Holistic Networker

When we were children we had such great dreams for ourselves. We believed and knew that anything was possible. As adults, we sometimes see those around us who are unhappy with their lives. They experience one failed dream after another until they stop believing that they can ever have any of their wishes and many fall into a feeling of despair. Then we see people who continue to create many wonderful things in their lives—whose lives seem to be an upward spiral of even more joy, happiness and abundance, where dreams do come true.

I often wonder how we would feel if we took a picture of ourselves as adults and showed this picture to ourselves as children. Would we feel happy about how we turned out? Would we feel pleased with how we look, where we live, who we are living with, what we grew up to be? Or would we run from the room trembling? If we are unhappy with certain aspects of our lives, then perhaps we could begin today to work on changing the parts that are not all that we know they could be.

Neale Donald Walsch, author of books such as Conversations with God and New Revelations, recently wrote in his weekly bulletin that “Change is part of life…Change Is Life. Life IS Change.” He further points out that when a thing moves that it is changing. Since everything in life moves all of the time, then everything is naturally changing.

Neale Donald Walsch notes that once he began to embrace change and to see it as an opportunity rather than a burden, then he could work on creating how the changes would occur rather than simply reacting to them. In his Conversations with God books he points out that there are three Tools of Creation. “Thought is the first tool. What we think, we begin to create. Word is the second tool. What we say, we begin to create. Action is the third tool. What we do, we begin to create.” By using all three tools together, we all have a very powerful way to create change.

There are many wonderful people available to assist us on our path. It is our great joy to introduce you to so many who are available to help you create the changes you are wishing to experience. We hope you will be able to attend our next Wellness Expo on October 21-22, where you will be able to experience many of their offerings. I believe that if we keep on looking for solutions, then we will find the ones that are right for us. May we all begin today to work on creating a picture of ourselves that lives up to the dreams we had when we were young.

In Dr. David R. Hawkins’ latest book, I: Reality and Subjectivity, which calibrates through muscle testing at 999.8 (out of a possible 1000), he discusses the teachings of Ramana Maharshi, who says that it is pointless to try and save the world since the world one perceives does not really exist. Thus, Maharshi, “recommended surrendering the world to God and concentrating instead on self-inquiry.” He further stated that “all one can actually see within the world are differences and preferences. If one looks at a forest, one sees large and small trees, bent and twisted trees. There is no purpose in going into the forest to try to straighten out all the crooked trees. There is nothing ‘wrong’ with crooked trees or those that seem to be falling over”.

I’m realizing how important it is to just appreciate others and not to think that we know what is right for them or anyone else. Often I have difficulty figuring out what is right for me so how can I really know what is right for another? Having compassion for others allows us to be of greatest benefit to them. Since I know that what we notice in others is often what we dislike about ourselves, I find it helpful to ask myself, “And how is it that I am being __________?” (I put in the blank whatever it is that is bothering me about another’s behavior).

By being willing to look at our own behavior and by taking responsibility for our actions, we can make enormous changes. How often in life do we focus on “what is wrong” with others as a way of avoiding looking at ourselves? However, by being able to look at ourselves, we become able to eliminate those beliefs and behaviors that are not serving us and we become able to move forward in a positive direction. I love this saying by Howard Thurman, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive”. I am realizing that as I pursue my own dreams and what excites me, that I am actually of greatest benefit to humanity for I become an example of what is possible and what can be done and I can then share this knowledge with those who are seeking it.

May we all find what excites us and makes us come alive and may we share our gifts with the rest of humanity.

Love & Light,
Felicia Weiss, Ph.D.

When we have our face pressed up against a tree, it is easy to lose our perspective. Our eyes become blurry and things start to look out of focus. Often things become magnified and distorted. By taking a step back, we can regain our perspective. How many times have we found what we were looking for only after we had stopped looking for it?

The news can make us lose our perspective. We usually hear about the few people who had horrible things happen to them that day—we tend to hear about the bad news. By focusing on the negative, we start to believe that our world is unsafe and we feel fear. The millions and millions of people who had a perfectly fine day go unreported. The amazing acts of kindness and caring often are unnoticed. The incredible number of people who made a positive difference in the world that day, who have love and compassion in their hearts, often are even themselves unaware of the difference their presence makes in the world.

In Neale Donald Walsch’s book, The New Revelations: A Conversation with God, he notes how we all have an energy field around our body that extends out to infinity. Thus, we really are all one. By remembering this we can feel compassion and love for all of humanity and we can be humanitarians. We can choose to place our attention on what is working in our lives and in the world around us. We can focus on solutions rather than on problems. What we place our attention on will grow. What will you choose to nourish in your world?

