Navy Quietly hacking Out UFO’s

Navy Plans to Document UFO Sightings, But Keep Them Confidential

Navy Plans to Document UFO Sightings, But Keep Them Confidential

Credit: Shutterstock

Extraterrestrials, take note: The U.S. Navy plans to set up an official reporting and investigative system that will monitor reports from its pilots about unidentified flying objects.

But while this “X-Files”-worthy operation sounds newsy, don’t expect to hear details about it anytime soon. The Navy doesn’t intend to make the data public, citing the privileged and classified information that these reports usually include, according to The Washington Post.

“Military aviation safety organizations always retain reporting of hazards to aviation as privileged information in order to preserve the free and honest prioritization and discussion of safety among aircrew,” Joe Gradisher, a spokesman for the Office of the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare, told The Washington Post.

In fact, beyond the announcement that the Navy is setting up this UFO-reporting procedure, “no release of information to the general public is expected,” Gradisher said.

The upcoming procedure comes in the wake of other government-related UFO news. In late 2017, word came out that the Pentagon had a secret “UFO” office that spent $22 million over five years to study strange and threatening aeronautical events. Although funding for the venture, called the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), ended in 2012, the program didn’t entirely stop, according to those reports.

When news of AATIP became public in 2017, the Defense Department released two declassified videos, which showed pilots talking about a bizarre aircraft that appeared to accelerate quickly, even though it had no recognizable means of propulsion. These aircraft, which looked like blobs on the video, could allegedly drive thousands of feet in an instant.

By creating this new program, the Navy hopes to destigmatize any reporting associated with incidents that involve UFOs, which could, after all, be militarized aircraft from other parts of the world.

“There have been a number of reports of unauthorized and/or unidentified aircraft entering various military-controlled ranges and designated air space in recent years,” the Navy told Politico, which broke the story. “For safety and security concerns, the Navy and the [U.S. Air Force] takes these reports very seriously and investigates each and every report.”

The public may get a whiff of these incidents eventually, although the details may be scarce. For instance, perhaps unclassified parts, broad overviews or statistics about the number of sightings could be released, Luis Elizondo, an intelligence officer who ran AATIP before leaving the Pentagon, told The Washington Post.

“If it remains strictly within classified channels, then the ‘right person’ may not actually get the information,” Elizondo said. “The right person doesn’t necessarily mean a military leader. It can be a lawmaker. It can be a whole host of different individuals.”

The government is making a smart move by announcing its intentions to formally document and analyze these UFOs, said Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute in Mountain View, California.

“It will make everybody happy because it sounds like a move toward transparency,” Shostak told Live Science.

With this announcement, the Navy benefits not only because it will formally investigate these strange sightings, which may well be reconnaissance or enemy aircraft from other nations; the Navy is also winning a nod from the roughly two-thirds of Americans who think that the government isn’t divulging everything it knows about extraterrestrials and UFOs, said Shostak, citing a 2002 study on attitudes about aliens.

That said, the government probably isn’t formalizing this program because it’s looking for E.T.

“The military is interested in this stuff not because they think that Klingons are sailing in the skies, but i think because maybe they think the Chinese or the Russians are sailing through the skies,” Shostak said.

from:   https://www.livescience.com/65387-navy-ufo-sightings.html

Vaccine Settlements & Safety

Interesting quote from the article below:   “… vaccines were ruled to be unavoidably unsafe by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2011.”

US Vax Court Sees 400% Spike in Vaccine Injuries – Biggest Payout Goes to Flu Shot

Vaccine injury cases are on the rise people, so if you’ve got your head in the sand and you haven’t been paying attention, it’s time to wake up.

Here’s a little background for those of you just getting started.

By Lori Martin Gregory, Guest writer

Ronnie Reagan… almost 30 years ago to the day, the 40th president of the United States signed away the rights of Americans to sue vaccine makers, replacing them with a law that forces families who have suffered vaccine injury or death to sue the U.S. government instead of a pharmaceutical company.

As a result, special masters from the United States Special Claims Court, also known for our purposes as the vaccine court, are given full authority as judge with no jury to decide the fate of Americans who have had the unfortunate ‘luck’ to be stricken by a vaccine injury — which can range from chronic, mild symptoms to death.

Once a year, this non-traditional court provides the public with a glimpse into its inner workings, by issuing an annual report on its website — a ritual that happens every January.

The report is sent to the President of Congress, otherwise known as the Vice President of the United States, where it is intended to serve as a bell weather monitoring reactions the American public may be having to vaccinations that are increasingly becoming forced by government mandates around the country.

Great, right? Accountability in action?

Wrong.

The report, which is consistently ignored by mainstream media/politicians/health officials and the CDC, lies dormant on the reports page of the U.S. Special Claims Court website.

No headlines, no press release, no analysis, no alert the media, no nothing.

No surprise, given that most people in America don’t even know that vaccines were ruled to be unavoidably unsafe by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2011.

Also no surprise, that mainstream, co-opted, globalist elite media constantly ignore this report, along with sane arguments made by health freedom advocates about the dangers and risks of vaccine injury (‘look! a unicorn!’), instead using terms like ‘the science is in,’ and vaccine risk has been ‘debunked,’ to deter rational discussion pertaining to evidence that is hiding in plain sight.

Also no surprise that the U.S. Special Claims Court offers up an ineffective, low tech, archaic version of the report every year.  Instead of a nice, sort-able spread sheet, the court posts a scanned PDF document — a format which requires labor-intensive activities to conduct any sort of concrete analysis.

One must either re-data-entry all 220+ pages which would take weeks, or conduct an extensive, hand-written breakdown by vaccine of each case, combined with extensive tallying and organization efforts in order to identify statistical relevance and trends emerging from the vaccine court.

Is this by design?  Perhaps.  Most definitely it is at the very least a deterrent from having anybody actually sit down and try to analyze the damn thing.

Which is exactly why we do it, every year since 2014.  Not to be deterred, it took us 10 months to finally finish our analysis of this year’s report.

But once we did, the trends we found were shocking — not just because of what they revealed about the continual increase in vaccine injury, but also because of the deafening silence present among the halls of mainstream media, as vaccine injury continues to be a subject that journalists and media outlets ignore — chalking it up to yet another conspiracy theory from yet another fake news site.

