It's All Up In Smoke...and Mirrors

We awoke Sunday morning to a bizarre pinkish-orange hue coming from the sky above. It has lasted for three days so far. The sun shines a brilliant salmon orange color through the thick smoke layer above us. A very strange energy is hanging within this smoke. People are feeling it. Bizarre things are happening. Most of them are hard to describe in words.

I said "I've never seen this before, but my instinct is that it's the result of a forest fire somewhere nearby." I was wrong...it is the result of many dozens of forest fires scattered across Western Canada, covering hundreds of square kilometers. Numerous fires were started by heat lightning...many were also started by careless human hands. On the first day we had "snow" falling in the summer in the form of white ash flakes.

We have noticed a common drought and water shortage theme in all of our travels over this past year. The earth is thirsty for change. So thirsty.

Yesterday we offered to support a friend at court where he was being charged with several traffic violations. We filed into a crowded local small town courtroom where he, and a group of of "traffic law violators", were treated like criminal sheep. Some were to pay fines for minor infractions of "THE LAW". There were four police officers in the room as well. They seemed like average people, underneath their costumes, as did the judge. Each person that was called up to the microphone pleaded guilty and then a fee was named and they negotiated a timeline to remit payments. No one argued about anything. They all thanked the court and nervously shook hands with the head officer. Holy intimidation Batman!  A clerk entered and bowed to the judge, as if bowing to her martial arts master. Then bowed again as she exited. That seemed so excessive, robotic and bizarre to me. Outside of a dojo, I feel that in most of our modern world, bowing is a symbol of one person being less than another. I don't agree with this old-school tradition. Let's modernize, shall we?

One woman mentioned that she has a seatbelt phobia. She said that not wearing one saved her life 40 years ago. Another man had his right signal on and then turned left instead. That will be $150  sir. $100 mam. You have 60 days. Wait...I'm feeling generous today, you have 90 days. What a brilliant business: The business of keeping the masses afraid of everything. The energy of that room was so heavy with a lot of fear. I held the crystal that hung around my neck and sent some higher vibrations to those present. The people in that room seemed like they were on high alert. Lots of twitching and shaking in all directions. Even one of the police officers trembled as he read the criminalizing paperwork. I had a feeling that no one there, deep down in their knowing, agreed with the actions and words taking place in that room. If someone doesn't speak up about things that seem wrong, then nothing will change. The justice system is justiceless in my eyes. And that was just traffic court. Our friend was dismissed because the officer didn't show up. So they just threw out the charges as if they didn't happen. I was literally holding back laughter the entire time we were sitting in that room. I felt as though I was watching a poorly-rehearsed play. What just happened here? Wow!

Luckily, we had all prepared ourselves as a group that morning with meditation and drumming in an angelic gateway built last week by placing specific crystals into the earth at certain distances and directions. This geometric shape creates a high frequency vibration and positive energy field. This allows any of us to connect to the divine spirits that are here to guide us. Yup. Angelic beings and other light guardians. It might sound crazy to some. Between our family and friends, we have "planted" at least a dozen gateways from coast to coast of North America. This morning we practiced yoga inside that gateway and I said "What if our indiegogo campaign doesn't raise much money? Where will we go?" At that exact moment a beautiful bald eagle swooped across the garden in front of us. Tanner said "wherever that guy is headed."  We both laughed and knew that everything is always ok.  Especially when it seems like it's not ok. Just wait. You will see. You will feel it. The perfection of the universe.

"Be still. Be silent and empty. Say nothing. Ask nothing. Be quiet. Open your heart. They will find you. They will help you. You are not alone. Love and guidance is all around you. Be ready to receive."  A quote from Denise Linn's book, Secrets & Mysteries: the Glory and Pleasure of Being a Woman. 

*Please take a few more minutes to view our campaign to raise funds for One World Wellness to continue supporting people and the planet:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-wellness-retreat-that-comes-to-your-door/x/11104312#/

One World Wellness's Mission:

Our intention is to travel around the globe, to wherever our assistance is needed, to support everyday people to take their health, wellness and level of joy to an all-time high. It's no secret that our world is struggling as a whole. 
We feel that every single person who becomes healthy, self-empowered and balanced is one more person who will tip the scales toward a positive tomorrow for all of us and future generations.

