Secret subjects you cannot choose to learn

How would you like someone to decide which subjects you can choose to learn?

An “education search engine” (their website description) informed me via email today that my courses on shamanism had been removed from their listings, because “courses of a supernatural nature are not permitted”. (They had accepted my listings for Reiki healing and Crystal Healing courses.)

Apart from pointing out that they had evidently misunderstood the nature of the professional training I offer, I was most concerned at this apparent discrimination and asked for clarification.

The company, which describes itself as “the leading education search engine in Europe” replied that:

“The listing of courses in the following subject areas is not permitted:

– courses related to the spirit world
– angel healing and communication
– past life regression
– fortune telling (tarot, crystal ball)”

In my view, if a website purports to be a general, universal “education search engine” then it should list all genuine education courses from professional educational establishments.

However, let us suppose for a moment that they have some genuine, ethical, responsible, rational reason for excluding these subject areas. Then surely the scope and the exclusions should be made clear on the website to inform all users?

I have written to the website admin on these points and we’ll see what happens. Meanwhile next time you are looking for courses to learn more about a subject, and it seems that no-one teaches it, this may be what’s happened…

Update 5 Jan 2010 – Here is the website’s response in full:

“Thank you for your comments on this issue. Please understand that Emagister is a company and as such, we reserve the right to choose which products (in this case, courses) we advertise on our site. Furthermore, as an internet company, we need to analyse and control closely the behaviour of certain keywords and the implications this may on the traffic that reaches our site. The removal of your courses on Shamanism is not discriminatory but discretionary. We apologise for any inconvenice this may cause.”

Interesting…

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Well-filled outcomes

What are you hoping, wishing, planning, dreaming, designing, choosing and acting on this year? If you can answer this clearly and succinctly, what are you waiting for? You could skim read this to make sure you’ve got everything covered, but I expect there are lots of things you want to be doing right now. Off you go!

If you are still thinking about your answer and it takes a while to describe, or you’re not sure or confused about conflicting elements, or downcast at seeming blocks in your path, read on:

First of all, pick your time for goal setting, resolution-making, up-gearing and action-taking – it’s essential that all these things are well-timed. Maybe New Year’s Day is a good time for you, or maybe a bit further along, in the Spring, when the longer, brighter days start lifting your spirits and everything starts into budding, growing wonderfulness around you.

Now – let’s say you are at your right planning time, what you need to design are well-filled outcomes. This means they need to be rich, detailed, juicy, bright, sparkly and amazing. They need to look good, sound good and feel good to you, as a whole and in detail.

Do you know what I mean?

You must WANT them and be able to IMAGINE them, in DETAIL. If you can’t because of – whatever – then what you need is to fill your well first.

Filling your well is all about gathering in new creative input: inspiration. This expression lovely ideas for doing this, comes from Julia Cameron, author of “The Artist’s Way“.

The way you do it, is to give yourself the gift of some “me-time” and you enjoy it in the company of yourself doing something creative and new, such as spending a couple of hours in an art gallery, stretching your musical appreciation at a different kind of concert, sky-diving, taking a class in pottery or sculpture, or maybe as simple as looking through a variety of magazines around one subject, whether home, garden, art, sport or whatever catches your eye.

After this few hours, half day, day or however long you give yourself in one or more sessions of well-filling, you can return to thinking about your aims, plans or goals.

Allow some undisturbed time for this and just write a list of all the things you would like to be doing, seeing, hearing and having in 2010 and beyond. Write – or draw, if you prefer – as many of these as you like. Include photos or magazine pictures if you’ve found one that represents or symbolises what you want.

The only rule for this is that they all have to be things you want and feel great about. It does not matter whether they seem possible, or whether you have any ideas how to achieve them. If you really want them and feel great about them, you will be well-fuelled with motivation and energy to take action and find the ways to make them happen!

You are allowed to set them to one side and “sleep on it” – let them incubate for a while, and then have another look and add anything else you want to add, or remove anything you decide you don’t really want after all. A good test of this, is to check at this point how you would feel if all these things are now definitely going to happen.

This is also a good time to check that your well-filled outcomes are also well-formed outcomes, ie. ecological. If you are unfamiliar with this term, which arose from NLP training (Neuro Linguistic Programming) it refers to a comprehensive ecology check-list, and you can read all about it here.

When your list of wants, wishes, resolutions, aims, goals, or how ever you call them, is complete – put it in a sealed envelope and put it away out of sight. You are not allowed to look at it again until – well, if this is your first time doing it this way – until a quarter of a year has passed. Put a date in your calendar and in 3 months time, get your list, pictures, mind maps and all out again and have a good look through them.

