11 TED Talks that show how weird the human mind really is - ScienceAlert

We use our mind every second of every day, but it's safe to say no one understands exactly how it functions. Even psychologists and neuroscientists are often stumped by why we think and behave the way we do.

Some of those researchers have appeared on the TED stage to talk about the questions that keep them up at night. The following 11 talks - on topics like decision-making, happiness, and our concept of time - are some of the most thought-provoking in TED's collection.

Each one will bring you one step closer to understanding who you are, and who you might be.

1. Tali Sharot: Your inherent bias toward optimism is a double-edged sword.

Sharot is a neuroscientist who, along with her colleagues, was able to reduce people's optimism by controlling activity in certain areas of their brains. On the one hand, this could be a positive development. After all, Sharot says in her talk that people underestimate the likelihood of bad things like cancer happening to them, so they're less likely to take precautions like scheduling medical checkups. But on the other hand, Sharot says that optimism enhances our well-being because it acts as a self-fulfilling prophecy. When we believe we're going to land that job or promotion, we're more likely to get it.

So how do you reconcile those two viewpoints? "We would like to protect ourselves from the dangers of optimism, but at the same time remain hopeful," Sharot says. "The key here really is knowledge."

She illustrates this idea with a cartoon of penguins trying to fly off a cliff. The ones that are successful have a back-up plan:

"If you're an optimistic penguin who believes they can fly, but then adjusts a parachute to your back just in case things don't work out exactly as you had planned, you will soar like an eagle, even if you're just a penguin," she concludes.

2. Dan Ariely: You have less control over your own decisions than you think.

Most of us believe we're totally in control of our own decisions. But as Ariely, a behavioural economist, explains in his talk, we're incredibly susceptible to outside influences.One of his most enlightening examples is based on an old Economist advertisement for three subscription levels: $59 for online only, $159 for print only, and $159 for online and print.Ariely figured out that the option to pay $159 for print only exists so that it makes the option to pay $159 for online and print look more enticing than it would if it was just paired with the $59 option. 

Using examples from medicine and online dating, Ariely proves that traditional economics can't fully explain irrational human behaviour - and that's where behavioural economics comes in.

"When it comes to the mental world ... we somehow forget that we are limited," he says. 

"I think that if we understood our cognitive limitations in the same way we understand our physical limitations ... we could design a better world."

3. Sheena Iyengar: The freedom to choose is not always empowering.

Iyengar's talk illuminates how our beliefs about choice are shaped by our cultural backgrounds. For example, Americans tend to believe that if a choice affects them, then they should be the one to make it.Compare that to people from Asian backgrounds, who generally believe that it's best to defer to other people you trust and respect."It is a mistake to assume that everyone thrives under the pressure of choosing alone," she says.Iyengar, a psycho-economist, debunks the idea that the more choices you have, the better decisions you make. In fact, she says, when you give people 10 or more options, they tend to make poorer decisions in areas like healthcare and investing. 

Ultimately, Iyengar says it's about accepting that constraint can in some contexts be more liberating than freedom.

The American narrative promises "freedom, happiness, success. It lays the world at your feet and says, 'you can have anything, everything'", she explains.

Yet upon closer examination, Iyengar says you'll realise that the idea of choice is much more complicated and can be interpreted in many other ways.

4. Daniel Kahneman: Your happiness depends heavily on your memory.

According to Kahneman, a behavioural economist, every individual is divided into an experiencing self and a remembering self. The differences between these two selves are critical to our understanding of human happiness. To illustrate this idea, Kahneman refers to an experiment in which two groups of patients underwent a colonoscopy.The group that experienced the peak of their pain at the end said they suffered more - even when their procedure was shorter. Kahneman says that the second group's experiencing selves suffered less, but their remembering selves suffered more.

The remembering self, Kahneman says, is the one that makes decisions, like which colonoscopy surgeon to choose the next time around.

"We actually don't choose between experiences, we choose between memories of experiences." Even when we contemplate the future, Kahneman says, "we think of our future as anticipated memories."

Bottom line: What makes you happy in the immediate present won't necessarily make you happy when you reflect on your life overall - and it's important to consider that idea the next time you're making a big decision.

