In one of my favorite movies, “Alice in Wonderland”, the caterpillar asks Alice several times, “whoooo are youuu”? Alice is so overwhelmed and confused, trying to understand the environment she is in and her place in it, that she hardly knows what to say and doesn’t have an answer. How many of us have felt – and possibly still feel – this way? How many times have we encountered “caterpillars” asking us that same question? And, more importantly, how many times have we asked our own selves that question – “who am I?” Do you know the answer? Like with Alice, the problem for us is that life seems too overwhelming at times and we become confused, and so it goes that we fall in line with the rest of the herd in this illusion we call reality. With no real guidance or direction, it is tough (but not impossible) to find enough clarity of mind to delve deeper down the rabbit hole of our minds and spirits and begin to ask the right things: Who are we? Where did we come from? Why are we here? Not knowing the answers to these essential questions creates mental handicaps of unnecessary uncertainty and illusory “limits”. It is these illusory limits in our minds that push us further away from who we are, and, desperate for answers to our identity, we compensate by entering a pool of people who have defined themselves by a single word, or very specific nouns (your name/material things you own) or what they do (occupation/eating style/hobby), and we make permanent residence in a limited label life that leaves us even more discontent than before. Who are you again?

We are living in a world of labels that by default reduces us to one word: our name. Our names, although not who we are, are needed in order to use as a form of communication (or as I would call: incomplete identification). Nowadays, with the emergence of social networking, (which is wonderful in many ways) we are forced to come up with yet more limiting names that are suppose to define who we are. They might state what we like doing, but those nicknames do not define who we are. On top of that, in the past couple of years, another limiting trend has emerged: the “I am my food style”.  As if the way you eat defines (in other words, IS) who you are. Eating a plant-based diet is something I do, it might say something about the way I think to a certain extent (because we all have different reasons why we eat in a particular way, so you have to ask the individual personally), but its certainly not WHO I AM. I am not what I do, I am not my material possessions, not my car, not my house, not my job, nor my eating style. You are not your profession or how much money you make. All of these things can’t tell me who you are. Tangible, and visible things will certainly express a small reflection of your internal self, but physical expressions change as we continuously gain life experience, and, hopefully, evolve.

The bare and raw picture here is that we are beings defined by nothing tangible. We are limitless multidimensional beings having a limited, material (amazing, if you choose and believe it) experience created by us. We are light-energy beings having a physical experience. Our intangibility, such as our thoughts, words, actions and how much these three are in alignment with each other, do continuously define us more than anything else. If we can understand this, see ourselves in this way – with intangible eyes – approach our identity from this perspective, and WORK to get to know ourselves on this level, then we can start to get to know who we really are, begin a relationship with our selves and maintain our ego in a productive, positive balance. From that global perspective, and with knowledge and understanding of our true multidimensional selves, we can begin to give answers to the questions of who we are and why we are here, and develop genuine love within ourselves as well as with others.

Change is and has been in the air – in the economy, in the way we relate and communicate via technology – for a while now. We can all feel and see it. But are we personally engaging in that change? While most of us know that something has changed in the world in a collective way and we are also feeling this in our own selves somehow, we may not be able to fully embrace this change unless we bring that change along into our conscious minds.

Beyond the major socioeconomic and geophysical (natural phenomenon) changes, you may have noticed the signs. More synchronicity – running into that person that you were “just thinking about the other day”, getting a call from someone you were about to call, remembering someone from your past and seeing that person the following morning at the mall, dreaming up some wonderful idea and seeing pictures or words that express that idea “out of nowhere” as you go about your day.  All of these are the personal phenomenons, the mental changes that are taking place in your subconscious mind, and in the collective “mind” of the planet.

Time is accelerating. You may have noticed that a week passes by in a day, before you know it, summer is here (wasn’t it just New Years?) In fact, time is a bit shorter now as the planet’s axis has undergone further inclination, something that affects its rotation and therefore how we are perceiving time. Our clocks may not reflect it, but we are living a much faster today and an even faster tomorrow.  On a good note, this means that, biologically, you are actually younger than you think!  On a more sobering note, the time has come to do what you are here to do, no if/ands/buts or “waits” about it.

