What is that about?

The first thought that pops into my head is resistance. What am I resisting? The easy pat answer is “My Success.” That doesn’t feel right. What is coming in now is more about looking good to other people & thus feeling good about myself…

Is this working? Well, yes & no… Business is good so that is the positive side. I am beating myself up because I haven’t taken care of what I want to do for me. That is the negative.

Finding the balance is my current focus & it sure does feel goo working on my own stuff! Here is an example of the new logo for ConnectingPointe… See what you think…

Create a wonderful day where you find your balance… Tim

In centuries past, wassailers went from door to door, singing and drinking to the health of their neighbors. The concept actually harkens back to pre-Christian fertility rites — only in those ceremonies, villagers traveled through their fields and orchards in the middle of winter, singing and shouting to drive away any spirits that might inhibit the growth of future crops. As part of this, they poured wine and cider on the ground to encourage fertility in the crops.

Eventually, this evolved into the idea of Christmas caroling, which became popular during the Victorian era, and is still seen today in many areas. If you think your family or friends might enjoy starting up a new, musical tradition, why not gather them together to go out a-wassailing for Yule? The following are traditional, secular wassailing songs which were performed back as early as the days of King Henry VIII. Although some are Christian in background and make references to “God” in their original form, I’ve made Pagan-friendly substitutions in some places. You can always change these to accommodate a particular deity of your tradition.

After you get home from your night of singing, relax by your fire with a pot of spiced wassail.

Wassail was originally a word that meant to greet or salute someone — groups would go out wassailing on cold evenings, and when they approached a door would be offered a mug of warm cider or ale. Over the years, the tradition evolved to include mixing eggs with alcohol and aspersing the crops to ensure fertility. While this recipe doesn’t include eggs, it sure is good, and it makes your house smell beautiful for Yule!

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours
Total Time: 3 hours, 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 Gallon apple cider
• 2 C. cranberry juice
• 1/2 C honey
• 1/2 C sugar
• 2 oranges
• Whole cloves
• 1 apple, peeled and diced
• Allspice
• Ginger
• Nutmeg
• 3 cinnamon sticks (or 3 Tbs. ground cinnamon)
• 1/2 C — 1 C brandy (optional)

 Preparation:

Set your crockpot to its lower setting, and pour apple cider, cranberry juice, honey and sugar in, mixing carefully. As it heats up, stir so that the honey and sugar dissolve. Stud the oranges with the cloves, and place in the pot (they’ll float). Add the diced apple. Add allspice, ginger and nutmeg to taste — usually a couple of tablespoons of each is plenty. Finally, snap the cinnamon sticks in half and add those as well.

Cover your pot and allow to simmer 2 — 4 hours on low heat. About half an hour prior to serving, add the brandy if you choose to use it.

 We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

 Dear Editor—

 I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

 Virginia O’Hanlon

 Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

 Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

 Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

 You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

 No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

 About the Exchange

 Francis P. Church’s editorial, “Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus” was an immediate sensation, and went on to became one of the most famous editorials ever written. It first appeared in the The New York Sun in 1897, almost a hundred years ago, and was reprinted annually until 1949 when the paper went out of business.

 Thirty-six years after her letter was printed, Virginia O’Hanlon recalled the events that prompted her letter:

 “Quite naturally I believed in Santa Claus, for he had never disappointed me. But when less fortunate little boys and girls said there wasn’t any Santa Claus, I was filled with doubts. I asked my father, and he was a little evasive on the subject.

 “It was a habit in our family that whenever any doubts came up as to how to pronounce a word or some question of historical fact was in doubt, we wrote to the Question and Answer column in The Sun. Father would always say, ‘If you see it in the The Sun, it’s so,’ and that settled the matter.

 “ ‘Well, I’m just going to write The Sun and find out the real truth,’ I said to father.

 “He said, ‘Go ahead, Virginia. I’m sure The Sun will give you the right answer, as it always does.’ ”

 And so Virginia sat down and wrote her parents’ favorite newspaper.

