Spanish flu offers good lesson on bowing to politics while re-opening during pandemic

So let it be written

A little more than a century ago, the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-19 killed more than 50 million people.

So what did we learn?

They say history tends to repeat itself, witnessed by the playing out of a 100-year cycle that saw a bubonic plague in Europe in 1720, cholera smite Asia in 1820, the Spanish Flu, and of course our present-day pandemic.

George Bernard Shaw instructs us that We learn from history that we learn nothing from history.

Personally, I prefer Stephen Hawkings take on it: We spend a great deal of time studying history, which, lets face it, is mostly the history of stupidity.

T.W. Paterson column: 102 years ago the Spanish Flu met British grit

Read also: Is COVID-19 a sign of things to come?

Theres been evidence aplenty, during this our go-around, of foolhardy behaviour on our beaches, in grocery store aisles, along sidewalks, in parks, you name it. Masses of people recklessly thumbing their noses at social distancing and invading other peoples space.

Too many people simply lack the patience to stay put. Theyre bored with the pandemic, are moving on, and as a result of their negligence more people will be doomed to suffer from COVID-19, and more will die.

So what happened in 1918?

People were human, thats what.

In San Francisco, they thought they had the Spanish Flu licked. Driven, no doubt, by impatience, public pressure and economic necessity, the politicians prematurely re-opened the city for business. They celebrated its return to normality with a grand parade which resulted in the deadly flu returning with a vengeance.

Beware, the second wave.

Today theres immense pressure on governments to ease restrictions, considering they are unable to control the crowd thats already liberated itself from the ravages of common sense.

And when government starts talking about easing up, and returning to some semblance of normal, yet more people see that as a green light to drop their guard. People are waiting for a sign, and champing at the bit.

Theres no denying the fierce economic imperative to re-start the engine. Our catch-22 is staying healthy in the process.

Dr. Stewart Prest, a political science professor at Simon Fraser University, says there seems to be a broad understanding in Canada that opening up too much, too quickly, could really make things worse in the long run.

That some jurisdictions have chosen to open up while the first wave is still cresting, he says, seems terrifying, to be honest.

Im not an epidemiologist, I dont know if you can fully prevent a second wave, Prest says.

There are important lessons from history, and I think its fascinating that some jurisdictions seem to be better able to take those on board than others.

So let it be done.

Tom Zytaruk is a staff writer with the Surrey Now-Leader. You can email him at tom.zytaruk@surrey nowleader.com.

Coronaviruszytaruk column so let it be done

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ZYTARUK: Beware COVID-19s second wave - vancouverislandfreedaily.com

Servings: 4 Prep time: 20 minutes Total time: 40 minutes

for the sausage and peppers: cup|60 ml olive oil 4 links vegan breakfast sausage, casings removed 1 large red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and diced 1 large yellow onion, diced 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 large jalapeno pepper, stemmed and diced kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1 tablespoon soy sauce 2 scallions, thinly sliced, for garnish hot sauce, to serve

for the grits: 1 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste 1 cup|200 grams corn grits 1 cups|200 grams shredded vegan cheddar 3 tablespoons vegan butter freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Make the sausage and peppers: Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the sausage and cook, breaking up with a wooden spoon, until browned, 6 to 7 minutes. Add the bell pepper and onion and cook until lightly golden and soft, 5 to 6 minutes, then add the garlic and jalapeno. Cook for 2 minutes more, then add the vinegar and soy sauce and cook until absorbed. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm.

2. Make the grits: Bring 4 cups of water and the salt to a boil in a medium saucepan over high. Stir in the grits and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thick and smooth, about 6 to 7 minutes. Cover, turn off the heat, and let sit for 5 minutes, then stir in the cheese and butter until melted. Season with salt and pepper.

3. To serve, top the grits with the sausage mixture and garnish with the scallions. Serve with hot sauce on the side.

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Vegan Sausage and Grits Recipe - VICE

Growing up in Wappingers Falls in the Mid-Hudson Valley, Peter Fortunato loved horses and came to Cornell in 1968 to become a veterinarian. That changed during his first year when he realized his vocation was to be a writer, so he transferred into the College of Arts and Sciences. Peter was also inspired by his art history courses with Peter Kahn, who encouraged him to keep making visual art. Then he met his life partner and eventual wife, the poet Mary Gilliland when they were both advisees of James McConkey, who became a lifelong friend.

Peter graduated in 1972, but stayed on an extra year until Mary graduated. He wrote poetry, read about Zen Buddhism, and began practicing meditation after being introduced by Mary to the writings of poet Gary Snyder and philosopher Alan Watts. He earned money by working at Cornells High Voltage Lab, doing yard work, and modeling nude in figure painting classes at Cornell and Ithaca College.

After winning a fellowship in creative writing at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, Peter and Mary moved South. While writing and earning an M.F.A. in poetry, he and Mary also worked as models for art classes. They were in high demand because while meditating they could sit still for so long.Greensboro was soon to be known as Little Atlanta. However, we lived in the country, and since cohabitation was illegal in North Carolina, we had to pretend we were married. After graduate school, while waiting for clear direction, he and Mary took a BOCES Carpentry class and each continued to write.

With no fixed plan we accepted friends offer to return for a weekend to Ithaca: Gary Snyder is coming to give a reading. We can go to that and the reception! We both adored Gary, who remains our friend and teacher, Fortunato said. The reading and the party were fantastic and went on into the early morning hours. Before we crawled home, Gary had invited us and we had agreed to join him and his family in Nevada County, California in the foothills of the Sierras, where he and his friends were building a community school.

Mary and Peter loaded their 1965 VW Bus and drove to California. We practiced Zen and we helped build the school. We wrote poetry and savored life with our hero and his circle, living off the grid, off the beaten path. [...] We found ourselves in the midst of the Back to the Land Movement. [...] It was an exciting time.

Loving the uncharted life, Mary and Peter had many adventures before trekking back to the East Coast. They worked in the San Francisco Bay area doing carpentry and house shingling. And Peter would constantly write. After living for a time on a houseboat in Sausalito and then back in the Mid-Hudson Valley for a while, Peter and Mary eventually returned to Ithaca in December of 1977. They were confident they could live anywhere, make friends, and do many different things to make a living.

While continuing to do carpentry and occasionally working as models, Mary and Peter found other opportunities: Mary completed a Masters at Cornell, and they both began careers in academia. They bought a rundown rental house and turneditinto a spacious, bright retreat with room for two writing studio offices, and a meandering garden leading down to Six Mile Creek.

Peters first book of poetry A Bell or a Hook, inspired by his life in California, was published by Ithaca House, located at 108 North Plain Street. Baxter Hathaway and wife Sherry created and ran the publishing company. Baxter, a renowned author, was also founder of the Creative Writing Program at Cornell, so this reunion was especially dear for Peter, who had studied writing with Baxter as an undergrad. Marys first poetry collection, Gathering Fire, was also published by Ithaca House.

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As Peter began teaching creative writing, composition and poetry at Cornell and Ithaca College, he also continued his studies in complementary alternative medicine. For many years, he has had a professional counseling practicefocusing on hypnotherapy, shamanism and Reiki.

Mary, a well-known poet, joined the Cornell University faculty in 1981 and retired from her full-time work in 2007. Peter who had been teaching on East Hill and South Hill for almost 30 years, in 2005 took a position at the newly opened Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar. Mary also taught there for a semester. Peter stayed on for four years.

The students were very sincere and engaging, he said. With tolerance and mutual respect, as the War in Iraq continued several hundred miles away, we learned from each other.

It takes something unique for two writers to make a good life together, and Peter and Mary have continued unabated in their creative lives. We have worked hard as two artists, seeking to find our way. We have created a special synergy as a couple, understanding that we each need space and time and quiet to create, yet loving and valuing the time we can spend together.

Peter's new novel Carnevale is full of references to his early life in the Hudson Valley, as well as to the sexy, psychedelic 60s. All are invited to Peters reading March 11 at 6:30 p.m. in the Tompkins County Public Library.And then we hope to hear Marys version of this couples wild story.

Ithaca is filled with treasurespeople, places, programs. Marjorie unearths some of these gems every other week here in her column, Community Connections.

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Peter Fortunato and a winding path to writing - ithaca.com

Its people that are creative, not organisations.

Creativity is something that is in high demand, falling under the set of soft skills that are now a huge advantage in business.

However, creativity exists outside of learned expertise, its more about the way an individual perceives reality. With this in mind, its important to note that its people that are creative and not organisations.

