From Note Taking to Cellular and Universal Cooperation

During a PhotoReading workshop I attended several years ago, different ways of taking notes were suggested. We are familiar with the standard one, taking notes on lined paper as the presenter is speaking.

Another way is to divide the lined paper in half, from top to bottom. On the right side, you take notes of what the speaker is saying. On the left side, you take notes of what is going on in your mind at the time. Thinking about lunch? Write it down. Thinking about a bill to pay? Write it down. Thinking about a phone call you should make? Write it down. As you re-read your notes, it will put you back to the state of mind you were in during the presentation and will trigger memories of what has been said during that time. It falls under "state dependent memory".

Yet another way to take notes was by mind mapping the presentation, also called a spider web. You put the title of the talk in the middle of the page, and add items of interest around it during the presentation, which you can link and color later on.

There are so many ways to take notes... Another one, which I really liked, needed some advance preparation. Using an unlined piece of paper, you would draw the outline of twelve squares or other shapes to fit on the paper, with brightly colored markers. During the presentation, you would write a brief note, a snapshot of an idea, in these shapes. We were told it was the way the brain worked... with snapshots. I enjoyed practicing this way of note-taking.

The most interesting note taking exercise was to write down what the speaker was GOING to say! Quite interesting and enlightening. I noticed on several occasions that I already knew. I remember listening to a series of motivational tapes, already knowing what was on the next one, even though I had not been exposed to the subject consciously.

It happened to me again these past several weeks. During my morning meditation, usually in the alpha state, I was starting to ponder on a way the world could be working. I would get snapshots of ideas and develop images, linking our cells with our bodies, with the Earth and with the Universe.

Our bodies work amazingly well, some 50-trillion cells cooperating to keep us healthy and strong, in most cases. What if the world was a "body" of some kind? What if we, as individuals, were "cells" in that body? It has been shown that the Earth is a living entity, expanding and contracting (breathing?), with a powerful magnetic field to which we can attune and connect to. If we were to consider that we are cells of one body, shouldn't we learn to work together? What if countries were like organs, each having its own specific purpose?

What if we go further? What if the Earth is itself just a "cell", a small part of a vast living body called the universe?

When I was getting my certification in InterActive Guided Imagery, I learned to listen and talk to cells, Yes, they do have a mind of their own, and yes, they do communicate with us... if we only were to listen. Cells are very intelligent, if somewhat immature in their thinking. They will tell you why you are not feeling well and what you can do about it. Close and personal. My role as a guide is to open up the "discussion" and bring the subconscious language of the cells to the conscious mind. I love InterActive Imagery. We can learn so much about ourselves; it's fun, eye opening and potentially healing.

Since the microcosm is a picture of the macrocosm and vice versa, can we extrapolate? If our cells can communicate with us, and we can communicate with them... we, as cells in a greater "body", can also communicate with the universe (God?). Would that be prayer and meditation? What if we truly were listening to what the universe or God is trying to communicate with us as we should be listening to our cells?

While I was pondering on the subject above, I received Bruce Lipton's new book Spontaneous Evolution, which I had ordered. Lo and behold, Bruce has the same "idea", which he explains in terms of fractal geometry. I highly recommend his book, which develops the concepts in easy to understand scientifc explanations. He also mentions that we never heard of liver cells deciding to take over the Pancreas' Islets of Langerhans. Cells cooperate! Couldn't we, as intelligent beings, do the same?

I believe we all realize that we cannot continue to run our lives the way we have been; we are destroying ourselves. Thankfully, we are on the verge of some tremendous upheavals in the scientific world, which will spill over into our day to day lives and into politic and business. Although we are still operating under some wrong assumptions from Descartes, Darwin, Newton, Pasteur and other "great" scientists, which shaped our culture, some of their fundamental theories are now being challenged, disproven. and relegated to the domain of myths. The "scientific" beliefs which shape our culture are mostly myths, not reality!

Make place for quantum mechanics and a world of cooperation. We are powerful. If our thoughts trigger our genes and dis-eases, and collectively the state of our society, shouldn't we think about what we are thinking about? What are your cells thinking about? Can they teach us how to cooperate? They are 50-trillion strong... they know how to work together. We are 7 billion... we should be able to emulate their system.

Allow yourself to tap into the thoughts of the universe and see if you can anticipate what the next speaker you listen to is going to say... You may just know it already!

Examine your life, your thoughts... Socrates said, "An unexamined life is not worth living..." An unexamined life is lived in mindless reaction. We can do so much better.

Let's DO IT!

Epiphany on the Pledge of Allegiance

Later on, after my daughter and I were arrested by US Marshals on a crime we never committed, and could not get any justice (not so far anyway), I started to despise that Pledge of Allegiance. I learned about many cases of people being imprisoned on false charges, who could not get any justice either. Some of them are on death row...Liberty and Justice for All... what a joke. It certainly was not my experience.