You will learn some interesting things and from your experience, you could then re-do this process for a longer period of time, if you want. This process is something I do myself, and I find it very rewarding; I expect you will too, and I look forward to hearing about your results!

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Rebalancing the weather

Let us suppose for a moment, that if enough people prayed, imagined, visualised and focused on the weather, we could actually effect a change.

There’d be no point in asking for sunshine, if where you are has floods, or rain if where you are is suffering drought – your success might only cause further imbalance. The only way that makes sense is to focus on globally rebalancing the weather.

If the power of focused positive thought (ie. energy) could affect the delicate balance of the intricate weather systems and climate around our planet (ie. energy) then it has to be through rebalancing and harmonising that energy system.

Join me now and pass this on:

Focusing on rebalancing the weather

1. Pray, focus, imagine, visualise the whole earth globe, the climate and weather systems, the atmosphere around it and
2. Imagine these rebalancing and harmonising, changes subtly and gently happening, as if of themselves, as you witness this
3. Send thoughts and feelings of love and appreciation to the earth and its climate and weather systems.

That’s it, that’s all you need to do, for a few moments up to as long as you want, as often as you can.

It does not matter what your philosophy, beliefs, or any other thoughts about this are – now is the time for action –

Act now, join in:

Every day, 3 x a day, morning, noon and night, or at any other convenient quiet moment. Imagine the globe of the earth, surrounded by weather systems, gently harmonising, rebalancing, coming back into balance and equilibrium.

We don’t need to know or ask for what we need locally,
We don’t need to know how it can best happen.
We just need to focus on harmony, balance, loving the earth, loving the weather, loving the rain and sun, the peace and the wildness, the seasons and their changes –
– loving and accepting it all and imagining it whole, balanced, harmonious.

Can we affect the weather through the power of our mental focus?

If you need proof this can be done, read The Intention Experiment, read The Hidden Messages in Water, read and reflect on the power of divine intervention and read of the focused thought experiments on the effects of prayer on healing. Convince yourself if you want or need to, as this may help your positive focus; but it is enough to simply open your mind to the possibility and to carry out the focusing practice I describe. Read the books or watch films such as What the Bleep Do we Know or The Secret, which describes the “Law of Attraction”, essentially that thoughts influence events. The possibilities are so exciting and the evidence compelling enough to make it worth our while to focus on globally beneficial aims and projects.

Whatever helps you to join in and focus with a positive conviction, do it, but most importantly:

Act now, join in –

Imagine our earth, surrounded by it’s weather systems, whole and harmonious and keep doing this, if only for a moment, or a passing thought, several times a day, every day. Do this every time you pray, every time you think about the weather, every time you see a weather report or someone mentions the weather.

If you can’t visualise the world’s weather, climate and atmosphere rebalancing, just think these words, (or something similar in your own words) :

“Love, harmony and gratitude to the earth and her atmosphere
Love, harmony and gratitude to the weather”

“I love and thank the weather for rebalancing all around the planet now and ongoing”

“Thank you for the wind, sun and rain, we need you all. We need the atmosphere around us, everything in balance, in its own time and place and season – we thank you all.”

– Feel free to add your positive suggestions, visualisations, wording and research links, in the form of comments to this Blog.

Love and Harmony to you all,

Susanna Bellini
Bronze Dragon training

Copy this message and pass it on, or link to it below.

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What is your sphere of influence?

What is your sphere of influence?

What do you want to do, and where are your areas of maximum impact?

You can discover or clarify your answers to these questions by first answering these:

1) What do you care about? What interests you, excites you, motivates you?

2) Where do you connect with people – your family, your friends, your community, your work? These are the people you see and talk to regularly, so these are the people you can most easily affect and influence in a positive way. These are your contacts, with their own spheres of influence, who can potentially help and advise you with your projects: your answers to question 1.

Your Sphere of Influence contains the things you care about, plus the network of resources you are connected with. Examine these; get the parts in balance; create for yourself a consistent, congruent, balanced and coherent whole and

Your life will have more meaning, be more fulfilling, and will flow easier with greater impact than ever before…

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Reflecting on positive ways forward

I haven’t written a Blog entry for a long time – there are so many Blogs, so much written, visual and auditory material on the internet, so is it really worth my spending precious time just adding more?

Mostly my answer to that is no. it isn’t.  There are more positive and amazing things I can be doing directly through my shamanic energy work.

However, I do find certain thoughts coming to the surface and forming into expression during these challenging times.  Maybe it will add something to offer them here:

One is, the importance of acting with integrity.  If you follow the link to this Wiki entry, it is interesting to see how incomplete it is – but worth reflecting on the different senses of meaning offered, for what integrity means to you.

