MY WORK ... MY PASSION

• Certified Transpersonal Hypnotherapist ; Past experiences: Dream Analysis /10 Years Experience •Psychotherapist / Use of Gestalt, Jungian, Zen, Reality and Energy Therapies /10 Years Experience •EMDR • Men and Their Journey: the neuroscience of the male brain, and the implications in sexuality, education and relationship • Women: Their Transformation and Empowerment ATOD (Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs) / 21 years experience •Ordained Interfaith Minister & Official Celebrant • Social Justice Advocate • Child and Human Rights Advocate • Spiritual Guide and Intuitive • Certified Reiki Practitioner • Mediation / Conflict Resolution • “Intentional Love” Parenting Strategy Groups • Parenting Workshops • Coaching for parents of Indigo, Crystal, and Rainbow Children • International Training: Israel & England • Critical Incident Stress Debriefing • Post-911 and Post-Katrina volunteer

MSW - UNC Chapel Hill

BSW - UNC Greensboro


With immense love I wish Happy Birthday to my three grandchildren!

May 22: Brannock

May 30: Brinkley

June 12: Brogan

All three have birthdays in the same 22 days of the year ....what a busy time for the family!

"An Unending Love"

This blog and video is devoted and dedicated to my precious daughter Jennifer, my grand daughters Brogan and Brinkley, and my grand son Brannock. They are hearts of my heart. Our connection through many lives..... is utterly infinite.




The Definition of Genius

"THRIVE"

https://youtu.be/Lr-RoQ24lLg

"ONLY LOVE PREVAILS" ...."I've loved you for a thousand years; I'll love you for a thousand more....."


As we are in the winter of our lives, I dedicate this to Andrew, Dr. John J.C. Jr. and Gary W., MD, (who has gone on before us). My love and admiration is unfathomable for each of you..........and what you have brought into this world.....so profoundly to me.
The metaphors are rich and provocative; we're in them now. This world is indeed disappearing, and the richest eternal world awaits us!
The intensity, as was in each of the three of us, is in yellow!
In my heart forever.........

Slowly the truth is loading
I'm weighted down with love
Snow lying deep and even
Strung out and dreaming of
Night falling on the city
Quite something to behold
Don't it just look so pretty
This disappearing world

We're threading hope like fire

Down through the desperate blood
Down through the trailing wire
Into the leafless wood

Night falling on the city
Quite something to behold
Don't it just look so pretty
This disappearing world
This disappearing world


I'll be sticking right there with it
I'll be by y
our side
Sailing like a silver bullet
Hit 'em 'tween the eyes
Through the smoke and rising water
Cross the great divide
Baby till it all feels right

Night falling on the city
Sparkling red and gold
Don't it just look so pretty
This disappearing world
This
disappearing world
This disappearing world
This disappearing world


TECHNOLOGY..........

In “Conversations with God”, by Neale Donald Walsch, there is a warning I think of. I refer to it as the Atlantis passage, and I've quoted it a few times before." As I have said, this isn't the first time your civilization has been at this brink,"

God tells Walsch. "I want to repeat this, because it is vital that you hear this. Once before on your planet, the technology you developed was far greater than your ability to use it responsibly. You are approaching the same point in human history again. It is vitally important that you understand this. Your present technology is threatening to outstrip your ability to use it wisely. Your society is on the verge of becoming a product of your technology rather than your technology being a product of your society. When a society becomes a product of its own technology, it destroys itself."

