figure.

No, REALLY: Go figure. Go figure where you might pare away any deadwood clients that are energy suckers. Go figure where you can offer more of you in the most helpful way to your client, at a price you feel is fair. Really fair. Make yourself known in unobstrusive ways to your clients on a regular basis. Become real to them. Don’t try to sell them something each time they see your newsletter, just let them know what’s available.

Go figure where you can biggify your own business, making the most of the clients you already have, knowing what other jobs you’re capable of doing. Go figure where you are stuck and commence destucktifying. Ask yourself, answer yourself, surprise yourself with what you know.

Enjoy our offering this month.

Hari Om.

Welcome to the August 2016 issue of Horizons Magazine. Last month was a news fest focused on unfortunate, racially motivated conflict. Sometimes it takes drastic measures to wake us up enough so that we ask ourselves, “What do we really believe? What ARE our deepest beliefs about our life and the people around us, and the direction we see all of us heading?” I’m hopeful.

Benny didn’t grow up thinking Mouse Lives Matter

Benny is tired of hearing Lizard Lives matter, Bird Lives matter, Mouse Lives matter. Yeh, yeh, he knows “all lives matter” but Whatever weaker than him crosses his path is at the mercy of his mood du jour. The hunt is in his blood. His mom was a hunter, his dad was a hunter. He saw them beat up lizards and birds and mice his whole life, and so he figured that was what he was supposed to do, too. Nobody told him any different. It happens to us humans, too. It’s not his fault he thinks the way he does. He grew up repeating what his kinfolk said was the thing to do and the way life is. But tell that to the lizard, tell that to the bird, tell that to the mouse. We humans are slowly but surely beginning to wake up and we’re learning to stop the cycle, to do better.

Do you ever feel like apologizing to an entire segment of society but you don’t have the vocabulary to even begin to address it since who’d ever thought in this lifetime such things would still be happening? There’s an almost overwhelming urge to fall at the feet of strangers apologizing on behalf of the ignorant and mean spirited ones whose skin is the color of mine. Even so, I hold the vision of a better tomorrow.

Stay mindfully vigilant. Don’t fall into any plan to create race wars. The media wants to enflame us into action for ratings. We learned without doubt this election season that the media suppresses info that doesn’t fit their agenda. They want to make us think things are worse than they are so we’ll uprise and react. The powers that be want to divide us to make it easier to bring in martial law. Be kind. Stay mindful. We’re all in this together. We’ll get through this.

True Americans celebrate racial, cultural  and religious diversity
We Make America Great Again by showing in our daily lives that we believe in the USA’s Declaration of Independence directive “all men are created equal, endowed with rights to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” To suppress anyone due to race, culture and religion is very UN-American. I respectfully request that we don’t get it twisted.

Yes, many are passing due to injustice but we have to walk over the bodies to move forward. It never gets easier, but hovering over them after the fact doesn’t do anyone any good. Link arms with those still standing and walk on together, praying for those in need still breathing. That way we catch each other as we stumble and no one stays down for long.

Honoring the angels you find in front of you
I was behind a young mother in the store earlier. She had three sons, about 2, 6 and 8 and she was doing an admirable job of keeping them under control. The older ones unloaded the shopping cart while the youngest quietly watched his mom on the phone telling someone she’d “be right back to take care of it.” She seemed weary but handled the scene with grace and ease. I looked at the two oldest, it brought to mind the two young men who’d been unlawfully shot by officers last month. This strong mother was raising three young black men not knowing what would become of them in tomorrow’s society. No one with eyes open can pretend they’ll have equal opportunity in our lifetime. No matter how good a mother she is, no matter how good a person they grow up to be, because of the color of their skin. I felt great shame. But we can work to change that.

When her groceries were tallied, I handed the cashier cash saying, “May I, please? Seeing you with your boys gives me hope for our next generation. Thank you.” And I meant it. I was grateful for the chance to lighten her load for at least the moment, perhaps to create a happy story to tell later, perhaps give a reminder that good and bad exists side by side. But I could tell she knew that.

The timing was synchronistic. I seldom carry cash on me but I’d just returned from the bank where I’d cashed my $15 check for jury duty as well as a $100 donation check someone had gifted me. I never expected either amount, and would typically have deposited it rather than cashing it. Since everything was falling into place, I figured it was her money anyway.

Enjoy our offering this month.
Hari Om.

Final Freedom For The Souls Who Transitioned 6-12-16 Orlando, FL

Welcome to the July 2016 issue of Horizons Magazine. I’ve lost many family members and never thought of it as unfair or untimely. It’s just a part of life and I’ve learned that death of the physical body is not the end.

As hard as it is, we have to get used to death. God would not stop an acorn from growing into an oak, nor a tadpole from becoming a frog. Would we keep a toddler in kindergarden or a 6th grader in elementary school? No, we let them graduate to the next phase in the process, so they can continue to learn and grow and become more of what they are meant to be.