5. Dan Gilbert: You have no idea what will make you happy in 10 years.   

CONTINUE READING at:

11 TED Talks that show how weird the human mind really is - ScienceAlert

How to Choose Discipline Methods that Help Your Child Grow - Dr. Tali Shenfield

This is an insightful article about the discipline of our children:



How to Choose Discipline Methods that Help Your Child Grow

7 Disturbing Facts About Trump's Personality - Janet Altom / Alternet

7 Disturbing Facts About Donald Trump's Personality

By Janet Allon [1] / AlterNet [2]

December 21, 2016

6

Senator Al Franken, who formerly made his living in comedy, recently made a weirdly unsettling observation about Donald Trump. He never seems to laugh. And it’s true. The New York Times [3] reporter to whom Franken made the comment did some research, observing Trump at events where normal people tend to crack up, like the Al Smith Dinner. Though Trump smiles, he never laughs outright.
“I don't know what it is,” Franken says.
We don’t either, but it’s creepy.
An abundance of pieces have been written about Donald Trump’s malignantly narcissistic personality, his lack of impulse control, his gnat-like attention span on any topic but his own fabulousness, his complete disregard for the truth, and the fact that he's a racist, sexist bully [4] who may also be fairly unintelligent.
All true.
But he also has some weird and disturbing personality tics that are less frequently mentioned, but which nonetheless give us the heebie jeebies.
Here are seven of Donald Trump's worrisome quirks.
1. He has never done drugs.
Trump has never smoked a cigarette or had an alcoholic drink. All respect for those who have had an addiction problem, or decided to abstain after some time as a drinker, or who simply don't like alcohol—but never to have tried a mind-altering substance of any kind is just not normal. It also shows a lack of curiosity and a fear of losing control.
Trump has said the alcoholism and early death of his older brother turned him into a life-long teetotaler, and maybe that is true. He won’t even have a cup of coffee, though. Seriously, who does that? That’s not normal.
He has also said in many interviews that his biggest piece of advice for his kids when they were growing up was not to do drugs. Really, that’s it, dad? That’s all you’ve got?
Of course, Trump has tried to cash in on other people’s drinking habits with Trump vodka, which failed.
2. He’s a germophobe in the extreme.
Trump has called the practice of shaking hands “barbaric." He won’t shake hands with his children’s teachers because teachers are in touch with too many germy kids. Then again, it’s hard to imagine he has attended too many parent-teacher conferences. Teaching children, after all, is germy women’s work.
His germophobia [5] is such that he is unwilling to push ground-floor elevator buttons because they have been touched by too many people (the masses).
Perhaps on the belief that it distances him from germs, he drinks with a straw and eats pizza with a fork, which is fine if you’re from Chicago, but definitely not New York. He even explains his penchant for fast food in terms of what he imagines to be its cleanliness. “I’m a very clean person,” he told Anderson Cooper on the campaign trail. “I like cleanliness, and I think you’re better off going there than maybe someplace that you have no idea where the food’s coming from. It’s a certain standard.”
He has spoken about how he loves to wash his hands, and does it as much as possible. (Here’s a theory: maybe his hands got so tiny from all the washing. He wore them away.)
He has openly boasted about never changing a diaper on any of his five kids, probably as a result of his germophobia, plus sexism and wealth.
Some have speculated that Trump’s germophobia and anti-immigration stances are related, since he sees immigrants as potential carriers of disease. But really, all the unwashed masses are carriers of disease for Trump, so he must stay in his high tower.
3. When he does shake hands, he does it in a very weird way.
Whenever possible, Trump avoids shaking hands. When he absolutely has to shake someone's hand, he has a weird habit of aggressively pulling [6] the person in close to him, so that the person practically has to hug him. When the fellow (it is usually a fellow) offers any resistance, the whole dance can become a fairly awkward arm-wrestling match.
No word on whether Trump pops a Tic-Tac before pulling the person in closer than they would really like to be.
4. He has a 10-year-old’s mentality about bodily functions.
Especially the notion that women have bodily functions. He has made weird comments in interviews about being blissfully unaware of whether his wife Melania has ever used the toilet. And when Hillary Clinton had to use the ladies room (at least, we think that’s where she went) before a debate, he called it “disgusting.” He used the same word about a female lawyer who needed to excuse herself to pump breast milk to feed her infant. That is not what Trump seems to think breasts are for and he finds it repellent.
Ten is the age Melania Trump suggested Trump acts sometimes, and that was part of her explanation to Anderson Cooper about why Trump bragged to Billy Bush that women just let him “grab them by the pussy.” Melania knows what 10-year-olds are like, since her son Barron is also 10.
5. He doesn’t have any pets.
Trump will be the first president in 150 years [7] not to have a pet, if you count James Polk’s horses. It does not even appear that Trump likes animals much, if his family's enthusiasm for trophy hunting is any indication.
He has been publicly criticized [8] by the Humane Society of the United States for having cozy relationships with anti-animal welfare zealots who rake in profits from puppy mills, agribusiness, trophy hunting, factory farming, and horse slaughterhouses.
Being a self-confessed clean-hands freak may be part of the reason Trump dislikes animals, and certainly his run-in [9] with a bald eagle did not help warm him up to animals. Recent science has shown that caring for animals is a big part of what teaches us empathy, since domesticated animals are completely dependent on human beings.
6. He has bizarre ideas [10] about exercise and sleep. 
We already know that Trump does not have much regard for science as he gears up to gut climate change mitigation and voices the view that vaccines might cause autism. But he also does not hold much stock in basic common sense or the recommendation of health professionals.
The fast-food-loving germophobe-in-chief also has some notion that exercise is bad for you. This may be based on his theory that the human body is like a battery, and if you use up the energy it’s all gone, or because he has had friends who have needed knee surgery because of working out. Trump also tends to latch onto one example and overgeneralize: if there is a cold day he thinks climate change is a hoax, and if someone he knows had a cute baby after considering an abortion, it means all women should be punished for having abortions.
Trump also seems to think that needing sleep shows weakness, and claims only to sleep three or four hours a night, which leaves him plenty of time to tweet at people who have affronted him.
“I’m a guy who lies awake and thinks and plots,” he told New York magazine [11] in 1992, somewhat terrifyingly. Among the things he likes to plot, he said, are revenge strategies. Adequate sleep is tied to mental health, and what Trump expressed smacks more than a little of paranoid tendencies, but don’t take it from us. Three professors [12] of psychiatry are also concerned about Trump’s mental fitness to be president.
7. The suit thing.
Trump is never seen in anything but a suit, and since he doesn’t sleep much, he probably doesn’t even don silk pajamas at night, a la Hugh Hefner.
A suit is fitting attire for a businessman, but he reportedly also violently demanded that his college-age son wear a suit to a baseball game by one account. Donald Jr.’s college dorm mate recounted the story [13] on Facebook during the campaign. "Don Jr. opened the door, wearing a Yankee jersey,” Scott Melker, now a Florida Realtor, wrote. “Without saying a word, his father slapped him across the face, knocking him to the floor in front of all of his classmates. He simply said 'put on a suit and meet me outside,' and closed the door."
Don Jr. was a freshman at the time, and yes, they were going to a Yankees game.
None of the Trump sons have been seen in anything but suits ever since, except when big-game hunting in Africa. Ten-year-old Baron is sometimes seen in a polo shirt, though even he is often seen in a suit, which is weird.& Disturbing Facts