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Ron Paul...A Dangerous Man for Our Country

Illuminati/Rothschild puppet.  Racist, anti-abortion, misogynist....Paul (and/or his son)will take us straight back to the Bush distaste for middle and lower classes. He wants NO Medicare, Medicaid, or any assistance of any sort for those who experience grave difficulty.  Do your research on this man ... and his son! For those Ascension-bound....Ron Paul is the antithesis of everything for which that belief system stands.
He is a  reptilian-souled individual cloaked in the guise of a "so-called respectable citizen"


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Paul

Also, in Wikipedia, is this passage:

Controversial claims made by an unidentified author in Ron Paul's newsletters, written in the first person narrative, included statements such as "Boy, it sure burns me to have a national holiday for Martin Luther King. I voted against this outrage time and time again as a Congressman. What an infamy that Ronald Reagan approved it! We can thank him for our annual Hate Whitey Day." Along with "even in my little town of Lake Jackson, Texas, I've urged everyone in my family to know how to use a gun in self defense. For the animals are coming."[137] Two other statements that garnered controversy were "opinion polls consistently show only about 5% of blacks have sensible political opinions". In an article titled "The Pink House" the newsletter wrote that "Homosexuals, not to speak of the rest of society, were far better off when social pressure forced them to hide their activities."[138]
Paul had given his own account of the newsletters during March 2001, stating the documents were authored by ghostwriters, and that while he did not author the challenged passages, he bore "some moral responsibility" for their publication.[139]
At the end of 2007, both the New York Sun and the New York Times Magazine reprinted passages from early 1990s publications of Paul's newsletters, attacking them for content deemed racist.[13] These were the same newsletters that had been used against Paul during his 1996 congressional campaign.
On January 8, 2008, the day of the New Hampshire primary, The New Republic published a story by James Kirchick quoting from selected newsletters published under Paul's name.[53][140]
 
Responding to the charges in a CNN interview, Paul denied any involvement in authoring the passages. Additionally, Paul's campaign claimed through a press release that the quotations had come from an unnamed ghostwriter and without Paul's consent. Paul again denounced and disavowed the "small-minded thoughts", citing his 1999 House speech praising RosaParks for her courage; he said the charges simply "rehashed" the decade-old Morris attack.[141] 




An article in The Daily Link (http://www.thedailylink.org/2007/11/ron-paul-racist-misogynist.html) provides some of Paul's quotes:
http://www.thedailylink.org/2007/11/ron-paul-racist-misogynist.html

Here it is, a collection of some of Paul's "greatest" quotes, taken from seven of his monthly political newsletters written between 1990 and 1994. Because of the incredibly politically incorrect content, Morris asked Paul to release all past copies of the Ron Paul Survival Report to the media, going back to the newsletter's origin in 1986. Paul promised to do so, but never did. Individual copies, however, can be requested from his surfside home, at 409/233-5854. As to why he wouldn't release his entire body of work to the media, Paul says voters may not understand his "tongue-in-cheek, academic" writings.

* "Opinion polls consistently show that only about 5% of blacks have sensible political opinions, i.e. support the free market, individual liberty and the end of welfare and affirmative action."

* Although "we are told that it is evil to be afraid of black men, it is hardly irrational. Black men commit murders, rapes, robberies, muggings and burglaries all out of proportion to their numbers."

* "Black males age 13 that have been raised on the streets and who have joined criminal gangs are as big, strong, tough, scary, and culpable as any adult and should be treated as such."

* "The Earth Summit is the creepiest meeting of politicos since the first gathering of Bolsheviks. Officially known as the UN Conference for Environment and Development, it will be held in Brazil in June; bad guys from all over the globe will attend."

* "[Hillary Clinton] is one of the most dangerous women in public life. Not only is she a fanatical abortion advocate, she wants parents to register with the government as a condition for having children to be able to sue and `divorce' themselves from their parents. Maybe her daughter ought to sue her parents for attempting to raise her as a leftist. That sure qualifies as abuse to me."

* "...University of Texas affirmative action law professor Barbara Jordan is a fraud. Everything from her imitation British accent, to her supposed expertise in law, to her distinguished career in public service, is made up. If there were ever a modern case of the empress without clothes, this is it. She is the archetypical half-educated victimologist, yet her race and sex protect her from criticism."

* Disgruntled taxpayer "Dean Hicks fired bombs through mortars at night at buildings of the Internal Revenue Service in California. Hicks did damage federal property, but no individuals were injured... Hicks was sentenced to 20 years in prison, given a $45,000 fine, and ordered to pay $335,000 in restitution to the IRS. If he had been a serial murderer, he would not have gotten this sort of sentence."