Remember that “we” survive after death of the physical body. “We” survive in consciousness after the change called death. Loved ones are never gone, they’ve just stepped into a nearby room. There is now a thin wall between you and them. In quiet times, you will be able to hear and speak through this wall and you will come to know there is no “death.” There is simply moving on to the next dimension.You were meant to know each other in the flesh for only so many years. Move forward with those around you here, now, in this lifetime.

Your loved one is moving on. You’ll hear from them soon, in a dream, in a thought, you’ll have undeniable evidence of their presence. You will experience many “deaths” in your lifetime. What matters is how you live your life afterward, how you move on. Don’t let it get you down. I figure whatever happens is God’s will and, if it’s God’s will, then I must rejoice in it all.

There will always be tragic and sad things happening. There is always so much more good happening than bad. There will always be troubled people who harm. There are always so many more good people than bad. We just have to look for them. We always find what we look for. I look for the good. I look for the silver lining. I look for the helpers.

We freak out about death because we think it’s the end. We don’t know what comes after, so our thought is stuck on oh, no, death! They’re gone! It’s like any other goal. If we’re to demystify it, we have to imagine ourselves on the other side of it.

This is what we do in meditation, it is a daily separation of consciousness from the body. We transcend our awareness of the physical body and brain and find ourselves, maybe just for a split second, in a place of clear consciousness, abundantly free and completely aware of our surroundings as an observer. As you continue to experience that during daily meditation, you lose your fear of “death” since you’ve discovered how to move between the worlds, so to speak, between being the one who is in the body and the one who exists beyond the body.

When this happens, you no longer weep for the death of the caterpillar — you’re excited for what comes next, for the butterfly on its way. In the overall scheme of things, this one life is just a moment in time. Every loved one who disappears from it during your lifetime, you’ll see again, I assure you.

Despite being married five times — three of them passed — I’ve tended to be a solitary person, learning to not let my happiness depend on another person. The first deaths crushed me, so I asked Spirit to let me see it in a way that was free of pain. Asking within attracts answers. I was always focused upon my own happiness, so I always had interests and activities outside the relationship. The first time, one person had been everything to me for years. I was devastated and lost without him. I never let that happen again. I never let one person be my world again.

Instead, via meditation, a new world opened up and revealed itself to me. I began to find supreme satisfaction and joy in a lot of small, subtle things. Relationship with any one person was less and less on the agenda as I began to feel “in relation-ship” with every thing and every one around me. Deaths of loved ones affected me less and less as I came to understand that “death” is not the end.

I read books on “life after death” and before meditation would ask to be guided to other people and books who could answer my questions. I read books by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, Raymond Moody, Dannion Brinkley, Bill Guggenheim, now you can read Eben Alexander, Stephen Levine, and Annie Kagan’s The Afterlife of Billy Fingers. Knowledge is power.

Once I heard first person accounts of what came after “death,” I realized “life” did not stop when the physical body dropped. When I was able to envision what life “after” death was like, it stopped being this giant scary wall and I stopped freaking out when friends died. I would later come to realize all that happened was that they dropped temporarily out of my range, like a radio signal that would get clearer as I turned the dial via meditation. In meditation, I’d learn how to tune in to connect with them again.

In meditation, I step into that easy flow of pure awareness that everything around me — despite appearances — is in perfect order and as it should be. In meditation, I step into the awareness of the big picture, where although this life is a just a moment in time in the overall scheme of existence, it can be an immensely fulfilling and meaningful life. All I have to do is — via daily meditation — begin to step into it that stream by quieting my mind, breathing consciously, and asking for the experience of separating my consciousness from my body. If you’ve had even a glimpse of the experience before, bring that experience to mind. If you’ve read of someone’s experience, bring that experience to mind. Imagine how it would feel to be awake and aware in the moment, free of the body.

Making yourself think these thoughts and bring these things to mind is a visualization exercise that will make you begin to resonate in harmony with having the experience of separation of your consciousness from your body. The moment you relax enough to release any conscious or unconscious resistance, you’ll have the experience. Keep breathing through it, slowly and steadily. Keep your main focus on your breath, no matter what other images or experiences flash around you. Maintaining your breath is what keeps you dialed into the frequency of that channel, so to speak. Lose focus of your breath and you’ll lose the signal, but bring it back and you’ll drift back into it.

Here’s a process.

1. Sit upright in a position that allows you to relax.
2. Recall in detail any prior experience you or someone else had of existing outside the body.
3. Breathe naturally, slowly and steadily, keeping your focus on your breath.
4. As thoughts and images rise and fall, stay focused on your breath while you observe them peripherally.
5. When you begin having the experience,
the longer you can stay focused on your breath, the longer it will last.

Enjoy our offering this month. Hari Om.

Hello and welcome to the June 2016 issue of Horizons Magazine. This month we have articles on the Near Dear Experience (NDE) by P. M. H. Atwater, L.H.D., Scott Taylor, PhD and Bill Guiggenheim, who will all be speakers at the International Association of Near Death Studies (IANDS) Conference July 28-31 in Orlando, FL. See their articles, the ad on page 8 and www.neardeathconference.com for info

Why bother loving if everyone dies?

