Thursday, December 15 JF took me to Stewart Park again today; a bit over fifty degrees, unseasonably warm for Ithaca. Saw many seagulls huddled on a pile of driftwood twenty or so feet from shore, the hills hazy and blue in the distance… Diana wrote. She still has a few pages to do, end pages, the author page, the Table of Contents – but the covers and spine are done.

Monday, December 19 An e-mail from my friend Patrice: “This morning, as I was waking up, I was thinking about people and Christmas and I noticed that I had been smelling a fragrance, (not typical for my house or bedroom), for about 5 minutes. It was very similar to the scent I smelled in your kitchen, but lighter and not quite as sweet. I continued to smell it, and I sniffed at everything around me, thinking it might be a lingering laundry scent (but I use unscented soap), or whatever. Nothing had this scent, and I continued to smell the fragrance. Then it gently dissipated after another 5 minutes or so.” She then went on to say that she had an unexpected phone call right after this newest experience of supernatural fragrances, with very good news. I immediately wrote back: “It sounds like Our Lady to me.” Wednesday, December 21 More e-mails and questions from my student in Trinidad. Today I finally found time to answer him.

In response to his last e-mail I began with: “First: see all your recent struggles and joys in your relationships as ego, and then they will become a part of your spiritual practice.” In his last e-mail, he had asked me: “So, you never become conscious of mankind as though they are yourself?!” We had been discussing quotes by Paul Brunton, where Brunton stated that we never lose our individuality. This concept of Oneness yet individuality can be intellectually difficult to grasp. I responded: “Of course, the mystical is difficult to describe, find words for – and the mystical experiences are – well, mystical. No, I still knew who I was – although, yes I felt “united” with all of humanity in a larger sense; I felt a part of humanity as though we were all one, but still I retained my own identity and sense of Self. In the Highest Mystical Experiences – there are no other beings.

We are standing in two Flames, that of our own soul and that of God. In the lesser mystical experiences we can experience a sympathetic unity with all other sentient beings. Let me explain further, give a specific example … One afternoon I was alone in the Church, kneeling before Christ’s statue. I now cannot remember all I was thinking, but I do remember that at one point I was apologizing for all that I had done to offend God. Suddenly I was thrown into a Higher Consciousness, and at that moment I realized that in some way I was also responsible for all the horrid things done throughout history, by all sentient beings – because in some way humanity is one Entity. I cannot explain this, nor how I Knew it, but there it was – and I could indistinctly see all the teeming masses of humanity surrounding me, humanity throughout time as we know it. And I began to cry. And the more I cried, for all of us, for all that we all had done to offend God – the more Love I felt surrounding and filling me…

I was kneeling in a Cloud of Love. And even though I was crying in my deep grief for all humanity, for myself, for all our various errors and offenses – it was no longer grief, even though it was the deepest sadness I had ever felt. The Love surrounding and filling me more or less erased the profound sadness. In fact, my memory is more of the Love than the Grief. And this experience is way above and beyond my usual, every day clairsentience or clairaudience or clairvoyance … Yet even so; throughout this experience, I always knew who I was, who I am.” Friday, December 30 An e-mail from Diana. She is still working on the Table of Contents, on the alignments, or spacing. She reminded me that after she had initially designed the Table of Contents, I had then added on a few new stories. “It threw my spacing off, which was already tight despite the fact that the Table of Contents takes up a whopping six pages.” She ended with: “Think of it as a very fine surgery.” M.

is out-of-town for two weeks, and tonight I had dinner with Sam and Martha. Sam and I decided to begin a new series of articles on Paul Brunton quotes. Saturday, December 31 New Year’s Eve Another surprisingly warm day for Ithaca at this time of year, over fifty degrees; sunny. JF took me to do some needed errands; we walked a bit outside, in spite of my injured ankle. Went to Mass with Laurel, the lit Christmas trees still surrounding the altar, a small field of poinsettias. Met Chris briefly afterwards. Then dinner with Kathy, had a simple yet enjoyable meal. We exhausted all possible topics of conversation and she eventually brought me back home. An e-mail from Diana: she is still working on the Table of Contents. As the clock struck midnight, I was praying to Our Lady, for Her Intentions, bathed in Radiant Light and Peace… Now I am reminded of many years ago, when I was hands-on healing Carolyn’s injured back. At one point she said; “I wish everyone could feel this Energy.” And what Carolyn was feeling that evening could be nothing compared to what I was feeling tonight… it was as though Our Lady had thrown a soft blanket of deep, Divinely Burning Love and Light over and around me – while at the same time standing within me, in all Her unearthly Radiance…

Objectivism is a philosophy founded by novelist, Ayn Rand. It is both widely praised and criticized, vastly bend and twisted. Its basic concepts, however, remain just and clear in terms of existence, reason, love, religion, and politics. Existence Objectivism is based on conscious reality. “I exist, therefore I am,” is a line of horse manure. Some people are unconscious in a vegetative state- they cannot think, yet they exist.

Existence exists, and we are conscious of it. We perceive that which exists. Furthermore, a human exists because of her or his choice to live and to make this choice he must hold three ruling values in their life: Reason: Our singular knowledge, and how we acquire knowledge. Purpose: Her or his choice of happiness, reason for existing. Self-Esteem: Belief that he or she as a thinking person is worthy of life. Reason From an objectivist point of view, one should not give love to an undeserving being nor ask for love undeserving to one’s self. A person’s own life, and own happiness is the ultimate goal.

Objectivism believes one should do what is in their own rational self-interest, in any situation whether it be work, leisure, relationships, or education. What is implied by rational is within means; you’re not doing to go murder, rob or rape someone because you would benefit for harming another. Self-sacrificing values are tools in which one uses, in which to prove his or herself. No action goes without a selfish goal, and if indeed a person chooses to conduct a selfless action, which in turn puts them in an undesirable state, (if one’s sacrifice leaves them shorthanded) then that action is immoral and irrational. For example: If your friend needs a kidney and you want to be the donor, you are doing so because you selfishly care about that other person’s existence- you want your friend to be healthy and living so that they may stay in your life. On the flipside, if it is a stranger who needs one of your kidneys, the danger of undergoing an operation and putting yourself at risk may not prove to be beneficial, unless the thought of knowing a stranger is walking around with your kidney will better you. What if this is the case and selflessness is indeed a desirable state for a person?

What if the comfortable norm for a being is to indeed feel satisfied at being short-handed in turn for the comfort of another? Does that mean that this person is lacking something? I would theorize that an objectivist’s argument would argue that any person under this circumstance is actually working off of selfish action to obtain a subconsciously desirable state. Love This view of relationships on a friend level helps us understand the objective view of love: Love is selfish. In her book, The Fountainhead, Rand states, “To say ‘I love you,’ one must first know how to say the ‘I.’” (p. 388, paperback edition.) In objectivism, we learn that love is a value we obtain from others. “In giving love, we are responding to our own values realized and made beautiful by another person. In receiving love, we receive a kind of reward for the virtues, habits, and qualities we have cultivated in our own characters… love is actually our response to those few people we meet towards whom we feel the highest respect, admiration, and attraction.” Love is not blind nor is it deaf or dumb.

