How DO You Spell “Berenstein Bears”?

Posted on August 8, 2016 by marcia

What’s Behind the Meteoric Rise of the Mandela Effect

Written by Cynthia Sue Larson August 8, 2016

Unless you’ve been on an extended retreat, you’ve likely heard the term “Mandela Effect” recently. ” While many are surprised by the recent surge of interest in the “Mandela Effect,” those of us who have been researching and writing about this phenomenon of reality shifts and alternate histories have long been anticipating just such a rise of interest. The “Mandela Effect” is named after South African anti-apartheid revolutionary Nelson Mandela, who became a topic of interest in the year 2010 by people noticing with surprise that he was alive at that time–since many people remembered him having died while incarcerated. I had published similar accounts of the dead being observed alive again in my 1999 book, Reality Shifts, and reporting first-hand accounts on the RealityShifters website from people all around the world noticing many dead people alive again. Observations of dead people alive again are just one of many types of Mandela Effects, with other notable examples including changes to song lyrics, movie dialogue, movie scenes, physical geography, physiological anatomy, and product names.

The Mandela Effect is one of those things most people won’t believe in until it happens to them. Like falling in love or going through heartbreak, the Mandela Effect is something you have to experience in order to fully embrace. And even then, it often takes more than one or two experiences to break through the resistance most of us have to accepting the existence of something that fundamentally challenges our unspoken foundational assumption that facts and historical events don’t change. This bias has been poetically expressed in the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam:

“The moving finger writes; and, having writ, moves on:
nor all thy piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
nor all thy tears wash out a word of it.”

Google trend graph for “Mandela Effect”

When we encounter something indicating evidence that in fact, history has changed–it feels shocking to discover some of the lines have been canceled and washed out! We seem to be approaching ‘tipping point’ where it’s getting harder for scoffers to say there’s no such thing as the Mandela Effect / reality shifts / alternate histories. The term “Mandela Effect” originated with blogger Fiona Broome in 2010 after she attended a conference where many people talked with her about remembering how Nelson Mandela had died many years earlier–though official recorded history at that time indicated no such thing had actually occurred.

Dolly and Jaws in “Moonraker”

Thanks to articles written by some Mandela Effect experiencers, the Mandela Effect shows evidence of increasing in popular awareness. Mandela Effect articles have been written by experiencers including the Lewiston Sun Journal’s Mark LaFlamme (“The Mandela Effect is Freaking Me Out“) who noticed a change on which side of his father he’s standing by in an old family photo;the New Zealand Herald’s Karl Puschmann (“Berenstein or Berenstain? The Riddle Making Book Lovers Mad“) who is certain the popular children’s books ought to be spelled “Berenstein” and not the way they’ve supposedly ‘always been spelled’ as Berenstain; and San Diego City Beat’s Tom Siebert (“Technology and Memory Down the Rabbit Hole“) who noticed a change to a memorable scene in a James Bond movie, “Moonraker,” in which the girl with the braces who fell in love with another character with shining teeth no longer has braces. I watched The James Bond film “Moonraker” several times while in college, and also remember the memorable scene in which the blonde girl named “Dolly” who wears glasses and braids shares a cheesy moment with Richard Kiels’ character, “Jaws,” when they notice how his shiny teeth complement the shiny braces on her teeth. Except now, she doesn’t have any braces on her teeth.

Taken individually–the way such observations of discrepancies between what we remember and recorded historical evidence have always been noted up until now–a single person feeling unsettled by noticing such a change would have been chalked up to their having made some kind of cognitive error. When such “mis-remembered” recollections are considered collectively, we are presented with the possibility that we are witnessing collectively agreed-upon awareness of differently remembered historical facts that we can start to take notice of.

Some scoffers have leapt to the conclusion that Mandela Effect experiencers who are noticing long-familiar words in movies, TV shows, books, and products are most likely suddenly sharing ‘false memories,’ due to the fact that human memories are not fully reliable. Such an explanation allows us to leave unquestioned some old assumptions that have quietly started to crumble at their very foundations since the advent of quantum physics just over a hundred years ago. While quantum physics shows us there can be no such thing as an objective observer, and now that two thirds of physicists recently surveyed agree that you and I and everything that exists does so in a superposition of states–we clearly need to revise both our scientific methodology and our assumptions about reality.

While I agree with the observation that human memories often do not match current historical records, it’s clear that stopping the thought process at that point is premature, and does not match what we are learning about the primacy of quantum logic in the natural world.

I’ve been researching this phenomena since the 1990s. It was originally called “reality shifts,” and first appeared in print in the book “Future Memory” by PMH Atwater to describe common (yet strange) experiences that near-death experiencers frequently have. I have been reporting on individual recollections of alternate histories involving everything from changes in books, to dead people alive again, to changes in the way motor memory works since 1999, in the earliest edition of my first book on this subject, Reality Shifts: When Consciousness Changes the Physical World, and in my free monthly Realityshifters ezine. I’m currently pursuing this Mandela Effect / reality shift topic in interviews with experts in the fields of quantum biology such as JohnJoe McFadden, quantum cognition such as Jerome Busemeyer, and quantum cosmology such as Yasunori Nomura on my blog and “Living the Quantum Dream” radio show. What I’m noticing is that this phenomenon appears to not be new, but rather we have reached a point in society where for the first time we are able to share memories with others that are different from the collective whole–and sometimes our memories show the same kind of alternate pasts that physicists such as Stephen Hawking have told us exist.

When we consider the matter of “confabulation” and “false recollections” at this dawning of the new Quantum Age, we see that we may eventually call such things “alternate recollections,” in recognition of awareness of the fact that we know that each and every one of us exists in a superimposed state, with access to many possible alternate histories, presents, and futures. The idea that the many worlds of quantum physics might be one and the same as the multiverse has been proposed by such esteemed physicists as Dr. Yasunori Nomura and Dr. Raphael Bousso of UC Berkeley, and increasing numbers of scientists are feeling optimistic that we might yet find evidence that we indeed live in a multiverse.

Finding Evidence of Many Worlds in Alternate Histories

There is an exciting human side to the subject of alternate histories and parallel worlds. While we don’t yet have technology to show photos from your past with evidence of parallel universes impinging on the very fabric of reality since the day you were born, we can look to see what kinds of evidence we are able to collect more easily. If we were feeling the effects of parallel universes, we would expect to occasionally notice that history doesn’t stay put. Occasionally, we’d have very different ideas of what happened than we’ve had before, or than others have had before. What would such alternate histories be like?

JFKcar1963nov22 Dr. Robert A. Burton recounts a fascinating experience in his book, On Being Certain, of attending a medical school reunion dinner in which conversation turned to where people were when they heard the news that Kennedy was assassinated. Burton and his classmates had all been in their second year of medical school, attending similar classes and hanging out together. An argument broke out amongst the reunion attendees as a urologist thought they were all at lunch, an internist remembered they’d been in the lab, and a pathologist remembered being at a pub down the street from the med center. With classmates turning to Burton to be the tie-breaker, setting history straight, the pathologist and urologist both agreed on one thing as they announced in unison, “Everyone remembers the Kennedy assassination.”

If this was the first time such differences of memory related to significant events occurred, we might dismiss it as a humorous aside. But the fact of the matter is that researchers are increasingly becoming aware of what they call “false recollections.” With the advent of the Quantum Age, we may eventually call them “alternate recollections,” indicating awareness of the fact that we know that each and every one of us exists in a superimposed state, with access to many possible alternate histories, presents, and futures.

Challenger_1A Ulric Neisser and Nicole Harsch conducted studies of Emory University students’ accuracy of recollections of events at the time of the Challenger space shuttle explosion, starting by collecting first-hand accounts from 106 students the day after the disaster detailing how they’d heard of the explosion, what they’d been doing at the time, where they were, and how they felt. The researchers followed up with the same students two and a half years later, and were startled to find that students achieved a mean score of 2.95 compared to a perfect score of 7. Less than 10% of the students were able to exactly match their original recollection of events, and over half of the students got a score less than 2.

The most noteworthy findings in this “flashbulb” memory study were student reactions when confronted with conflicting accounts. Many students persisted in confidently claiming that their current memories of events were completely accurate, even when confronted with their own hand-written journal entries. One student summed up what happened succinctly,

“That’s my handwriting, but that’s not what happened.”

It’s important to note that in this new Quantum Age, such cases of alternate histories are to be expected. They provide evidence of the superposition of states that we and everything around us exists within, so we can expect to occasionally see documented records from the past that differ from what we recall. In the Quantum Age, we understand that seeing our own handwritten notes that aren’t at all what we remember is one way that alternate histories become known.

Physicists Agree: You’re in a Superposition of States

When we understand that our belief structures are creations of our minds, we start noticing how varied individual belief structures can be from person to person. What one person considers to be realistic and matter-of-fact might seem outrageously peculiar to another. Even the idea that other people actually see images in their minds may seem outlandish to some people, let alone what those people see. When enough people shift their belief structures to look at the world in fresh, new ways, cultural paradigms shift.

Staying current with new scientific findings can help. While most non-physicists would likely see a solid physical object such as a table or a chair as only what it currently appears to be, a remarkable 2/3 majority of physicists interviewed in 2011 stated they believe that all objects can exist in superimposed states—much the way we know quantum ‘particles’ exist as energetic probabilities as much as physical particles we can measure and observe. University of Portland, Oregon, physics professor, Maximilian Schlosshauer summarized this remarkable agreement thus,

“More than two-thirds believed that there is no fundamental limit to quantum theory—that it should be possible for objects, no matter how big, to be prepared in quantum superpositions like Schrödinger’s cat. So the era where quantum theory was associated only with the atomic realm appears finally over.”