A young friend wrote, “It feels like the happy endings in the world are fake. I can’t help going into 2016 wondering which one of my loved ones is going to die next. In 2014 my brother died, and in 2015 my dad died. Maybe this is no way to live my life, but at the age of 24 I’ve learned that getting attached to anyone is pointless since I will eventually be left.”

I feel for him. My dad was a suicide, so was my younger brother and, later, more friends and acquaintances than I care to count. I was in my 20’s when loved ones began dying. It made me question the point of life at all. It sent me into a very contemplative stage and also kept me at arms’ distance from those around me. In my 60 years I have learned that everyone will die, and most supposedly good friends will betray you. What saves my sanity is to love them anyway. From a distance, sure and I get heck for that but it’s no less a love. Loving is one thing. Being attached is another.

It took me half a lifetime to learn things for myself, and one of the most comforting things I learned was that we survive in consciousness after the change called death. Once I learned that, my outlook on life, my entire world changed. That set me on the mission to help others discover what I discovered. I introduce them to meditation and we talk about different ways to perceive connection and receive information and guidance from within.

My young friend identifies as an atheist, and we’ve never had the talk about what that means. His parents have deep connection to spirit in a Buddhist kind of way. He was raised to revere Nature and to me, that’s connection.

For me, I had an experience early on where I felt connected to something greater than I. I would identify that now as connecting to God but at the time I wasn’t using words like God and I avoided anything to do with religion. I found I could take myself into the Now moment with whatever I found in front of me, and I could contemplate it so intensely that I felt a connection begin to flow. As that connection began to flow, as I stayed focused and breathed myself into the image and experience before me, I’d begin to receive information and later guidance.

What I discovered helped me be more informed in making decisions. That led to me living a much more fun, happier and expanded life. As I discovered more of what was possible for me, I wanted everyone to know what I knew. Part of what I knew was that we survive physical death. That set me on what would become my mission, although I didn’t think of it at that time.

I told my friend, “Give yourself time, write out your feelings even if no one reads it but you. You are working through this.”

My young friend is a master of shapeshifting and transformation whether he recognizes it right now or not. The pressure cooker of his life has been transforming the broken bones and marrow of his life into a rich stew that is nourishing him on his journey. He doesn’t need to know it all right now, or any of it. When he’s curious enough to take a next step, he’ll ask within to be guided to understanding.

He’s on his way to discovering a mission that will soon enough spark his interest and begin to call him in a very real way. Even now his work puts him in daily contact with young people who are also troubled and questioning and undergoing personal transformation. There is never a mistake that we are around those we are around. We are all there to learn from each other. Sometimes we’re there to teach, but we all learn.

My mission is to help people know that we survive in consciousness after we “die.” Knowing this freed me of deep grief when I’d lose friends and family. It helped me enter into loving relationships, even though I knew it would end in death of the body.

It helped me understand that the deep relationships did not have to end. The conversations did not even have to end. The learning and discovering and the having of an expanded, comfortable and emotionally content and even joyous life did not have to end.

How to forgive and find closure if the other is unwilling, absent or dead

It doesn’t matter if someone is alive or dead, where the issue lives is in our consciousness, and we are the ones who control our perceptions there. My process is pretty standard.

1. Place a chair across from you. In your mind’s eye, imagine sitting across from you anyone with whom you do not feel total alignment or support.

2. Imagine an infinite source of Love and healing flowing into the top of your head and fill up the body, and overflow out your heart to heal the person in the chair before you.

3. Have a discussion with them. Tell them anything you want them to know. Remember they did the best they could under the conditions at that time. You don’t know what struggles they were going through. Imagine them responding to you as you would like to be responded to and understood.

4. Forgive them. Tell them you’re sorry for your part in whatever happened, and ask them to forgive you. Thank them for their part in your life. Tell them you love them and mean it. “I love you, I’m sorry, please forgive me, I forgive you, thank you.”

5. Imagine standing up with the person before you. With a hand swipe motion, cut the cords between you. All past issues are now dissolved. Imagine the person walking away as you feel love and forgiveness for them.

God would not stop an acorn from growing into an oak, nor a tadpole from becoming a frog

Everyone drops their body, it’s part of life. Why is death deemed tragic and why would God allow it to happen? It’s not tragic, it’s just the cycle of Life, so why should God prevent any of it? We’re all going to die. We simply need to know it’s nothing to fear and that it’s not the end. What a caterpillar calls death, we call a butterfly.

Would He intervene to prevent the caterpillar from becoming a butterfly? Would he keep a tadpole from becoming a frog? Would he stop an acorn from growing into an oak? Would he prevent hot water from becoming steam, or
cold water from freezing? These are just natural changes and it is no different than our own transition from one state of being to another. It’s just a change. Would we keep a toddler in kindergarden or a 6th grader in elementary school? No, we let them graduate to the next phase in the process, so they can continue to learn and grow and become more of what they are meant to be. That’s all death is: going from one form to another. Enjoy our offering this month. Hari Om.