* "Why do we need the federal government? There's no Cold War and no Communist threat. Many other nations are breaking into smaller and smaller pieces. The centralization of power in Washington occurred in a different time. Why not think about getting rid of the federal government, returning to the system of our Founders, and breaking up the United States into smaller government units?"

* "There is good news after the L.A. riots. Statewide, gun sales are up 45% over the same period last year. People have been purchasing a record number. If the cops are not going to take care of the problem, the people will."

* "There is no such thing as a hate crime, only crimes against person and property."]

Letter from the Disclosure Project to President Obama

Letter from the Disclosure Project to President Obama

Awakening Signs

The People Beg to Differ, Mr. Romney: Corporations Aren’t People

The People Beg to Differ, Mr. Romney: Corporations Aren’t People

The Sun Magazine | What Did You Dream Last Night?

The Sun Magazine | What Did You Dream Last Night?

Inside 9/11 - Hijacking the air defense

Little by little...the TRUTH is coming to light.  This is no longer a "conspiracy theory"

8/12: Americans Dismal About Economy’s Future…Obama Not Faulted for Financial Picture

Americans have become significantly more pessimistic about the U.S. economy.  According to this national McClatchy-Marist Poll, nearly seven in ten adults nationwide — 68% — believe the worst of the country’s economic conditions are yet to come.  27% say the worst is behind us, and 6% are unsure........


continue.....

An Explosive New 9/11 Charge


With the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks only a month away, former CIA Director George Tenet and two former top aides are fighting back hard against allegations that they engaged in a massive cover-up in 2000 and 2001 to hide intelligence from the White House and the FBI that might have prevented the attacks.
The source of the explosive, unproved allegations is a man who once considered Tenet a close friend: former White House counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke, who makes the charges against Tenet and the CIA in an interview for a radio documentary timed to the 10th anniversary next month. Portions of the Clarke interview were made available to The Daily Beast by the producers of the documentary

continue.....

Friday, August 12, 2011

Principles of Personal Transformation

In the following dialogue, excerpted and edited from the Institute of Noetic Sciences’ teleseminar series “Essentials of Noetic Science,” IONS President Marilyn Mandala Schlitz talks with Stuart Hameroff, Professor Emeritus, Departments of Anesthesiology and Psychology, and Director for the Center for Consciousness Studies, both at the University of Arizona. The Center sponsors the annual Toward a Science of Consciousness conference, the largest and longest-running event of its kind in the world, which emphasizes rigorous and interdisciplinary approaches to the study of conscious awareness. Hameroff’s theories of the mechanisms of consciousness are 
starting to spark interest among both scientists and mystics.


continue.........

The Economic Illiterates Step Up the Attack on Social Security and Medicare | MichaelMoore.com

Each individual on Earth is exploring in a physical body new ways of experiencing life. Through this process of discovery, each of us is developing a deeper level of understanding of life and a greater ability to express our divine essence. This divine essence is the fullest expression of each individual's soul, and most closely exemplifies the Divine's capabilities therein.
Divine essence is a level of divine awareness that was "seeded" within each soul when it was initially conceived by the Divine. It is also the natural state of the soul that has removed itself from the controlling aspects of hierarchical belief systems through the complete awakening of its sacred intentions. All souls are in various stages of transformation, and all people are destined to attain a level of conscious awareness of divine essence as their sacred intentions are fully awakened.


continue......

Energy Psychology: The Future of Therapy? | Issue Thirteen, August 2011 | Noetic Now | Institute of Noetic Sciences

Energy Psychology: The Future of Therapy? | Issue Thirteen, August 2011 | Noetic Now | Institute of Noetic Sciences

An Open Letter to Congress | Showdown in America

An Open Letter to Congress | Showdown in America

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Clear The Clutter And Clear Your Vibration!

