Holistic Networker

Have you ever watched a colony of ants at work? Their lives are focused on keeping their queen well-fed, sheltered and comfortable. Each day, they tirelessly set out to find food for her. When a worker discovers a breadcrumb, news spreads back to the colony and several hundred ants march on along the scented trail to harvest the treat. Bees are similarly motivated.
Is your family or business as effective as an ant colony or a beehive? The difference between effective and ineffective groups is their sense of mission towards a worthy goal. A team’s mission must be compelling enough to pull members into alignment. A wise leader creates a mission so compelling that people set aside their individual agendas and operate as an aligned collective consciousness. An aligned group doesn’t focus on problemsÑit zooms over, under, around, or through problems in a purposeful dash to the goal. Such a group is capable of extraordinary achievement.

A compelling mission excites the imagination. President Kennedy understood this when he set forth the goal of putting a man on the moon and returning him safely before 1970. He mobilized hundreds of companies and thousands of individuals to heroic achievement. Imagine the excitement and the challenge of contributing to a project so grand in scope!

I challenge you to be bold in creating a mission for your organization. Challenge your group to play a bigger game! The principle works whether you’re the head of a household or the head of a Fortune 500 company.

At The Holistic Networker, we are focused on our mission of putting you in touch with the practitioners and organizations in the holistic and metaphysical community. We feel it is our small contribution to the creation of an enlightened planetary civilization.

Tony Cecala,
Publisher, The Holistic Networker

©1995, Tony Cecala

Many people feel that they have too much stress in their lives. What do we really mean by stress? The circumstances that one person finds stressful may be exciting to another. I define stress as “any external force that is met with resistance.” A bridge is a stress-bearing system. By design, it handles forces placed upon it with rigidity. Biological systems respond to stress by adapting. When we first begin an exercise routine, our heart rate increases to handle the new workload. With repeated exercise, our body adapts—it becomes stronger and more efficient. The same exercise routine is no longer stressful.
We have the opportunity to handle the external forces in our lives in an infinite number of ways. When we forget this, we become rigid like the bridge.

When we identify stress in our lives, we have a choice: we can blame the external force, or we can recognize our resistance to it. When we identify rigidity in ourselves, we are taking the first step towards adapting to the forces of change in our lives. When we embrace change, our lives begin to flow; we experience alignment with our goals, and our lives begin to move in fantastic ways.

There are an infinite number of ways to manage resistance. Some people find that bodywork can help uncover deeply held resistances enabling their release and creating a more flexible body/mind. For others, counseling, yoga, meditation, or a spiritual practice can help them to face and move through their resistances. You’ll find many practitioners, counselors, bodyworkers, and products in this issue of The Holistic Networker to help you to identify and embrace change in your life. I wish you all the best.

Tony Cecala,
Publisher, The Holistic Networker

©1995, Tony Cecala

Welcome to the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex’s directory for the holistic and metaphysical community. I’m very pleased with the growth of the holistic movement in the Metroplex. Each of us, by focusing our attention on wellness and personal growth, have helped to create this thriving community.
A community can be defined as “a unified body of individuals.” When people share common interests and goals they can accomplish anything. The holistic community shares an interest in personal growth, wellness, and self-empowerment; and fosters an openness to new ideas and various belief systems. This openness is now being reflected throughout the world in the global marketplace where nations are discovering that it’s more satisfying to trade with their neighbors than to wage war against them.

The Holistic Networker supports the holistic community by fostering communication and networking. In each issue, you’ll find practitioners who can help you improve your physical health; organizations that can teach you to meditate or practice yoga; churches that can help you connect with your own spirituality; bodyworkers who can help you release physical and emotional discomfort; counselors who can guide you to overcome obstacles and discover your inner strengths; and intuitive consultants who can assist you in planning for the future. In addition to these resources, you’ll find a large selection of products to support holistic health.

At our Wellness Expo, we give you an opportunity to meet many of the practitioners and vendors in the holistic community. Our Expos feature excellent vegetarian food, a vast selection of products and services, and many practitioners and bodyworkers available for on-site demonstrations and sessions. You’ll definitely meet some very interesting people, and maybe you’ll make some new friends too. See you there!