Hello and welcome to the May 2016 edition of Horizons Magazine.  This month we have articles on the Near Dear Experience (NDE) by Anita Moorjani, Suzanne Giesemann, Laurin Bellg, M.D. and Maggie Callanan, who will all be speakers at the International Association of Near Death Studies (IANDS) Conference July 28-31 in Orlando, FL. See their articles, the ad on page 8 and go to www.neardeathconference.com for info

It’s comforting to know we get  more than one lifetime

Sometimes I forget who I’m talking to. I was in the yard and a neighbor stopped to chat. She explained her head scarf was because she was losing her hair from chemo. I said “Modern medicine is amazing.” She said her prospects were not good. I said, “Then it’s great we have more than just one life, so when one body wears out we get another and another, lifetime after lifetime.” She stared at me and asked, “Where on earth did you get such an idea?” “Oh, it’s the only thing that makes sense.” I said. “It gets interesting when we wake up and realize that we are all part of something bigger and we all get never-ending lifetimes to do it all in. Think about it.”

In the work I do, my experience is we exist in our consciousness — in our mind — which is why “we” don’t die when the body and brain dies. “We” don’t have to have a body in order to exist and be productive. CAN YOU DIG IT? Would God intervene to prevent the caterpillar from becoming a butterfly, a tadpole from becoming a frog? Would He stop an acorn from tearing apart in order to grow into an oak?

The surface shell dies away, our essential self remains alert and conscious inside, ready to awaken into the next dream.

What would happen if God kept the little seeds intact so the Mother oak didn’t watch all her seeds split apart and crumble into mulch? We’d never see the glory of another oak.

We do not die, the body may drop but we awaken into a new day. “We” don’t have to have a body in order to exist and be productive. “We” exist apart from the body. Just as a favorite shirt becomes tattered and worn and finally wears out and we have to discard it, just so we discard this body when it’s time, and we wake up into a new day.

A call to Lightworkers to hold the vision of the political candidates’ awakening

In this election season and in particular today where mass consciousness emotions are high, I am calling out to Lightworkers and Vision Keepers to tap into that emotion and channel it in a positive direction. I’m asking you to hold the vision with me of awakened, compassionate candidates in the race. If you feel someone dangerous is on the rise to political power, pray for his awakening and know that when many minds are gathered together with vision in prayer, miracles happen. It’s been said that when just 1% of the population meditates upon peace and lovingkindness, the effect spreads to the other 99% – and it works even if they don’t believe it. Here’s how we can help.

I know my centered-ness, my vision and my hopeful expectation can hold the space for others around me to tune into. My experience is if even one focused person can contemplate the scene and have faith in a successful outcome, that can entrain the consciousness of everyone, whether they are aware of it or not.

We can help bring that about by how we look at each candidate, how we perceive them, how we perceive what they are doing and how we perceive what grand good they may be capable of.  And I mean how we perceive not their physical, personality self, but how we perceive each at his/her essence. How we perceive each candidate separate from the overlay of any past history, hateful rhetoric and mean spirited jabs.

Why hold a vision of an awakened, compassionate Trump, for instance?  Because he’s getting into politics and he has the means to make things happen. Yes, right now they are self-serving, mean and unconscionably hateful things but if this man becomes powerful on the political scene, just imagine the amount of good he could do if he had a change of heart?

That’s why lightworkers and visionkeepers can hold a vision of his having an awakening, a compassionate softening of his heart due to new understanding dawning in him. If he’s on the rise to political power, pray for his awakening and know that when many minds are gathered together with vision in prayer, miracles happen.

It does not matter what is going on in the rest of the world, we can chose to focus our thoughts and discipline our behaviors so much that we can have an excellent and prosperous life no matter who is in office, no matter what the official state of the economy, no matter what the scientists or environmentalists say is happening around us.

BECOME A VISION KEEPER WITH US?

Enjoy our offering this month.

Hari Om.

The Hopeful Palm of Trump

Hello and welcome to the April 2016 edition of Horizons Magazine. You know, it does not matter what’s going on in the rest of the world, we can chose to focus our thoughts in a way that attracts to us exactly what we want in our lives. We can change our thoughts and discipline our behaviors so much that we can have an excellent and prosperous life no matter who is in office, no matter what the official state of the economy, no matter what the scientists or environmentalists say is happening around us.

Am I moving out of the country if Trump is elected? No, because I have the power!

Move out of the country? This kind of made me giggle. There’s no reason to give anyone that much power over me and my happiness. As far as I can see, nothing will change with me and my happy life no matter who’s in office. If for some reason I’m unable to do what I now do for income, I’ll find something else to do. If for some reason I can no longer live where I’m living, I’ll find somewhere else to live. I don’t need to know ahead of time HOW these things are going to come about. I just need to have the expectation and belief they will.

