Oneness Ministry

Time and Space

by Sequoia Elisabeth

One reason we like TV/Movies so much is the experience is like a dream state. Scenes flash through just as in a dream. And time can be experienced as past, present, or future. Another name for this is time/space verses space/time which is our wakened experience. Space/time is linear and 4 dimensional. The fourth being Time itself and since there is only one dimension of time, it is experienced in a linear fashion (Now, now, now).

In our dreams just as in the movies time/space works the opposite of space/time. Our dreams (also TV/movies) move from one location to another with no regard to space because space is only one dimensional. You remain still during the whole experience. In Time/Space there are three dimensions of time and only one of space which is “here”(where ever you are having the experience). The point where Time/Space and Space/Time intersect is called “right here and now”!

From this we can see how time and space are relative… quite literally!

So let’s review, Space/Time has three dimensions of space – up/down/around, while Time/Space is three dimensions of time – past, present, future. When awake we can only experience time in a linear motion, while dreaming we can only experience one space – here (you do not move while sleeping). On TV/Movies there is the freedom to experience both, a good example of this would be in the movie the Matrix Reloaded there is a scene with the villains going through a door, closing it and when opened a different place is experienced, just as we do in our dreams. Although it is not always so abrupt in dreams, often the experience is a fading from one scene to another… each person will experience dreams slightly differently. If you are having nightmares or frightful dreams then TV/Movies will be less appealing too. Of course this is my personal experience and this realization came to me after reading The Law of One series, The Teachings of RA. So if you would like to know more, please read this series and do your own research, don’t just take my word for it. I am happy to answer questions if I can.

Try this experiment using your power of imagination. When riding in a car (better to not be driving) imagine the car is stationary and the world is moving. Staring straight forward and broadening your field of view, relax your mind into the experience… you have just shifted your experience into time/space!

Sequoia Elisabeth 🙂

Transgender Is A Noun

by Sequoia Elisabeth

The word Transgender is a noun and is not to be used as an adjective. It is not a description per se, but a state of being. I doubt you would ever call yourself maned or womaned, or even manized or womanized. Gender is a state of being, it is not a condition. This is not temporary within this lifetime. This is the way we are born and the way in which we must live our entire lives!!

Identity is something unique to the human race or third density, because the very definition of third density is being self-aware and thus being aware of our identity. A cat does not know it’s a cat, it just is. The same goes for all animals because they are second density or not yet self-aware. These concepts are not new or unique and I got my grasp on them through the 5 books “Law of One – The RA Material”.

Evolution is a path we are all on and even in the 3^rd density some are just entering and others are in the process of shifting to 4^th density and beyond. Once a person evolves to 4^th density they remain aware of the lower densities, but cannot see beyond where they are on the path. This is the nature of evolution, so does this mean we move forward blindly groping in the dark? No. We have tools to navigate the unknown and the most useful I think is emotion/feeling. The tools of the mind have been discussed in length on this blog so I will not go into each one and instead invite you to read “the Six Senses of the Mind” first published 6/30/2010.

What does identity consist of? What are the degrees of identity if this is possible? My answer is we start with Humanity, we are human. This in itself is a major distinction even in this world. We each have gender, man, woman, or transgender. (others may exist, it is your identity after all). We each have race or ancestry and we each have socio-economic status. We are born into these and to a great extent will have these the rest of our lives. I know the last one is debatable, but when you really think about it 99% of the human race never change their socio-economic status. How do you identify? Traits can be a very long list, but do blue eyes really make you who you are? Does gender?

The purpose here in this blog is to trigger a questioning and deeper exploration of identity. To invite you to clarify who you are and in the process perhaps broaden your definitions and connections. I mean the ultimate identity is the One – God, Source Intelligence, Creator of all there is. We are each an individuation of this One Source and part of being self-aware is to expand and deepen our understanding of who we are. To fully grasp our connection to source while maintaining our individuation!

Sequoia Elisabeth 🙂

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The Perfect Example of the Law of Gender

by Sequoia Elisabeth

I found the perfect example of the Law of Gender, San Francisco Bay and Manhattan Island, NY. First of all we need to review the Seventh Universal Law;

The Law of Gender: “Gender is in everything; everything has its Masculine and Feminine Principles”. The last of the seven Universal Laws is evident throughout creation in the so-called opposite sexes found not only in human beings but also in plants, minerals, electrons and magnetic poles to name but a few. Everything and everyone contains both the masculine and feminine elements. Among the outward expressions of Feminine qualities are love, patience, intuition and gentleness and of Masculine qualities are energy, self-reliance, logic and intellect. Know that within every woman lay all the latent qualities of a man and within every man those of a woman. When you know this you will know what it means to be complete.

Nature is a perfect example of the varying energies which surround us. If you look at satellite maps of San Francisco bay you may notice the bay takes on the shape of female anatomy, with a vagina (channel leading into the bay), uterus (bay area around Alcatraz), and fallopian tubes (bay leads both south & north).

The big industries in this area are mostly internet based technologies, creative ventures which embody lots of feminine energy. After all where do babies come from but the female womb? We have seen some big births emerging from this area, the Dot Com boom, Silicon Valley, and the Universities which fuel this growth. But this area is not the only example of gender manifesting in nature. What about New York City?

The island of Manhattan forms the perfect shape of a penis thus embodying masculine energy. What are the big industries here? Finance, commerce, and shipping. There’s plenty of energy, self-reliance, logic, and intellect here! Not to say there is no feminine energy here, but overall the land attracts a dominant energy and complimentary industries are born. And so it is everywhere, just maybe not so obvious.

If you have ever spent time in these places then you will know the energy they embody. Maybe this is why I love travel so much. To feel the energy of a city and get to know the land it is found on. There are no coincidences as to why certain towns are the way they are. Most of the Spiritual centers around the world are located at altitude. Take Tibet for instance or Lake Titicaca both over 12,000 ft. in elevation. Both these locations are Spiritual centers of the Earth. So what is the moral to this tale, simply that there is Power in Place. Wherever you find yourself the place will amplify certain energies. Awareness is the key to enlightenment, the doorway to other realms, and our reason for being!

Sequoia Elisabeth 🙂

Gender Related Spirituality

Each Day is a Lifetime

by Sequoia Elisabeth

Each day is a Lifetime. In the morning you are born anew and each night as you sleep you die. Perhaps this is why children are so reluctant to sleep. Of course sleeping is nothing to be afraid of as we return home each night within our dreams. It does however; end the life expressions of that day.

To more fully understand what I speak of a few things must be understood. The first and most important is this world you experience is not “real” as most understand real. It is not an independent reality separate and self-sustaining. It is instead a dream world much like what is described in the movie, “The Matrix”. It is real in your mind, but not in reality. You are the architect! When you sleep and dream the next day is created! Yes, you do dream, whether you remember it or not! The translation from dream world to waking world is not literal either, unless it is. Most of the time our dreams are in code, and to confirm you are on the right track we sometimes experience “déjà vu”. Or sometimes it is merely a feeling of synchronicity. Pay attention to the details! Those little intuitions, gut feelings, and/or warm sensations are guidance within the waking dream.

Getting back to our focus here, life is relative… everything is relative to time and space. What I offer here is perspective! It can wake you to new possibilities and new enriching experiences. Go to this calculator to find the numbers of days since you were born. This is the number of lifetimes you have experienced in this cycle (incarnation). Remember, life is eternal, no one ever dies, they just change form… exit stage left… move on to their next incarnation.

