Hearts, Love and Saint Valentine

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Saint Valentine

February 14 – It's a day of flowers, chocolate, hearts and proclamations of romantic love.

On this day we commemorate St. Valentine as the patron saint of lovers.

Valentine earned this elevated standing with the greatest of sacrifices, his life. He chose to marry Christian couples against the edicts of the Roman Emperor, Claudius II.

 
 

Valentine In The Year 270 AD

The origins of St. Valentine are unclear, but it is thought he was executed on February 14 around the year 270. While imprisoned and awaiting execution, he befriended the jailer and his daughter who was beautiful and blind. St. Valentine performed a miracle and restored her sight.

Legend tells us that on the eve of his death, he penned a farewell note to the jailer's daughter and signed it...

 
“From your Valentine”
 

This was the very first Valentine.

St. Valentine is also the patron saint of bees and beekeepers. (Image above from Ithelda.) That makes sense if we're talking about the birds and the bees, but I think it's also due to the sweet nectar of honey. It's certainly a labor of love by our sweet bees.

 

Hearts Are For Everyone

Long ago, I abandoned the notion that love only exists between a romantic couple. While it's wonderful to celebrate romance, love is so much bigger.

Love takes many expressions and colorful hues.

As we get older, our lives reflect the expansion of this love. We start with love of only our nuclear family and then we often include someone else as a life partner. Children, relatives and in-laws are added into the mix.

Our Love Becomes Wider

Time passes and cycles shift. Children grow up and leave the house. Our love stretches out into wider circles, perhaps towards grandchildren and into the greater community. Our love expands like ever-widening ripples on a pond.

For the meditator, the journey shifts when love moves past a state of doing and becomes a state of being. In my post, The Winding Road of Life, I write about moving beyond the idea of "I love you" and into the discovery of simply being in a state of love.

You move past the idea of only loving someone. You begin to love nature and animals, ideals and causes. 

You move past exclusive love and widen your heart into inclusive love. A love that sees past your inner circle and embraces it all.

Expanding Our Hearts

In The New Expanded Reference Manual of The Radiance Technique®, Authentic Reiki®, Third Edition by Dr. Barbara Ray, Ph.D. — the entry on LOVE is found on page 144:

 

LOVE — Has the aspect of human or brotherly love which is referred to as love of the outer heart - love with an object. This kind of love is the warm feeling of affection felt or sensed from the chest/heart area, love from the lower planes. This kind of love is different from the love known as divine, spiritual, universal, Radiant Love that simply IS without external, outer stimulus or object.

You can use The Radiance Technique® for expansion of both of these kinds of love by focusing for extended times as a meditation the hands-on Front Positions #1 and #3; also Head Positions #2 and #3 for deeper insights into the vibration of Real Love.

 

In this text, Dr. Ray writes you can expand "both of these kinds of love" – neither excludes the other, we embrace it all. Our journey with our human heart is a part of our spiritual journey. All along the way, we learn more about real love.

Students of The Radiance Technique® (TRT®) can use their TRT® hands-on to expand their awareness of love in their meditations. One of the great aspects of TRT® is that you can use it in any situation. Even when you're not meditating – you still benefit from the supportive, loving energy.

Celebrate Heart Day

If we see St. Valentine's Day as more than romantic love, we enjoy it as one day of the year when we celebrate hearts of all kinds.

As in the quote from Mother Teresa, you are invited to burn with love not only for your heart throb, but for your family and community, your ideals, and the world at large.

What a day to celebrate our joyful hearts burning with love.

 

Seattle Seahawks And Super Bowl 2015

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Seahawks And Super Bowl 2015

Super Bowl XLIX.

How exciting for the Seattle Seahawks to make the Super Bowl playoffs.

In the game that qualified them for the Super Bowl against the Green Bay Packers, the final catch was nothing short of miraculous. A thing of beauty, even if you aren't an aficionado of American football.

Personally, I'm not a huge football fan. I don't follow all the games all season long. However, when it comes to the Super Bowl, it's fun to join in with everyone, especially when one of the teams is from my home town. I mean, I have to support my peeps, if nothing else. When you have friends and family who are cheering for a team, it's fun to connect with them about it.

I love Seattle and the Puget Sound area, so it's easy for me to love the Seattle Seahawks. Along the way to the Super Bowl, I also learnt some fun facts.

Such as: the Seahawks were named after a real bird of prey.