Clear The Clutter And Clear Your Vibration!

Change Your Vibrational Offering And Change Your Life!

Change Your Vibrational Offering And Change Your Life!

Inelia Benz: Fear Processing Exercise

Inelia Benz: Fear Processing Exercise

"Afterlife Encounters" with Dianne Arcangel | IONS Library | Institute of Noetic Sciences

"Afterlife Encounters" with Dianne Arcangel | IONS Library | Institute of Noetic Sciences

What is Consciousness? A Conversation with Stuart Hameroff | Issue Thirteen, August 2011 | Noetic Now | Institute of Noetic Sciences

What is Consciousness? A Conversation with Stuart Hameroff | Issue Thirteen, August 2011 | Noetic Now | Institute of Noetic Sciences

What is Consciousness? A Conversation with Stuart Hameroff | Issue Thirteen, August 2011 | Noetic Now | Institute of Noetic Sciences

What is Consciousness? A Conversation with Stuart Hameroff | Issue Thirteen, August 2011 | Noetic Now | Institute of Noetic Sciences

The Noetic Imperative and the Myths of Science | Issue Thirteen, August 2011 | Noetic Now | Institute of Noetic Sciences

The Noetic Imperative and the Myths of Science | Issue Thirteen, August 2011 | Noetic Now | Institute of Noetic Sciences

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

"Children...." from Marilyn Raffaele

How can we help our children clear their karma? Children who have not been programmed by “authority figures” act upon instinct and intuition, which is in consonance with their soul contracts, and the “clearing of karma” naturally follows. It is adults who devise unnecessary complexities for themselves by overly analyzing and calculating the very things that children innately know are simple. 

Minority Rules: Scientists Discover Tipping Point for the Spread of Ideas

Minority Rules: Scientists Discover Tipping Point for the Spread of Ideas

30 Years Ago Today: The Day the Middle Class Died | MichaelMoore.com

30 Years Ago Today: The Day the Middle Class Died | MichaelMoore.com

An Open Letter to Congress | Showdown in America

An Open Letter to Congress | Showdown in America

Protect and Strengthen Social Security | National Nurses United

Protect and Strengthen Social Security | National Nurses United

30 Years Ago Today: The Day the Middle Class Died | MichaelMoore.com

30 Years Ago Today: The Day the Middle Class Died | MichaelMoore.com

5 Reasons Why People Resist Learning, and "Stay Stuck"

from: nextfoundation.org

1. People find it difficult to admit a deficiency.
People allow their disappointment to dampen their life instead of refine their determination to change.
2. People can’t live with mess.
Learning is messy.
Learning means you have to actively pursue failure.
I am a spectacular failure in many areas of my life – once upon a time that is the reason I am seeing success in some areas.
Failure is the fuel for personal growth.
3. We live in a state of judgment not learning instead of learning from life.
Learning from people or new situations we judge them.
We judge ourselves by what we can’t do.
We judge our lives by what we feel can’t take place.
We judge opportunities instead of appreciating them.
4. We fall into the ‘perfect people syndrome.’
We feel we are constantly on trail therefore we have to always present ourselves as being perfect.
The only way you can learn and grow is to identify a deficiency or a need or an area you desire to grow in.
5. We don’t give people permission to speak into our lives and situations.
We give life service to accountability.
We give lip service to submission.
We give lip service to the concepts of being pastured or coach.
But when it really comes down to it, what we are after is permission to stay the same, do the same, be the same.
We don’t like to be challenged because that implies a response.
And response imply choices.
And choice implies change.
And change implies learning.

Fluid Intelligence and Transparency

Fluid Intelligence and Transparency

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Constant Joy

Constant Joy

How to Capture Joie De Vivre - wikiHow

How to Capture Joie De Vivre - wikiHow

A Learning a Day: Learner or Judger?

A Learning a Day: Learner or Judger?: "Click on the image to enlarge and view it. This is very deep stuff. This image best describes the very purpose and objective of this blog. ..."