This time – whatever you want to call it, be it  the Anthropocene Epoch according to scientists, the end/beginning of a time period according to the Mayan  long-form calendar, the New Era according to metaphysical teachers and esoteric masters – is a one thing for certain: A time for you to begin to trust that there is a reason why you are here, in a time of so much change. Because a time of change is a time of opportunity. Change is growth. And this is a time for you to grow into being that grandest, most evolved, most elevated version of Who You Are, the one that takes responsibility for himself and for others, the one that makes her dreams a reality, the one that has his eyes open and sees everything for what it truly is and no longer focuses on a more dense/surface reality.

A time of change is a great time. But it is not an easy time. Transition makes a person vulnerable as you break one structure to build a new one. Remember adolescence? That is the period were we experience the most physical change. Was it easy for you? Exactly. Growth spurts as your nose grows faster than the rest of you, acne, not growing fast enough as the rest of your guy friends are all in the basketball team if you’re a guy, growing faster than your girl friends in certain areas as you become a shapely “woman” (a woman is defined by more than chest and hips, hence the quotes), and, of course, raging hormones that drive you out of control. This – sudden changes, different rates of change for different parts of you and as compared to your friends, lack of control – all of these are the marks of a period of change. And that is exactly what is happening right now – TO YOUR SOUL.

Embrace change. Bring it to the physical, make it tangible, so you can see it happening as it takes place inside of you. You can do this via arts, crafts, sport, Nature, even in business you can make changes to a different way of doing things. Go with the flow of life; old ways of thinking, more limited, more structured, must give way to increasing expansion and flexibility.  Communicate. Relate – especially to yourself. And know that, just like when you were a teenager with pimples, this apparent “ugly duckling” difficult phase of mental change will give way to a beautiful swan – the new you, inside and out.

Throughout our lives, we have been conditioned to believe that we are our body, our job, our name, etc…to believe that only the tangible is what is “real”. General concepts like health have been distorted and an incomplete picture has been painted, with a controlled, reductionist and limited point of view. We have noticed that when the majority of people think or talk about health, they associate and refer to it only with regards to food and the physical body. The confusion, and the reason that many people cannot achieve true health, real healing addressing the root of the situation, lies in the ignorant mentality that health is a term only applied to our physical body and only what we physically put in it can affect it.

First of all, health is a lifestyle. It is not something that just happens for 30 minutes in your kitchen or  for four hours after in your physical body. Health begins in the mind. The mind dictates, controls and affects the body continuously. We are a compendium of mind, spirit, soul, emotions, and body. Without our thoughts in our mind, and our soul and spirit to animate this body, what we see in the mirror would just be useless flesh. But we do need this body to navigate this experience we call “life”.  With all of this taken into account, health is a word that refers to and applies to our WHOLE Being. Eating right is  A PART of that journey of health, but it is not the complete picture or the whole truth. Healthy eating (aka “nutrition”)  is one aspect of what can contribute to your health. You can have good nutrition but if your thoughts are negative, your are not healthy. And this can be more harmful (to you, others and the planet) than any bad food you put in your system. If you are a positive person with a nutritious diet but you have emotional imbalances and outbursts even if you don’t totally show it in front of people, you are not healthy either. Having health means striving for and maintaining an optimal balance on ALL levels of the self – mind, body, emotions, soul and spirit.  You can eat “healthy” but feed your mind junk by having negative thoughts, taking in ugly images (movies/shows/books) or even by feeling negative emotions.

Health can only be attained through knowledge, understanding and love. This means that, in order to achieve health, we need to seek out information to understand what it is that we need to be healthy, and then apply what we have learned. This is true love – doing the work it requires to know, understand and then put into action the “right” things for your mind, body, and soul. This is what it’s all about – love for the self, for your cells, your spirit, your loved ones. Love will be the motivator as well, the fuel for wanting to seek the knowledge to understand what health is and how to attain and maintain it. Healthy living and consciousness go hand in hand. One cannot exist without the other.

We need to understand the global, more clear picture of what health really is in order to embody it fully and not be confused as to why we still don’t feel well, even with a good diet. Health begins in your mind, and our thoughts and beliefs affect our choices in life. These decisions can either empower or hurt us, create a thriving internal environment or a hostile disease-promoting shell. Health is a holistic matter (see our About Us for FAQ on health and holism), one that encompasses all of you. Let’s make a conscious effort to understand the totality of our being and focus on maintaining health in the only way that it exists: In the order and harmony of your mind, body, and spirit.

