Stress and the Mayan Calendar

Because the Mayan Calendar ends in 2012, many fear that this may also mark the end of the world. There have been many ways  to approach the study of the Mayan Calendar. We are most interested in the calendar as a recording of the cycles of human development and of the evolution of mind and consciousness. This calendar identifies nine great cycles encompassing millions of years, with 13 sub-cycles in each of the nine.

Of interest here is the fact that about 300 years ago, the study of spirit and mind were separated in order to create a quantifiable study of the mind in the realm of “pure science”.  Prior to this, psyche was identified and understood as the inseparable mind/spirit. This occurred during the Mayan cycle which viewed everything in terms of duality. Most human beings living today have known only this pervasive duality consciousness.

This split between mind and spirit underlies the limited success in clinical results in the field of mental health. It also contributes to the difficulties we have and are experiencing as we’ve moved into new Mayan cycles of intuition, telepathy, and wholeness.

The hippie movement of the 60’s and 70’s reflected dissatisfaction with consumerism, image based lifestyles, and conformity.It also expressed a desire for spiritual enlightenment, love and peace. It was brought forth from the energies of a consciousness rapidly evolving toward the completion of the cycles in 2012.

The term “stress” was first used in 1946 to show that psychological reactions can cause illness in the body. Carl Johan Calleman, author of The Mayan Calendar and the Transformation of Consciousness, says “Stress is a product of the modern mind and reflects the confusing influences on the individual of two different frames of consciousness linked to two different Underworlds (major cycles).”

He points out that when high high-frequency spiritual pulses of light started to be transmitted to the right-brain hemisphere as early as 1947 and more significantly in 1999, the influence of these pulses created a conflict between the rapidly developing higher consciousness and today’s dominant materialistic social values, resulting in significant stress and burnout.

Calleman adds, “The body seems to be telling the individual that it is not being aligned with the divine plan and refuses to go on. Those afflicted are not the lazy, but rather the compassionate – individuals who cannot shield themselves from the high-frequency pulses of the new (cycle)” He also indicates that stress and burnout may be a wake-up call that can lead to greater awareness and expansion of consciousness.

Our study of innate Brilliance has created a new mindset for these unique times. We understand Brilliance to be that innate part of ourselves that has access to all we need to know. It is our link to the Universe and our higher state of mind. When we access our Brilliance we move past conditioned thinking and old patterns of awareness and we move into all of the awaiting possibilities and potentials of our human beingness. Learning to live from our Brilliance keeps us aligned with the Now energies of creation and allows us to flow with universal oneness regardless what cycles are ending or beginning.

Learn more about utilizing our Brilliance Formula in our book, Activate Your Brilliance: 12 Keys to the Art of Living Happy.

The Age of Aquarius and the Evolution of Mind

As children of the 60’s we have been revisiting this fabulous song, “Aquarius”, and it’s applications for today.

Check out these lyrics:

Age of Aquarius

When the moon is in the seventh house and Jupiter aligns with Mars,

Then peace will guide the planets and love will steer the stars.

This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, Age of Aquarius,

Aquarius, Aquarius.

Harmony and understanding, sympathy and trust abounding.

No more falsehoods or derisions, golden living dreams of visions.

Mystic crystal revelations and the mind’s true liberation.

Aquarius, Aquarius.

These words portray a new world of peace and love. There is a connection between this song and what is happening today.

Here’s what Allison Rae, Master Astrologist says:

“Astrologically, 2010 is the most volatile year of the 2012 transition, and the energies reach a climax in the first three weeks of August.  The celestial energies have been ramping up steadily since the March Equinox and reach a crescendo during the first three weeks of August.

Outer planets Pluto, Saturn, Uranus and Jupiter are joined by Mars and Venus in hot configurations over the next several weeks. The planets aren’t just making hard aspects to each other. Saturn, Mars and Venus align with the orbital center of the cluster of galaxies that includes our Milky Way. The energy of the cosmos fuels the ongoing outer-planet t-square, the Grand Cross….

All heaven is breaking loose, and the effects will be felt for a long time to come.”

Everyone we know is reporting extra sensitivity, big endings in many life areas, and a sense of new beginnings. There is a great clearing-out going on. On a global scale this pattern of dramatic change is also occurring.

Since the 60’s we’ve had a yearning for this promised time of peace and love. However, we didn’t expect to see the chaos that absorbs media attention today. Looking farther we find many signs of hope and love. People of all ages are finding ways to make a difference in their communities and the world.