We fall in love for specific reasons, we do not place the value of another’s life over our own unless we see their life as an equal to our own an essentially see another’s strengths and virtues in equality as well. Modern-day society seems to contend that love is supposed to fall into our laps as if out of some strange fairy tale we’ve become akin to as children, but in fact, true love, true partnership (such as in Rand’s terms) are often compared to a business deal. We would die for our lover because our own life would be unbearable without them. Rand argues that there are truly not many of us worthy of love, for not many of us have obtained nor striven for life in all of its limitlessness. Politics An objectivist society calls for limited government of three main functions: police, court, and military. Individual rights are protected, man is protected against direct (ex. murder) and indirect force (ex.

fraud) and there are no “victimless crimes.” “Understanding is not produced by a punch in the face; intellectual clarity does not flow from the muzzle of a gun; the weighing of evidence is not mediated by spasms of terror. The mind is a cognitive faculty; it cannot achieve knowledge or conviction apart from or against its perception of reality; it cannot be forced.” -Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal. Any self-destructive act such as drinking or doing drugs is a lifestyle of one’s own personal choice and should not be altered with against one’s will. Objectivism promotes Laissez-faire capitalism: the system as a free and voluntary exchange of goods and condemns welfare as a furrowed leaf of a socialistic society. Religion Faith is not based on evidence and therefore is irrational. The belief in the supernatural is not upheld in an objectivist point of view, which holds reason as an absolute. Reality is of the senses and thus to be a religious being would contradict this view of rational reality. Through the years, objectivism has been both upheld and praised, and put down and criticized. It is said to fail The Prisoners Dilemma and reject negatives… but this is not to say that it does not have very positive attributes which are applicable in society today. These things make objectivism worth examining on both moral and political standpoints.

Thursday, November 24 We went to our friends’ house in the country for Thanksgiving dinner tonight; a big, rambling old wooden house with porches and gables stuck on here and there, painted white, surrounded by woods. The only lights were from inside the house as we drove up; no lamp lights on that humble road. We were late and they had already started eating dinner, probably thirty or forty people, all seated at a long thin table stretching across the narrow living/dining room.

We could see them through the windows as we walked up to the house… Wood everywhere: the floors, the staircase, the moldings. An old-fashioned kitchen with cedar cabinets. The guests were mainly people we did not know, nor did they seem to know each other: Chinese Cornell students, a young Cornell professor and his wife and sister; artists from Ithaca; a fellow from Trinidad; a German fellow and his wife; I barely met half of them, but more enjoyed watching and listening to the din of happy voices in many accents and intonations and inflections settling around me. It was a feast, dishes piled high with all sorts of foods and desserts, homemade pies, wines, nuts, homemade bread. At the end the fellow from Trinidad stood up and announced it was the best Thanksgiving he had ever experienced, and asked us all to applaud our hosts – which we did.

When I returned home, an e-mail from Diana: She has begun work on the book covers. Tuesday, November 29 Over sixty degrees again today – which is very unusual for Ithaca in late November. Jf and I went to the post office and then to Stewart Park. The ducks were milling around in the water near the shore, and calling to each other – here and there a duck flew in from a great distance to join them. My feeling was that they would be leaving Ithaca today.

Generally when the birds all clump together and call each other in that way, it means they are ready to change locales for the winter. About a hundred geese were collected together on one of the lawns near the shore. Some e-mails from Diana when I arrived home – She has been working steadily on the front cover of We Meet in Dreams. She is not entirely happy with the idea I gave her to work with for the cover: A farmhouse under a starry sky, with a few trees. For one, the trees are taking forever for her to outline in Photoshop; for another she feels the cover design does not contain any archetype related to dreaming. In response, I took some photos of doors and windows tonight; my thought being that she could superimpose one of the images on the night sky, on an angle possibly, fading into the sky – and the starry sky seen through the superimposed window. Sent them off to Diana. She wrote back that she was almost finished with the cover and asked me not to send anymore photographs.

Possibly she can use one of the images for the back cover. The idea of this book is that these special dreams that I discuss in the book are windows or doorways into other realms… Wednesday, November 30 Diana e-mailed me some experimental front covers today: We had started with the idea of a house, a tree or two – and the night sky. Diana took photographs of houses and trees while she was here in Ithaca, and her first cover attempt was of two farmhouses and a few trees under a night sky. In her second version she had added nearly transparent faces of two people turned towards each other, superimposed on the night sky, above the farm houses – which I very much like. One person is speaking, the other listening; looking at the cover again, the angles of the faces and the angles of the houses mirror each other, creating an invisible x that connects them all… I am not sure she thought this through consciously, I think I will ask her if she planned it. The addition of the superimposed faces truly brings meaning to the cover, reflects the message of the book…

Wrote her back and told her how pleased I was with her ideas for the cover. Diana wants to subtract some of the meadow and add more sky, but I am encouraging her to leave the visual proportions the way they are. The wildflowers in the meadow look somewhat like stars, something she had not consciously been aware of or planned – I, of course, was delighted. Interestingly enough, the colors and tints she chose for the cover were the same as those I had inwardly imagined, pictured. The same happened with the cover of Visits With Angels. Either Diana is reading my mind, or my clairvoyance is showing me the covers before she creates them. Fortunately for me, Diana is at peace with the cover design now that she has added the two dreamers. Thursday, December 1 A beautiful, sunny day; leaves scurrying everywhere. JF and I did some errands, and when I returned home there was an e-mail from Diana: “Very interesting about the houses and faces mirroring their houses, making an “x” directional line as you said. I was operating on instinct. When I first placed the faces, they were flipped – in other words, the face on the left was on the right – but it didn’t look balanced to me so I changed their positions. My feeling was that the full face (on the left) needed to face in the direction that the book cover opens. As soon as I shifted the position, it looked balanced.” I was not surprised that her arrangement of the houses and faces was instinctual – true creativity most often is spontaneous, unthought. What was curious to me is that when I first studied the cover, I knew she had reversed the images… Diana is now giving some thought to the design for the back cover; she also mentioned possibly making subtle changes and improvements to the front cover. I am immensely pleased with what she has accomplished. As far as I am concerned – the front cover is finished. Now we have to write the blurb for the back cover. Sent her a few ideas. Wednesday, December 6 The blurb for the back of the book is coming along nicely. Diana sent me three paragraphs and I made some changes and sent it back to her. I still need to think about it further. Earlier today I went to Buzzle’s website, and the poll results for the Journal entry on the supernatural fragrances (November 8-16, 2011) was deeply touching. Actually, I do not really have words for what I am feeling. My awe and Gratitude to Our Lady and the other Divine Beings who sent the fragrances – are beyond words. As of today, over 2,000 people have read the Journal entry. Seventy-eight people took the poll. 36% of those who took the poll said they experienced the scent of roses as they read the article; 8% said they experienced the fragrance of roses after they read the article; 13% said they experienced the fragrance of roses and other supernatural scents after reading the article. I still am without words. Thursday, December 7 Diana and I are still working on the blurb for the back of the book, changing a word here, a word there. Friday, December 8 Went to the Jango website to see new comments and reviews of my music; received one of my favorite music reviews of all time, from Istanbul Turkey, Wednesday November 23, 2011 02:04 AM: “In a cold Istanbul morning, the warmth of the music gives great energy” Here’s a cool, clear night, in the high thirties. It has been so warm until now that the petunias and roses are still blooming at Windgarth. One of my meditators helped me to restring the Christmas lights in the front windows here in town last week. Rearranged the little scenes on the sills and the top frames of the bottom windows: little Christmas trees, painted wooden nutcracker soldiers, a little bright red wagon, a small Santa seated at a table reading his Christmas list, carolers; other ornaments strung on bright strings and strands of holiday garlands; an angel by herself, holding a lit, slowly moving, candle in the westernmost window. The downstairs North-facing windows are right on the sidewalk, so many people look into them… Diana sent me the back cover of We Meet in Dreams today, and I think it is perfect. The wording we ended up with for the description fits nicely and I think reads well. It starts with: A book for anyone who wants to look more deeply into the true nature of their dreams. I wrote that sentence, but as with the other books, Diana wrote the rest of the book description and then I changed a few words here and there; then we sent it back and forth, making changes, until we both agreed it was done. For whatever reason, the blurb for the back cover is just not a task I can easily do. Writing a book is easy. The description is not. I gave a print out of the back cover for my aid Samantha to read; she said it was very good and left the reader wanting to know more. Samantha was sitting at the kitchen table in her usual chair, taking a break from cooking our Christmas dinner – my grandmother’s recipe for Swiss steak, a sort of European stew, simmering in a very big heavy pot on the stove. The kitchen was warm from all the cooking, in spite of the colder weather, the aroma slowly and steadily filling the entire house, reminding me of Christmases past. Samantha is from the South, and calls me “Miss Laurie”… Someone on the Buzzle.com website wrote in to say that the photo on our kitchen table was not Our Lady of Medjugorje, but rather Our Lady of Fatima. The reader who wrote in seemed very firm about it, so I assume she is correct. However, I cannot change my Buzzle entries in any way, it is not allowed. All I can do is put the correction here, in this Journal entry. (I will change it on other sites, however.) As I sit here I can see the lights strung in the window at the bottom of the stairs, like stars… Saturday, December 17 Today we had our annual Christmas party, from 3 to 7 pm. JF came early and set up her handmade jewelry on our transformed kitchen table; as in past years she covered it in black velvet, set up lights and hung or draped her beautiful jewelry over driftwood and various racks of all shapes and sizes. JD and I played four hand music on the piano: a transcription by Mme Rimsky-Korsakov of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet , a transcription of Fingal’s Cave by Felix Mendelssohn, Mozart, von Suppe… At times the house was happily crammed with people; some guests brought brightly wrapped presents, others brought pastries to add to what we had put out for everyone, seemingly endless platters full of pastries, cheeses and crackers of various sorts. To have so many friends all in one place, on a cold day with a sugaring of snow outside, with warmth and lights within – was just a joyous occasion all around. A friend dying of cancer came, looking very frail and transparent; the mother of a beautiful young man who had killed himself this past year also came, as did all the problems we all face in a lifetime, the suffering somehow dissolved in the Brightness of the music and food and warmth and love that filled the house, excited voices blending in with the music, sometimes soaring above it, sometimes quiet, listening… Altogether a lovely, memorable party… And now I would like to take a moment to wish you all a Holy and Happy Christmas Season and 2012. May God Bless you all – and Merry Christmas!