I have faith everything will work out since that’s always been my experience. My desire to thrive in whatever condition I find myself in taps me in to my intuition and moves me forward toward solutions. I’m always on the lookout for solutions and fun ways of being and guess what? I always find them because I know I’ve got the power. The power to focus on what needs to be done in the moment and the power to stick with it until it’s done. And the power to choose to love it (or at least find harmony with it) at every stage along the way, no matter who is elected.

Palmistry: The Hopeful Thumb of Donald Trump

Look at those hands, are they small hands?” Yes, they look like small hands to me, but this isn’t about that. Small hands, short fingers, we know hand size/penis size doesn’t always match but how about the palmistry of Trump? If he’s a contender, for office, it’s good know what we’re working with and believe it or not, there’s hope.  Those with small hands tend to think big and delegate. While his stiff hand shows a rigid personality, of note to me is that Trump has the flexible thumb. That means he can be flexible and he can flip flop, but I feel that bodes well for him being flexible if he makes it into public office. The flexible thumb is a good indicator of readiness to accept and adapt to challenges and fluctuations in life. Although currently mis-guided, he’s a very passionate and driven individual and it’s possible his passion and vision can be harnessed and channelled to do good. Help me hold that vision?

On April 20, 2016, the planet Uranus moves into his 9th house of philosophy — the search for meaning. It may very well be that Trump will have an awakening and a change of heart and mind to see that compassionate and inclusive changes take place. It may very well be that an awakened Donald Trump is not the scary monster that he appears to be now.  I say this so we can stop fearing him and turn our thoughts to the best possible “what if” and pre-pave that instead. I’ll bet with group effort, whether you call it visualization, spellcasting or prayer, we can pre-pave an awakening in consciousness for Trump.

Remember to only wish for him what you wish for us all.

During Uranus through the 9th house, lasting about 7 years, one may experience a transformation in matters relating to goals, religious beliefs and personal philosophy. There may be radical and unexpected changes. New insights are stimulated. This is a period of great and thorough revolution in understanding. If the worst case scenario happens, I’m still hopeful. Hey, silver linings, right? I ask you to hold the vision with me of an awakened, compassionate Trump. We can help bring that about by how we look at him, how we perceive him, how we perceive what he’s doing and how we perceive what grand good he may be capable of.

Why hold a vision of an awakened, compassionate Trump? Because he’s getting into politics and he has the means to make things happen. Yes, right now they are self-serving, mean and unconscionably hateful things but if this man becomes powerful on the political scene, just imagine the amount of good he could do if he had a change of heart? That’s why lightworkers and visionkeepers can hold a vision of his having an awakening, a compassionate softening of his heart due to new understanding dawning in him. If he’s on the rise to political power, pray for his awakening and know that when many minds are gathered together with vision in prayer, miracles happen.

A friend asked why I’m not freaked about the election. Easy, I don’t watch the news. I pay attention to what’s in front of me right now in my own life. A lot of stuff freaks us out when we believe we only have one life to get it right or get it done.

I guess I figure everyone who reads my pages is into some kind of personal development or self improvement path, whether they count it as a spiritual practice or not. Or they at least understand the concept of being on a personal path. I figure we on some level all vibe the same or we wouldn’t know of each other. So I figure like me, most have a daily practice of introspection about why I do and say and act and react as I do, especially if something riles me. I figure like me, most have a daily practice of meditation or contemplation or quiet time to have thoughts bubble up and to process and disburse them. Maybe it’s just saying nightly prayers and morning gratitudes.

And if they do not have a daily practice, then our readers at least understand on some level the concept what it is to have a personal daily practice. I know a lot of people “aren’t into it” but I figure whoever reads Horizons or my blog or Facebook page  is either into it or gets it. I’ve got a pretty easy and drama free life so there are no ongoing challenges. But I certainly go through my unconscious times where I am critical or feel the need to shame someone when they fail to meet my expectations. Evolution is that more and more I catch myself and do better the next time. That’s why they call it practice.

How do you live in the same house and attract a different experience than your roomie?

It’s not so much what we’re DOING that determines what we attract, it’s what WE THINK ABOUT what we’re doing.   Maybe he listens to tv news and worries about the economy. Maybe you garden and build birdhouses and walk the dog. Maybe he’s worried he might lose his job, go bald, have a heart attack. Maybe you wonder what to cook for dinner. Maybe you remember it somehow all works out. It’s not so much what we’re doing that determines what we attract, it’s WHAT WE THINK ABOUT what we’re doing, WHAT WE THINK ABOUT  the life we’re living.

Learn to say No

It’s hard to say no but you have to learn to do it, for your own sanity. A friend is feeling overwhelmed with family responsibilities. She feels everyone is grabbing at her and not giving her a moment to breathe. She feels she is obligated to be the caretaker, the bank, the therapist. I’ve been there and learned that I do a disservice to loved ones when I agree to take on something I am not qualified to take on. I have no sense of guilt or shame about turning down someone’s request if I know it is not in the best interest of either of us. I asked her if the money did not matter, would she say yes? I asked her if the money did not matter, would her loved one be even talking to her? I am not saying do not help those who ask, her situation has been long standing for years with several family members taking serious advantage of her. She is not the type to speak up mostly because she is made to feel guilty and ashamed for “not helping enough.” It has drained her physically so that she now has several chronic ailments. It has drained her emotionally and mentally so she can no longer hold a job.