]]> http://hlifemedia.com/2010/05/what-is-health-redefining-the-concept/feed/ 3 http://hlifemedia.com/2010/05/a-new-perspective-on-mom/ http://hlifemedia.com/2010/05/a-new-perspective-on-mom/#comments Thu, 06 May 2010 07:00:31 +0000 Silvie Celiz And Maryl Celiz http://hlifemedia.com/?p=4757

As women get older, we go through major changes, like menopause. We are all aware  of the physical alterations our moms go through with age, but today we want to generate awareness about something deeper that is also taking place and is not discussed as much: the emotional implications of aging.

It’s a very difficult thing to look in the mirror one day and see a face that you don’t recognize. Crow’s feet, wrinkles around the mouth, spots, gray hair – all of these physical modifications replace previously flawless skin, bright eyes and lusciously thick hair. At the same time, you feel limited, because your mind remains intact (if you’re healthy) or even improves with age as you accumulate more knowledge and self-understanding, yet your body deteriorates as matter must. Even if you are aware of this happening, it is still a frustrating thing to go through.

With age comes wisdom, and you realize just then that life was made to be lived, enjoyed, not as society dictates for you, but as you decide is best for you. With age also comes experience, and lessons learned from past mistakes that allow you to know how to lead your life now. Another thing that comes with age is the idea of death. When you get older, you understand why death has to take place, as you begin to feel like perhaps you are a burden for society and maybe even for your children, who no longer depend on you, are busy, and have other things to talk about.  All of these thoughts and feelings usually occur in silence, as you don’t want to tell anyone that you are becoming aware of what aging means and don’t want to worry those you love.

Maybe it’s not even your own physical state that affects you; instead, it is others’ reactions to you that make you feel old. You’re in a conversation with younger people and you have the answers to their questions, but nobody pays attention to you because “you’re old, what do you know of the things we go through in our generation, at our age.”

With all of this in mind, we wanted to offer a few suggestions on this Mother’s Day week, for you to understand your parent and what they are feeling as one more year of life reminds them of their aging process. Here are also some recommendations for you, on what to keep in mind to prepare for this inevitable process,  and to make it a graceful and most enjoyable one.

For Mom:

- It’s really important to hang out with people your same age. You know and like the same music, same jokes of your generation, are going through similar experiences, and will find comfort in sharing and being understood.

- Financial security is crucial. You don’t want to have to deal with the added stress of having to generate income when the motivation and ability for this is dwindling. This is a time for stability and enjoying the fruits of your labor.

- Develop a spiritual foundation. Dive into the world of what is beyond the physical, explore what the eye cannot see. Read what different philosophies or schools of thought have to say about your internal world and cosmic realities. Focusing on your inner being will take focus away from the external, material things that don’t last, and will help you deal with their deterioration. If you know that there is such a thing as reincarnation, than death is not a daunting thing but a transition, not an end but a new beginning.

- Take care of your temple.  Eat antioxidant-rich foods, moisturize your face and body, wear a hat when in the sun, and exercise to maintain flexibility and especially strength of bones and muscles. Aging gracefully requires caring for your mind and body so that you can enjoy both longer.

- Continue to find ways to be useful. Maybe your kids don’t need as much care now, but perhaps someone else is in need of teachings/talents/skills you have to offer. Having purpose and a reason to wake up in the morning will help you feel energized and motivated.

- Develop hobbies and talents. It is never too late to be creative or crafty, and learning new things has the added benefit of generating dopamine in the brain (the “happy” chemical) as well as keeping the mind sharp. This is a time of less responsibility and more freedom to write that book you always wanted to write or paint that sunset. Rediscover yourself.

For Daughter/Son:

- Communication is key. Mom is going through something, and allowing her to discuss it with you is an important part of the support process. If it is too difficult to begin a conversation about the topic of aging, do it indirectly. “Interviewing” mom for a work or school project, or asking for her advice on this for a friend, can help her open up because she won’t feel like it is personal between you and her (Moms always want to avoid making us feel bad for them, sad, or “worry” us.)

- Give her the place she deserves as an elder. Our society has lost respect for the value of wisdom, something that comes with knowledge and experience, and hence, with age. Our mothers have gone through the same things we are going through now. Everyone loves, loses, wins, fails, laughs, cries, gives up, gets back up, etc…However you want to dress it up, it’s still this thing called Life. Come to her for advice. Listen to her with an open mind and interest. Allow her to impart her two cents. She will feel like she is still useful, and you will reap all of the benefits of years of experience from someone who loves you and therefore has your best interest in mind.