The most obvious characteristics that come to mind are artistic; such as painting, sculpture and music. These are indeed creative, but these are skills that have been honed over many years, practised, fine-tuned. They are a form of learned expertise, just like accountancy and medicine.

The less obvious forms of creativity are when we talk about thinking creatively. This is far more interesting, and far more accessible for everyone to do: It is just thinking.

Most ancient cultures lacked the concept of creativity, seeing it as a form of discovery and not creation. They assumed that all around them was divine, furnished by the Gods, and not humans. Humans didnt have the divine right to imagine something into reality. That was reserved for Gods.

Humanism allowed us to move past this view though, and a combination of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment accelerated it. It removed the authority of thought, a single, all-encompassing view.

This lead to a questioning of conventional ways of doing things, and allowed inventive thinking to flourish, new ideas, new concepts and completely new ways of viewing the world arose. But when conventions are questioned by someone, they arent viewed as creative thinkers, they are viewed as troublemakers.

We dont like change so we shun the unconventional thinkers, and this is the key point. Creativity can be challenging. Its about questioning assumptions, proposing the preposterous and not being bound by the perceived right or wrong outcome.

Harnessing creativity

Many people consider business creativity to be the domain of only certain departments or people. This is a drawback, as it thrives on diversity and cross-departmental input.

Its about ideas, observations and innocent questions that can spark new and valuable ways of doing things. To foster this though, a structure needs to be in place to allow people to contribute in a meaningful manner.

In 1951 Toyota launched its creative idea suggestion system. Its slogan Good Thinking, Good Products is in Toyota factories around the globe to encourage all employees to suggest improvements or ideas. This differed from the normal suggestion box approach in that it had very clear guidelines and a clear path to resolution.

It meant ideas were evaluated on their merit, and not on who was proposing them. It also explicitly stated that permission for suggesting improvements was not required, thus removing the hierarchal barriers that can impede creativity.

Intermingle expertise

One of the reasons that scrappy start-ups become successful is that they are working on a limited budget, which means that they cant afford a specialist for every role. This can seem like a handicap, but it is one of the reasons they succeed.

An organisation stocked with experts tends to have a conventional way of doing things, as informed by each of their specialisms. When that expertise isnt available though, a different way to do whats needed will be found.

This new, non-traditional approach can be the reason that the start-up finds success. It brings a different perspective to proceedings, one unencumbered by traditional patterns of thinking around the discipline.

One way around this limitation in larger organisations is to create a system that allows departments to seek fresh viewpoints from other internal teams or departments. This isnt a form of offloading problems, rather it allows for different points-of-view to be applied to it, and sometimes a novice in the field might propose something that everyone else has missed.

Create areas to focus on, not goals

Conceptually it can be hard to view goals as a negative thing, we are primed to achieve them from an early age.For creative outcomes, it is important that they are removed.

By setting fixed goals the results that are defined are already set. This is the opposite of what is required when seeking new ideas and outcomes. When you ask for the expected, thats what you will always get.

Instead, create areas of focus to concentrate on. These can be centred on optimising or innovating, customer-facing or inward-facing, departmental or company-wide. Its not important which, what is important is that there isnt a fixed goal in mind for what you want the creative thinking to apply to. This allows for a range of results to indicate success. It can also present results that can surprise because when the narrow success goals are removed, creativity flourishes.

Most organisations are brimming with creativity, but they need to seek it out to get the best results.

Designing environments and structures to enable this is crucial, and finding the people that are willing to ask the questions, explore the unknown and to challenge everyday assumptions. They can be young or old, just in the door or part of the furniture. They may be known internally as lacking experience, difficult or trouble makers. Find these people and creativity will thrive.

Keith Kent is the founder ofEpigram,which works with organisations to improve their business through innovation.

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Finding creativity in plain sight: How to question convention and allow inventive thinking to flourish - Fora.ie

(MENAFN - iCrowdNewsWire) Dec 6, 2019

An alarming rise in obesity disorder impelled by insalubrious diet and the hectic pace of modern lifestyles among the urban population has become a global concern. Approximately 650 million adults were obese in 2018 worldwide. With fewer calories, less fat and carbohydrates content, almost no sugar, and more proteins, drinkable meals are the eminent food item for people with obesity disorder. Switching from regular food to a calorie-restricted liquid meal once or twice a day has been proved to help people lose weight in less time. In that context, growing consumer preference towards replacing their routine meals with nutrient-rich diet that contain low fiber content and high-quality ingredients are the key factors fueling the growth of the drinkable meals market. Surging demand for low calorie and protein-rich food which helps to maintain a healthy weight have augmented the intake of drinkable meals. Subsequently, increasing demand for personalized nutrient combinations is also a key factor fueling the demand for drinkable meals market.

The global drinkable meals market size was valued at $41.5 million as of 2018 and is expected to grow with a CAGR of 5.8% throughout the forecast period 2019-2025.

Easy eating: Drinkable Meals are vital in an On-the-go World

Changing healthy food habits and food convenience are the most influencing factors aiding the growth of the drinkable meals market. Nowadays, consumers are becoming more health-conscious and looking for food items with more nutritional values. Ready-to-eat food products are being considered as the closest alternative to regular food in order to save time and which can be consumed at any meal time such as during breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Drinkable meals are processed food products that provide a blend of macronutrients and energy to the consumers replacing the main meals. They are also used to provide extra nutrition for patients during and after treatment for several diseases to attain dietary balance. Moreover, the evolution of novel meal replacement formulations made with non-GMO food ingredients having optimum nutritional properties is boosting the drinkable meals market. The lack of appetite in the elderly population and those with digestive issues such as ulcerative colitis, gastritis, and others turned as a barrier for preparation of fresh food, thus increasing the growth of this market in the global front. Thus, the time saved by drinkable meals along with their nutritional benefits are spurring the drinkable meals market growth. On the other hand, the increasing number of health clubs around the world also has a positive impact on nutrient-rich drinkable meal products. In 2017, the health club market size of the U.S. alone was valued at $30 billion. These sturdy health club sectors are further amplifying the awareness of the drinkable meals market.

Healthy Eating in a Hurry - Drinkable Meals and its Indisputable Benefit of Saving Time

The proactive interest to maintain physical health is motivating the young and adult population towards the intake of nutritional supplements in a single meal due to their hectic work schedules. Most of the meal replacement drinks serve as a means of fast weight loss. Rapid surge in the e-commerce business along with the introduction of innovative meal replacement products that offer better health benefits will also aid the drinkable meals market growth globally. Also, an increased effort by retailers to shift online to gain better visibility and offer purchasing convenience is enhancing the online drinkable meals market sales. E-commerce platforms such as wallmart.com and healthkart.com offer a wide variety of protein shakes, protein bars, meal replacement protein powders, and other dietary supplements for online purchase. Nowadays, consumers are ready to spend more on food items with more health benefits. Attractive packaging, in-store promotions, and health claims in labels are some of the common strategies that companies have adopted in recent times. A declining trend towards away-from-home dining surging the at-home cooking trend are other favorable factors constituting the growing demand for convenience food items like drinkable meals globally. As a result, the drinkable meals market is rising with the evolution of e-commerce.

North America Holding Major Share of the Drinkable meals Market

North America generated 38.8% of the global drinkable meals market revenue share in 2018. Increasing geriatric population and proactive healthcare practices of people will spur the growth of the drinkable meals market in this region. A high rate of obesity, cardiovascular, and other health-related problems among the population are other influencing factors for this market growth in North America. More than 130 million adults are estimated to have some form of cardiovascular disease by 2035.These growing numbers, which in turn, shift the focus of the American population towards healthy, nutrient-dense, and less-calorie food intake in the form of daily meal. As a result, the drinkable meals market growth in this region is surging in upcoming years.A rise in working women population has all made the practice of preparing whole meals quite infrequent. The need to replace whole meals with food that can be quickly prepared yet has equivalent nutritional value has boosted the global market for drinkable meals. Consequently, approximately 25.1 million mothers of children 18 and younger are in the workforce, representing a third of the nation's working women. Many have felt that cooking family meals, including school lunches for children, is a burden and time-consuming process, which in turn, creating the perfect storm in the North American drinkable meals market.