Sometimes I don’t want anyone tugging, needing, pulling, poking, asking, manipulating, knudging, interrupting, expecting, demanding, obligating, wondering, invading, silencing, questioning, bothering, engaging, or even embracing me. I don’t get to that place often but when I do, I know I need to detach and allow myself the absolute silence and peaceful solitude necessary to become balanced once again. Sometimes it feels selfish but I know that it is necessary for me to be me at my best. You must learn to say no, your life depends upon it.

Keep an eye out for the dollars

Here’s a fun way to exercise your creative visualization. Found money is one way the Universe likes to surprise us when we’re in the flow. Look at the bills in the image. See them

against the white background.

1. Now see them on the floor in your closet.
2. Now see them in the pocket of a coat.
3. Now see them under the socks in your dresser.
4. Now see them in that secret side pocket in your wallet,

or in the glove compartment.

5. See them on the floor of your garage.
6. See them on the side of the roadway on your morning walk.
7. See them on the floor at the grocery and on the ground at the gas station.

Keep an eye out for them. Give it a few days. Report back where it showed up. You can also do this with a lost object. Imagine seeing it in a few different settings, then begin searching then staying on lookout for it. We find what we seek. Enjoy our offering this month.

Hari Om.

Hello and welcome to the March 2016 Horizons Magazine. Final layout took me a little longer this month because I am resting my right arm and doing everything with the left. I’ve been foregoing a lot of daily chores such as cleaning, cooking. Basically anything not related to getting the magazine out was set aside for two weeks. After layout, I did a little bit of vacuuming, a little bit of laundry, ran the dishwasher, stripped the beds, and I did it in stages so it didn’t feel like I was doing too much all at once. So I was back and forth from the computer to cleaning all day long. I finally fell asleep crashed in the recliner and I awoke two hours later to go into bed. When I turned the light on, I was delighted to see the room was clean and straight. I’d forgotten I’d cleaned it, plus I’d even moved the bed so it was facing a new way! It took me a moment in my half sleep to get the pillows moved enough so I could get under the covers, but I fell sound asleep within moments. When I woke up, I was a little disoriented with the bed being turned around. As I began walking toward the bathroom I was actually walking toward a large full size mirror which reflected the entire room back to me. But I did not immediately recognize it as a mirror, it just looked as though I was walking into another room. A room that I could not see where the bathroom door was.

Thankfully, there was someone walking toward me so I could ask her where the bathroom door was. Except what was somebody doing in my bedroom at 4:00 a.m.? She kind of looked like my mom except she was way too tall and her hair was white instead of black. She didn’t look any more awake than I felt. Then I noticed she had one of my night shirts on. Then I thought I was waking in a lucid dream because I recognized her as being me. What I didn’t recognize was that I was facing the wrong way and walking toward the mirror which I probably would have walked into if I hadn’t tripped over Benny the Cat on the rug at my feet. It made me wonder how many other parts of my life am I half sleep walking around, gathering incorrect impressions and then basing future thoughts, ideas and plans around these incorrect perceptions? Often I am no less asleeps in my waking life than I am when I’m slumbering.

SOMETIMES I REALLY DIG A QUICKIE
I haven’t had time to formally schedule everyone who wants an appointment, so I’ve been having fun with Facebook friends doing some rapid fire one card tarot readings. I ask them to give me a number between 1 and 3 and think of a situation in their life right now. I shuffle the cards and choose their number card and give a one card tarot interpretation. The Universe always knows who needs to hear what, although I may not know that. I can get so much from one card if I look deeply into it. I asked them to give
feedback if they found their reading relevant. I got excellent feedback, here is some of it:

I wanted to thank you again. Your reading LITERALLY touched on every question I have in life right now, AND confirmed what I KNEW was the main source of my loss in positive energy. It’s doing wonders for me – in less than 24 hours!!! Thank you for spreading your gift to many that may have not been able to seek guidance otherwise.

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!! The reading you just did for me was SO on point that I’m afraid people that are too close to me will see it if I respond saying how on point it is!

Thank you Andrea! i received WAY more than expected!
It is very good, describes my situation with my father.
Best spontaneous reading I have had. I’m feeling connected.

The Universe most certainly spoke to me ..thank you for being there for the conversation.

Thank you so much ..everything here is exactly what needs to be heeded. I appreciate the help in refocusing priorities and staying strong of spirit and in Spirit .

Thank you, Andrea! I’ve been feeling nervous about the next step. This card is soothing! Many helpful insights.

If you’d like a quick one card reading, I’ll do it via email or Facebook for a donation of $10, see info at http://horizonsmagazine.com/sessions-with-andrea-2/ and Paypal to horizonsmagazine@aol.com. You’ll receive a 400-500 word detailed interpretation covering the areas of work, love, finances, health and spirituality.