P.S. We’d love to hear your ideas and suggestions. You can use feedback form to reply.

Tony Cecala,
Publisher, The Holistic Networker

©1995, Tony Cecala

What is it about other people that drives you crazy? Do dishonest people make you angry? Do slow drivers make your blood boil? Examine your likes and dislikes and you’ll discover how you have defined yourself. By labeling someone as “cruel” you define yourself as “not-cruel.” When you define another as “boring” you define yourself as “not-boring.”
I’ve been told that an average person will make 18 immediate judgments when meeting another person (age, attractiveness, height, weight, etc). It happens automatically–outside of conscious awareness. In making these judgments, we reinforce our particular world view and filter out alternative perceptions. Have you ever met someone and discovered they weren’t at all like you expected them to be? When people don’t fit a stereotype, we are forced to re-examine our preconceptions.

Letting go of judgment is enlightening because we let go of defining ourselves. What might happen if we became a bit more undefined? We might just experience the world a bit differently. The “me versus you” and “us versus them” games might not be so interesting anymore. Maybe we’d discover a more exciting, more fulfilling game to play.

When we begin to see that the differences between us are small compared to our commonalities, a sense of compassion for others and ourselves develops.

The following compassion exercise is reprinted from The Avatar Journal. It requires no special preparation. Enjoy. Consider exploring it as a small act of kindness for the world.

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The Compassion Exercise
“Just Like Me” by Harry Palmer

Honesty with one’s self leads to compassion for others.

Objective: To increase the amount of compassion in the world.

Expected result: Increase in understanding and a personal sense of peace.

Instructions: This exercise can be done anywhere that people congregate (airports, events, beaches, etc). It should be done on strangers, unobtrusively and from some distance. Try to do all five steps on the same person.

1: With your attention on the person, repeat to yourself: “Just like me, this person is seeking some happiness for (his or her) life.”

2: With your attention on the person, repeat to yourself: “Just like me, this person is trying to avoid suffering in (his or her) life.”

3: With your attention on the person, repeat to yourself: “Just like me, this person has known sadness, suffering, and despair.”

4: With your attention on the person, repeat to yourself: “Just like me, this person is seeking to fill (his or her) needs.”

5: With your attention on the person, repeat to yourself: “Just like me, this person is learning about life.”

Variations of the Just Like Me process:

1. Done by couples to increase understanding of each other.

2. Done on old enemies and antagonists still present in one’s memories.

3. Done on alien life forms.

From the Avatar Materials.
© Copyright 1994 by Star’s Edge Inc. All rights reserved.

Our society is rediscovering it’s most valuable resource. This resource never runs out, it creates no pollution, it can be found in unlimited abundance, and it is available to every person on the planet. This resource is the human imagination.
Successful organizations understand that their assets lie not in a bank, or a warehouse, but rather in the minds of their individual members. Pure imagination has fueled the software industry where creative minds weave computer instructions into word processors, spreadsheets, and interactive games. Have you ever noticed that a computer disk containing a valuable program weighs exactly the same as a blank disk? A software product is completely intangible, yet it exists.

Our dreams, too, are intangible. Yet, they exist in our minds. It is our choice to allow them to become our reality.

Imagination is the doorway to the creation of infinite possible realities. Imagination is our direct link to our divine creative power. Children have facile use of their imagination. They dream their reality into existence. To a child, there is no difference between dreams and reality.

Great artists, scientists, writers, and statesman dare to dream of what might be. When we let go of linear thinking we allow our minds to soar beyond the physical universe, beyond time and space into the quantum field of possibilities. Imagination takes us, as Deepak Chopra puts it, “into the gap between thoughts.”

You have your dreams. Begin to allow your dreams to become real. When we deny our dreams, we fall into the illusion that we must live with our problems. Stop putting energy into problems, and begin to dream a different future. We can dream a future that aligns with our desire to create an enlightened society.

I look forward to participating in the fascinating times ahead as we rediscover our collective purpose for being here on Earth.