A Scientific Basis for Instantaneous Adaptation in Stressful Times

John Forster Cairns

The scientific assumption that organisms experienced random mutations was seriously shaken by Harvard professor John Forster Cairns 1988 proposal that the organisms themselves were preferentially producing beneficial mutations. Cairns conducted experiments with E. coli bacteria that demonstrated that in times of stress, when the bacteria were starved from food they were capable of digesting, they made “adaptive mutations” to be able to receive nutritive sustenance from a food source they’d never been able to consume before. This phenomenon in which E. coli mutated exactly the most optimal genes precisely when that mutation was required had no known basis nor explanation from established theories in genetics–and indeed seemed to contradict one of the central dogmas of molecular biology, that information only flows in one direction during transcription from DNA out to proteins to a cellular organism environment. John Cairns and Julie Overbaugh and others proposed a mechanism that what might be happening is that “the cell could produce a highly variable set of mRNA molecules and then reverse-transcribe the one that made the best protein.”

If reverse-engineering mutations by bacteria in times of starvation so they can start digesting lactose sounds crazy, it might help to know there exists a similar proven case of successful quantum biological adaptation: photosynthesis. Those who expect modern human technology to be faster and more efficient than the rustic natural world are quite surprised to learn that our best photovoltaic cells are only 20% efficient, compared with photosynthesizing plants and bacteria that regularly achieve 95% efficiency rates for transforming sunlight into energy. Plants have existed on Earth for millions of years, so it’s not too surprising to find that their natural process of photosynthesis likely utilizes quantum coherence to speed things up. In decades past, scientists believed that excited electrons carried energy randomly through photosynthetic systems in plants, hopping from one molecule to the next. More modern measurements of energy in the new field of quantum biology studying photosynthesizing plants indicates something much more efficient is going on. What appears to be happening is that electrons take advantage of the fact that energy can move not just in the material form, but in pure energy form, too, and entire systems of molecules can become entangled to allow the formation of a coherent wave that tries out different pathways simultaneously, until the most efficient route is very quickly determined. The quantum magic happens in each of a photosynthetic cell’s millions of antenna proteins that are surprisingly efficient and robust at routing energy with very little lost in transit.

University of Toronto biophysicist Greg Scholes published his findings of room-temperature quantum coherence behavior in common marine algae in Nature. Scholes describes an analogy of driving home through rush hour traffic to explain what these cells are doing:

“… you have three ways of driving home through rush hour traffic. On any given day, you take only one. You don’t know if the other routes would be quicker or slower. But in quantum mechanics, you can take all three of these routes simultaneously. You don’t specify where you are until you arrive, so you always choose the quickest route.”

Advantages of experiencing alternate realities

My point is that everyone is experiencing reality shifts that usually get brushed aside with the assumption from most social settings being that there has been confusion or misperception (with both parties assuming the other has made some kind of mental mistake). The reason I raise the topic of flashbulb memories in my book, Quantum Jumps, is to share the extraordinary findings of researchers who asked college freshmen immediately following the Challenger space shuttle explosion to write down where they were, what they were doing, and who they were with when they heard the news of this disaster very soon after it first occurred. Then some time later, these same students were again asked the same question before they were allowed to look at their own hand-written accounts. As some put it, “That’s my handwriting, but that’s not what happened.” Thanks to this research and stunning placebo effect results, we now have an opportunity to acknowledge that rather than explaining such reality shifts away as ‘memory lapses’ or confusion, we have always been witnessing the way quantum phenomena occurs at ALL levels of reality, and not only below the so-called “von Neumann cut.” I have a sense that research in these fields is about to lead us to a new level of awareness that facts can change–yet understanding of our true identity as being consciousness can help us best find our way forward in experiencing various possible realities.

What Would You Notice if You’re in a Superposition of States?

What would it feel like to exist in a superposition of states? How could you tell? You might notice things like: markedly different childhood memories from your siblings; spontaneous or speedy healing from illness or injury; different movie dialogue, writing in books, product names, song lyrics, TV shows, and celebrities alive again after being reported dead. In fact, this is precisely what people are reporting with such commonly recognized examples as:

• BerensteinBears Berenstein Bears VS Berenstain Bears

SnowWhiteQueenMirror

• “Mirror mirror on the wall” VS “Magic mirror on the wall”

• Mr. Rogers sings, “It’s a beautiful day in THE neighborhood” VS “It’s a beautiful day in THIS neighborhood”

DarthVaderLuke

• Darth Vader says to Luke Skywalker, “Luke, I am your father” VS “No, I am your father”

Mandela Effect Reports on the Rise

In addition to some of these commonly reported shared experiences of alternate histories, some people are also remembering other things differently, such as: “If you build it, they will come” instead of now, “If you build it, he will come” and “Jiffy” peanut butter instead of “Jif.” As increasing numbers of honest reporters and authors start running into their own experiences with the Mandela Effect–both the private experiences that only they recognize, and the more publicly shared varieties–we will continue the growing conversation about the Mandela Effect, and why increasing numbers of people are noticing it now.

And in the meantime, I recommend that you keep asking “How good can it get?” to harness imagination and your ability to provide yourself with self-guidance from your highest levels of consciousness. Asking this question helps ensure we are honoring a longer-term, fuller and more harmoniously interconnected optimal experience. We can trust our highest, largest, most comprehensive levels of consciousness, and in so doing we will continue to experience different pasts and instantaneous transformations as we move through these stressful times to more optimal realities.

from: http://consciouslifenews.com/whats-behind-meteoric-rise-mandela-effect/11124116/

The End of Cash?

Posted on August 8, 2016 by marcia

The other day, my bank sent me a new ‘contactless’ debit card. Immediately, I cut it up with a pair of scissors.

Banks and credit card issuers might like to try to tell us that the future lies in the ‘cashless society’, in which we will make even the smallest purchases such as a cup of coffee or a daily newspaper by card, but I don’t want anything to do with it.

I am not a Luddite — I just like and trust cash.

If cash were to disappear we would find us at the mercy of the banks and their infernal transaction fee

If I am buying a week’s grocery shopping, or I am buying an airline ticket over the internet, true, I am quite happy to pay using my debit card, because it is by far the most efficient way of making the transaction.

But when I hear about banks and payment companies such as Visa and MasterCard doing their best to eliminate cash from our lives, I am deeply cynical about their motives.

I fear they are trying to engineer a future world where we can never buy or sell anything without using their services.

Contactless cards are the most recent ‘innovation’ as part of this insidious revolution.

They contain a tiny radio receiver which — when waved within a couple of inches of a ticket machine or terminal at a shop checkout — can be used to make a payment instead of the buyer having to tap in a PIN number.

It isn’t hard to imagine the power that the banks would wield if we lost the option of paying for items in cash and of keeping our savings in a hidey-hole at home.

They would use it as an excuse to ditch free banking in an instant. All kinds of charges would spring up for the simple reason it would be impossible for anyone to avoid them.

Of course, banking isn’t really free, even now. While most current account holders don’t pay a fee whenever they buy something with a debit card, retailers are paying for the service. They must pay to hire the terminals on which payments are made — and a percentage charge on the transaction.

In the case of a debit card, this charge is typically 8p per £100 spent by customers. For credit cards, the fee rises tenfold to 80p per £100. And for premium/reward cards, it doubles again, to £1.60 for every £100 spent.

Ultimately, though, it is we who pay for this — as well as all the air miles and other ‘goodies’ which are offered as accessories for the privilege of having such cards, because retailers inevitably pass the cost on to us in higher prices.

What’s more, banks and payment companies have been making ever-increasing sums from card payments.

In 2014, the Payments Council —the trade body for card-issuers, since renamed Payments UK — boasted that the number of card payments had overtaken that of cash payments for the first time.

As a country, we now make 48 per cent of our purchases with cash and the other 52 per cent by card or some other cashless method.

In some cases, we no longer have an option to pay in cash. For example, fast-food chain Tossed recently announced that it was phasing out the option of cash payments from its outlets altogether, forcing customers to pay by card.

Were cash to disappear, it isn’t hard to see what would happen to these transaction fees — they would soar, as banks exploited their monopoly.

While most of us don’t directly pay fees for using our debit cards in Britain, there are punitive charges for using them abroad.

I recently realised how much cheaper it would be for me to buy everything with cash when I am on holiday abroad.

Every time I use my debit card abroad, my bank, the Halifax, charges a flat rate ‘non-sterling purchase’ of £1.50 plus a ‘non-sterling transfer fee’ of 2.75 per cent. It soon mounts up, especially if you make a lot of small purchases.

A woman pays in a butcher’s shop with a contactless credit card

But the charges we pay now are nothing compared with what we will have to pay if the banks ever get their way and cash is abolished.

When, last Thursday, the Bank of England cut its base rate to 0.25 per cent — the lowest level ever — this raised the spectre of negative interest rates. Ten days ago, NatWest and the Royal Bank of Scotland — part of the same, largely publicly owned banking group — wrote to business customers warning them that there might soon come a time when they would have to start levying interest on deposits.

