Upon reviewing our recent poll about stress, I found the results interesting. Behind mental and emotional stressors, environmental stressors are a huge concern that people feel encumber their well being.
After living in Southern California for 7 years, I understand!
The seemingly mundane tasks that everyone perform daily require much greater attention than the average person allots. For instance, getting ready for a day of errands involves a shower and primping. If the water comes from the city system, then that relaxing hot shower is in fact full of disinfectant chemicals that react with organic material in toxic ways. The hot shower is delivering harmful chemicals, like fluoride and chlorine, for the body to absorb via the skin and breath. Then, there’s the soap, shampoo and conditioning products used. Sadly, even the “natural” products are still full of unpronounceable, toxic ingredients. Following that cleansing shower, often comes the body lotion, deodorant, styling aides and makeup. All of which can become very troublesome when zero attention is applied to the list of ingredients. Go figure that a trip to the grocery store could be more harmful than expected before stepping out the door.
If you wonder how impactful these things are, I encourage you to watch this video about The Story of Cosmetics put out by the Story of Stuff Project: http://storyofstuff.org/cosmetics/ . I can say first hand that the impact of such toxic chemicals has a debilitating impact on a person’s health. I’ve watched my mom, a career cosmetologist and makeup artist, suffer health-wise for decades.
But if you are also like me, you may think, “that’s not happening to me, because I do a good job keeping my home free of disease-causing agents.”
I am writing to say, think again.
I recently tried a new hair care system, because it was paraben free, sulfate free and organic. It said it was cruelty free, and, yes, the packaging was pretty. I was sucked in.
After a month trial, I thought my new shiny mop was looking better and feeling healthier! Sadly, I was wrong. After entering the list of ingredients into a database, I discovered that on a scale of 0—10 (0 - harmless essentially edible versus 10 - toxic-related disease guaranteed) my new fabulous shampoo was a 6!
The horror!
Then, I got even more concerned that if I was duped once then I was probably wrong about other items in my home. (Concerned is a nice way to say I became obsessed!) After checking my toiletries, let’s just say I went shopping. (I rediscovered a great hair care line too, check it out: http://www.divineresponse.com.)
Why would anyone want to knowingly increase their chances for cancer or some other form of organ failure?
Convenience is one answer. And yes, it’s not convenient to avoid the major stores to shop for choice items. But now, there’s the internet. We can get anything from anywhere with a click.
So here’s my challenge, look up your products in the database (if they aren’t listed you can search by pasting the ingredients into a form). See if you are safe or if you are a doctor’s visit waiting to happen. Yes, it takes some time, but it is well worth the confidence and security in your health.
http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/
Let me know what you find, too!
To less stress...and NOT being duped,
Erica
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Dear Senator...Bill S510???
Dear Senator,
I am writing to express my concern with your sponsorship of Senate Bill 510.
This bill not only represents a blatant and insidious attempt to place more power into the hands of centralized government, taking away individual liberties, but it allows for the manipulation of our food supply. No other country in the world, not China and not Cuba, would be so brazen and uninformed as to allow governmental
intrusions into individual rights by allowing authorities to take away one's freedom to grow, sell, and buy food, and making these things crimes punishable by imprisonment.
Please ponder the following questions: why are we becoming less of a free nation and moving towards one of unchecked governmental rules, restrictions and regulations? What is it about the current legislative body that is propelling us in that direction? Most importantly, who would willingly choose to live in a country where it is a crime to simply grow (natural, unadulterated) food and share it with friends and neighbors?
This is especially problematic, in light of the problems facing the health care industry and associated costs, most of which will fall onto the backs of taxpayers. We can do a great deal of good in respect of our collective health, and reduce costs, by (i) educating the public on the benefits of live (unprocessed) food, and (ii) ensuring access to such foods. That should be where the legislative process works its magic to do good things. This bill takes us in the entirely wrong direction.
Please do the right thing and remove your sponsorship from Bill S510.