Well pull up a chair and hold on to your hats, because guess what we discovered:

  1. Vaccine court settlement payouts increased in total $91.2 million in 2015, up from $22.8 million in 2014 to $114 million in 2015 — a 400% increase.
  2. Vaccine court settlement payments for flu shots increased the most, from $4.9 million in 2014 to $61 million in 2015 —  an increase of more than 1000%, despite autumnal onslaughts every year of media/pr/advertising campaigns urging Americans to ‘get your flu shot,’ with total abandon for the statistical facts coming out of the vaccine court.
  3. Varicella (chicken pox) had the third biggest increase — from $0 in 2014 to $5.8 million in 2015.  (No surprise shingles is on the rise among the elderly population, as recently vaccinated grandchildren continuously shed live virus to their unsuspecting elders.)
  4. Hepatitis B was the fourth largest increase in vaccine court settlements, increasing 321% in 2015 to more than $8 million in 2015 from $1.9 million in 2014.
  5. TDap/DTP/DPT and D/T shots were the fifth largest increase, leaping 75% in 2014 from $5.5 million to $9.8.

The rest of the settlements not pictured here are: Tetanus, $4 million; HPV $3.4 million, up from almost nothing in 2014 (one to watch in January when the 2016 report is issued); MMR, which actually decreased from the number one position last year to under $1 m — an 88%+ decrease in payouts; pertussis, $1.7 million; thimerisol $1.5 million; HIB, $345k, menginococal $500k, HEP A $408k, DPT & Polio, $210k & rotovirus $76k.

You may have noticed we omitted the second place winner, ‘other.’  Here’s why.

‘Other’ illustrates perfectly the dodgy nature of the vaccine court report, and its lack of transparency in the vaccine court process.  Instead of identifying which combination of vaccines are being charged with injury or death and labeling the case accordingly, a special master can decide to label a vaccine case ‘other,’ thereby diluting its affect on the overall numbers in the final analysis.

In 2015, the ‘other’ category was the second largest increase in vaccine settlement payments, totaling $21.5 million in payouts, up 388% from $4.4 million in payouts the year before.

We’re not accusing anybody of anything.  But, 388% increase is a lot.  What combination of vaccines is causing such an increase?  Doesn’t the public have a right to know?

If the court decided, for example, that there were too many flu shot settlements mounting for the year, couldn’t it simply skew the data by categorizing certain cases as ‘other,’ which would artificially deflate the flu category?

Did we mention that these results are ONLY for the judgements — cases that are found in favor of the plaintiff.

It does NOT include the EXTENSIVE legal fees for both sides, which are paid for by the U.S. government whether the lawyer wins or loses the case?  Those are categorized as costs.

And instead of submitting them in the report along with any judgments that are awarded, often they are entered as separate entries, making the exercise of linking them with their judgement payouts that much harder, requiring yet another step in the arduous, analysis of data.

The total dollar payout of legal fees for the vaccine court in 2015 is $42 million.

Also, a hand full of settlements in the payout are based on annuities — that means that the payouts (many of which total more than $1 million) reoccur annually.

That’s because life as they knew it for some plaintiffs disappeared after their vaccine injury occurred, and the costs to care for them in perpetuity for the life of the plaintiff requires an annual sum that is often extensive.

Also no surprise, that mainstream, co-opted, globalist elite media constantly ignore this report, along with sane arguments made by health freedom advocates about the dangers and risks of vaccine injury (‘look! a unicorn!’), instead using terms like ‘the science is in,’ and vaccine risk has been ‘debunked,’ to deter rational discussion pertaining to evidence that is hiding in plain sight.

Also no surprise that the U.S. Special Claims Court offers up an ineffective, low tech, archaic version of the report every year.  Instead of a nice, sort-able spread sheet, the court posts a scanned PDF document — a format which requires labor-intensive activities to conduct any sort of concrete analysis.

from:   http://humansarefree.com/2019/05/us-vax-court-sees-400-spike-in-vaccine.html

Hopi Gods, Myths, & Prophecies

Ancient Hopi: The Hollow Earth, Flying shields and Ant-like Gods exist


Ancient Ant-like beings Hopi


‘Hopituh Shi-nu-mu’ is the name that one of the Native American tribes is called and means “peaceful people.” The history of the ancient Hopi goes back thousands of years and makes them one of the oldest cultures in the world.

Unlike other mythologies of different cultures which speak of gods that descended from the heavens, in the ancient legends of the Hopi, a different story is told, speaking of mighty gods who reside in the center of the Earth.

But who were they? In a similar way, nearly all pre-Columbian cultures just like the Hopi believe that one day, not too far away, the gods who have shaped human culture will come back to Earth.

They have always lived according to the teachings that were given to them by Masauwu, the Master of the Fourth World, where ethical concepts are deeply rooted in their culture.

However, contrary to many other mythologies that are widespread around the globe, the Hopi believe that their gods do not live in the infinite spaces of the cosmos, but live in the heart of the Earth, conveying the idea of a hollow earth existing right below our feet.

The ancient Hopi speak of their deities as ‘ant men.’ In fact, some of the petroglyphs found near Mishongnovi, Arizona, created by the ancient Hopi depict the enigmatic beings with antennas’ offering an idea of how these strange ant-men looked like.


Ant-like biengs ancient Hopi


According to the mythology of the Hopi, at the beginning of time, Taoiwa, the Creator, created Sotuknang, his nephew, giving him the task of creating nine universes or worlds: one for Taiowa, one for him and the other seven for the overabundance of life. In a cyclical conception of time, in a similar way to Aztec mythology, these worlds would continue cyclically.

The mythology tells that story that the first three worlds, Tokpela, Tokpa, and Kuskurza have already been inhabited and subsequently destroyed due to corruption and wickedness of men. The Hopi speak that the end of each cycle is marked by the return of the gods, and announced by the appearance of the Blue Kachina Star the sign of the ‘Day of Purification,” in which the old world is destroyed, and a new one begins.

Each time one of the worlds is destroyed, the Hopi, the faithful are saved and taken by the gods to the underground cities to escape the destruction of the planet.

In each cyclic destruction, and always according to the mythology of the Hopi, the ‘men-ant’ are crucial for human survival.

The so-called ‘First World’ (Tokpela) was apparently destroyed by the fire of global proportions, perhaps a kind of massive volcanism, or the impact of an asteroid or even a large coronal mass ejection from the Sun of catastrophic proportions.

The ‘Second World’ (Tokpa), however, was destroyed by the cold. Most likely due to a pole shift that caused a massive ice age that destroyed life on the planet.

Interestingly, in the course of these two global cataclysms, the members of the Hopi tribe were guided during the day by a cloud of strange shape and a moving star overnight, leading to the presence of the so-called ‘Ant-Man’ which the Hopi call Anu Sinom. This creature escorted the Hopi to underground caves where they found shelter and sustenance.

Interestingly, in the ancient Sumerian language, Anum or Anu was the god of the. He is the creator of creation.

In the Hopi legend, the mysterious creature that resembled a humanoid-ant is described as a generous and hardworking creature, willing to provide food to the Hopi, and to teach them methods of food preservation so they could survive.