ALERT! New Video: Watch Wisconsin Election Officials Reject Hand Counts After Electronic Scanners Make Big Mistake | Alternet

New Video: Watch Wisconsin Election Officials Reject Hand Counts After Electronic Scanners Make Big Mistake | Alternet

Is spanking discipline or abuse? MOST IMPT: Does it work?

Is spanking discipline or abuse?

It's common, it's cultural, it's legal in all states in the nation. But does spanking work?

by: Christina Tynan-Wood | May 19, 2016

 Print article

I grew up with two kinds of spanking. My mother, a gentle and affectionate Brit raising four small children without much support, rarely spanked. Well, she often smacked our butts, jokingly, affectionately, with a laugh, sometimes followed by a tickle or hug. If that’s spanking, she was doing it wrong. It wasn’t a punishment. It became a joke between us. My father — Irish, angry, probably a survivor of extreme corporal punishment as the eldest of 10 — was the designated disciplinarian. And, if we did something worthy of punishment, he would be called upon to deal it out. Even if not called upon, he often raised a hand.

Since those days, spanking has lost its veneer of normality. Twenty years ago, studies showed that 74 percent of parents used spanking as a disciplinary practice. Research suggests many parents now feel torn about this age-old parenting practice. In a survey of 3,000 parents across the country, only 19 percent of parents believe spanking is part of the standard parenting toolkit, but 53 percent say that threatening a spanking is moderately to extremely important and 1 in 4 parents admit to spanking their children “a fair bit” to “very often.” (The truth of such self-reported numbers may in fact be higher because the behavior ignites such disapproval.) Suffice it to say, spanking is not dead. Parents continue to decide where they stand on the issue more based on their own family history than a single cultural consensus.

