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School Replaces Detention With Meditation With Remarkable Results

Imagine you’re working at a school and one of the kids is starting to act up. What do you do?

Traditionally, the answer would be to give the unruly kid detention or suspension.

But in my memory, detention tended to involve staring at walls, bored out of my mind, trying to either surreptitiously talk to the kids around me without getting caught or trying to read a book. If it was designed to make me think about my actions, it didn’t really work. It just made everything feel stupid and unfair.

But Robert W. Coleman Elementary School has been doing something different when students act out: offering meditation.

Photo from Holistic Life Foundation, used with permission.

Instead of punishing disruptive kids or sending them to the principal’s office, the Baltimore school has something called the Mindful Moment Room instead.

The room looks nothing like your standard windowless detention room. Instead, it’s filled with lamps, decorations, and plush purple pillows. Misbehaving kids are encouraged to sit in the room and go through practices like breathing or meditation, helping them calm down and re-center. They are also asked to talk through what happened.

Meditation and mindfulness are pretty interesting, scientifically.

Photo from Holistic Life Foundation, used with permission.

Mindful meditation has been around in some form or another for thousands of years. Recently, though, science has started looking at its effects on our minds and bodies, and it’s finding some interesting effects.

One study, for example, suggested that mindful meditation could give practicing soldiers a kind of mental armor against disruptive emotions, and it can improve memory too. Another suggested mindful meditation could improve a person’s attention span and focus.

Individual studies should be taken with a grain of salt (results don’t always carry in every single situation), but overall, science is starting to build up a really interesting picture of how awesome meditation can be. Mindfulness in particular has even become part of certain fairly successful psychotherapies.

Back at the school, the Mindful Moment Room isn’t the only way Robert W. Coleman Elementary has been encouraging its kids.

After-school yoga. Photo from Holistic Life Foundation, used with permission.

The meditation room was created as a partnership with the Holistic Life Foundation, a local nonprofit that runs other programs as well. For more than 10 years the foundation has been offering the after-school program Holistic Me, where kids from pre-K through the fifth grade practice mindfulness exercises and yoga.

“It’s amazing,” said Kirk Philips, the Holistic Me coordinator at Robert W. Coleman. “You wouldn’t think that little kids would meditate in silence. And they do.”

I want to be as cool as this kid one day. Photo from Holistic Life Foundation, used with permission.

There was a Christmas party, for example, where the kids knew they were going to get presents but were still expected to do meditation first.

“As a little kid, that’s got to be hard to sit down and meditate when you know you’re about to get a bag of gifts, and they did it! It was beautiful, we were all smiling at each other watching them,” said Philips.

The program also helps mentor and tutor the kids, as well as teach them about the environment.

Building a vegetable garden. Photo from Holistic Life Foundation, used with permission.

They help clean up local parks, build gardens, and visit nearby farms. Philips said they even teach kids to be co-teachers, letting them run the yoga sessions.

This isn’t just happening at one school, either. Lots of schools are trying this kind of holistic thinking, and it’s producing incredible results.

In the U.K., for example, the Mindfulness in Schools Project is teaching adults how to set up programs. Mindful Schools, another nonprofit, is helping to set up similar programs in the United States.

Oh, and by the way, the schools are seeing a tangible benefit from this program, too.

Philips said that at Robert W. Coleman Elementary, there have been exactly zero suspensions last year and so far this year. Meanwhile, nearby Patterson Park High School, which also uses the mindfulness programs, said suspension rates dropped and attendance increased as well.

Is that wholly from the mindfulness practices? It’s impossible to say, but those are pretty remarkable numbers, all the same.

 Sourced from: http://www.upworthy.com/this-school-replaced-detention-with-meditation-the-results-are-stunning

A neuroscience researcher reveals 4 rituals that will make you happier

Editor’s note:  I love this piece and absolutely agree with the advice given. Following these rituals will certainly make it easier to find happiness, or as I like to say, acceptance and contentment.   Finding gratitude – at least searching for it – helps and believe me when I say at times I have said “i have NOTHING to be grateful for” – but it is in the searching that can switch things in the brain.  If anything,  I am always grateful for a warm comfy bed.  And my child.  

You get all kinds of happiness advice on the internet from people who don’t know what they’re talking about. Don’t trust them.

Actually, don’t trust me either. Trust neuroscientists. They study that gray blob in your head all day and have learned a lot about what truly will make you happy.

UCLA neuroscience researcher Alex Korb has some insights that can create an upward spiral of happiness in your life.

Here’s what you and I can learn from the people who really have answers:

1. The most important question to ask when you feel down

Sometimes it doesn’t feel like your brain wants you to be happy. You may feel guilty or shameful. Why?