Dr. Masaru Emoto’s Messages from Water books show us that our prayers and thoughts do make a difference. In Dr. David Hawkins’ book, Power vs. Force, muscle testing revealed that love is far more powerful than fear. Interestingly, peace was found to be even more powerful vibrationally than love. We have wonderfully powerful tools that are free for us to use. We can use them to create the kind of world that we wish to live in. Each one of us can and do make a difference. Let us regain our perspective and focus on all that is possible. May each of us find the solutions and the joy that we seek. And when we do, may we share them with others and help to light the world.

In peace & love,
Felicia Weiss, Ph.D.

Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.
— John Wesley

Have you ever played with a hand-held laser pointer? I’m fascinated by these devices. Powered by tiny batteries, they emit an intense beam of light that is visible for miles.

What’s the secret behind laser light? Physicists have determined that light waves are generally incoherent—that their wavelengths are randomly oriented. Simply put, one wavelength of light may be “up” and another “down,” cancelling each other out. Laser light, however, is coherent, its wavelengths are in phase (all up or all down) and they amplify each other.

We see this principle at work in a sports stadium when the crowd does “The Wave.” In The Wave, each person aligns the timing or phase of their gesture, creating a coherent wave pattern that undulates around the stadium. (The same effect can be heard when an audience’s random applause shifts into synchronous clapping).

So what do laser light and The Wave have to do with creating an enlightened planetary civilization? Everything. Like light beams, the wavelengths of your thoughts are generally incoherent, yet they can be aligned to produce an amplified power. Intuitively, we know that we can achieve fantastic results when we maintain a coherent focus of attention-waves on our intention—without distraction or doubts. (This is the principle behind Neo’s abilities in the movie The Matrix and in the reality creation technique taught in the Avatar® Course).

Recently, researchers have found that this principle also works with the intentions of a group of aligned individuals. In “The Great Experiment”*, carried out on February 15, 2003, James Twyman asked 100,000 people to focus on peace in the Middle East and in the days following this global prayer vigil, local authorities reported that violent acts in the area were reduced by 50%. The alignment of intention amplified the power of individual prayers into a group “Peace Wave” that was felt halfway around the world!

Imagine…a world where the power of prayer eclipses the force of armies! It’s happening, here and now.

May Peace Fill Your Heart,
Tony Cecala, Ph.D.

*To learn more about James Twyman’s work
see emissaryoflight.com.

“What is the way to peace? There is no way to
peace. Peace is the way.”
— A.J. Muste

Winter brings short days and cold nights. Traditionally, winter is a time for evaluation, for resting, for going within, for reviewing the previous year, and planning the next. During this time, many of us make our New Year’s resolutions.

The seasons exist within us and we are intimately connected with the cycles of the earth. When we align our lives with the energy of each season, we leverage unseen forces in the universe that govern the rhythm and cycles of life on this planet (see The Astrology of Time by Gary Goldschneider).

Agricultural communities naturally understand the seasonal cycles of planting, cultivating, harvesting, and resting. In our technological, hypernetworked, information age we can telecommute to work, tune into 24-hour news, and push ourselves into a non-stop lifestyle that feels like a videotape viewed on fast-forward. Events rush into, through, and out of our lives with little reflection.

Do you feel that time is something to be managed? Or savored? When we live in the present moment—in the eternal now—we naturally know when to turn inward and rest. When we take off our watches, put down our datebooks, take a deep breath and trust in our intuition, we know exactly what to do next. (This knowing is often our first thought or impulse, the subsequent conversation in our heads is mind-chatter and second guessing.) Go within, find your silence, and make use of the “Pause” button on your VCR of life. It will make the “Play” time that much sweeter.

Peace to all beings,
Tony Cecala, Ph.D.

“Things turn out best when they
happen at the right moment.”
—Gary Goldschneider

“The Master gives himself up to
whatever the moment brings.”
—Zen saying

Have you ever noticed that when you feel good about yourself, you feel like you can do anything? How about when you like yourself and focus on what excites you and what you are passionate about? Does it not feel like doors open magically and that there truly are no limits?

When Caroline Myss (author, Sacred Contracts : Awakening Your Divine Potential, and Anatomy of the Spirit : The Seven Stages of Power and Healing) spoke in Dallas recently, she said that the most powerful force in the Universe, more powerful even than love, is our self-esteem. Nothing is more important than that we feel good about ourselves and that we help others to feel good about themselves.