 Her letter found its way into the hands of a veteran editor, Francis P. Church. Son of a Baptist minister, Church had covered the Civil War for The New York Times and had worked on the The New York Sun for 20 years, more recently as an anonymous editorial writer. Church, a sardonic man, had for his personal motto, “Endeavour to clear your mind of cant.” When controversal subjects had to be tackled on the editorial page, especially those dealing with theology, the assignments were usually given to Church.

 Now, he had in his hands a little girl’s letter on a most controversial matter, and he was burdened with the responsibility of answering it.

“Is there a Santa Claus?” the childish scrawl in the letter asked. At once, Church knew that there was no avoiding the question. He must answer, and he must answer truthfully. An

d so he turned to his desk, and he began his reply which was to become one of the most

memorable editorials in newspaper history.

 Church married shortly after the editorial appeared. He died in April, 1906, leaving no children.

Virginia O’Hanlon went on to graduate from Hunter College with a Bachelor of Arts degree at age 21. The following year she received her Master’s from Columbia, and in 1912 she began teaching in the New York City school system, later becoming a principal. After 47 years, she retired as an educator. Throughout her life she received a steady stream of mail about her Santa Claus letter, and to each reply she attached an attractive printed copy of the Church editorial. Virginia O’Hanlon Douglas died on May 13, 1971, at the age of 81, in a nursing home in Valatie, N.Y.

I have spent the last 35 years in rediscovering the love of me and one of my greatest tools is my “Looking Good” belief system. Through this belief I keep discovering my unconscious beliefs that I have lived my life by that I made by the time I was 8 years old. Actually my 4th year was a big year for the forming of many of my beliefs. Unfortunately (or fortunately) many of these beliefs were no longer working for me.

On my path of rediscovery I am able to create new beliefs that are conscious ones to replace many of my unconscious ones that were not working. I am now enjoying my life journey and find that I am able to connect with the world around me from a loving place in my heart. Thank you “Looking Good.”

Have you had any experiences around this? I would love to hear about your experiences around Look’n Good…

‘Where Your Yesterday & Tomorrow Meet Your Today™’

I love working with my clients as I learn so much about me. This doesn’t matter if they are my coaching or web clients. I am learning about who I am around and where I am making different choices about my desire to LOOK GOOD!

What do I mean when I say LOOKING GOOD? In my experience and belief system, my need to look good is tied in with my fear of abandonment on a core level. This is tied in with my avoidance of confrontation at any coast. My developing a persona to “hide my true self” behind. I don’t love myself. How could anyone else love me? So I do my best to hide and become what I call the human chameleon. I could move in any circle of people any where in the world and completely disappear. I became an expert at becoming the invisible man in plain sight. I spent much of my life feeling like the protagonist of Herman Hesse’s Steppenwolf named Harry Haller.

Wikipedia does a wonderful Critical analysis:

“In the preface to the novel’s 1960 edition, Hesse wrote that Steppenwolf was “more often and more violently misunderstood” than any of his other books. Hesse felt that his readers focused only on the suffering and despair that are depicted in Harry Haller’s life, thereby missing the possibility of transcendence and healing.[2] This could be due to the fact that at that time Western readers were not familiar with Buddhist philosophy, and therefore missed the point when reading it, because the notion of a human being consisting of a myriad of fragments of different souls is in complete contradiction of Judeo-Christian theologies. Also in the novel, Pablo instructs Harry Haller to relinquish his personality at one point, or at least for the duration of his journey through the corridors of the Magic Theater. In order to do so Harry must learn to use laughter to overcome the tight grip of his personality, to literally laugh at his personality until it shatters into so many small pieces. This concept also ran counter to the egocentric Western culture.”

This skill of invisibility is not very conducive to creating relationships with other people or myself.

In my next blog I will talk about how I have created a whole new belief system out of these feelings of despair and separateness…

What are your thoughts and experiences around this?

I feel that this statement is the reason many of us stay in a life we are not particularly happy with. What would life be like without the emotional highs and lows of our drama? BORING!!!