When it came to raising my own children, it didn’t take much soul searching. My mother and I are close. I confide in her. My children love her. The opposite is true of my late father. We were never close. I didn’t trust him as a child and refused to leave him alone with my own children. So they weren’t close to him either. At best, my siblings and I survived him. Possibly, according to some compelling research, not even that. “Being hit by parents is a very stressful experience,” explains Murray Straus, Professor of Sociology, founder and Co-Director of the Family Research Laboratory, University of New Hampshire, and the author of numerous defining books and research studies on corporal punishment. “And it is a chronic stress that, for a third of American kids, begins in infancy. The average age of cessation is 12. So it is a chronic stress for 12 years. That affects the brain.”

Knowing firsthand how I feel about the parent who hit me and somewhat familiar with compelling research on the negative outcomes, I fell firmly into the no-spanking camp when it came time to raise my own kids.

But what is spanking? The dictionary definition — to strike especially on the buttocks with the open hand — leaves a lot to be desired. How hard? How many times? Is it a joking swat to the bottom or a euphemism for a belt to bare flesh? Researchers have specified further that spanking is done with intent to discipline and that it does not leave a mark or bruise. But this still leaves a lot of questions unanswered.

Regardless of the exact definition, more than 100 studies agree on this point: Spanking is not only ineffective, it has negative outcomes. “Parents have no way of seeing the damage done,” explains Straus on a recent video. “Because it doesn’t show up for months — or years — later.” The official statement on spanking from the American Academy of Pediatrics puts it like this: “The more children are spanked, the more anger they report as adults, the more likely they are to spank their own children, the more likely they are to approve of hitting a spouse, and the more marital conflict they experience as adults. Spanking has been associated with higher rates of physical aggression, more substance abuse, and increased risk of crime and violence when used with older children and adolescents.”

Deciding not to spank and not doing it, though, are two different things. Even Straus acknowledges that as some point parents face the decision again, less rationally, when negotiating peer disapproval and fury a toddler tantrum. “The advice that professionals give,” says Straus. “Is to avoid spanking if you can. And everyone accepts that. But if you are the parent of a two-year-old, it only takes a day to discover” that this is harder than it seems.

Faced with rambunctious toddlers, I spanked each of my kids. Once.

Like my mother, I did it wrong. My son laughed and tried to spank me back, undermining the entire effort and making me laugh. So I changed tactics. My daughter laughed and repeated what I was telling her not to do so I would spank her again. In both cases, it became a game. It was clear from my small experiment, that in order to use spanking as a deterrent, I would have to hit these babies who trusted me with enough force to hurt them. Why would I do that? So, since I couldn’t bring myself to really spank my children, I explained why their behavior was inappropriate instead. That took more patience but it was effective. Both of my now-teenagers are respectful, helpful proto-adults.

“If there is any age when you should not attack a child,” advises Straus, “it is when they are an infant or toddler because that is when the brain is in its period of most rapid development and most easily set on the wrong track.”

Spanking occurs in most of the historical record. It predates the Bible. But it was not always a way to discipline children. It started out with willing, adult (female) participants — usually as part of pagan fertility rites. (There are a few examples of this throughout history, but during the Lupercalia festival Roman priests spanked willing women to help them overcome infertility.) The Biblical proverb — “he who spares the rod hates his son, but, he who loves him is careful to discipline him” is often cited to defend spanking, but according to experts that may be a misinterpretation. In a time of shepherds who used a rod to steer sheep, it was more likely a metaphor for guiding a child. Even if this phrase was intended literally, another Proverb also prescribes punishing disrespectful children by having birds to peck out and eat their eyes. No one advocates for that.

The word discipline means — at its root — teach. It does not mean to beat or punish. Another phrase often used as an edict to spank kids “spare the rod, spoil the child,” is also attributed to the Bible. But it’s not. It comes from a satirical poem, Hudibras, by Victorian-era novelist and poet Samuel Butler, and the phrase refers to sex, not parenting.

None of this is really relevant, though. Somewhere along the way, in most cultures, and all throughout history, smacking unruly children became a thing humans do. And these proverbs and phrases are among the many ways we have managed to find reasons, euphemisms, rationales, and excuses for the practice, even though decades of science says it’s not only ineffective but has lifelong negative impacts on children. The more violent the culture, the more the children get smacked. (Or perhaps it’s the other way around.)