Please help those of us who are well-informed about nutrition, and stand up for individual rights and liberties by defeating it.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Concerned Citizen Q
FIND OUT WHERE TO SEND THIS LETTER. YOUR SENATOR'S CONTACT INFO IS HERE!
I am writing to express my concern with your sponsorship of Senate Bill 510.
This bill not only represents a blatant and insidious attempt to place more power into the hands of centralized government, taking away individual liberties, but it allows for the manipulation of our food supply. No other country in the world, not China and not Cuba, would be so brazen and uninformed as to allow governmental
intrusions into individual rights by allowing authorities to take away one's freedom to grow, sell, and buy food, and making these things crimes punishable by imprisonment.
Please ponder the following questions: why are we becoming less of a free nation and moving towards one of unchecked governmental rules, restrictions and regulations? What is it about the current legislative body that is propelling us in that direction? Most importantly, who would willingly choose to live in a country where it is a crime to simply grow (natural, unadulterated) food and share it with friends and neighbors?
This is especially problematic, in light of the problems facing the health care industry and associated costs, most of which will fall onto the backs of taxpayers. We can do a great deal of good in respect of our collective health, and reduce costs, by (i) educating the public on the benefits of live (unprocessed) food, and (ii) ensuring access to such foods. That should be where the legislative process works its magic to do good things. This bill takes us in the entirely wrong direction.
Please do the right thing and remove your sponsorship from Bill S510.
Please help those of us who are well-informed about nutrition, and stand up for individual rights and liberties by defeating it.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Concerned Citizen Q
FIND OUT WHERE TO SEND THIS LETTER. YOUR SENATOR'S CONTACT INFO IS HERE!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
The Power of Attention...continued
In my last article, I spoke of the importance of "attention" in building the Kundalini Fire (fundamental life force) for personal and spiritual development.
Remember why it is crucial?
Because energy follows attention, and wherever your attention is at any moment, your energy will be there, also. Therefore, it is vitally important to understand and practice "present-centered attention" (or PCA).
What does "present-centered attention" mean? Is it a type of prayer, a meditation, mindfulness, or some other transformational technique?
The proper application of attention or as I call it, PCA (present-centered attention) is none of the above. In fact, it has nothing to do with the use of the mind or the instruments of the mind.
You may wonder now, “So, if PCA has nothing to do with the mind, then how do you do it?”
Well, that is just it you don't do it. It does you. You allow it to happen by giving up over and over! You could say it's a form of surrendering. You see, to be in the present moment, you can't be there or at least the "you" who you've come to identify yourself as can't be there.
Get it?
The "you" who you've come to believe is you is a seeker -- a seeker of experiences. The pre-sent moment is what exits prior to the seeker and its seeking. It’s pre-sent or before. So, this seeker must go. The pre-sent moment is what exists when the seeker gives up, surrenders or collapses.
I like to refer to the seeker as the Bull$hit Artist, B$A for short, because it's insidious, constantly fooling us, like a con-artist!
The challenge is dismantling the B$A. The difficulty lies in the holographic nature of it all. The B$A is not separate from what it seeks. In fact, it is what it seeks. And since the B$A is built upon its past or past experiences, what it seeks in the imaginary future is really just projected memories. Therefore, any new experience in the imaginary future simply reinforces its existence and thus creates a perpetual feedback loop keeping it stuck in the past! It's similar to kicking a dog and getting bitten. Then turning around and kicking the dog for biting you, only to get bitten again. Each time, the kicks and the bites get harder and reinforce the cycle or madness. This is bull$hittin.
I dive into this deeper in our upcoming book, Shen Life. In it, I point out the importance of realizing the problem of seeking and the deeper implications of seeking before beginning the practice of "present-centered attention." The danger is an unchecked practice breeds a new and more insidious form of seeking– spiritual seeking.