Bringing Empathy Back to Life – The Sweet Pursuit – Utne Reader

Bringing Empathy Back to Life – The Sweet Pursuit – Utne Reader

U.N. Agencies Duck Taking Stand on Safe Abortion | Womens eNews

U.N. Agencies Duck Taking Stand on Safe Abortion | Womens eNews

FDA Formula Probe Is Good News for Mothers, Babies | Womens eNews

FDA Formula Probe Is Good News for Mothers, Babies | Womens eNews

Healing Fatherhood Karma

Healing Fatherhood Karma

Where The Tax Cut Fairies Live

Where The Tax Cut Fairies Live

The Tea Party Won

The Tea Party Won

How To Fix America In 126 Super Cute Seconds

How To Fix America In 126 Super Cute Seconds

If Rick Perry is seriously a presidential front-runner there's something wrong with all of us ! ! !

If Rick Perry is seriously a presidential front-runner there's something wrong with all of us

If it walks like a W and talks like a W ...

If it walks like a W and talks like a W ...

YUP! The Tea Party is opening a restaurant!!!!!!


Monday, August 8, 2011

How Economic Terrorism Works

How Economic Terrorism Works

Clinton Leaves Her Mark on Congo's Rape Zone | Womens eNews

Clinton Leaves Her Mark on Congo's Rape Zone | Womens eNews

Push Is On to Cover Prenatal Care in Health Plan | Womens eNews

Push Is On to Cover Prenatal Care in Health Plan | Womens eNews

Getting to Well: Women and the Health Care Battles | Womens eNews

Getting to Well: Women and the Health Care Battles | Womens eNews

Startup generation ready to fix economy

Startup generation ready to fix economy

To Hang On Or To Let Go: Knowing The Difference Makes All The Difference

To Hang On Or To Let Go: Knowing The Difference Makes All The Difference

Generation Z Activism – Alec Loorz « american in exile

Generation Z Activism – Alec Loorz « american in exile

Duncan: States Will Get School Testing Waivers (It's About Time!!!!)



BY DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP 
  08/ 8/11 12:04 AM ET 

 State and local education officials have been begging the federal government for relief from student testing mandates in the federal No Child Left Behind law, but school starts soon and Congress still hasn't answered the call.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan says he will announce a new waiver system Monday to give schools a break.
The plan to offer waivers to all 50 states, as long as they meet other school reform requirements, comes at the request of President Barack Obama, Duncan said. More details on the waivers will come in September, he said.
The goal of the No Child Left Behind law is to have every student proficient in math and reading by 2014. States have been required to bring more students up to the math and reading standards each year, based on tests that usually take place each spring. The step-by-step ramping up of the 9-year-old law has caused heartburn in states and most school districts, because more and more schools are labeled as failures as too few of their students meet testing goals.
Critics say the benchmarks are unrealistic and brands schools as failures even if they make progress. Schools and districts where too few kids pass the tests for several years are subject to sanctions that can include firing teachers or closing the school entirely.
Through the waivers, schools will get some relief from looming deadlines to meet testing goals as long as they agree to embrace other kinds of education reforms such as raising standards, helping teachers and principals improve, and focusing on fixing the lowest performing schools.
Duncan and Melody Barnes, director of the Domestic Policy Council at the White House, said the administration will encourage every state to apply and will work with them to meet the requirements.
Nothing in this plan for temporary relief from some aspects of the federal law will undermine what Congress is still discussing in terms of revising federal education laws, Duncan said. The long-awaited overhaul of the law began earlier this year in the U.S. House, but a comprehensive reform appears far from the finish line.
"What we do in terms of flexibility can be a bridge or transition," he said. "We all want to fix the law. This might help us get closer to that."
The chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, however, says he is worried about Duncan's waiver plan.
"I remain concerned that temporary measures instituted by the department, such as conditional waivers, could undermine the committee's efforts to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act," said Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., in a statement, referring to the formal name of the No Child Left Behind law.
The Obama administration requested a revision more than a year ago. Duncan said another school year is about to start and state education officials have told him they can't keep waiting for relief from the mandates.
"I can't overemphasize how loudly the outcry is to do something now," Duncan said.
Duncan has warned that 82 percent of U.S. schools could be labeled failures next year if No Child Left Behind is not changed. Education experts have questioned that estimate, but state officials report a growing number of schools facing sanctions under the law.
Montana Schools Superintendent Denise Juneau said she welcomed the waiver proposal, as long as it offers relief from the 2014 deadline. She said her state isn't afraid of high standards and education reform but needs enough time to reach those standards and freedom to institute change in a way that works for Montana.
Montana decided to skip a planned increase in its testing goals this past school year.
"I don't mind the goals and we're certainly not afraid of accountability. They can set the bar wherever they want. They just have to let us have the flexibility to get there," Juneau said. "We can definitely meet any bar they throw at us."
The chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee said he understands why it was time for the administration to take action.
"This Congress faces real challenges reaching bipartisan, bicameral agreement on anything," said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, in a written statement. "Given the ill-advised and partisan bills that the House majority has chosen to move, I understand Secretary Duncan's decision to proceed with a waiver package to provide some interim relief while Congress finishes its work."
Harkin said he remains committed to keep working toward a bipartisan solution to reform the federal education law.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