Hopi-Petroglyphs


As you can see, like many cultures around the globe, the ancient Hopi believed in the existence of subterranean chambers, cities which are eerily similar to other theories of the Hollow Earth. The Ancient Hopi also mention the mysterious ant-men gods who helped the ancient Hopi progress through time. However, the ancient Hopi also speak of the patuwvotas or ancient ‘flying shields.’

According to Frank Waters, author of Mystic Mexico: The advent of the Sixth World of Consciousness (1975) it is in the ‘third world’ where the ancient Hopi introduce the concept of the Patuwvotas, or “flying shields’.

In the third cycle, it is said that humanity built a very advanced civilization, and developed the concept of “flying shields,” a sort of vehicle that can quickly travel to different places in the world and devastate entire cities on Earth. The Third World was destroyed by Sotuknang, the nephew of the Creator, with a great flood.

Also, in this case, there is a clear parallel with the Sumerian tradition in which we talk about the great flood that destroyed all previous civilization on the planet. This story is told in the Epic of Gilgamesh, a text which was then taken to biblical tradition in the history of the Flood and Noah’s Ark.

According to the traditions of the Hopi, the survivors of the flood are scattered in different parts of the world, under the guidance of Masauwu, the Spirit of Death and the Master of the Fourth World. A fascinating petroglyph of the Hopi is that where Masauwu is represented piloting a wingless boat that has the shape of a dome. The similarity between the “flying shields” and what we today consider as airplanes or flying saucers, is mind boggling.

It seems evident that the flying shields or ‘ships without wings’ are something ancient cultures around the globe witnessed in the distant past. The ancient Hopi used the term to refer to something that was capable of flying through the skies and transporting people.

from:   https://www.ancient-code.com/ancient-hopi-the-hollow-earth-flying-shields-and-ant-like-gods-exist/

Moving Into What Is Real

5 Examples Of Deception I Uncovered During My Deep Healing

5 Examples Of Deception I Uncovered During My Deep Healing

By Michelle Walling, CHLC
Editor, Howtoexitthematrix.com

As we continue to move forward in our healing and clearing, we can look back on where we have been to see what we have learned. Because we are now into uncharted territory where the forerunners are learning about clearing low vibrational energies simply by experiencing  them and trying to figure out how to choose differently, we can share some stories of hoodwink and deception that we went through by negative entities that were affecting us.

In this article, I am sharing 5 examples of deception I uncovered during my deep healing and clearing process. Some were observations I was making while observing my reality around me, and others were observations from gifted healers and “seers” that assisted me along the way.

Angels, Archangels, and Ascended masters may not always be of the light.

We are in a dualistic reality, where everything is inverted to create a polar opposite. If there really are are good angels, archangels, or ascended masters, in our reality there is also an inverted copy of them as well. Many of the true higher vibrational beings that are “ascended”, meaning of a faster frequency, cannot and will not communicate with the 3d realms. Many, but not all, of the channelings and connections with these beings are simply posers that bring through feel-good information as they warm a person up to complete infiltration over a period of time.

The good news is that there are more and more channelers these days that are truly raising their frequency to be able to receive communication with the truly higher vibratory beings. Many of us are also simply learning what it feels like to interact with the posers by being duped and then by figuring it out after the fact. We are rapidly continuing to increase our individual vibrations, which exponentially will lift the collective into higher frequencies where these false posers cannot exist.

All guides may not be good.

It is surprisingly easy to be led astray from a negative entity posing as a guide. Once an entity gains access to our auric field, it can use thoughts, images, synchronicities, and technologies to lead a person down a lesser timeline or path. How do you know if you are being supported by the highest guidance? If everything is going great in your life and your health is good, then you might just be ok. Perhaps you don’t even rely on guides and have not called anyone or anything into your field. However, if you have dabbled into calling upon guides outside of you for help, or have made an effort to meet your guides in the astral, you may have simply forgotten to call of those that have your highest and best interest in mind.

There are many ways that beings can trick you into making contracts or agreements for them to influence you, and once a contract is made, your truly benevolent guides have to allow that being to be on your board of directors until you break the contract. An example of manipulation could be as far out and simple as meeting you in the dream state when you are 6 years old, while holding out a lollipop and a pen and paper saying “sign here and you have have the lollipop”. This is a simplified example but you can imagine how easy it can be to manipulate a child in his or her dream state.

The good news is that you can simply make an intention that Source/God help you to review of your guidance team, and to state that you wish to tear up any contracts and agreements that you have with guides that do not have your highest and best interests in mind, and for the most loving and high vibrational guidance available to be put in their place on your team.

Perhaps you are simply in need of graduating your guidance to the next level because you have rapidly shifted and changed. For example, when I first started my awakening, my deceased grandmother became one of my primary guides. I quickly accelerated my consciousness and awareness, and before you know it, my grandmother was telling me goodbye. It took me a while to understand that she had to go because I was moving beyond what she could help me with, and by her leaving, she was also moving to a different level in her own ascension path.

True grounding is not what we have been told.

If you are not fully grounded in your body, a part of you may be sitting just outside of your crown chakra. This leaves an opening in your auric field and if you are not in the body, someone or something else could decide to jump in for a ride. Being outside of the body can be caused by traumatic experiences or by not wanting to be here. Our first traumatic experience probably happened to us as a child, and that is when a part of your spirit literally jumps out of your body. As many other traumas occur, parts of you get “frozen” outside of yourself. Entities can also attach or program that frozen part of you and if it does jump back into the body, it can sometimes exist as it’s own personality. This is actually how MK Ultra programming works.

We are told what it means to be grounded, but there aren’t that many accurate teachings telling you how to effectively ground. It is not good enough just to go outside and put your feet on the ground in order to be fully present and in control of your body. After astral traveling/remote viewing, being “shocked” outside of the body, sleeping, meditating, and being “high” on alcohol or drugs, etc. one has to actually imagine and intend to clear the body and energy fields of all negative entities and energies, pull pieces and parts of you back into your body, and shut the crown chakra, or “door”. Yes, walking out in nature is helpful to balance you but it does not actually center and ground you, aligning your emotional, spiritual, etheric, and mental fields with the physical body. True grounding and centering can be done anywhere, but doing your intentions outdoors in nature or in water can facilitate the process.

Not all people are real, or many real people are infiltrated.

This is a multifaceted subject, but in general it can be compared to the movie “The Matrix”, where we are shown the many people walking down the street in a crowded city that can be infiltrated by “Agent Smith” entities. Some of the people in our reality are like background people in a play, meaning that they are biological entities with false souls and an artificial spirit powering the body. As we are actors in a play, learning and having experiences, we have a collective background that uses background actors to run out the story lines. It is very difficult to tell the real, spirited Source beings from the background people if you are not aware of their actions and if you cannot sense energy or psychically “see” the difference.