At least that is a belief many of us have. What would our lives look like when we live in our strength and love. When we fill our lives with joy and laughter, as we come across the opportunities life gives us that we believe are obstacles. Are there no emotional highs or lows? Being happy all the time would get old… At least that is what our inner voice tells us. This would be a great time to read Don Miguel Ruiz’s books ‘The Four Agreements’ and ‘The Voice of Knowledge’ to get more information on how powerful that inner voice is in our lives.

Drama is like an overcoat that we have worn all our lives. We were given it at birth if not before. So what would life be like without our coat to protect us? Would we be exposed as the person we really are? Would anyone still like us? How could anyone else like us when we really don’t like ourselves?

Okay, let’s ask some slightly different questions. What kind of person do you admire? Who are you attracted to when you go to gatherings? As Tony Robbins once said, ‘You are the 5 people you spend the most time with.’ So, who do you spend the most time with?

These questions are not about being good or bad, right or wrong. These questions are great in supporting us to discover what our unconscious beliefs are on how to live our lives. Are you happy with your current choices? Are you truly living the life you want to be living?

If all the great teachers have been right down through the ages that we are all connected, let’s support each other in rediscovering our greatness and turn this planet around… NOW is the time…

‘Where Your Yesterday & Tomorrow Meet Your Today™’

©Ingka Charters

All diseases originates from within, and can only be healed from within. Medicine only facilitates healing but it does not heal. What matters is not the medicine, but rather how you think of it. All diseasethat manifests in the outer, physical body has arisen from within the conscious or subconscious mind. They are the effects of your thoughts and feelings.

Stress is the main cause of “dis-ease” which results in a lack of ease in the mind and body. If you experience stress in your consciousness with your thoughts and emotions, it will manifest in your physical body in some way. Worry causes stress. If you worry about your health, you will remain unhealthy and your health will worsen. You do not have to make yourself healthy because health is your natural state.

Your beliefs affect what your consciousness allows to manifest in your physical reality. If you believe you can “catch a disease” such as a cold, you will catch it. If you know that you cannot catch a cold or flu no matter where you go or who you are exposed to, then you never do. This understanding gives you the power to enter into any place that has the presence of disease without fear of contracting any of it because you know it can’t attach itself to you without your consciousness allowing it.

When you take a medicine with the mindset of “I have a disease and therefore I am taking this medicine for it”, the medicine reinforces the disease. When you take a medicine while thinking about the disease you are hoping to cure, you are attracting more of the same. But if you believe that taking the medicine will cure you, it will. This is how the placebo effect works. It is not the substance contained in the medicine that brings about the “cure”, but the belief that it will cure you.

The term given to this effect is “eucharist” which means saying grace. A eucharistic act is the act of eating or drinking something while associating it with a positive thought. The substance being eaten or drunk is of no importance, but a thought with a corresponding action serves to reinforce the thought and give it more power. That is why saying grace and giving thanks for the food that you eat actually causes it to have a positive effect upon your body.

When medicine is taken with unhealthy thoughts, the negative eucharistic effect reinforces and perpetuates the disease. You can avoid becoming ill in the first place by thinking only healthy thoughts, and thoughts conducive to remaining healthy. If you do contract a disease, know and think beyond all doubt that you are in perfect health and feel the positive emotions of joy, happiness and gratitude associated with it.

If you get a headache, or sneeze, or feel uncomfortable in any other way, do not think that you are falling sick or similar thoughts. Instead think about how well you feel, and do anything to keep your emotions and vibrations high. Sing or play your favorite song. Do something that makes you feel joyful. Diseases are low vibration and positive feelings of high vibration will repel them out of existence. Disease cannot exist in a body that is in a high emotional state.

A disease is an unrest. You need to put yourself in a state of rest for healing to occur. Stop doing things that take too much of your energy. Do something relaxing. Do something that allows energy to flow into you and not away from you. Give yourself plenty of rest and your body will recover much faster. More importantly, take your mind of things that are intense, but allow your mind to rest as well. Relax in what you are doing and enjoy it. You will find that it becomes relaxing instead of stressful.

