A woman I was working with lately mentioned that she prays for peace everyday.  As she said this, there was anguish in her face. Like many of us, she is deeply concerned about the conflicts and suffering in the world. This 'praying for peace' is something many people do on a regular basis. However, one thing that strikes me about this is that by 'praying for peace' we may actually be focusing on the lack of peace in the world, and by focusing on that, we can then feel a lack of peace within ourselves. I know that focusing on this certainly creates anxiety and a lack of peace within me.

Perhaps peace is something that we can create in the world by bringing ourselves into a state of peace. The more 'at peace' we are, the more we may generate the consciousness of peace around us, and the more peace can be generated on a larger scale. It is difficult to generate world peace when we have so few people on the planet who are 'at peace' within themselves in a consistent way. When we say 'Lord, bring us peace' or even 'Let there be peace in the world,' this is actually a plea to provide that which we do not have, so in this way we are reflectively focusing backward, onto the 'lack of peace' which initiated our plea in the first place.

From the perspective of the Spiritual Law of Attraction, which is, simply stated,  that you create more of that which you are focused upon, I wonder if it might not be more effective if we were to 'pray' from the perspective of gratitude rather than suplication? I wonder if we might not find peace within by giving thanks for our peace? And, I wonder if experiencing peace within might not generate more peace on a larger scale? I know for myself, as I have been repeating this 'thank you for my peace' quite often over the course of the last few days, that I do feel more at peace within myself.

I am wondering if anyone else would be interested in just trying this way of 'praying' for peace, as a gratitude practice. No matter what is going on in my life, I find that just stopping a moment and saying 'thank you for my peace,' I automatically feel better. I believe that it is possible that WE (the big collective WE of the world) will only find peace when we (the you and I individuals of the world) find and know our own inner peace.

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today.  Have you used one to say "thank you?"  ~William A. Ward

(Another post from the Hypnotherapy site blog, see entry on Stress for clarification)


In our culture, it is common to discount our dreams. Many people tell me they haven't remembered a dream in years. Some even assert that they don't dream at all (which is not true...we all dream). Often, we don't remember the dreams because we wake up abruptly with an alarm clock. Other times, our conscious mind overrides the dream awareness as we start thinking about our day and all we have to get done.

Whatever the case, our dreams are very important means of communication between our conscious minds and our subconscious or unconscious minds. I believe that dreams are important conduits of guidance from our higher minds. Dreams also come to us in many forms. Night dreams are generally what we think of when we say ‘dreams,' but daydreams and trance ‘dreams' can also offer profound insights to us. All forms of dreaming are interwoven into our big life dreams as well. Dreams are also important in healing in all dimensions: body, mind, and spirit.

In many cultures, dreaming is seen to be important not only for the individual who has the dream, but also for the community as a whole. Dreams are actively reported and shared. I am interested in providing a forum for dream sharing. The idea is to share a dream that has had a powerful impact in your life by providing guidance in making a specific choice or decision. The purpose is to rekindle interest and focus on our dreams, which is a way to reconnect with ourselves and our higher guidance in these critical times. If you are interested in helping with this project, please submit your succinct dream stories here on the blog, and as ever, send your longer dream stories to me at trancelady@sbcglobal.net if you are willing to have them included in a collection for publication.

Dreams have been important to some of our greatest thinkers of all time. Many of our advances in knowledge have been the result of dreams. If we can stimulate a renaissance of dreaming, we can positively impact the course of our collective future.

In order to be able to harvest the wisdom of our dreams we must cultivate healthy sleep protocols and manage our stress. Developing a consistent ‘alpha' trance practice can facilitate this. If you feel challenged in any of these areas, there are resources available to you from our site. In addition to what is already available, my dream journal handbook will soon be available for download, along with the stress handbook. I invite you to open to yourself. All that you need is within you. As each of us finds wholeness within, we bring wholeness to the world around us. It is my dream to be a facilitator of this by helping to empower others to honor their own higher guidance.

Here is an 'article' I wrote for the United Hypnotherapy site. My friend Rick, a fellow Zaadster, owns this site, and it has made phenomonal growth since its inception. The blog has been added to provide more information about the subjects addressed in the CDs and Mp3s the many practitioners have available on the site. The site is http://www.unitedhypnotherapy.com/ and my 'page' on it is http://www.unitedhypno.com/drryg01.html.  My blog page is http://site.unitedhypno.com/blog1/category/practitioners/ramona-young-grindle/.  If you click on the here link within the text below it will take you to where you can comment on it, on that site, or you can share comments here on this blog. Your help would be appreciated. I am still trying to learn about this blogging stuff. I will add other articles I have written there on this site as well.

Stress

Stress is the common denominator of our lives. We have stress in all dimensions of our experience, whether it is physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual. Developing a consistent alpha-state practice has been the road back to equilibrium across all these dimensions for me. The alpha state is simply an extremely relaxed inwardly-aware, normal state of consciousness such as is attained through self-hypnosis or meditation.

Not only does this state bring you into a place where you can gain a larger perspective about the issues in your life, and where you can see things from many different points of view, it connects you to those internal resources for higher guidance in finding solutions, and resolution. In additon, being in the alpha state itself creates specific neurochemistry designed to neutralize the stress chemistry initiated in the brain from being in a beta state (which is an alert, outwardly-focused state) where we tend to spend all our awake time, little realizing this is what is creating the out-of-balance in the first place.