How you proceed from here is up to you. This info could simply be a fun fact to forget or it could be a tool to expand your experience of this world we experience as “terrains/ humans/ earthlings”. Consider the gift life is and remain curious by exploring the world around you, but do not get too attached… it will soon be over and the next adventure will be upon you!

The question of cycles may have arisen in your mind. Yes, life does move in cycles and each day/lifetime creates a polarity which attracts the next day… an object in motion tends to stay in motion! Changing course requires great effort and intention. The time it takes depends on your understanding of the process. The bigger the relative change the more time required, but I digress.

Perhaps you have further questions which were stirred up here in this blog, I am happy to answer as best I can, or you can simply ask Holy Spirit directly. The answers to all your questions are just a whisper away!

🙂 Sequoia Elisabeth

ACIM and Gary Renard

by Sequoia Elisabeth

“Beware of the temptation to perceive yourself unfairly treated. In this view, you seek to find an innocence that is not Theirs but yours alone, and at the cost of someone else’s guilt. Can innocence be purchased by the giving of your guilt to someone else?” (Jesus)

There’s a capital T in Theirs because what they really are is innocent Spirit, beyond the veil. But if you perceive yourself as unfairly treated, then you’re making everything real, which makes the entire ego thought system of guilt real in your mind. The only way to find your innocence is to get that it’s not real and forgive others for what they have not done in reality. And since it never happened, you can then think of them as being innocent. That’s the way to have it for yourself. Never forget that. It’s the only way out. (Gary Renard, 2013 p.108)

If you perceive yourself as unfairly treated,

then you’re making everything real.

Just one of many insightful quotes from Gary Renard’s new book Love Has Forgotten No One. Of the many ACIM teachers out there Gary is by far the easiest to understand and thus the most effective. He makes the course enjoyable as well as comprehensible. Of course to fully understand this book, reading the other two are required, but then no one said being an ACIM student was easy. It takes at least a year to do the daily lessons and in reality is will take the rest of your life to fully grasp and apply the teachings. This is only if you are dedicated also. This does not give you an excuse to skip it altogether though. As is stated in the beginning of the textbook, “”This is a course in miracles. It is a required course. Only the time you take it is voluntary. Free will does not mean that you can establish the curriculum. It means only that you can elect what you want to take at a given time. The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught. It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love’s presence, which is your natural inheritance. The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite.” (A Course In Miracles, 1996, p.2)

If you are not already a student I recommend reading Gary’s three books first and then doing the course or perhaps if you are dedicated you could do Gary’s books while you do the workbook daily lessons. Just be warned, your life will never be the same again! This is a good thing.

🙂 Sequoia Elisabeth

A Multi-Dimensional Being

by Sequoia Elisabeth

The way you make love is the way God will be with you ~ Rumi

Have you considered how you connect with the rest of the world? And I am not just speaking physically but multi-level… think chakras and the energy each manifests. This is what is meant by a multi-dimensional being. This is who you are and perhaps a source of dysphoria or simply a feeling of not belonging. Why do you feel this way, you know the feeling of being separate from everything. Others don’t understand you and at times you don’t understand them either. Is this feeling necessary to live in the world of physical matter? Perhaps, however we are looking at the big picture today and your task is to relate this information to your own life and perspectives.

For more on the chakras and what I speak of there being different levels of being please read this article which is quite good at explaining each level of chakra, and remember each level has different dimensions(bodies) such as physical, emotional, mental, astral, etc. for more on this I found this article on human nature.

I realize this topic can be a bit overwhelming it has taken me many years to grasp only a fraction of this knowledge. Take one step at a time and with only a little effort the puzzle pieces fall into place. I can’t tell you how beautiful the finished product is because you must see that for yourself, and this could quite possibly be the reason you are here reading this now.

Moving on to another message which I find intriguing and again quite possibly the reason I am here writing this blog. I wish to more fully understand and embrace my inner being. This quote sums it up…

“When we touch the place in our lives where sexuality and spirituality come together, we touch our wholeness and the fullness of our power and at the same time our connection with a power larger than ourselves.”
― Judith Plaskow, Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective

Focusing more directly on just one aspect of the greater system, the second chakra in orchestra with the others seems to be extremely important to living a whole life.

“If sexuality is one dimension of our ability to live passionately in the world then in cutting off our sexual feelings we diminish our overall power to feel, know, and value deeply.”
― Judith Plaskow, Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective

How does this fit into the gender journey? And, how does our relationship to other-self determine the quality of life we live?

The answer lies within each person uniquely. Speaking from the transgender perspective I know I am a multi-dimensional being as I sense this acutely. Even the label human feels odd to me and as I work down the path, male, caucasian, american, heterosexual, woman, each identity is ephemeral in reality. Must I embrace my sexuality to define my being? Can I be without orientation? Is this desirable? The quote above would suggest embracing ones sexuality is the key to a full expression of self. From experience I have to agree.

🙂 Sequoia Elisabeth

ps. Discussion or comments are invited…

The First Thanksgiving

by Sequoia Elisabeth

This is the best story of Thanksgiving I have seen so far. So I post it once again as I did last year. I believe it to be true as best we can know. Gratitude is the moral of the story, not to be giving anything away we all know the moral, the question is do we practice it daily and not just once a year!

When the Pilgrims crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 1620, they landed on the rocky shores of a territory that was inhabited by the Wampanoag (Wam pa NO ag) Indians. The Wampanoags were part of the Algonkian-speaking peoples, a large group that was part of the Woodland Culture area. These Indians lived in villages along the coast of what is now Massachusetts and Rhode Island. They lived in round- roofed houses called wigwams. These were made of poles covered with flat sheets of elm or birch bark. Wigwams differ in construction from tipis that were used by Indians of the Great Plains.

The Wampanoags moved several times during each year in order to get food. In the spring they would fish in the rivers for salmon and herring. In the planting season they moved to the forest to hunt deer and other animals. After the end of the hunting season people moved inland where there was greater protection from the weather. From December to April they lived on food that they stored during the earlier months.

The basic dress for men was the breech clout, a length of deerskin looped over a belt in back and in front. Women wore deerskin wrap-around skirts. Deerskin leggings and fur capes made from deer, beaver, otter, and bear skins gave protection during the colder seasons, and deerskin moccasins were worn on the feet. Both men and women usually braided their hair and a single feather was often worn in the back of the hair by men. They did not have the large feathered headdresses worn by people in the Plains Culture area.

There were two language groups of Indians in New England at this time. The Iroquois were neighbors to the Algonkian-speaking people. Leaders of the Algonquin and Iroquois people were called “sachems” (SAY chems). Each village had its own sachem and tribal council. Political power flowed upward from the people. Any individual, man or woman, could participate, but among the Algonquins more political power was held by men. Among the Iroquois, however, women held the deciding vote in the final selection of who would represent the group. Both men and women enforced the laws of the village and helped solve problems. The details of their democratic system were so impressive that about 150 years later Benjamin Franklin invited the Iroquois to Albany, New York, to explain their system to a delegation who then developed the “Albany Plan of Union.” This document later served as a model for the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution of the United States.

These Indians of the Eastern Woodlands called the turtle, the deer and the fish their brothers. They respected the forest and everything in it as equals. Whenever a hunter made a kill, he was careful to leave behind some bones or meat as a spiritual offering, to help other animals survive. Not to do so would be considered greedy. The Wampanoags also treated each other with respect. Any visitor to a Wampanoag home was provided with a share of whatever food the family had, even if the supply was low. This same courtesy was extended to the Pilgrims when they met.