A.R. Bordon: Extraterrestrials on Earth: A Challenge We Can No Longer Ignore

A.R. Bordon: Extraterrestrials on Earth: A Challenge We Can No Longer Ignore

Sometimes, Nothing Works

Sometimes, Nothing Works

Bachmann and lightbulbs, just the tip of the (melting) iceberg of crazy

Bachmann and lightbulbs, just the tip of the (melting) iceberg of crazy

Obama: Deaths of Americans in Afghan chopper crash shows ‘extraordinary’ cost of war

Obama: Deaths of Americans in Afghan chopper crash shows ‘extraordinary’ cost of war

"College Students Lack Critical Thinking Skills, But Who’s To Blame?"


DOUG MATACONIS   ·   TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2011   ·

A new study suggests that American universities are failing in what is supposed to be one of the their core missions:
NEW YORK — An unprecedented study that followed several thousand undergraduates through four years of college found that large numbers didn’t learn the critical thinking, complex reasoning and written communication skills that are widely assumed to be at the core of a college education.
Many of the students graduated without knowing how to sift fact from opinion, make a clear written argument or objectively review conflicting reports of a situation or event, according to New York University sociologist Richard Arum, lead author of the study. The students, for example, couldn’t determine the cause of an increase in neighborhood crime or how best to respond without being swayed by emotional testimony and political spin.
Arum, whose book “Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses” (University of Chicago Press) comes out this month, followed 2,322 traditional-age students from the fall of 2005 to the spring of 2009 and examined testing data and student surveys at a broad range of 24 U.S. colleges and universities, from the highly selective to the less selective.
Forty-five percent of students made no significant improvement in their critical thinking, reasoning or writing skills during the first two years of college, according to the study. After four years, 36 percent showed no significant gains in these so-called “higher order” thinking skills.
Combining the hours spent studying and in class, students devoted less than a fifth of their time each week to academic pursuits. By contrast, students spent 51 percent of their time — or 85 hours a week — socializing or in extracurricular activities.
The study also showed that students who studied alone made more significant gains in learning than those who studied in groups.
Perhaps most the most interesting thing about the study is the manner in which the results seem skewed by field of study:
Students who majored in the traditional liberal arts — including the social sciences, humanities, natural sciences and mathematics — showed significantly greater gains over time than other students in critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing skills.
Students majoring in business, education, social work and communications showed the least gains in learning. However, the authors note that their findings don’t preclude the possibility that such students “are developing subject-specific or occupationally relevant skills.”
Greater gains in liberal arts subjects are at least partly the result of faculty requiring higher levels of reading and writing, as well as students spending more time studying, the study’s authors found. Students who took courses heavy on both reading (more than 40 pages a week) and writing (more than 20 pages in a semester) showed higher rates of learning.
That’s welcome news to liberal arts advocates.
I would think it would be, but on some level such an analysis would seem to ignore the reasons that students go to college today. Unlike in the past, when a college education was viewed as an opportunity for learning, there seems to be more of a focus today on learning skills that will lead to a high rate of monetary return after college. Majoring in history or political science may help you to learn to think critically, and that is a skill that is valuable in fields like medicine and law, but its unlikely to lead to the same level of monetary reward as someone who pursues, say, a Masters In Business Administration. On some level, colleges have become vocational school almost as much as they are “institutions of higher learning.” I’m not sure whether that is a good or a bad thing, but it’s the world that we live in and it’s unlikely to change.
Ann Althouse, who teaches law at the University of Wisconsin, wonders why the study concentrates so much on the students and not the professors:
I’d like a study analyzing whether the professors know how to sift fact from opinion, make a clear written argument, and objectively review conflicting reports of a situation or event.
It strikes me as a fair point considering that it is sort of difficult to teach someone a skill you don’t possess yourself.
By the time our kids get to college it is too late to change habits por learn new skills that should have been taught to them in grade k-12 in my opinion. This study does not merely condemn colleges, it throws a harsh light on our primary education system on this country. In general, the US doesn’t pay our teachers well (compared to other professions and other nations), nor do we reward them for excellence, nor do we often provide them with a system that accurately assesses their efforts (i.e., No child left behind ring any bells?).
This is a fair point. Students do not walk into college blank slates, but as products of the education they received for twelve years before that. If colleges are failing at their primary mission, it isn’t necessarily their fault.

