Stereotyping and Fear

While watching the news and the press conference of Ruslan Tsarni, the uncle of the Boston Marathon bombers, I am reminded of a conversation I had with a lady at the local laundromat yesterday.  As many of you might already know, I live in an area where we are an interesting mix of people – Greek, Korean, Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, Spanish, African American, along with just about every Middle Eastern country is represented here as well as Americans.  This lady and I find ourselves meeting up at this laundromat fairly regularly and have become warm acquaintances.  She is clearly American with no accent hinting at any other birthplace.  She was wearing a traditional hijab so is also clearly Muslim.  Her blonde, curly mop haired, hazel-eyed freckled daughter laughed, played and ran around while we did our chores and chatted amiably. 

As we watched the latest news on the Marathon bombing, she mused out loud how she took small comfort in that no terrorist ties to Islam seemed to be being made.  She feared that if a connection was made then ALL Muslims would be blamed and made suspect yet again.  She looked at me a bit fearfully to see my reaction.  I assured her that as someone who survived and witnessed two terrorist attacks in NYC I wasn’t ‘one of those’ that thought all Muslims were radical jihadists.  Her relieved smile underscored to me how terribly many Americans must treat her and others in her community.

She opened up a bit and said that although she wasn’t born here, her family came to America from Syria when she was two and all her brothers and sisters were born here.  Her father worked hard as did her mother and embraced America as their new home.  They are as fearful, ashamed and angry at those in her community who embrace radicalism as any of us.

As I watch the news this morning and hear the conjecture that these young men who perpetrated this horrific crime were Muslims from Chechnya, I wonder if this fear anger and persecution of Muslims will spread and include the Russian community.  Ruslan Tsarni’s anger at his nephews was clear.  His fear that he, his family and friends would be subjected to such persecution and suspicion was also clear.  He defended his estranged brother (the suspects’ father) by saying that if the boys were radicalized, they were radicalized here and not something that was observed before 2005 when the uncle last saw them.

Now the conjecture has begun that there are Islamic terrorist ties to this horrific event.  Conjecture that somewhere along the line these boys were ‘radicalized’ in recent years.  This may be true and might even be likely, but it doesn’t mean that every Muslim is out to blow up Americans.  I can tell you in no uncertain terms, that is not my experience.  After the 1993 Bombing, 9/11 and the Boston Marathon I have watched the members of the Muslim community here look around them in fear.  I have watched its leaders speak until they were blue in the face about how Islam reviles such actions and that it is not what the Islamic Community stands for. 

I understand that our communities may always stand apart because of cultural and religious differences; it does not mean that we stand against one another.  I beg you… do not stand against the Islamic community because of this.  If anything you’ll miss out on the most beatific smiles I have ever encountered when showing kindness and acceptance. 

Musings on Hate

Hatred is so easily manipulated and be led. Hatred is based in fear It is destructive and breeds insecurity and paranoia creating a viscious cycle of more hate more insecurity and more fear.

When coming from such a fear base, it allows others to control you, your thoughts and your actions. Hate invariably leads you to a place where your energies are tied up and knotted. Every day we're seeing those who wish to manipulate and control others take the fear of others and lead them to hate. Sadly the most recent events involved the deaths of children.

I'm not going to go on to comment about gun control or anything like that. I just want to put it out there that the more you hate, the more you can be controlled by others. The more you fear the more hate it breeds within you.

Let the pain go. Fail to let the insecurity rule you so that you that others can lead you down a destructive path.

Just breathe deep and change your mind away from fear and hate. Empower yourself so that others have no power over you.

If You Judge People...

“If you judge people, then you have no time to love them.” ~ Mother Theresa.

I read this comment this morning and it resonated to me on so many levels.

Very recently, I let go of a many years friendship. Among other reasons, I never felt quite loved by this person because without fail, there was always some criticism of me, who and what I was and how I did things. I should dye my hair; my house wasn’t tidy enough; I was crazy for liking a person; I dressed the wrong way, I liked the wrong things. All of it designed to infer that she knew better than me. For years I had thought I imagined it or that perhaps I was being too sensitive. Yet, every time this person left I had the vague sense that I was missing something.

In some ways letting go was an easy thing to do once I realized it had to be done. Fortunately, some chaotic energy presented itself and I was able to walk away from this person with her believing it was she who was abandoning me. There remained, however, a few lingering doubts for a couple of weeks. It was not until I learned this person said many hurtful things about me, some of which were outright lies, to a mutual friend that I realized I had no cause to feel one iota of remiss because the friendship was over. I was far better off without this person in my energy.

It took me many years to get to this point. Why? Because it was all so small, seemingly innocent and comments here and there that I wrote off as constructive criticism. This person claimed to love me. I couldn’t even consider that the hurtful things about who I was and how I was were said in anything other than love. But, a small trickle of water when combined with other small trickles of water becomes a mighty river. In the end, I realized that the criticisms that were spoken were not about me, but about fear of things different than her. Anything different than her understanding, choice or belief was ultimately labeled negative, even if at first I was assured the liberty to feel the way I felt about things.