We can only guess what the Wampanoags must have thought when they first saw the strange ships of the Pilgrims arriving on their shores. But their custom was to help visitors, and they treated the newcomers with courtesy. It was mainly because of their kindness that the Pilgrims survived at all. The wheat the Pilgrims had brought with them to plant would not grow in the rocky soil. They needed to learn new ways for a new world, and the man who came to help them was called “Tisquantum” (Tis SKWAN tum) or “Squanto” (SKWAN toe).

Squanto was originally from the village of Patuxet (Pa TUK et) and a member of the Pokanokit Wampanoag nation. Patuxet once stood on the exact site where the Pilgrims built Plymouth. In 1605, fifteen years before the Pilgrims came, Squanto went to England with a friendly English explorer named John Weymouth. He had many adventures and learned to speak English. Squanto came back to New England with Captain Weymouth. Later Squanto was captured by a British slaver who raided the village and sold Squanto to the Spanish in the Caribbean Islands. A Spanish Franciscan priest befriended Squanto and helped him to get to Spain and later on a ship to England. Squanto then found Captain Weymouth, who paid his way back to his homeland. In England Squanto met Samoset of the Wabanake (Wab NAH key) Tribe, who had also left his native home with an English explorer. They both returned together to Patuxet in 1620. When they arrived, the village was deserted and there were skeletons everywhere. Everyone in the village had died from an illness the English slavers had left behind. Squanto and Samoset went to stay with a neighboring village of Wampanoags.

One year later, in the spring, Squanto and Samoset were hunting along the beach near Patuxet. They were startled to see people from England in their deserted village. For several days, they stayed nearby observing the newcomers. Finally they decided to approach them. Samoset walked into the village and said “welcome,” Squanto soon joined him. The Pilgrims were very surprised to meet two Indians who spoke English.

The Pilgrims were not in good condition. They were living in dirt-covered shelters, there was a shortage of food, and nearly half of them had died during the winter. They obviously needed help and the two men were a welcome sight. Squanto, who probably knew more English than any other Indian in North America at that time, decided to stay with the Pilgrims for the next few months and teach them how to survive in this new place. He brought them deer meat and beaver skins. He taught them how to cultivate corn and other new vegetables and how to build Indian-style houses. He pointed out poisonous plants and showed how other plants could be used as medicine. He explained how to dig and cook clams, how to get sap from the maple trees, use fish for fertilizer, and dozens of other skills needed for their survival.

By the time fall arrived things were going much better for the Pilgrims, thanks to the help they had received. The corn they planted had grown well. There was enough food to last the winter. They were living comfortably in their Indian-style wigwams and had also managed to build one European-style building out of squared logs. This was their church. They were now in better health, and they knew more about surviving in this new land. The Pilgrims decided to have a thanksgiving feast to celebrate their good fortune. They had observed thanksgiving feasts in November as religious obligations in England for many years before coming to the New World.

The Algonkian tribes held six thanksgiving festivals during the year. The beginning of the Algonkian year was marked by the Maple Dance which gave thanks to the Creator for the maple tree and its syrup. This ceremony occurred when the weather was warm enough for the sap to run in the maple trees, sometimes as early as February. Second was the planting feast, where the seeds were blessed. The strawberry festival was next, celebrating the first fruits of the season. Summer brought the green corn festival to give thanks for the ripening corn. In late fall, the harvest festival gave thanks for the food they had grown. Mid-winter was the last ceremony of the old year. When the Indians sat down to the “first Thanksgiving” with the Pilgrims, it was really the fifth thanksgiving of the year for them!

Captain Miles Standish, the leader of the Pilgrims, invited Squanto, Samoset, Massasoit (the leader of the Wampanoags), and their immediate families to join them for a celebration, but they had no idea how big Indian families could be. As the Thanksgiving feast began, the Pilgrims were overwhelmed at the large turnout of ninety relatives that Squanto and Samoset brought with them. The Pilgrims were not prepared to feed a gathering of people that large for three days. Seeing this, Massasoit gave orders to his men within the first hour of his arrival to go home and get more food. Thus it happened that the Indians supplied the majority of the food: Five deer, many wild turkeys, fish, beans, squash, corn soup, corn bread, and berries. Captain Standish sat at one end of a long table and the Clan Chief Massasoit sat at the other end. For the first time the Wampanoag people were sitting at a table to eat instead of on mats or furs spread on the ground. The Indian women sat together with the Indian men to eat. The Pilgrim women, however, stood quietly behind the table and waited until after their men had eaten, since that was their custom.

For three days the Wampanoags feasted with the Pilgrims. It was a special time of friendship between two very different groups of people. A peace and friendship agreement was made between Massasoit and Miles Standish giving the Pilgrims the clearing in the forest where the old Patuxet village once stood to build their new town of Plymouth.

It would be very good to say that this friendship lasted a long time; but, unfortunately, that was not to be. More English people came to America, and they were not in need of help from the Indians as were the original Pilgrims. Many of the newcomers forgot the help the Indians had given them. Mistrust started to grow and the friendship weakened. The Pilgrims started telling their Indian neighbors that their Indian religion and Indian customs were wrong. The Pilgrims displayed an intolerance toward the Indian religion similar to the intolerance displayed toward the less popular religions in Europe. The relationship deteriorated and within a few years the children of the people who ate together at the first Thanksgiving were killing one another in what came to be called King Phillip’s War.

It is sad to think that this happened, but it is important to understand all of the story and not just the happy part. Today the town of Plymouth Rock has a Thanksgiving ceremony each year in remembrance of the first Thanksgiving. There are still Wampanoag people living in Massachusetts. In 1970, they asked one of them to speak at the ceremony to mark the 350th anniversary of the Pilgrim’s arrival. Here is part of what was said:

“Today is a time of celebrating for you — a time of looking back to the first days of white people in America. But it is not a time of celebrating for me. It is with a heavy heart that I look back upon what happened to my People. When the Pilgrims arrived, we, the Wampanoags, welcomed them with open arms, little knowing that it was the beginning of the end. That before 50 years were to pass, the Wampanoag would no longer be a tribe. That we and other Indians living near the settlers would be killed by their guns or dead from diseases that we caught from them. Let us always remember, the Indian is and was just as human as the white people.

Although our way of life is almost gone, we, the Wampanoags, still walk the lands of Massachusetts. What has happened cannot be changed. But today we work toward a better America, a more Indian America where people and nature once again are important.” (http://www.manataka.org)

🙂 Sequoia Elisabeth

Thanksgiving Is My Favorite Holiday

by Sequoia Elisabeth

“Grace isn’t a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It’s a way to live.” Attributed to Jacqueline Winspear.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because I feel gratitude is so important and because I feel that I am pretty good at it. The Native Americans teach several important things about this holiday, so let us look at a few.

The food you eat is a gift from Great Spirit (even if you paid for it). Life is being converted to a Higher form by us consuming it with grace given to the animal or plant. We always thank the animal or plant for giving its life so that we may live. It is a thought and a feeling that becomes a habit every time you consume something, yes, so this goes for all consumables, gas, paper, products, etc.

The Earth (Gaia) is alive! We need to treat her as such! Take only what you need and leave each place you visit (including your own home) better than you found it. This means depositing trash in the proper receptacle, being careful/mindful of the space you occupy and treat it as if it were your own while remembering others who may be using this space, if not now at some time in the future. The Native Americans call this Seven Generational thinking, meaning your actions should consider the next seven generations who live on that land.