The application segment that will be creating the most lucrative opportunities for the drinkable meals market is the meal replacement products. This application segment is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.9% through to 2025. Increased demand for convenience products is the key trend that has strongly favored the meal replacement food products. A surge in protein bars and meal replacement protein shake intake increases the demand for more meal replacement food products. Flax milk is non-dairy milk alternative which contains no cholesterol or lactose and used to prevent and treat heart diseases. Cream of Rice is an excellent source of iron and when prepared with water it is naturally free from fat, cholesterol, sodium, and gluten. On the other hand, changing food consumption patterns among consumers, increased willingness to spend on such convenience food and the lack of time to cook at home are also catering the demand for meal replacement products. The use of numerous meal replacement products in weight-loss regimens has also lead to their widespread popularity in the upcoming years. Consequently, the nutrients available in the drinkable meals aiding the weight-loss regime are favoring the growth of the drinkable meals market.

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The Major Players in the Drinkable Meals Market :

Prominent players in the drinkable meals market include Ample Foods Inc., Ambronite, Huel, Jake Nutritionals B.V., Joylent joy, Mana Foods, Queal, and Soylent. These companies are continuously investing in research and development activities to provide innovative and cost-effective product portfolio.

Soylent, an American-based contrarian food replacement company has introduced its new product Soylent Squared, chewable mini-meal on April 18, 2019. This product is a 100 calorie snack-size protein bar. With this product launch, Soylent turned in to complete a nutrition platform in the United States.

Ambronite, Finland-based plant-based meal replacement food Products Company has introduced its new products such as AmbroGreens, Ambronite Balanced Meal Shake, and AmbroBite into the market on June 27, 2019. These products provide plenty of fiber, food-based vitamins, and minerals. These products are swiftly accepted and became a trending items by the consumers in the market.

Related Reports:

A. Vitamins And Nutrition Supplements Market

https://www.industryarc.com/Report/231/Vitamins-and-Nutrition-supplements-Market-report.html

B. Nutritional Premixes Market

https://www.industryarc.com/Report/15005/nutritional-premixes-market.html

About IndustryARC:

IndustryARC primarily focuses on Cutting Edge Technologies and Newer Applications market research. Our Custom Research Services are designed to provide insights on the constant flux in the global supply-demand gap of markets. Our strong team of analysts enables us to meet the client research needs at a rapid speed, with a variety of options for your business. Any other custom requirements can be discussed with our team, drop an e-mail to[email protected]to discuss more about our consulting services.

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Drinkable Meals Market Witnessing Windfall Gains Owing to Demand from Health-food Junkies for High-Quality Cost-Effective Food Items - MENAFN.COM

If youre one of the 3.7-million high school leavers or part of the 3.9-million graduating college in 2019, then 2020 is your opportunity to enter the workforce.

Most newbies to the workplace have the dream of landing a job that pays them a fantastic salary. In the world of employment, getting a job that pays an annual salary of over $100,000 is the benchmark for success.

People in this earning bracket are in the top 28-percent of households in America, and they have a far more comfortable way of life than those struggling to make a living.

Many people are under the impression that you need a college education to land a high-paying job. However, there are plenty of opportunities available to earn a high salary, even if you only made it through high school.

We put together this list of high paying jobs available in 2020. If you find an occupation that you think you may enjoy, then make the arrangements to chase your goal and land the high-paying job of your dreams.

Read: 14 High Paying Jobs ($100k+) Without a College Degree

With the success of big tech founding new markets online, there is more demand for computer programmers than at any other point in history. People that can code are valuable employees, and if youre good at your job, then you can expect a tech conglomerate to snap you up quickly.

The average salary for coding is around $134,000, but some individuals can command two or four times that amount depending on their skill level. Coders spend extended periods at their workstations, and the expectations by employers are high. Many coders lead very stressful lives, but their personality suits the pressure of the situation, and they are comfortable with 20-hour workdays.

The demand for qualified coders is astounding. You might not need any qualifications to join the industry if you have a high level of skill. However, most tech firms require you to have a diploma in IT or computer languages.

Professionals that modify or build websites are also in high demand in the workplace. As the digital age advances, more businesses and individuals are going online every day. Most people that want to start a website have no clue on how to design and build a site. Instead, they rely on professional web developers to assist them in getting their company or brand into the online realm.

Most developers attend college to understand the complexities of website architecture and design. However, there are plenty of self-taught web designers that are every bit as talented as those with qualifications. If youre getting started with web design, and you dont plan on going to college, then try to acquire an apprenticeship.

You may not earn much when getting started. However, as your experience and expertise build, you can expect other companies to headhunt you for your talents. If you secure a web design job with a leading company, you can expect to make an annual salary of around $124,000 or more.

If its your dream to take to the skies as an airline pilot, then you could earn a salary of more than $160,000 per year. Commercial airlines require you to have a degree in the aviation industry to apply for a position as a pilot.

Aspiring pilots also need to complete a comprehensive training source that involves several modules. Flight school is a part of the requirement, and you can expect it to take you two years to gain your certification as a qualified pilot. After certification, youll need to log at least 250-hours of flight time.

People who are exiting the military, and spent their service flying choppers or planes can apply for a pilots license without a degree. Most airlines accept pilots that have some experience flying commercially for the armed forces, provided that they attend a course to learn the specifics of commercial flight.

There is a massive shortage of pilots at the moment, and if you receive your qualification, you can expect to get a job without any hassle.

Your parents probably told you that the only way to making plenty of money was to go to college and get a degree. While many of the occupations mentioned in this list are for college graduates only, there are a few that dont require any college education.

Doctors and lawyers earn a bundle, but they spend over 7-years in college and residency to reach a point where they start making big money. Apart from these professionals, there are only a handful of other jobs that can gross you a salary above the $100,000-mark.

Sales are one of these jobs. Typically, sales reps work on commission. If you find a product that costs a fortune and offers decent commissions, you could be on your way to making a fortune. For example, if you get a job selling cellphones, you cant expect to earn much money. However, if you get a job selling Lear private jets, then you could make millions every year.

Great salespeople receive training from mentors that make them masters of the sales transaction. These professionals learn the art of opening, qualifying, presenting, and closing a deal. Every company in the world needs salespeople, but very few salespeople are performers. If you land a job with a sales company, you could expect a starting salary of $116,000 or more, depending on the industry.

If you have a natural flair for dealing with people, then why not give being a real estate agent a go for your career? Real estate agents dont require any university degree. All you need is to take a licensing exam thats easy to study for, and the test is designed to help you pass, rather than to trip you up.

After certification, you can buy, sell, and rent real estate in your state. Real estate agents can earn a salary of $112,000 or more, depending on the market they operate in and the deals they close. For instance, selling single-family homes in Wisconsin is not going to yield you the same commissions as in Bell Air.

Being a real estate agent requires hard work to succeed. Many new agents go nowhere with the job because they cannot market themselves and sell listings. If youre intending on becoming a real estate agent, invest in yourself and study a sales training program.

If you have a knack for the financial markets, and you cant stop watching Bloomberg, then you could have a career as a financial trader. Traders scour the markets every day, looking for opportunities to make money.

Many financial firms have large trading desks, and there are plenty of proprietary trading firms that are willing to take on new traders as well. In most cases, youll need a degree in finance to secure the job, but some institutions will take on traders with no degree.

Traders rely on different strategies in their approach to the markets. Some sell commodities, while others invest in equities or trade the forex market. Whatever your expertise and strategy, there is room to make money. Most traders receive massive bonuses at year-end, which sometimes can be triple their salary. Starting salaries for traders are at an average of $112,000 with additional performance bonuses.

If you watched the movie Pushing Tin, then you understand the basics of what it takes to be an air traffic controller. In the film, John Cusack plays Nick Falzone, a gung-ho air traffic controller thats good at his job. He receives competition from Billy Bob Thornton, a new controller from out of town.

In the movie, Cusack gets a near-collision warning and loses his nerve behind the radar. Being an air traffic controller requires you to have nerves of steel. You also need to make critical decisions quickly. Its for this reason that air traffic controllers dont need a college degree. Instead, they spend years in training school to reach a level where they are proficient at the task of directing air traffic.

Air traffic controllers work short shifts to keep them alert. They also undergo frequent toxin screening to ensure they are not under the influence of drugs or liquor at work. If you qualify as an air traffic controller, you can expect to earn a salary of around $1200,000 or more.

If you spent your youth watching true crime episodes, and have a penchant for solving crimes, then a detective could be your ideal occupation. Private investigators and special detectives are in high demand across the United States and the world. These individuals spend their days following people around and digging through peoples lives to find evidence.

If you have a natural aptitude for sniffing out lies and deception, then you could do well as a private investigator. Most PIs have a starting salary of $138,000 or more. Typically, most private investigators dont need to go to college to get a shot at earning a living as a full-time PI.

However, youll need to apply for the police academy. Many investigators get their foot in the door at a private investigation form because they have a police background.