Believe it or not, guilt and shame activate the brain’s reward center.

Via The Upward Spiral:

Despite their differences, pride, shame, and guilt all activate similar neural circuits, including the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, amygdala, insula, and the nucleus accumbens. Interestingly, pride is the most powerful of these emotions at triggering activity in these regions — except in the nucleus accumbens, where guilt and shame win out. This explains why it can be so appealing to heap guilt and shame on ourselves — they’re activating the brain’s reward center.

And you worry a lot, too. Why? In the short term, worrying makes your brain feel a little better — at least you’re doing something about your problems.

Via The Upward Spiral:

In fact, worrying can help calm the limbic system by increasing activity in the medial prefrontal cortex and decreasing activity in the amygdala. That might seem counterintuitive, but it just goes to show that if you’re feeling anxiety, doing something about it — even worrying — is better than doing nothing.

But guilt, shame, and worry are horrible, long-term solutions. So what do neuroscientists say you should do? Ask yourself this question:

What am I grateful for?

Yeah, gratitude is awesome … but does it really affect your brain at the biological level? Yup.

You know what the antidepressant Wellbutrin does? Boosts the neurotransmitter dopamine. So does gratitude.

Via The Upward Spiral:

The benefits of gratitude start with the dopamine system, because feeling grateful activates the brain stem region that produces dopamine. Additionally, gratitude toward others increases activity in social dopamine circuits, which makes social interactions more enjoyable …

Know what Prozac does? Boosts the neurotransmitter serotonin. So does gratitude.

Via The Upward Spiral:

One powerful effect of gratitude is that it can boost serotonin. Trying to think of things you are grateful for forces you to focus on the positive aspects of your life. This simple act increases serotonin production in the anterior cingulate cortex.

I know, sometimes life lands a really mean punch in the gut and it feels like there’s nothing to be grateful for. Guess what?

Doesn’t matter. You don’t have to find anything. It’s the searching that counts.

Via The Upward Spiral:

It’s not finding gratitude that matters most; it’s remembering to look in the first place. Remembering to be grateful is a form of emotional intelligence. One study found that it actually affected neuron density in both the ventromedial and lateral prefrontal cortex. These density changes suggest that as emotional intelligence increases, the neurons in these areas become more efficient. With higher emotional intelligence, it simply takes less effort to be grateful.

And gratitude doesn’t just make your brain happy — it can also create a positive feedback loop in your relationships. So express that gratitude to the people you care about.

For more on how gratitude can make you happier and more successful, click here.

But what happens when bad feelings completely overtake you? When you’re really in the dumps and don’t even know how to deal with it? There’s an easy answer …

unhappy sad frustrated personPoint out the things that upset you. ibm4381/Flickr

2. Label negative feelings

You feel awful. OK, give that awfulness a name. Sad? Anxious? Angry?

Boom. It’s that simple. Sound stupid? Your noggin disagrees.

Via The Upward Spiral:

[I]n one fMRI study, appropriately titled “Putting Feelings into Words” participants viewed pictures of people with emotional facial expressions. Predictably, each participant’s amygdala activated to the emotions in the picture. But when they were asked to name the emotion, the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex activated and reduced the emotional amygdala reactivity. In other words, consciously recognizing the emotions reduced their impact.

Suppressing emotions doesn’t work and can backfire on you.

Via Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long:

Gross found that people who tried to suppress a negative emotional experience failed to do so. While they thought they looked fine outwardly, inwardly their limbic system was just as aroused as without suppression, and in some cases, even more aroused. Kevin Ochsner, at Columbia, repeated these findings using an fMRI. Trying not to feel something doesn’t work, and in some cases even backfires.

But labeling, on the other hand, makes a big difference.

Via Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long:

To reduce arousal, you need to use just a few words to describe an emotion, and ideally use symbolic language, which means using indirect metaphors, metrics, and simplifications of your experience. This requires you to activate your prefrontal cortex, which reduces the arousal in the limbic system. Here’s the bottom line: describe an emotion in just a word or two, and it helps reduce the emotion.

Ancient methods were way ahead of us on this one. Meditation has employed this for centuries. Labeling is a fundamental tool of mindfulness.

In fact, labeling affects the brain so powerfully it works with other people, too. Labeling emotions is one of the primary tools used by FBI hostage negotiators.

To learn more of the secrets of FBI hostage negotiators, click here.

Okay, hopefully you’re not reading this and labeling your current emotional state as bored. Maybe you’re not feeling awful but you probably have things going on in your life that are causing you some stress. Here’s a simple way to beat them.

thinkingMake decisions to do things you enjoy. Francisco Osorio/Flickr

3. Make that decision

Ever make a decision and then your brain finally feels at rest? That’s no random occurrence.

