Yearly Archives: 2009

8 Signs the Recession is Over

In Eight Signs The Recession Is Over, Peter Cohan writes: “I recently delivered a Webinar, Economic Outlook: U.S. and Key  Industries, and got asked a very interesting question — How will we know the recession is over?  With Thursday’s report that productivity grew 9.5 percent while the number of people added to the unemployment rolls hit 512,000 in the last week, the signals are not exactly clear.  But my answer to the question is that people can follow eight indicators to know whether we’re out of a recession. My best guess is that these indicators will not all flash a green light suddenly or at the same time. But if you follow these indicators over the next few months and monitor changes in them closely, you may get some meaningful signs of whether the recession is over. Continue reading

Gray Hair Cure Available in 10 Years; Aging Naturally

I read at Gray Hair Cure Available in 10 Years that acccording to L’Oreal, we could all be kissing our gray hairs adieu in a mere 10 years.  The beauty company is working on a breakthrough treatment geared towards ending gray hair for good. They expect it to consist of an oral element backed by a hair care range, and be available within 10 years, reported the Daily Mail. Hair gets its hue from melanocytes, pigment cells that give color to both the skin and the hair.  “When hair goes gray, there is a progressive disappearance of the melanocytes from the hair. While there are still melanocytes in the hair, there is still hope that it could be re-pigmented,” Patricia Pineau, L’Oreal Research Communications Director told the paper.  “Hair is an enigma,” she added. “It’s a fiber, a material with physical properties. It is also a living organ that grows, grays and falls out. How can we fight this? Do we need a physical approach or a biological approach?”  An oral program supplemented with a hair care program would do both, she said, targeting graying from both the inside and out. Continue reading

Movies: Mindwalk 1991 vs. What The Bleep 2004

Earlier this week, I came across the movie Mindwalk on Showtime. I thought it was funny how this came out in 1991 when so few were ready for the topic of quantum field theory. Yet a scant 13 years later in 2004, What The Bleep Do We Know?! was made and the public embraced it.  (Also see June 2021 Horizons featuring Betsy Chasse, co-creator of What The Bleep.)
Filmed entirely at
Mont Saint Michel, France, Mindwalk serves as an introduction to systems theory and systems thinking, with insights into modern physical theories such as quantum mechanics and particle physics.  Below is a synopsis of this excellent and thought provoking film. Continue reading

Demystifying the IRS: It Is What It Is

Yesterday I’d spent the morning getting my quarterly tax documents ready for my accountant.  While I was making photocopies on my all in one printer – you know how fast those are – I’d pop in to Facebook and update my status, telling my buddies what I was doing.  “I’m almost through the quarterly paperwork for my tax chick. Dang, I send the IRS a bunch of $$. I guess that’s a good thing though. Like it keeps me outa jail and stuff.”  I know if I’m paying taxes, that means I’m making money. I know taxes are a good thing.  I figure it’s like their tip for letting me eat. A friend wrote that it was more like the advanced version of the playground bully shaking the other kids down for lunch money. I laughed “Yes, we pay and they let us live.”  I got the usual comments about how the IRS and the government are doing all sorts of shady stuff, but I’m glad to pay taxes in a country that lets me live in freedom.  Continue reading

15 Simple Steps To Reboot A Sluggish System

As I go about my yard hand watering all the plants and trees, I note the bamboo grows several feet in a day sometimes.  “Ouch,” you might be thinking, “that sounds painful.” Well, we’ve all been feeling growing pangs lately, haven’t we? All around me I hear people talking about how time is speeding up. I believe it’s not that time is speeding up, it’s just that whoever thinks it is, is merely experiencing the quickening that is the psychological component of the evolution of their own consciousness.  Some of us integrate knowledge by talking among friends about our new ideas. Some find writing and journaling helpful, and others meditate on new ideas to come to greater understanding. I always find my life runs smoothest when I follow a disciplined daily practice. By doing a mental review each evening, I consider my day and take note of any changes I might wanna make in the future. I give some thought as to how I’d like the next day to go. By sitting for meditation first thing in the morning, I feel more prepared for the day since I’m beginning from a centered and peaceful place.  The last few years, I’ve been coming to greater awareness about nutrition and how the body works. Finding that when I take a break from old eating habits and even fast for a few days, it’s like rebooting the computer: lots of the errors just seem to correct themselves, as long as I remember when things are going “badly,” that it’s time to reboot. Continue reading

What Does Everyone Worry About?