Do you have complete command over the English language? If so, you could have a promising career as a writer. There are millions of writing jobs available, but most of them only offer an average pay package. However, if you find a job at a top publication, you could land an annual salary thats over $121,000.

Writers need to make deadlines, and they also need to have a clear understanding of how to present ideas to others through the written word. In most cases, writing for a living at a top publication requires you to have a degree in English. However, its possible to start your writing career with another firm and gain experience.

When you have the knowledge and experience behind you, you can move on to another job that pays far more for your writing skills.

Companies rely on marketing to bring their products and services into the public view. Marketing managers are responsible for coordinating marketing efforts, and they manage a team. As a marketing manager, youll need to attend college to receive a degree in business or marketing to qualify for the job.

Marketing managers have excellent compensation packages, with some managers grossing more than $147,000 per annum. Marketing is the key to expanding a companys bottom line and acquiring market share. Therefore, its no surprise that these individuals have high salaries.

Every business requires the help of a CPA to manage their accounting. CPAs typically go to college for four years and then spend another two or three years doing their articles for other companies. After qualifying as a CPA, you wont have much trouble finding a job. The world of finance and businesses continues to grow, even in todays slowing economic climate.

Accountants are crucial for businesses. Without a CPA on your side, youll never have an understanding of your numbers. Therefore, if you have a knack for dealing with figures, and your grades at school are fantastic, then try applying for an accounting degree after you leave high school.

CPAs are among some of the highest-paid professionals in the world. The average starting salary for a CPS is $122,000, and you can expect that to increase as you gain experience.

Looking through this list can leave you feeling more confused than ever about your employment prospects in the future. The key to finding a high-paying job that you enjoy is to work with your natural aptitudes and talents.

If you have a natural affinity for numbers, then youll probably do well as an accountant, and you should pursue this course of study. However, if you are only going to accounting school to satisfy the request of your parents, then you probably wont cut it in the real world.

Whatever vocation you choose, make it align with your interests. This strategy allows you to choose a job that youll love going to every day.

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Which are the Highest Paying Jobs Which Pay $100k+ - MoneyCheck

HistoryThrough a $1.9 million grant from the Bloomberg Philanthropies and Living Cities Cities for Financial Empowerment (CFE) Fund in 2012, Denver was chosen as one of five U.S. cities to replicate New York Citys evidence-based Financial Empowerment Center model. The model provides free, one-on-one financial counseling by trained professionals to low-income residents both at new local Financial Empowerment Centers and by integrating counseling into the delivery of municipal services.

mpowered leads the provision of direct financial coaching services to the community through the effort, which launched to the public in spring of 2013. In Partnership with the Denver Office of Financial Empowerment, mpowered manages and supports the implementation of the Financial Empowerment Center model.

Why Denver?As a growing City, poverty in Denver is sometimes hidden, but approximately 21% of the citys 600,000 residents live below the federal poverty level and many more live below a level of true self-sufficiency. 36,000 families are estimated to be functioning outside the financial mainstream, with many using high cost financial services in place of conventional banking. 188,000 residents (31% of the population) rely on federal assistance programs through the Department of Human Services. Others turn to nonprofit providers to help meet basic needs.

Financial counseling and financial literacy efforts, particularly when delivered in concert with additional stabilization services, can be strong tools to move families out of poverty and toward self-sufficiency.

Financial Empowerment CentersOpened on March 12, 2013, Denvers network of Financial Empowerment Centers offers free, unbiased, one-on-one, professional financial counseling in English and Spanish. The Centers are designed to help clients:Take control of their debtDeal with debt collectorsImprove their creditBuild savingsCreate a budgetFind safe and affordable financial productsAnd other services based on client needs

As a result of partnerships with various City of Denver agencies and other direct human service nonprofit organizations, the Centers are co-located to provide easy access for clients in need.

Goals

a program of partnering with

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Barbara Marx Hubbard Transitions - Tribute to Divine Goddess Visionary and Lightworker

December 22, 1929 - April 10, 2019

https://primedisclosure.com/barbara-m...

#BarbaraMarxHubbard#Lightworker#Visionary

works by Barbara -

Humanity Ascending Series DVD Part 1: OUR STORY featuring Barbara Marx Hubbard - https://amzn.to/2X1yt31

Conscious Evolution: Awakening the Power of Our Social Potential - https://amzn.to/2Z3C8zk

Emergence: The Shift from Ego to Essence - https://amzn.to/2UQQmEl

The Revelation: A Message of Hope for the New Millennium - https://amzn.to/2Us3DUB

Birth 2012 and Beyond: Humanity's Great Shift to the Age of Conscious Evolution - https://amzn.to/2UrDaGy

Barbara Marx Hubbard is a prolific author, visionary, social innovator, evolutionary thinker and educator, she is co-founder and chairperson of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution. She is the producer and narrator of the award-winning documentary series entitled Humanity Ascending: A New Way through Together and has recently partnered with The Shift Network as a global ambassador for the conscious evolution movement; a shift from evolution by chance towards evolution by choice.

In 1984 her name was placed in nomination for the Vice Presidency of the United States on the Democratic ticket, calling for a Peace Room to scan for, map, connect and communicate what is working in America and the world. Barbara also co-chaired a number of Soviet-American Citizen Summits, introducing a new concept called SYNCON to foster synergistic convergence with opposing groups. She developed SYNCON conferences to bring together opposing forces to discover the positive benefit of a long range earth-space development program where she worked with builders of the Space Shuttle and continued her passion for an expanded and peace generating space program.

She has established a Chair in Conscious Evolution at Wisdom University and is a member of many progressive organizations, including Evolutionary Leaders Group, Transformational Leadership Council, the Alliance for Global New Thought (AGNT), as well as, The World Future Society.www.evolve.org

Barbara Marx Hubbard is president and founder of The Foundation for Conscious Evolution. A speaker, social innovator, visionary and author of five books, she is an evolutionary educator, communicating the new worldview of conscious evolution.

She has worked closely with some of the great innovators of our time such as Dr. Jonas Salk, Abraham Maslow, and the great Buckminster Fuller who said of Barbara, she is the best informed human now alive regarding futurism and the foresights it has produced.

She is the producer and narrator of the award-winning documentary series entitled Humanity Ascending: A New Way through Together. Part One: Our Story, is now translated into seven languages, and in Part Two: Visions of a Universal Humanity, she brings together some of the finest minds of our time, presenting us with positive, future scenarios for humanity based on the latest scientific, social and spiritual realities.

She has been instrumental in founding many future-oriented and progressive organizations, including the World Future Society, New Dimensions Radio, Global Family, Women of Vision In Action, The Foundation for the Future, and the Association for Global New Thought. She is currently a co-founder of the Evolutionary Leaders Group helping to form an evolutionary university.

Her name was placed in nomination for the vice-presidency of the United States on the Democratic ticket in 1984 proposing a Peace Room in the office of the vice presidency to scan for, map, connect and communicate what is working in America and the world. She is currently working to develop the Peace Room concept into an operating internet platform called The Synergy Engine.

*Barbaras books include: The Hunger of Eve: One Womans Odyssey toward the Future; The Evolutionary Journey: Your Guide to a Positive Future; Revelation: Our Crisis is a Birth An Evolutionary Interpretation of the New Testament; Conscious Evolution: Awakening the Power of ourSocial Potential and Emergence: The Shift from Ego to Essence; Birth 2012

DISCLAIMER: This video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, Ill receive a small commission. This helps support the channel and allows us to continue to make videos like this. Thank you for the support!

Barbara Marx Hubbard

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Barbara Marx Hubbard Transitions - Tribute to Divine Goddess Visionary and Lightworker

By Bernhard Guenther, November 19, 2017

Relationships take on a whole new level for anyone who has taken the red pill, i.e. anyone who is sincerely engaged in seeking truth, self-work and cultural/social de-programming in order to transcend the Matrix on The Path Towards Awakening.

However, before two people can actually engage in (or enter) this higher level of conscious relationship, it is best if both individuals have done a good amount of sincere self-work on themselves on their own, confronted their shadows, childhood wounding, social/religious/cultural conditioning, mechanical behaviors, etc,as well as having established healthy self-love parameters. Learning to thrive in and enjoy solitude without needing anyone is also a prerequisite before being able to engage successfully in conscious relationships.