Abundance is everywhere! Gaia provides for our every need and those who realize this and act with respect and gratitude draw this to them. This is called Prosperity mindedness. It comes from deep within you and springs out like a fountain, thus the cornucopia symbol used this time of year. Have faith you always have what you need. It may not be what you would prefer or you may desire more, but needs are always met. The more one practices Prosperity Mindedness, the more one attracts to themselves. This is done by giving till it hurts as the saying goes. What you give another, you give yourself! This is the very meaning of Oneness and if you have been paying attention you completely understand we are all One – One with Gaia, and all her family of animals, plants, and minerals. Separation is the Grand Illusion… some would call it the Human Game, but that is a whole other story.

I wish to take this opportunity to THANK YOU for reading this blog and supporting Unity in Gender Diversity. The feeling of gratitude includes grace, joy, wholeness, pleasing, praise, honor, and purity. Take a minute now and feel it…. Practice/Remember this feeling often! Know you are Love and we are Home.

🙂 Sequoia Elisabeth

Unity in Gender Diversity

Transgender Day of Remembrance 2013

by Sequoia Elisabeth

TDOR is not a day about those who have died it is about those who are living! The dead person has moved on and those who are left behind are the ones dealing with the pain and grief. Separation is always painful but it does not have to be this way.

Today I would like to shine a light on why it is important to remember events of the past and to honor those who have gone before. The obvious answer and the one I have heard many times is, “learn from your past or you are doomed to repeat it”, but this falls short. Perhaps it is these individuals are important as human beings and kindred family and while this is absolutely true the real gift here is injustice is brought to light.

Awareness is raised in the minds of all people and they see the destruction and injustice violence brings. Transgender Day of Remembrance brings our community to the main stream consciousness in a cry for equal rights. It is a statement of we are people too and deserve to be treated as well as any other person. The fact which often gets lost is we are all human beings and a valuable part of the whole of life; however it is not us against them! Let me emphasis this point. It is never about US vs. THEM in any situation. When this perspective is taken it becomes a losing proposition for both parties. The Equal Rights movement is about equal rights for Everyone. No one person is better than any other or more deserving or less deserving of common basic human needs such as personal security, love, self esteem, personal fulfillment, cultural security, and participation, plus a right to life, liberty, freedom of thought, expression and identity, and equal treatment before the law. Let us focus on the things we all desire because this is about the living!

The Universal Law of Attraction states, “What you focus on grows”. Or to say it another way, the energy of attention funnels this power where ever it is pointed. If you are focusing on the things that are wrong or broken or painful then you get more of them. (such as crime, discrimination, etc. which explains why this fight continues) However if you are focusing on what is working, how systems are supporting you and what you like about a certain person, place, or thing then you get more of that! What if you remembered one thing you like about every person you meet? Even if overall you do not agree with this person’s cosmology. Let me give you an example. I like the fact that Rush Limbaugh is speaking his mind and doing the best he can with what he has to work with. He is walking his talk and he deserves this right. I forgive the many issues we do not agree on and am thankful for our common ground.

Please take advantage of this Day of Remembrance to focus on what you love about these people who have lost or taken their life. Let go the hatred which got them killed. Let’s not make this about blame or fault but instead focus on the laws which protect us and give thanks to those who love and work to expand protections for all people. Share your dream of the world you wish to live in! (A world where restrooms are not segregated into male/female and every person is respected and allowed the right to pee in peace) It is important to be heard, so listen to others and treat them with the respect we all deserve.

There are no victims only volunteers, thus I honor all the beautiful people who have volunteered to be symbols of change and to shine the light on a community’s needs. Blessings to all who have passed before me and may God have mercy on those who took what was not theirs to take.

🙂 Sequoia Elisabeth

The All is Mind

by Sequoia Elisabeth

First of Seven Universal Laws – The Law of Mentalism: “The All is Mind – The Universe is Mental”. The first of the Universal Laws tells us that “All is Mind”. That everything we see and experience in our physical world has its origin in the invisible, mental realm. It tells us that there is a single Universal Consciousness – the Universal Mind – from which all things manifest. All energy and matter at all levels is created by and is subordinate to the Omnipresent Universal Mind. Your mind is part of the Universal Mind – the same in kind with the only difference being one of degree. Your reality is a manifestation of your mind. The following blog post from Dr. Mitchell Earl Gibson (Psychiatrist) demonstrates this eloquently.

“Evelyn Ashmole was born in Brewster, Nebraska; population 29. Brewster was a small town by any standard, and Evelyn’s primary hope throughout her entire childhood was to grow up, leave Brewster, go to college, and live in the big city. She wanted to get a job with a large company, just like the ones that she saw on television. In Brewster, everyone farmed, and those who did not work, did not eat. Evelyn loved her little town, her four brothers, two sisters, and her mother and father. She loved the white-tile Baptist church that they went to each Sunday, and the loving elderly pastor who had taught there for more than 40 years. As she saw it, her childhood was as close to perfect as she could imagine.

Evelyn grew up and performed well enough in high school to earn a scholarship to the University of Nebraska. She earned a degree in library science and, after college, took a job in Phoenix as a clerk at the Arizona State University library. She had continued to attend church every Sunday, talked to her parents faithfully every week, and managed to make some happy and constructive friendships which helped to quell some of the loneliness that she felt when she thought about home. Evelyn’s life was not quite perfect, however.

Over the past three years, Evelyn had attracted a string of relationships with men that had nearly killed her. Bill, one of her boyfriends, a junior architect at a local firm, had tried to throw her out of his car when she refused to have sex with him. The car was moving at 50 miles per hour at the time. Prior to that, he had threatened to hit her on several occasions, and was frequently verbally abusive.

David, her first boyfriend, had stalked her after she decided that she no longer wanted to see him. Several times, she found him lurking behind the bushes at her home late at night as she prepared for bed. She reported him to the police, but he always managed to escape before they came to investigate. With no witnesses and no proof, they had nothing to go on. Eventually, he moved to Los Angeles and sent her a scathing letter stating that she had ruined his life, and that he never wanted to see her again.

The incident that drove her to see me, however, was quite a bit more serious than the scenes outlined above. One night, as she walked to her car, Evelyn noticed that someone was following her. She worked the late shift at the library, and she often asked one of the security guards to escort her to the parking deck. On this night, however, she was in a hurry to get home to talk to her oldest sister Ann about her upcoming wedding. Ann was the first of the three girls to get married in the family. In her haste, she had forgotten to call for an escort.

Evelyn looked over her shoulder and saw a tall, thin young man quickly approaching her. She did not recognize him and instinctively clutched her purse tightly and slipped her hand into the outer compartment. Just before the young man could overtake her, she grabbed the container of mace that she had secreted away in her palm, sprayed him in the face, and ran to her car. The young man covered his face and grimaced in pain. Her quick thinking slowed him down just enough so that she could get to her car, lock the door, and speed away without further incident. She began having nightmares, panic attacks, and problems sleeping. A couple of weeks later, she called my office for an appointment.

Evelyn was almost certain that something was wrong with her. She wanted to know why she had such bad luck with men. She was afraid that she was going crazy. We talked for a couple of sessions and, except for recent events, Evelyn Ashmole was as healthy and well-adjusted as any young woman I had ever met. One day at the beginning of our session, Evelyn noticed a textbook of forensic psychiatry on my shelf.

“I didn’t know you were into this stuff, Doctor Gibson.”

“Oh you mean forensics. Why yes, I trained in forensic psychiatry during my residency, and I consult for the police, banks, and the court system from time to time on forensic cases. Why do you ask?”

“I just love reading about true crime, novels mostly.”