Tony Cecala, Ph.D.,
Publisher, The Holistic Networker

©1993, Tony Cecala

Welcome to the Age of Consciousness! Unlike in the Sixties when higher states of consciousness were explored by youthful hippies, the Nineties are characterized by a mainstream interest in yoga, meditation, personal growth, alternative medicine, and metaphysics. I think you’ll agree that it is fascinating to experience our civilization waking up to its greater potential.
The secrets of human potential are being revealed all over the globe. Ancient traditions and technologies are being rediscovered and popularized. We are rediscovering our creative power to joyfully create our lives. This movement is driven from the underground. New books, like The Celestine Prophecy, sell 100,000 copies by word-of-mouth alone, and personal growth courses circle the globe on little or no advertising.

Day-by-day, the changes are too small for us to notice — kind of like watching the hour hand on a clock move. Yet, we feel it. We feel something shifting.

How are you experiencing the shifting reality that is unfolding? Are you creating exactly what you would like to be experiencing? There are some who try to convince you that you need their help, that you had better worry. That things are getting bad. Ask yourself, “Is this the kind of experience that I would like to create?” You know what is best for you. Look, listen, and feel for messages in your everyday life. You will find that intuition — your link to your higher self — is guiding you on your path.

By reading this issue, you are creating a path of opportunity to enrich your life. In a small, but significant way, your interest has helped to create the growth in this evolutionary movement in the metroplex and around the world.

As we evolve, we have a broader perspective of the experiences in our lives. With this perspective we can take greater responsibility for the situations we experience. From a sufficiently expansive perspective we begin to appreciate the beauty and the synchronicities of our lives. Ideas about struggle fall away and we suddenly realize that “Everything is OK.” We accept and appreciate our lives and the lives of those around us.

The Holistic Networker exists to provide you with resources to enrich your life. I encourage you to explore the offerings inside and to decide for yourself what feels right for you.

I wish you joy and happiness on your path. Happy creating!

Tony Cecala, Ph.D.,
Publisher, The Holistic Networker

©1994, Tony Cecala

Do you know where your life is heading? Where you will be tomorrow? Next year? Ten years from now? Do you feel your life has a purpose?
When you feel that your life has a purpose that feeling acts as a backdrop from which your actions can be gauged. You can more easily determine if a decision conflicts or aligns with your life goals by how it feels. Does it excite you? Does it fill you with enthusiasm? Are you doing it to satisfy yourself? Another? Or another’s idea of who you should be?

Life goals help you to live deliberately. Think about an accomplishment you’re proud of. Did it just “happen” to you or did you take deliberate steps to make it happen?

It is my goal that The Holistic Networker helps you to set and achieve your personal goals. This issue offers an even greater selection of alternative and complementary choices in lifestyle, diet, health care, personal growth, and recreation. I invite you to join a group, attend a seminar, and sample some products and services advertised within these pages. You’ll find people with open hearts, looking to share. It just might change your life.

Many people have generously shared their resources and expertise to help The Holistic Networker to grow. My thanks and appreciation to Pat Cox, Rhavda Emison, Kristey Henderson, and Caryl Neff who introduced me to many people in the holistic community. Thanks to Dan J. & Eugene Frazier who have kindly provided art for the cover. Thanks also to all the distribution sites throughout the metroplex that make each copy of The Holistic Networker available.

The community that is served by TheÊHolistic Networker encompasses all ages, races, religions, and sexual preferences. I would like to see our community grow together and cooperate to achieve our goals. I am pleased with the growth of TheÊHolistic Networker, and continued growth — in the form of new services and features — is continually in the works. I invite all of you to grow with us by living deliberately and achieving your goals.

Tony Cecala, Ph.D.,
Publisher, The Holistic Networker

©1994, Tony Cecala

One of my great pleasures in publishing The Holistic Networker is that I get to know, and work with, very spiritual and enlightened people in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. Many of the professionals listed in The Networker have the uncanny ability to brighten up your day with a word, a smile, or a simple understanding look. They radiate life. They radiate a feeling of pure joy and unlimited possibilities. They have learned not to take life, or themselves, too seriously. I feel that their lightness and calm attitude helps to smooth our journey, clear obstacles, and manifest good fortune. I encourage you to meet some of these wonderful people.
In this issue I welcome the Tarrant county holistic professionals. I deeply appreciate their incredible warmth and hospitality.