"The Shocking Truth for Thirty Percent of Divorced Women" by Jennifer Gauvain

The Shocking Truth for Thirty Percent of Divorced Women
Posted: 8/6/11 12:34 PM ET
It was the day she had dreamed about. Standing barefoot at sunset, "Joni" (a former client of mine whose name I have changed) stood looking at the man she was about to marry. She planned the perfect wedding--a fairytale. There was one hitch--as she looked into her future husband's eyes, she had a pretty good idea that the marriage would not last.
Joni's story was not unique. After years of working with women like her I was curious about why so many women stayed in relationships that were essentially doomed from the start. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, I have spent more than 15 years working with women seeking guidance for relationship issues. The initial call usually involves a request to help with "communication skills" or "conflict management." More often than not, as therapy progresses, they reveal that the problems started long before they walked down the aisle. And if they're not married, they'll admit that they already know he's is not the right guy for them--yet they stay.
When I had a serendipitous meeting with a former runaway bride, we decided to write a book about this phenomenon. My coauthor's story of her near-miss at the altar along with my clinical experience turned into a mission to find out why so many women walk down the aisle knowing they are making a mistake! We thought if we could help women recognize the excuses for dating--and ultimately marrying--the wrong guys, maybe we could help them find the courage to get out before it was too late.
We developed a survey and sent it to divorced women, with one qualifier: "Did you know you were making a mistake as you were walking down the aisle?"
We sent it to everyone we knew. Within days our inboxes were jammed. Eventually, close to 1000 women gave detailed accounts about why they knowingly dated and eventually married the wrong guys.
Amid a chorus of critics who shout "hindsight bias" or "selective memory," I stand firm. If you take 10 divorced women and ask them whether they believed on their wedding day that they were marrying the right guy for the right reasons, seven of them would say yes and three will confess they had serious doubts long before walking down the aisle. That's the shocking truth for 30% of divorced women.
These women have very clear, distinct memories of the doubts, issues and concerns that existed in the relationship all along. They can also tell you exactly what they were feeling before they walked down the aisle. For example:
I was avoiding my dad's eyes as I waited with him at the end of the aisle. I did not want to hear any "pearls of wisdom." Instead I paid attention to the photographer. I simply could not look at my dad because I knew I was making a mistake.
I felt like I was dying a thousand deaths. I just wanted to get the whole thing over with.
By the time they made it to the ceremony, they felt it was too late to turn back. While their insides told them to run, their outsides marched down the aisle. They saw problems and ignored them. However, every single one of them put the blame for ignoring the problems and issues squarely on their own shoulders. The problem is not that their fiancé was a bad guy-the problem was that they ignored the problems!
Why would smart women do this? They cited many of the same reasons:
• Age: The self-imposed biological clock is starting to tick a little louder.
• "Marriage will instantly make the relationship better."
• "It's my last chance to get married and no one else will come along."
• "If it doesn't work out I can always get a divorce."
You can be critical, point your finger and shake your head. Judgment aside, "these women" are your sisters, daughters, and friends. Maybe even you. Their common --yet misguided--belief is that they are better off with the wrong guy than being alone. It doesn't matter how self-actualized, independent or liberal-minded they are.
So what's the answer? When in doubt, don't! Don't let fears of being alone dictate a night out with someone you have nothing in common with. Don't continue to date a man with whom you have zero chemistry. Chemistry matters. Don't say "I do" because you have "invested too much time in the relationship" or it's "the next logical step." And absolutely don't think that divorce can be used as an escape route without consequence. Divorce is not easy even when you are the one serving the papers. It's expensive, painful and it affects everyone around you.
Just ask Joni. She saw the red flags and she ignored them. Her gut told her something was wrong but she tuned it out. She found out the hard way that being alone would have been a lot easier than marrying the wrong guy--especially as she starts the painful task of navigating a divorce. The moral of the story is pay attention to those red flags and gut feelings. If you do, you are guaranteed to have happier, healthier relationships. What a difference this would make in the divorce rate. As a therapist, I'd be thrilled.