Stress is fragmenting to the being. True relaxation, and the alpha state foster reconnection and wholeness. In our western culture we have little training in activating the relaxation response and are therefore often floundering under a load of stress that will eventually tear us apart if we don't learn how to cope with it in a natural and healthy way. Learning these simple techniques has enabled me to transcend asthma, IBS, migraines, extreme allergies, chronic pain, crippling grief, and many other debilitating conditions. It has also opened the door to my dreams, and my higher awareness.

Because our western culture has been ‘trained' to turn to the medical paradigm for a quick fix in the form of a pill to answer these issues, many people do not know that there is a simple, effective, safe, and natural way to utilize the body's own innate resources for re-establishing equilibrium and health. Managing stress is also the single most critical element in over-coming any habit or addictive behavior pattern.

Once again, I invite you to share you succinct stories here of how self-hypnosis or alpha-state practice has changed your life. If you are moved to do so, you can send expanded versions of your stories to me at trancelady@sbcglobal.net for inclusion in a published project. I believe that many more people have benefited from this type of practice than we commonly know about. It is time to re-empower everyone in knowing about this invaluable resource for healing.

Life is a blessing. There are moments in each life when it may be hard to remember that, but they should be moments only, not the general order of things. Krishnamurti said that “it is no measure of mental health to be well adjusted in a profoundly sick society,” which is true enough, but society, singly or taken together, is only a small portion of all that is. To be able to look at the stars at night and experience wonder is a blessing. To be able to see the beauty painted across the sky at sunrise is awe-inspiring. To hear the ocean’s roar, the bird’s song, the voice of a loved one fills the heart with intense pleasure. To perceive the incredible intricacy of the design of nature fills the soul with indescribable joy. To have a life, a body with the eyes, ears, nose, and mind to take in and appreciate these things is a tremendous gift, one that we often take for granted until it appears we may not have it much longer. Whatever our pain, our burdens, our torments, if we could but step back a moment and view them within the context of this gift of precious life, the heaviness would be lifted, our burdens more bearable, our torments transitory. Our very breath is a miracle of life. The organism that houses our spirit is a vehicle of such grand design that our minds can barely conceive its scope. The universe is so vast and complex we may never be able to measure its depth or breadth. Yet, how often do we pause in the mad rush of our days to simply look around, to drink in the blueness of the sky, to breath the greenness of the trees into the cells of our own being, to allow wonder, awe, and amazement to fill our senses? When the golden eagle soars overhead, do our spirits soar with him? When the wind sculpts the land, do we admire her artistry? When the rain pours down to quench our thirst and bring lushness to the land, do we offer thanks? How many times do we drive to work, cursing the rain, never seeing the green trees changing to their fall dress, oblivious to the soaring eagle overhead, lost in thoughts of what we have to do, what we shouldn’t have done, or what we wish we could get out of? Our lives are a precious gift, and we are each blessed with a bounty of experiences that this life has afforded us. Even those things that plague us today will in time become the backdrop which showcases the brighter moments of our lives in the way the storm cloud frames the rainbow. How many times has the passage of time shifted our perspective, and a perceived tragedy become the ‘best thing that could have happened?’ So take the moments, good and bad, and savor them, bank them up, and count your blessings.

Tonight, my husband Russ took me to hear a wonderful concert in San Francisco. It was held at the Jewish Community Center and was called "The Spirit of Fes: Paths to Hope."

This festival was founded in 1994 after the first Gulf War, and is an international blending of faiths and music traditions. The Spirit of Fes concert travels internationally and we got in on their last performance of the year.

The concert featured music from the Sephardic, Islam, Christian, and Hindu traditions. The songs were sung in Tamil, Latin, Hebrew, Ladino, Galician-Portuguese, Sanskrit, Arabic, and English. The musicians sang singly, and blended together. A Sufi troop played the second half of the program and the energy was contagious.

This was such a truly wonderful and awesome experience. Both of us enjoyed the evening of joyous song and spiritual harmony represented by this wholly diverse group of musicians who have been traveling together for months. The artists come from Africa, Asia, and North America.

If you are interested in more information about the festival or the touring group, the program listed these websites:  www.spirtoffes.org and www.fesfestival.com. I rushed home to write this blog entry tonight and I haven't looked these up myself yet.

We bought 4 CDs at the concert, and we enjoyed listening to Gerard Edery's on the way home. He has the most amazing baritone voice. All the musicians were top-notch and it would be hard to say who we enjoyed the most. It was the beautiful energy of the musical tapestry that spoke so deeply to our hearts.

Music is a language that can span the gulf that separates us. If we could replicate the intention of this concert a billion-fold, there would be no divide. We spoke with several of the musicians afterwards and the percussionist Jamey Haddad commented that it was sad that so few people came out to hear their concerts when they played in the colleges and universities. All I can say is that those who missed it, missed something unique and special. I hope those young people on zaadz who read this blog will put this into their calendars for next year and talk it up to everyone they know. There is hope in the world, and our young people need to know about movements like this, as this is an important antidote to despair.

I hope to make it to Morocco within the next few years to participate in the full festival, which includes a multidisciplinary forum and other components.

Namaste, Ramona