A Healing Experiment with Unconditional Love

The following event happened to me on the last weekend of September, 2003, while attending a class given by Vianna Stibal. The following experiment was done rather informally, though with good care to have fairly clear results. I believe it could be repeated in a more rigourous setting if someone chose.

In the room along with the class was a woman with a microscope doing "Live Blood Cell Analysis". The microscope also had a video monitor and VHS tape recorder allowing a record to be made. She also had pictures explaining various common blood conditions. The process was simple, she pricked my finger with a clean needle, collected some blood on a slide, mixed in a clear liquid, and put it under the microscope. I've since been told that in a clinical setting, live blood cell analysis uses multiple samples taken from different parts of the body. In this case the woman took only one sample, from my finger.

In my case the blood cells were clumped together in a way exactly matching one of these pictures. She explained this would happen through not drinking enough water or taking enough enzymes. Indeed, while I usually drink lots of water every day, I have phases of not drinking enough water, and that weekend in particular was another of these phases. Upon seeing my blood, and learning that I haven't been taking any "supplements", she offered me a spot in a little experiment.

They also choose a woman to also undergo this experiment, and she had some other blood condition than mine.

The next step was to bring us before the room and sit the two of us in chairs. A healer was chosen for each of us. The audience was instructed to invoke "Unconditional Love" sending it up into a cloud in the top of the room. The healers were simply instructed to bring the unconditional love into my body and the womans body, especially into the blood.

After doing this we went to the back of the room for another round of blood cell analysis. By the way, I really felt fabulous with receiving the unconditional love. I have had similar experiences at other times in other classes, and knew through experience that relaxing and receiving is The Thing To Do in such situations. It's not often that you have a chance to feel unconditional love beamed by a large group of people, and it's best to soak such chances for all they're worth.

In my case my blood "afterward" looked astonishingly different. Instead of clumped up deflated looking blood cells, they were nice and plump, perfectly round, and all flowing easily and freely through the blood. Further, I felt significantly better, more awake, more alive feeling, happier. And, I felt truly astonished to see my blood clearly so very different than before.

The woman had a somewhat different result. In the blood sample taken immediately, her blood showed the same conditions as before. Her and the woman doing the analysis sat together a long time working with issues and beliefs around accepting healing, and then they took a third blood cell sample from her. That one showed her blood as well changed to nice, plump, perfectly round and freely flowing blood cells.

In the woman's case this says even more than mine. Just think, they had two blood samples taken from her just minutes apart. The only difference, other than the 5-10 minutes, was that this working on issues and beliefs of being worthy of accepting healing. That's all it took, the clearing of beliefs, to cause the healing to sink in, and it showed up in the blood.

Office ergonomics, monitor stands and keyboard trays

We shouldn't have to damage our health in order to use computer systems. Wait, let me try and rephrase that in a positive wording. Computer use should be a healthy experience. Computer designers might do well to remember the Hippocratic Oath which starts with "First, do no harm...". Unfortunately computer usage requires confining yourself to a fixed position, that's very bad for ones health. Besides remembering to get up and walk around a little every so often, there's a few things you can do to have your workspace more ergonomically correct.

At the moment I'm looking at "Monitor arms" and "keyboard trays".

Monitor Arms

LCD monitors are light enough you can easily mount them on a flexible arm, giving you the freedom to position the monitor "anywhere". At least that's what the makers say you can do. Certainly the old style CRT monitors had far too much weight to do anything like this.

Unfortunately the reality doesn't quite match up with the flexibility implied by the picture. To explain I want to run down a few of them, but first I should explain my experience with one of them.

I bought an Ergotron Neo-Flex LCD arm. I didn't bother reading the fine print, unfortunately. I have a 20 inch Dell LCD monitor that's really nice. I installed the monitor arm, attached it to the Dell LCD monitor, and all that went together very easily. The VESA standard LCD mounting specification sure makes it easy. Unfortunately, the monitor drooped. No matter the amount of tweaking I did, tightening of screws, etc, the monitor drooped a bit. Then I read the fine print and saw, right on the box, it was rated to hold monitors up to 18 lbs weight. Finding the fine print for the Dell monitor, it weighs 18.76 lbs.