The recent case of Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson points up another problem with spanking: It’s very hard to determine when it has crossed over to abuse. Peterson whipped his 4-year-old son with a tree branch stripped of leaves — a switch. The beating left welts, broke the skin, and left marks all over a small child who was helpless in an altercation with an adult professional athlete. If Peterson had done that to someone his own size, he would be in prison. But because he did it to his 4-year-old child, he might have been within the law. Peterson called it a whooping much like he received at the hands of his own parents — and deemed it reasonable discipline. (He accepted a plea bargain of a fine of $4,000 and community service, so it will not be decided in court.) He credits his own father’s beatings with his own wild success as an adult. Though there’s no evidence of this, Peterson’s experience does track with studies that show children who are spanked or beaten are more likely to hit other children, their own children, their spouse, and others when they grow up. It’s not surprising: their parents taught them that hitting someone is an effective way to resolve conflict and “teach someone a lesson.”

According to a Google search on Adrian Peterson, whether whipping a small child with a tree branch is abuse remains a matter of debate in our culture. Striking a child, as long as it’s within the context of reasonable discipline, is legal in all states. But spanking — when dealt in anger as it often is — sometimes crosses over into our legal definition of child abuse. So the courts are often left deciding what blows are abusive and which are parenting. That’s one reason that more than 40 countries have outlawed spanking entirely — from Norway and the Congo to Brazil and Israel. If it’s not allowed at all, there is no gray area to dispute.

Just because our parents did it — or their parents did it — is no argument to continue to do it. Our parents and theirs did a lot of things we don’t do anymore —serve laudanum-spiked baby bottles, ride in cars without seat belts, arrange marriages, and drink alcohol during pregnancy — because we learned that they’re bad for us or our children. I’m lucky that I was so bad at spanking. My kids trust me. My father, who rose to the task and behaved like the father his father taught him to be, was an old man before he could admit that he regretted that role and wished for a different kind of relationship with his children. Much too late.

Trevor Noah Didn't Come From Nowhere | New Republic

Trevor Noah Didn't Come From Nowhere | New Republic



Excellent article

"Dear Elf On the Shelf Haters: Get Over It!

HERE'S AN OPEN LETTER TO ELF ON THE SHELF HATERS. YES, PEOPLE TAKE IT TOO FAR, BUT THIS CAN STILL BE A SIMPLE PLEASURE OF THE SEASON, IF YOU DIAL IT BACK.

  

BUZZ — DECEMBER 6, 2016

Dear Elf on the Shelf haters,

I feel you. I really do. The Pinterest perfection spamming every social network with Elf on the Shelf ideas annoys me too. Oh, your Elf took a poop and it looks like a Hershey’s kiss?! How clever. But, if you can ignore those who take it too far for a minute, there is magic in that cheap, creepy elf.

It’s the same thought process we must use with the teen pop stars. When Bieber was big, I actually wrote a defense of his music. “Justin Bieber doesn’t suck!,” I proclaimed. Just because the hardcore, passionate fans are in our face and skew the headlines, is it fair to dismiss the kid’s obvious talent?

“The instant and life-involving obsession pre-teen girls are bound to attach to anything they are interested in becomes an instant lead weight against credibility,” I wrote. “It’s like making a deal with the devil, you can have all the success of your dreams, but first you need to sell your (credible) soul.”

And so it is with the Elf on the Shelf. The rising tide of popularity it has created has brought the inevitable backlash.

I get it. It’s become too much. People are taking it too seriously. The oversharing of your friends has risen to such a cacophonous crescendo that you can no longer thumb scroll through your feed without seeing those creepy vacant eyes staring back at you through the screen, daring to tell Santa that you don’t believe.

Why do we do it? Why do we concoct all these crazy mythologies for our kids? From little green footprints on toilet seats, to hidden chocolate eggs, to swapping out missing teeth, why has parenting risen to David Copperfield levels of illusion-making?

Because we like it when our kids believe. We love nurturing that naive faith in the impossible. We like it when a 5- and 7-year-old will debate over dinner how Santa can get inside houses with no chimneys. We like it when our kids start to question just a little bit and ask for video evidence of the magic that happens in our house. We like it when, after staying up all night editing that magic, they believe once again.

There are those who go a little crazy with Elf on the Shelf and, frankly, they’re ruining it for the rest of us. The over-achievers set the bar high, the kids talk at school, and well .. suddenly my boys want to know why our Elf, George, doesn’t bake cookies and string lights in our house. George just sits there.

Could parents putting the Elf on the Shelf in silly situations be a coping mechanism? A way to help them believe they can still have grown-up fun surrounded by childish magic? Could Elves hitting on Barbie, swinging from tequila bottles, or playing poker with the stuffies be like the inside jokes in Shrek and other Disney Movies? Just a little something to keep parents interested in the silliness of childhood?