Image: The photograph of the statue of Our Lady of Medjugorje, on our kitchen table. Wednesday, November 9 My childhood chum Patrice is here for nine days, from California – we haven’t seen each other since we were twelve years old or so; then she was called Patsy. A remarkable person and a remarkable relationship. Now that she is here, I find it hard to believe she has not always been in my life, on some level of being…

Still: the physical reality of her visit is quite wonderful, and I am immensely grateful for it. Thursday, November 10 Patrice and I were sitting at the downstairs kitchen table, talking about many things earlier tonight – when suddenly she asked if I had candles somewhere. She said she was distinctly aware of the scent of candles. I asked if the aroma was of roses; she thought for a moment and said, yes it was like roses and growing stronger. I told her it was most likely Our Lady, Our Heavenly Mother, and began to tell her of the supernatural fragrances we had in meditation class some years ago. Patrice looked at me and said she didn’t know if she believed in such things; she then said that the scent was disappearing. I said that was because of her lack of belief.

My friend said, “But I want to believe it” – and a few moments later she looked at me with wonder and said that the scent of roses had returned and was stronger, becoming very strong – almost like a cheap perfume. I answered that yes, that was the fragrance we had associated with Our Lady in those meditation classes, so strong that I sometimes asked if someone in class was wearing perfume. After a while Patrice turned to me again and said: “Oh my… I saw a psychic a few weeks ago, and she told me that I would smell roses, and that it meant that my mother was there…” Of course, my friend Patrice thought the psychic meant the fragrance of roses meant the presence of her earthly mother who had died some years ago – but it was really the perfume of Our Lady, Our Blessed Mother, that the psychic was referring to. I then told Patrice that at times the supernatural fragrances even followed us to Windgarth House, our house on the lake.

Those supernatural fragrances began when we first studied the poems of the Desert Fathers in class, and they continued for over a year. Even now some of us receive whiffs, as did my beautiful friend Patrice tonight. It is still a mystery to me why suddenly the Gift of these supernatural fragrances began and continue, but I am certainly deeply grateful for them. What was unusual tonight is that I was not aware of the scent of roses, not even for a moment. Apparently tonight’s Heavenly Signal was solely for my friend Patrice. Friday, November 11 Earlier today I had asked Monica and Nancy to help me plant spring daffodil and tulip bulbs in the garden tomorrow. Monica called to say they were not free tomorrow afternoon, and I asked if they could come over tonight, so I could show them the bulbs and how to plant them.

They came right over from next door; Patrice was downstairs, and we were all talking, when suddenly I had a whiff of a supernatural fruit-like scent. Patrice said she also had a whiff; after a few moments both Monica and Nancy said the same. Then we all began to experience the fragrance of roses, alternating with the fruit-like scent. Both Monica and Nancy are my meditators, but they joined on after the supernatural fragrances had ceased in classes – so this was a new experience for them. Tonight the fragrances were weaker and more fleeting than last night – but definitely there. And tonight we all were aware of not only roses, but also of the fruit-like scent. At one point Patrice looked at the clock and exclaimed in surprise that the supernatural scents had started at the same time last night, 10:30; they had stopped by eleven pm. At one point tonight Patrice and I were aware of the scents, but we had to wave towards Nancy and Monica before they could smell them.

As in the past, it seems to depend where you are standing in the room; these fragrances are physical – and localized. Nancy said she did not want to leave, the fragrances were so special she did not want them to end. The supernatural scents ceased a little before eleven, just as they had last night. Patrice came upstairs as I was typing this Journal entry and said: “What a special night!” And so it was. Midnight Alone, at the kitchen table, Clarissa the cat my only incarnate company. A 10×12 inch color photograph of the statue of Our Lady in Medjugorje and a smaller painting of Christ are propped up against the white ceramic vase filled with dried flowers, in their usual place on the table – and where these supernatural fragrances have begun these last few nights. I gaze at the photograph and smaller painting of Our Lord now, and say some inner prayers for the world and for all those on my healing list. Outside, a gentle, round moon, thin, fragile, like a Communion wafer, moving against the clouds, illumined by the distant, invisible sun… Saturday, November 12 Patrice and I waited downstairs for the scents at 10:30 – and she was aware of the scent of citrus. I had a brief whiff of roses. Monday, November 14 Patrice has left for California, I was still asleep when she left this morning. A few e-mails from Diana: she is slowly reinstating herself in Dallas, both at home and at the Art Institute where she teaches. I assume she has not yet had time to work on, We Meet in Dreams, and so for the moment I myself have a chance to catch up on other work. Today gray skies and a bit of rain, after many days of sun and warmth and white clouds and blue sky… Wednesday, November 16 Today very gray, rainy, mysterious, mystical… a bit of mist in the distance. Tonight an e-mail from Patrice: “I smelled the roses again, two, maybe three times today. It was brief, sudden and out of nowhere. WOW!!! I thought I smelled it on the plane yesterday, also.” I wrote her back to say that I also had experienced a brief whiff of roses here and there, a few short greetings from Our Lady, fleeting Glimpses into a truer Reality and an Eternal Realm. Supernatural Fragrances! I have experienced them in the past. I have never experienced them. I experienced the scent of roses while reading your article. I experienced the scent of roses after reading your article. I experienced several different supernatural scents after reading your article.