To me, the Pledge of Allegiance was a hypnotic mantra, used to lull Americans to believe that they lived in the greatest country in the world, "under God", with "Liberty and Justice for all"... yeah, sure! Wake up America. It's not so.

I did not know about the Pledge of Allegiance when I came to this country, some thirty years ago. I learned about it when attending church and when I started to teach my children at home. I could not understand why people would pledge allegiance to a flag... that sounded so bizarre. I would pledge allegiance to God, to a group... but to a flag? It made no sense at all.

How many times do children recite it during their upbringing? 12 years, at 180 days of school a year, makes 2160 times, not counting the times outside of school where the Pledge is recited.

This past week, I was invited to several functions, which started with... you guessed it... the Pledge of Allegiance. No, not again! I certainly could NOT participate in that indoctrination. Integrity is very important to me. I do not want to say something I don't believe in and choke on.

This morning, I was reading again about the results of a research done by the HeartMath Institute on the power of love and influence. Briefly, the research had for objective to see if cells in a petri dish could be influenced by thoughts. One group of people would try to influence the cells by putting themselves in a loving state (there is a specific brain/heart wave when one reaches the universal love frequency). The second group would try to influence the cells by sending them positive intentions, but without being in the universal love state. The third group would put themselves in the universal love state AND send positive intentions to the cells.

When universal love AND positive intentions were used concurrently, especially coming from trained practitioners, cells would heal, bacteria and yeast would stop growing, cancer cells would stop progressing, etc...

Epiphanies do not necessarily come during meditation or while studying, at least not for me. I was cleaning my bathroom, of all things, when an inner question came to my attention. What if I were to use the Pledge of Allegiance as a loving, positive intention? What if it was not an indoctrinating mantra, but as a positive, loving intention for this country? Wow... that took on a different meaning.

I pledge allegiance to the flag... ok, the flag is a symbol, I can live with that.

Of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands... a republic is quite a good form of government... I can live with that.

One nation, under God... Wow... wouldn't that be great? That is a good INTENTION

Indivisible... Another good INTENTION

With LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL! Can there be anything better?

As of this morning, I can recite the Pledge of Allegiance as a prayer of restoration and as loving intention for this great country.

Catastrophic Events - Part 5: CHRONIC Trauma

In our previous posts, we spoke about a specific catastrophic event which happened in someone's life. We discovered some ways to navigate the process, from the SHOCK phase to the TRANSFORMATION phase, passing as quickly as possible through the WILDERNESS phase.


There is another set of catastrophic events which are quite likely to impact a life for a very long time. I am talking about constant, repetitive catastrophic events, where one does not have the time to get out of the SHOCK phase, until another event happens, and another one, and another one. It is shock, after shock, after shock.

This scenario is found during wars, child abuse, domestic violence, and legal abuse, which is on the rise in the American society.


Have you ever wondered why there are so many veterans begging on the streets? Did these valiant soldiers just turn into useless bums because they simply refused to recover and move on? Can they really?


Have you ever wondered why so many people have low self-worth, low self-esteem, low self-confidence, ... only to find out that most of them were abused as children. Are they just refusing to forgive, forget and move on?
Can they?


Have you ever wondered why abused women do not get out of their situation? "Why do they stay?" is the question most often asked.

Is the choice to "move out" a realistic one? Often, it is not, as the abuse escalates after a separation, and often ends up in more abuse and sometimes death. It is a very difficult choice to make, and one that needs to be thought out thoroughly. The "Get Out of Domestic Violence" posters found on the walls of government offices and hospitals don't come close to portraying the truth of what happens to a woman who makes that choice.

How about legal abuse, found when, after protracted litigations, the "bad" guy wins, and the "good" guy is left with a shattered life, financially, socially, emotionally, mentally, and often physically bankrupt.

Telling these people to "move on", "think positive thoughts", "set goals" adds insult to injury.

Debbie Drake, MD, once said during a workshop that abused women had so many "Hamer Herds" (that's comparable to a short-circuit in the brain) that they could not make decisions. Every time one experiences a trauma, a short-circuit occurs in a specific part of the brain. For more information, go to http://www.newmedicine.ca/overview.php.

During multiple, unrelenting trauma, so many boundaries are violated that many short-circuits happen at the same time, leaving one in a dissociated state. How would YOU think if your brain was full of short-circuits? How does your car or your computer function with ONE short-circuit, let alone multiple short-circuits? It takes time and energy to find the short-circuits, and repair them.