HOW I CAN BE SO UNINTERESTED IN POLITICS

Friends ask how I can be so uninterested in politics and so calm in the face of what’s going on. I guess because I’m busy attending to “what’s going on” in my own life. I had a very vivid dream last month of Bernie Sanders being president. In the dream, I wondered how he made it beyond the primaries due to the nature of the electoral system. As I had that thought, a classroom chalkboard appeared where someone stood writing equations. The chalk board had at the top the words Common Core Math. I took that to mean that there would be something different about counting the votes during that election, like there would be a new way to figure it. Two weeks later, another dream. I don’t know what happened in Iowa and I don’t even know how the whole process works nor even the correct campaign/ caucus/ debate lingo. But I had the Bernie Sanders dream a second time where he was President. No one seemed outraged and mass chaos did not break out.

My experience is there’s something out there greater than I that has it all under control. We’re all free to choose what to believe. I believe in what I myself have experienced. My experience is that this (something) is responsive to me, has my well being in mind and is activated by my attention and by my intention. My experience is that my hopeful thoughts on behalf of friends and family somehow have a hand in impacting their experience. Some would say that’s God working through prayer. Some would say the Universe is responding to my intention and affirmations. Some would say it’s Destiny, that there’s no cause and effect to my actions.

I’m a scientific gal. I have to experience something myself numerous times before I believe there’s a cause and effect to what I do. Anything I can do, you can do. My most powerful tool is my focused intention. Focus is my hocus pocus. I’m good at that because I’ve trained myself through daily meditation. So, am I uninterested in politics because I think chanting OM will solve the problems of the world? No, but it will solve the problems in my mind, which is the only place my problems exist. As hopeless as any situation feels, it‘s really only our thoughts that we’re dealing with and we have the power to change those. When we look for evidence that everything is under control and that the world has unlimited resources, we find balance and our world becomes unlimited.

My world has loving family, happy friends and a cooperative spirit. When “problems” arise, we look for solutions, we look for people to help, we don’t judge, we don’t blame. Are we not still working through these things? Of course we are, sometimes in dramatic and chaotic ways. There’s no avoiding that. But what we work at most is remembering we are all in this together, doing what we can each day, in even small ways, to foster a feeling of inclusion and cooperation, to offer hope to everyone we meet. My experience is there’s something up there or out there greater than I that has it all under control. Call it whatever you want. My experience is that this Something is responsive to me, has my well being in mind and is activated by my attention and by my intention. My experience is that my hopeful thoughts on behalf of friends and family have a hand in improving their experience. That’s how I can be so uninterested in politics and so calm in the face of what’s going on. Because I’m busy attending to enjoying the unfolding in my own life.
Enjoy our offering this month.
Hari Om.

Hello and welcome to the February 2016 edition of Horizons Magazine.

Miracles are simply laws of nature that transcend our familiar band of perception. I’d been tripping with some wrist pain the last two months and after spending time in self care with it, I finally made an appointment with my acupuncturist and doctor of oriental medicine, Dr. David Rindge. After the first 30 minute laser light treatment, I was able to return to the office for several hours of using the mouse. For the last two months, mousing for hours has caused me wrist, arm and elbow pain. 24 hours after David’s laser treatment not only did I have no pain, a friend asked me how my arm was after treatment.  I showed him by picking up my guitar and holding it at arm’s length. I couldn’t hold a pencil like that before without pain. David healed my paws with laser after a car accident that caused trauma-induced carpal tunnel in 2000. Years later I developed trigger thumb on the right hand, painful for two weeks and he healed it in one session, never to return.

I usually don’t go to doctors unless it’s an emergency, even when they are a dear friend. But I know self care is very important.  Last month I made the decision to dedicate all of one afternoon to soothing my sore strained paws with massage, pranic healing, bongers, visualization and music therapy. I found I can listen to my favorite piano concertos and feel it moving through my nervous system like an elixir and healing my paws as it flows out my fingers. I’ve been using the headphones while sitting in front of the altar space, hands resting atop my knees. I envision myself inhaling the music in through my fingertips and exhaling the pain out my mouth. I knew it was just blocked energy, something I was holding onto that I was not yet aware of. That’s why I scheduled the emergency appointment to spend yesterday alone at the beach and figure out what I needed to “let go” of, what I needed to “release my grip” on.  I realized I needed to get the energy moving and figure out what I was metaphorically “keeping a grip on” that I needed to let go of. Yesterday I spent several hours at the beach, letting myself be drawn into the Now, which is where my power lies. Once there, I realized there are a few things I need to drop my involvement in. Once I made that decision, I felt very free.

And my hands were no longer throbbing. It’s nice to have a relief from that. The discomfort made me restless and bitchy. Just the acts of brushing hair and teeth, getting dressed, opening and closing doors, seat belt, steering wheel, the paws got exhausted and throbbing within minutes of getting up. Then I’d get restless and snippy. Mealtime has been a trip the past couple of weeks left handed. It’s been easier to pick meals up or heat a Lean Cuisine rather than prep, cook, clean.  On the upside, I lost 2 pounds without trying!