It was a respected colleague's comments on a situation she was dealing with and posted the above quote that inspired me to delve into deeper levels of cognitive understanding.

Thank you Goddess for allowing me to have this experience.

Stones and Crystals

I have often said that over the course of decades spirit has brought me new tools, information and illumination into spirituality. I recently came to the realization that over the decades, spirit has been bringing me a skill that has really begun to come to the forefront: Stones and crystals. I never really got into them in the beginning. Oh yes, back in the 80’s I bought the obligatory generator quartz crystal and over the years picked up a piece of turquoise here and a piece of amethyst or rose quartz there, but I never really understood the uses and power of these gems. The overwhelming majority of stones and crystals made their way to me as gifts like the 2lb hunk of pink calcite I have on my entertainment unit, the raw celenite wand underneath my computer monitor and my trusty blue kyanite blade I use to balance after a difficult reading. Spirit works in mysterious ways sometimes.

Although I had begun collecting and receiving stones and crystals for decades, I never understood the power of them until 2002. I had made my way down to a friend’s home in Maryland. I had always known Laura was a nurse and healer who worked with crystals but I never understood the extent until she pulled out this huge case containing all sorts of crystals. I shared with her that I was having trouble balancing and keeping centered in the energies in NYC in the months after 9/11. She pulled out her case a blade of blue kyanite and handed me. As I closed my hand around the blade, I immediately felt all my energies zero out and come back to center. This stone is still my favorite and has a permanent home on my computer desk. Through her I began to understand the power of these gems of the earth. In the years since, information has come my way through chance and my seeking out information. Thankfully I am the proud owner of the “Love is In the Earth” series which is considered to be the Gray’s Anatomy of stones and crystals.

In the coming weeks, I will choose certain stones to write about and hopefully provide pictures of these stones and crystals.

Blessings to you and yours.

Grounding

Ever have one of those days where you just don’t feel like your feet are connecting to the ground and every thought you have appears to fly off into the ethers? Is everything moving so fast you feel like you might stumble? Maybe its time to do some grounding exercises.

Everybody talks about grounding, but no one really tells you how to do it. It is important to learn and an integral part of progressing spiritually and psychically. Although there are many methods, the easiest one is by focusing on parts of your body starting with your feet.

Sit or lay down in a comfortable position and close your eyes. Take one deep breath, hold it for a count of three and then slowly blow it out through pursed lips. Do this two more times. Quiet your mind by focusing on your body. How does it feel, cold, warm, tense, and achy? Change your focus to your feet. How do they feel? Are they cold? Tingling? Continue to focus on your feet and imagine them surrounded by a warm and golden light. Feel the warm warmth and energy of that light flood into each of your toes and move up into your feet you focus on it. Once you have identified this, move up to your calves and do the same continuing up your body until you reach the top of your head. Do this slowly and with care. Don’t skip steps. Take the time you need. Once you reach the top of your head take a few moments to enjoy the sense of wellbeing you have once grounded to this beautiful earth plane.

Have a blessed day.

Here’s a list of focus flow you might find helpful:

Feet
Ankles
Calves
Knees
Thighs
Buttocks and Hips
Naval
Midriff
Chest
Upper Arms
Forearms
Wrists
Hands
Shoulders
Neck
Mouth
Nose
Eyes
Top of Head

Read My Pic

Recently, I joined an endeavor called Readmypic.com. People can load up pictures of themselves, loved ones, animals, locations and a group of absolutely awesome readers will take a look at let people know what they see. If the client would like to know more, they can contact individual readers for hire.

Picture psychometry has always been part of my face to face readings, but I have always been able to hold the picture. That’s what psychometry is about, holding an object and reading the energies. I have often seen spirit and other images in pictures, but this is the first time I’m working to pick up energies from people in pictures without actually holding the picture. There are quite a few smudgy fingerprints on my computer screen because I find myself reaching out to touch the image to gain more information. I must admit, it took me a bit to get going, but now that I have I am having a great time. No clients yet, but I believe they will come.

There’s a spot for everyone to make comments. Come join in the fun. Try your hand. Look at the picture and see what comes to mind. Touch the image and try to discern what energies you pick up.

http://readmypic.com/

Speaking with Spirit

I’m very excited. Tonight I will be a guest on Tarot By Misha’s radio show on The Mix Talk. I will be sharing a three-part series class I have previously taught in live session: Speaking with Spirit.

It is a class on how to begin and cultivate communication with your spiritual guides. I share my personal experiences and how spirit brought me tools to sharpen my listening skills and bring to me a broader understanding of how spirit communicates.

If you’d like to listen in via computer go to www.themixtalk.com at 9pm Eastern Standard time and click on the link to listen in.

I would love to hear your experiences and questions about learning to speak with spirit during the show.