That, of course, is the opposite of what we are used to.

For years, we have earned interest on money we deposit in a bank account, just as we expect to pay interest when we borrow it.

The rate of interest on our savings might not always be exciting — current accounts pay virtually nothing, which is another way in which banks make money out of us.

But if we had to pay interest on our savings, it would mean that if we left our nest eggs untouched, they would be whittled away year by year. Whereas if we left them under the mattress, they would have retained their value!

So far, NatWest and the RBS have said they have no plans to charge negative interest on individuals’ accounts. At the moment, they wouldn’t dare, because they fear the inevitable consumer backlash.

Undoubtedly, huge numbers of us would walk into branches and withdraw our savings in protest — leading to a bank run just like the one which brought Northern Rock to its knees in 2007.

I know I am not the only consumer or saver to have reached this conclusion. While the banks and payment companies continue to push for the cashless society, the British population is putting up fierce resistance.

For, it can be no coincidence that the closer we get to negative interest rates, people are increasingly hoarding more money.

Pokemon Gotcha!

Posted on July 30, 2016 by marcia

Pokémon Go, the CIA, “Totalitarianism” and the Future of Surveillance

July 29, 2016

By Steven MacMillan

If anyone doubted that a percentage of the global population are akin to zombies, the incidents following the release of Pokémon Go have surely convinced you. Despite the game only being released in early July, we have already seen a man driving into a tree and a women getting locked in a graveyard whilst chasing these furry little creatures.

Pokémon describes the game on their website in the following way:

Travel between the real world and the virtual world of Pokémon with Pokémon GO for iPhone and Android devices. With Pokémon GO, you’ll discover Pokémon in a whole new world—your own! Pokémon GO is built on Niantic’s Real World Gaming Platform and will use real locations to encourage players to search far and wide in the real world to discover Pokémon… In Pokémon GO, the real world will be the setting!

Pokémon Go, Google, the State Department, the CIA and the DoD

The company behind Pokémon Go is a San Francisco software developer called Niantic, Inc, which was formed in 2010 as an internal startup at Google. The founder and current CEO of Niantic is John Hanke, a man who has connections both to the State Department and the CIA.

Before moving to San Francisco to study at the University of California, Hanke previously worked for the US State Department in Myanmar. Hanke also founded Keyhole, Inc in 2001, a company which specialized in geospatial data visualization applications. Google acquired the company in 2004, with many of the applications developed by Keyhole being instrumental in Google Maps and Earth. In 2003, the CIA’s venture-capitalist firm, In-Q-Tel, invested in Keyhole, with the CIA’s own website proudly detailing this investment:

The CIA-assisted technology probably most familiar to you is one many of us use on a regular basis: Google Earth. In February 2003, the CIA-funded venture-capitalist firm In-Q-Tel made a strategic investment in Keyhole, Inc., a pioneer of interactive 3-D earth visualization and creator of the groundbreaking rich-mapping EarthViewer 3D system. CIA worked closely with other Intelligence Community organizations to tailor Keyhole’s systems to meet their needs. The finished product transformed the way intelligence officers interacted with geographic information and earth imagery.

One of the other intelligence organizations the CIA worked alongside was the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), which is partly under the control of the US Department of Defense (DoD).

So we have a somewhat enigmatic former State Department employee with connections to the CIA and the DoD, being the CEO of a company that created what seems to be a silly, harmless game. What’s going on?

Selling and Sharing Your Data

Like so many new technologies in our digital age, Pokémon Go is constantly gathering information on the user and then openly admitting that they will share this data with anyone who wants it.

As James Corbett pointed out in his article titled: “The CIA’s ‘Pokémon Go’ App is Doing What the Patriot Act Can’t,” the privacy policy of the app states that Niantic will share all the information they gather (which is a lot) with the state and private organizations:

We cooperate with government and law enforcement officials or private parties to enforce and comply with the law. We may disclose any information about you (or your authorized child) that is in our possession or control to government or law enforcement officials or private parties as we, in our sole discretion, believe necessary or appropriate.

Corbett also details how the game requires the user to give excessive access to Niantic/CIA/NGA/DoD (including access to the users’ Google account and camera).

Oliver Stone on PG: “Totalitarianism” and a “New Level of Invasion”

Speaking at this year’s Comic-Con, Oliver Stone – the award winning filmmaker and director of the new film on Edward Snowden – had some very insightful views on the new craze and the growing business of data-mining. As Vulture magazine reported in a recent article, Stone denounced the game as a “new level of invasion” and a new form of “totalitarianism:”

I’m hearing about it too; it’s a new level of invasion. Once the government had been hounded by Snowden, of course the corporations went into encryption, because they had to for survival, right? But the search for profits is enormous. Nobody has ever seen, in the history of the world, something like Google – ever! It’s the fastest-growing business ever, and they have invested huge amounts of money into what surveillance is; which is data-mining.

Stone continues:

They’re data-mining every person in this room for information as to what you’re buying, what it is you like, and above all, your behavior. Pokémon Go kicks into that. It’s everywhere. It’s what some people call surveillance capitalism; it’s the newest stage. You’ll see a new form of, frankly, a robot society, where they will know how you want to behave and they will make the mockup that matches how you behave and feed you. It’s what they call totalitarianism.

Predicting Human Behavior

It is interesting that Stone doesn’t just warn about the commercial aspect of data-mining, but the fact that the more data governments and private corporations collect on the citizens of the world, the easier it becomes to predict their behavior. It is not just Stone that is warning about this reality, however. At the start of last year, the UK governments own surveillance commissioner, Tony Porter, revealed how data obtained from CCTV cameras can be used to “predict behavior.”

As we progress through the 21st century and more advanced algorithmic systems are developed to process the tsunami of data, intelligence agencies and governments will increasingly be able to predict (and manipulate) the behavior of their populations and the populations of foreign countries. We are already far along this path, will the trajectory for the future heading straight towards levels of surveillance far beyond even what George Orwell envisaged; with the fight for digital privacy being a major battleground in this century for those who value freedom.

Pokémon Go looks more like a Trojan horse of the CIA and the wider intelligence-security-data-mining-Big-Brother complex, than just a silly, innocent game. With all these connections to the State Department, the CIA and the DoD, no wonder some countries are reportedly considering banning the game.

Steven MacMillan is an independent writer, researcher, geopolitical analyst and editor of The Analyst Report, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.

from: http://www.activistpost.com/2016/07/pokemon-go-cia-totalitarianism-future-surveillance.html

Finding Peace Within

Posted on July 30, 2016 by marcia

How To Master Inner Peace

In5D July 30, 2016

How To Master Inner Peace

by Melind

I have learned in the past couple of years that nothing ever stays the same. Even after we start practicing mindfulness, we have our good and bad days.

People often tell me that sometimes they are still anxious, even after practicing peace for such a long time. They feel bad for it and want to eliminate it completely. But the truth is that anxiety, just like any other human feeling, cannot be eliminated completely. Because it is natural. And there’s nothing wrong with it, just like there’s nothing wrong with any other human feeling.

I have my own set of fears, just like everybody else does. Sometime I feel like my mind just picks a random worry off its big shelf of worries to bother me with. The shelf is never empty, it always has something to throw at me. I don’t think it will ever be empty. And that’s okay.

What I realized is that it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter that the shelf is full. It doesn’t matter what the mind throws at you. And I’m going one step further: It doesn’t even matter what life itself throws at you. Because there is only one thing that matters, one thing that determines life.

And that is how we react to it.

This was one of the very first reminders I’ve written in my meditation diary: “Life is determined by our reactions to it.” Because many things are out of our control, even our thoughts sometimes. But what will always remain in our control is our reactions. And through our reactions, we make life.

Let’s look at an example. Imagine a person who is scared of public speaking because of what people might think about her. That’s a very common fear. Now imagine that person going up to speak and messing up in the worst possible way. This is our main situation. There are two ways to go from there.

She either collapses mentally and scolds herself for being so stupid, never really getting over it, making it into one of her most horrible memories. Or she can shrug it off, accept with peace that it happened and move on. Will anyone in the audience care? No, everyone will forget after a short time. Of course they will, because it’s not a big deal. It’s nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Nothing is nearly as big of a deal as our minds make it out to be. It’s good to remember that, so when the time comes, we can choose to react with peace. What happens doesn’t matter as long as we choose to react to it with peace. Because whatever we react to in such a way will become a peaceful experience.

This is one of the most important things I’ve learned and I still remember what a freeing experience it has been to realize it. I don’t have to suffer. I don’t have to panic. I don’t have to worry. I can choose to react with peace. To anything. Inside and outside of me.

“Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional,” is one of my favorite quotes. Because it’s so true. Things will happen, everyone goes through pain, hardship, bad thoughts, uncomfortable feelings. But those don’t determine a life. What determines a life is how we react to all these things. Because that makes all the difference in the world.

(A guided meditation on the same topic can be found here:

“Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you respond to it.” – Lou Holtz

from: http://in5d.com/how-to-master-inner-peace/

Native Americans in Politics

Posted on July 28, 2016 by marcia

A Political Turning Point for Native Americans

Who will be Indian Country’s Obama? Look to the states. Her name will be Paulette, Peggy, or Denise.

Mark Trahant posted Jul 26, 2016

This is the first of a two-part series on this political turning point for Native Americans. Read Part 2 here.