I over strained my hands/arms by over-use and over-scrolling. Giving them both a rest at the same time is a trip! I’ve been using the time for yoga, meditation, visualization, oh and binge watching The Girls on HBO. A gal’s gotta do that a gal’s gotta do.

One weekday I scheduled an adventure day, made more so by the unexpected rain. I seldom set out to spend a day at the beach but that was the day’s plan. Growing up in Florida, my beach gear typically stays in the car: blanket, towels, swim shoes, sunscreen, insect repellent, water. I added my beach chair and umbrella, small ice chest, tarot cards and Kindle Paperwhite. I made sure my phone was fully charged. I dressed in light colors for privacy, so I’d blend in. If I’m going to be incognito at the beach, I wear light colors rather than my traditional Johnny Cash black. Swap out my black hat for a natural straw one and I’m totally beige. I typically sit high on the dunes amidst the sea oats for privacy and less sea spray, but if I use the umbrella, I stick it in the sand nearer the shore. I keep the car prepared with everything, so if I want to run to the beach on a whim, I’ve got all my comforts with me.  I drove south on US 1 just as the sun was breaking through

My passenger window was foggy with dried salt spray from the day before, so I thought I’d manifest a sprinkler to drive past to clean it.  “There might be one up ahead,” I’d tell myself, just a little focus to attract it if it was to be.  No sprinklers. But soon, a drop of rain. Then another. Then a downpour out of nowhere. I knew it wouldn’t last long, maybe 5 minutes, and that’s about how long it lasted. A beautiful rainbow appeared to the north of me as I drove across the Wabasso causeway.

As I drove north on AIA, it was hard to tell at that time of day whether I was seeing fog or ocean spray but the air was thick with it and there was a light drizzle of rain off and on.  I checked out several of the beaches along AIA to decide where I wanted to be. I crossed the Sebastian Inlet. I laughed to recall a day in the mid 80’s a coworker and I’d called in sick to work and played at that beach all day. Our severe sunburns outed us to the boss the next day. Good times.

I found a perfect spot and settled in. It was drizzling rain on and off but I was dry under the umbrella. I knew to split if I saw lightning. The weather was a balmy 76 with very little wind. Sometimes the beach is so windy I feel beat up by it. Today was a nice balmy breeze.  There were only a few people and they were farther down the beach. No one in the water yet and no surfers.

I did some yoga as I checked out my surroundings. Stretching and breathing on the beach is a whole body/mind experience. I took the ocean spray as salt therapy for my muscles. I sustained more sports injuries this year than in the last 10 years due to basically lack of proper form and overworking certain muscles. I’m a yogi, I’m not used to aerobic or weight training but I’m learning. All injuries are now healed so I’ll be more careful in 2016.

A steady rain began about 30 minutes later, so I packed up and moved north until the sun was out and found another beach. I’m always surprised by how few people are at our beaches and today was no different, at least that early.  I settled in to a new spot, I was the only one as far as I could see.  I meditated. I contemplated the past year. I stretched and breathed in the ocean air. I watched seagulls and sand crabs and pelicans and clouds and waves.

I pondered the past year and felt it’d been satisfying and productive. I pondered what, if anything, I might want to do next year.  I realized I didn’t have many specifics. I want to wake up each day eager to get into fun happenings. I want to connect with friends and share love and ideas and good times. I want dollars to flow in whether I work for them or not. I want harmonious relationships. I want good health.

And I know how to get all these things. I know if I want to have a happy healthy life, then it’s up to me to look for that and encourage that.  If I want to be involved with happy people doing fun projects, I need to find those people and look for those projects.

I may think I have to look outside my own little realm to find happy people doing fun things. I may think the folks around me are pretty stupid or low consciousness or negative energy. If that’s so, then my job is to learn what it is in each individual that triggers me and why, to discover what they are here to teach me.  Once I learn those lessons, only then will I see there are happy people doing fun things around me right now. I couldn’t  see them before I learned that lesson. Now, my world has expanded as my perception expanded.

If I want dollars to flow in, I am the one who has to do what it takes to set that in motion. And it needs to be in motion whether I am nose to the grindstone for 40 hours a week or not. If I don’t know how to earn dollars, then my job is to learn what my skills and talents are, what my natural interests are. Who do I see doing something that looks like something I want to try? I’m the one who has to cheerlead myself on to go to a trade school maybe, learn something I never thought of doing. I’m the one who has to do whatever it takes to move my life ahead.

If I want to be healthy, I know what to eat and how much to exercise and how much sleep to get. It’s up to me to keep up with it to stay fit and vital my entire life. Look at Wayne Dyer – fit and vital well into his 80’s, died in a heartbeat, no long extended illness, no steady decline, just happy, healthy, happy, healthy, happy, healthy, dead.

That’s my goal as well. A long healthy happy life, however long it ends up to be.  If I was to die right now, I’ve had the happiest life ever and wouldn’t change a thing.

Enjoy our offering this month.

Hari Om.