Our preliminary research project....in a nutshell:

After 6 months of traveling in our car from Vancouver Island to Guatemala and back again on a small budget, and connecting with many dozens of people from all walks of life, we have realized something HUGE: Most of us do NOT have the time or extra finances to take a “wellness vacation” or retreat. However, almost everyone we connect with has a desire to feel more joy, live a healthier lifestyle and to have the support to fuel their passions. Wow! How do we solve this dilemma?

GOOD NEWS! We have a solution:

One World Wellness will bring the wellness retreat and personal guidance right to your home! We are a mobile, flexible team with knowledge to share with you about healthy lifestyle shifts, spiritual exploration and how to expand your consciousness to assist you in creating the vibrant and joyful life that you dream of living! We will offer the support needed to the people who need it the most. 

What can One World Wellness offer to our students?

Our services may include: shifting to healthier eating, moving our bodies, healthier thinking and heart-centered communication, deepening spiritual practices, growing your own food, improving the quality of your surroundings...and the possibilities go on and on. We can work with you at your own pace to guide you toward your personal path to greater joy and wellness. Keep us around for a week or ask us for a month of our time. The amount of support required for each individual will vary.

Who is One World Wellness?

We are Kristin and Tanner. A happy-go-lucky, upbeat, vibrant, 30-ish couple who's mission it is to continue to live simply and joyfully while supporting others in finding their own joy though balancing body, mind and spirit. Our passion is to show others that it's possible to live a vibrant and joyful life every single day!

We began One World Wellness in the fall of 2014 while we were living on Vancouver Island. We had both worked many "normal" careers (both for ourselves and for employers) in the last decade. We were feeling downright unfulfilled and way too tired and stressed at age 30! Hmmmm. How can we work so darn hard and only make such a tiny difference in our world? Why aren't we following our own passions instead of someone else's? Are we answering our greatest calling on the planet? What if we just forget the naysayers and just do what we love?! Well that's what we are doing starting right now! Help us to help our world to thrive.

What will the Funding that we receive from this campaign pay for?

Our vision is to offer our services to people on a sliding scale. At the end of our stay at each home, we will give each person or family the opportunity to make a donation to One World Wellness to assist us in continuing our work as a mobile wellness team. Some will be able to give more than others and under NO circumstances do we want to deny our services to anyone that truly needs them. It will be a pay-it-forward type of system. Every little bit of funding we receive will assist us in extending the life of this project! :)

How will you know where the money is getting spent?

We write a blog each week about our experiences and adventures and the amazing connections that we make with people like you. You will be able to see what we are up to and where we are spending the money that is so generously donated to our project.

Read Our Blog Here!

Your donations may go toward things that will make our project sustainable, such as:

Books and other teaching materials for our team and students

We are in need of a smaller, more portable (and less ancient than our huge laptop) device for making videos and communicating with our students. iPad?

Purchasing minor health and wellness products to support clients (ex: gardening supplies, yoga mats, sports equipment, etc.)

Rentals of venues for wellness events, workshops, etc.

Fuel to get our team and our car to our next student(s)

Routine and/or unexpected repairs/maintenance for our aging OOW car (if/when needed...hopefully minimal!)

Travel Insurance (a necessity for out-of-Canada travels)

*If our fundraising goes exceptionally well, we would love to upgrade our 2003 Jetta to a larger vehicle (such as a van or small motor home) so that we may have a place to lay our heads between students, as well as haul larger items, such as a massage table and other healing tools.

TESTIMONIALS...