Two is, the importance of making good choices rather than “decisions”.  If you follow the link, you can read and reflect on making choices on different kinds of decisions.

Three is, the importance of facing and dealing with your personal challenges – don’t ignore them, don’t run away and hide, don’t resort to actions that are less than honest, positive and life-enhancing.

Many of you face financial problems, loss of health, work, family, home – these are exactly the times to pare back to the basic principles.  Act with integrity, according to your own highest values and beliefs, make good choices – you are where you are – now create a better way forward for yourself, your family, your friends, your community, for all of us.

Believe in what you can create. and make it beautiful. Make it life-enhancing.

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Stepping into another’s shoes

Stepping into another’s shoes is useful to do: you gain new insights and maybe in experiencing the other’s point of view, conflicts can be avoided or healed as you better understand this different other.

Have you ever thought of taking this further and stepping into the experience of – plants, for example.  What do they want and need, if they could tell or show you how they feel?

Imagine, step inside and maybe this will help you grow your garden, create a greener cityscape or live in harmony with your plant neighbours.

What else would give you a new and useful perspective? What would your town or city say or show you? What would the land, buildings, rocks, earth say? Do any of these insights help you to be a better neighbour?

How about animals? Your pets, livestock, animals in the wild? Take the time to really notice and watch them. Do they seem healthy, happy and how and why do they behave as they do? Step inside, find out and while you’re there, notice how they experience you? Maybe you’ll find out, on the inside, different things than you may imagine from the outside.

Step inside another’s perspective and expand your own.

BBC Radio York chat about dreams

I visited BBC Radio York this morning to talk about dreams on the Breakfast Show – you can listen to the piece here:

Dreamwork – BBC Radio York

How can you reach the leading edge of human potential?

Recently I was fortunate enough to get one of my favourite kinds of work – a contract to work with a private client, wanting intensive shamanic energy training.  Motivated to invest the time and money for an intensive period of practical 1 to 1 training, they benefited and progressed dramatically, acquiring all the skills they wanted and more.  I was challenged to meet high specific requirements, to teach a variety of shamanic skills and methods – exactly what I love the most – advanced shamanic energy work with lots of variety, and it didn’t hurt that I was also well paid and got to enjoy some time off in the sun, in between sessions.

Win : win in the best ways – a great experience and collaboration, highly successful outcomes with all goals being exceeded and work well rewarded.

The work and my client’s identity must remain confidential, so suffice it to say that the greatest reward for me, is to know that the skills I teach are going to be put to very good use.

My own favourite way of learning is to find an inspirational teacher, with excellent skills, who is willing to share them fully and as fast as I can absorb them.  Given the time and money I like to immerse myself fully in the experience to reach a good level of understanding and skill as soon as possible.

I’m sure many of you feel the same – but often we don’t have both the time and the money available for the luxury of a 1 to 1 apprenticeship or training.

Instead, what I look for in my own development – and what I offer in my own courses – is the most practical solution possible:

• Intensive accelerated practical skills training
• In 1 complete ‘chunk’ and in the shortest time possible
• A teacher who is good at what they do and good at teaching it
• Small group size for access to the trainer

The right kind of practical, intensive training saves time and money and you can always read books for theory, background and applications, following training.  Following these steps in your chosen area of learning will help you to reach the leading edge of human potential.

Meanwhile I am looking forward to my next great experience – teaching shamanic skills to a small, select group of explorers at the beginning of April… My challenge, and my pleasure, is to help these special people to develop as fast as they can in the ways that they want, to achieve the wonderful work they intend to do…

What’s your next learning adventure?

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I’ll just sign off now…

Back last century when I did a secretarial course, it was all so easy – if you started “Dear Sir” you ended “Yours faithfully”. If you started “Dear Mr Bigby” you ended “Yours sincerely”.

Emails have changed all this, throwing our written leave-taking into confusion. Now our business correspondence is largely via email, and this is so much more informal, what is appropriate? And how do we differentiate between business and more personal emails?

For a while, I noticed “Best wishes, regards or kind regards”. All was fine and I tended to reciprocate in kind. “Love” as a sign-off was reserved for my family and close friends – loved ones.

But somehow people can’t leave it at a standard sign-off; or perhaps, tempted by a loosening up of conventions, their creativity and self-expression has started to blossom. Anyway, when stuck in the company of my computer and unable to ‘people watch’, I started noticing the variety of closing messages:

Some people seem to have started varying the warmth of their closing sign-off, perhaps in an attempt to make emails more personal. So I have received ‘warm wishes, warmest wishes and warm regards from those who wish – well, to add more warmth to their sign-off. Today I received “fondest wishes” in the first communication from a new acquaintance, which prompted these reflections.