Unfortunately, some people that seem to be robotic or “not all there” are actually real souled people that have most of their spirit dangling outside of their crown chakra as mentioned before, which allows for other entities to jump in and run their bodies. These entities can jump in and out of people to trigger you in order to siphon energy. Many times they use the people closest to you and you can become very hurt and sad. In fact, most people on the planet can use a good old fashioned exorcism.

The good news is that many people are waking up and getting energy healings and clearings, or better yet they are learning to clear themselves and cut the cords and contracts that allow any entities to enter their auric field. Overall on the planet, the astral entities or archons are also being cleared out of the collective on a massive scale.

Not all of the thoughts I have are mine.

This also ties into having infiltration from entities that do not have your best interests in mind, as a method of control and energy siphoning. You may have a thought that is dropped into your awareness that was purposefully placed there to cause you to make a decision that is not on your highest and best timeline. As a part of the work of being responsible for your thoughts, actions, and deeds, it’s important to always ponder whether what you are thinking is of a high vibration as you act upon that thought or allow it to control your actions.

A negative thought would be something based in a fear vibration such as jealousy, greed, spite, lack, or even sadness that is unfounded. If you have an abundance of these thoughts and are spiraling in your head, an energy healing/clearing may be just what you need. Methods used to infiltrate our thoughts stem from mind control programming through advertising and elf (extremely low frequencies) and trauma induced situations that open up our auric field.

Although this list is not complete, these are some of the most shocking things that I have realized as I have stumbled through my deep healing and clearing sessions. Even though it may seem like we will never get through the layers of awakening and awareness because of the deception that is all around us, there does come a time where you learn to see through these things and you learn not to be so gullible. This mostly happens through having it happen to you, but if we share this information with others, maybe we can save some people from having to go through a lot of heartache. Often times we may not be able to clear someone else, but by clearing ourselves and “unplugging” from the matrix, we are going to help others through the resonance field of raising our vibration. This will affect those closest around us, causing the “fleas” to jump off of them as they will not be able to be in our presence, and it also helps the collective by starving the matrix of energy and moving it towards shifting the collective to a higher timeline where there are less and less dark energies and entities.

About the author

Michelle Walling, CHLC is a Holistic Life Coach, international public speaker, writer, webmaster, and former radio show host for The Cosmic Awakening Show.  In 2013, Michelle started her public career as a spiritual, metaphysical, and esoteric writer, and she is the creator of the website HowToExitTheMatrix.com.

from:    http://howtoexitthematrix.com/2019/04/27/5-examples-of-deception-i-uncovered-during-my-deep-healing/

On Being a Lightworker – Lee Harris


The following is excerpted from the book Energy Speaks by Lee Harris, published by New World Library.

This planet needs as many of you as possible to create the consciousness shift now occurring. And how you feel it! It can feel beautiful, wonderful, joyous, humorous, light, fun. It can also feel torturous and wretched. The shift involves a whole spectrum of emotional states. And in order for consciousness to evolve, this full spectrum must be experienced. You are experiencing the spectrum at various levels of awareness, but the whole shebang, as it were, must be gone through consciously so that the shift can be completed.

This is what you all want.

Your work as lightworkers will challenge you. Oh yes, very much so. Lightworkers need to be at the top of the wave and surfing it, scouting ahead so that everyone behind can swim in clear waters. When we say “behind,” we would suggest that you not get caught up in status. A lightworker is no better — or less — than a human being who is not actively working with the light. It is just how it is. You are no less or more important than the next person. You are a unity of souls. And every soul has their crucial role to play. So be mindful when you judge, for in judging you temporarily separate yourself from your expanded human family.

Competition between lightworkers is being cleared and eliminated at this time; it is one of the final arenas where battles need to cease for this evolutionary shift to occur. As lightworkers, you will sometimes compare yourselves to others. Good. Do it. Experience how it feels, but do it consciously and with awareness so that you may become free of it.

Judging yourself for such comparison and competition will not free you. Being aware of this dynamic as it arises in you will help to do so, for you can then experience the emotions intuitively, intelligently, and honestly — as a way to quicken your growth. You will be able to facilitate the movement of these dark feelings from within yourself. They are part of you. They are part of the world. They are not to be feared. They are simply to be allowed passage through you, for you do not need to harbor them anymore.

You need not see yourself as moving up the levels any faster than your fellow lightworkers, racing against them. You are simply at various stages of focus, discovery, and the implementation of your gifts. Imagine if everyone were at the same place — standing on the same rung of the ladder. Progress would be impeded. How would humanity as a group be able to move forward?

What Do You Believe About Your Power?

Recognizing and owning your personal power is one of the most important steps you will ever take as a lightworker — and a defining moment in your development.

Personal power is not easy for human souls to embrace, for it is not easily embraced in the world. Many of you wrestle with the profound responsibility that standing in your own power demands. It is contained in nature, however. Parts of the world that have been heavily abused by man still hold power. Where a rain forest has been destroyed, there is still great regenerative power in the land. That power cannot be denied. It cannot be permanently stripped.

Whether denied or admitted, it is the same with the human soul. A soul has great power and arrives in human form charged with that power. The experience of life can convince the soul to minimize this power or to give it away. And this perceived lack or loss of power can lead a soul to try to regain it through the domination or abuse of others and the attempt to take power from others. Of course, we say “attempt” because you can take nothing from another soul. Just as you cannot really give yourself or your power away, either.

It is all a matter of beliefs.

And as you know, beliefs are powerful. Beliefs can imprison or free you. Beliefs, along with the thoughts and ideas derived from them, can convince you of anything. Where your personal power is concerned, you have choices to make on a daily basis — about accepting it, allowing it, expressing it, and directing it — and you will continue to have to make those choices on an ongoing basis. What do you believe about your power? What must you believe about your power in order to operate at your full capacity?

As your consciousness rises, pay close attention to your beliefs, for they are a crucial key to your expansion.

A Consciousness Shift

You have within you a jigsaw puzzle. It is all there. All the pieces are there — beliefs, attitudes, thoughts, feelings, experiences, desires, dreams, purpose, destiny, and more. Your outer life offers manifestations of this inner jigsaw puzzle, allowing you to see the picture that is keen to emerge at this time in your life. As it does, you can put the pieces together — and move them around as you wish — so that your jigsaw puzzle becomes whole once more. So many jigsaw puzzles — so many lives — have been incomplete for too long. This incomplete picture can feel like a drain of your power and energy.