“How many books of that type would you say that you have read, Evelyn?”

“Oh hundreds and hundreds. I started reading them when I was in college, just a little bit now and then. But as luck would have it, the section that I work in at ASU is full of them. When things are slow, I get to read as many as I like.”

Evelyn went on to describe her hobby in more detail. She not only read true crime novels, she had developed an insatiable appetite for them. Her favorites were based on serial killers, gangsters, sex crimes, and rape. Her favorite movies were of the same genre, and each night before she went to sleep, she rewarded herself with a movie from her vast collection of horror, true crime, and mystery.

“So, Evelyn, what effect do you think these books and movies have on your life?”

“They are just that — books and movies. They don’t affect me. I am a good person and I don’t think of myself that way. Why do you ask?”

“I find it very curious that the troubling events in your otherwise very placid life are quite similar to the energy that you pour into your mind through your books and movies.”

“But how can there be any connection between the two? I mean, it’s not like I advertise to the creeps out there what I read and look at on TV. How would they know anything about the choices that I make in my mental diet?”

At that moment, Evelyn’s rather insightful comment struck me like a ton of bricks. She was right. Her passion for true crime and horror was her little secret. She didn’t share it with her family, close friends, or coworkers. As a matter of fact, Evelyn had decided to keep her indulgence in crime all to herself, but she was not sure why. Her mental and emotional diet was, for the most part, quite healthy, except for the plate of unhealthy relationships that she had served herself.

Evelyn’s comment about her mental diet had triggered a chain of thoughts in my consciousness that led to the second insight in this book. (Excerpt from Nine Insights For A Happy and Successful Life)

Insight Two – The energy of your life will be consumed by the forces of chaos and order. The choices that you make will determine which force dominates.

Our understanding of reality has changed drastically over the last 40 years. At the start of the twentieth century, Newtonian physics and the atomic model of reality dominated our schools and textbooks. The revolution of relativity, quantum physics, and Albert Einstein changed all that forever. We now know that reality as we perceive it is a creation of the mind, and that everything that we see exists only while we are looking directly at it. That means that the book you are now holding exists only while you are looking at it. Your home, your car, your body, and everything that you see and perceive in the world around you exist only because your consciousness creates the perception of seeing it. Experiments in quantum physics have shown that the fundamental particles that make up our reality are profoundly influenced by how we perceive them. These experiments have shown that even at the subatomic level of reality, particles of matter can be influenced by our perceptions and consciousness.

In our younger days, we were taught that a rock is a rock, a tree is a tree, and a cloud is a cloud, no matter who looks at them. The reality is no two people perceive reality in exactly the same way. As a matter of fact, each of us shapes reality around us according to our emotions, perceptions, and choices. This brings us to Evelyn.

Evelyn’s choices in life were, for the most part, very healthy and constructive. However, she had planted within the sphere of her consciousness, a menu of unhealthy energies, which ultimately led to the growth of a series of negative changes in the world around her. In the books and movies that she loved to read, women tended to be victimized by men in often violent and deadly ways. Evelyn had grown up in a healthy and loving family, and her appetite for true crime novels was far different than the energy that had shaped her youth.

As she explored her independence in life, Evelyn naturally desired to engage in relationships with men and find her true love. However, she had not dated in high school, and she had had only one relationship in college. She was still somewhat naive in matters relating to men and, much to her surprise, a great deal of her “experience” with the energy of relationships had been found in her books. Without realizing it, Evelyn had programmed her subconscious mind to resonate with violent and unhealthy themes relating to men. As a result, she had shaped her growing relationship consciousness with energies that tended to resonate with the forces of chaos and crime when she interacted with men.

“So by reading about crime, you think I attract it to myself?”

“It is a theory. I would like to test it, Evelyn.”

“How can we test it?”

“I believe that the mind is very powerful; much more powerful than we can imagine. I would like you to stop reading about true crime, murder, and mystery novels. I want you to transfer from the department you currently work in, and try something different. Tell them you are bored or something like that.”

“But what will I read? What will I do with myself? How will I get to sleep?”

“By programming your consciousness with negative energy, you are attracting to yourself the kinds of people and events that you may not want. Why not try reading more uplifting and positive books? A good romance perhaps…one with happy healthy heroines and heroes who get the girl and don’t kill her.”

“This sounds a little crazy. You really think my mind is doing all that?”

“Let’s look at it this way. We all get a certain amount of energy in life that we can spend in any way that we choose. If you choose to spend it on chaos and suffering, we will get more chaos at the end of the day. If we choose to spend it on order and happiness, we will create events that lead to happiness and order. The choice is yours.”

Evelyn took my advice and cleaned out her collection. She transferred to the children’s section at the library, and gradually fell into a happy and uneventful routine. She began to sleep better, and her nightmares vanished entirely. Over the next few months, she noticed that her mood improved, her anxiety problems disappeared, and she felt better about herself. She felt that a cloud was beginning to lift from her thinking.

From time to time, she would slip back and read a crime novel or two, but she noticed that her sleep would inevitably become disturbed, and the nightmares would return. She made the connection that the energy that she placed within her mental diet would indeed manifest in her life.

Evelyn soon met a healthy young man, a professor in sociology at ASU, and she is very happy. There has been no report of violence or chaos in her relationship, and as far as she is concerned, reading true crime, mystery novels, and looking at horror movies is strictly off limits.

Evelyn Ashmole learned the basics of a very important key to leading a happy and fulfilling life. The energy of consciousness that we build into our lives draws upon a discrete well of potential. This force can and will manifest in our lives according to our choices. If we seek out happy, constructive, and harmonious choices, those energies will grow into events in our lives which will lead to happiness, harmony, and contentment. If we seek out chaotic, unhealthy, and negative choices on a regular basis, those energies will grow into events in our lives which will lead to disharmony, unhappiness, and misfortune.”

Excerpt from Nine Insights For A Happy and Successful Life

Posted 31st December 2012 by Mitchell Earl Gibson MD

For more on the Seven Universal Laws see my previous blog posts and check out the source article by Tania Kotsos.

Till next time… Love n Light

Sequoia Elisabeth 🙂

Being the Observer

by Sequoia Elisabeth

The best advice I ever heard was to become the observer, to actually listen to what I say and observe my actions, then ask why. Is this the person I desire to be? This may be who I am now, but do I really wish to be this person? Discovering who you are is a constant evolution, because you are constantly changing. As you expand there is a give and take or an ebb and flow to the process. The more you learn and discover about life in general and about how this relates to you the more you expand, the more you become more!

Think about this carefully. Who am I? Who are you in relation to who I am? You do know this is all relative? Don’t you? You do realize everything is connected in some way? Once you realize there is no separation; only the illusion of separation, your world changes for the better. If this is still not apparent right now this is OK. Keep asking questions and it will come to you.

On to some more practical applications and exercises you can use right now to facilitate your growth and expansion. First of all open up. Open your mind, open your heart, open your eyes and see, feel, and think with no limits (or at least let the limits go as you can, it is a process after all). Listen to the words you use and notice how they make you feel, also notice how they make others feel, so if both of you are not feeling good then perhaps you could choose different words to express yourself. In expressing yourself how does this affect the world around you? Is it positive or negative, constructive or destructive? Not to say this is good or bad, don’t fall for this trap. Things are how they are, and you are the way you are, no good or bad to it, however you do have a choice in the matter. Question everything, especially your motive for being the way you are. Avoid judgment here. Remember, we all desire Love, this is who we are and sometimes the loving thing to do is destructive or negative depending on the situation. In order for the old to be replaced it must be destroyed first. To build a new building the old one is removed to clear the way for the new one. As humans we can only see a small fraction of the picture or situation so each choice we make is the best we can do given the information we have at the time.