- See her as a human being, not an old person. Approaching someone for what you have in common (we’re all human beings) rather than what you have that is different (age, race, beliefs) makes for a completely different attitude and dynamic in relationships.

- Love your Mom. Be kind, soft, tender, nurturing, patient with her and her changes, sensitive to her needs. This is a time when we begin to parent our parents in a way, and this is a tricky balancing act. Remember that someday this will be you – how would you like your own children to treat you? As you do to others, so will be done to you.

Speaking of your own children, a note on values: The respect and loving treatment of an aging parent is something that is instilled in us as children. The fundaments of respect and love are set by example, by anecdotes that you tell and fables that you read to your children that illustrate these values, the behaviors that accompany them, and the results of this good behavior.  They may not understand ‘why’ yet, but the idea, the mold, the pattern of treatment will be there, to unfold later when it is needed.

We’ll leave you with a little anecdote our Mom told us one day:

There once was a little boy who was carving a wooden dish His parents saw this and, curious, asked him, “Son, what are you doing?”  The boy replied, “I’m carving a plate for you for when you get older and start dropping things and I need to make you eat dinner in the kitchen, in this wooden plate that won’t break. You know, just like you did with grandma.”

One day, we will be “older”. And, hopefully, we will reap the cause-and-effect rewards of a life lived respecting, loving and understanding our own mothers.  Happy Mother’s Day to all of you wonderful Moms, young, older, potential, and future – it is you that make this world what it is by raising your children to be decent and noble contributors to the human race.

Everyone wants love, but not everyone seems to find it. If we have not yet found love, it is a sign that we have some work to do internally. We are walking magnets, attracting all that we are. So, if we are not attracting love, that is because we are not at a frequency of love.

A good starting point to find what you’re looking for is to look at what you are attracting. If you’re attracting loss, it means that your life, the way you are conducting it, is in a frequency of loss. If you attract lack, it is because your life is lacking. My question for you is: Who creates your life? And the answer is obvious: You do. You make your life the way you choose to. There’s no blaming God (the Universe), or parents, or anyone else on this one. You are all grown up, no longer under your parents’ care. You are no longer a kid; you’ve left home and now it is you that is in the driver’s seat of this thing called Your Life.

So, what do we do as fearless teenagers when we set out to “live life”? The first thing is to think that we know it all, that our parents (who were born in the “olden times”) don’t know anything, and that, finally, free of them, we can truly do what we want. Finally.

In our crazy little teenage heads (and thanks to our media-crazed culture), we all fantasize about being like that actress or actor on the big screen. We want to live our lives as if we were the stars of a Hollywood movie. But the role we play will not be our own. Instead, it will be the role of that character that left a lasting impression on us: Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City, Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl, Angelina Jolie in Lara Croft Tomb Raider, Madonna (as her public persona), etc…And we plunge head first with all the impetus of youth into the development of our very own movie. And in doing this, our first step out of the home is: LOSS OF IDENTITY.

Most of us have gone through this type of situation during adolescence, some more intensely than others and in different ways, depending on what we envisioned when we chose our life movie. So, which movie did you choose? Was it a drama? A comedy? A romantic one with the inevitable happy ending? Tragic love story? Science fiction? Fantasy?

What types of movies do you watch? What types of conversations do you have? What books and magazines do you read? In other words: What kind of “mental food” do you put in your mind?

You are what you “eat”. And you attract what you are.

If your thought is “apple”, and you feed your mind everything related to apples, you will attract apples.

And, as with every movie, the most interesting thing to see, is the way it is going to end.

There are many different ending possibilities. What would you like yours to be? For a long time, I lived in a drama. Once I understood the power of words, that I was responsible for my life, and that I could change my destiny, that I had created my life movie and that I had the power to re-create it and put things back in order, I decided to say good-bye to drama and the suffering it brings, and I made a deal with happiness.