The reason why some of you are finding this time so hard is precisely because you are shifting — growing and transforming in profound ways. And in the flux of change, the jigsaw pieces can sometimes seem scattered to the wind. Yes, much has been said and written about a period of great change that was imminent, but the difference is that this awaited shift is happening now.

Right now.

This period of time has long been designated for a shift in consciousness affecting the earth for many years to come. We speak to you now of personal power because that is what is required to navigate this challenging period. Do not feel that you are a victim of the energetic change occurring. Oh no. Remember, you chose this. We say this to you with caring and affection, for we understand how difficult it can be as a human being when you experience pain, heartbreak, uncertainty, or the fear that arises when stepping into the unknown. It can be challenging to maintain your understanding of the larger truth of what is going on, both in your own life and in the world at large. But do choose to remember. Remembering brings you back to the seat of your power and brings greater ease to your life experience.

Allowing Judgment and Fear to Fall Away

You are very powerful intuitively, but you are also afraid of the strength of your intuitive power. It is not surprising. Your intuition is an agent of change. Allowing the subtle and overt truths told by your intuition into your life more consistently will cause energetic shifts in your body. It will cause you to feel different and to see the world differently — but that is wonderful. It will make you more whole. It will make you stronger. Do not fear your intuitive power, for it is already so. You are only asking us to say this to you as a reminder, because you know it yourself…and you
feel it.

Allowing Judgment and Fear to Fall Away

Remember, time is so important. It is your ally. This is why we speak to you of releasing judgment. Do not judge yourself for not being where your soul knows you should be. It is important to move step-by-step, to integrate every piece of your journey. What satisfaction would you feel in going from being a disassembled jigsaw puzzle to a completed one in the blink of an eye? Who does that? Those who do that do not find a great deal of satisfaction. The joy of a jigsaw puzzle is the piecing together so you create the whole picture. It is a fascinating game, full of stops and starts, sometimes maddeningly complex and sometimes a breeze. There is satisfaction when the whole picture is complete, yes, but the piecing together — that is the discovery process of life. That is where the energy lies.

You all have so much to give. Your hearts give out so much love to the world. This is true even of those who doubt it. You have no idea how much love you share each day. Some of you judge yourselves for not giving enough, and some of you judge yourselves for giving too much, as you question your motivation for giving. Some of you judge yourselves for not being able to know if you are giving or not, because you’re not sure of the impact your giving is having. Trust us. You are all giving so much.

Now receiving — here is an even trickier area. This is the area that many of you would deny. Layers of conditioning cloud your relationship with receiving. Who am I to receive more? What have I done to deserve it? However, receiving is where more giving becomes possible. Really. You all deserve so much.

We feel you now, and you are the most beautiful, wonderful, giving soul. If we could only somehow allow you to see that for a moment, we would be so happy. You are divine.

Now is the time for you to remember. Remember. Remember. Remember. Aren’t we boring? We could say “remember” to you constantly because it is all we want you to do: to remember how much light you are already giving out to the world. Stop working at it. Instead, work at developing your connection to all that is. Work at doing whatever makes you feel closer to the God within you — this source of power and love within all of you. Do whatever you feel inclined to do. Far be it from us to tell you what to do. We would never do that. We hope you would never take anything we say as prescription. We only ask you to remember that you are already doing the work.

So much judgment comes in for you — you fear that you are not fulfilling your purpose, you think you are not completing your mission, you worry that you are not there yet. Tell the mind to quiet down so the soul can relax. The soul may very well know where you are going, and you can tell the soul if you need a little while so that you can reach that place in your own time. You will be no good to anyone if you jump there too fast. You will certainly be no good to yourself; you would be thrown off-balance. You are a lightworker, yes, but you do not need that disruption. You do not need to become exhausted and weary on your sacred journey.

from:    http://realitysandwich.com/323914/you-are-a-lightworker/

Treaties Must Be HONORED

Keystone XL Pipeline Must Comply with Treaties and Tribal La

Published April 25, 2019

BOULDER, Colo.    On April 23, 2019, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and Fort Belknap Indian Community, represented by the Native American Rights Fund, filed an amended complaint against TransCanada and President Trump over the handling of the Keystone XL pipeline. In addition to extensive violations of law outlined in the original complaint, the new complaint raises the following issues:

Maps released by TransCanada show the pipeline corridor and access roads crossing Rosebud territory, some of which is held in trust, as well as Rosebud’s Mni Wiconi Water system. The 1868 Treaty of Ft. Laramie and other federal laws requires Rosebud consent to cross Rosebud territory. Rosebud has land use, environmental, and utilities codes that apply, and TransCanada must comply with Rosebud law on Rosebud land.

TransCanada agreed to abide by tribal law. Fort Belknap has a Cultural Property Act that applies to the pipeline. TransCanada failed to comply with Rosebud and Fort Belknap law.

New climate change information requires a new environmental impact analysis. Recent governmental reports contain new data about climate change, which necessitates new analysis.

The federal government violated the 1851 Treaty of Ft Laramie and 1855 Lame Bull Treaty, in which the US committed to protect against future harm to the tribes’ natural resources. The US did not adequately review the pipeline’s proposed route and whether it crosses tribal territory.

The federal government must examine potential impacts on the safety and welfare of Native people—especially women and children. An influx of itinerant workers, like those required for pipeline man-camps, correlates with increased sexual assaults, domestic violence, and sexual trafficking. The federal government has a treaty obligation to protect tribal citizens likely to suffer increased rates of violence and abuse.

#HonorTheTreaties

Read more about the ongoing fight to stop the Keystone XL Pipeline.

from:    https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/keystone-xl-pipeline-must-comply-with-treaties-and-tribal-la/

Honoring Youself

9 Vital Keys to Holding Space For Yourself

9 Vital Keys to Holding Space For Yourself

Azriel ReShel, Uplift
Waking Times

Most people would say they are good at supporting their friends and family, but why are we so bad at being there for ourselves?

When my second eldest daughter was a few months old, she developed colic. She would wake every night, crying for several hours, utterly inconsolable. Nothing I did helped her, not breastfeeding, holding her, rocking her, or my attempts to soothe her. Sometimes her cries pierced me so deeply I felt like giving up and leaving her alone. I felt so powerless.

Though it was difficult, my daughter taught me something vital and precious. As I watched her healing journey, I realised I cannot take away someone else’s pain or rescue them. I cannot change what they are feeling, patch it up and move along. All I could do was witness, be there and be present for her. Yes I got frustrated, angry, and distraught that I couldn’t do more, but eventually I found a place of calm as I sang mantras and focussed on staying peaceful in my own body. In learning to hold space for her, I learned to hold space for myself. In fact, I couldn’t be present for her, without being present for myself. Her pain triggered my own deep pain, and I had to allow myself to move through it if I was going to help her.