Typically, meditation, prayer and other self-help techniques have an intention to get somewhere, or achieve something—to seek something in the imaginary future, like enlightenment, spirit, wealth, health, etc. In fact, the more intent the attempt to fix the B$A, make it better, or get something in the great out-there, the stronger it becomes. In PCA, nothing is sought, nothing is avoided nor resisted, not even pain, anguish, anger, loss, failure, or fear. All is welcome, good, bad, or whatever. Nothing is held onto, not even bliss, ecstasy nor delight. Attention is allowed to jump, hop, move, and do its thing. After all, it's the chronic fixation on experiences, internal and external, good and bad, healthy and unhealthy, that is the real problem. So, the key is to allow the chronic fixation to dislodge and run its course. All states are recognized as temporal, nothing to be loved or feared, just allowed to pass. Until, even attention itself relaxes. Here (a non-local "here"), Shen reveals itself as you.
Here's an exercise you can try.
Sit and watch how attention jumps from thoughts, to emotions, to sensations, to external phenomena, and so on. Just watch. Then, as it begins to slow down, watch "who" is doing the watching. And so on and so on and so on.
This can be exhausting!
Finally, after much watching, an "irritable discontent" ought to arise. Now you are getting somewhere. Simply, fall, sink, relax, let go, surrender, melt, or whatever into the irritable discontent, over and over and over and over until Shen reveals itself as You.
Shen can be likened to the Supreme Unknown, the Absolute, Undifferentiated Awareness, the Great Beyond, Ultimate Reality, or Absolute Freedom. It is here, Shen, which is everywhere and nowhere at the same time, where what is referred to as healing, transformation, and conscious evolution takes place.
Just to be clear, conscious evolution or healing doesn't happen in linear time as we think of it either. It’s more like a falling away of conditioned time that reveals what has always been there unchanged by time, the pre-sent moment, Shen.
Think of it like this… you are in a dark room, or at least you think it is dark. The truth is it is dark, because you have a bag on your head. It takes you a while to figure it out, since that bag has been on your head for years and you've become used to it. You grown so accustom to it that you think it is part of your being, who you are; hence the Bull$hit Artist. When you finally get it off, you realized that there was always light in the room, only the bag kept you in the dark. Now, during your struggle to figure it out, time passed. This is what is commonly referred to as the healing process, the removal of the bag, letting go of your personal story, your memories—bull$hittin’. However, in the big scheme of things, neither the bag (the B$A) nor your process (bull$hittin) did anything to change the absolute fact that the room was full of Light. The B$A and its B$ just obstructed your awareness of what was already present or pre-sent.
Once you understand seeking is the problem and it’s the B$A’s modus operandi, that is moving and jumping around like a cat on a hot tin roof seeking one experience after another, like a junkie looking for the next fix, then you'll be ready to let it go; thereby, letting go of the B$A. Of course, this usually has to be realized over and over. Not until "frustrated incorporated" becomes your general experience will the "sense of urgency" be great enough to finish the job.
Remember, PCA is just a tool, and Shen Life is just a map, not the destination or territory. So, don’t fixate on these items, just discard them once the collapsing is done.
There you have it...now have fun!
~Stephen
Remember why it is crucial?
Because energy follows attention, and wherever your attention is at any moment, your energy will be there, also. Therefore, it is vitally important to understand and practice "present-centered attention" (or PCA).
What does "present-centered attention" mean? Is it a type of prayer, a meditation, mindfulness, or some other transformational technique?
The proper application of attention or as I call it, PCA (present-centered attention) is none of the above. In fact, it has nothing to do with the use of the mind or the instruments of the mind.
You may wonder now, “So, if PCA has nothing to do with the mind, then how do you do it?”
Well, that is just it you don't do it. It does you. You allow it to happen by giving up over and over! You could say it's a form of surrendering. You see, to be in the present moment, you can't be there or at least the "you" who you've come to identify yourself as can't be there.
Get it?
The "you" who you've come to believe is you is a seeker -- a seeker of experiences. The pre-sent moment is what exits prior to the seeker and its seeking. It’s pre-sent or before. So, this seeker must go. The pre-sent moment is what exists when the seeker gives up, surrenders or collapses.
I like to refer to the seeker as the Bull$hit Artist, B$A for short, because it's insidious, constantly fooling us, like a con-artist!