Brain science shows that making decisions reduces worry and anxiety — as well as helping you solve problems.

Via The Upward Spiral:

Making decisions includes creating intentions and setting goals — all three are part of the same neural circuitry and engage the prefrontal cortex in a positive way, reducing worry and anxiety. Making decisions also helps overcome striatum activity, which usually pulls you toward negative impulses and routines. Finally, making decisions changes your perception of the world — finding solutions to your problems and calming the limbic system.

But deciding can be hard. I agree. So what kind of decisions should you make? Neuroscience has an answer.

Make a “good enough” decision. Don’t sweat making the absolute 100% best decision. We all know being a perfectionist can be stressful. And brain studies back this up.

Trying to be perfect overwhelms your brain with emotions and makes you feel out of control.

Via The Upward Spiral:

Trying for the best, instead of good enough, brings too much emotional ventromedial prefrontal activity into the decision-making process. In contrast, recognizing that good enough is good enough activates more dorsolateral prefrontal areas, which helps you feel more in control …

As Swarthmore professor Barry Schwartz said in my interview with him: “Good enough is almost always good enough.”

So when you make a decision, your brain feels you have control. And, as I’ve talked about before, a feeling of control reduces stress. But here’s what’s really fascinating: Deciding also boosts pleasure.

Via The Upward Spiral:

Actively choosing caused changes in attention circuits and in how the participants felt about the action, and it increased rewarding dopamine activity.

Want proof? No problem. Let’s talk about cocaine.

You give two rats injections of cocaine. Rat A had to pull a lever first. Rat B didn’t have to do anything. Any difference? Yup: Rat A gets a bigger boost of dopamine.

Via The Upward Spiral:

So they both got the same injections of cocaine at the same time, but rat A had to actively press the lever, and rat B didn’t have to do anything. And you guessed it — rat A released more dopamine in its nucleus accumbens.

So what’s the lesson here? Next time you buy cocaine … whoops, wrong lesson. Point is, when you make a decision on a goal and then achieve it, you feel better than when good stuff just happens by chance.

And this answers the eternal mystery of why dragging your butt to the gym can be so hard.

If you go because you feel you have to or you should, well, it’s not really a voluntary decision. Your brain doesn’t get the pleasure boost. It just feels stress. And that’s no way to build a good exercise habit.

Via The Upward Spiral:

Interestingly, if they are forced to exercise, they don’t get the same benefits, because without choice, the exercise itself is a source of stress.

So make more decisions. Neuroscience researcher Alex Korb sums it up nicely:

We don’t just choose the things we like; we also like the things we choose.

To learn what neuroscientists say is the best way to use caffeine, click here.

OK, you’re being grateful, labeling negative emotions and making more decisions. Great, but this is feeling kinda lonely for a happiness prescription. Let’s get some other people in here.

What’s something you can do with others that neuroscience says is a path to mucho happiness? And something that’s stupidly simple so you don’t get lazy and skip it? Brain docs have an answer for you.

happy laughing friendsHave fun with friends. Business Insider

4. Touch people

No, not indiscriminately; that can get you in a lot of trouble.

But we need to feel love and acceptance from others. When we don’t it’s painful. And I don’t mean “awkward” or “disappointing.” I mean actually painful.

Neuroscientists did a study where people played a ball-tossing video game. The other players tossed the ball to you and you tossed it back to them. Actually, there were no other players; that was all done by the computer program.

But the subjects were told the characters were controlled by real people. So what happened when the “other players” stopped playing nice and didn’t share the ball?

Subjects’ brains responded the same way as if they experienced physical pain. Rejection doesn’t just hurt like a broken heart; your brain feels it like a broken leg.

Via The Upward Spiral:

In fact, as demonstrated in an MRI experiment, social exclusion activates the same circuitry as physical pain … at one point they stopped sharing, only throwing back and forth to each other, ignoring the participant. This small change was enough to elicit feelings of social exclusion, and it activated the anterior cingulate and insula, just like physical pain would.

Relationships are important to your brain’s feeling of happiness. Want to take that to the next level? Touch people.

Via The Upward Spiral:

One of the primary ways to release oxytocin is through touching. Obviously, it’s not always appropriate to touch most people, but small touches like handshakes and pats on the back are usually okay. For people you’re close with, make more of an effort to touch more often.

Touching is incredibly powerful. We just don’t give it enough credit. It makes you more persuasive, increases team performance, improves your flirting … heck, it even boosts math skills.

Touching someone you love actually reduces pain. In fact, when studies were done on married couples, the stronger the marriage, the more powerful the effect.