Yes, it is possible to recover, with proper strategies and techniques, ONCE THE PERSON IS OUT OF THE SITUATION!. However, one has to know about these new techniques. They are not mainstream yet. For a very effective tool, go to http://www.emofree.com/a/?3928, and do a search under "child abuse", "domestic violence", "war trauma", etc. Consulting a qualified practitioner in energy therapies (EFT, BSFF, EMDR, ...) is a worthy investment. More and more trauma recovery strategies are being investigated and validated, from horse therapy, to energy techniques, to renegociating a trauma (learning from how wild animals do it). There is HOPE!

What can one do WHEN STUCK IN A TRAUMATIC SITUATION?

SURVIVE! GET EMPOWERED! STAY EMPOWERED!

Do everything possible to mitigate the trauma, by doing everything in your power to not add stress to your body and mind, on top of what you are going through. Some of the suggestions I offer are possible, some are not. Some suggestions may empower some, but not others. Choose the best for you:

- Eat nutritious food
- Add supplements to support your adrenals
- Relax as much as possible... I know it's often impossible, as intrusive thoughts pervades our life, day and night (I always wondered why they were called intrusive... now I know)
- Surround yourself with an empowering support team
- Connect with a Higher Power
- The energy techniques mentioned above (http://www.emofree.com/a/?3928) do work, but have to be used on an on-going basis.
- Share the story
- Fight the abuse with a support group
- Write a journal or blog
- Connect with nature, an animal, a plant...
- Look at a starry sky... the stars are still there, in the same position. The sun rises in the East and settles in the West. There still IS some order in this world.
- Dissociation and numbness are organic responses to stay alive. They are OK!

Realize that although all this is NOT RIGHT, there is a spiritual law giving free choice to individuals. Unfortunately, some people choose to use that free choice to destroy others. Until our collective energy becomes strong and focused enough to fight evil collectively, these individuals are given free rein to wreck havoc in many lives.

According to Karin Huffer, author of the book Legal Abuse Syndrome - check her websites at http://www.legalabusesyndrome.org/ and http://www.judicialaccountability.org/legalabuse.htm - only about 10-20% of the population shows the need to control and destroy others. There are still 80-90% of good, trustworthy people on the planet. Find them, and fight with them!


If you have recovered from war trauma, child abuse, domestic violence or legal abuse and would like to share empowering techniques, please feel free to contact me at DrD@peakvitality21.com

Catastrophic Events - Part 4: The TRANSFORMATION Cycle

We ended the WILDERNESS cycle with a vision, which brought us to this last cycle, the TRANSFORMATION cycle.

During the TRANSFORMATION cycle, we find hope and excitement. We have the new vision, we are tuned into new opportunities; we start to grow impatient.

"What could happen?" ... "What will happen?" ... "How will I prepare for this next phase of my life?" ... "Am I ready?"

We go to the drawing board, plan a future, and create it.

Of course, we still find some resistance to act or change. Of course, a tiny seed of doubt may still linger. Of course, there is some fear (FEAR = Fabulous Energy for Awesome Results). We have been crashed before, and realize it could happen again. Yet soon, we see that our only option is to move forward. Helpful strategies to harness disempowering beliefs or feelings can be learned. Once again, a coach is helpful to keep us on track.

What started with a death or loss has now turned into a new beginning. We are moving toward an exciting future.

For more information on harnessing disempowering beliefs, or planning a balanced and fulfilling life, check my website: http://www.peakvitality21.com/

Catastrophic Events - Part 3: The WILDERNESS Cycle

The WILDERNESS Cycle starts when feelings of anger and fear surface. We are not in denial any longer, we cannot deny the loss any longer, and life takes on a somewhat chaotic rythm.



Some days may be full of confusion, going from some lingering denial, to anger and fear, or generalized anxiety. If someone has died, the feeling of anger (always present even when unconscious, according to Dr. Larry Nims) toward that person may be followed by guilt. If faced with a catastrophic illness, the question of "Why me?" enters the mind. Fear of what the future may bring may paralyze us.



Some days, we want to explore new possibilities. We get a glimpse that if we don't change our focus or our attitute, we are not likely to "make it". We start to sketch a new life...



One day, we come to realize that we are not the center of the universe. We broaden our perspective. Even though this terrible event happened to turn our life inside out, the stars are still in the same place, and the sun still rises in the morning. We may start to feel that we are somewhat unique, we start to see the potential blessings that this event could bring. It might make us stronger. We get more empathy for people who have suffered. We grow closer to other who have also suffered.



Although there is not much which can be done to shorten the LOSS Cycle, the WILDERNESS Cycle offers choices. We can choose to wallow in confusion and anxiety for months or even years, or choose to change our focus and attitude. Coaches, energy therapists and counselors can be very helpful at this stage. They keep us focused, help us move from the crisis to finding new opportunities. They help us broaden our perspective, and give us the tools to maneuver through the confusion.