Seahawks – A Real Bird Of Prey

Yes, the seahawk is not a mythical football bird. It actually exists and is also known as an osprey. What a fine bird of prey it is.

Seahawks Selfie

Getting ready for the Super Bowl, wonderful photos of seahawks appeared. This photo of a fierce "Seahawks Selfie" from the National Wildlife Federation in preparation for the game was among them.

Super Bowl Ads

Always one of the great topics of discussion from the Super Bowl are the Super Bowl Ads. It even has its own hashtag #SuperBowlAds. The ads were quite good this year. None were terribly offensive. Some didn't hit the mark; some were moving.

Budweiser is noted for its emotional ads that pluck at heart-strings featuring the magnificent, giant-hoof, Clydesdale horses.

For me, their best ad remains the one from Super Bowl 2013, partly because it plays the nostalgic Fleetwood Mac song of my youth, Landslide. The rough voice of Stevie Nicks scratches out the melody of "even children get older and I'm gettin' older too..."

Here's that Budweiser ad:

Super Bowl Ads 2015

Two ads that stood out for me involved women/girls. The first one, created by the advocacy group called No More, touched on domestic violence. It certainly got my attention. It was a call to 911 under the guise of being a call to a pizza place. I was so struck by it, I had to instant rewind to watch it a second time. Of note, it was based on a real 911 call.

The other one was the #LikeAGirl campaign by Always. This little girl responded to the question, "what does it mean to run like a girl?"

Little girl: "It means, run, fast as you can."

Her clear voice rings out. Her truth.

It means, run,  fast as you can.

Directing Energy With The Radiance Technique®

Students of The Radiance Technique® (TRT®) can direct universal energy to big events like the Super Bowl and include all the participants and all the fans. It is an opportunity for greater service, directing energy to everyone, without attachment to outcome. Of course, this doesn't mean you can't have a favorite team!

These events can be a chance to bring greater light to everyone, in whatever small or big way, from within, without concern for an outcome. In any big event, there is a unity of awareness, a gathering of like-mindedness, and this provides an opportunity for those who have studied The Second Degree of TRT® to direct energy from a deeper point.

You can choose to direct energy to any number of things. You could choose your favorite team, or both teams. To individuals on the teams. To some of the ads. To the fans. You are only limited by your own ideas.

Students of The First Degree of TRT® are able to apply TRT® hands-on while watching the game, or even leading up to the game. This supports your psychological levels concerning the game as well as deeper levels of who you are. We are interconnected with everyone who is participating.

The New England Patriots Win Super Bowl 2015

In the end, the Seahawks lost the game in a harrowing, hide-behind-my-hands, end-of-the game with a bad Seahawks' offensive call. This was exactly the type of thing that was required to lose, since both teams were well-matched. It could have gone the other way just as easily.

There's always next year.

After a loss like that, the Seahawks will be even more hungry for the victory. Since I'm rooting for them, here's hoping they play in Super Bowl 2016.

Do you have a favorite American football team?

Time Travel – Get Ready, Get Set, Go

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Time Travel And Romance

Meandering about on Twitter, I stumbled across a review of romance time travel novels. Time travel and romance?

Romance time travel writers have an interesting conundrum.

Can someone remain in the past? Is it possible for someone to stay in the future and cope with all the changes?

How do you address the languages? Health practices? Foods?

Not For The Faint Of Heart

Time travel makes for an intriguing read of fiction. I'd love to time travel, romance or not. I'd be content to be a will-of-the-wisp, a ghost-like figure that floated around to witness events. But even more, I'd like to jump back into the thick of things.

World history weaves a colorful time tapestry. European history dances across these intricately woven threads. Patterns emerge of emotions and thoughts, architecture, valor and despair. 

I want to know more, up close and personal.

We read about castles that no longer exist, then we're shown drawings of how we imagine they appeared. But, I want to see and feel them, not imagine them.

I want to experience the bustle of people in the castle courtyards and look up and see guards on the ramparts.

Details Of The Past

I want to...

  • hear the roar of laughter of people in taverns, and the clanking of blacksmiths at the forge,

  • smell the loam of the fields at early dawn, and feel the earthen footpaths beneath my feet,

  • savor freshly-made apple cider, and nibble warm hot-cross buns straight out of brick ovens,

  • feel dancing breezes as they ruffle my hair, and swoon to the fragrant scent of ripening fields,

  • wander in the thick underbrush of wild forests, and listen to howling wolves who thrived long before they were beaten back by modern sprawl.