Via The Upward Spiral:

In addition, holding hands with someone can help comfort you and your brain through painful situations. One fMRI study scanned married women as they were warned that they were about to get a small electric shock. While anticipating the painful shocks, the brain showed a predictable pattern of response in pain and worrying circuits, with activation in the insula, anterior cingulate, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. During a separate scan, the women either held their husbands’ hands or the hand of the experimenter. When a subject held her husband’s hand, the threat of shock had a smaller effect. The brain showed reduced activation in both the anterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex — that is, less activity in the pain and worrying circuits. In addition, the stronger the marriage, the lower the discomfort-related insula activity.

So hug someone today. And do not accept little, quick hugs. No, no, no. Tell them your neuroscientist recommended long hugs.

Via The Upward Spiral:

A hug, especially a long one, releases a neurotransmitter and hormone oxytocin, which reduces the reactivity of the amygdala.

Research shows getting five hugs a day for four weeks increases happiness big time.

Don’t have anyone to hug right now? No? (I’m sorry to hear that. I would give you a hug right now if I could.) But there’s an answer: Neuroscience says you should go get a massage.

Via The Upward Spiral:

The results are fairly clear that massage boosts your serotonin by as much as 30 percent. Massage also decreases stress hormones and raises dopamine levels, which helps you create new good habits … Massage reduces pain because the oxytocin system activates painkilling endorphins. Massage also improves sleep and reduces fatigue by increasing serotonin and dopamine and decreasing the stress hormone cortisol.

So spend time with other people and give some hugs. Sorry, texting is not enough.

When you put people in a stressful situation and then let them visit loved ones or talk to them on the phone, they felt better. What about when they just texted? Their bodies responded the same as if they had no support at all.

Via The Upward Spiral:

[T]he text-message group had cortisol and oxytocin levels similar to the no-contact group.

Author’s note: I totally approve of texting if you make a hug appointment.

To learn what neuroscience says is the best way to get smarter and happier, click here.

OK, I don’t want to strain your brain with too much info. Let’s round it up and learn the quickest and easiest way to start that upward spiral of neuroscience-inspired happiness.

Sum up

Here’s what brain research says will make you happy:

  • Ask “What am I grateful for?” No answers? Doesn’t matter. Just searching helps.
  • Label those negative emotions. Give it a name and your brain isn’t so bothered by it.
  • Decide. Go for “good enough” instead of ‘best decision ever made on Earth.”
  • Hugs, hugs, hugs. Don’t text — touch.

So what’s the simple way to start that upward spiral of happiness?

Just send someone a thank-you email. If you feel awkward about it, you can send them this post to tell them why.

This really can start an upward spiral of happiness in your life. UCLA neuroscience researcher Alex Korb explains:

Everything is interconnected. Gratitude improves sleep. Sleep reduces pain. Reduced pain improves your mood. Improved mood reduces anxiety, which improves focus and planning. Focus and planning help with decision making. Decision making further reduces anxiety and improves enjoyment. Enjoyment gives you more to be grateful for, which keeps that loop of the upward spiral going. Enjoyment also makes it more likely you’ll exercise and be social, which, in turn, will make you happier.

So thank you for reading this.

And send that thank-you email now to make you and someone you care about happy.

Sourced from: http://www.businessinsider.com/a-neuroscience-researcher-reveals-4-rituals-that-will-make-you-a-happier-person-2015-9

Op-Ed On Current Geopolitical Landscape and RV/GCR

“WEAPONIZED MERCY”

September 23, 2016

Seems to me the RV is a weapon. And the New Powers That Be (NPTB) are using the RV to inflict weaponized mercy upon all sovereign nation states to exterminate the cabal once and for all.

Let me explain.

Take the recent India / Pakistan false flag event for instance. When the cabal attacked India via a faux Pakistani military unit earlier this week, it was like they were openly attacking Russia through its mandatory BRICS alliance. The cabal, therefore, is now trying to drag Russia into a war on every possible front before the RV–to stop the RV–so they can remain in power. Not gonna happen, but lets explore the possibilities.

Their multi-pronged false flag lead up to war approach includes ginned up conflicts in Syria, Palestine, Israel, Turkey, Iraq, Ukraine, even the Black Lives Matters campaign and related racial shootings in large urban cities… even the NFL’s Colin Kapernick national anthem resistance campaign 100% a cabal set up (athletes have long been used as crisis actors–see Muhammad Ali pivoting Muslim).