Moving on, consider having a friend video you during an activity or perhaps you could set up a camera in your home to video the daily goings on, later reviewing the tape is incredibly insightful. Be compassionate with yourself and seek only to understand who you are and decide if this is who you desire to be. Recording your voice and word choice is also very insightful. The language you use is very powerful or destructive depending on your word choice. Curse words for instance are weak and destructive to the person using them, not necessarily to the one hearing them. The person hearing these words can decide in advance to forgive the user and thus discharge any negative energy the words carry. It is like Hate is a poison for the person hating, not the target of the hate. Negative emotions are necessary at times, but must be used carefully to balance energy or to diffuse a situation, never for attacking. Lashing out is a re-action not a deliberate action taken for a specific purpose. Think before you act, wait a day and then respond. Negative emotion can be transformed to the positive when you have this intention.

Another practice which is ingrained in the mass psyche is the use of the word “try or trying”. To try is to fail. The word implies doubt and this in itself is disempowering. State your intentions and then proceed with them. “Trying” is a word we use to protect our self from being “wrong or failing” and in the process it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Perhaps you can say I attempted XYZ but it did not work out that way. I will make another attempt. Or I will succeed eventually. There is nothing wrong with failing; it always leads to success as long as you keep at it. The error lies in the need to be right!

Remember to always question reality and your place in it, while being forgiving and loving to both yourself and others. If you wish to learn more about word usage, I suggest doing your own research and testing your findings. Learning is doing! The website below as well as the free eBooks are another great source of musings. Blessings on your Journey of Love ♥

Sequoia Elisabeth 🙂

Pain is your Friend

by Sequoia Elisabeth

Pain is your friend

Pain guides you and informs you of danger

All Pain is temporary

The system has a built in safety and if too much pain is received it will reboot so to speak. The body/mind passes out and the system starts again. No one ever died from pain.

Chronic pain is a malfunction of the system, so look for its source within and change your mind about this pain. The mental or emotional body is most often the source. Look here first. Forgive the thought and replace it with one of health and vitality.

Working through chronic pain takes patience and courage. Fear fuels pain so fear not, all pain is temporary. Suffering is not necessary. Stay positive and move forward by focusing on the Truth, you are healthy and perfect just as you were created. Nothing is wrong with you. See the perfection which has become hidden behind this pain. It is just like turning a light on in a room, the darkness (pain) must leave.

Sacrifice is a dangerous tool, so only use it when you understand how it works. Used improperly the pain will get out of control and become chronic.

Change can be painful, but does not have to be. This pain is temporary as things change from one plateau/level/state to another. No pain, no gain is a MYTH. The Truth is gain is inevitable and the pain comes from forcing the change. Resistance is futile.

As you grow your relationship with pain will deepen and you will know when to stop what you are doing and when to push through it. Pain is a result of resistance so if you feel pain, ask yourself what you are resisting. What change do you fear? Many people fear being strong and powerful because they have seen the effect this can have on others. Forgive the past and trust change to take you where you desire to be. Be the Change!

Mastering the tools for living is just one reason we are born into a body, however it is an important one. Pain is one of these tools. Remember that tools are neutral and cannot harm you. It is how you use the tool that can be dangerous and just like a hammer it can be used to create wonders or to tear them down.

🙂 Sequoia Elisabeth

Transitions Blog Review

by Sequoia Elisabeth

Transitions blog began in the last few months of 2009 after I had begun my new life as the woman I know myself to be. The goal of transitions blog is to assist/share the process of transition in its varying forms focusing mostly on gender transition. As different as transitions can be they share similar process. Speaking from experience and from years of research the over 450 blog posts lay out transition into several categories, Gender having 161 posts, Spirituality 394, and Transition 444. What I would like to do now is further define the categories and provide a review to make the various posts easier to find.

Many of the blogs are reposted several times so this is a general overview. Spirituality is a constant theme since we live spiritual lives! Transition is a spiritual process first and then the physical manifests (thought-word-action). So for instance the final transition occurs spiritually before the body ever passes. Several of the blogs discuss Suicide, since the Transgender community deals with this more than any other human group. My take is all death is suicide because we each decide when, where, and how we pass long before we are even born. Not that you can’t choose again, many of us do, but death need not be a mystery. We have both fate and choice!

Gender is really about identity and resides separate from sex and orientation so this is explained in several blogs. It is such an important topic I wrote a book about it, Sex and Sexuality – One Womans Journey of Discovery. This eBook is available free on my website.

Spiritual principle and the Universal Laws are discussed many times since I am a minister I feel knowing these principles are a major reason for our very being! Did you know you have 6 senses of the mind (Feb. 4, Sept 2 – 14, 2010) as tools to use on your Journey of Love?

A Love Based Society is another favorite topic of mine which ended up being an eBook, please find your free copy on my website. The Zeitgeist movement and resource based economy captured my attention before I even started this blog and this message just grew stronger. I see our world existing this way and being the bases for the new Age of Aquarius for which we are laying the ground work right now. We are literally creating a new world right now, so read on and share your vision with all who will listen. A thousand years of peace in paradise is worth focusing on, and no worries it will manifest, only the timing is in question.

Of course there are a few other various topics, but mostly transitions blog is Spiritual, Gender, or Advance Society based. I pray you benefit from reading Transitions Blog and you will share this blog with those who are important to you. Questions and comments are welcomed. Please recommend topics you would like to hear more about, because frankly I have shared my vision, the rest is up to you! It is likely Transitions Blog will be posted less and less depending on reader interest. I write these for the betterment of mankind or at least this is my story, and I am sticking to it… just joking, the fact is all you ever do is for You, since we are all One! Oh, yes another favorite topic… Oneness!

🙂 Sequoia Elisabeth

Enlightenment…

by Sequoia Elisabeth

This is a re-blog of an excerpt from “A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose” by Eckhart Tolle. May this touch you as deeply as it does me and may it stir your soul to ecstasy.

“An Excerpt from Chapter One
The Flowering of Human Consciousness

Earth, 114 million years ago, one morning just after sunrise: The first flower ever to appear on the planet opens up to receive the rays of the sun. Prior to this momentous event that heralds an evolutionary transformation in the life of plants, the planet had already been covered in vegetation for millions of years. The first flower probably did not survive for long, and flowers must have remained rare and isolated phenomena, since conditions were most likely not yet favorable for a widespread flowering to occur. One day, however, a critical threshold was reached, and suddenly there would have been an explosion of color and scent all over the planet—if a perceiving consciousness had been there to witness it.

Much later, those delicate and fragrant beings we call flowers would come to play an essential part in the evolution of consciousness of another species. Humans would increasingly be drawn to and fascinated by them. As the consciousness of human beings developed, flowers were most likely the first thing they came to value that had no utilitarian purpose for them, that is to say, was not linked in some way to survival. They provided inspiration to countless artists, poets, and mystics. Jesus tells us to contemplate the flowers and learn from them how to live. The Buddha is said to have given a “silent sermon” once during which he held up a flower and gazed at it. After a while, one of those present, a monk called Mahakasyapa, began to smile. He is said to have been the only one who had understood the sermon. According to legend, that smile (that is to say, realization) was handed down by twenty-eight successive masters and much later became the origin of Zen.