Some seem to want to add a spiritual element, or to show their spiritual allegiance, by signing ‘Namaste’, ‘Bright Blessings’ or ‘Angelic blessings’, while others seem to have an urge to be creative, to personalise or to make their own individual mark.

I was suitably impressed some years ago by the NLP Master Trainer who started signing off with “Be Well”. It was the most original and unique sign off and, better still, a positive suggestion. Others must have liked it too, as this particular signature statement has been much copied amongst the NLP/personal development community, who have taken it up, or tried for their own variations of “Stay Well” (not so good if the recipient is not well) or “Get well” (equally unfortunate if they regard themselves as already well) or “Be Well Now” for added emphasis!

Meanwhile the originator continues to use his sign-off, probably secure in the knowledge that ‘us NLPers’ all know where this one originated…

So what is your experience? What is the most unusual, meaningful or interesting closing wish or greeting you have received? And does your own signature statement reflect the message you wish to convey?

Wishing you, dear reader, the most stimulating blessings of mind, body and spirit you could possibly wish for on this bright and cheerful day,

Susanna

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Art, Architecture and Healing the Land

Imagine you had a plot of land – quite a large plot of land, large enough to build a residential complex and a shopping arcade and a leisure area, perhaps restaurants, gym, leisure centre, green parkland area and other services – A mini residential area with all utilities and lifestyle choices close to hand.

What would you do? How would you design it?

Quality of life, desirability and saleability determine the need for some green areas and attractive landscaping. For similar reasons there must be some facilities and utilities there. Yet this must make a profit, or at least be sustainable. Where do you expect to make the bulk of the funds for this project? From businesses, offices, service industries, residential homes?

You may have nothing to do with building, architecture or town planning – neither do I – but bear in mind all the considerations you have, when you are choosing a desirable place to live.

Surely these places should all be designed with these considerations in mind: would this be a good, balanced community? Would I myself want to live here? (At the appropriate stage: young single, professional, married with children, retired…) How would you design a balanced community, bearing in mind what already exists, surrounding, and perhaps ‘zoning’ areas accordingly? Would it make sense to have quieter, easily accessible areas for the older part of the population, and a student/young people’s noisier, area, with bars, restaurants and nightclubs, away from residential areas.

If so, then such a design must also take account of transport and services needed to take people to and from the areas they wish to use?

All these considerations, involve an internal community harmony. There is another level of consideration too – harmony within the landscape. Doesn’t it make sense to take into account the natural shape of the land and the resources and natural building materials that are present? If you do not take account of the land, for example – if you do not allow for flood/river drainage, you can end up with serious damage to your homes and buildings.

This whole ‘hypothetical’ discussion is all about planning holistically, in harmony with all around you. And just because it has all been done before, does not mean it was done right, nor that there is not room for fresh ideas, for reviewing the past and renovating for the future.

Surely it is time to take advantage of new developments, new technologies and a new age of fresh minds, to design better communities to live and work in, sustainably, for the future.

For example: if we are concerned about global warming, diminishing resources, increasing populations and other ‘modern ills’ we should be thinking about costing better heating and lighting solutions into new developments and redevelopments. We should be finding better, more harmonious ways of using space, new ways of creating and enjoying community space.

And yes, governments, town planners, builders and architects are concerning themselves with these matters. My point is that more people need to take an active part and to respond to invitations to comment and to participate in the way their own local town, city or community is moving forward.

Why am I writing about this as a shaman, healer and energy worker? Because I believe that shamanism is actually a very practical concern. It has to do with the spiritual wellbeing and health of the community, and this is greatly affected by where and how people live. Traditionally, in Hawaii, their shamans (kahunas) were traditionally the ‘people of knowledge’ and they each had their own specialties. Some had to do with the spirit world and magical realms, but equally there were shamans whose expertise was in hunting, fishing, agriculture and community building.

It seems to me that 21st century healers, energy workers and shamans tend to float about with ‘energy tools’, ‘angelic guides’ and good intent, flowing positive energies into the land. For one thing, this is a remedial approach – trying to go round and fix energetically what has become out of balance. For another thing, many of them do not take the time to notice, respect and harmonise with what is already there. They bring their own practices and tools and ‘do their energy thing’ instead of taking the time to sense the bigger picture and work practically and in harmony.

I’d like more ‘energy workers’ to bring their practices ‘down to earth’ in practical ways. And I’d like everyone else to discover and integrate their latent shamanic energy abilities. Then we can all be shamans and live in harmony and balance with each other and the natural world around us.

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