Know, beyond all doubt that you are in perfect health, and that you have the power to remain in perfect health without the need to consume any artificially created cures. Your doctor will be amazed when you are no longer “ill” but are in perfect health. He will attribute it to the medicine or even a “miracle”, but you will know the truth. The truth is there is not one single ailment, illness or disease in existence that cannot be healed using the power of the Mind. Not one.

Everyone has an etheric field of energy that emanates from their physical bodies. It is also the health aura of their being. When their etheric field strength is low, it enables negative energy to enter and affect the physical body. Always be aware of how you are feeling because that is the strength of your etheric energy field. Never allow your emotions to be too low for too long. When you keep projecting a strong positive energy field, you are invulnerable to negative energetic attacks of sickness and disease.

When your consciousness and vibrations are stronger than your environment, you will find yourself affecting those around you instead of being affected by them. When you step into the presence of the sick and dying, instead of contracting their sickness, they will contract your energy of life and strength. They become healed by the mental atmosphere and positive energy that you are projecting.

From now on know only perfect health, and if you do think you are “going down with something”, immediately reject those thoughts, and affirm to yourself your perfect health, and know it is impossible to become “ill” and that will be your reality. Never think thoughts of disease, sickness or illness. In fact get those words out of your mind and don’t even use them as descriptions. Think only in terms of energy, vibrancy, strength, freedom and liveliness.

To Contact Heike email her at Heike Vargas

Have you ever felt like everything is blowing up in your face and there is no where to go. Just time to end it all. Don’t feel like you even have the courage to do that. Eternity in hell…

Once when I was feeling like that someone who was there with me made a great comment that supported me in turning my feelings and situation around…

“I’m so far down I can only go up!”

It was at this point that I realized what was holding me back was me. I was feeling so sorry for myself, I couldn’t ask for support. I was mirroring my lack of self~worth that I was feeling about myself on a very subconscious level. Once I realized that this situation was not forever, I could start to reach out and make some different decisions about who I am. I am amazed at how fast my life started to turn around. Not instantly as I hoped. By supporting and being in service to others that were so down like me, I started to come out of the depths of despair and life started to work for me.

I was able to ask for support as well and was willing to receive it. That was huge for me as I was never worth receiving support. I covered up my fear by pretending to be in control and strong. I shut people out and isolated myself. So in the process of despair I discovered me and started to love me. That has turned my life around.

I know it’s hard and if you are feeling completely discouraged this is a great place to look for support. I am here along with many friends who have also experienced this despair to support you in rediscovering you. This is the first step to allowing the abundance and love back into your life.

I would also love to hear your success stories.

‘Where Your Yesterday & Tomorrow Meet Your Today™’

When we are on social networks, we get contacted by many people who we have no clue who they are. How do you react to this situation? Do you open up and let these people into your life via the social network or do you close down? How does this show up in your personal life?

I find that this is a great mirror for us to see how we are around people in general. Someone who allows people into their social network space probably can go to parties and meet new people pretty easily. People who don’t, probably have a harder time meeting new people. There is no good or bad or right or wrong. Just an opportunity for us to see how we live our lives and then to make a choice if this is working or not working for us.

Personally, I love people and interacting with people so I am on the ‘bring in as many people as I can connect with’ side of the equation. This is the way I am in my personal life as well. I can meet new people and be comfortable with them right away. A statement I love and I don’t know where it came from is, ‘There are no strangers in my life, just people I haven’t met yet.’ That sums up my philosophy for life in a nutshell.

So are you comfortable with your choice on how you are living your life? Are you experiencing all of life’s experiences that you want to? Do you like to be comfortable? Do you like to have a little edge to your life?

I would love to hear your thoughts and comments on this. Most people I know are not happy with their social life and connection to others. Many of us lead very lonely and isolated lives. Would you like a different choice and just don’t know how?

‘Where Your Yesterday & Tomorrow Meet Your Today™’