All of these false flags are highly inflammatory planned distractions that make every attempt to incite riots in very sensitive cultural and religious hot beds, in order to change geopolitical strategy or public opinion in their demented favor. It’s all coordinated propaganda and thus not real. All of it. That’s right, 99% of all the major news networks and beloved anchormen you watch are fake, intelligence agency operatives, trained to mislead you and eliminate critical thinking, with the remaining 1% helpless waiting like sheep for slaughter as only 6 corporations control all the world’s media and pounce on new content providers without buyout offers before they know what hit them.

Yo, that goes for 90% of alternative news, political commentary websites and social activist blogs. All coordinated by a central messaging center, with oversight out of Eastern Europe. I know, it totally sucks right, finding this out for the first time, but keep exploring, it gets so much better. Trust me.

Now if the cabal believes they can still create order through chaos–which as a strategy has worked very successfully for many centuries–they must be still doing. Yet this tactic is clearly backfiring, and the cabal octopus of control simply cannot adapt fast enough to change the course of history–which in turn only accelerates their public exposure and immanent demise. Seriously, what good is a grand invisible conspiracy if nobody gives a shit?

Besides, Russia and India are way too committed to their common end goal of peace and prosperity to allow any meaningful escalation to occur in the Kashmir region. Isn’t it all just so obvious now given the timing of the RV, Paris Agreement, G20 and UN meeting? Seems their own playbook is now openly working against them and they just can’t audible to the right play call. Honestly, the big charade is not only out in the open, it’s become embarrassing to watch (see Hillary Clinton’s body double).

So as the pre-RV situation resolves for both Russia and India, they will simply allow diplomatic restraint to control the hysterical child (Pakistan) until it calms down before bedtime (RV) or permanently isolate their nation, putting them in a proverbial endless timeout, until either they apologize for all their past and present bad behavior or ask to play nicely again in the sandbox with the other 209 treaties nations (a la Turkey). And you know what, the BRICS nations are already doing this with every country… including the great United States of America. Their letting the once proud self-perceived king of the jungle wither and die at their own pace, by their own terms, and by their own choice.

Why? Because the BRICS nations know that these bad actors will be back, maybe never as strong or as powerful, or as well funded, or as motivated, but when evil does lurk its ugly head again in the future, they’ve set precedent as to how they will handle their misbehavior. Like a temper-tantrum throwing child who stops crying when they realign no one is listening anymore.

And this UN/BRICS diplomatic threat is permanent and absolute in its commitment to a strategy of isolation, which is why RV has been held back so long as to be used as a benevolent weapon for positive and sustainable change. Non-compiling sovereign nation states have no chance to escape their grasp, as none can exist post RV without acceptable ratification and implementation of the Paris Agreement–which by its default implements the gold standard–and literally over night creates a series of cataclysmic military and economic sanctions that would turn any population against their governmental leadership, as well as activate a unified world peace keeping force who can and will demand regime change.

So the benefit of continuous rebellion is net nothing. While the benefits of compliance and unity with the rest of the world is everything. Assuming this is truly our new earth reality, there truly is no safe haven for the cabal to regroup as every nation in the free world needs this new money to operate its daily affairs, and grow: which therefore makes the new financial system an instrument of weaponized mercy to be followed or else.

Shut the front door! Hallelujah! And you were worried in Topeka!

Free citizens of the world, be reassured that checkmate in this global chess game has long been called. And control for the soul of the world has long been decided. Love has won victoriously over fear, truth has overcome illusion permanently and unity has gracefully allowed destruction to leave with amnesty. All due to the sacred mandate of Heaven in Chirst’s name. Yes, we are intact entering an era of 1,000 years of white light, agape love, infinite abundance and relentless blessings as one happy family.

Brothers and sisters, that’s just the way it went down in our lifetime.

And it’s also why you will not see any meaningful military issues arise between either India and Pakistan; Israel and Palestine; Syria, Iraq and Turkey; Iraq and the US, or the US and Russian/Iran; as no small matter will be allowed to escalate into anything major moving forward. It just won’t happen.

This is also why every nation-state and its leaders are secretly waiting like well behaved boys and girls at the golden Chinese money trough so as not miss it’s flowing gold backed accounts. And why no nation dares risk their nation’s sovereignty over a few small territorial or hard asset matters, as everyone is terrified of facing international political irrelevance and global fiscal isolation. This is the way it always “should have been,” and well, now it is.

So expect your RV release here well before the end of September if not this weekend, and sit back to enjoy all remaining non-complying bad actors humbly and rapidly fall into line, as if by magic or inspired vision, for all will suddenly be humming the international harmony song or else be permanently removed from relevance in modern culture.

No nation can resist (Israel), no grouping of private families can overcome human ascension (dark nobility) and no higher alien species can reverse the truth of Christ with intellectual superiority (Annunaki).

Surrender is the only way because surrender is the eternal spiritual bottom line.