Perhaps. And yes, it’s a little much, but just as with Bieber, Miley, and One Direction, we can’t dismiss something because the fans are annoying. It’s okay to appreciate the Elf on the Shelf for our own simple reasons.

“As adults we don’t need to make Christmas magic for kids, we just need to not (mess) it up with our crazy,” Lyz Lens tweeted this week. And it’s true.

I, too, wish those who were so eager to share their cleverness would dial it back a bit. But that’s the world we live in. The Instagramming of meals, the tweeting of random thoughts, the Facebooking of freakish Elf behaviour.

Despite that, I look forward to every morning in December as the boys scurry around the house searching for our elf, George. Sleep stuck in their eyes, blankies dragging at their feet, hair standing on static end, they rush around trying to find this magical piece of plastic and felt. And when his hiding place is uncovered, they cheer “I found George!” and high five each other before running to tell their parents of their successful hunting expedition.

And, for a few seconds, the terrible news of the day fades away, the crankiness at the lack of sleep drains, and I smile too. Magic. Belief. Wonder. The impossible has become possible. And everything in the world is perfect. It doesn’t need to be complicated. Our elf never gets too wild, I don’t post daily pictures of what he does. He just moves around, sits on assorted shelves, and brings us immeasurable joy.

So get over it, Elf on the Shelf haters. This little guy is a wonderful addition to the magic of the season, and he’s not going anywhere.

Why Donald Trump Scares You So Much—and Why It Matters @alternet

Why Donald Trump Scares You So Much—and Why It Matters @alternet

A Contemplative Message on the Present Chaos - from the Arcturian Group

This is an excellent offering from the Arcturian Group.  In my humble opinion, it is to be read thoughtfully and absorbed into our essence.

NOVEMBER 6, 2016 Dear ones, in these times of chaos and confusion, many are beginning to experience a sense of hopelessness because they see no peace or signs of Light, only violence and suffering. Let go of any concepts you may still hold regarding how energetic change must appear for you are indeed witnessing the actions of Light as each bit of previously hidden information rises to the surface. The dark underbelly of world beliefs based in a ruthless quest for money and power are being exposed as the Light of an evolving world consciousness shines into the shadowy corners. Be not discouraged, for the creations of old energy must seen for what they are--concepts, opinions, and false beliefs. It is imperative for those who accept without question everything said by those in positions of authority, to understand that much of what they have heretofore accepted as truth, is not. Many leaders have tried to fulfill the promises they made to the public but have been thwarted by rich and powerful forces working through fear, threats, and demands in order to achieve some personal agenda. Other so called "leaders" simply consider their position a means to personal power and control. These are the very corners the Light is shining into. Dear citizens of the USA, meditate for election guidance. Let intuition be your guide as you take time to review every candidate no matter how insignificant is the the post they seek. Do this before going into the voting booth so you are prepared when you get there. Choose the candidate that most closely resonates with truth, honesty and love. Do not look to commercials and hype to give you this information for you will not find it there, it must come from within. Ask your Higher self and Guides to help you with discernment as you review the qualifications of each candidate. We wish to speak of peace, not third dimensional concepts of peace but the higher sense of Peace, which only manifests from a consciousness of oneness. Many are seeking to achieve peace with self, others, and nations but because they do it within a belief system based in duality and separation, they are only able to bring about a peace that reflects this--a peace capable of manifesting its opposite at any time. Mankind attempts to wear the medallion of duality with its good side facing out, but at some point the medallion will flip because that is the nature of duality regardless of how much effort is put forth to keep the good side showing. The energy that formed much of the third dimensional belief system is dissolving, rendering many commonly accepted and long held beliefs, invalid. Society in general is quickly changing as more and more awaken. Old concepts of peace no longer resonate as they once did and are being re-evaluated, especially as many young and very evolved souls come of age. Those who insist upon perpetuating the old and financially lucrative ways of "pretend peace" are beginning to find less and less support. Many have begun to realize that actions utilizing the lives of others as necessary for peace, have simply been power struggles based in personal quests for more power and possessions--land, people, power, oil, gold, etc. Peace between individuals as well, is often nothing more than an attempt to bend another's will to one's own in the belief that non-resistance from another is peace. True peace cannot be forced whether it be between nations or individuals. Peace is a natural expression of the realization of Oneness, an attained state of consciousness that knows all living things to be individual but formed in and of the ONE. This does not mean that everyone must think the same way or never have an opinion for there is and always will be individuality. Each day more people including those in the military, are recognizing the futility of killing, maiming, and violence in the name of peace. A new and higher sense of peace is being born but it is accompanied by birth pangs of rebellion. This is what you are witnessing at this time. As the Light of truth continues to expand within world consciousness, peace without arms and violence must manifest, for only True Peace is the reality. Every awakened soul contributes world Light through their holding to truth within regardless of what is appearing in the outer scene. The energies of truth must flow, and not be kept just for oneself. Just as fruit must be picked in order for more to come the next year, so must awareness and Light flow outward making room for more to come. The times of permanently retreating to a cave for one's own experiences of Light are finished. The key is; "In the world, but not of it". There is a popular saying about what would happen if each person of many were to light a small candle--imagine the brilliance. Now imagine each truth that unfolds to you as being that small candle. Violence, war, rebellions, and hatred would soon be depleted of the energy needed to sustain, maintain, and manifest them. Since true Peace is eternally held in place by Divine Law it will eventually manifest, but can only do this when consensus consciousness provides the substance from which it is formed--energies of unconditional love and Oneness. What you are witnessing in the world are pictures that reflect the energies of a world still living out from duality and separation. Always remember that pictures no matter how disturbing, have no law to sustain or maintain them, and are held in place only by belief and can thus be dissolved in a second of realization. Know that every terrorist is a Divine being in spite of the fact that he/she may be many lifetimes from knowing that for themselves. Every realization of truth becomes your candle adding Light to world consciousness in spite of events taking place still requiring a degree of control and action. Today's message is to illuminate the difference between what society has come to accept as peace and methods necessary to attain it, versus True Peace. Predictions that speak of the end of the world are obsolete and no longer relevant because mankind has shifted the energy. Predictions can only access the energy of the moment and have only the power mankind gives them. You are in charge, dear ones. You hold within yourselves the real Power should you choose to acknowledge who and what you really are. Peace must come into expression not through arms and force, but as an activity of the still small voice within each heart flowing and nourishing a tired and hungry world. This is the work, and you are ready, dear Lightworkers. We are the Arcturian Group 11/6/16 Donations are welcomed