Reconnecting with Love by Owen Waters



With the ups and downs of life, there can be times when your connection to a universe of love seems distant. The opposite of love is fear and it appears in many forms. All negative emotions including guilt and anger are expressions of fear and they can flourish in the absence of love. 

Fortunately, fear has a simple antidote. Love dissolves fear, so you need to know how to bring its feeling back when it has temporarily gone away.

Gratitude is one type of expression of love which has enormous power. Gratitude is invoked when you mentally send love to those whom you appreciate. It becomes especially powerful when you send your gratitude to your concept of God the Creator for all the good things in your life and for life itself, because God will reciprocate with uplifting energies. That one step you take towards God really does bring a reaction of two steps towards you.

Gratitude takes you right out of your personal sphere of consciousness and into an expanded view of the universe.

In this way, it raises you far above the petty fears that still try to haunt people in the everyday world. Gratitude is one of the most beautiful secrets in spiritual life. It is an expression of love, and love flows through all forms of manifestation. Without love, life in the universe cannot exist. Love is the universal force of preservation which holds Creation in manifestation.

When you allow your heart to open to the universe’s flow of love, gratitude comes with that flow. Gratitude for being alive, for just existing, for just being in the flow of the adventure of life. Gratitude for the Sun that gives us life. Gratitude for the Creation of the Earth as our home in this great cosmos. Gratitude for the people that you love, and for those who share your journey through life.

Gratitude flows unimpeded from an open heart. When you allow it, gratitude will flow as freely as the sunshine, unobstructed by judgments or conditions.

Use the following affirmation and see what happens. Keep repeating it and, each time, think more about what the words mean.

The Gratitude Affirmation adds new meaning to the term, quality of life. It really works! Try it now.

Gratitude Affirmation

I am grateful for life
And all that I love
I am grateful for the Earth
And the Sun up above
I am grateful for my spirit
And my inner being
For the One that I express
And the joy of this feeling

When you awaken each day, even before you get out of bed, think of ten things for which you are grateful. Finish your reflections with the Gratitude Affirmation and, each day, you'll feel inspired to have the best day ever!

"there were no words, but images flooded every cell in her being ...4 and a half decades!"

"there were no words, but images flooded every cell in her being ...4 and a half decades!"