Sobeit.

Sourced from: http://www.ascensionwithearth.com/2016/09/weaponized-mercy-op-ed-on-current.html#more

The Science of Smudging

Editor’s note:  I’ve been smudging with sage for almost 20 years and can attest to the benefits.  At the very least the energetic space feels better and I have had others claim the same.  It’s subtle and noticeable nonetheless.  Cool to know that it actually clears away harmful bacteria in the air too.  

The practice of smudging dates back to prehistoric times, and is still very much in use today worldwide for cleansing everything from dwellings to human spirits. However recent research has shed light on the popularity of this activity, revealing that burning certain plant matter actually clears harmful bacteria.

All Western use of burning herbs and plants for spiritual purposes aside, the activity rests firmly in the sensibilities of ancient cultures in that, historically, smudging was believed to put forth the spirits of various ‘allies’ to provide ease and balance to an individual or group.shutterstock_119042176

In this way, the practice was used to clear spiritual and emotional negativity that has built up in a body or a space.

Of course, there are skeptics who belittle the practice as unscientific and akin to magic.

The practice has a negative association to a form of cultural imperialism, where traditions of dwindling indigenous populations are co-opted by the descendants of those who more-or-less conquered them.

The scientific paper entitled “Medicinal Smokes” and published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology focuses a scientific lens on the practice, which is becoming more and more widely practiced, despite skepticism.

It serves to play against the role that this activity has played in a culturally diverse range of religions and tribal beliefs.

The research study looked into herbal and non-herbal remedies that were administered by the burning of various matter.

The research included information from 50 countries over 5 continents and found that, predominantly, smoke administered medicinally is mostly used to aid lung, brain and skin function. In addition, it was revealed that passive fumes doubled as a sort of air purifier.

The purpose of the study was to see whether or not these medicinal smoke deliveries could be explored by western medicine, because “The advantages of smoke-based remedies are rapid delivery to the brain, more efficient absorption by the body and lower costs of production.”

A follow up paper published in the same periodical, “Medicinal smoke reduces airborne bacteria,” found that the research concluded that, in addition to health benefits, smudging was a powerful antiseptic.

shutterstock_312949751

“We have observed that 1 hour treatment of medicinal smoke emanated by burning wood and a mixture of odoriferous and medicinal herbs (havan sámagri=material used in oblation to fire all over India), on aerial bacterial population caused over 94% reduction of bacterial counts by 60 min and the ability of the smoke to purify or disinfect the air and to make the environment cleaner was maintained up to 24 hour in the closed room.

Absence of pathogenic bacteria Corynebacterium urealyticum, Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens, Enterobacter aerogenes (Klebsiella mobilis), Kocuria rosea, Pseudomonas syringae pv. persicae, Staphylococcus lentus, and Xanthomonas campestris pv. tardicrescens in the open room even after 30 days is indicative of the bactericidal potential of the medicinal smoke treatment.

We have demonstrated that using medicinal smoke it is possible to completely eliminate diverse plant and human pathogenic bacteria of the air within confined space.”

In short, burning medicinal herbs cleared airborne bacterial populations by 94%, and the space was still found to be disinfected a day later. What’s more, a month after smudging, much of the pathogens originally found were still undetectable.

This has profound implications, as modern air quality in the developed and undeveloped world is atrocious, containing up to 1800 bacterial types, many of them pathogenic. With an increasing deadly array of antibacterial-resistant strains, we’ll need all the help we can get.

Conventional methods of sterilization often employ chemical cocktails that are typicallymuch less effective than purported. Smudging seems to be an effective alternative, while also being natural and safe to use.

In conclusion, the ancient practice of burning powerful herbal material may be much much more than just a primitive belief that we can simply disregard due to it being unscientific.

Of course, this should not take away from the properties of smudging in the area of energy system and soul cleansing and in the power of aromatherapy.

Sourced from: http://thespiritscience.net/2015/11/26/the-science-of-smudging-how-sage-actually-cleans-bacteria-in-the-air/

Life On New Earth

Editor’s note:  It appears this piece was written in 2012.  I must say it resonates with me.  I will bold the statements in the piece that I have also felt we will be experiencing.  Interesting times we are in for certain.  

Life On New Earth ~ Romeo Baron [2012] (A vision from Romeo’s higher self)

New Earth is the name given to our planet after we move into the 5th dimension.

By the end of 2016 new Earth will be fully established, and will take a few more years after that to rebuild many new Earth communities.

After we move to New Earth. We will still have animals, forest, rivers and lakes, grass and birds. However, the Sun will be more bright, yet it will not feel so hot. Everything around us will have more colors and things will look sharper, fresh, and brighter. Not very many people will be here, because many will choose to go to their original home world.