Siddhartha Gautama was born to a rich family. But, he renounced all his riches and family and left his house in search of the truth. After many years of searching and seeking he became enlightened. Thus, he was called ‘Buddha’. Buddha means ‘the awakened one’.

After his enlightenment, he began teaching and helping others who were seeking the truth. These Buddhist mudras or gestures are basically a representation of his inner state. For instance, when Buddha was meditating he was seen in the ‘Dhyana mudra’. Here are the various Buddhist gestures explained with apt pictures. Click on the pictures to get an enlarged view. Mudras in Buddhism Abhaya Mudra (Gesture of Fearlessness)     This gesture of “no fear” is mostly seen while Buddha is standing. However, sometimes, it is also observed while Buddha is sitting, which you can observe in the picture on the left. This mudra also represents protection and spiritual power.

In this gesture, the right hand is elevated and the palm is turned outwards.  Bhumisparsa Mudra (Gesture of Witness)     This is the gesture of witness, it is also called ‘touching the Earth’ gesture/mudra. In this mudra, Buddha is sitting with folded legs and the right hand is resting on the right leg, while the right palm hangs down over the right knee. The palm is relaxed and facing inwards. This gesture shows Buddha invoking the Earth as a witness to the truth spoken by him. In this gesture, the other hand rests in the lap, with the palm facing upwards.  Dharmachakra Mudra (Gesture of Teaching)     Dharmachakra is a symbol in Buddhism. It is called ‘the wheel of law’.

On the Dharmachakra, there are eight spokes which represent the eightfold path of Buddhism which consists of the right view , right intention , right speech , right action , right livelihood , right effort , right mindfulness and right concentration. There are many variations of this mudra. But, this gesture is mostly represented with the hands held level at the heart using the thumbs and index fingers.  Dhyana Mudra (Gesture of Meditation)     Many people know about this gesture, as this gesture is commonly used while meditating. This gesture, also called ‘gesture of absolute balance’, is represented by two hands relaxed in the lap. The fingers overlap each other, and the thumbs are touching each other, with the palms facing upwards. Sometimes, this gesture can be seen with a begging bowl, in this case, it becomes a sign of the head of an order.  Jnana Mudra (Gesture of Knowledge)     This is the gesture of knowledge, which is represented with the index finger and thumb touching each other to form a circle. Other fingers in the palm are extended straight. In this gesture, the palm is held towards the chest.  Karana Mudra (Gesture of Banishing)     This is the gesture of banishing, also called ‘the gesture of warding off the Evil’.

In this gesture, the palm is stretched out with the palm turned outwards. The two middle fingers are pressed by the thumb. This representation of hands looks like the two horns of a Yak posed against an enemy.  Ksepana Mudra (Gesture of Nectar Sprinkling)     This gesture represents the sprinkling action of nectar of immorality. In this gesture, two palms are joined together with fingers entwined, and only the index finger is stretched down. The index fingers point downwards, and sometimes a vase or bowl is placed below the hands.  Namaskara Mudra (Gesture of Praying)     This is a common gesture used in India. This gesture is used while praying. In this gesture, the palms and fingers are joined to show a devotional attitude.

This gesture shows humbleness. However, it can also show gratefulness.  Uttarabodhi Mudra (Gesture of Perfection)     This gesture looks reverse of the Ksepana mudra. However, both these gestures have different meanings. In this gesture, the fingers of both the hands are entwined with the index fingertips touching each other. This gesture is ‘the gesture of perfection or supreme enlightenment’.  Vajrapradama Mudra (Gesture of Confidence)     This gesture represents unshakable self-confidence. It also shows great inner strength. In vajrapradama mudra, the hands are held close to the chest with the palms facing inwards. This gesture is sometimes represented with fingers of both the hands overlapping each other or sometimes entwined with each other.  Varada Mudra (Gesture of Charity)     This gesture of charity is represented by the palm facing upwards, open and relaxed. This gesture is of charity, which also means fulfillment of all wishes. In this gesture, many times, the hand is resting on the lap with the back of the palm touching the knee.  Vitarka Mudra (Gesture of Argument)     This gesture can be mostly seen in a standing Buddha statue. This is the gesture of debate or argument. In this gesture, the tip of the thumb touches the index finger to form a circle, the rest of the fingers are facing upwards and the palm is facing outwards.  Apart from these gestures, there are many gestures in Buddhism, and there are many variations of each gesture too. Some of these gestures are rare to see while many gestures like Bhumisparsa mudra can be commonly observed. So, the next time you see a Buddha statue in a monastery or a Buddha idol in a store, you will be able to identify the quality it represents.

Image: Windgarth House. Sunday, October 16 Windgarth House Diana and I have come to beautiful Windgarth for some days, to work on the book undisturbed. She has already formatted over a hundred pages of the manuscript, which I have printed up and neatly placed in a large notebook. The binder is now on the downstairs kitchen table at Windgarth, and I am fully unpacked and waiting for Diana to arrive.

A lovely cool, gray day – a bit of mist on the lake. The autumn colors so deep and vibrant against the gray sky. The perfect day for staying inside and happily working on the book. Lit the downstairs stove for warmth – am seated at the kitchen table and looking out the many windows towards the lake, a lone gull ensconced on the martin house, acting like a statue, a gargoyle… I have missed Windgarth and its peaceful silence and simple beauty… Monday, October 17 Windgarth Today sunny and very windy. Sitting downstairs with my notebook and pen, correcting the pages of formatted files. Diana continues to format the manuscript, seated at the kitchen table, her laptop computer plugged into the east wall.

Four ducks on the dock, squat and splayed, hunkered down against the wind, all facing south. If there were less wind I would be working outside, in the sun and air… Diana is making a split pea/kale soup in a very large pot, and the warmth and aroma of her culinary creation are filling the entire downstairs. Soon I will make us a cup of tea, or have a slice of bread and cheese – but until now we have both been quietly lost in our work for some hours… Later we will work together, put my corrections into the text together – but for now the luxury of being lost in our own thoughts and ideas and creativity… Tuesday, October 18 Another sunny day, less wind.

Diana is now in the sitting room, at the desk with her laptop computer – still formatting text. I must wait until we return to Ithaca to print up her newly formatted pages and make corrections. Meanwhile, I am reading a few new dreams sent to me by a friend, and adding commentary. We corrected over a hundred pages of Diana’s formatted pages last afternoon and evening, put my corrections directly into her computer files. Found the usual sorts of errors, and a few chapters and paragraphs out-of-order, some dreams without commentary or introductions. So I still have much work to do, even without the newly formatted chapters. If we continue at this pace, the initial round of formatting and corrections should be done within a week. Thursday, October 20 Back in town.