Kensington 60106 Desk-Mount Arm for Flat Panel Monitor It has nice strong arms, etc. But it holds monitors up to 20 lbs weight.

GMP STANDARD LCD ARM No picture so I can't judge it from that. The description says it's got a fully articulated arm, but its rating is for monitors up to 14 lbs weight.

Ergotron LX Desk Mount Arm - mounting kit This is a variant on the Neo-Flex I bought. The arm is very flexible and nice. I suppose if your monitor is light enough then it won't droop.

DualSwing Arm Desk Mount Judging from the picture it's clearly going to have a lot of freedom in positioning the monitor "wherever".

The attraction I have to these is not just the flexibility and freedom, but the possibility of decluttering the desktop. By holding the monitor above the desk, the space which would have held the monitor stand can be used for other things. But, knowing my habits, it would just collect random sheets of paper and other stuff. Maybe it's just as well.

On the other hand this really interesting 19 inch monitor, ViewSonic VA1912WB 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor, only weighs 9 lbs. Hmmm....

Keyboard Trays

One of the rules of ergonomics is to keep the keyboard fairly low, only slightly above your legs. This probably has to do with the natural resting position of your arms.

Yet another rule of ergonomics is to keep your screen at eye level. Seeing as there's quite a difference between the low level recommended for the keyboard, and the high level recommended for the screen, one wonders how to bring harmony.

One way would be to keep the desktop itself fairly low. But I find that not to be the best, as my knees tend to bump into the desk. Plus theres this dream I have of less clutter on the desktop allowing for more room for other items.

With that in mind I found at Office Depot a keyboard drawer that fits under the desk. It's relatively nice and does the job relatively well. But, it's made from injection plastic and isn't the sturdiest thing. As I use it the thing shimmys around and I'm sure it's going to break some day, and I'm really displeased with the whole experience.

Studying it carefully, what appears to be the problem is leverage. The part holding the keyboard is sturdy enough. Where it really shimmies around is the tray on which the mouse sits. That tray is waaaay over on the side, so when I rest my hand on it there's a lot of leverage to pull the tray around.

This gives an attribute that's desired in searching for a replacement. Namely, tray should be supported on both ends rather than just in the middle.

MASTER PRODUCTS DRAWER Looks to be the ticket. The size is wide enough for my preferred keyboard and has ample room to the side for mousing. Plus it's steel construction should be sturdy. Unfortunately the dinky picture amazon shows isn't clear enough to give me confidence in this thing.

WAVETECH Underdesk Keyboard Drawer with Wrist Rest Also looks good. Again the drawer is wide enough for a large keyboard plus mousing. Unfortunately the construction isn't described, and again it suffers from a dinky image.

Kensington Fully Articulating & Adjustable Underdesk Keyboard Drawer Certainly is very flexible. Unfortunately at 26 inches wide the drawer isn't going to offer enough room for convenient mousing alongside a keyboard.

Under Desk Keyboard Drawer - Pewter Metal Art Looks to be very nice, and is made from metal which ought to be sturdy. However the drawer doesn't even attempt to provide a space to mouse. What rock has the designer of this been hiding under? Mousing is a very important part of computing, and has been so for 20 years or more.

Select System Wing Platform, Keyboard & Mouse Platform, Memory Foam Wristrest Looks promising. At least it's wide enough for convenient mousing.

Premium Under Desk Kybrd Drawer Looks promising, especially as it has support at both ends of the drawer which should help the stability. Unfortunately at 25 inches wide it's too narrow for convenient mousing.

Other resources

The Human Solution offers a wide range of ergonomical products. Unfortunately their choices in the two product categories discussed on this page are pretty slim.