It took the crumbling of a 13 year relationship to make me see how much of my energy goes into holding space for others; my four children, ex-partner, and those I work with in my teaching and healing practice. While I can hold space well for others, am sensitive and empathic, I recently realised again that there was a ceiling to this ability. In order to expand my capacity to be there for others, I needed to truly learn how to be there for myself. I was so focussed outwards, that I was neglecting the very thing that makes me solid and potent as a healing force for others: My own wellbeing.

I have a daily requirement to centre, ground and remain in my own core, otherwise I’m knocked off into other people’s solar systems and wander around in a lost galaxy for a while before finding my way home. We all need to hold space for ourselves if we are going to be able to live life in a healthy and balanced way.

What exactly does it mean to “hold space” for yourself?

We seem to do it naturally for others, but what does it mean to do it for ourselves? For me, holding space means becoming the container to experience myself; to grow, to feel, to express, to test out, to live. It is being present, treating yourself with care, consideration, kindness, compassion and love. Hearing the needs of your body and mind, feeling your emotions, and listening to the yearning of your soul. It’s a way of being, a lifestyle, a profound choice and a stand you take. It’s not a belief system, but is rather a way of being with yourself and meeting your own needs. This can be lifesaving in intimate relationships, where we can ruin a good thing by trying to make the other meet all our needs.We spend every minute of the day with ourselves. How much of it is good, supportive, and kind?

Holding space is like a great pilgrimage home to your own soul. A key to holding space for yourself is to see yourself with all your faults and without judgement and criticism. To see yourself with kindness and love, just as you would a friend. It’s making friends with your fear, inviting Cousin Self-Doubt, Mrs Perfectionist, Brother Criticism, and Sister Putdown, in for a cup of tea around the fireplace.

“Self-acceptance is my refusal to be in an adversarial relationship to myself.” ~Nathaniel Brand

Holding space for yourself gives you a place to check your direction, to see who or what is in the driver seat of your life, and to adjust your course when you need to. It brings space and awareness into your life, ensuring your life reflects your soul and your longings, so you don’t have to wake up at age 45 and realise you don’t like who you’ve become.

If you truly want to help others, and make a positive impact on the world, then learning to hold space for yourself, to befriend and love yourself, is the greatest impact you could make on the planet. You can’t hold space for someone else if you can’t be with your own pain and hold space for yourself. If there’s no room for you in your life, there isn’t really any room for others. When you’re kind to yourself you impact the lives of others by being less reactive, more responsive, more available, empathic, compassionate, kind, present, balanced and at peace.

“If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.” ~Jack Kornfield

But how do we hold space for ourselves? Here are some simple steps to ensure there is room in your life for you.

9 Vital keys to holding space for yourself

1. Embracing your imperfection

Your “imperfections” are what make you unique and can often be the gateway to your greatest gifts. If you try to be like everyone else, you rob the world of your special talents and the rare contribution that only you can make. The more you can accept and learn to love your individuality, the more you will express it and the happier you will be. Some of the world’s most uncompromisingly brazen individuals have made enormous impacts. Who would have ever thought a monobrow could be cool, yet Frida Kahlo made it so! Self-acceptance is key to holding space for yourself. The more you accept and love yourself, the more you will look after yourself and value your own needs.

2. Saying no

When you say ‘no’ to others, you very often say ‘yes’ to yourself. If you’re doing something for others at the expense of yourself, it is not beneficial for anyone. Through years of pleasing others, my new mantra to live by has become: ‘if something feels right in my heart then it will serve others too’.

Honouring yourself always works out well. It’s unkind to put yourself last, and agreeing to do things through obligation always breeds resentment. This is not to say you shouldn’t do things for others (of course you should!), but there’s a way to do it that also supports your own wellbeing. When you say ‘no’ to others, you strengthen your self-esteem, you show yourself that you are important and valuable. And you give others permission to do the same.

3. Developing boundaries.

When you have good boundaries, are assertive and can say ‘no’ without feeling guilty, then obligatory relationships end and you can enter the realm of the undefended heart – a place where you are able to love freely and generously. Much of loving is defended loving. When you know you have the strength to stand up for yourself and stand in your own corner, you can actually love more freely. Boundaries don’t need to shut out, they can actually strengthen bonds.

4. Communing with yourself

Making time to truly connect with yourself supports your overall health and wellbeing. I have a practice each morning and evening where I place my hands over my heart, and drop into my inner world, to visit my deepest self. I tune in to my heart and feel where I’m at, observing how my body is feeling, and noticing my emotions and thoughts. I recall all those fragments of myself, the energy that has been scattered between situations, people and places, and put myself back together like a puzzle. I also take this time to connect with my spiritual nature, to remember I am spirit, and to pray for guidance and support. However, you can do this in whatever way feels right for you. Creative practices like music, art, journalling, or just being in nature, are deeply healing for the spirit that has been left out in the cold.

5. Listening

In stillness we get to know who we are. Taking time to be still, alone, to simply be, supports you in getting to know yourself and your dreams, and gives you space to correct your course if you have lost your way. It helps you to shine a light onto negative cycles and habitual patterns. Simply noticing what you ‘do’ is the first step to healing. Observing with kindness, acceptance and humour is key to disrupting the cycle, as criticism keeps us locked into these negative patterns.

6. Reaching for support

In order to hold space for yourself, you must be able to reach out for support when you need it. This strengthens your ability to be there for yourself. Knowing your own limits and knowing you can get support if you need it, makes your power to be there for yourself grounded and deeper.

7. Being authentic

This is you! You know the truth. You know who you are. Don’t hide it from yourself. Have the courage to see all of you; your gifts and your less than perfect bits. When you see yourself with kindness and compassion, you have the power to change aspects of your self or your life that you dislike.

8. Being a good parent to yourself

A creative parent holds space for a child to explore, be creative, test boundaries, let their imagination run wild, experience different personalities, ideas and roles. A great parent doesn’t control or shut down. This is the same when dealing with your inner-child. Allow yourself explore and experience life, empower yourself to make the right choices and live life in your own way. Be an innovative parent to your inner child: loving yourself when you’re sick, being encouraging when you fall over, and always cheering yourself on.

9. Developing supportive rituals

Take a stand for yourself. Do at least one nurturing thing for yourself every day and make a promise to yourself that you will check in with you every day. Just as you would invest time in a friendship, making time to call your friend and find out how she’s doing, or give extra love and support during a rough time, you can do the same with yourself. Truly, you are your own best friend. My thing is warm baths, with flower essences, epsom salts and essential oils. This is my Humpty Dumpty cure, and it works every time!