Articles such as what conscious women want from men, what conscious men want from women or you need a warrior man/woman that have been circling around make no sense for the most part and couldnt actually have been written by truly conscious men/women. These kind of articles often times tie into victim consciousness on some level as well as projections, entitlement, lack of taking responsibility and lack of understanding that on some level we always attract (or are attracted to) someone based on unconscious Shadow aspects (like The Dance between Codependents and Narcissists) , even if we dont see it consciously and hence blame the other person for not being conscious, having all sorts of expectations. There is also much distortion in the New Age version of Twin Flames with people over-estimating their level of Being (soul embodiment).

It always takes two to tango. As long as we havent owned our own shadow aspects, it will always come back to us (mirrored) through other people, or via occult entity attacks/interference, injecting through the cracks of our energy body due to lack of embodiment, past wounding/trauma and not having fully anchored our soul essence into the body/avatar. The extreme case of such a hyperdimensional influenced romantic relationships is the Love Bite or Dark Side of Cupid.

In short, if you want a conscious partner, the work is with yourself first and foremost with radical self-honesty. Anyone who is waiting for the perfect partner to appear without taking full responsibility for his/her own own soul evolution and is caught in blaming/projecting/expecting/feeling like a victim will be greatly disappointed.The relationships in your life (not only romantic) are also a gage/measure/reflection of where you are at in your own soul evolution.

In the end relationships are lessons in love, not an end in themselves. Not every relationships can be worked on either and there comes a time to let go and move on without trying (and without blame) to force something that just isnt meant to be, otherwise both people are keeping each other from growing/evolving. Knowing when to let go/break up or if its truly worth to work on the relationship depends on the specific unique situation, but mostly your inner knowing/intuition already and always knows but the mind can complicate things, especially if we dont trust our non-verbal inner guidance.

People come in and out of our lives to provide certain lessons. Not everyone is meant to stay forever. Oftentimes we are meant to be alone for a period of time with regards to our soul evolution, aligning ourselves with our unique soul purpose/Divine Will (and Divine Timing), patiently learning our lessons as opposed to being slave to the whims and desires of the impatient, desperate, and conditioned ego-personality.

With that being said, here are some writings on conscious relationships from various authors:

from Greater Community Spirituality by Marshall Summers

[Note: The word Knowledge used in this article relates to Gnosis (Higher Knowledge/Embodied Knowing).nothing to do intellectual mind-stuff, nor just ordinary feelings and is deeper than intuitiondirectly related to ones level of Being/individualized soul. The steps towards Knowledge area process, depending on ones sincere self-work, lessons to learn, talents to develop, aligning with ones unique soul purpose/Divine Will (contrary to the desires of the ego mind and is most often a destructive process > death of the personality identification to be reborn in ones true I).]

There are very few people in the world who really understand you your deeper nature and the deeper qualities that you have that even you have not discovered. At the surface of your mind, you might find much agreement, but at a deeper level beneath the surface of your mind, there are only a few who would be able to really recognize you.

To have many friends really does not account for much at all. To win favor amongst many people is to accommodate yourself to their expectations, and this will weaken and even destroy your ability to recognize yourself. People want to be loved and accepted and acknowledged, but this is driven by insecurity primarily.

At a deeper level, you need a more profound recognition. You need a true ally, not merely a friend. You need someone who recognizes your deeper nature and responds to this naturally. You do not have to perform for these people.But you do have to honor this nature within yourself. If it is unknown to you, or if you are resisting it or denying it by trying to be something else that you think will be successful, then your relationship with these rare individuals will not come to pass and you will have lost a rare and great opportunity.

As you begin to take the steps to Knowledge, to the deeper intelligence within you, your criteria for relationships will change. You will seek clarity and honesty. You will look for deeper values. You will look for more permanent values. You will look for greater integrity within people, greater sincerity, more substantial values.Of course, this will rule out many people, even if they are very pleasant and very nice in a social sense.

If they do not have this greater capacity within themselves or have not discovered this for themselves, well, then there will be no place for you to connect with them. You can understand them at the level of their circumstances or their personality; you might admire their appearance or their charms or their unique abilities, but the deeper connection will not be there. They are living at the surface, and you have gone beneath the surface.

You cannot wait for them or try to educate or enlighten them, for this will not be productive. You have to seek for people who are ready, willing and able to connect with you at this deeper level. If you try to improve someone else or bring them to this greater state of recognition, you will be wasting your time, which is precious and should not be wasted.

What you are really looking for here is Knowledge in others. You are no longer swayed by beauty, wealth and charm as you might have been before. Now you are listening for a deeper quality, a deeper spirituality, a deeper awareness. And surprisingly perhaps to you, you will not find it in many people.You will not find it in the beautiful people [obsessed with their physical appearance], the charming people, the wealthy people, the socially popular people, the people who are aggressive and ambitious, the people who are constantly selling themselves, the people who are caught up in political persuasions or the people who are extraordinarily intellectual.

If they do not have this deeper capacity yet, it will be evident, and Knowledge within you will not respond to them. Knowledge within you will not criticize them or condemn them. They are just not there yet. And this will give you a very different understanding of what real advancement is in an individuals development.

Placing all your emphasis on beauty and charm is clearly superficial, but so is placing all your emphasis on intellectual brilliance, and you will see this. You are listening for something deeper in yourself now, and that is why you are listening for something deeper in others.It is not just that you share ideas or beliefs. You may talk about spirituality, you may talk about God, you may talk about inspiration, but that does not mean there is a deeper connection at all.

Here, your mind must be clear and neutral. You cannot be judging, comparing and condemning other people, or you will never know the power of Knowledge within yourself. People are always judging one another, and this keeps them from recognizing one another or carrying on a deeper evaluation, which has nothing to do with condemnation at all.

You are looking for the evidence of Spirit in another, not just a conversation about Spirit, not just a liveliness in their personality. You are looking for something deeper in them because perhaps you have reached the point now where you are looking for something deeper in yourself, and you see that wittiness, charm, beauty and extravagance or even shared ideas, hobbies and so forth really is not it.You are surprised you find there are very few people who seem to have this deeper quality that you can discern and that Knowledge within you really does not respond to many people at all. And you feel alone, and you wonder if there really is anyone else.

Here you have to be willing to be alone if you are to have this level of integrity within yourself. Here you have to be true to Knowledge. If Knowledge is not responding, you do not need to respond. You can be friendly, you can be courteous that is valuable but you must be reserved.

If there is nothing there, there is nothing there. And if you realize there is no value and there is only unfortunate consequence in amplifying the attractive features of a person at the surface of their existence, then you will have to face the reality that there are but a few that you can deeply connect with.This will keep you from filling up your life with people and activities and involvements that really do not have anything important to offer and do not represent any serious or meaningful engagement for you. Here it is better to be largely alone than to have your life filled with people and engagements that have nothing to do with your greater purpose and destiny in the world.

Relationships take time. Serious relationships take a great deal of time. So many people are losing their lives, their time and their energy involved in relationships that have no greater capacity or greater destiny for them. Because they do not want to be alone, they are afraid that the person or the persons they are looking for truly may never arrive, so they will say to themselves, Well, this relationship is not perfect, but if I wait, there may be nothing better for me.

You have to be very careful what you tell yourself here. You must have faith in Knowledge and faith in life to bring into your life those people whom you are really destined to meet, who really have a great impact on your life, who will play a significant role in your own development and accomplishments in the world. You must build this faith.

If you are alone now, it is a valuable time to build your connection to Knowledge. Knowledge represents your most profound and important relationship. If this is not established, if this is not fully established, then your relationship with everyone else will be out of sync lacking clarity and purpose, lacking meaning and your life will be filled with people, engagements, activities and commitments that will never create a real opening for you.Beyond your need to go to work and to earn a living and to build your education for opportunities in the world, there is this greater destiny you have with certain people, and that is really what you are looking for.

But you must be patient. You must see that there is an appropriateness to when people appear in your life. Timing is very important.Many people think they are ready for true partnership, but they do not know what it is for, and perhaps they are armored against this realization. So if they met the right person, they would not be ready to participate with them, and this would produce a great and profound conflict.

You must be ready for a greater relationship. You must know where you are going. You must have a deeper sense of your purpose and destiny, even if it is not fully defined yet. It must be real and strong for you. You must be willing not to give yourself to other attractions. You must know enough not to give yourself to other seductions.

Part of your education here is really learning what does not work. It is more a process of elimination. As long as you are drawn by beauty, wealth, and charm, you do not yet have the discernment to see what is really meaningful and important. If you have never really felt a deep connection with another, do not think it is not possible and meant for you.

You have a greater destiny in the world, and there are others who are part of this destiny and who will play a significant role in its discovery and expression. This is an article of faith for you now, for not all your needs can be met in this moment, nor should they be met.