Joe Garry was president of the National Congress of American Indians in an era when tribal rights were under assault from Congress. House Concurrent Resolution 108, passed in August 1953, declared that the federal government should “terminate” its responsibilities toward Native Americans, essentially breaking promises made through solemn treaties.

The threat was real. In a period of 30 years, more than a hundred tribes were disbanded and the tribal governments dissolved. The result was huge losses of land and natural resources in Oregon, Utah, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Texas.

The strongest weapon in this battle is the power to vote.

Garry’s plan to counter that threat included the addition of more Native American voices to the country’s conversations. The strongest weapon in this battle is the power to vote, Garry said. So I’ll begin the story of Native America’s growing political voice in Idaho, where Garry was the chairman of the Coeur d’Alene tribe. He ran for the Idaho House of Representatives and was elected in 1957. Later, he won a seat in the the Idaho Senate, and in 1960 sought the Democratic Party’s nomination for the U.S. Senate.

Idaho is a surprising birthplace for Joe Garry’s legacy. Not many Native Americans live in Idaho, where they comprise roughly 1 percent of the population. Garry’s successes showed that someone from a tribal community could be a leader for all of the citizens in a state.

: Joe Garry

In 1975, Garry’s niece Jeanne Givens became the first Native woman elected to the Idaho House of Representatives. Like her uncle, she challenged the status quo with a bid for Congress in 1988. Givens lost, but four years ago another Coeur d’Alene tribal member, Paulette Jordan, ran for the Idaho House seat. She lost that attempt but won in 2014, illustrating what may be the most important lesson in politics: You have to run to win—sometimes more than once. Jordan describes Givens as a mentor who has taught her much about politics. Both have earned the legacy of Joe Garry.

Larry Echo Hawk won a seat in the Idaho Legislature in 1992. After serving two terms he ran for and won election as the Bannock County prosecuting attorney—another first. Then, in 1990 he was elected attorney general of Idaho and became one of the few Native Americans to ever win a statewide office. Four years later he ran for governor, but he lost.

When a state like Idaho has a history of electing Native Americans to public office, you have to wonder, “Where else?” It has almost been a story of success-by-stealth.

There is a win in Arizona, another in Kansas. And when you add them up, there are at least 73 American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians serving in 19 state legislatures.

When a state like Idaho has a history of electing Native Americans to public office, you have to wonder, “Where else?”

Why hasn’t the scope of this story been told before? Because each race is local; no one has ever collected all of the data that make a complete picture. So at the start of the election season I set out to build a complete list of Native Americans running for state and federal office. My list is always changing, but there are seven candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives, one for the U.S. Senate, and some 80 state legislative candidates. (What I really like is that it’s crowdsourced: Every time I publish the latest candidate charts at TrahantReports.com, readers let me know who I have missed.)

I’d love to proclaim this to be a record year, but there’s nothing to measure against. We don’t know how many Native Americans have taken the plunge in previous election cycles. We do know, however, who has won.

One source for that information is membership in the National Caucus of Native American State Legislators. This is an association of people already elected, so it tells us more about what happened in 2014 than in 2016. Still, it’s important for three reasons: First, if you look at the body of work of these state senators and representatives, you’ll find that they advocate for better services, more funding, and improving relationships between tribal nations and state governments. Second, there is a mechanism to share information with each other about what works (and what does not). And third, this association is the talent pool for federal posts, from Congress to the White House.

Remember, it was just 1996 when Barack Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate.

To see the growing influence of Native Americans elected to office we need only to look at Montana.

Right now, the big story there is Denise Juneau, the state’s superintendent of public instruction, who is running for the U.S. House of Representatives. She’s a member of the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes and grew up in the Blackfeet Nation in Browning, Montana. She has already won two statewide contests, so she knows what it takes to win Montana’s only U.S. House seat. If successful, she (along with Arizona congressional candidate Victoria Steele) would be the first American Indian woman in Congress.

To see the growing influence of Native Americans elected to office we need only to look at Montana.

Yet the Montana story is richer than just Juneau. Some 20 years ago, Montana was much like any other state with a significant Native American population with only one or two Native Americans serving in the state Legislature. But in 1997, a third Native American candidate won. And again in 2003. By 2007, Native Americans in Montana occupied 10 seats in the state Legislature—6.6 percent of that body. Montana’s population is 7.4 percent Native American.

Today there are three Native Americans in the Montana Senate and five in the Montana House of Representatives, some 5.3 percent of the state Legislature. This is the highest percentage of Native American representation in the country.

Let’s put the Montana percentages in national terms: If Congress were 5.3 percent Native American, that would be five U.S. Senators and 21 members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Even if you adjust for population, the number of Native American members of Congress would have to more than double to equal the representation found in Montana.

: YES! Infographic by Tracy Loeffelholz Dunn.

After the 2016 election, Montana’s state-level Native representation is likely to grow. There are 11 Native American candidates on Montana’s ballot this year, including Juneau.

Montana’s Native American legislators are in office to raise overlooked issues that are important to their constituents. According to the Montana Budget and Policy Center, this past session produced a number of innovative laws, including Medicaid expansion (a financial boost to the Indian health system) and laws that will improve funding for tribal colleges, support for tribal languages, and streamline Indian business ventures. The success rate of Native American legislators to push through policy changes was less than perfect, but their voices were heard. It’s likely that during the next session many of the ideas that failed to pass will be back on the agenda.

Native voters and elected officials are only at the beginning of a demographic trend.

At nearly 1 percent nationwide, the Native American rate of representation in state legislatures still trails that of the nation’s overall population of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. But that’s more than half of the 1.7 percent that make up the Native American population in the United States. Compare that to Congress, where only two elected Native Americans equal only 0.33 percent. Compare that to the federal judiciary, where only one Native American judge equals a representation of about 0.1 percent.

Then consider the young and growing Native American population. Native voters and elected officials are only at the beginning of a demographic trend. The American Indian and Alaska Native population is younger and growing faster than the general population. About one-third of all Native Americans are under the age of 18 (compared to 24 percent for the total population), and the median age for Native Americans is 26 (compared to 37 for the nation).

While it’s overdue for America’s first citizens to have a voice in how governments are run and how the country’s future is shaped, it is happening now. Just imagine what it could mean for climate change policy decisions, for example, to hear from people who think about the future in terms of a 10,000-year history. Imagine also the healing message for a new generation of Native Americans—and for the country as a whole—to finally see in positions of power the people who suffered loss of both lands and culture and genocide.

: YES! Infographic by Tracy Loeffelholz Dunn.

This is a story that has been unfolding slowly, chapter by chapter. It started even before Joe Garry, when 19th century tribal treaty negotiators demanded a seat in Congress (a promise never kept). It’s a legacy that is infused with presidential politics, especially when candidates like Jesse Jackson, Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, and Hillary Clinton campaign in tribal communities. The election of Obama elevated the possible. He kept his promises to include tribal nations in his government and in his actions. His rise from community organizer representing poor Black communities illuminated a path to meaningful politics.

This is a story that’s been unfolding slowly, chapter by chapter.

It’s also a progressive legacy, of which Minnesota Rep. Peggy Flanagan of the White Earth Ojibwe tribe is an excellent example. Flanagan told The Circle when she was elected, “I have been clear that for myself personally as an Ojibwe woman and mother—but also what I’ve heard from my constituents—is that Minnesotans believe in protecting our land and water. That’s why people live here in the first place. Indian or non-Indian, we live in a really beautiful state, and to throw it all away for short-term financial gain is really troubling to me.”

It’s hard to look across the country and not be optimistic about the quality, and the growing quantity, of Native American political voices. We know the story won’t end here because history tells us that state legislatures are the route that leads the next generation of leaders into Congress—and one day the White House.

So if you want to know who will be Indian Country’s Barack Obama, look to the states. Her name will be Paulette Jordan, Peggy Flanagan, or Denise Juneau.

And whoever she is, she will represent Joe Garry’s legacy.

from: http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/a-political-turning-point-for-native-americans-20160726

Changing Times, Changing Views

Posted on July 28, 2016 by marcia

Transformation, X-Ray Eyes and the Lifting of the Veil

These are very exciting times as well as extremely challenging ones. Changes continue to accelerate on personal as well as external fronts, and will continue to do so. This veil lifting meme has come on strong. It’s in our collective consciousness. It’s the awakening morphing as we said it would and will continue to do.

On the external front, the BREXIT issue is very indicative of the growing effects of recent events, even if it’s engineered to try and bring on a new globalist plan. The point is people are getting a sense of empowerment and involvement. When these openings arise they lead to more awakenings of the spirit as related issues come to light.

I see and feel it here in Spain, as there are a lot of Brits here and they’re talking about it quite a bit and recalculating many things as a result, as are all other nationalities here in Europe. It affects trade, freedom of movement and places of residence the most immediately.

People are already on the defensive with the monetary manipulations and the underlying issue of disappearlng national cultures with the migration agenda in full swing, so the cumulative effect of these issues is precipitating new viewpoints and understandings about what’s going on.

Populations are also being battered about by these escalating false flags and ginned up fear with the resulting militarization of their otherwise peaceful nations. They’re seeing through all this more and more. That’s pretty powerful. It’s all backfiring as they get more and more desperate to gain control, and people aren’t buying into it nearly as much.

The Break Though Is Under Way – And It’s Very Personal

The truth is bubbling through this lifting veil and changing the playing field in more ways than we can even clearly identify. It’s a shift – ultimately in consciousness that is affecting the entire planet and everything and everyone in and on it.