New Earth will not have religions, nor church systems. There will be no political parties, policymakers, rulers, or leaders. We will not have religions, nor church system will have universal rights and there will not be strict laws or regulations on living. The new social system will function on the universal Law of One.

The most important thing about new Earth is how humanity will live. Presently on our planet, we have many disadvantaged groups like people who are homeless, sick, cannot afford a house or have enough food to eat. We have many types of religions around the world and every country has their own laws and rules. We have bad countries that like to hurt people, and there are people that do horrible things to other people and animals. Those behaviors or actions will not exist on new Earth.

All the established careers currently in place such as in governmental, military/police, celebrities, tabloids, legal/taxation systems, banking/financial sector, and various other institutions, will not exist on new Earth in any way, shape or form.

When we move into new Earth, everyone will be treated equally. It will be a world of love, peace, and mutual respect. Everyone will be kind and loving towards each other. Every single person will have the same quality of life. On new Earth, every person will have the same luxuries and we all look after the welfare of each other. Every person will receive free food, cloths, housing, and education. Everyone will have abundance. There will be jobs to contribute to the new Earth projects, working together as a united world, but you will no longer have to focus on survival and struggle to exist, because there will be no monetary system.

On the material level, you will see that on the new Earth, people will be more satisfied with simple means. They will be more respectful towards Earth and have a lifestyle that is more in harmony with nature. Instead of nourishing themselves with material things they will satisfy themselves with spiritual ‘food’. They will feel nourished by the relationships they have with themselves, with nature and with other people.

Living on new Earth means, every single person will be united and equal, without any competition. In our current world, some people think they are more important than other people, and some people have more things than others. All living things that reside on the planet will be respected. New Earth will operate as one large united world, meaning you can live anywhere on the planet, without any passports or restrictions.

Everyone will follow the universal principles of Unconditional Love, Unity, and our faith in the Creator. The Creator is the Life Force Energy that exists everywhere and within everything in the universe.  All of us are connected to the Creator and this is the reason we will live by the simple law of love and unity.

Our new world will be more relaxed, stress free and you will have a healthier lifestyle, which means you will live much longer on new Earth.

Sourced from: https://www.facebook.com/notes/romeo-baron/life-on-new-earth/261685393918444

Rethinking Survival Of The Fittest For A New Paradigm

Earlier today I read a piece on how to make life simpler.  One of the ideas said not to expect anyone to rescue you.  It is up to us to suit up, put on our own armor and go out and conquer the world.  Take what we want.

Isn’t that a rather archaic, unevolved way of thinking and being?  Haven’t we all learned by now that sometimes you DO need to “lead the horse to water”?

Let’s face facts here friends.  The very system’s which govern our lives are what have created this survival of the fittest darkness.  Is that what we really want?  Do we really wish to perpetuate a system that says if you are vulnerable or weak, there is no room for you? Continue reading “Rethinking Survival Of The Fittest For A New Paradigm”

Sheldon Nidle Update:

Editor’s note:  As I wrote last night in my Daily Notes titled “My Predictions”, speaking of this feeling I have had of urgency that something is “supposed” to happen, around 18 years ago and most certainly today.  This piece speaks of how so much of what I speak of WAS supposed to happen almost two decades ago – which is the time I first began having these visions and intuitive messages and felt I was in this waiting period from 1997 to 2001 – when this wave of disappointment came over me.  Validation for my experience is always helpful. Much love to you all.  Use discernment.  Let go.  Be Open.  And Believe.  

Sheldan Nidle Update – September 20, 2016

https://www.loveinactionnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Sheldan_Nidle.jpg
4 Ben, 16 Zip, 13 Caban

Dratzo! Since we first arrived en masse at the end of your 20th century, we have learned in detail how your world works. We have allied ourselves with your Ascended Masters and their numerous Earth allies. In addition, we have had extensive planning sessions with our Agarthan cousins. All our meetings, along with our lengthy scientific study flights and accompanying record-keeping, have prepared us for what is currently taking place on your planet’s surface. Surface humanity is now at a crossroads. Those who seek the Light have achieved much and are finally ready to begin announcing the terms of their incredible triumph. A new global financial system, worldwide freedom and new governance symbolize this victory. Two decades ago, the dark’s minions decided to forego the surrender that their former masters, the Anunnaki offered them. This refusal led you into two decades of unnecessary wars, government-contrived terrorism and a general series of continued corruption and misguided violence. This prolonged era of misdeeds is coming to an end. The much-sought time of peace, freedom and prosperity is about ready to begin.

