When communicating with dolphins and whales if you think of them and feel love in your heart at the same time, then you are in contact.

They know who you are and they totally love you and you feel that unconditional love. Somehow it’s transmitted, I receive it and I move into a world of higher consciousness because of it.

I’ve used the word telempathy; it’s a word that reflects the combination of telepathy and empathy or feelings. When I asked the dolphins once, “How do I communicate with you? Tell me how to do that, what’s needed?” what I received back from them in an image and a feeling was that you can use your mind, your intention and your thought, your directed thought saying, “I want to be with you now” or whatever your thought is. But that doesn’t work by itself. You have to add to it a feeling, a feeling of love really. When communicating with dolphins and whales if you think of them and feel love in your heart at the same time, then you are in contact.

via On The Same Wavelength | SuperConsciousness.

Rick: This same kind of communication (and I like the word telempathy) is available between us as humans as well. Dolphins typically don’t evoke the same kinds of mixed-emotions in us that other humans do, so the channel is less obscured by the noise of fears, uncertainty, and doubt.

I never feel more given to
than when you take from me –
when you understand the joy I feel
      giving to you.

And you know my giving isn’t done
      to put you in my debt,
but because I want to live the love
      I feel for you.

To receive with grace
may be the greatest giving.
There’s no way I can separate
      the two.

When you give to me,
I give you my receiving.
When you take from me, I feel so
      given to.

-Song “Given To” (1978) by Ruth Bebermeyer
from the album, Given To.

Wonder and Mystery,
We’ve explored them
Together.

Compassion and Touch,
We’ve witnessed their
Healing.

Movement and Stillpoint,
We’ve met in their
Peace.

Connection and Love,
We embrace them
Forever.

For my teacher Christine Felker, as she departs our county on the next part of her life journey, to Maine. June 13, 2005.

Excerpt from THE LIES THAT BIND: THE PERMANENCE OF CHILD ABUSE,
Heyward Ewart, III, Ph.D.

http://hometown.aol.com/ewartcme/myhomepagebusiness.html

“Domestic violence begins at 4.” Those were the opening words of my continuing education address at a major medical center in Jacksonville, Florida. The doctors and nurses, though silent, were indeed puzzled as I scanned their faces.  Because every child blames herself for the abuse or neglect she has suffered,  the “my fault” message, deeply internalized, navigates the individual throughout life. Abuse, once begun, takes on a life of its own and finds people and occasions throughout life to multiply itself.

The abused little girl becomes the abused adolescent, who becomes an abused adult. Just as water seeks its own level, so an abused person seeks relationships and a lifestyle that are no better than what she believes she deserves.

Abusive men seem to have an uncanny intuition in being able to identify a girl or woman they can victimize. They can spot her a block away. Once they have their claws into her, they never let go. Even when a domestic violence victim gathers enough strength and support in a shelter to leave her present captor, she is not rid of him, because he follows, he stalks, and he torments from a distance in any way he can.

The Mennonite Domestic Violence Task Force (1996) has assembled 16 traits of an abuser that my own patients have studied in amazement. They are incredulous at the fact that their own tormentor fits this description so closely. Items 17 on are derived from my own observations through treating abused women.