Seeing beauty in a flower could awaken humans, however briefly, to the beauty that is an essential part of their own innermost being, their true nature. The first recognition of beauty was one of the most significant events in the evolution of human consciousness. The feelings of joy and love are intrinsically connected to that recognition. Without our fully realizing it, flowers would become for us an expression in form of that which is most high, most sacred, and ultimately formless within ourselves. Flowers, more fleeting, more ethereal, and more delicate than the plants out of which they emerged, would become like messengers from another realm, like a bridge between the world of physical forms and the formless. They not only had a scent that was delicate and pleasing to humans, but also brought a fragrance from the realm of spirit. Using the word “enlightenment” in a wider sense than the conventionally accepted one, we could look upon flowers as the enlightenment of plants.

Any life-form in any realm—mineral, vegetable, animal, or human—can be said to undergo “enlightenment.” It is, however, an extremely rare occurrence since it is more than an evolutionary progression: It also implies a discontinuity in its development, a leap to an entirely different level of Being and, most important, a lessening of materiality.

What could be heavier and more impenetrable than a rock, the densest of all forms? And yet some rocks undergo a change in their molecular structure, turn into crystals, and so become transparent to the light. Some carbons, under inconceivable heat and pressure, turn into diamonds, and some heavy minerals into other precious stones. Most crawling reptilians, the most earthbound of all creatures, have remained unchanged for millions of years. Some, however, grew feathers and wings and turned into birds, thus defying the force of gravity that had held them for so long. They didn’t become better at crawling or walking, but transcended crawling and walking entirely. Since time immemorial, flowers, crystals, precious stones, and birds have held special significance for the human spirit. Like all life-forms, they are, of course, temporary manifestations of the underlying one Life, one Consciousness. Their special significance and the reason why humans feel such fascination for and affinity with them can be attributed to their ethereal quality.

Once there is a certain degree of Presence, of still and alert attention in human beings’ perceptions, they can sense the divine life essence, the one indwelling consciousness or spirit in every creature, every life-form, recognize it as one with their own essence and so love it as themselves. Until this happens, however, most humans see only the outer forms, unaware of the inner essence, just as they are unaware of their own essence and identify only with their own physical and psychological form.

In the case of a flower, a crystal, precious stone, or bird, however, even someone with little or no Presence can occasionally sense that there is more there than the mere physical existence of that form, without knowing that this is the reason why he or she is drawn toward it, feels an affinity with it. Because of its ethereal nature, its form obscures the indwelling spirit to a lesser degree than is the case with other life-forms. The exception to this are all newborn life-forms—babies, puppies, kittens, lambs, and so on. They are fragile, delicate, not yet firmly established in materiality. An innocence, a sweetness and beauty that are not of this world still shine through them. They delight even relatively insensitive humans.

So when you are alert and contemplate a flower, crystal, or bird without naming it mentally, it becomes a window for you into the formless. There is an inner opening, however slight, into the realm of spirit. This is why these three “en-lightened” life-forms have played such an important part in the evolution of human consciousness since ancient times; why, for example, the jewel in the lotus flower is a central symbol of Buddhism and a white bird, the dove, signifies the Holy Spirit in Christianity. They have been preparing the ground for a more profound shift in planetary consciousness that is destined to take place in the human species. This is the spiritual awakening that we are beginning to witness now.

Needless to say I recommend reading the book, however if all you read is this quote above then this is enough. Please take a few minutes to meditate on this passage and let the significance really soak in. It brings tears of joy to me every time I read it.

Sequoia Elisabeth 🙂

Trying is Failing

by Sequoia Elisabeth

Trying is failing, so stop trying to do whatever it is you do. JUST DO IT. For example trying to walk up ten flights of stairs implies you don’t feel you can make it. It implies doubt and where there is doubt there is failure. You may very well walk all the way up, but it is just as likely you will not! “I am walking up ten flights of stairs” not only uses the power of God (I am) but it is positive and committed. This may still not be a guarantee but it has a far higher chance of success than trying does.

Consider revamping your vocabulary and see what changes happen in your life. Trying is just one word which is self-defeatist. There are many which could be reviewed to see whether they are effectively communicating your desires and intentions. The list is long for most people these days so I will not attempt to make one here. Just look for words which compromise your principles and undermine your intentions. Speak positively and believe in yourself. Simply by being conscious of the words you use life will improve.

Sequoia Elisabeth 🙂

More Life As A Race

by Sequoia Elisabeth

Continuation from yesterday,

Sixth, Curiosity is the fuel which keeps us going. Without it you will go nowhere! My favorite character as a child is Curious George, the monkey in yellow. If you have not seen these programs I suggest checking them out and even if you have revisit them from time to time. The innocence of youth is a gift we need not loose. Curiosity is a big part of this innocence. Also do not equate innocence with ignorance; it is more accurate to say they are opposites!

Seventh, Go with the flow…. “Resistance is futile” (Star Trek). “What you resist persists.” (Jung) What this means is to trust the flow of life and do what you must. Blindly wandering the in dark is dangerous so it is important to find the flow (meaning) and go with it. The truth of the matter is there is no meaning to life or more simply put, YOU are the meaning of life. Your life, your creation! No this does not contradict number 2, because God is all there is. Your life is God expressing through you (flow). This is also why nothing is either right or wrong, it is because it needs to be for the experience God is expressing though you. The part which confuses us is Free Will. You have both free will and destiny. Life will unfold as it does and if you really need to experience something then you will eventually experience it. Love and loss are examples we all seem to experience at some point in life, so learn to deal with them. You can choose to avoid certain experiences such as fighting, but if “life” needs to experience it through you it will. Resistance is what causes pain; the more resistance the more pain. Consider this when making your choices in life.

Eighth, Life itself is a relationship, but as humans we are most concerned with inter-relationships with loved ones. Family is the first challenge we all face and then there is romance. All I have mentioned prior applies here! Just understand the world is a reflection of who you are and love is the answer. While this is simple no one is saying it is easy. Loving your family and close relations is like loving yourself! Or it can be the opposite, so consider this carefully as you observe your relations. Sometimes you will play the antagonist and sometimes the victim, follow the previous advice and all will work out.

Ninth, Take care of your body. It is your vehicle for experiencing life and if you abuse it life will be cut short. As we grow the adolescent years are the most challenging to the physical body, between puberty and all the adult challenges we face these years can be most difficult, but at the same time they can be the most rewarding. You will test your limits and this is to be expected, just do so with caution. Listen to your inner voice of reason. This is the voice which is whispering, if you hear it loud and clear then do the opposite! (The ego is loud and demands to be heard, avoid this voice. Instead get quiet and listen to the still small voice which is your Soul)

Lastly and in continuation of caring for your body understand that life responds to your thoughts about it, and not just your thoughts but those of the majority. The majority of people believe eating healthy food makes you healthy, but I say having healthy thoughts makes you eat healthy food! Your beliefs about what you do, including what you eat will determine the outcome. It is literally possible to think yourself healthy! Of course the best advice here is Ben Franklin’s saying, “All things in moderation”. Alcohol is good for you in small doses, but if abused it will kill you. Fried food on occasion is fine, but eating only fried food will slowly destroy your health. Strive for balance, love your body, even or especially the peculiarities, and respect others choices to do the same.

🙂 Sequoia Elisabeth

Life As A Relay Race

by Sequoia Elisabeth

Think of life as a relay race and you are nearing the end of the race. What have you learned which is important to put in your baton? Keeping it brief think of the top ten things you would make sure to pass along. By thinking on this topic ahead of time, you will more fully appreciate your accomplishments and energize all of life. The following is my baton….