The most profound manifestations are what’s happening in people’s personal lives. I’ve been going through a major shift the past 10 months with very personal ramifications coming at me full speed and from all sides. The thing is, I’m hearing this from every quarter. My own children, close friends, readers and commenters on the site, people I’m meeting, and just perusing the consciousness oriented web sites.

The shift is hitting the fan. And it’s all for good.

It’s really remarkable how lives are being impacted. And it’s clearly what’s most important – that we make the personal changes that are being required of us to prepare us for what’s ahead, as well as in fulfilling our essential roles as sovereign awakened souls and awake and responsible inhabitants of this glorious planet.

Y-Ray Eyes – Just Wait To See What You’re Gonna See!

What’s thrilling about these changes is what is being revealed to us. Not only in our general outlook as that will continually keep morphing, but our self perception and how we view those about us that closely influence our lives.

You’ll see yourself, first of all, warts and all as the layers peel off. But it’s revealing your real shining self. It’s all good. I get into this in other articles but you know what I’m talking about. Transformation is a painful but necessary process.

Don’t fight it. In fact, pursue it.

The wild stuff I’ve been experiencing the past several months and which continues to step up is seeing not only myself, but other people differently. Especially the ones I thought I “knew”. Things get revealed to you. Brace yourself, a lot of it comes as a shocker or sideways revelation, but trust what your heart is telling you. And respond accordingly as you’re led.

It’s an ongoing adjustment process but quite a thrilling experience. It’ll make you draw close to some and distance yourself from others as your newly revealed self comes to the surface.

The Bombastic Bullshit Factor

There’s a lot of complete bullshit getting thrown around, and pointless, distracting and time and energy wasting drama. It’ll be cloaked in anything from morphed new age type spiritual rigamarole, a very toxic infection going around, to shallow amusements with no lasting value that also drain the spirit and distract from deeper relationships grounded in reality.

You’ll also see other people you don’t know differently. It’s sort of like having x-ray eyes that are waking up and activating. It gives you a lot more compassion to realize what people are trapped in, as well as an increasing disdain for destructive behavior and deliberate ignorance.

Events and news morph too. You’ll be able to more easily resist areas of information that you once tolerated and even sought after. Go with it. As we detoxify it gets easier and easier and we naturally spend more time on connecting with nature and relaxing as well as working on spiritual grounding, essential to our health and survival, especially now in these increasingly turbulent times, both socially and spiritually.

Hyperdimensional Stuff

This can’t be emphasized enough. Without awareness of this aspect we’re sitting ducks. Almost if not all of our problems are influenced by hyperdimensional energies and entities. We’re under attack now more than ever and as the veil lifts, but we’re going to be able to identify these pestering spirit influences at work.

That’s why grounding work in order to stay firmly planted in reality is so very important.

But it’s all for our good and growth, so react consciously. Again, the Wetiko information is very empowering in this regard. We need to understand what is going on in this important hyperdimensional aspect and there’s a lot of great information regarding this available.

But nothing takes the place of vigilance. If we’re “on call” we’re much more likely to nip things in the bud before we get entangled and things really become complicated and confusing. That’s why I wrote about social contracts and co-dependence recently, because these can be activated before we know it. It’s bad enough the ones we’re aware of and already disengaging from, but why bring on more problems for ourselves if we can avoid them?

Can I Help?

Co-dependency often manifests in trying to help others in the wrong way and with the wrong motives driving us. Maybe we’re drawing others to ourselves, or working out old issues with wanting to feel needed. It could be a lot of things.

This phrase “can I help?” has become a joke with my closest friends. We talk about all these things I’m writing about here a lot which really helps heighten awareness of it. But if you can laugh when you catch yourself doing it it’s a real good sign! Issues like this are a manifestation of previous trauma and tragedy in our lives and may not seem so funny at times, but we can get past it.

We just need to see it for what it is.

That takes some “homework” but it’s an essential part of our growth. Wrong, binding social contracts are another extension of co-dependency. It’s that thing that reaches out and attaches in completely unhealthy ways. It reminds me of the quote:

“Thoughts are not the problem… it’s the thing that goes out and grabs them and makes them ‘yours’ that’s the problem.”- Jack O’keeffe

Watch Your Thoughts – And Everything Else

That quote above is like anything in us that seeks attachment. And let me tell you, hyperdimensionals LOVE attachment! Besides what basic attachments to to bind up personally, attachment is how these entities and influences work and even travel from person to person. So watch out where you hang out, who you’re with and what you think. Do regular energetic cleansing. All this may seem a tall order but it’s the nature of the beast right now.

Actually it always has been.

“Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom” is a lot deeper than we thought. But it’s not that complicated. It will take some tough decisions to let go of compromised situations. The answer is usually clear and easy but the execution can be tough. Some things take more time to unravel and disconnect from than others. But we all can do it.

Unveil Yourself

I’m dwelling on these personal aspects because self-healing is the most profound manifestation of this lifting of the veil. And once we’re whole we’re way more effective in helping to change the vibrational level of our environment. That’s the most effective thing any of us can do.

It’s also where these other forces and issues can’t touch us, and that awakening process continues to self replicate and raise in not just frequency, but power and speed. Besides, it’s the unknown territory we all crave to find and explore and dwell in.

And it’s at all of our fingertips.

Now that’s empowering. We’re in the midst of a planetary shift that’s being energetically charged, and as we respond and resonate it works synergistically to compound this wonderful change exponentially.

Keep on. It’s an individual fight, but we each help each other massively by overcoming.

Meet you in the unknown! It’s the place to be! 😉

Love always and all ways,

Zen

from: http://www.zengardner.com/the-lifting-of-the-veil/

Seeing Some Changes in Yourself?

Posted on July 25, 2016 by marcia

17 Advanced Signs Of Spiritual Awakening

In5D July 25, 2016

17 Advanced Signs Of Spiritual Awakening

by Gregg Prescott, M.S.
Editor, In5D.com

Every day, we receive confirmation that we are on the right path. Little synchrocities may pop up or perhaps a white feather will slowly fall from the sky and land at your feet. These aren’t mere coincidences as EVERYTHING has a meaning and a purpose!

We’re entering a new spiritual awakening paradigm of thought which is exponentially gaining momentum. People are waking up and are facing their biggest fears, only to find out that this reality is a dream inside of a dream. In other words, we never die and our waking lives are merely a reflection of the subconscious mind which always brings us our biggest obstacles and fears in order to overcome these obstacles and to grow spiritually.

Within this shift of consciousness is a new mentality that refuses to be locked inside the box of conventional wisdom and brainwashed rhetoric. This is part of the great awakening.

Spiritual Awakening

At first, one may begin to seek their own inner truths in private but as the awakening continues, his or her search becomes an integral part of their lives. For example, people beginning their spiritual journeys may not talk about their concerns, issues or discoveries with their friends due to a fear of peer ridicule. Unfortunately, this falls under the category of “groupthink” and is akin to the same psychological conformity tests such as the Asch Conformity Experiments.

We begin to realize that virtually all of our thoughts have been cultivated by society through our biased educational facilities and through the main stream media, which dictates how we should behave, what we should eat, how we should look, etc… If we trace the roots of ALL of the main stream media, we find that they’re predominantly run by 6 people who control ALL of the media, which includes our educational facilities.

Advanced Signs Of Spiritual Awakening

This is why we were never taught how George W. Bush’s grandfather, Prescott Bush, funded both sides on World War II. Why? Because the Zionists have an agenda that’s been cultivated for many, many years. This is why we’re over-stimulated and over-entertained.

You end up rolling your eyes when you hear questions like these:

“Who’s gonna win the big game this weekend?”
“Did you see the latest Dancing With the Stars?”
“Check out my new i-Phone.”

I have the same answer that I say under my breath: “Who really gives a rat’s ass?” How does that fit into your spiritual growth? How is that making you a better person? How is that helping the world resolve its current issues?

Beginning Stages Of Spiritual Awakening

Many people begin their spiritual journey through the seeking of truths, such as the 911 coverup, chemtrails, secret societies (Builderbergs, Committee of 300, Skull & bones, Freemasons, etc…) and other conspiracy theories.

For a better idea of who REALLY runs this PLANET, please check out my article, “Pyramid Of Death: Who REALLY Runs This World?“.

The term “conspiracy theory” always seems to have a negative association linked to it, mainly by the main stream media. Why would this be? I think you know the answer… Yet this form of truth seeking seems to lead to a spiritual path for many as they realize that everything that’s currently happening in politics and religion leads to a greater awakening through truth. This brings us to the next level of spirituality.

The ego becomes exposed as we learn how to understand and control our materialistic ways. We start to make changes in our lives that are more positive. Sometimes, we also confront what we fear the most, such as a failed relationship, losing your job or loss of long-time friends who don’t understand your change in demeanor.

At times, it seems like the universe is taking a dump on you, yet when you look back at your difficulties, you realize that the universe presented you an OPPORTUNITY to overcome and grow from these obstacles.

You begin to surround yourself with like-minded people who share similar views and thoughts about making this world a better place for all of us. Many of these people are brought into our lives through the Law of Attraction or have soul contracts to meet with you at a specific time in your life. These contracts were made in the ethereal realms and can include literally millions of people.