1.  He is jealous and tries to “own” his partner.
2. He blames others for his faults.
3. He blames circumstances for his difficulties.
4. He demonstrates unpredictable behavior.
5. He belittles his partner verbally and tries to convince her she’s crazy.
6. He cannot control his anger.
7. He always asks for another chance.
8. He promises and swears to change.
9. He may have been abused as a child or witnessed his father bully his mother.
10. He plays on his partner’s guilt. (“If only you loved me, you would…”)
11. His behavior often worsens when he uses alcohol or drugs.
12. He is closed-minded. His way is the only way.
13. He may seem charming and gentle to non-family members and the outside world.
14. He dislikes women, believes that a “woman’s place is in the home,” and that men have a right to possess women.
15. He may abuse his (or her) children by insult, intimidation, yelling, threatening, or actual violence.
16. He either refuses treatment, saying “You’re the problem,” or accepts treatment but plays games with the therapist.
17. He expects his partner to pay her own way financially.
18. He does not believe his partner when he asks where she’s been.
19. He forces her into sex and other behaviors that she does not want.
20. He acts as though all income is his.
21. He threatens suicide if she tries to leave or threatens to kill her.
22. He prevents her from making friends and/or engaging with her family.
23. He belittles her achievements and sabotages her accomplishments by insult.
24. He convinces her that he is doing her a favor by keeping her.
25. He either threatens violence or carries it out or both.
26. He forbids her to make decisions on her own.
27. He repeatedly hammers away at her incompetence.
28. He belittles her friends and/or family.
29. He is unpredictable and undependable as a provider, often putting all responsibility for income on his partner.
30. He continues to stalk, harass, threaten, and frighten her in cunning ways, even when an injunction for protection has been issued.

The Ones who care

The following is the philosophy of Charles Schultz, the creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip.  You don’t have to actually answer the questions.  Just read it straight through, and you’ll get the point. 

  1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.

  2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.

  3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America contest.

  4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.

  5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.

  6. Name the last decade’s worth of World Series winners.

How did you do? The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies.  Awards tarnish.  Achievements are forgotten.  Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners. 

Here’s another quiz. See how you do on this one:

  1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.

  2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.

  3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.

  4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.

  5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

  6. Name half a dozen heroes whose stories have inspired you.

Now THAT was a little Easier?

The lesson:

The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones who care.

I’ve found a place
where I can be free.
I’ve found a whole new beginning
just made for me.

I know only peace
and I never feel pain.
Days are full of sunshine
and never the rain.

I’m no longer old,
I’ve recovered my youth,
And all of my dreams
have become the truth.

I can smile. I can laugh.
I can walk. I can run.
I can hear every whisper.
I can see past the sun.

My body is whole
and my mind is clear.
I know all the answers
and I’m free of all fear.

I know why you mourn me,
I see how you weep.
Your heart’s full of aching
from a love that is deep.

And I’m grateful for loved ones
who hold me so dear,
But remember,
I’ve found a better place here.

I will be there beside you
always nearby,
So don’t mourn me too long,
nor forever cry.

And whenever your sorrow
bears down on your heart,
Think not of my ending,
but of my new start.

For on earth there’s no joy
that I’d ever see,
To compare to the joy
of God smiling at me.

—Author unknown

From Adam Curry [ http://www.blognewsnetwork.com/members/0000001/2004/04/06.html#a5496 ]:

I remember as a kid the stories that circulated around television usage. Of course the kid next door was doing poorly at school, his brain was rotting away because he watched too much tv! I think I recall another one about it causing cancer, which was probably too big a concept for me in 1970, when I was a wee lad of 6 years.

The stories are back, only this time a bit more plausable: “TV can cause the developing mind to experience unnatural levels of stimulation.”

The BBC health watch has more on the study.

Don’t forget going blind from sitting too close to the TV….  Indeed, any activity we engage in heavily affects the mind. Meditate for 20 minutes twice a day and your mind will be different even a year later, regardless of age. Those who garden and fish will have different neurological tendencies than those who passively watch TV. With TV we are watching events unfold. There is a stimulation that is inherently non-creative. The creation was done for us. We “entrain” with the creativity of others in order to be entertained. This is done in a way that stimulates attention, yet it also gets us used to the idea that dramatic events and “scene changes” will occur regularly. Contrast that with life in general and the classroom in particular. It just isn’t stiumlating in the same way!

An interesting question for me is the issue of retention for things learned on TV. Our kids do a lot of learning through the computer, participating in classes through Stanford’s EPGY and http://www.k12.com. Retention there seems to be strong. However, for “educational” shows on TV, and certainly for retention of what happened in shows and movies, the level of retention is not there. The lack of interactivity and engagement reduces the effectiveness of television as a learning tool. One thing that may help is if we have specific goals around a show or TV seminar. For example, I am taking DVD learning on EFT. There is an open-book test that goes along with it for certification. The combination of TV-based learning with a specific outcome of knowledge does help make it more effective and retained (for me).