 

At least, that's what I tell myself.

When we launch into the fourth dimension of time travel and head too far into the past, I crash-land into my suspension of disbelief.

Time Travel Is Fraught With Danger

If we dropped into the medieval period, we would be hard pressed to understand anything the locals said. Europe was a vast, untamed wilderness dotted with small villages, each with their own dialect.

How would we explain where we are from? The definition of a foreigner was anyone not from their own town. Even someone from a nearby village was viewed with great suspicion.

How strange do you think we would sound to them?

So strange, I dare say, that we could easily end up stoned to death as a witch. That could put a damper on the fun.

Vaccines, Sanitation And Medications

When you travel back in time, do your vaccinations from today still protect you? That would be handy in the face of smallpox or polio. My heart aches every time I consider that Louis XV suffered a vile death, all for want of a smallpox vaccine.

Let's say your vaccines protect you – if should you choose to stay in the past, the days of your life would be shortened, realistically, by about 30 years. The average life span in 1900 was age 45.

Our modern lifespans are epxanded due to vaccinations, antibiotics and sanitation.

What if you get hurt and the wound becomes infected? Today, it is easily treated with antibiotics. Back then, it could rapidly transform into a raging systemic infection; time to write your obituary.

The heart attacks and strokes that zipped us off the planet in a hurry are now held at bay with blood pressure medications, stents, and heart valve replacements.

Important note: don't have a baby while time traveling. Women and infants commonly died in childbirth. This was accepted as one of the facts of life, par for the course.

During the time of Louis IX (1200s), an infant was rushed to baptism immediately after birth, even without the mother who was still recovering. Infant mortality rate was so high, they wanted to ensure the child had a place in heaven.

Our Films Depict The Past, They Lie

We have a wealth of movies depicting many time periods. Movie stars, with their flawless skin and perfect sets of teeth, all take turns enacting historical figures. Our movie-camera techniques are advanced enough that even a glaring pimple is artfully erased from a starlet's face.

In the past, we looked nothing like our cinema stars of today.

In the French court, both men and women wore heavy, white, lead makeup with garish red spots for rouge. For sex-appeal today, they are seldom portrayed in the true makeup of the time. (See the movie cover above depicting the French King, Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour without period make-up.)

People didn't bathe often or wash their faces. Many layers of caked makeup accumulated. The lead and mercury in makeup foundations took its toll on everyone's health as it slowly poisoned them.

Health Issues And Smelling The Past

Another thing about our movies – we can't smell the past.

Could our modern day sensibilities handle the chamber pots filled with excrement tossed into the streets each morning?

Could we stomach the bodily odors from people who bathed only twice a year?

Imagine trying to set a broken bone without the benefit of an ultrasound for alignment. Surgical pins placed in bones did not exist and shattered bones may not be set at all, leaving you lame and crippled.

The teeth you were born with were the teeth you got. Crooked? Just be thankful you have them. Without good dental hygiene, teeth rotted, fell out and were never replaced.

Of course, we don't want to watch movies with dirty, toothless actors who are disfigured and crippled. So our main characters act out their roles blemish-free with clean, coiffed hair and gleaming, capped teeth.

The Radiance Technique® And Time Travel

Students of The Radiance Technique® (TRT®) are able to connect with history as well as individuals from the past.  Those who have studied The Second Degree of The Radiance Technique® are able to direct universal energy across time and space through a specific technique they are taught in their course. The events of history do not change, but supportive energy is made available.

For students of The First Degree of The Radiance Technique®, apply TRT® hands-on while studying historical events. With TRT® hands-on, you support healing and balancing of your feelings and attitudes regarding historical events. You become more aware of the people and their situations.

I know I don't want to be in any century – past, present or future – without TRT®.

Reality Versus Magic

Oh, reality, you knave. How you destroy my suspension of disbelief.

This messy state of human life, that we call reality, threatens to derail my fanciful flight across time. We talk of the possibility of time travel which, in and of itself, is magical and can surely overcome any complications.

The romance time travel authors are a brave lot. Or foolhardy, some might say.

How many of these details do they skip over? How many do they address? Despite all the challenges, I hope they keep writing as we all benefit from a little magic in our lives.

It's probably obvious that I work in the medical field. Yet, with all my misgivings, I'm ready to time travel.

Time Travel With A Few Conditions

Okay, let's go!

Back in time!

Um, as long as I can return when I want.