The challenge is dismantling the B$A. The difficulty lies in the holographic nature of it all. The B$A is not separate from what it seeks. In fact, it is what it seeks. And since the B$A is built upon its past or past experiences, what it seeks in the imaginary future is really just projected memories. Therefore, any new experience in the imaginary future simply reinforces its existence and thus creates a perpetual feedback loop keeping it stuck in the past! It's similar to kicking a dog and getting bitten. Then turning around and kicking the dog for biting you, only to get bitten again. Each time, the kicks and the bites get harder and reinforce the cycle or madness. This is bull$hittin.
I dive into this deeper in our upcoming book, Shen Life. In it, I point out the importance of realizing the problem of seeking and the deeper implications of seeking before beginning the practice of "present-centered attention." The danger is an unchecked practice breeds a new and more insidious form of seeking– spiritual seeking.
Typically, meditation, prayer and other self-help techniques have an intention to get somewhere, or achieve something—to seek something in the imaginary future, like enlightenment, spirit, wealth, health, etc. In fact, the more intent the attempt to fix the B$A, make it better, or get something in the great out-there, the stronger it becomes. In PCA, nothing is sought, nothing is avoided nor resisted, not even pain, anguish, anger, loss, failure, or fear. All is welcome, good, bad, or whatever. Nothing is held onto, not even bliss, ecstasy nor delight. Attention is allowed to jump, hop, move, and do its thing. After all, it's the chronic fixation on experiences, internal and external, good and bad, healthy and unhealthy, that is the real problem. So, the key is to allow the chronic fixation to dislodge and run its course. All states are recognized as temporal, nothing to be loved or feared, just allowed to pass. Until, even attention itself relaxes. Here (a non-local "here"), Shen reveals itself as you.
Here's an exercise you can try.
Sit and watch how attention jumps from thoughts, to emotions, to sensations, to external phenomena, and so on. Just watch. Then, as it begins to slow down, watch "who" is doing the watching. And so on and so on and so on.
This can be exhausting!
Finally, after much watching, an "irritable discontent" ought to arise. Now you are getting somewhere. Simply, fall, sink, relax, let go, surrender, melt, or whatever into the irritable discontent, over and over and over and over until Shen reveals itself as You.
Shen can be likened to the Supreme Unknown, the Absolute, Undifferentiated Awareness, the Great Beyond, Ultimate Reality, or Absolute Freedom. It is here, Shen, which is everywhere and nowhere at the same time, where what is referred to as healing, transformation, and conscious evolution takes place.
Just to be clear, conscious evolution or healing doesn't happen in linear time as we think of it either. It’s more like a falling away of conditioned time that reveals what has always been there unchanged by time, the pre-sent moment, Shen.
Think of it like this… you are in a dark room, or at least you think it is dark. The truth is it is dark, because you have a bag on your head. It takes you a while to figure it out, since that bag has been on your head for years and you've become used to it. You grown so accustom to it that you think it is part of your being, who you are; hence the Bull$hit Artist. When you finally get it off, you realized that there was always light in the room, only the bag kept you in the dark. Now, during your struggle to figure it out, time passed. This is what is commonly referred to as the healing process, the removal of the bag, letting go of your personal story, your memories—bull$hittin’. However, in the big scheme of things, neither the bag (the B$A) nor your process (bull$hittin) did anything to change the absolute fact that the room was full of Light. The B$A and its B$ just obstructed your awareness of what was already present or pre-sent.
Once you understand seeking is the problem and it’s the B$A’s modus operandi, that is moving and jumping around like a cat on a hot tin roof seeking one experience after another, like a junkie looking for the next fix, then you'll be ready to let it go; thereby, letting go of the B$A. Of course, this usually has to be realized over and over. Not until "frustrated incorporated" becomes your general experience will the "sense of urgency" be great enough to finish the job.
Remember, PCA is just a tool, and Shen Life is just a map, not the destination or territory. So, don’t fixate on these items, just discard them once the collapsing is done.
There you have it...now have fun!
~Stephen
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