As this new time starts, we wish to tell you a few more things about ourselves. Our primary intention is a full disclosure. This can permit us to be more open about how we relate to you. We dearly intend at that time to open a broad communication with you. Many still believe that thought of this world being visited constantly by ETs is nonsense. We intend to dispel this concept shortly. When we were told decades ago by Heaven to put this special first contact mission together, we were somewhat skeptical Our Science and Engineering fleets had unanimously labeled your civilization as not yet ready for contact. Our sudden intervention to save your Sun, combined with a number of decrees from the Federation’s Spiritual Council, was a forerunner for what later happened. Hence, we enthusiastically endorsed this huge commitment to your planet and its people. We sent a rather large fleet and started to interact with all dedicated to the Light, such as its many active proponents. It has taken us nearly two decades to achieve countless initial objectives.

The result of these years of getting to know each other is that the Earth-born elements now fully accept us as a part of this very diverse team. Our liaisons regularly plan and advise with other parts of this group. We understand their plans and have contributed to what currently is the final schedule for this immensely complex operation. We are thoroughly dedicated to this project and know when we can, in the near future, land and interact with you personally. Thus, our mentors can make their daily preparations knowing when all of this is to actually happen. This surface world of yours is going to be surprised when what we have discussed unfolds. The new banking system, the prosperity and the freedom that comes with new governance require avid participation from you. The world that you have grown up with is suddenly going to “explode” right in front of you. This immediately needs you to accept a number of game-changing events. It becomes incumbent on you to listen, carefully review them and act.

This rapidly changing reality is being set up to allow you to discover how wondrous your environment has become. This is a new world in which you are to be given a great deal of vital information. You need to receive it all and take the time to review it. Governance is to be dedicated to repeating all of this a number of times. It is essential that you understand what is to be expected of you. In addition to all of this, some of you are to be the first to begin, with a huge learning curve about the new prosperity and its relationship to the new and friendlier financial system. These experiences are to help you achieve your dreams and spread an ever-growing global prosperity. Along with these special events is to be governance that truly requires your active participation. Community groups are needed to interact with this governance at local and regional levels. We intend, as well, to provide some guidance and enable you to fully participate in our contact procedures. Your time as a sort of “mushroom” is truly ready to come to a rapid end.

Blessings! We are your Ascended Masters! This time is especially sweet to us! The great works of our associates are finally coming to fruition. Long ago, Heaven told us that a time was to come when the Anunnaki and their minions were no longer to rule this realm. This long-awaited time is emerging. Those who came to us centuries ago and set up spiritual secret orders dedicated to the Light and its good works are on the edge of monumental success. The Light has forced the last of the dark to contemplate their surrender and arrange for it. All of the major minions have informally surrendered and special dates approved. The dark’s last acts are at present being carried out. We can prepare to rejoice shortly. Glory to Heaven for all of these magnificent blessings! The transformations required are almost ready to occur. These glorious deeds are due in great part to your continuing focus and support. Take the time remaining and use it to come together and thank all in Heaven for these truly grand events.

What is now occurring is a long and very eventful strategy that originally began at the conclusion of the Second World War. The American minions and their followers had finally achieved their centuries-old goal. They had become a vital part of the Anunnaki’s post-war plans. America was founded, not as a potential world power, but as an alternative. We Masters wanted to set an example and give the world a blessed alternative to the global minions that ran this realm. We knew that one day, the Anunnaki was to be turned toward the Light, and this globe needed another example for running a large nation. However, America was in reality being torn apart by two vastly different ways of running it. These differences came to a head in the last half-decade. In the present time, the “powers that be” and their evil agenda are being done away with. A new time is arriving for all peoples.

America at present is to lead this realm into a new period where freedom, prosperity and equality are unbounded. Those who have kept this nation, and the world in general, in bondage no longer are to be in any position to resist this new way. The old perceptions long taught you are to go. Your vision and focus on a new state of Being are to triumph! America’s history is to be revealed and openly discussed. Use this amazing history as a point to avoid even the most evil of agendas in this wondrously evolving realm. Stay strong and be willing to listen and learn all about America and its amazing prophecy! We have many other things to tell you as well. The deeds and lies of the dark need to be made known and the energy of these deeds transformed to Light and sheer blessedness. You are in transition to a new consciousness and are to be treated to true, and newly growing, wisdom. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Today, we carried on with our weekly report. As you can see, many exciting events are ready to take place! Some of these may astound you at first. Remain patient and focus on the good that is to show up! Know, dear Ones, that the countless supply and never-ending prosperity of Heaven are indeed yours! So Be It! Selamat Gajun! Selamat Ja! (Sirian for Be One! and Be in Joy!)

Sourced from: Ascension with Earth