How do we do this? Cheryl Richardson (life coach and author of Life Makeovers, and Take Time for Your Life) said that she found a joyful picture of herself at 10 months of age and placed it above her desk. Any time she hears her “inner critic”, she looks at that picture and asks herself if she would ever say or do anything to wound that beautiful little spirit inside that little girl.

Sometimes we can be supportive and nonjudgmental of our friends, yet often we do not apply these same principles to ourselves. By asking ourselves how we would respond if whatever we are upset with ourselves about had happened to our best friend, we can begin to learn how to be our own best friend. Cheryl Richardson found it helpful to remind herself that, “even if I fail, I will stand by me anyway.” She placed this phrase on a card above her desk where she could read it often. This has helped her to be able to take risks and to create her enormous success.

Perhaps, like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, we can all discover that the power existed within us all along. By paying attention to how we feel and by moving in the direction of what makes us feel good, we will feel better about ourselves. Co-creating with likeminded others can make our life experience even more joyous. Part of the gift that our happiness brings to the world is in helping others to see what is possible, to feel inspired, and to be happy themselves.

Wishing you all the best on your journey.
Felicia Weiss, Ph.D.

We are pleased to present the 10th year anniversary issue of the Holistic Networker. When we launched this publication in 1992, many people were unfamiliar with the term holistic. Today, our movement has shifted from being on the fringe into the avante garde—it is now “hip” to live a holistic lifestyle.

We recently had the pleasure of hearing John Gray, Ph.D. speak in Los Angeles at the Income Builders International (IBI) graduation ceremony. IBI is a network of over 20,000 people, committed to helping each other to achieve success in a cooperative, spiritual, win-win manner. Many wonderful endeavors, such as the Chicken Soup for the Soul books, have come out of IBI.

In his talk, Dr. Gray stressed that it is important to appreciate what you have now, to be who you say you are (to have integrity), and to be an example of how you make your money (and not just focusing on trying to make money). Dr. Gray also discussed his book, Mars and Venus in the Work Place, noting that it is important that we learn to understand and communicate with both sexes and that we learn to nurture both sides of ourselves. He encouraged men to take a little extra time to listen to women and to ask questions in order that women can feel that men care, understand, and respect them.

Dr. Gray also noted that there are seven reasons why we do things and that this is why he feels that we need to continue working. They are: 1) Need for survival; 2) Need for security. (We want life to be easy and to have fun); 3) Need for accomplishment (We challenge ourselves to be better people, to have achievement and to develop our abilities); 4) Need to care for others, to share with those we love, to come from our heart and to give back; 5) Need to actualize our greater talents; 6) Need to be an example of what we teach, to be an example of our highest truth. (We wish to be the embodiment of who we truly are and to inspire others); 7) Need to give selflessly and to be an expression of the higher power. (Here we are in the flow.) Dr. Gray feels that by being the embodiment of who we truly are, then we are worthy of trust and respect.

It is our great joy to continue to serve you.

In Love and Light,
Felicia and Tony

I’ve discovered a way to see the future, to feel it and experience it as tangibly as this paper in your hands. Ready? Talk with a person 10, 20, or 30 years younger than yourself and observe the differences in your worldviews. How do they perceive themselves? How do they perceive the world? What is “normal” for them? This exercise will highlight your notions of “the way things should be”–in other words–your indoctrinated beliefs/realities. During the conversation notice what you consider to be weird, different, shocking, unbelievable, even taboo. This is your future–welcome to the third millenium. You see, whether you like it or not, the future of this planet is being shaped in the collective consciousness of our children.

From a marketing perspective, each new generation grows more “fickle”, and “hard to reach”. The idea that information just flows from broadcast room to passive audience no longer applies: the audience is no longer listening. We are having conversations: trading emails, posting to websites, chatting and messaging. We are also gathering at coffee shops, malls, and conferences — we’re living a life more real, more engaging, and more vibrant than can be depicted on a glowing screen.

We have all chosen to participate in this time of unprecedented change, technological advancement, and spiritual expansion. The world we experience as changing rapidly is perceived very differently by our children. For them, this acceleration is natural–they are being weaned in a connected world. The power to talk with anyone from a cell phone or via an instant message IS the status quo for them. This power to communicate and collaborate fulfills a deep human desire to connect with others like ourselves.

Consider recorded history: we distinguish different civilizations by their primary technological advancement (The Bronze Age, The Iron Age, The Industrial Age) rather than their socio-political viewpoints (feudalism, socialism, capitalism). Political and social viewpoints do not shape technology, rather, it is technology that shapes our social viewpoints. Today, communication technologies foster an interconnectedness among people that is sparking global solutions and harmony. When world leaders share common concerns and develop relationships (rather than hide behind masks of projected identities) warfare is not only unthinkable, but seen for what it is, ultimately self-defeating.