Ergo Works offers a wide range of ergonomical products. They have done a pretty good job in selecting good products. They have some monitor arms with relatively heavy duty weight capacity. Their choice in keyboard trays are pretty good. And more, such as nice chairs and desks whose height adjusts.

Hergo Offers a wide range of interesting monitor arms.

Flexrest Specializes in keyboard trays.

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God will give you everything that you want

Todays fortune cookie reads: "God will give you everything that you want"

Hmmm, I thought. Interesting coincidence with the prayer I've had for today. Here's a few thoughts that are wandering through me.

First, the phrase is very enticing. Lots of people over the millenia have prayed for X or Y or Z ... for example to be rich, to have women, etc. But I think the average person doesn't trust prayer, because they think prayers are never answered. So a promise like "God will give you everything that you want" seems hollow.

My prayer for today is inspired by teachings from Ron Roth, whom I've been listening to a lot recently. He suggests a form of prayer like "Divine Holy Spirit is my strength, Divine Holy Spirit is my health, Divine Holy Spirit is my life, Divine Holy Spirit sustains me...". It's a very positive statement said as if it were the truth.

The sense of it is very much in alignment with "God will give you everything that you want" ...

A couple things come to mind here.

First, is ... What is God? The typical Christian church claims God is a being sitting up in the clouds somewhere. As an individuated being, God is localized to a specific place (Heaven) that's far away from you or I. However I am understanding a different interpretation of what God is, and there are many spiritual teachings in alignment with this other view. Namely, that God or the Divine Presence is an aspect of everything. God is melded with every thing, every particle, every atom, all the way to every star and galaxy.

In our mind/ego we want to believe we are everything. We want to believe we can solve any problem that comes our way, that we can endure anything, etc. The stereotype for this are the movie characters like Max (of the Mad Max movie series) who is going through and surviving hell in the wilderness purely on willpower.

But what I experience over and over is the limit to what my mind/ego is capable of. It seems that it doesn't matter how brilliant or strong one is, there will always be challenges one will face which surpass your capabilities. What do you do then? Do you pretend to be capable? Do you hide? Do you escape the problem? Do you seek out help? Do you cry woe is me? Do you get strong and bulldoze your way forward? Do you pretend the challenge doesn't exist? All of the above?

What I am experiencing in these episodes leads me to an understanding of "God will give you everything that you want" ...

With God being melded with everything, being present in every action, then it doesn't matter what challenge you are facing. Even a challenge which surpasses the ability of your mind/ego to cope with the challenge, God is there. What I experience is if I first recognize that my mind/ego doesn't know how to cope with a specific challenge, and second I pray for the divine presence to offer a solution, that in short order a solution comes along.

On the other hand if I don't recognize the problem, or otherwise fail to pray for divine assistance, then I can struggle with the problem for days, weeks, even years.

The second thought that comes to mind is ... With God being melded with everything, then everything that you receive is in fact a gift from God. Every breath you take is God offering you air to breath with. Every step you take is upon earth provided by God for you to walk upon. Every bite of food you take was grown by God. That all is part of a viewpoint that God is melded with every action in the universe and every thing in the universe.

The last thought has to do with the "what you want" aspect. When you claim to want something, is that true? It's well understood that the conscious mind is only a small part of ones ego. That the subconscious mind is this vast sea of conflicting beliefs, emotions, ideas, memories, hopes, dreams, etc. It's very easy and common for someone to say "I want to be rich" (for example) and inside their subconscious being totally fearful of the responsibility (for example) that comes from being rich.

Whole libraries of self-help books have been written to show people how their subconscious often conflicts with their conscious self.

Any prayer you make, any desire you hold, is melded with your conflicting inner terrain. It seems to me that's what interferes with the success of prayer. The prayer is said with all of who you are, even the part that is in abject terror of the prayer actually coming true. The question is, which part of you is the stronger? The part that holds the conscious desire, or the subconscious part in abject terror of that desire coming true?