"Some people you just really wish were your neighbors. Theses guys just jump right into your life and make you glad to be alive. Welcome back into my world anytime." - Kent, Idaho, USA

"Tanner and Kristin are such positive, high-spirited people! We had some of the best conversations and they spread the most amazing energy and enthusiasm to me in their entire stay. I think Tanner has changed my life with his drumming ceremony and I will never forget anything about them!!!!!!" - Kristine, Oregon, USA

"What a pleasure to be a last-minute host for these two. When I think of them, the words that come to mind are balanced, grounded, engaged and respectful. I highly enjoyed my brief time with them and totally recommend you open your doors to them if you have the opportunity. All the best in all you do Kristin and Tanner. You are the kind of young(er) people that give me some hope for the survivability of this planet." - Carol, Florida, USA

"The thing I appreciate the most about Tanner and Kristin is that they walk the talk." - Dave, British Columbia, Canada / Mexico

"I did the cacao ceremony just out of curiosity. I didn't have any expectations. I just wanted to see what it would be like and what it's about. It was a really interesting experience and it was also very therapeutic. It was also really beautiful.  I'm really grateful to Kristin and Tanner, not just for doing the ceremonies, but for being the right people to host them because that makes all the difference." - Deb, New York, USA 

If you would like to read additional information about our project, please see our blogs at:

www.oneworldwellnessblog.blogspot.com (our lifestyle, spirituality and travel blog)

www.cacaoconnection.blogspot.com (our Cacao Plant Medicine blog)

We also have a Facebook page. Follow One World Wellness on Facebook

If you have any additional questions about One World Wellness, please email

oneworldwellness@yahoo.ca

THANK YOU for supporting this project and the future wellness of our world.

PS. If you are inspired by our project, but just don't have the extra funds to donate, that's ok! We ask that you please spread the word to folks that may be able to support One World Wellness. Thanks!

You DID sign up for this! And continue to sign up for it. (Part TWO)

This is a second piece to my last post about "collective consent". There are so many aspects of our culture that seem SO backward and corrupt to me. Every day I observe people and situations that make me at least shake my head, sometimes they give me a queazy feeling in my stomach, and at worst, they drive me to write about it. Why do we all continue to follow along like a flock of helpless, mindless sheeple? 

I think it's about darn time that we speak up and say a big bold NO to the leaders of our world and the corporations that are mutually supporting each other to control our thoughts and actions every single day.  At least be the black sheep!  I'm one. I have been one as long as I can remember. Go against the [GMO] grain. Don't be afraid to raise a few eyebrows! Make people do a double take. Be the topic of conversation (But be normal enough so people actually listen to what you have to say and don't run for the hills when they see you).

Media

When I was a kid, I despised the news channels on the TV and radio.  I didn't have a clue what they were reporting about, but I remember seeing awful images and hearing the words "bombing" "gunfire" "injured civilians" "casualties" "war" "drugs" "borders" "tragedy" "child abduction" "rape" "attacks" "gangs" and many others that stir up feelings of sadness.  I didn't understand why on earth adults wanted to see and hear that stuff.  I still don't understand.  I'm quick to leave the room or change the radio station when news comes on.  Newspapers and magazines tend to be slightly more tactful about their presentations. However, in my humble opinion, all mainstream big media raises a major red flag for me. 

I believe that we are fed the side of the story that makes most of the population either: (a) feel afraid for themselves and their families, (b) angry at someone which creates a target ( such as making a poor poor POOR judgement about a whole race of people or an entire region of the globe) or (c) sympathetic enough to agree with what they just saw/heard/read. Often it's enough to sway "we the people" into supporting whatever ridiculous attack or war on this or that or the other scheme that they have dreamt up to gain more power and control. 

For this reason alone, I do not believe in television, radio or printed news from any mainstream source. Simply put: We are not receiving all of the necessary information that we would need in order to create an intelligent and educated opinion on anything. Period. Exclamation point. 

Do your homework. Question everything. Especially if the news told you that it's true!

(PS. Pleeeeease do NOT believe everything that Facebook tells you. After all, Facebook is a collaboration of sheeple spreading sheeple fears. There is some good stuff on there too. Use your intuition to separate the two.)

Technology

 Oh wow, BIG topic. I had to take a really deep iBreath before I typed this on my iPhone.  That wasn't a typo. I was just testing to see if anyone thought that the concept of a device to tell us when and how to breathe would be crossing a line of insulting our innate human intelligence.  When is enough going to be enough?  