From the earliest days of the internet, the theme of connectivity has fueled the most popular applications (“killer apps” in computer jargon). EMAIL fostered the flow of ideas throughout academia. The USENET (a group of 50,000 newsgroups created and visited by ordinary people) encompassed topics from the mundane (misc.jobs) to the bizarre (alt.sex.[whatever]). Popular WEBSITES (a.k.a., homesteads, communities, villages) are those built and maintained by people with a passionate point of view and respect for the opinions of others (e.g., slashdot.org, iVillage.com). The desire for interactivity is also spawning even newer media of exchange: witness the popularity of CHAT ROOMs and INSTANT MESSAGING. Contrary to the hopes of corporations worldwide, the internet is filling a need far deeper than shopping, it fulfills our desire to CONNECT.

Warmly,
Tony

This issue of the Holistic Networker contains several articles that illustrate how powerful we are. In “Accessing the Creative Matrix” [p53], Christan Hummel reminds us that energy follows thought and that by living with fearful thoughts, we continually create terror in ourselves. By turning our thoughts toward what we would like to create, we harness the most powerful force in the universe—the power of our intentions. “Water’s Compassionate Connection with Us” [p56] reports on Dr. Emoto’s research with water crystals and how prayer can change the quality of ordinary tap water.

This spring we chose to review three books on the topic of love [p58-59]. Each of these books reinforce the truth that within us we have the power to transform how we think about ourselves, and in doing so, we transform our relationships and our lives. Cynthia Novak reminds us in her spring astrology column that we cannot be manipulated by media-savvy leaders when we think for ourselves and trust our innerknowing.

In doing so we create safety and security in our lives, regardless of what others choose to create. We feel that the “mainstreaming” of the holistic movement is proceeding at a rapid pace. Our holistic community has grown to include more practitioners and events than ever before. This spring we have attracted many seminars, workshops, and lectures to Texas and we encourage you to review this issue for all of these offerings. Be sure to mark your calendar for the Wellness Expo, April 20-21 and Dr. Emoto’s talk on Messages from Water on May 10!

We communicate regularly with publishers of holistic magazines in other cities and we would like to remind you that there are many others like you who believe in a positive future. There are holistic communities all over the world and our strength lies in our shared vision for an enlightened planetary civilization. If you ever feel discouraged or alone, we encourage
you to leaf through our magazine or browse our web site (HolisticNetworker.com) and find a local group of like-minded souls and make some connections. When we meditate, pray, chant, do yoga, or just play together, the power of our intentions is magnified, and our respect, appreciation and love for one another creates a world filled with our highest intentions for
humanity.

Peace and Love,
Tony & Felicia

Gandhi told his followers, “be the change you wish to see in the world.” When we hear these words, we often think of global change and wonder, “Can I really do it?” Here’s a secret, you are already doing it. With every thought, decision, and action you send out a ripple into the world. Others sense your ripple and respond to the message you broadcast.

Do you want to experience more love in your life? Be more loving! Do you wish to experience abundance? Be an abundant source for another! Do you wish to be successful? Be the source of another’s success! The Prayer of St. Francis reminds us that “in giving, we receive.”

We have all experienced the joy of being in the presence of someone who radiates unconditional love—usually this being is an infant we meet in the grocery store. Staring unabashedly at us, unblinking, and completely innocent, she radiates a joyful ripple into the world…creating a string of smiling, cooing adults in her wake.

Peace and joy are not things to be searched for in the world, they are qualities we can bring to the world. As Source beings—living in the world, but not of it—we have the ability to bless others with peace, love, compassion and gratitude. These gifts cost no money, nor do they weigh anything—yet, when we fill our hearts with them, we transform our friends, family, and ourselves in miraculous ways.

These transformations will truly amaze you. You will start to see miracles occurring in your life. You will feel happy and good about yourself and more deserving. Suddenly you will realize that you do have more—more joyful relationships, more gratitude, more success. Not only that, but in thinking about what you can give, you will begin to really appreciate your gifts—what it is that is special about you. You will suddenly understand how much control you really do have over your life and how many wonderful co-creators and opportunities are available. You will feel more love in your heart and you will not be afraid.

peace and love,
Felicia Weiss and Tony Cecala,
Publishers, Holistic Networker

Mankind must remember
that peace is not God’s gift
to his creatures; peace
is our gift to each other.”
– Elie Wiesel

“As we love people, they love us.”
– Evelyn Ordman, 87 years young