The thing is you won't know the answer to this until you begin practicing self awareness. To the Buddhists, self awareness is the desired end state from meditation. That by nonjudgementally witnessing your inner ego process one will have more and more awareness of the conflicts within you and begin to resolve them.

Quantum computer works best switched off

I wish I understood quantum theory a bit better so I could better understand this article: Quantum computer works best switched off. I want to read this as supporting spiritual or psychic awareness, but I don't know enough to quite follow the dots.

The article discusses what they call: "Even for the crazy world of quantum mechanics, this one is twisted. A quantum computer program has produced an answer without actually running."

Okay, so my first problem is I don't quite understand what a quantum computer is. The article discusses sending photons through some mirrors, and somehow that causes some database queries. My reading is obviously a little behind.

Where I connect this with psychic awareness is a little circuitous, so hang on.

It's fairly well understood among the spiritually aware that you can talk with reality. Spiritual traditions for millenia have talked about life in everything, and the universal consciousness of which we all are a part.

How does that fit with quantum physics? Simply because it's apparent to me that whatever it is the spiritually aware are doing, it is operating within the universe and hence could be understood by physicists if they'd only quit giggling. For example it's been shown that remote healing has an effect, and healing practices in general have a physical effect.

I'm a participant in an ongoing study being conducted by a researcher at the Univ of Arizona into energy healers and energy healing. The study contains a whole battery of tests conducted over a week-long period. One of the tests shows a clear connection between performing energy healing on a plant leaf (without even touching the leaf), and a physical response by that plant leaf.

Specialists in working with crystals claim they talk with the crystals. Shamans claim they take journies through the universe. Psychics say they can see long distances, see the future, see the past, etc. There's a branch of psychic awareness which picks up historical information about objects or places, supposedly from some left over resonance still present in the object.

What I'm getting at is an idea I've seen in some quantum physics books. That the material world is a computation device that provides us a sensory experience. What if our consciousness were able to directly interact with the computation that goes to creating the material world?

Just some rambling thoughts, I'm afraid, without real conclusion ...

CNN.com - McDonald's sued over fries ingredients - Feb 19, 2006

Seems that McDonalds just doesn't get any respect. People complain about them, how their food is causing an epidemic of fatty Americans, the amount of waste products that come from McDonalds, etc. And, now, it's the ingredients of their french fries.

Well, if McDonalds were a responsible corporation they might not be so badly beat up over what they do.

Now, about the french fries. They've quietly begun adding both wheat and milk products to the fries. And now they're getting sued.

Wheat is a problem for someone who has Celiac disease. Celiac disease is an intolerance to gluten, gluten being a protein contained in wheat and some other grains. Celiac disease can be life threatening.

Milk products are a problem for vegans (vegitarians who also avoid dairy products) and for people with lactose intolerance.

McDonalds admits it adds wheat and milk products to its french fries. And has a notice about this on their web site.

Where? On their web site??? So, let's see, you're in a McDonalds somewhere looking at the menu. Hmm, french fries aren't supposed to contain wheat, nor are they likely to contain animal products ... so you can easily see how celiacs or vegans would buy french fries only to be surprised later. And where is their warning? On a web site? yeesh

There's a principle being violated here. That is the "principle of least surprise". Least surprise means that when you're looking at some object, that it should do/be pretty much what it looks like it does.

An example might be a plastic lapel flower, that looks real. Your friend might lean over to sniff the flower, and then be surprised when you squeeze the hidden water bulb that squirts them in the face.

While the principle of least surprise can be a great joke, it can also be life threatening. For example what if someone were to rig their stove so it turns on the gas when you flip a light switch on the wall. Someone else could innocently look at the light switch, want some light, flip the switch, and curse when the light doesn't come on and start hunting for a new light bulb. In the meantime the kitchen is filling with gas, which could lead to a deadly explosion.

The same kind of surprise is here with these french fries. And it's not just french fries, but all sorts of food items have surprising ingredients. I have a mild gluten intolerance and in my hunt for gluten free foods I longingly look at the corn bread mixes in the store. But often as not, the ingredients list for corn bread has wheat as the first ingredient. Corn bread containing wheat???