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Watch Michelle Obama make a case against Trump like no one else can! – CREDO Blog

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"I" by Steve Beckow

The person, the “I” of everyday consciousness, has two phases: The one who acts (participant) and the one who watches (observer).

The “I” moves back and forth between these two phases, seamlessly, never noticing.

When we draw back and consider, we’re in the observer phase. When we get up and do anything, we’re in the actor phase.

Whether actor or observer, it’s still me. But what usually happens is we remain unaware of being in the one or the other position. Consciousness has not expanded to the point where it takes in both actor and observer. Therefore we remain unaware of working in two modalities.

When the “I” of everyday consciousness acts, it does so by drawing upon its will. Its will is the spiritual capacity to move energy, to exert itself, to engage the machinery of action and propel the “I” of everyday consciousness into it. It’s as if we’re riding a bull. That bull is the will. Once told where to go and given a whack, the will (or bull) carries us the rest of the way.

So often, in the Third-Dimensional world, we used our wills to manipulate and control each other. Those are things we’re now probably going to have to unlearn, unless we want to suffer. We have to relearn instead to allow each other freedom of will or free will. It’s a universal law that we’ve been violating for millennia.  We’re going to have to retrain and exercise our will muscle generally but in beneficial causes and directions.

Turning from actor to observer, when the “I” of everyday, Third-Dimensional consciousnessobserves, it usually labels and judges, evaluates and decides.  Its viewpoint is separative and it creates a lot of kicking and screaming. That also has to go. It’s like an anchor that will weigh us down.

When I labeled and judged, promoted and demeaned, my life was dull. If I tasted a minute of transformative love a year, in a spiritual experience, I felt myself lucky.

Now, things are different. Having tasted what Jesus recently called “real love” for months at a time, I see all the unwholesome actions of the actor and observer phases of me and say to myself, I don’t want to be a part of that any more.

I want nothing else than love in my life. Having drunk natural-spring water, I want nothing else now.

Let the reward of every action be love. Open my heart permanently and wash away my identity in a tsunami of love.

All the rest I see as fruitless.

How many people have I asked if they’ve experienced transformative love and they say, “Oh, yes,” and it’s clear they haven’t.