For example, one small action can influence many people. As a driver, if you let someone into traffic, then that makes their day. It’s also likely that the same person will do the same for other people that same day. Your one action has now multiplied into many kind gestures. The same principle works when we smile at someone or open the door for a stranger.

You may experience the discontinuation of a dead-end relationship. At that point in time, it seems unbearable, but the universe is allowing you to get a fresh, new start on life by releasing negative influences that are attached to you. At this point in time, it’s important to forgive the other person, as well as yourself, for the failed relationship. By doing so, you’ve released any negative karma associated with this person.

17 Advanced Signs Of Spiritual Awakening

Now your spirituality begins steamrolling forward! How many of these have you experienced?

You openly talk about spiritual issues with virtually everyone. If you have Facebook, your wall is literally plastered with spiritual and metaphysical quotes, links and videos and you no longer post trivial statements that relate to the ego or materialism.
Your heart is filled with love for all living things, including plants and animals.
You react differently to things that used to bother you, including any political rhetoric because you realize that most world leaders do not care about you and that it’s up to you to become real change that you want to see in this world.
You completely understand what it means to “become one with everything” but also know the importance of healing and integrating all soul fractions of yourself, positive and negative, from this life and in the past.
You have a greater appreciation and understanding of nature and her elements.
You become more conscientious about what you’re eating and drinking, as well as how that affects your DNA.
You realize what your life purpose is.
Metaphysical abilities, both suppressed and new, begin to surface.
You are more in touch with your body than ever before, through meditation and reflection.
You’re learning new things at an exponential rate.
Your entire body begins to resonate at a higher vibration.
You may experience a high pitched frequency that are not the result of tinnitus or a Vitamin D deficiency.
Your dreams are very positive or futuristic because your subconscious mind no longer relates to fear.
Your higher self keeps reminding you, “It’s time”.
You experience synchronicities on a daily basis and understand that these synchronicities are signs of your awakening. These synchronicities may include numerical sequences, such as 11:11 or finding the right video or article at an opportune time in your life.
Time seems to be speeding up for you as the days and weeks fly by.
You stand within your truth. Like Gandhi said, “Even if you’re the minority of one, the truth is still the truth.”

One last thing to mention: It doesn’t matter where you are on your spiritual journey as long as you’re moving forward!

This is much more than the “Barnum Effect” in which people accept vague generalizations as truth. This is reality. This is your journey, enjoy the ride!

from: http://in5d.com/17-advanced-signs-of-spiritual-awakening/

What’s Going On Underground?

Posted on July 25, 2016 by marcia

Deep Underground Military Bases? California Hit By Mysterious Clockwork “Booms” Daily For Years

by Tyler Durden

Submitted by Piper McGowan via The Daily Sheeple,

For years now, residents of Sonora, California have been hearing a window-shaking loud and so far officially unexplained BOOM! that always happens between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. daily.

Inquisitr reports that the explanation floating around Sonora from a local geologist/teacher is that an Army Depot in Hawthorne, Nevada, all the way across the state and behind a mountain range which disposes of old munitions like bombs, might be what residents have been hearing.

But do they have so many old bombs to dispose of that they do it daily every single day even on weekends and holidays without fail for years? Why would Sonora, California of all locations near Hawthorne be the seemingly most affected city of all?

Besides, even people who work at the depot aren’t hearing the booms regularly (via ABC News)

Ken Thomas, a contracting officer for the Hawthorne Army Depot, told ABC News today that they do detonate munitions regularly at the depot when the munitions are past their shelf-life, but he is not convinced that it can be heard in Sonora.

“It doesn’t feel right that what we’re doing here would be heard 200 miles away when there’s a mountain range in between us,” Thomas said. “My office is 27 miles from where they detonate the old munitions, I only hear it here maybe one time a month, and just barely and it’s like ‘Was that a boom?’”

On top of that, not only are they clockwork, but these have been described as deep, low booms which can almost be felt by the people who live there. In fact, a friend who lives near Sonora said that sometimes they can actually see their windows warp during the booms.

So what is it? Lots of conspiracies are, of course, floating around including aliens (as per the usual).

But one in particular sounds a lot more plausible than an old weapons depot that’s a three-hour drive from Sonora: DUMBs.

Deep underground military bases.

We all know there’s an extensive network of them which has been significantly expanded since 9/11 and the creation of Homeland Security…

…and we’re all just supposed to put our fingers in our ears and go “la la la” and pretend like they don’t exist.

The tunneling project is a joint venture involving the National Security Agency, CIA, FBI, MiB, Homeland Security & a few other groups that are buried in the Congressional Intelligence Committees with some weird acronyms no one really understands. Much of the info on this comes from private citizens in the county, public officials, as well as Coast to Coast with George Noory & Art Bell. These shows have given incredibly good information on the topic for the last several months, beginning in late 2003…

According to the information available, there are several reasons for the project:

1) Homeland Security needs an system of rapid deployment in the South, free of traffic;

2) certain gov’t agencies want an easy connection route with other gov’t installations in the South;

3) there is a move on in the intelligence community to begin more efficient use of the underground rail system already in place at Lockheed in Marietta;

4) Paulding is a central location for the complete project that will eventually connect installations in Anniston, AL; Macon, GA; Lockheed in Marietta; Lookout Mtn, TN; Greenville-Spartanburg, SC; & Raleigh-Durham, NC;

5) the Yorkville area of Paulding has been designated as the prime location for these hubs to come together because of geological preference;

6) the addition of new Walmart facilities in NW GA give spur hubs & depots easy access to large areas that can be partitioned off for moving of very large equipment & large numbers of people in case of national emergency.

(source)

Kinda like the CIA kept pretending Area 51 didn’t exist for decades until it was finally, quietly admitted it in 2013.

from: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-24/deep-underground-military-bases-california-hit-mysterious-clockwork-booms-daily-year

Moving Into Awakening

Posted on July 25, 2016 by marcia

Awakening: 7 Steps to Ease the Labor Pain of Spiritual Rebirth

By Juliet Tang

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

Awakening is a unique journey that can only be experienced. The closest description I can come up with is that it feels like finally seeing the true colors of the world for the first time after having taken off a pair of tinted glasses that was tied around your eyes since birth. As you are running down the path with enthusiasm, you realize just how magnificent everything is and you are eager to inhale all its beauty. You long to find all the treasures you never thought were there, and every time when you find something and hold it in your hands to examine its intricate details, you remember it is something you’ve left behind long ago. In fact, the entire journey looks familiar.

Eventually, it dawns on you that this is the path that takes you back to your true origin and the further you go, the more illuminated your path becomes until you see an infinite number of paths all around you and billions of souls traveling at their own pace back to the same place, a place that has birthed the light.

With the excitement of finally starting a new chapter in the journey comes a series of challenges and confusions that can be overwhelming. After all, rebirth is never without its labor pains and some can be quite intense to the point of making us wonder whether this is worth it. There is no “one size fits all” formula or linear path that works for every individual; however, these are some steps that can be taken to ease the impact of the speed bumps. Usually, the more out of alignment we are prior to awakening, the more intense the journey can be felt on all levels because there is much that needs to be unlearned.

It is a journey of letting go and home coming.

Step 1. Acknowledgement

“Failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one area I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realized, and I was still alive… And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.” – J.K. Rowling

Many would describe one of the triggers of the awakening process is hitting rock bottom. The common feelings accompanying this step are often depression, anger, despair and loneliness. It can be a dark period of time when we feel no matter how much we try, we continue to slam our faces against the cold brick floor of the pit we have fallen into. We condemn life and everything in it believing it has all been a mistake and we have reached an end.
It is only when we can acknowledge the defeat of the existing paradigm will we be able to liberate ourselves from it and awaken to our true nature. When we are faced with our greatest challenges and darkest moments after having failed to change what is outside of ourselves, we often are left with only one choice — taking the journey inward and changing ourselves.

As difficult as this step is, being in a place in the absence of what we desire in life be it love, joy or fulfillment becomes the motivational factor that pushes us to journey within to a sacred place where higher wisdom can be accessed.

This step is the starless dark night before dawn and the ferocious storm before the rainbow. Many refer to it as the dark night of the soul. As debilitating as the step is, underneath the pain is tremendous love and grace that allows us to journey back to who we truly are if we choose to, but the journey must be taken outside of the mind and existing beliefs. The more we can question every belief we hold onto and see beyond the thin veil separating what’s real and what’s illusive, the more we will be able to see our existing system as a mirage created by others around us to maintain a façade of this dream state.

We begin to realize just how heavy our baggage is from carrying and living those beliefs that we have internalized from our caretakers, teachers, peers and culture without ever questioning whether they represent who we are.
Eventually, we begin questioning ourselves, “If I am not my beliefs, who am I?”

Step 2. Trust

“Faith is trust. Faith is a deep sense of connectedness with Being.” – Eckhart Tolle

Trusting that all will work out for the greatest good when nothing seems to be is a crucial step in the process of awakening. It can also be one of the most frightening steps because it requires a giant leap of faith. Personally, I feel it is the catch-22 of awakening. We simply cannot move forward without at some point making a deliberate choice of being willing to let go of any and everything. However, without knowing how long the tunnel is and whether we will ever see the light at the end, we hesitate with each step because we are consumed by fear of possibly making the wrong move hence losing everything we’ve ever worked for.