At least in this case the principle of least surprise is easily alleviated because of the ingredients list on the box. In the case of the McDonalds french fries the ingredients list is inconveniently on a web site, far away from the person in line getting ready to make their order.

Source: McDonald's sued over fries ingredients

FREE, inspirational messages from Franklin Covey

Sign up for Motivational quotes from FranklinCovey!  Franklin Covey sells a series of planner and organizing products, and a nice thing about their planners are the motivational messages on each page.

Such as?

Change is the process by which the future invades our lives. -- Alvin Toffler

Be aware of undertaking too much at the start.  Be content with quite a little.  Allow for accidents.  Allow for human nature, especially your own.  -- Arnold Bennett

It's real nice to have these messages in my planner/calendar.  They always give me a moment of pondering and reflection that's worthwhile.

Manifesting as a way of self healing

In spiritual teachings there is the concept of Manifestations. Often this is taught as a method of wish fulfillment. For example one teacher I had years ago had a story, she was in the middle of teaching a manifestation class, they went on their lunch break, passed by a car dealership with a contest being held inside, she wanted a car, went inside, registered for the contest, and ended up winning the car. Manifestation, eh?

While that's a pretty cool story, I want to talk about an experience I just had using manifestation. But before I tell the story, consider these two pictures of a beautiful silk Sari.

I bought this Sari in Bangalore India for my fiancee. I thought, she's going to be my wife, I want something pretty for her, she likes India, she already owns a Sari herself but she's unhappy with that Sari because the color isn't "her".

Two days after I return home from the trip she announces we are splitting up.

What a journey of learning and healing it has been dealing with this. That will be a story to tell for another time, today it's about the Sari and what I just experienced.

The Sari had become a heavy weight for me. I couldn't give it to her, because she was not the person for whom I bought the Sari. If you're confused by that statement, let me say that I bought the Sari for my future wife. She was not going to be my wife, because she had already decided we were splitting up. Hence, she was not the person for whom I bought the Sari.

Every time I thought about this Sari, I could only think of the relationship which was lost. Hence, it has become a heavy weight for me.

I decided it would be best to sell the thing via craigslist.

A couple days ago I listened to a Gregg Braden tape: Lost Mode of Prayer. He talks about a mode of prayer that's also similar to the one taught by Ron Roth. The idea is to make your prayer one of joy, and one where you visualize the desired result happening in joy and peace. I'd also had a similar conversation recently with one of my teachers.

Gregg Braden also talked about a necessary stage of prayer being to have piece in your body, peace in your emotions, peace in your thoughts, and to make the prayer from that sort of peace.

Here's what happened shortly after I put the advertisement on craigslist. I have no idea if what I've done will manifest for me a buyer, what's important is the shift which has occurred for me.

I had the thought "maybe you can manifest a buyer" and I remembered the outline of manifestation I heard Gregg Braden talk about. I started saying, as a kind of chant, "Someone will buy this Sari, who will enjoy it, and for whom it will be a thing of beauty". Over and over, the same phrase. But what did I feel? Was I in peace?

Remember the context I described. This Sari had become a heavy weight for me. And that's what I felt, initially, as I made this chanting prayer. It was hard to say the chant because I so much wanted to cry, but I kept going.

Eventually the ideas and the feeling began to shift. A picture started to form, someone who would be happy with the Sari. My voice had been weak with the struggle, but it became firmer and stronger. And, now, I am happy. I know that someone will buy this Sari, and that they will enjoy it, it will be a thing of beauty for them, that it will bring joy to their life, and I am happy because the Sari will go to such a person.

Maybe the people who teach manifestation as a means of wish fulfillment are missing the bigger picture?

What I'm describing here is about healing. It feels very much like I've taken the heavy weight concerning the Sari, and transformed it to joy. And, maybe, it has shifted a little of the weight I'm feeling about the relationship's end.

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