Anyone who’s experienced it loses their mind to it. Anyone who has melts into it just by reflecting on the experience of it.  It dissolves issues, conditioning, and worldly desires.  It sweeps problems aside and provides the only answer to every predicament: itself

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An Open Letter to Ivanka Trump from Michael Moore: 'Your Dad Is Not Well'

It's time for an intervention.

By Michael Moore / AlterNet

August 10, 2016

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430 COMMENTS

Photo Credit: (L) David Shankbone; (R) a katz / Shutterstock.com; Composition by AlterNet

Dear Ivanka:

I’m writing to you because your dad is not well.

Every day he continues his spiral downward—and after his call for gun owners to commit acts of violence against Mrs. Clinton, it is clear he needs help, serious help. His comments and behavior have become more and more bizarre and detached from reality. He is in need of an intervention. And I believe only you can conduct it.

He trusts you. He believes in you. Although I don’t know you personally, you seem to be a very smart and together woman. I think he will listen to you. He must because he is now not simply a danger to himself, he has put the next president of the United States in harm's way. He has encouraged and given permission to the unhinged and the deranged to essentially assassinate Hillary Clinton. Her life is now in worse danger than it already was—and should anything happen, that will not only be on his head but also on those closest to him if they stand by and do nothing.

I say this with the utmost kindness, care and concern for you, and I know you will do the right thing. Bring him in, off the road, away from the crowds. Now. Tonight.

And when you do, here is what a good friend of mine, a former counselor and social worker, Jeff Gibbs, suggests that you say to him:

Dad, we need to have a chat.  Are you feeling okay? Do you have a minute? Please sit down. Because this isn’t going to be easy. No, I am not pregnant. No, what is going on is… is… I am really, really worried about my father. About you.

Dad, I owe everything to you. You’ve built an empire, a brand and a business for the ages. You have taken care of me, inspired me and, through your example, have made me who I am: a self-confident, honest-to-a-flaw, woman.

But Dad, I am deeply worried. You haven’t been yourself lately. The father I know is not a hater, not someone who encourages violence. Dad, you used to be A LIBERAL. You raised me as a liberal! The Clintons were your friends—Chelsea is one of my best friends! And now you’re joking that Hillary should be assassinated? Really?

Dad, I hate to say this, but you’re making me scared, you’re making my friends scared, and you’re scaring the whole country.

Dad… Dad, sit down! They’ll wait. I am not finished. Don’t get angry. Try to listen.

Yes, I know they love it, the crowd goes wild. But not for YOU. They don’t love YOU. They love the show that you put on. But people who hunger for red meat will turn on you in a minute. No, they don’t love you. I love you. I will always love you. And I see you hurting yourself—and you’re hurting ME, Dad.

Don’t get upset! You’re still the handsomest billionaire I know. I will always love you. Melania will always love you. Vladimir will always love you… OK, maybe that wasn’t funny. But you get my point. This running for president thing is destroying the dad I have known and loved. And honestly, you and I both know you didn’t really want this job to begin with! You just wanted to make a point. OK, well, POINT MADE! You did it! Now, let’s stop and get some help.

I am asking you, right now, to give it up. To leave the race. Let that nice man from Indiana run things. Your place in history is secure. You need to withdraw. Move on, for your sake, for the country’s sake, for my sake.

The man who raised me was the man who, for no charge, built a huge ice rink in Central Park for all the people to use! You struck deals with some of the biggest assholes on the planet in finance and politics and yet remained friends, mostly. You built a family that loves you. I want that dad back! And I worry that, if you don’t stop now, neither you nor the country will ever recover.

There, there, Dad, it’s okay, let it out. Let it out, because I know beneath that gruff, tough, handsome exterior is a little boy who just never got enough love. And that little boy needs some time to find himself again.

Let’s you and I walk out there right now. The cameras are all set up and waiting. You can make up whatever excuse you want. You can blame whomever you want. You’re good at that! I just know this can’t go on, and you know it, too.

Take my hand, let’s end this. And by tomorrow you and I will be sipping martinis on our yacht in the Hamptons with Chelsea and the friends we still have left. I love you, Dad. Let’s do this. That’s right, take my hand, here we go…

Ivanka, I have faith in you that you can do this. I know I’ve called your dad crazy before, but I was speaking politically, not clinically. This has gone beyond crazy. The entire nation—in fact, the entire world—needs you to step forward and do the courageous thing history will praise you for: the loving act of a brilliant daughter who also loved her beleaguered country enough to say her father wasn’t well and needed help.

Thank you, Ivanka.

Yours,
Michael Moore

Michael Moore is an Academy Award-winning filmmaker and bestselling author.