“You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You, yourself, as much as anybody in the universe, deserve your love and affection” ~Buddha

About the Author

Azriel ReShel is a writer, editor, yoga Teacher & healing facilitator.

from:    https://www.wakingtimes.com/2019/04/24/9-vital-keys-to-holding-space-for-yourself/

NOTE:    fr/ Waking Times:    This article (9 Vital Keys to Holding Space For Yourself) was originally posted at Uplift Connect, and is reposted here with permission.

Finding Your Calling

When Purpose Finds Us in Unlikely Moments

By Chip Richards on Thursday April 4th, 2019

Our Paths aren’t Always What We Imagine…

We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us. – Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Standing at the top of the in-run, I hear the announcer call my name. Friends and teammates cheer from the side as the course official waves his flag. I take a breath of mountain air, focusing down the snowy runway to the top of a large jump waiting for me there. Fourteen feet high at its peak, 70 feet back from the beginning of the landing hill. In a matter of moments, I will launch off the top of this jump at full speed and fly up to the tree line. I will perform a series of coordinated maneuvers in the air and a few seconds later, I will land. It’s been a long winter and my body is tired, but this jump is the only thing standing between me and the top national ranking I have been working toward. This is the next step in my Olympic dream and it’s the moment I’ve been waiting for. Drawing a breath into my belly, I force a deep exhale, tap my ski poles together in quiet ritual and push off down the track.

I’m not sure what lured me into the sport of Freestyle snow skiing as a kid, but I know what kept me there for over a decade growing up – rising before dawn on the coldest days, packing the family van to drive into the mountains, pushing through days of sweat and fear, pain and exhilaration. It was that moment just after lift-off from the top of the jump when I’d go from warp speed along the snow to weightless and timeless, way above it all. Quite literally flying. I’ve always believed in the limitless possibilities of life and the aerials event was one of my first doorways to explore these possibilities in physical form.

I had landed similar jumps from similar heights hundreds of times with no problem, but on this particular sunny afternoon, when my 19-year-old body arrived back to earth from 45+ feet above, the two forces did not agree. A lightening bolt of pain shot up through my right leg, stopping briefly at my knee before rippling through to the rest of my body… and the moment fades to black.

I remember the regretful blink in my doctor’s eye as he cradled my knee joint in his hands… I remember the disbelief in my coach’s eyes, and the tears in my dad’s as he met me on the street. I remember the chemical taste in my mouth just after surgery and the iodine stains on my withered leg in the early days of rehab. In one split-second moment, I had somehow gone from the rising peak of a lifelong dream to a pit of pain, disappointment, and uncertainty. As I lay there in the hospital bed, trying somehow to go back and choose differently, to undo what was now confronting me as reality… I could not imagine what good could come from this place…