You have to have a sound relationship with your mind and your body. You have to develop your health. You have to develop your Pillar of Work. You have so many things to do now to build your foundation in life. You have the Steps to Knowledge to take to build your connection with Knowledge. No one should be pining away for a relationship when they have all of this work to do to build their foundation.

A relationship cannot take the place of this, ever. You cannot be waiting for someone to give you all the meaning and value of your life. For if you do not have this foundation, you will not be able to participate with them. You will not have the strength, the courage or the self-honesty to be able to participate with someone in a greater way. It will only be a relationship of convenience, a relationship of advantage, a relationship of attachment, a relationship filled with fantasies and expectations that will fail in the face of a real life.

People are attracted and then disappointed, constantly. They are not finding what they are really looking for in one another because they are not looking for the right things. They have not built the patience and the clarity and the discernment within themselves to really know what this means.

Discernment in relationships is very significant, for you can give your life away so very easily. It can be so easy to get involved and so difficult to free yourself later.There are many seductions and many traps. Look around you and see how people have fallen prey to these things. Look without condemnation. Look with the desire to learn, for people are committing every possible form of self-violation out there, particularly in their relationships.

They will teach you the consequences of choosing wrongly, of being attracted by meaningless things, of being seduced by others, by being trapped in relationships, held in place by someone else, unable to extricate themselves, sold on a relationship because there is nothing better or there is something there you wantfinancial security, beauty and charm, shared interests.

But none of these things really constitute a real connection with another. None of them speaks of a greater purpose and destiny in life. They are all momentary attractions, and if you commit yourself to momentary attractions, time will be very disappointing to you.

So you must have the strength, the faith and the confidence to wait, to look and listen. Do not shut people out. Really listen to them. Listen for Knowledge within yourself as you listen to them. If Knowledge is not responding beyond simple courtesy, you do not need to respond, nor should you.You are looking for one or two or three people who will make the great difference in your life. Perhaps one will become a life partner. Perhaps one will be a great teacher. Perhaps one will be a great companion in your work. Perhaps one will just teach you momentarily something of immense value or point your life in a direction, showing you the way to go.

You might need other people for simple thingsto provide goods and services, for simple companionship, for lighthearted enjoyment, but do not give yourself away to them.Do not give yourself away to anyone until you have built this deeper foundation within yourself. Do not let impatience or compulsion drive you. Do not let the persuasions of others or the power of seduction drive you.

Take your time. Do not hurry into any relationship. Listen to others carefully, to hear what their presence in your life means, if it means anything at all.If you are patient and observant, you will know. If you are reckless and compulsive, your life will be calamitous, and you will have a string of failed relationships or be circumscribed in an unhappy marriage or other arrangements with people.

The longer you are in a relationship that does not have this greater promise, the harder it will be to free yourself, for you will become dependent upon security and familiarity. You will need the person more than really want to be with them. And this is a dreadful trap, dreadful to the Spirit, dreadful in that it pre-empts you from finding your greater purpose and the individuals who will make all the difference in your discovery and expression of this purpose.

Do not worry that you are getting older. Do not let that drive your decision. If you are not meant to meet the significant partner for three years, let us say as an example, what are you going to do in the next three years? Go in and out of relationship, experience frustration, heartbreak, anger or resentment, disappointment, burning up your life over engagements that have no promise, while the Four Pillars of your life (Pillar of Relationships, Pillar of Work and Providership, Pillar of Health, Pillar of your Spiritual Development) remain undeveloped and un-recognized?

Can you be out of relationship for three years while you are building other aspects of your life? If you cannot, then you have a problem with personality addiction and this has nothing to do with real relationships. This is a personality disorder.Can you face loneliness and emptiness, or must you have constant stimulation, constant romance, constant infatuation and with them all the disappointment, frustration and disapproval that this generates?

You will waste your life and other peoples lives doing this. It is not necessary, you see. Constant searching, constant hoping and wanting someonethis is pointless and unnecessary, you see, for when you are ready, Knowledge will bring into your life the individual that you need and the people that you need for other parts of your life.

Do not think that everyone who crosses your path has been destined to meet you. If you have many engagements with people, many people will be crossing your path. You might have momentary encounters with them. They too are looking for certain individuals. Everyone is looking even if they are pretending not to be looking.But it must be the real engagement, you see. Knowledge will know. If you are strong with Knowledge, you will know. You will feel Knowledges response. It will be clear. It will be simple.

Perhaps you will meet someone, and Knowledge will say, Ah, this is your husband or your wife you are meeting here. None of this drama and excitement and infatuation and personal suffering and anguish that people go through in their romantic endeavors, their romantic escapadesjust a recognition.

Then you have to see if the person is really ready for this and if, in fact, this is who they are in your life, and you take your time doing that. It does not have all the glory and sensation and extravagance that you see in the movie picture. It is a simple recognition because the resonance is there and the connection is there.The right person is the right person. Now you must discern if they are ready for this and if you are ready for this. Then you must learn of their traits and their values to see if there is sufficient compatibility between you, to allow a relationship to be formed and sustained.

You may have a greater destiny, but that does not mean that you can function successfully together. You will have to wait and see. If you value your life, you will not want to give it away. You will not want to gamble it. You have nothing to lose by taking time to see. If this is really the person for you, they are not going to go away. You can afford to take time.

For a relationship to function in the world, it must have a sufficient degree of compatibility. That does not mean you are completely the same, of course not. But you must have compatibility regarding your values, regarding your lifestyle, regarding your use of money, regarding how you look at work, regarding, really, the Four Pillars of your life.

Here you cannot rehabilitate anyone, for they are either ready or they are not. They are either right or they are not. The relationship is going to work or it does not.All this work that people do on their relationships is foolishness. It means the relationship does not work, and they are to keep trying to make it work, and they invest time and money and energy and sometimes a whole life into trying to make something work that really just does not work. They have no idea that if the relationship worked, they would not have to invest this kind of time. Yes, there are corrections and learning to be done and being together. But if you are always working on a relationship, it does not work. Spare yourself this fundamental lesson in life that can occupy so much of your life to learn.

Knowledge will know. But then you must find out the particulars of a persons life to see if you can communicate, if you can share your values, if you can be together harmoniously.Sometimes people are attracted to people very different from themselves, but these relationships are almost never successful. They require too much adjustment, too much conflict, too much disparity and too much personal adjustment.

If you are with someone whose values are very different from yours, you will never be comfortable with them, and your being together will never be smooth and easy.This is not about falling in love. You can fall in love with someone you can never be in a relationship with. So infatuation or even recognition does not mean a relationship. This is another great lesson of life.

Perhaps you will fall in love with many people over the course of your life, but you cannot marry them all. Some are personality infatuations. Some represent relationships from the ancient past that you are now re-experiencing and want to experience again. And some represent real connections that could not be brought into being because the people were not ready or mature enough to participate effectively together. In the moment, you will not know what is what. So be careful about letting yourself become so infatuated with anyone.

Do not want and try to be in love. That is blind and foolish. There are many people who could excite the deeper passions of the heart with whom you could never function together.You can be in love with someone whose values are so different from yours that you could not stand to be together beyond the initial romantic phase. You will constantly be arguing, constantly in friction, constantly disagreeing, constantly maladapting to each other.People fall in love and get married without any idea of what they are doing in their lives or where they are going. They just assume if you are in love you should be married. It is a great mistake. You might feel spontaneous love for someone, but do not let yourself go overboard with that.

In relationship, you are choosing your primary influence. You are assigning the person to be your chief influence, your chief advisor. It is a practical arrangement, not just an emotional one.

Do not think if you work hard enough, if you love enough, you will make it all work. This is foolishness. You will have to work at relationship, certainly, to a degree. You will have to adapt, certainly, to a degree. You will have to relinquish some of your personal freedoms and recklessness to be in a real relationship, of course. You will have to be attentive. You will have to be honest. You will have to be engaged. But people take this to mean that they can make a relationship work with someone whom they want for themselves, and this is a cruel error.

If you feel like you are going to fall in love with someone, hold yourself back, keep your eyes open. This is a very important learning and very necessary for you to become mature and wise.To be swept along by impressions and infatuations, to allow yourself to be seduced by others, to be overtaken by beauty, wealth or charm is such a form of self-betrayal. It is such a dangerous involvement. It has such profoundly difficult and unfortunate consequences.