Ask yourself if your life is any easier now that you have all these gadgets? Remember when all you had was a phone attached to your wall, an address book, actual social gatherings, and to keep life flowing smoothly....a wall calendar with puppies or cool cars on it and you couldn't wait to get to the next page because it was your birthday month!? How the heck did we get anything done back then? Our calendars didn't beep, vibrate, flash or interrupt us in the middle of an important conversation to tell us to take the dog for a walk.  I actually laughed out loud when I just imagined calendars doing all that. 

I heard a real live duck quacking in a pond the other day and briefly thought that maybe the last person enjoying that bit of nature left their iPhone in the weeds. (?!?!?)  Enough about the iRevolution. I'm just getting flustered. 

Let's talk about the new fancy technologically advanced cars! So smart! They warn you when vehicles ahead of you are stopping (some even warn you two cars ahead!) so you don't really have to keep your eyes on the road, beep madly when there is something behind you in reverse so that you don't have to use your mirrors, and give you a thumbs up when it's safe to change lanes in rush hour traffic, so you don't have to strain yourself with a brutal shoulder check. Might as well put your dog in the driver's seat so you can text away or scroll through Facebook on your iThing. Or better yet, just reveal the iDrive already. I'm sure it's coming and does everything for you so you can just sit back and enjoy the ride. Oh, wait a minute. That's called a taxi.

What else can I examine? 3D televisions? (I prefer real life.) I won't even go there. My point is, be present. LIVE each moment...and going along with today's theme, iThink for yourself.

(Modern) Life is but a Dream.

Do you ever get the feeling that things like iPhones, and Facebook are just another THING that keeps us humans immersed in a dream-like semi-reality?

Don't get me wrong, I too have enjoyed having hundreds of "friends" on Facebook, and that feeling of warm fuzzies when the majority of those people message me the token once-a-year on my birthday, which they rely on Facebook to notify them of.  Or how about learning of a family member's engagement (OMG! look at my huge diamond!) or pregnancy (surprise everyone! Here is our first look at baby!) via a Facebook post. What happened to a phone call and/or a simple email to those who are closest to us? Are these life events not special and sacred anymore? Seems like they are all just for show these days. 

Social media. Facebook. Television. Celebrities. All of those other online apps and groups and garbage that is flooding our minds. 

Wake up friends! IT'S. NOT. REAL!!! It's not genuine human connection. It's stealing from all of us the quality of life and those meaningful connections and memorable moments that we are ALL seeking. Our children are not learning the skills needed to communicate with each other while their noses are pointed at electronic boxes of various shapes and sizes. People are passive-aggressively putting each other down and gossiping and sharing false information and it makes my head spin!

I have stepped back from Facebook for a few months now, occasionally posting a link to these blog posts, but making a conscious choice to avoid scrolling mindlessly through people's complaints, ego flaunting and dramas. The result? I feel lighter. I feel happier. I don't feel left out and I would certainly hope that if a life-changing event were to occur, that my REAL friends and family would send me an email or even better yet, pick up the phone. 

This brings me to my next point which is cell phones.  I have had one version or another for over 10 years. The phone companies have usually had to arm wrestle me to get me to upgrade my ancient (folds in half with a pull-up antenna) phones to the newest versions with day-planning,  dinner-making, weather-forecasting, trend-watching, OMG!!! alerting shenanigans (of which I have one and am typing this post with, but is mostly severely underutilized). 

What has happened to our ability to think for ourselves??? At this point, if you don't carry around one of these gadgets, I don't know how you even get out of bed in the morning! 

On top of this, I (and the masses) am spending over $1,000 yearly to keep up with everyone else in the technology race. The phone companies (among many others, which I will eventually post about) are laughing at us.  I called my mobile phone provider today and said that I wanted to cancel my phone plan and pay the remaining balance on my contract. The fellow helping me was quite surprised and asked why I would possibly want to do that?!  I simply said that I am no longer interested in paying such high fees to stay in touch with the people who matter to me. So after an hour of being on hold repeatedly, I am still using my phone and was offered a "bargain!!!" I am no fool, and although I accepted the offer, I have a master plan of scrapping my phone and freeing myself from one more of the tentacles of modern society, which I truly believe is dumbing us all down and keeping us working like rats on a wheel so that we can keep up with society and be cool.  

After all, that's what life is about. Right?