The other day I asked on Facebook: What does everyone worry about? Two hours later no one had posted any comments, so I posted:

I see everyone is worried that someone will judge them for commenting here 🙂 OK, I’ll start, I WORRY that despite my best efforts, I don’t do enough. I worry that I’ll never make time for a personal life. I worry that I’m just complaining about stuff I may not actually want to change.

One friend wrote: I worry about the same things.. am I doing enough? What blocks do I put in my own way I’m blind to? I worry that my need for controlling the “bad” stuff in life consumes me in moments and blinds me from joy(like my son being not so well in moments and leaving to go to Kuwait) I worry that I am not a good enough friend and that I am not extending love when I can to help ease a burden. I worry that I complain to much and don’t recognize the blessings I have and the people in my life who are a blessing to me. Continue reading

When Relationships Change

I was talking with friends, a long ago ex-boyfriend and his wife of a dozen years. She and I joked that when she was done with him, I get him back. He said “There’s not enough therapy in the world for that to happen.” Ah, memories…  A friend wrote on Facebook: “The end of a marriage is no more a failure than the end of college is a failure.” I agree. I’m friends with all my exes. You just have to morph the relationship into a new shape is all.

I’ve been married five times.  Yup, 5.  And so you don’t think I’m a complete loser, three of them died; and no, it wasn’t the mushrooms 🙂  All my ex boyfriends and the husbands, we had pretty amiable breakups and remained friends.  I learned early on that when my ex has a new mate, she’s not my competition, she’s my sister if I am to remain friends with him.  I am not the other woman.  I am not the ex-girlfriend.  I am not his friend.  I am the friend of both of them as a couple. Continue reading

When Former Devotees Expose Fraudulent Gurus: John-Roger, Werner Erhard, Carlos Castaneda

I just re-read a favorite book by Peter McWilliams entitled Life 102: What to Do When Your Guru Sues You. The introduction is entitled What does a rampaging guru have to do with you? McWilliams got taken by John-Roger, a self proclaimed guru known for abusing his power. It’s a fun and enlightening read, as are all of McWilliams’ books. Life 102 is not simply an expose’ of misrepresentation, scandal and fraud relative to one man, one incident.  The book goes into the intricacies of the programming aspect of indoctrination in organizations that purport to be self help but are instead cash cows.  The book is particularly relevant in light of the James Arthur Ray incident. I literally stayed up overnight reading it, although I did skip over the dialogue of John-Roger’s harrassing phone calls and hateful notes to naysayers, and skipped over the legal findings of specific criminal acts.  Essentially, the story began when John-Roger, a self proclaimed all knowing ascended guru, told Peter McWilliams that he could see in his aura that McWilliams had AIDS and tuberculosis and that he was going to die in 9 months.  BUT, if McWilliams put Roger’s name as co-author on some books and shared profits with him, Roger would heal his illness for him.  McWilliams was under his spell from 1978 until 1994, at which time he was medically treated for depression.  As his depression lifted, he began to see what others had been telling him about John-Roger, and he began to break ties.  Roger retaliated, as he always did, and it is all documented in the book. Continue reading

Why doesn’t Law of Attraction always work? How do I really do it? Why two versions of The Secret?

There’s still confusion over the 2 versions of The Secret DVD. I wrote in my Horizons Magazine blog post Why Does “The Secret” No Longer Contain The Secret? The Abraham-Hicks Back Story that the original version that contains Abraham-Hicks is the one with clear information on law of attraction, the least rhetoric and hyperbole.  With new attention on James Ray and his connection to The Secret, I see a lot of comments and discussion online by people who have only seen the extended, revised version of the DVD, and not the original one with Esther HicksThey still haven’t learned “The Secret” because the revised (they call it the EXTENDED version) DVD removed Abraham-Hicks, who were the only ones who actually explained law of attraction so it could be easily understood.  The same with Rhonda Byrne’s book The Secret, which came later.  The revised version is like being fed a beef soup minus the beef.  It might be good, but you can’t call it beef soup if you leave out the cow.

Hear Esther Hicks on Oprah here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E1hZMZWJNY explaining in her own words  Continue reading