Colder and windy, an autumn Wuthering Heights sort of night. Diana and I worked at the downstairs kitchen table until almost 2 am, and most of the corrections through page 207 are now in. We also worked on some widows and orphans, i.e. a word left alone by itself at the end of a paragraph, or single lines of text left over at the top or bottom of a page. I rewrote the text where needed to accommodate these formatting problems, there is no other solution to them. Still have to go back and write some forgotten, overlooked introductions and commentaries, check some other potential errors – but the bulk of the corrections are safely tucked into the formatted text. After this round of corrections are done, we will have to go through the entire text again, this time inserting and checking the endnotes, scanning the Table of Contents and its page numbers, the folios, dashes – and fix any errors created by the changes in formatting, or from other corrections we made this time through the text. Astounding how many errors can be found each time we proof the text… and how difficult it can be to find them. I find that I tend to start proofing slowly and carefully, but within a few paragraphs I am reading the ideas and phrasing of the text rather than looking for errors in punctuation or spelling or spacing… or all the other factors on the page that can so easily go wrong. Diana wants to have the entire book formatted and corrected within a week. That will leave us some time to work on the cover. I am exhausted. Friday, October 21 Worked on corrections; rewrote some passages, added introductions and commentary to some dreams. E-mailed them to Diana. Saturday, October 22 3 am. Diana just left, with her laptop under her arm. We worked steadily all night, at the downstairs kitchen table; drank tea and enjoyed a few snacks as we entered my new corrections into her formatted files. We also went through the entire text and looked for sentences to be pulled, i.e. sentences that are put in larger type and italics for emphasis. At one point, we got bogged down by design problems and mutually entered a fairly lengthy, yet friendly, harangue – naturally Diana was thinking like a designer and I was thinking like an author. At last a solution was found and inner/outer order restored. In fact, the book is falling together rather nicely and fairly easily. We only have eight stories to go, and then the text will be completely formatted and the first round of corrections done. Then Diana will e-mail me all the corrected files, so I can check the corrections and changes we just made to the text. I still have one dream chapter to finish, I am waiting for my friend Anne to send me two additional “dream” meetings she told me about last week. I had given Anne the first draft of her story to look at and correct – and while we were talking, she told me about two additional “dream” visits with her father and son; they both died in the same tragic car crash over twenty years ago. I asked if she would write those dreams up for me, and now I am waiting for her to do so. Everyone who gave me their stories for We Meet in Dreams, all the “dream” experiences in the book are from my fellow healers on the Distant Healing Network, from friends, or from friends of friends. Which tells me that the vast majority of humanity – if not every human being on this planet Earth – has had a dream experience that is more than an ordinary dream, more than a dream created by our subconscious mind, i.e. our psychology, our own thoughts and desires and memories. That we all, at one time or another, have been to other realms or other places on earth while we were asleep. Monday, October 24 My friend Anne e-mailed me the two new “dreams”, and I have added them on to the other dream meetings and visits in her story, The Sparklers ; wrote my commentary. Sent it all off to Diana. Rewrote parts of The Fence , a dream visit to another place on Earth, from MG. Sent that off to Diana as well. The nice thing about The Fence is that MG dreamed about her friends’ cottage in South Africa – and then later went to South Africa and saw the cottage in waking state reality. She wrote that the cottage was just as she experienced it in her “dream”. More often than not, when we visit other places on Earth while asleep – we do not later see those people or houses or streets or fields or lakes etc. in waking state reality. So we are left thinking it was just an ordinary, psychological dream. Diana just sent me the last eight formatted chapters of We Meet in Dreams – all that is left of unformatted text is the Epilogue. I will start proofing these new pages tonight. Tuesday, October 25 A cool day, in the sixties – sunny. JF stopped by, and we drove to Stewart Park. Windy. We parked in the lot, facing the lake, and stayed in the car watching eight or ten sailboats doing various maneuvers in the distance. It appeared as though they were some sort of sailboat club, or possibly a Cornell team or class. They followed each other across the lake, sometimes paired in twos, circled each other; at one point they spaced themselves evenly, facing south, in a long single row east to west. They looked like beautiful, white birds … Some ducks near us along the shore mirrored the sailboats in their own small maneuvers … Here and there a sailboat or two almost tipped over, struggling against the wind. The beautiful waves … Coming home, hundreds of geese on the park lawns, near the pond – a long line of geese, single file, stepping down the embankment, sliding into the water … adroitly and effortlessly avoiding the lily pads … Finished my corrections this afternoon; waiting for Diana so we can enter them into her formatted files. Wednesday, October 26 A gray, rainy day. Diana also sent me endnotes to correct and work on; first we have to find the footnote numbers in the text, then the actual footnotes, and then turn the whole batch into endnotes. Diana is setting up the endnote section now. Once all the footnotes are entered as endnotes, we will have to proof them several times, to make sure everything is in the right place. An unforgiving process really. I am not convinced endnotes are easier to accomplish than footnotes. We will see. Last year, finishing up Realms of Light , we got so fed up with the footnotes that I remarked, “No wonder they banish them to the bottom of the page.” Well, even with my short experience with endnotes, I might now say, “No wonder they exile them to the back of the book”. Meanwhile Oleg the cat and I are listening to the printer rhythmically reproduce the newest endnote pages for me to proof. The first round of corrected formatting to all but the Table of Contents and endnotes is now done. Done. Thursday, October 27 A very gray, rainy day… The oranges, yellows and reds of the trees almost shockingly brilliant against the gray… Some branches are already bare, but we have not yet had our first frost; the huge dinner plate dahlias and the diminutive impatiens still lend their colors and textures to the gardens, the dahlias placed along the sidewalk, their various hues and patterns towering over the children and many adults who pass by them. We finished correcting the last chapters of the text last night; they are all safely stored in Diana’s laptop computer. Today she sent me the entire formatted file, which I have just printed up and placed in the large notebook on the kitchen table. Now to reproof the entire manuscript. While I am doing that task, Diana plans to tackle the prefaces and remaining endnotes. The formatted text looks – fantastic. Diana has done her usual creative and impeccable, careful work. Most likely very few people would understand how important the formatting of the text is to a book, and how very creative the process can be when in the hands of a master designer. I am so very pleased. Saturday, October 29 A sunny, cold day. One lone frost has ruined most of the impatiens. The dinner plate dahlias look forlorn, a bit tattered and frayed around the edges, some bent stems. A sense of winter is in the air, for the first time. Reproofed the entire manuscript again, and all the final corrections are now in Diana’s files. We had a short celebration last night before she returned to the Quaker House, basically a smile and a handshake – we were too tired for much more than that. This morning Diana sent more endnotes for me to correct. I am still not convinced endnotes will be easier than the footnotes of the past. 2:30 am. Just finished up checking and correcting the first 53 endnotes Diana sent. Added page numbers and titles to stories, checked the endnote page numbers and section numbers. Some endnotes were reversed in order, some in the wrong section; some were imaginary, did not fit anywhere; some were missing. Miraculously, after all the changes, we still ended up with 53 endnotes. Now my main task is to be able to decipher my various scribbles and thoughts when Diana comes over to put my corrections into her laptop computer file. What a mess. Just red pen everywhere, mysterious and conflicting arrows and cross outs – scribbles on the back of pages because there was no room left on the front, scrawls along the margins. Moreover, my original list of endnotes, which I gave Diana to work from, up to this point in the book, had only 45 endnotes. Somehow we added on eight. Just a nightmare. And we are only two-thirds done. Sunday, October 30 Windgarth House Sunny, cold, in the fifties. M. closed all the storm windows, turned off the outside water, took the first steps towards winter. I walked the house and took down notes, what to tell Jamee: rake the leaves into the flower beds, take the garden hoses into the garage, put the boats in the shed, shampoo the rugs … Another season completed, lived. Reread some of the entries in our guest book – so many renters who have stayed here love Windgarth, return every year. Entries written in Czech, in German, in Afrikaans… Someone drew a sketch of the dock, in pencil. One entry, in black ink: “Thanks for providing a haven, for a great time. We hate to leave. We’ll be back.” Yes, a haven, a refuge… Brought my binder and worked on the endnotes, reproofed them; found errors, there are always more errors to correct. Page numbers, section numbers, spelling, story titles, mistakes everywhere. Went through the entire text of the book yet again and found mistakes there as well: section headings gone awry, missing quotation marks, misplaced italics, the usual. 3 am. Met with Diana tonight and we started writing the blurb for the back cover, stray sentences scrawled on a napkin at the State Diner. After returning home I continued my tortuous work on the endnotes, typing my corrections in. Sent her the file. Diana will have some creative decisions to make, apparently Ibid and Op. cit. are no longer fashionable. In any case I am sure there will be more errant mistakes on the next endnotes reproofing, no matter what she decides … Tuesday, November 1 The first of November. A sunny, beautiful day. Diana entered my corrected endnotes into her computer file before taking a long walk in the woods with a friend. We are now doing most of our work together late at night – tonight she came over at midnight. We ended up at the State Diner and had scrambled eggs and toast, decaf coffee – and talked. We spoke of many things, including plans for the future. On Diana’s next visit to Ithaca, possibly we will set up a tour of some sort for book signings, workshops, lectures on the books and their messages. We will see. Much depends on my health, which is a good deal of the time is fairly frail and unpredictable. We will see what the Divine Plan has in store for us. If I am meant to accomplish these things – then I will be given all that I need. We never have to look too far to see what God wants us to do. Usually it is right in front of us. Tuesday, November 8 Diana left for Dallas this morning. I found all 74 finished, corrected endnotes in my Inbox; the remaining tasks we can finish by e-mail, but I will miss her physical presence, her voice, its unique phrasing and inflection, and the small details of her life that we have now steadily shared these past weeks. There is always a gap when she leaves…