With this in mind, what should we do to find love? We should stop looking for it. Instead of continuing to chase it (the boyfriend, the endless meaningless outings/events to find that person), let’s stop for a moment and take a good look at ourselves in order to see how we are conducting our lives, what we are surrounding ourselves with, and what is within us that we have not yet seen. With the awareness that we are what we think, let’s take a serious look at our thoughts: Are they all about passion, passion, and more passion? Sex, sex, and more sex? Need? That is not and will never be love. What are we attracting with these types of thoughts? If it is just sex, the sexual act takes but a moment; deed done, you get up, get dressed and get out. Sadly, it’s women who lose at this game, because we are the ones who link sex to sentimentality, while men simply link it to their senses. Once satisfied, a man will move on, while a woman will not because, deep down inside, she will only feel satisfied when she fulfills her true essence, which is all about tenderness, affection, consideration, respect, and the constant and true feelings – not emotions – that lead to passion.

If we understand this, we will have won the battle against ourselves, having broken the cycle of being a slave to our own passions. Love is a feeling, it is not an emotion. And feeling is strength, while emotion is frail, variable. It goes up and down, here today, gone tomorrow. Feelings surpass the ebb and flow of the tides, the tempest, trials and tribulations, and temptation. Feelings are always there, unfailing.

It is time for women to restructure our basics. And the basic essence of a woman is Love.

So, if you are hurt, it’s because you hadn’t quite understood what love really is. And the first person you need to love is YOURSELF. What does this entail? Many things. Do you eat right? Are you in a healthy and productive environment? Are you happy with your job? Are you actively seeking to be a better person? Do you do things for others? Do you thank life for what you have as well as for what you don’t have? (Life is wise and knows why it provides you with some things and not others). Do you take care of your body, your mind, and your spirit? Are you on a continuous path of mental, physical, spiritual and cultural growth? No? Then don’t complain about not finding love. Because if a man sees a woman with so many qualities and much to discuss and share, someone who has found her place in life, and who has a large capacity to give to others, believe me, he will not let her go. What’s more, a man who sees all that and likes it will only be the kind of man that has those same qualities, and only someone with those qualities will have the ability to develop a truly loving relationship. Otherwise, the only thing available will be animal instinct manifest into passion, frivolousness, and the pleasures of the senses. And, just like animals, once basic needs have been met, they will get up and move onto the next diversion.

I hope you take what you’ve read here and truly and deeply meditate upon it. You will be the only one reaping the rewards if you read, understand and APPLY THIS IN YOUR LIFE.

Translated by Maryl Celiz

]]> http://hlifemedia.com/2010/04/love-the-missing-piece/feed/ 4 http://hlifemedia.com/2010/02/the-gift-of-love/ http://hlifemedia.com/2010/02/the-gift-of-love/#comments Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:31:11 +0000 Maryl Celiz http://hlifemedia.com/?p=3130

Today is a special day for me because it is my birthday, but for everyone else on the planet, February 1st marks the beginning of something else that is equally as wonderful: Love Month.

It might be awards season for Hollywood and heart health awareness month for the American Heart Association, but as is evident by the red and pink displays all over the supermarkets and other stores, February is the month we celebrate love in the form of Valentine’s Day.

So, what exactly are we celebrating here? A relationship? Yes. Traditionally, it is a romantic relationship, a lover’s Hallmark holiday full of greeting cards and gifts, dinner reservations and surprises. In the past decades, it has come to include friendship, with presents being offered to multiple people on multiple levels. Maybe we could extend love month to include all of our relationships, celebrate each person we love in different ways, kind of like what vegan-raw singer Jason Mraz suggested last night at the Grammys: “Your mom, your dad, or your cousin, whoever you’re watching the show with, create them as the best in that category and give them an award. Present them an award tonight…tonight is a night of acknowledgment.” Well, today starts the month of acknowledgment for those we love. Let’s let them know just how much we appreciate them for all that they are to us – all of them, parents, siblings, other relatives, friends, and, of course, romantically significant others.

This includes the most significant person of all: ourselves. Let’s show ourselves the love, too.

What is love? Let me leave you with something entirely different to ponder, something that doesn’t include planning, spending, or anything but your own will…a new definition of love, as per a wise friend.

Love is: Order. When things in your life are in order (internally and externally), this brings about Balance. Being in balance will allow you to have Good Sense. Order, balance and good sense all together will result in Health. When you have health, you can then acquire Knowledge. Knowledge experienced will bring about Understanding.  With all of that, you can then have Harmony.

The compendium of all of these things….is Love.

I know it’s not a massage or a treat, but we’re talking about your growth, you doing the things that will put your life on the great path that it deserves to be in. This is love – for yourself. And that is the greatest gift of all.

Happy Love Month from your HLife family.