This step always involves much fear of change. As miserable as we may be with certain aspects of our lives and as much as we yearn for the better, we are so used to things being one way that we fear once we change, we will change for the worse and end up with regrets. This is why we often choose to stay in failing relationships and careers. We tell ourselves we’ve invested too much in something, that the only way we may change it is if we are guaranteed some kind of success while that very belief keeps us trapped in less than satisfying circumstances for years and decades.

Everything in life is energy that flows to us and from us. When we refuse change, we are placing roadblocks to limit or stop the energy flow and eventually causing stagnation in life force energy. Blocked energy in our bodies creates dis-ease while stagnant energy in our lives creates distressing situations. When we say to ourselves we are stuck and we are not moving forward, we are essentially referring to the lack of energy flow.

The truth is, we are change and life is change. In 1 year, 98% of the subatomic particles in our bodies will be different, yet we continue to attempt to hold onto the same beliefs and expectations by imprisoning ourselves in the cages we build with them. By choosing not to change, we are ultimately still choosing and that choice comes from fear.

Awakening requires us to shed our caterpillar skins so we may emerge as butterflies, and trusting the process of metamorphosis is an absolutely necessary step to awaken. Underneath every fear is a dream waiting to blossom and a wish waiting to be fulfilled.

In order to wake up, we must trust enough to take the red pill. That leap of faith is a trade-off with the divine intelligence in the universe. To remember and claim the greatest gift we each have — the gift of our ability to consciously create, we must first give something in return, and that is our very doubt in that creative power. The journey of awakening is nothing but a process of giving back everything that is not us so we can travel with the lightness of who we really are.

Remember, life begins once we step out of our comfort zone.

We may ask ourselves at this point, “How is my fear holding me back from living the life I desire?”

Step 3. Allowing

“The wound is where the Light enters you.” ~ Rumi

We all have wounds. Prior to awakening, it is tempting to cover them up with bandages so we can present ourselves to the world as whole and perfect based on the world’s expectations. When we finally come to the realization that we have been dragging others’ baggage all along and realize the wounds have never healed from being covered up, anger is usually a common response.

It is easy to slip into a phase of judging and blaming ourselves and others for the flawed lives we have lived. We begin to see problems in everyone and everything. Our families, friends, media, society and often times ourselves all seem to represent sources of our pain. More often than not, we are so eager to shed the disempowering beliefs that we couldn’t purge them fast enough.

The risk of finger pointing is that we can easily slip back into the old victimhood except instead of being the victims with blindfolds on, now they have come off to reveal to us the dungeon we believe we are in. Some of us during this time will turn to teachings of law of attraction without first having taking care of the baggage. We convince ourselves in order to attract what we desire in our lives, we must raise our vibration to that which matches what we seek. As a result, we attempt to bypass all the intense emotions of awakening which is equivalent to introducing new expensive Italian furniture into a packed house that has never done spring cleaning.

The emotions we are bombarded with when we take the first few steps to awaken are part of the journey, and must be processed and integrated before we continue. If we try to resist by judging, denying or repressing any of them, we are still reacting to them and identifying with them which essentially means we are placing ourselves at the mercy of those beliefs we so desperately want to get rid of.

Know that the reason we may still be categorizing emotions into good/bad, positive/negative, acceptable/non-acceptable is because we have been conditioned to attach beliefs to the entire spectrum of emotions that are otherwise natural to us. This is the time to allow ourselves to feel without judgment or resistance. We can do so by journaling, talking to our emotions, practicing sitting with our emotions to understand their language, and inviting all parts of ourselves to participate in our meditations.

The question we may ask is, “What are my emotions trying to tell me?”

By being fully present with all emotions and sitting with them, we are beginning to step into our own power of being conscious creators.

Step 4. Acceptance

“I don’t let go of my thoughts, I meet them with understanding. Then they let go of me.” – Bryon Katie

We cannot disown anything before we own it. If we pick and choose what we wish to accept be it an aspect of ourselves or a person in our lives, we are only shining the flashlight in one corner of the room and leaving the rest of it in the dark. It is only when we have the courage to turn on the light fully and see all there is to see in front of us without looking away can we truly decide which ones no longer speak to who we are.

As our emotions are being processed, more and more clarity begins to surface to guide us in being selective with our thoughts, company we keep and experiences we wish to have. Once again, it may be tempting for us to judge parts within us that we do not like, or judge others for being in deep slumber and engaging in activities we do not agree with. We may get judged by others for being different. We may even feel the urge to persuade others to awaken so they can lift the thin veil between the dream state and reality.

It is important for us to understand that the journey of awakening is an inbound journey that involves individual souls remembering who we are through divinely placed and timed circumstances that are specific to each one of us; hence even if some of us are lucky enough to share it or travel parts of it with others, ultimately, the journey is unique to each individual as no two paths are alike. Just as we cannot rush a bud to blossom, we are not helping anyone by attempting to rush them to awaken or judge them for choosing to be asleep.

What we can do is to accept all there is with love and see the perfection in everything. To clear a common misconception, acceptance has nothing to do with agreeing to or condoning anything that is not aligned with who we are and seeing the perfection does not mean forcing ourselves to glorify things and calling them fabulous when they are not. Rather, by accepting, we are dropping our stories of how our experiences and people around us should be, hence freeing ourselves from fear attachments and whatever actions we decide to take from there emerge from a much higher vibration and clearer understanding.

This step, like all others, is simple but not necessarily easy.

For those who have experienced trauma at the hands of others, even the concept of accepting certain people or past events without judgment and anger is simply inconceivable. After the ending of my 8-year abusive relationship, I held onto the trauma for another decade and it was evident to me that my wounds were never fully healed when I had to take sedatives to fall asleep night after night without ever skipping a dosage. I made up stories and excuses to either condemn or justify why it happened so I could work through the forgiveness; the person went from a monster to someone who deserved pity as I continued to assign him new identities which secured my attachment to the very thing I tried to heal.

Eventually, I dropped my role of the storyteller and I met my past with acceptance and understanding—it happened and the person was who he was. When I accepted that what I thought shouldn’t have happened happened because it did and no amount of inner dialogue about the person or experience would change it, it transformed my life and spontaneous healing took place that led to instantaneous recovery of the natural sleep that eluded me for 14 years.
A question we may ask while going through this step is, “What stories am I telling that are keeping me from moving forward?”

It is easy to mistaken acceptance with passivity especially if we are still in a situation where harm is being done to us. Acceptance is the opposite of taking no action, committing to no change, agreeing with and inviting abuse as well as denying our pain which are all fear responses of non-acceptance. Rather, to accept means to not argue with what is so we can convert the tremendous energy we spend in opposing reality to healing and rebuilding our lives in the present moment whether it is to leave an abusive relationship or stand up for ourselves in a situation. When we accept life and open the space within us, inspired action arises.

When we can embrace all parts without labeling, when we can see the perfection in everyone and everything, we are in a powerful position to forgive, release and heal.

Step 5. Releasing

“Enlightenment is a destructive process. It has nothing to do with becoming better or being happier. Enlightenment is the crumbling away of untruth. It’s seeing through the facade of pretence. It’s the complete eradication of everything we imagined to be true.” ~ Adyashanti

It is only after we have allowed and accepted every aspect of our lives can we finally make the decision to keep, or let go of certain people and patterns based on who we desire to be rather than who we thought we had to be. If we try to release a pattern or belief out of fear, that energy only acts to strengthen the bond between us and that which we seek to dismiss.

The step of releasing can take place simultaneously with the other steps. This is a rather chaotic step and is often referred to as “ego death.”

Initially, it can resemble a demolition project in which drastic changes are made and we go from changing jobs to letting go of relationships within a short period of time with little care about what others think. There may still be fear lingering but it cannot match our enthusiasm to finally live differently as we taste the sweetness of liberation. Our decisions are influenced and fueled by our desire to be and do all that was once held back by our own fears in the past.

Suddenly, our new and lighter vibration begins to attract like-minded individuals from unexpected places and teachers begin to appear out of nowhere. We are also likely to notice divine synchronicity and all those perfectly timed events, resources and people just pop up when we ask for them!

This step is an intimate dance between pain and joy, destruction and reconstruction, confusion and clarity, and despair and hope. On some days when we feel everything has come crashing down and we have absolutely nowhere to hide, somewhere in the middle of the most violent storm, there is a glimpse of hope that lights up like a beacon and the light cannot be extinguished by the waves. Eventually we come to know that the beacon is our spirit guiding us to the shore. We become our own bridges of past and future anchored in this very present moment, inspired, or, in spirit.

One may ask the question, “Where am I going?”

Step 6. Integration

“If we imagine that we’re free of all labels, all separation, and all judgments about this world and the life inhabiting it, we can begin to understand oneness. The place we want to enter is of simply being. We can picture the Source of being as an energy that’s as available to us as is the sky. There’s no anger toward anyone or anything because everyone and everything is Spirit. This Spirit is God, our Source of being. We are it, and it is who we are.” – Wayne Dyer

At a certain point, we realize nothing needs fixing as nothing has ever been broken. Instead, we see the perfection of every moment in our timelines as we can look at our existence from a much bigger picture. We know from a deeper place within us that even those who have caused us pain were beings who were intended for our paths to push us in this direction. Everything, the good and the bad, the laughter and the sadness, everything has been orchestrated by divine intelligence that flows inside of us based on the energy of what we needed to master at the time.

