New McDonald

As Whitney Houston said, “I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way.” In addition to these children’s adorable performance, I very much enjoyed watching the adults in the audience. Methinks some dinner table discussion may have changed after watching this rendition of the classic children’s song. Well done! (Thanks, Sophia!)

Gary Z McGee ~ Gray Walking: The Art of Transforming Militarism into Humanism

Here’s another insightful, practical and hard-hitting piece by Gary Z McGee of Waking Times. The article’s copyrighted, so I’ll just give you a teaser excerpt. Please click through to read the excellent full article.

You’ve probably heard of light working, and the light workers who practice loving energy and cultivate sacred spaces for such energy to flourish, but you probably haven’t heard about gray walking and the gray walkers who seek to maintain the tension between opposites and work at bringing opposites back in line with one another. They are the ones successfully getting in touch with their dark sides. It keeps them whole. They are amoral agents par excellence. They realize that the secret of alchemy is found in the intimacy of opposites. They don’t deny their shadow. They don’t shun the shadow for fear of being immoral. They play with it instead. They reconcile with it. They understand that shadow work is ultimately light work. They embrace the wise words of Carl Jung, “There is no coming to consciousness without pain. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”

Gray walkers have undeceived themselves precisely because they have made the darkness conscious. They realize that their inner-darkness is where their light needs to shine brightest, because compassionate empathy with the world requires a baptizing of our inner-shadow, lest we demonize the shadows of others. Like Loius G. Herman wrote, “By accepting the inevitability of our shadow, we recognize that we are also what we are not. This humbling recognition restrains us from the madness of trying to eliminate those we hate and fear in the world. Self-mastery, maturity, and wisdom are defined by our ability to hold the tension between opposites.”

Full article here.

Mobilized & Winning: an Encouraging Update on the TPP

Finally, some good news! We’re not done yet, but it’s great to see the unified diversity resisting the dreaded TPP. As one protestor’s sign says, “Monsanto, Chevron and Halliburton all want TPP. Any questions?” Please click here for the full article, “Mobilized & Winning: Now It’s Time to Escalate.”

How We Win

“The movement opposed to corporate trade is larger – representing tens of millions of Americans; broader – representing people concerned about food, water, healthcare, the Internet, workers’ rights, the environment, banking regulation and more; and more committed because they have seen degradation of the economy and environment by NAFTA and similar corporate trade agreements.

“The key is for this movement to mobilize now. The next two months will decide whether corporate trade is finished for the remainder of President Obama’s term in office. If people take action (go to www.StopFastTrack.com), we will win.

“There is also a week of national actions being planned in February during the congressional recess. Take the pledge at www.FlushtheTPP.org to get involved and stay informed.

“This is a battle between mass people power and trans-national corporate power. It is a battle the people can win, and it is essential for every issue we care about that we win.”

Five Powerful Ways Abusive Narcissists Get Inside Your Head

laurabruno:

This is another excellent resource for anyone who suspects or knows they’re entangled in a sticky narcissistic web. Thanks to Shahida Arabi for this valuable post, and thanks to Jamie at Sophia’s Children for bringing it to my attention.

In terms of Triangulation, it gets realllly interesting when you find yourself in the middle of two narcissists working their own, mutually exclusive agendas. The agendas may share nothing in common on the surface, but they nevertheless leave you feeling confused and disempowered. Hmmmm!

That’s what most people (unbeknownst to them) experience on the world stage, too, with “opposing” political party leaders, warring agendas and all too convenient “solutions.” These Five Powerful Ways Abusive Narcissists Get Inside Your Head are powerful and confusing enough when they come at you from a single narcissist, but they get even more (un)Fun House mirrored when multiple relationships snag you coming, going and spinning.

Gaining clarity is difficult but necessary, and going inside yourself or –especially — outside in Nature helps to remind you who you are and what feels natural, healing and real. I’m sending everyone healing and love as we unwind the ties that bind — replacing them with a *natural* ebb and flow.

Originally posted on Self-Care Haven:

In popular culture, the term “narcissistic” is thrown about quite loosely, usually referring to vanity and self-absorption. This reduces narcissism to a common quality that everyone possesses and downplays the symptoms demonstrated by people with the actual disorder. While narcissism does exist on a spectrum, narcissism as a full-fledged personality disorder is quite different.

People who meet the criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder or those who have traits of Antisocial Personality Disorder  can operate in extremely manipulative ways within the context of intimate relationships due to their deceitfulness, lack of empathy and their tendency to be interpersonally exploitative. Although I will be focusing on narcissistic abusers in this post, due to the overlap of symptoms in these two disorders, this post can potentially apply to interactions with those who have ASPD to an extent.

It’s important in any kind of relationship that we learn to identify the red flags when interacting with people who display malignant narcissism and/or…

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More Reclaimed History

Reclaiming the ancient history of Goddess religions and women’s roles in society has positive relevance for all of us, not just women! As Winston Churchill said, “History is written by the victors.” I disagree with the idea that in order to move forward, we must not look back. Looking back and seeing where we veered off the path of peace-respect-natural harmony and onto the path of war, oppression and domination offers huge insights into how we can relocate ourselves and our world onto more positive trajectories. “Goddess Remembered” is just one in a long series of needed reclamations. May we continue to reabsorb and redirect our destinies! (Did you catch all those re’s?! Perfect for Mercury Retrograde — revise, revamp, remember.)

Click here to watch this hour long documentary: http://www.nfb.ca/film/goddess_remembered/ .