“Develop the mind of equilibrium. You will always be getting praise and blame, but do not let either affect the poise of the mind. Follow the calmness, the absence of pride.” ~ Sutta Nipata All forms of Buddhism contain and dwell into six human traits, which have been contained into three distinct pairs over the years. The Visuddhimagga or the Path of Purification from the Pali Canon was written 1,600 years ago, in Theravada Buddhism by one of its esteemed commentator, Buddhaghosa. Theravada is the oldest school of thought in Buddhism and is revered to date, as the Teachings of the Elders.

Let’s dwell deeper into this subject. The Types of Human Personality in Buddhism As per the Visuddhimagga, the human personality dawns six intricate facets, each of which has a bad/good or negative/positive or a yin/yang for modern reference. These six types have been summarized into three distinct pairs of personality type. The negative characteristics are called Unwholesome , while the positive traits are known as the Wholesome. The three pairs of personality are as following: Greed/Faith Anger/Wisdom Confusion/Balance When asked to develop the mind of equilibrium, the Sutta Nipata (Buddhist scripture) , encourages its believers to gain control of their thoughts. While figuring out your Buddhist personality, you must realize that, each sentient being, that ever existed on the earth has all these characteristics, inherent within him. Which simply refers to the fact that, all the three types and all its six aspects are existing parallel to one another.

It’s up to you to analyze and question yourself as to which category you fall in, and which traits manifest the most in your thoughts and action. The Twin Centric Combination of Traits You must also be aware of the fact that, while judging your personality, you must remain unbiased. You will need to let go of all inhibitions and fear, and not worry about the outcome. As I mentioned earlier, none of the traits are evil, and are a part of our being. We all have our quirks and drawbacks, as well as our positive attributes. The Path of Purification wants that we allow our positive personality to take charge and keep the negative aspects at their bare minimal.

The idea is to eventually renounce the negative aspects of our personality, so that we progress as humans and achieve the fullest of our potential. In order to bring forth your positive side, every personality is required to meditate on specific aspects, which shall be discussed in this article. Buddhist Personality Test Let’s find out which Buddhist personality type you fit in and which ones dominate your being through the chart mentioned below. Try our quiz to figure out who you are… When colleagues ask you to join them for a movie, what do you say? A) Great, that’s a plan. Let’s go!

B) I don’t even know them that well, I don’t think so… C) OK, if you say so, but do I really want to go? Don’t know… When you see a posh new car entering the driveway, what do you think? A) WOW! I want that car for myself… B) Why do people have to flaunt so much?