The WILDERNESS Cycle ends with a vision, and an attitude of "Just Do IT!", which moves us to the TRANSFORMATION Cycle, which will be explored in our next blog.

Catastrophic Events - Part 2: The LOSS Cycle

Faced with catastrophic events or catastrophic news, our bodymind goes into a state of shock.

According to Dr. Hamer, German Oncologist, trauma (whether physical, emotional or mental) produces a "short circuit" or "short-circuits" in the brain which, if not healed, develop into degenerative/catastrophic illnesses 6 months to 20 years down the road... we will come back on this in the WILDERNESS cycle.

The LOSS cycle is characterized by a state of numbness toward some parts of life and of heightened awareness toward others. Things which used to be important loose their meaning. Priorities shift.

When I was being pursued by a sociopath and had to run for my life, paying the bills or cleaning the house did not matter any longer. Reaching personal goals did not matter. What I ate did not matter. I became focused on survival. My energy level soared. My memory became instantly amazing. I could remember dozens of phone numbers, street and email addresses to navigate from one place to another, while keeping in touch with clients, friends and family.

When faced with a painful chronic disease, once again, my priorities shifted instantly. In that instance, I did not go into a heightened memory state, but into a sleepy, dozing state, facing eternity.

Denial is found in the LOSS cycle. Thoughts like

"This is NOT possible."
"This cannot be happening to me."
"There must be a mistake."
"I must be dreaming."
"This will be over shortly, and life will return to 'normal'."

cross our mind, over and over and over.

The beliefs we hold dear are shattered. The compass of our life swings wildly, pointing in no certain direction. An overwhelming sadness envelops us.

Allow yourself to go through the process of the LOSS cycle. Do NOT suppress these emotions, they are healthy and need to be processed. Do NOT push them down and "play tough". This only causes more harm later. As much as possible, surround yourself with friends and family, who allow you to be numb, sad, in denial. They may feel powerless to comfort you, yet their presence is important: holding hands, hugging, making sure you keep hydrated and maybe even eat a few bites. They can help you keep panic at bay.

One emotion which is NOT part of the LOSS cycle is PANIC. Do NOT panic: it is not needed to process an event, nor is it helpful. YES, you can do it. One way to keep panic at bay is to change your breathing pattern. Put the tip of your tongue behind your upper front teeth, and take deep, slow breaths, breathing deep into your belly. While doing this slow breathing, tap on the side on your hand (the karate chop) with your other hand. Tapping on the bottom of your foot, or stamping your feet will also help to keep you grounded.

The LOSS cycle lasts an average of three days, and ends by the acceptance of the event or the news.

Next, we enter the WILDERNESS cycle, which we will explore in the next blog.

Catastrophic Events - Part 1: INTRODUCTION - Which phase of the trauma reaction are you in?

Webster defines "catastrophe" as: "A terrible and sudden disaster".

A catastrophe could be one of the following:
- you were just diagnosed with an incurable disease, like cancer, and the doctor gave you weeks or months at best to live
- you were diagnosed with a chronic disease, and have to make major shifts in your life in order to deal with the pain, discomfort and slowly degenerating body and mind functions
- a heart attack put a sudden stop to, or at least dampened your thriving business
- a loved one died
- you were unexpectedly served with divorce papers
- you were unexpectedly fired
- a car accident crippled you and/or your car
- you suffered a major loss from terrorism... tsunami... earthquake... hurricane... fire...

Catastrophe comes from a greek root meaning "reversal". A reversal implies a change of direction.

A catastrophe initiates cycles of changes, in which we find three phases:

Phase 1: The LOSS cycle
Phase 2: The WILDERNESS cycle
Phase 3: The TRANSFORMATION cycle

The LOSS cycle starts with a death: death of a project, of a lifestyle, of a loved one, of an ideal, of a belief, of a dream, etc... It is characterized by a state of shock, which numbs part of our senses, an important survival mechanism. It is followed by a period of denial and sadness. The LOSS cycle ends with acceptance.

The WILDERNESS cycle starts with fear and anger. Chaos, confusion and anxiety are found there. We literally "turn in circles" trying to define what has happened to us. We search for meaning. We explore, we change our focus, our attitude. Our perspective broadens. We even start to find some degree of appreciation. The WILDERNESS cycle ends with a new vision.

The TRANSFORMATION cycle starts with hope. We have that new vision, we find new opportunities. We grow impatient: "What will happen?", "How will I prepare?" We may find some resistance to act, yet are ready to create a new future. We plan it, we move toward it. The TRANSFORMATION cycle ends with a new beginning.

In which phase of the cycle do you find yourself?

In upcoming posts, we will study empowering strategies for each phase.