Excellent Narcissism Resources

Here are three excellent narcissism resources for anyone personally involved in oppressive, dehumanizing, soul-sucking relationships. If you don’t think you have this in your personal life, please consider watching the videos anyway, as our world is currently being destroyed because of societal norms that value and follow “leaders” who are really narcissists, sociopaths and psychopaths. From a collective standpoint, we need to recognize the signs and know how to extract ourselves from these situations. In a world of extreme change, let’s become wise enough not to fall for the “new boss, same as the old boss.”

“Don’t Get Fooled Again” Red Flags of Narcissistic Relationships:

From YouTube description:

1. do you frequently find their comms confusing/artfuly vague or deceptive?

2. too good to be true

3. multiple mask changing

4. fantasy of self

5. reframing/gaslighting

6. too deep too soon (whirlwind romance)

7.hypercrtical of others

8. lack of respect for boundaries, treating people with contempt

“You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.”—Malcolm S. Forbes.

9. Never wrong, never say sorry

10. total lack of empathy

Step 1: check if you were emotionally abused and/or unconsciously modelled an abusive relationship template

Step 2: check for people pleaser syndrome/ the belief that “love is drama”

Step 3: LEARN THE RED FLAGS

Step 4. Decide and Commit

Step 5: Take Consistent Action/ Get Coaching

http://www.spartanlifecoach.com

How to Leave a Narcissist:

*** This one is so valuable, because it walks you through the different stages of leaving a narcissist. Highly important in helping you to recognize where you are in the process:

Sociopath or Narcissist –Who Cares? Get Out!

(This one really gets to the issue of giving narcissists the benefit of the doubt, and moving beyond that to standing up.)

Reminders, Resources, and Acknowledgements

Just a few things I find myself repeating in various forms to clients, blog readers, friends, family and acquaintances:

1) We’re now in Mercury Retrograde. Don’t be surprised by lost or delayed emails and snail mail, extra typos, messed up travel plans, miscommunications, overreactions and misunderstandings. Par for the course, folks. You can, however, find ways to thrive during a Mercury Retrograde. For those who could use some refresher tips, here’s a 2012 article with all sorts of explanations and suggestions.

2) The topic of friendship is front and center right now. I keep hearing from people facing major upheaval and frustration in their friendships and other close relationships. Part of this may be from the influence of #1, but the current major process of revision transcends a single astrological influence. In case you’ve been living under a rock, planet Earth faces too many extinction level challenges to name in one post without triggering panic. Have you ever known someone given a terminal diagnosis? Whether valid or not, that prospect usually initiates some soul searching:

“If I really might not have that much time left, how do I want to spend my remaining days? With whom do I want to spend my remaining time? How do I want to feel? What kind of legacy do I feel called to leave in my wake?” Whether conscious or not, humanity feels its impending terminal diagnosis, and individuals are in various stages of the corresponding soul crisis. It’s decision time, and some decisions are easier and more obvious than others.

Please don’t take things personally, and please don’t take my recognition of extinction level challenges as doom and gloom. Doing so would assume that I don’t believe people can rise to the challenge, and I very much sense that we each can. Whether we each will is a different story, but I know that we can. As I said, it’s decision time. Not everyone thrives on life or death choices. Some people panic, some push others away, some retreat and then return once they’ve gathered their thoughts and feelings. Consider tending to your own process and the influence that opens to you, rather than barreling uninvited into someone else’s intensely personal process.

3. Bodies need extra care right now. Please review Tom Kenyon’s message about Chaotic Nodes and how these affect the body. Even though he wrote that piece way back in crazy 2014, we’re still in those chaotic nodes. They’re increasing, not going away any time soon. Remember to honor your body’s needs if you want to make these transitions in body.

4. If you’re really at your wits’ end or even if you just want some extra support, I designed this month’s specials to help people move more easily through these energies. Please click here for details.

5. Remember to breathe — the cleaner the air, the better. For some of you that means indoor air with lots of plants, since outside is a chemtrail and car pollution soup. Get near some plants with leaves and inhale deeply. If you’re lucky enough to live somewhere with CO2 eating leaves outdoors, inhale deeply for the rest of us! Wherever you are, take at least a few moments to hug a tree and touch the ground. Your body is a part of the Earth, and reconnecting will balance the zips and zaps coming at us from all over the place. If you feel really challenged by the chemtrails, wifi, EMF pollution and other assaults, you might want to review this post on Amazing Orgone.

6. Design your own daily, monthly and seasonal rituals. These don’t need to be elaborate; they just need to be conscious and repeated. Rituals provide structure and grounding in the midst of chaos and confusion. They can also offer antidotes to the world’s current harshness, inviting us to reconnect with beauty, timelessness and alignment. A ritual can be as simple as a consciously appreciated and enjoyed cup of coffee or herbal tea or as elaborate as a group ceremony celebrating the Wheel of the Year. Listening to music, taking a well-timed cat nap, or wearing certain colors on certain days can all acquire ritual status. For additional ideas about designing a ritual, please see Laura Daligan’s recent video, “Ritual Corner.”

7. Whatever you’re going through, remind yourself that “This, too, shall pass.” Because, guess what? It will. Guaranteed. So long as humanity follows linear time, things will fade into the past, and as soon as humanity embraces the idea that all time is now, the act of consciously choosing what “time” to focus upon becomes an obvious option. Enjoy the journey; it’s one heckuva a ride. :)