C) There is no way I can ever afford something that good… You see a happy couple lost in each other. What would be your thoughts…? A) You’ll be jealous and will inadvertently envy the two…if you do not have a healthy relationship. B) It’s inappropriate for people to get too cozy in public… C) You’ll feel dejected and lonely for not having someone special in your life but all the same, you’ll be happy for the couple. You received a bonus on your salary. What will you do with the extra money? A) Spurge it within the next few days on extravagances. B) Save it and put the money in a separate account, even though there are a few things you really want to buy for a long time. C) Spend the money on useless things that you gain no pleasure out of it. What would you do if you found out that your boyfriend/girlfriend cheated on you? A) Not worry so much as you can easily move on and will find someone else. B) Be furious and extremely hurt, and end up verbally accusing the other of deceit. C) You’ll blame yourself and think that there must be something wrong with you and that you were not good enough for him/her. Answer Key A) If all your answers were (A), then you are greedy. B) If all you answers were (B), then you are angry. C) If all your answers were (C), then you are confused. D) A combination of A, B and C will show that you have a bit of all these traits in you. However, one of the three traits will dominate the rest. It will be that dominant trait that you will need to tame more intently. Manifestation of Your Positive Self 1) The Greedy Soul That Found Faith The greedy personality is always associated with the one who has faith. These people like to enjoy good life, such as new possessions, expensive lifestyle, excessive friends, money, and class. They are possessive about love and jealous by nature. The flip side to this trait is that when the greed overtakes the person, they can become power-hungry and will continually seek the attention of people. They will want to be the center of attention and can go to the extent of harming others for personal gains. “If beings knew, as I know, the results of sharing gifts, they would not enjoy their gifts without sharing them with others, nor would the taint of stinginess obsess the heart and stay there. Even if it were their last and final bit of food, they would not enjoy its use without sharing it, if there were anyone to receive it” ~ Itivuttaka 18 Meditation for Faith, requires such individuals to focus on impermanence and expiry of life itself. They need to understand that the life they are living is bound to end and so shall temporary happiness be gained from greed. Realizing that everything has an end and will come to its end, is the only belief which will break the cycle of addiction, that the greedy mind revels in. According to all Buddhist beliefs, greed is a sinister addiction of the soul, which inhibits its victims from experiencing true harmony with themselves and the world. If you find yourself in this dilemma, you are requested to meditate and imagine that each and every part of your body is gradually shutting down or dying. It’s a difficult form of meditation which will require that you steel yourself for this daunting task. The feeling of death overcoming your being, will gradually help you understand that greed is not worth it, and death is inevitable. Thus, leading a philanthropic and charitable life is more fulfilling to your soul. 2) The Angry Soul That Found Wisdom Anger makes people weary and suspicious of everything around them. The angry personality is always critical and judgmental, ever willing to condone the actions of others and find faults in them. Though, this attribute when tuned to the right direction becomes an asset, as it helps these individuals steer clear of negative influences and bad decisions. They are very adept at figuring out the true characteristics and intentions of people, because of their strong sense of intuition or inkling. However, because of their quick and rash irritation or animosity with the world, these people often suffer from unhappiness. They expect the world to be up to their mark of perfection, which strains their relationship with dear and near ones and others. They complain and crib about the lack of order in their relationships, as well as in the thoughts and action of others around them. They feel like misfits and feel hurt that others are making the world a bad place to live in. “Conquer the angry man by love. Conquer the ill-natured man by goodness. Conquer the miser with generosity. Conquer the liar with truth.” ~ The Dhammapada Meditation for wisdom, will help bring out the sharp sense of intellect that the angry personality harbors. Through meditation they can harness on their deep insight to things and learn to forgive and accept others for who they are. Wisdom allows magnanimity, which teaches such people to love. Much like the quote from Dhammapada, mentioned above. These individuals need to let go of their pain and resentment, that they know deep within has no just cause. If you find yourself within this abyss, you will need to seek forgiveness from within, from yourself. Meditate and simply enjoy the feeling of kindness and love that you feel from within you. Your objective is to treat people with respect, kindness and love, without expecting anything in return. All you need to do is feel good about your own actions. 3) The Confused Soul That Found Balance This personality type, as per Buddhist teachings, is a person who goes with the flow, and keeps changing his course depending on who influences him the most. Such people are confused and do not know what they want out of their lives. They get easily influenced and listen to people and trust them too much. They are fickle-minded, easily distracted by everything around them and are easily swayed by opinion. They often, doubt their own potential and are conflicted about their ideologies. When something goes wrong, they question themselves and place the blame on themselves. The biggest drawback of this personality is that they find it very difficult to make decisions pertinent to their lives and keep dilly-dallying with their time. They are self-conscious and have low aspiration levels. “Half the spiritual life consists of remembering what we are up against and where we are going… And the other half is taking complete personal responsibility for getting there!” ~ Ayya Khema, “When the Iron Eagle Flies” ~ Joshua Bryer These individuals must meditate and learn to focus all their attention towards one sole objective. They must assimilate all their scattered thoughts into one single purpose, and make that their goal. This has to be done through simple, steady and deep breathing, thereby allowing the mind to relax and gain steadiness. If you find yourself stuck in this limbo of a personality, through focus and meditation, you’ll find yourself becoming more aware of the things you wish out of your life and how to achieve them.

What may seem as religiosity to many, may translate into spirituality for others. There is no specific demarcation between the two concepts, and they are often used interchangeably.

Studies have proven that older people are comparatively more religious than today’s younger generation. However, this does not conclude or allude that people become more religious with age. There are always exceptions, which include people who are atheists or agnostic, and who will continue to remain so for the rest of their lives. Everything happens for a reason, and similarly a not so spiritual person may seek divine solace due to transition in his/her life. There are several factors that need to be considered as to why people become more religious with age. Let’s dwell upon these aspects in more detail.

Old Age and Religion Incompatibility With Modernity Older adults often find it very hard to relate to the ideologies dominant of today’s generation. Things are forever changing, there is lesser empathy and increasing sense of despair among people. Very few are able to cope and blend with ease. There are internal conflicts that constantly badger people’s conscience, making them averse, critical, and withdrawn against the collected human action. Older people especially are hardest hit, as they become outdated and less in demand, because of the present generation’s ever-shrinking family values. Children and grandchildren do not give parents their deserved due respect, care, and affection. They simply do not have the time for such so-called trivial things. Parents feel left out, lonely, and vulnerable.

In such a situation, they seek the company of religion and the hope that they will find like-minded companions to share their pain with. Prayer helps heal them and encourages them to cheer up and become stronger as individuals. Prayer Represents Their Inherent Upbringing Not all aged people become religious. There isn’t a specific age fixed to an individual’s belief in god. A person’s faith depends a lot on their upbringing and whether religion was an integral part of their lives when they were growing up. In which case, such individuals are bound to continue with this legacy throughout their lives. The only exception being if they undergo severe trauma and loss, and thus lose faith in worship. Similarly, people who had no such upbringing in earlier years, may realize the lack of this positive influence in their lives, and seek religious healing, as they age.

Personal Loss and Grievances The loss of a loved one, the death of spouse or a child, can make people seek solace and refuge through prayer. Prayer has a soothing effect on our hearts and makes us regain hope, when it seems as if all hope is lost. Age related disabilities and health problems make individuals want to join church groups and other religious gatherings. Here, they find the sense of bonhomie among the other members of the community. They find people they can associate and connect with, which gives them the chance to develop strong ties of support and compassion. However, there are also cases where religious people tend to lose faith as they grow older, having witnessed and undergone personal loss and trauma. They feel angry and dejected for the treatment meted upon them by the divine. In such cases, the individual lives in a constant state of suffering, for being punished even though they lived their lives in a pious manner. They often lose faith and withdraw deeper into their own solitude. Fear of Death and Afterlife Since death is inevitable and unstoppable, aging redefines our perspective towards religion. People who believe in the afterlife constantly worry about their religiosity within this lifetime. They worry about their past, present, and future deeds, as well as the sins they have committed in their past. Transforming into an ardent believer gives people the impetus to cleanse themselves of their wrongdoings. The acceptance of this inevitability allows older people to live the rest of their lives in grace and positivity. Greater Faith With Educational Empowerment As per a study conducted by sociologist Philip Schwadel of the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, it has been deduced that people become more spiritual when they gain greater educational empowerment. In such a scenario, people tend to develop a deeper understanding of what spirituality means to them. They perceive it to be a higher power, which need not specifically refer to God per se. According to the study, educated people are more likely to read the Bible and other holy scriptures, and are more likely to have a rather cosmopolitan approach to faith. They strongly believe that you do not have to be religious to be spiritual. Educated people often question traditional aspects of faith and approve of a more flexible approach for expressing their beliefs. Greater Social Inequality Leads to Greater Religiosity People who have inadequate incomes and have to undergo continuous strife to make ends meet are often the ones who seek the healing influence of prayer. They pray with the hope that they too will be redeemed of this suffering and given their due for their hard work. Study shows that people are less religious in countries where all the social and economic aspirations of the people are met. While in countries where there are severe demarcations between the rich and the poor, the level of religiosity hikes up, among the comparatively poorer section of the society. Therefore, when the economic security and expectations of the people are balanced and satiated, the level of faith declines. The reason for this phenomenon is because they do not feel the need to pray to a higher power when everything needed for existence is within their ambit of control. Countries that suffer from escalating rates of unemployment, hunger, political turmoil, war, terrorism, debt, and corruption, also see a distinct rise in the number of believers among their citizens. Greater Social Standing and Community Contribution With age, the aspirations of an individual undergoes a transformation. They become more mature and thus have more realistic expectations from life. Older people are more community conscious and are more likely to do good deeds that will contribute towards the benefit of society as a whole. They are more likely to participate in political activities that will bring development. They also have personal goals which harbor the desire to be respected by their immediate social setting. Older people are more likely to join prayer groups and participate in social and community service, which will encourage their younger counterparts to participate and inculcate the spirit of social service. There is another theory to this assumption, which states that people become more conservative and religious as and when there is rapid development and progress in ideologies. However, many may altogether disagree with this statement. Faith as a whole is a matter of personal choice, and cannot and must not be enforced upon others. This may perhaps be another reason why the younger generation has very few takers to religiosity, and prefer being more agnostic and spiritual in their outlook.