You have to be very careful here. Who you associate with and how you associate with them has all the bearing for your life and the kind of life you have and the opportunities you have.Likewise, do not become sexually engaged with anyone unless it represents a real partnership for you, for sexuality is a commitment by its very nature. You may think of it as a casual involvement, but emotionally it is never casual. Your relationship will never be the same. And if it cannot fulfill itself at a greater level, it will be disappointing, and that will generate resentment and failed expectations, disappointment.

You can not alwaysjust be a friend with someone who was once a lover, for you have crossed a threshold where you are pretending to be in a real relationship even though perhaps you never were.Sexuality is wonderful with the right person and damaging with the wrong person. Never treat this lightly. Never think of this as a casual, recreational kind of involvement. To your body it is the real thing. To your emotions it is serious because it is consequential.

Here you may have to hold yourself back and learn to restrain yourself, or you will give yourself away recklessly, hopelessly and cause great damage. And as a result, you will never know what is really true within yourself.

People use each other so thoughtlessly in this regard and give themselves away so thoughtlessly in this regard. Particularly in the more free nations, the democratic nations, people have such access to each other that they can indulge themselves at great damage to themselves and to other peopledamaging their own integrity and the integrity of another, playing with the affections of another, pretending to be serious when in fact they have no real intentions here. Do not play these games with yourself or with others, for they produce nothing but harm.

You will see through disappointment here that you really do have deeper intentions regarding relationships. You have a more serious intention here. And what is that? And what does that mean? What does that require? And what are you really looking for in another? And are you yourself ready to be in a relationship of a greater nature or are you only pretending and flirting?

People commit themselves before they are ready. They get married before they are ready. They give their life away before they even know what their life is for, where it is going or what it really means. This happens all the time.So you have unhappy marriages and unhappy families. People are trapped. People are unhappy. People have capitulated. And now you have unhappy children being taught all the lessons of compromise that their parents have made.

To break this pattern, to break free of this reality that people have created, you must follow a deeper Knowledge within yourself and know what this means and how it feels, what it feels like to be restrained by Knowledge.

Take your decisions to Knowledge. If Knowledge is not choosing, well, you do not need to choose. If Knowledge is not saying yes, then do not say yes. If Knowledge is silent, then you be silent. If Knowledge is not committing itself, do not commit yourself.If it is not a yes, it is a no. There are no maybes. Do not tantalize yourself with that. That is trying to get what you want in the face of all the evidence that you are on the wrong track. So there is no maybe.Take your time. Look and listen to another. Do not become sexually involved with them. Do not be pressured to do so.

People will tell you all about themselves right away: their behavior, their intentions, their self-honesty, their interests, their values, their sincerity or lack of it, their self-awareness or lack of it. Do not be convinced by appearances. You must look deeper than this.

This will save your life. Later on, you will think back and say, Oh my God, I could have married this person. Oh my God, I could have become involved with this person. And if your life is really moving in the right direction, you will see what a calamity that would have been and how that would have used up such a great part of your life to try to get clear and to extricate yourself from that situation. And when you finally meet the people you need to meet, you will be so grateful you did not compromise before. You will be so grateful.

Ultimately, your focus must be on contribution in the worldwhere you are meant to be, what you are meant to do, where you are meant to give. If this is the focus of your life, then relationships will easily be a part of that, or they will not. And it will be very much easier to see if a person can fit into that or not.

That is why focusing on the presence of Knowledge and learning to read the signs of your own deeper inclinations are so extremely important before you become committed to another. Here you are seeking the kingdom first. You are seeking the reality of your life first. You are trying to discern a deeper direction.You are willing to be alone to do this. You are willing to forgo immediate gratification to do this because it is so much more important. You will hold yourself back for this.

If you are not extremely physically attractive, it is such an advantage here because the people who are very physically attractive are being constantly bombarded with offers and persuasions and seductions. They are being given power and recognition though they have most often never really earned it through any real merit. They are being seduced, and they will seduce themselves, and you will rarely find a highly physically attractive person who has ever cultivated any depth within themselves. They have become a product to be bought and sold. They are a resource for others. Unless they can see beyond this deception, they will fall prey to it.

As long as you are not hiding from people, avoiding people and denying people, you will be able to see where the connections could possibly be. But in the interim, your real purpose and emphasis and priority is to discern the presence of Knowledge and the signs of a deeper purpose in your life. For whoever you meet must be connected to this Knowledge and this purpose if you are to be with them successfully and if this relationship is to yield anything of real value and importance.

Take the Steps to Knowledge then. Learn from the wisdom of others mistakes and your own errors in judgment. Learn to be clear and sober. Do not condemn people, and do not become infatuated with them either. Do not base your expectations upon potential in others, for what you see today is really what you have in front of you.

There are so many important lessons here in discernment. But they all must be practiced to be realized. Take your path and evaluate it. Watch others clearly so that their accomplishments and mistakes can educate you. Let the world teach you what is true and how to distinguish it from what is not true, what is really good from what only looks good.

Be sober. Be clear. Do not give your life away. Build your connection to Knowledge. Begin to discern the evidence that you are here for a greater purpose. Do this without coming to conclusions; just allow the evidence to grow.

Feel Knowledge moving you and holding you back. Take good care of your mind and your body. Be present to others, but be reserved. Then you will have the freedom to practice this deeper discernment, and you will see how invaluable it is and how it is so lacking in other peoples discernment and decision-making.

Knowledge is here to take you somewhere, to prepare you, to strengthen you, to show you the difference between what is real and what is not real.

You have a greater destiny and a greater purpose. You must follow this pathway and not give it up for love or money, not for beauty, wealth or charm. If you do this, your life will be preserved, and you will be able to become strong and mature enough to engage with certain people with whom you share a greater destiny. You will find them, and they will find you. And you will be ready for one another.

from Gnosis by Boris Mouravieff

Human love is imperfect because it is instinctive and impulsive. As long as man automatically follows his impulses, his love will serve only the cosmic goals of the ensemble [the General Law/Matrix]. The pleasure he always gains from this is as much an equilibrating element as a reward. As it is, it will not serve his esoteric evolution in any way.

Yet Love is the surest and most powerful means of achieving this evolution. This is because Love is the one objective element in our lives. That objectivity remains true in all Loves many aspects, and through all the variety of its manifestations. Love can, in effect, serve man in his esoteric evolution. However, to achieve this aim, man must apply conscious efforts to this love, not allow himself be led on by impulses. It can then be used to accelerate the growth of his Personality and its progress towards the second Birth, the first tangible result of esoteric practices.

This work, done by man and woman working together, can develop with extraordinary power and give rapid results on condition that from the esoteric point of view the two beings entirely suit each other, and also on condition that they are a perfect couple, that is, that their combination with reservations concerning the peculiarities of their human type reflects the relation between the absolute I and the You before the Creation of the Universe. This is the case of those beings known in esoteric science as polar beings.

We must add that now, at the threshold of the era of the Holy Spirit, where all that is wronghowever well-intentionedmust fall and break, the problem of the real polarity of couples becomes crucially important. Two beings, man and woman, who are supposed to be polar, cannot be absolutely certain of their polarity until later on, when they have reached the level of man 4, on the threshold of level 5. This is because, although polar in essence, each of them brings with them a past that covers their real I with a dissimilar crust. Those who are polar in essence must take this fact into account. It is only when they gradually shed this crust that the qualities of their essence will progressively shine through, bringing at each discovery an abundance of ineffable joy. Thus their love will always grow.

Conscious personal efforts, especially efforts between two polar beings, and the joint efforts of people who have already progressed in the search for the Way, mark out the route for those who want to serve, who wish to be useful to the task of redemption which esoteric work wants to accomplish today in the whole world.

To set out on the Way, man must necessarily go through an inner collapse of the Personality, what we call moral bankruptcy. Then he will know the vain illusion of pride, and the true value of humility.To return to this source, the chief practical objectives are mastery of the sexual centre, and the training of the emotional centre. However, for this esoteric work to be completed successfully by two people, it is essential that the two beings man and woman are integrally polar.

Here the real I is involved, and the couples Love, while containing all the possibilities already described in the preceding cases, has a singularly emotional character of a higher order. It naturally follows as this Love is hylic, psychic and spiritual at the same time, thus leading to an attraction that is visual, auditory and tactile, it is incomparably richer.

The chief characteristic of this so-called Royal case is the bi-polarity of the real I one for each couple. This orients their Personalities and their bodies in such a way that what each hopes for and awaits from the other is precisely, and very naturally, what the other desires to and is prepared to offer. It is only in a case of this kind that there can be absolute harmony between a couple, and even this is conditional on each of them trying progressively to liquidate his or her karmic burden and to establish a balance between the lower centres, whose development must be pushed to the limit.