And, I want to be assured that I'll be able to speak and understand the native languages.

And, I'd like to take a few medications with me.

And, well, maybe I could pack a reference book or two to help me out with historical details.

Time Travel Portal

Do you have a preference for which time portal you'd like to use?

A police box whirling through the cosmos? An empty arch waiting on a deserted planet?

When and where would you like to go?

World Events – Je Suis Charlie

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World Events Take Place In Paris

A day like any other, 07 January 2015, and suddenly a massacre with machine guns. Two masked gunmen forced their way into the offices of the French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris, France, and killed twelve people.

Frédéric, the first one killed, just happened to be walking into the offices of Charlie Hebdo to make repairs inside the building. He and his colleague were not even aware of the newspaper. His colleague dragged him into the restroom to protect him and care for him until help came, but Frédéric died in his arms.

World Events – Twitter Hashtag #JeSuisCharlie

As people became aware of the murders of the staff at Charlie Hebdo by Islamic terrorists, France created the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie = "I am Charlie" to represent all the slain cartoonists and the right of free speech. The world responded.

Twitter boards lit up with the most tweeted hashtag in its history. You can see the use of #JeSuisCharlie on Twitter by geographic location in this depiction.

World Events – Those Who Are Murdered

Along with the murder of the staff at Charlie Hebdo, people were also killed in a Jewish grocery store. More innocent deaths took place in the Parisian area, a total of 17 in all.

The initial attack was directed at the newspaper, Charlie Hebdo, known for its satire and irreverant religious and political cartoons. Lest you think Muslims were singled out in particular, they actually focussed a lot on general politics and Catholicism and Judaism were not spared either.

World Events – Uderzo, At Age 87, Comes Out Of Retirement To Draw

Albert Uderzo is the creator of Astérix and Obelix, a much loved French comics depicting the escapades of a group of Gauls under Roman occupation. Uderzo retired in 2011.

Uderzo stepped out of retirement to express his solidarity as a cartoonist as well as his sorrow and anger at the recent events. His drawing is in character with his irascible character, Astérix.

 
 

Historical Day For France – La Marche Républicaine

A Paris march to honor the victims of terrorism took place on 11 January 2015. It was an historical event for France, and for the world. People took to the streets to show their solidarity for freedom of speech and to stand against terrorism.

People held gatherings and walks in other parts of the world as well.

Heads of State from around the world joined the President of France for the event. It was remarkable for all of them join each other and walk down the street together.

A record number of people took to the streets to show their solidarity.  At least 3.3 million people came out, the greatest number since the liberation of France in WWII.

I personally don't like crowds, so this view from the balcony would be my ideal spot to participate. (photo by AFP)

World Events – What Does It Mean To You?

This is not a political blog by any means. We are here to celebrate The Radiance Technique®, and naturally part of that celebration is how we use TRT® in our lives.

Our lives include all the personal details of our individual days; it also includes world events swirling around us. Some events touch us directly, others we watch as a witness. In terms of energy, there is nothing that doesn't touch all of us. We are all connected at the deepest inner point. We truly are connected to everything.

The Second Degree Of The Radiance Technique®

For students of The Radiance Technique® (TRT®) who have studied The Second Degree of TRT® (and above), it is possible to direct universal energy to world events as well as the details within them.

For example, you could direct energy to the events of the murders. You could take time to direct to each person who was killed (refer to the photo above). This could be done over a period of time, even weeks. You could also include their family and friends grieving for them.

You could direct energy to the entire crowd of people at the rally. You could direct energy to peace prevailing and terrorist acts failing. You can direct to whatever speaks to your heart, even if it is to the people who committed these vicious acts.

When you direct energy, it does not change the world events. The past remains the past as a fixed point in time. But, you do offer supportive, healing energy to all involved, in ways you won't know with your mind. Universal energy will be there for them to heal deep within, as they see fit at the inner-most levels of their being. You offer this energy freely, without knowing an outcome. It is not cause and effect.

The First Degree Of The Radiance Technique®

For students of The First Degree of TRT®, you can work with your TRT® hands-on in your meditations.  Maybe these world events make you sad, maybe you feel immense anger, and then sad again.

These are normal human emotions as a reaction to violent circumstances. You can bring balance and healing to yourself with the use of TRT®.  Be sure to use your Radiant Touch®, your TRT® hands-on, in the moment, when you are having these feelings. You can also combine your TRT® hands-on with a specific meditation.

May peace prevail.