Never in my life has it felt this good to be selfish. Actually, before I learned what you’re about to learn, I only ever felt guilt and shame when I acted selfish. Today, selfish is the new me.

Granted, I was never the type to always put other people above my own needs. I know plenty of people who selflessly take care of everyone in their life, except themselves. I’m not sure how that’s working for them, but for me, I’m not like that, and I never was. So, when I had kids and became a mom, I started noticing how much I put myself and my relationship with my husband first, and how little other people were doing the same. I immediately didn’t care what other people thought. Only I know what is best for me and what I can and cannot handle. Today, I can tell you with absolute certainty that I am not fit to be strictly a stay-at-home mom and homemaker. Nope.

I would never be happy with that. In the past, that’s what I’ve done. There was a full year’s time when that’s all I did. Did I love it?

Nope. Did I hate it? Nope. I don’t hate. It’s too strong of a negative emotion for me. However, in hindsight, I can tell you that I was depressed.

It only got better when I went back to school and my life suddenly felt like it had purpose. I had a mission: I wanted to finish school. Hence, doing something that I wanted made me feel better. And then school life ended and I was just a stay-at-home mom, again. The economy was in a recession and no one would hire me. I desperately needed a way out, but didn’t know what I wanted. All I knew was that I didn’t want to stay home, so I thought my only option was to get a job so I can get out of the house.

Problem solved, right? If only it were that simple. I applied for work as soon as I could. I interviewed, was offered a position, but because I was unable to start right away, the offer was taken off the table. At that moment, I felt relief. I remember standing there, still holding my cell phone, wondering why I felt such a wave of relief. As it turns out, whenever you feel relief, it’s your body’s signal to you that you are going in the right direction. Furthermore, whenever you feel any negative emotion, it’s your body’s signal that you are going the wrong way. It wasn’t until I felt that relief that I realized that I couldn’t ignore my body’s signals and that I needed to start doing what felt right. The thought of working felt restricting, like I’d be in handcuffs. I enjoyed doing what I wanted to do, whenever I wanted, the freedom of being a stay-at-home mom. I just didn’t like the part where all I had to do was cook, clean, and care for the kids. I felt like I needed to fill my time with something that I wanted, without it consuming my whole day. And that’s when I created my personal finance website for young adults. I’d always wanted to spread the knowledge that I’d accumulated through my years of education and I’d always loved to write. Immediately after starting my site, I felt so much better. I felt like I had purpose again. All the other problems in my life melted away. I was so happy doing what I loved. And I didn’t care that I didn’t make a dime doing it. All I cared about was doing what I loved, no matter what. Since then, I’ve learned that when you focus too much on what you don’t want, you get more to complain about, and more things go wrong. If you are unsure of what you want, think about what you don’t want and then create a list of what you want that is the opposite. For example, I didn’t want to be just a stay-at-home mom. What I wanted was something constructive to do that made me happy. For many people, that could be a hobby, like scrapbooking or photography. For me, what made me happy was writing about personal finance topics. That’s what I want and love doing. The key is to understand that in order to do what you want you have to allow yourself to be selfish. Strip away the shame and guilt associated with the word. Trust me. The joy that will come from doing what you want will embrace every part of your life and suddenly everything about your life will be brighter. We all deserve happiness, true happiness. Find out what it is that will bring you happiness and you will be forever grateful.

Spirituality is a sensitive subject for those who believe in it and even those who have no faith in it. Spirituality is common to all religions. Citing the example of the Bible, it says that Jesus Christ had the power to heal the sick from minor or deadly diseases.

There have been many instances when people have prayed for restoration of health for someone who was sick and the sick did heal, returning to health after quickly recovering from a major disease. Many people credit medicine for the miracle, while those who prayed believed in the power of their prayers. Do you believe that spirituality can help you heal from agony and sadness and make you feel whole again? When we are emotionally vulnerable we pray to God to take away the pain. Now, wouldn’t that be spirituality? Are you not healed of your pain?

Spiritual healing is not an overnight process that can be physically measured. It is only realized and seen. It may seem implausible for a person to come back to health through prayers alone. But, as some believe, spirituality is a faith more powerful than medical science. This only sounds stupefying in the era of technology that we live in today. Does Spiritual Healing Work?

Spiritual healing may well be your answer for physical, emotional and mental worries. The entire universe is made of energy, including you and me. Spiritual healing aims at rebuilding and harmonizing these energies. Your soul is the fuel of your life. If it has endured damage of any kind, it will be impossible for your body to function in its optimum state. Spiritual healing helps revive your soul, in turn, healing your body.

It is, but, a belief system. In fact, you do not even need to pray to an entity for spiritual healing to work for you because spirituality goes beyond the realms of religion. However, this type of spiritual healing does not require faith in anyone else but a higher power. It extends beyond the physical healing of your body. When medical science had not made the advances it has achieved so far, our great ancestors did survive without it. You cannot just reduce it to labels of being mere imaginations of the mind. Trying to measure spiritual healing in terms of physical healing defeats the absolute purpose.

Is the human race so shallow as to be limited to the body alone? Do not restrict yourself and let spirituality heal your soul, so it may transcend your mind and body. Spirituality may have different definitions for every individual. But, in the end, its essence is to connect man to all the elements of nature and be one with them, in complete harmony. Your body is a vessel to facilitate the same. Spirituality brings about a change in your attitude and outlook of your mind by healing your soul. This in turn affects your body. A thought, irrespective of its nature as positive or negative, has immense power and the ability to attract and magnify its effect on human life. You may have heard about the 7 Laws of Attraction. Well, guess what? They work, every one of them. There are people who have successfully applied them and can testify to their power. If you focus on how a certain disease has overpowered your health and threw it off-balance, you are feeding it with enough energy to really destroy you. However, if you believe you can overcome it, you will empower your healing process. This is what spiritual healing is about. While the above example is about physical healing, as I have said before, it can heal every sphere of your life. Spiritual healing IS real. If spiritual healing was not real, I don’t think so many people would start turning to it. The results may be immeasurable in physical terms, but they are certainly getting positive feedback from success stories around the world. If you believe in spirituality, spiritual healing could definitely help you deal with your mental and emotional issues. After all, the human body is a synchronization of the physical, psychological and spiritual. They are all connected in ways beyond our understanding and I do not believe that healing your subconscious cannot heal your aura. It cannot be denied that there have been several instances when opting for spiritual healing instead of getting medical assistance lead to severe repercussions such as permanent disability and even death. However, on the other hand, there are living examples of people who could not find relief through medical procedures and after years of suffering, turned to spiritual healing. And, they survived and recovered completely like nothing was ever wrong with their bodies. That is what you call a miracle. Doctors have absolutely no explanation for these cases, so now would you tell me, spiritual healing is not real? It is as real as our existence in this universe.