How could I possibly foresee that in one year’s time, as a direct result of this injury, I would be lead to discover the extraordinary world of coaching… A gift that would open in accelerated form, leading me to Australia, where I would meet and marry my soul mate, fulfill my Olympic dream as the coach of the Australian team, buy a farm, co-create a beautiful son, learn to surf, grow a garden, write movies, coach businesses and create a whole LIFE on this side of the world? Hard to believe that a moment of such pain and personal tragedy could give birth to such positive, lasting, far-reaching joy and discovery. But looking back now, I can see the events unfolding like poetry and I recognize this seemingly violent interruption to my ‘plan’ as the perfect catalyst to a much greater calling awaiting me on the path.

~~~

Amidst the rapid pace of our modern world, we often race along in reactive, unconscious patterns, finishing tasks, reaching our goals and doing our best to satisfy expectations of the world around us. But every once in a while as we sprint along the path, a lightening bolt shocks us from our patterns, giving us a momentary view of a much greater landscape. It may come in the form of a quiet whisper, great blessing, deep challenge, crisis or even apparent tragedy. However this moment appears, one day looking back, we will recognize it for what it really was – an inner call for us to begin a journey into a greater experience of ourselves… To harvest some deeper, latent capacity or sense of purpose to create and express in the world.

Over the past three years of UPLIFT, I have enjoyed the opportunity to speak with and interview many of the presenters whose messages collectively inspire millions of people on the path of discovery and becoming in life. One of my great fascinations is listening to their stories and discovering the simple, often unexpected, sometimes painful or crisis moments that have served as wake-up calls and turning points of higher purpose on their journey.

Bruce Lipton

When Dr. Bruce Lipton began making discoveries that went against traditional scientific views – about the nature of cells and the power of our beliefs to change our DNA – his ‘normal life’ as a cellular biologist took an unexpected turn. By choosing to follow the trail of his discoveries, he not only transformed his health and personal life but further ignited one of today’s most important fields of study (the science of epigenetics) while launching a global life mission of bridging science and spirit for the benefit of humanity.

Scarlett Lewis

When Scarlett Lewis’s six-year-old son Jesse was killed in his first-grade classroom during the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012 in one of the worst school shootings in US history, her life as a mother was violently interrupted. But when she saw a message Jesse left on their kitchen chalkboard shortly before he died, “Nurturing Healing Love”, she discovered the beginning of a great calling to share this formula for “choosing love” with the world. She founded of The Jesse Lewis Choose Love Foundation in honor of Jesse, igniting a path to promote social and emotional education in schools, and the message of compassion in communities around the globe.

Patch Adams

Patch Adams started his journey as a skinny misfit who turned to clowning at a young age to avoid being bullied on the military bases he grew up on. At age 18, following three mental hospitalizations from wanting to kill himself, Patch heard his calling at Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington DC where he discovered a million other non-violent revolutionaries standing all around him. This woke him from a path of self-destruction into a life of love and meaning, healing the hearts and bodies of thousands around the world as a clown physician in places of great need.

Anita Moorjani

When Anita Moorjani slipped into a coma with end-stage lymphatic cancer, and doctors told her husband that her body was shutting down to die, she ended her four-year struggle as a patient and entered a journey of immeasurable love and acceptance on the ‘other side’ – revealing the true cause of her illness and the power to return, heal completely and live fearlessly, spreading a message of courage and love to millions.

Satish Kumar

When Satish Kumar read a book by Mahatma Ghandi at age 18, his life as a Jain Monk (which started at age 9) was interrupted by a calling to flee the order and carry the message of non-violence out into the world. Several years later after reading a newspaper article about Bertrand Russell’s civil disobedience against the atomic bomb, Satish was similarly called to embark upon a 10,000 mile “peace walk” (with no money) from India to the four nuclear capitals of the world – an act which initiated a life long journey as a pilgrim, author, editor and peace activist in the world.

Bharat and Bhavani

When Bharat Mitra first heard his master Sri H.W.L. Poonja (‘Papaji’) tell him to start a Limited Liability Company (LLC), Bharat Mitra didn’t even know what an LLC was. But in the days following Papaji’s passing, after years of devoted service with Papaji in Lucknow, India, Bharat Mitra’s willingness to answer this call sent he and his beloved Bhavani on a journey to begin a company that would eventually become a pristine model for sustainable business and ‘vehicle for consciousness in the corporate world’ – the global Tulsi tea company, ORGANIC INDIA.

When we look at the lives and creations of people that we admire most, it is easy to become overwhelmed or intimidated by what they have achieved or contributed to the world, not knowing how we might ever begin to start or chart a path like this of our own. But when we look a little closer, we see that even the greatest journeys start with a simple call – often unexpected, inconvenient, painful or uncomfortable – and our willingness to answer.

Sometimes the call starts out as a whisper, but if we ignore the quiet voice, ultimately it will rise in volume until it is heard. In my own case, I like to think that I would have found my way to coaching and the rest of my life experience without exploding my knees to do it… but the truth is that without my physical body forcing that new door open, I would have continued plowing on with full focus on my ‘plan,’ and may have walked (or skied) right past the entire life I have discovered since.

Answering the call doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. In fact, with many of the cases above, choosing to follow that quiet voice might have brought challenges beyond what anyone could have imagined and may have initially appeared as utter foolishness from the outside. But when we are responding to a deep inner calling – even if no one else can hear it at the time – there is a quiet compass that guides our movements, a sense of knowing that propels us on the path. At first, we may push back or try to resist… but if we listen truthfully, and are willing to take even a small step in response, we will begin to recognize the invitation in these moments – seeds of our true self and higher purpose, calling us into being.

from:    https://upliftconnect.com/when-purpose-finds-us-in-unlikely-moments/

Some Options for Private Messaging

The best messaging apps with end-to-end encryption

If you want to keep prying eyes away from your conversations, then these are the apps that you need to get.

There is a growing consciousness about the desire to keep one’s messages private. Some are concerned about hackers, or worry about foreign or domestic government surveillance, but most people just agree with the general principle that what you say in your chat conversations ought to stay between you and the people you chat with.

It’s not a pleasant idea to think that your messages could be archived for perpetuity on a large company’s server or analyzed by some algorithm. The quest for privacy has birthed a whole generation of apps that promise to give you exactly that. Services like Telegram and Signal have turned the phrase “end-to-end encryption” into a popular discussion. We’re here to help you figure out what this is all about and which apps to try.

A little background on encryption

Before we look at some specific apps, here’s a very brief explainer. Essentially, end-to-end encryption means that only the sender and the recipient can read the message. The message is encrypted on your phone, send to the recipient, and then decrypted. This prevents prying eyes from the telecom providers, government agencies, and even the company that hosts the service itself from being able to read your messages. This means they wouldn’t have the ability to hand over messages even if they were subpoenaed to by a government agency. And if a hacker broke into the messaging service’s servers, they couldn’t get at your conversations.

The desire for end-to-end (E2E) encryption isn’t just about those who don’t want the NSA to spy on them. In practice, it’s just about a basic sense that messages should be private. With that in mind, you have to be aware that just because something has the word “encrypted” doesn’t mean it is end-to-end encrypted. Some services will encrypt the message between the endpoints of transmission; your conversations are stored encrypted on the messaging service’s servers, but since they encrypted them, they can decrypt them.

The services we’re looking at here all feature end-to-end encryption.

Telegram

One of the most popular apps in this space is Telegram. It’s been a pretty hot app for a couple of years, which is like 20 years in app time.

The most painstaking part is you need to invite all of your contacts into your new, secret chat world through the app’s navigation menu. It’s the biggest problem with using over-the-top services, as it doesn’t have the ubiquity of SMS messaging.

telegram

Telegram lets you create private or public channels for groups that you want to stay connected to.

Once you’ve done this, you can message people individually or create group channels for talking with an unlimited number of other users. The upside here is you can escape the limitations of MMS messaging that usually caps you at a particular number of people. Your group can even be public, giving you a mini social network without all the trolls that plague the likes of Facebook and Twitter.

The interface is a little barren, but Telegram makes the list for its robust privacy and offering native apps for iOS, Mac, Windows, the web, and of course Android.

Signal

Signal’s claim to fame is that it’s the preferred messaging application of Edward Snowden. It’s among the easiest to set up, as it automatically authenticates your number and can even be used as your default SMS app.

As with Whisper,  you can create a group for private banter with an unlimited number of other users. Signal also makes phone calls, which I found to be very clear when testing it out in a couple of different cases.

signal

Signal offers a lot of different features and can serve as your main messaging app.

Signal isn’t optimized for tablets, but the company says that’s on the product roadmap. The design is no-frills with color variation for different contacts to help you from sending the wrong chat to an incorrect contact.

Wire

Another good option is Wire. It offers some fun messaging tricks, like the ability to doodle, share your location, send images, or record a video. The app also includes a chat bot, Anna, which offers somewhat useful answers to various questions about how to use the app.

wire

Wire offers a chat bot and a number of different ways to get your message across.

You can optionally create an account with your phone number, which makes setup and account deletion easy. Wire is great for one-on-one chats if you would prefer conversations with someone be off the record. But it doesn’t have the same type of social or group features found with some of the other offerings here.

WhatsApp

You also can’t forget about the uber-popular WhatsApp. Like the others on this list, it promises end-to-end encryption so your messages stay private. The biggest advantage is that the service, which is owned by Facebook, has over a billion users. There’s a very good chance you won’t have to convince all your friends and family to download the app.

whatsapp material design

WhatsApp is a popular messaging app throughout the world.

That shouldn’t be discounted, as one of the pains of moving to a messaging service is convincing everybody to jump aboard. However, WhatsApp is now owned by Facebook, a connection that could make some wary, especially since the social network recently announced it’d be using some account information, including phone numbers, from WhatsApp. If your goal is a high threshold of privacy, then it’s worth keeping an eye on.

Dust

If you want to see messages disappear before your eyes, then Dust (formerly Cyber Dust) is the way to go. The brainchild of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, the messages can disappear in 24 hours or as soon as they’re read, based on your preferences.

dust

Dust (formerly Cyber Dust) makes your messages disappear and offers an interesting social element.

The company spells out its encryption policy, and includes a couple other features to ease your mind like chats that don’t show usernames, so even if someone took a screenshot it couldn’t necessarily be attributed to you.

The best app for you is going to depend upon your needs. Secure messaging is a huge and growing area of consumer interest, but it’s worth the effort if staying secure is what you’re after.

Monsanto Taken to Task