The Holistic Networker is now distributed in over 15 cities, including Fort Worth, Arlington, Denton, and McKinney.

I feel that this year people will join together, work together, and play together to cooperatively improve our community, our cities and our planet.

I look forward to seeing the holistic community grow and cooperatively create ways to work with all types of healthcare approaches, belief systems, and perspectives. It’s empowering to appreciate and honor all pathways–especially those different from our own. I find that it helps to imagine that opposing viewpoints are reflecting another part of oneself. When we drop the judgments that separate us from them we begin to appreciate and understand all viewpoints. With this understanding, conflicts cease to exist and we truly experience the deepest meaning of holism–our essential oneness.

Tony Cecala, Ph.D.,
Publisher, The Holistic Networker

©1994, Tony Cecala

Our society is moving rapidly into a new era where the industrial-age systems are beginning to break down. Have you noticed how rapidly our economic climate is shifting? Mega-corporations are losing billions and laying off tens of thousands regularly; our government struggles to maintain an obsolete Social Security system; and our bank system has lost its credibility. We can react to these changes with fear, dread and blame, or we can experience these changes as an opportunity to grow as a culture. These systems functioned as our “institutional parents” and were entrusted to care for us for our entire lifetime. Out of the failures of these systems, new systems and technologies are arising to empower individuals to create their own prosperity, health, and security.
These new systems provide an opportunity for us to take personal responsibility for our actions and our well-being. Our society has an opportunity to move out of a collective adolescence and to create a world where security comes from a connection with our own Source–our own Creative Power.

We are beginning to focus our collective energy into projects that sustain a higher quality of life for each of us and for the planet. As we realize that we are all intimately connected in a living ecosystem, we will create an enlightened planetary civilization that operates out of a sense of global responsibility. A cooperative civilization — one focused on common concerns — asks, “What would we like to accomplish?” and gets down to the business of co-creating a future of prosperity and abundance.

In the holistic community in Dallas, I see a group of people that believe in a better future, and are joyfully creating it in the present. I think you’ll find this issue of The Holistic Networker to be Dallas’ best source of new ideas and opportunities.

Tony Cecala, Ph.D.,
Publisher, The Holistic Networker

©1993, Tony Cecala

People often ask each other “How’s business?” In publishing The Holistic Networker, I have the opportunity to answer that question every three months. This is the fourth issue of The Holistic Networker — each one has grown in both quantity and quality.
I have noticed several characteristics common to people who are successful in life: they work for a lofty goal, they focus on what works, they take responsibility for their wins and their losses, and they persistently strive for success.

Individuals achieve exactly that they believe is possible. People focused on short-term goals often experience life as a series of fires to be put out. Working on a lofty goal propels successful people to overcome these day-to-day obstacles and to see them as stepping stones to their success.

Successful people are focused on what works. They put energy into creating what they desire, not what they resist. This type of person is often found refining and enhancing existing procedures to make them work even more efficiently. Unsuccessful people often have their attention focused on problems and always seem to know all the reasons why their life is going poorly.

Successful people take full responsibility for both their wins and losses. Talk to any really successful person, and you’ll find them to be frank about their past successes and failures. They don’t choose to play a victim role. They see life as a game to be played. They label obstacles “challenges” and mistakes “learning experiences.” You won’t hear them tell you how “the system” is out to get them.

Successful people are also doggedly persistent. I’m fond of the story of Col. Sanders, the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken®. His business plan was turned down over 1,000 times. How many of us have the confidence to keep on plugging after that much rejection?

I have observed that successful people are successful because they believe themselves to be. They don’t base their feelings of success on past experience, but rather, they create that feeling with their imagination. Imagination is the source of successful endeavors. The wonderful thing about imagination is that it is available to everyone. Imagination, along with persistence, allows one to achieve success.

The products and services in The Holistic Networker are aimed at helping you to achieve success. I encourage you to take advantage of what is offered here. Imagine actually achieving all that you desire, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Tony Cecala, Ph.D.
Publisher, The Holistic Networker

©1993, Tony Cecala