New research bolsters evidence that stimulants like Ritalin used for attention deficit problems may stunt children’s growth, but it does not address whether the effect is permanent.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4668038/

It’s a tragedy that so many of our young children are being drugged with powerful stimulants without first trying healthier alternatives. For example, exercise. One 12-year-old client is in “health” right now and gets no exercise during the school day. The sedentary style of virtually all classrooms today is enough to leave any person feeling fidgety. How many parents would find it difficult to sit in a desk all day long, often listening to unenergizing lectures? ADD and ADHD are now being diagnosed for kids that are simply frustrated and angry that they are wasting their lives. Worse, in my opinion, is that schools who keep the kids for most of the day now expect even elementary-age kids to do significant homework, further reducing the time they spend in free, creative expression in playtime.

I know ADD and ADHD are complicated issues. The drugs do help many children to be successful in school. Yet, we ignore both the exercise aspect as well as the need to train each of our nervous systems to focus in a relaxed manner through age-old practices such as meditation, mindfulness, yoga, tai chi, the martial arts, and massage. Instead we work, work, work the cognitive brain. We cram it chock full of facts without providing a balance. No wonder so many kids need Ritalin, a stimulant!, to burn off the excess energy they have so they can sit passively and Be a Good Boy.

With more kids than ever in organized sports,  experts in sports medicine and youth athletics say they are increasingly concerned about the pressures put on young children to excel at sports. “Most children would rather play on a losing team than sit on the bench of a winning team,” says youth fitness researcher Avery Faigenbaum, an associate professor of exercise science at the University of Massachusetts in Boston.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4556235/

Parents do not all have the same perspective when it comes to their kids playing sports. Some see it, even from the age of 5, as an opportunity for their naturally talented youngster to get a college scholarship. Others see it as character building, a way for Little Jimmy to learn to compete and WIN WIN WIN. Some parents yell at the kids, yell at the umpires, and even brawl with other parents. Even the good sports can push their children to become pre-professionals in attitude and approach to the sport.

When we put a lot of our sweat, heart, and soul into ANY activity, when the drive to excel comes from deep within us, it becomes self-sustaining. The energy we GET from the activity fuels us. What this article points out, however, is that EXTERNAL driving force whether from a coach, or parents, or peers can “suck the fun out” of any activity. It’s a bit like reading a book because some teacher assigned it as homework and reading the same book because it was our own choice.

When I was growing up, it was not possible (I was told) for me to play organized sports because I spent every other weekend at my Dad’s house. I do want my children to have the opportunity to do things I did not, such as learn the piano and play sports. What has been interesting to observe, however, is that they—like Avery says above—have had a BLAST even in seasons where they have not won a single game! Indeed one un-feated season we asked the kids whether they would have rather played in this team that didn’t win, where they got to play all the time, or played on the champion team where because of their younger age they would have ridden the bench most of the time. No question in their minds, they would rather play than just “be a winner.”

And no, this is not a character defect. Both kids have gone on to be on other winning teams and losing teams. They PREFER to win, but they would prefer to have fun and play personally well than “just win.”

Another observation is that, given the choice of whether to specialize in one sport in which they excel, or play multiple sports and even new sports in which they have no experience, they have consistently chosen a variety of activities over specialization. I have no doubt that some children are born with a burning desire to master soccer or piano or tennis. I also don’t believe for a minute that most kids are so focused naturally. There is SO much to learn from different coaches and different sports. Basketball’s conditioning is outstanding and supports playing soccer well. Baseball’s eye-hand coordination compliments art and piano.

We’re raising the bar in sports so that only the exceptionally gifted kids will get playing time and an opportunity to experience sports. That may be what produces the most skilled college and professional athletes, where money and entertainment rule. What gets lost in that focus is balance, breadth of experience, and acceptance that “not perfect” is not just okay—it can be a LOT of fun.