Number one is to remember to breathe, consciously breathe, notice how the air fills your body and feel the energy as it invigorates each and every cell. This process keeps you in the present moment and it is the secret to a healthy, happy life.

Secondly remember life is not about you. Serving others is the greatest accomplishment any of us can make. Giving is receiving! Notice how you feel after helping a friend or giving a gift to a loved one. Now you know what I speak of!

Third is to share your gifts (talents) by doing something you love. Just making a living (working solely for money) is self-destructive! Let your living make you or to say this another way, allow life to sustain you (Money is only one reward for your efforts). Living is the rule not the exception. The human body can go 30 days without food and up to a week without water. Notice how life supports you and the experience just gets better and better!

Fourth, Feel your feelings! Emotion is the fuel for manifestation (creating what you desire). This is why fear is so powerful at attracting precisely what you do not want! Is your desire at a passionate level? Your desire for something must be greater than your fear of the opposite. By facing the dark side (emotions) it clears these forces from your life. It is as easy as turning a light on in a dark room. Just realizing that you have your inner light to shine wherever you need it can make all the difference. Shine your light Beloved!

Fifth, Question reality, always and all ways! Things are often not what they seem, so do not judge. It is not good or bad, it just is. Accept this and life flows with ease. My favorite quote on this topic is “All the worlds a stage and we are merely players” (Shakespeare). Just because something is false does not mean it will go away and in fact it is the false things we must deal with first in order to find the truth. Be willing to wade through the shit to reach the shore of truth. The rewards are well worth it.

The next five will be in the following blog so stay tuned.

🙂 Sequoia Elisabeth

Is College The Right Choice?

by Sequoia Elisabeth

A college education is the single most important thing a child can aspire to… FALSE!

College is the answer to your employment troubles….FALSE!

Education itself is a life-long endeavor…True!

Please understand I totally support the value of education and learning, it makes us human! There is no way to live without learning and like most other things in this world there are different levels and applications for this learning. Babies are learning even before they are born and we never stop growing one way or another. The physical body is constantly replacing worn-out cells till the day you pass on. The mind is learning and growing constantly (perhaps a few exceptions) and the Spirit is expanding along with the Universe!

This said; how important is College? Be skeptical of the statics you hear surrounding what you get from a college or “higher” education center. The bias runs deep and because we live in a capitalistic society money always figures into the equation. So I suppose your individual goals and purpose will determine if it really is the path to choose. The medical industrial complex is deeply entrenched in the educational systems of today, so if you desire to be a Doctor, Pharmacist, Nurse, etc., then yes, college is your best option, although there are alternative schools which teach alternative methods. Most hospitals and clinics will not allow alternative methods so you will not find a job there. The Insurance Empire will not support alternative methods, and neither does the government. This is slowly changing, so there is hope; just weigh these things carefully when choosing a career. The best schools teach specific skills for a particular job, it is a step beyond vocational training. It comes down to a choice to conform or not.

The real bottom line on college is the cost vs. return on investment. The College Conspiracy movie does a nice job of explaining this, but I also suggest you research our debt based fiat money system asap. Youtube has some great videos on the subject. A few recommendations are: Crossroads: Labor Pains of a New Worldview , The Secret of Oz (by Mr Bill Still), Robots Will Steal Your Job, but That’s OK, Sacred Economics with Charles Eisenstein.

Always question the source, if the movie is made by someone who sells precious metals they are probably not objective in the “facts” they present. The above movie about college is from the NIA, National Inflation Association who believe we are headed into a hyperinflation period, so this is their bias. Everyone has some form of bias, even me! So I encourage you to do your research first and hold off on getting a loan to attend college.

Speaking from experience, the Student Loan system as it exists today is a scam, plain and simple. Those who excel in this world are those who pave a new path and fulfill a need. The more people you touch (help), the more money you make. It does not matter if your service/product is a positive or negative (creative or destructive) input to society, as far as making money goes. Money is neutral and so responds to whatever forces attract it. This means you must choose to be a positive contributing force in society if this is your desire. If all you care about is making money, then most likely the force will be negative, because this falls in the “service to self” category (read Law of One for more on this).

This subject is way too big for one blog, so I will wrap this up for now and simply say, Do your research with a skeptical eye and an intuitive heart. There are many opportunities today, vocational schools, trade school, two year college, four year college, and more. Generally speaking the sooner you start work the more you will make over time. Outside the box thinking is required to excel and those who start their own business are usually those who make the most money (however this is much less true today than 50yrs ago). If you focus on contributing to society and follow your inner passion the path will appear before you, so be patient and persistent.

🙂 Sequoia Elisabeth

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The Future of Education

by Sequoia Elisabeth

Education is said to be the key to civilized man and if this is so why has our educational system gotten so badly outta balance? Do you realize the true purpose to the educational system in the USA? It is designed to create obedient, passive, and smart (but not too smart) factory workers! Now that the age of factory work is gone in the USA it is high time to abandon the old system of teacher centered teaching and embrace learner centered learning!

The flaws in our educational system are fairly obvious so I will not get into the problems so much as stay focused on the evolution of education and the system we need to implement yesterday. In the present system children are treated like cattle, herded into classrooms, force fed, and then expected to perform tricks (like remembering and understanding everything thrown at them on a test). Testing has proven to be ineffective in teaching, but it remains to be the focus because it lends itself to mass ‘marketing’. So what are we to do about our ailing educational system?

There are no shortages of ideas and many families are exploring these methods right now. The large increase in homeschooling for instance is one method, but this system lacks socialization. (More on Homeschooling) With the expansion of the internet it is now possible to learn just about anything you need online, and many see this as the future of education, including myself. The socialization issues are easily met by attending community activities, summer camps, and other classes.

The Waldorf school system’s “overarching goal is to develop free, morally responsible, and integrated individuals equipped with a high degree of social competence. Teachers generally use formative (qualitative) rather than summative (quantitative) assessment methods, particularly in the pre-adolescent years. The schools have a high degree of autonomy to decide how best to construct their curricula and govern themselves.” (Wikipedia.com)

Andragogy are teaching strategies developed for adult learners and based on a humanistic conception of self-directed and autonomous learners and teachers as facilitators of learning. (Wikipedia.com) While this is best for adults, it is this authors opinion that it can be applied to children as young as 9yrs old, so the pediogogical approach of memorization and repetitive drills are good in the early years for learning language, math, and basic principles, but by the time the child reaches the teen years they should be ready for a broader more self-directed path to learning.

Montessori education is characterized by an emphasis on independence, freedom within limits and respect for a child’s natural psychological development and is used in over 7,000 schools worldwide. (Wikipedia.com) The problem with this method is the lack of discipline. Working and thriving in the world today requires discipline and unless the child also takes classes in say Martial Arts, Music, Dance, or Sports. They will not be prepared for the demands of adult life.

This brings up my final point for today. A balanced approach which works both sides of the brain and body will produce a balanced individual, so simply focusing on the intellectual aspects of learning, as our present system does creates an individual who is out of balance. I hated gym, art class, music, and sports in elementary school but I was forced to take them and eventually I excelled in all but music. I am so grateful for this opportunity to develop a “whole brain” and thus the reason we have teachers and parents to guide us. (Please focus on what you do have and not what you lacked)

Please look carefully at your educational path and your families. If you are a parent take the time to really consider the impact of sending your child to a school which still uses the old system of testing and cattle prodding! If you are a teenager thinking of college, please read the next blog which will focus on the higher education trap! The future is for the bold and it will take courage to forge your own path, but ultimately it is the right choice for most.

🙂 Sequoia Elisabeth