A stream of dreams and aspirations fills us with endless inspiration. We no longer feel the void from those we have let go of because we understand it is only from this infinite space can we write the stories we desire to write. We know whenever we encounter a less than ideal situation in life, it is something that has been called forth by ourselves and we only need to go into that space within ourselves to call on the gentle wisdom. We rely less on others’ teachings and more on our inner resources.

Every once in a while, we may still notice the faint and weak voices from our old patterns trying to speak to us and we consciously choose to overwrite them. We see fear for what it truly is — an illusion as False Evidence Appearing Real. The echoes of our past surface few and far between, and when they do, we approach them with curiosity and understanding knowing no experience is innately positive or negative, it is only our perception that gives anything meaning.

We realize that the ego is not the enemy; it was only doing its job by trying to keep us alive on this dimension. Once we have remembered who we truly are, we can come to a compromise with the ego to allow it to do its part as needed without having to take over. The inner harmony allows us to blend all experiences we’ve ever had and we emerge with greater purpose.

As we are integrating all that is within us, we also experience a deeper connection with everything and everyone around us. We know that energetically, we are all connected as we have all come from the same source. We replace judgment with love; we honor differences but transcend division. Our decisions become driven by the knowing, “We are all one.”

The question may be, “How may I serve?”

Step 7. Gratitude

“The struggle ends when the gratitude begins. The search is over when the finding starts. And the finding is not a finding at all, but a creating. You cannot find what you have been struggling for, but you can create it. And the jump-start of creation is gratitude”. – Neale Donald Walsch

Gratitude naturally arises when we approach the gate of non-duality on our journeys though it may appear much sooner in conjunction with any step towards awakening. Heartfelt gratitude is more than an affirmation, a feeling or a prayer, it is a state of being. That means it is no longer dependent on or conditional to what is happening in us and around us. It is a song and an eternal blessing we are immersed in no matter what we choose to focus our attention on.

We welcome and thank every person and experience that comes across our paths knowing there is a gift that we may choose to accept that will serve us in our evolution. We send gratitude to the ex-lover who “forced” us to remember how to love and value ourselves, to the boss who drove us to quitting that job and finally answering our calling, and to all the moments of tears and struggle for reminding us to step into our inner strength so we can make empowered choices. The imperfections in life become perfections because we know even if they may not be apparent at the moment, they are here to invoke greater wisdom within us.

Gratitude is on the same vibration as love. Love is the highest vibration of the universe. It is the divine source, or life energy itself. We are all beings of love. When we choose to live in gratitude, we are naturally aligning our creation with the very vibration of what we are made of. When we are gratitude, our every thought, word and deed is infused with this infinite creative life force energy that resides in everything in the universe. Our every expression declares and demonstrates who we know ourselves to be — love and Oneness, and from there, creation becomes effortless.

Gratitude allows us to let go of our need to control as control only stems out of the insecurities of our ego. When we allow our experiences to come from our Being and from gratitude, we are stepping into our true power of the creator role we have all chosen prior to this home coming journey.

The question for everything becomes, “What can I create that is a demonstration of love?”

Whether it seems obvious or hidden from us at the moment, we are all given the same creative power of free will. Our destinies are not written in the stars. The happenings in our external environment only reflect the conscious and unconscious choices we’ve made so far, and if something is not to our liking, it is only through inner work can we create a desirable outer reality that matches our own raised vibration.

Know that there is absolutely no destination or requirement in this human experience called life but only perfection wherever we are. The people, experiences and events in our lives at this very moment are exactly what we need to take the next step to create, demonstrate and declare to the world who we are based on the choices we make right here, right now.

We are here to experience every aspect of our infinite Being. We are life energy, manifested in physical form.

from: http://www.zengardner.com/awakening-7-steps-ease-labor-pain-spiritual-rebirth/

Who’s Paying Your Politician?

Posted on July 25, 2016 by marcia

Tired of Our Bought-and-Paid-For Congress? This 18-Year-Old Created an App That Exposes Sellout Politicians

26th July 2016

By Carolanne Wright

Contributing writer for Wake Up World

“In the last 5 years, the 200 most politically active companies in the U.S. spent $5.8 billion influencing our government with lobbying and campaign contributions. Those same companies got $4.4 trillion in taxpayer support — earning a return of 750 times their investment.” ~Greenhouse

In 2010 the Supreme Court handed down a ruling that has forever changed the political landscape of the United States. The decision opened the floodgates for corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts of money on political activities. The result of the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission has been a deluge of cash lavished on super PACs, which are just one very small step away from the candidates they support. The ruling has also established legal protections for corporations, where political spending falls into the realm of “dark money” and never needs to be publicly disclosed. As discouraging as this can be for those who value truth and transparency, the entire situation is about to get a major overhaul by way of an app that exposes corrupt politicians.

Welcome to the oligarchy of the United States

When a small group of people have control over an entire country, organization or institution, we call it an oligarchy. Here in the United States, we’ve crossed the line into this territory years ago and have seemingly turned our backs on the republic that was established when the country was founded. And yet, up until 2010, this creeping movement towards oligarchy wasn’t as obvious as it is today. It’s almost as if those in power have pulled out all the stops and are unconcerned about public opinion because, after all, the momentum is so strong, who are we to stop it?

“This place is just so inundated with corruption – it’s steeped in corruption like a teabag”, said Florida Representative Alan Grayson of Washington DC. “There was a Roman emperor – Caligula – who appointed his horse to the senate. At this point, the system has gotten so bad that if the Koch brothers appointed their horse to the Senate, it wouldn’t even make a difference. That’s where we are.” [source]

The ruling behind Citizens United brought the game to a whole new level, where corporations, corruption and money go hand in hand with members of Congress. A perfect example is the recent vote by the Senate to pass the DARK Act, against strong public outcry — legislation that is in the best interest of the biotech industry, but not the people of this country.

We have to face the fact that our politicians are merely puppets, bending to the highest corporate bidder. We also have a choice, either sit back and reap the consequences of such a government or take action to reform our political contribution laws. When choosing the latter, a powerful new tool has come into play that makes it almost effortless to gather information about which industries are financially supporting a politician.

Always follow the money

With so much corporate money saturating U.S. politics, it can seem an impossible task to try and keep track of which lobbyists are funded by whom. But now, thanks to 18-year-old Nick Rubin, we can clearly see which politicians have sold out. “As you can imagine, reading about how your member of Congress voted in a recent health bill becomes all the more enlightening if you know how much money the health industry showered him in at the last election,” points out Tim Mak of Vice.

Rubin created Greenhouse, a browser plug-in that aims “to shine light on a social and industrial disease of today: the undue influence of money in our Congress.” The app runs under the motto “Some are red. Some are blue. All are Green.” He chose the name Greenhouse due to the color of money in the U.S. and because there are two houses of Congress. It also indicates transparency — a greenhouse is clear and created to help things flourish.

The free plug-in runs on Chrome, Firefox and Safari and, once installed, highlights the name of any member of Congress on any website. When you hover over those names, a small box appears which lists total contribution information and industry breakdown from the current election cycle for that particular politician. Click on the popup to get more detailed information from OpenSecrets. For Safari only, Greenhouse also installs a dollar sign button in the toolbar. Press the button to type a name or scroll down to find any member of Congress. Hovering over the name will open a popup with contribution information.

Rubin has been interested in politics since the seventh grade while learning about corporate personhood. As he got older, he recognized there was a real need to have the sources of income for members of Congress in a simple and easily accessible format. More recently, he’s been teaching himself to code and felt something like Greenhouse would be a perfect solution, essentially putting the data at peoples fingertips with minimal effort. It doesn’t get much easier.

“I just want it to educate people because that’s really the first step toward a solution. That’s exactly why I designed Greenhouse with simplicity in mind, so that everyone—even kids—are able to understand it. In terms of whether Greenhouse will solve this issue—well, education is the first step. I really do believe that increased transparency will help fix the problem. Easy access to data empowers voters to make better decisions. Once people are informed, they will reject elected officials who are motived by money instead of principles.” [source]

Once you know where your member of Congress stands on the corruption scale, you can either support him or her in the next election, or not. We also need to get money out of politics once and for all. Have a look at this article by Bill Moyers that offers a range of organizations and action points to help end the fraud.

from: http://wakeup-world.com/2016/07/26/tired-of-our-bought-and-paid-for-congress-this-18-year-old-created-an-app-that-exposes-sellout-politicians/

Why I’ve cut up my contactless bank card…and you should too, says ROSS CLARK – they are driving up prices and killing off cash

Pokémon Go, Google, the State Department, the CIA and the DoD

Selling and Sharing Your Data

Oliver Stone on PG: “Totalitarianism” and a “New Level of Invasion”

Predicting Human Behavior

The Break Though Is Under Way – And It’s Very Personal

Y-Ray Eyes – Just Wait To See What You’re Gonna See!

The Bombastic Bullshit Factor

Hyperdimensional Stuff

Can I Help?

Watch Your Thoughts – And Everything Else

Unveil Yourself

Beginning Stages Of Spiritual Awakening

17 Advanced Signs Of Spiritual Awakening

Deep Underground Military Bases? California Hit By Mysterious Clockwork “Booms” Daily For Years

Step 1. Acknowledgement

Step 2. Trust

Step 3. Allowing

Step 4. Acceptance

Step 5. Releasing

Step 6. Integration

Step 7. Gratitude

Welcome to the oligarchy of the United States

Always follow the money