These are the combined objectives which the allegedly polar couple who enter on the fifth way must seek through their work. This means that, right from the beginning, the Knight and his Lady-elect must practice courtly Love, which unites in itself Faith, Hope and Knowledge (Gnosis).

from Letters on Yoga by Sri Aurobindo

[Note: Sri Aurobindos comment is addressed to a man who asked the question. Obviously you can interchange the gender reference.]

Q: How can one know when he meets his psychic (soul) mate?

SRI AUROBINDO: How do you know a spiritual experience? It is all a matter of feeling and inner perception. It is an art and not a science. When she walks into your life you will know her right enough. As I have told you again and again, no rigid and hard and fast rule is possible in things like this. Union with woman is right in one case and perhaps wrong in other 99 cases. In that one case again without his Shakti (i.e. feminine counterpart) the mans progress will be very slow and he may even go wrong. In the other 99 cases contact with woman itself may prove an obstacle. There are so many hostile [hyperdimensional] powers working against the right union of complementary souls that very often, you can seldom meet your right mate. Of course I am talking of the path and not of the goal.

When you reach the highest you will have to see whether you can get your Shakti. Without a Shakti you can yourself be perfect, in the sense that you can attain full knowledge, power and Ananda and change your entire organised being into its divine nature, but when you want to throw your powers on the world for creation, it is different. Take my instance. It may so happen that I reach the highest all alone, my Shakti falling in the way. Then I cannot create without her. I can by my highest siddhi only prepare the way for others to follow and accomplish the rest in the future.

It is not only the [occult] dark forces who obstruct and make it impossible for the twin souls to meet, but even when they actually meet their life may get wrecked owing to mental and vital impediments. It is only when the psychic [soul embodiment] or the spiritual part is predominant in both, the two can really fulfil one another and progress higher and higher.

The [ occult hyperdimensional] hostile powers working against the siddhi of yogis are difficult to conquer. Ordinarily we are in complete darkness or ignorance with only flashes of knowledge now and then, even when the sadhaka has risen into a continual glow of knowledge and can discern the play of all the dark forces, he is not exempt from attack. Only when he reaches full illumination and is in serene and revealed knowledge he is beyond them and safe.

byShelly Bullard

We are approaching a period of time when relationships are ready to go through a major redesign. The current paradigm isnt working. People are unsatisfied in love; people dont know how to make relationships work.

And, believe it or not, this isnt a bad thing. Because when systems break-down, thats when they change. I believe thats whats happening in the area of intimate partnership. The break-down is forcing us to move towards conscious love.

So what exactly is a conscious relationship?

Its a romantic relationship in which both partners feel committed to a sense of purpose, and that purpose is growth. Individual growth. Collective growth as a couple. Growth that makes the world a better place.

As of now, most people get into relationships to satisfy their own personal needs. This might work for a few years, but eventually the relationship fails us, and we end up unsatisfied as a result.

Go here to see the original:
Discernment in Relationships and Conscious Relating

For the family of spiritual practices that originated in India, see Hatha yoga and Asana.

Yoga as exercise or alternative medicine is a modern phenomenon which has been influenced by the ancient Indian practice of hatha yoga. It involves holding stretches as a kind of low-impact physical exercise, and is often used for therapeutic purposes.[1][2][3] Yoga in this sense often occurs in a class and may involve meditation, imagery, breath work and music.[4][5]

Both the meditative and the exercise components of hatha yoga have been researched for both specific and non-specific health benefits. Hatha yoga has been studied as an intervention for many conditions, including back pain, stress, and depression. In general, it can help improve quality of life, but does not treat disease.[6]

A survey released in December 2008 by the US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health[7] found that hatha yoga was the sixth most commonly used alternative therapy in the United States during 2007, with 6.1 percent of the population participating.[8]

Yoga came to the attention of an educated western public in the mid 19th century along with other topics of Hindu philosophy. The first Hindu teacher to actively advocate and disseminate aspects of yoga to a western audience was Swami Vivekananda, who toured Europe and the United States in the 1890s[9] (however, Vivekananda put little emphasis on the physical practices of Hatha Yoga in his teachings).[10]

The physical asanas of hatha yoga have a tradition that goes back to at least the 15th century, but they were not widely practiced in India prior to the early 20th century. Hatha yoga was advocated by a number of late 19th to early 20th century gurus in India, including Tirumalai Krishnamacharya in south India, Swami Sivananda in the north, Sri Yogendra in Bombay, and Swami Kuvalayananda in Lonavala, near Bombay.[11] In 1918, Pierre Bernard, the first famous American yogi, opened the Clarkstown Country Club, a controversial retreat center for well-to-do yoga students, in New York State.[12] In the 1960s, several yoga teachers, most notably B.K.S. Iyengar, K. Pattabhi Jois, Swami Vishnu-devananda, and Swami Satchidananda became active and popular in the West.[11][13][14] A hatha "yoga boom" followed in the 1980s, as Dean Ornish, MD, a medical researcher and follower of Swami Satchidananda, connected hatha yoga to heart health, legitimizing hatha yoga as a purely physical system of health exercises outside of counter culture or esotericism circles, and unconnected to a religious denomination.[9]

Since then, hatha yoga has been used as supplementary therapy for diverse conditions such as cancer, diabetes, asthma, and AIDS.[15]

The more classical approaches of hatha yoga, such as Iyengar Yoga, move at a more deliberate pace, emphasize proper alignment and execution and hold asanas for a longer time. They aim to gradually improve flexibility, balance, and strength. Other approaches, such as Ashtanga or Power Yoga, shift between asanas quickly and energetically. More recently, contemporary approaches to yoga, developed by Vanda Scaravelli and others, invite students to become their own authority in yoga practice by offering principle-based approaches to yoga that can be applied to any form.[16]

Yoga has roots in India. The foundational text for yoga is the Yoga Sutra. Religious articles from a variety of views and beliefs have been published to try to show that Yoga is leading people from their previous beliefs into eastern religions. Some websites are wholly dedicated to this purpose, under names such as "Yogadangers.com"[17] Evangelical Christian leader Albert Mohler is a critic of yoga, saying 'the embrace of yoga is a symptom of our postmodern spiritual confusion'.[18]

Nearly all types of hatha yoga practices include asana, pranayama and savasana.[19]

While much of the medical community views the results of Hatha Yoga research to be significant, others argue that there were many flaws that undermine results. Much of the research on Hatha Yoga has been in the form of preliminary studies or clinical trials of low methodological quality, including small sample sizes, inadequate blinding, lack of randomization, and high risk of bias.[20][21][22] As of 2011, evidence suggests that Hatha Yoga may be at least as effective at improving health outcomes as other forms of mild physical exercise when added to standard care. What is found most concerning regarding the legitimacy of Hatha Yoga as a method of healing is the current lack of specificity and standardization regarding the practice of Hatha Yoga. One recent study examined the difficulties of implementing Hatha Yoga-based therapies and methods of healing without any detailed, standardized and vetted descriptions of the asanas promoted as being beneficial for healing. This research calls for the creation of supported intervention practices that could be distributed and applied for use in clinical practice for patients.[23]

The therapeutic benefits of yoga have been discussed by van der Kolk, who explains that because regulation of physical movement is a fundamental priority of the nervous system, focusing on and developing an awareness of physical movement can lead to improved synchrony between mind and body. This is beneficial, he says, especially for those suffering from psychological conditions such as depression and PTSD (the focus of van der Kolks work), because an improved sense of connectedness between mind and body give rise to enhanced control and understanding of their "inner sensations" and state of being.[23]

Yoga is a core component of the Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program. Drawing from recent research on the mental and physical benefits of practicing yoga, positive psychologists have begun to look deeper into the possibilities of utilizing yoga to improve life for people even in the absence of disease.[23]

Although relatively safe, Hatha Yoga is not risk free. Sensible precautions can usefully be taken for example beginners should avoid advanced moves, Hatha Yoga should not be combined with psychoactive drug use, and competitive Hatha Yoga should be avoided.[37]

When using Hatha Yoga as a treatment, patients should inform the teacher of their physical limitations and concerns. Functional limitations should be taken into consideration. Modifications can then be made using props, altering the duration or poses.[38]

The practice of Hatha Yoga has been cited as a cause of hyperextension or rotation of the neck, which may be a precipitating factor in cervical artery dissection.[39]

A small percentage of Hatha Yoga practitioners each year suffer physical injuries analogous to sports injuries.[40]

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