All year, the equinox, the solstice, eclipses of sun and moon and planetary alignments are bringing ever expanding energies to earth and all of us. People with open hearts are coming together in unprecedented numbers to shine light into the world and the hearts of all.

It is their Brilliance that lights people up. This Brilliance also allows us to remain steady in our love and peace in the midst of chaos. What appears to be chaos is the breaking up and letting go of old habits of mind. Moving into Brilliance rather than being immersed in old habits and patterns of thinking is the evolution of mind that is creating a new world.

Welcome to the Age of Aquarius.

Zachary Bonner: Brilliance In a 12-Year Old

Zachary is on his third fund-raising trek, this time walking from his home near Tampa, FL to the Pacific Ocean, for a total of 2,478 miles. His purpose is to raise money for homeless kids. He founded the Little Red Wagon Foundation when he was six years old; his project at that time was getting water to people after Hurricane Charley hit Florida in 2004.

Zachary Bonner

The Little Red Wagon Foundation has provided school supplies, food, clothing and toys to homeless children. His efforts have raised over $50,000 in years past and he has received pledges of about $120,000 from sponsors this year, including $50,000 from Elton John, when Zachary reaches Los Angeles.

Zachary said “I feel we should meet their basic needs but take it a step further and meet their kid needs. I feel it’s important for everyone to have the opportunity to just be a kid.” Ironically this wisdom comes from the mouth of a 12-year old little boy who studies at home so that he can finish his school requirements quickly to give more time to his charity work.

What is it that gives Zachary his motivation, his wisdom and the heart to do this work? It has to be something deep inside that inspires him to greatness. We believe that Zachary’s work comes from his innate Brilliance, that conscious and creative energy than enlivens all of us. His special expression of Brilliance is remarkable and reminds and inspires us to live full out from our unique Brilliance.

How do we touch base with our Brilliance? Laurie Bonner, Zachary’s Mother, gives us a clue. In a conversation, she shared: “I have parents that ask me all the time: How do you get them involved?” She continued: “I don’t think you can. Unless the kid loves that thing they are doing, there is no way. I used to think it would end; but now I think maybe this is what he’s supposed to do.”

If we follow our hearts, and find what we love doing, we can be sure that we are acting from our Brilliance and contributing to make a better world. This is what most of us are looking for, our purpose, what brings meaning to our lives. Along the way, Brilliance inspires others to do the same. As the old song lyric says, What the world needs now, is love, sweet love. It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of. Let your Brilliance lead you to what you love, and watch what happens.

Quotes from Star Tribune, “Big Heart, Little Boy” 8-1-10

Zach’s website: http://littleredwagonfoundation.com/ and

Utube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHx2IJ-xGVw&feature=player_embedded

Apology to Shirley Sharrod

All for One and One for All

Imagine finding yourself in the situation Shirley Sharrod has experienced in the last few days. A highly edited video portrayal left her reputation in tatters. Then insufficient investigation and blatant assumptions resulted in her losing her job. In the mix it appears that distorted mindsets put this in motion to meet personal agendas.

• It seems that the blogger who cooked the video was deliberately intending to undermine the NAACP and the current administration and claim some fame at the expense of Ms. Sherrod.
• Fox News then grabbed the video and used it to attack both her and the administration.
• It seems that her employer also jumped to conclusions in a context of fear over past racial discrimination in his department and fired Ms. Sherrod.

This story appears to be the norm rather than the exception. We are living in a world of distorted beliefs and thoughts that are contributing to fear, conflict, and destruction on a personal and global level.

Here are some other examples:

• There was the BP employee who reported problems with the Gulf oil well which were ignored by his supervisor resulting in a disaster of untold proportions.
• For the past month there has been a supreme effort in Congress to block the passage of an extension of unemployment benefits for millions who have been out of work for months, even years, as a result of our economic crisis. These workers were portrayed by some members of Congress as lazy and unwilling to get a job.
• Then the latest discussions on the news of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan indicate that we will need to be there for many more years.

Are we living in an insane world? Perhaps we are, and it’s our thinking that is creating the chaos around us.

• Our conditioned beliefs, our thoughts, that it is our right to put our agendas above the good of the whole lead to permission to deliberately distort the truth and cause harm to others.
• Our beliefs that safety is less important than bottom line profits opens the door to negligence and resulting catastrophe.
• Our greedy thoughts that we can have everything our way regardless of the needs of others, leads to extreme imbalance in personal, national and international relationships.

When is this going to stop? If you have ever felt alone, victimized, cheated, wounded, or hopeless, you have experienced the insanity resulting from dysfunctional habits of thinking. Each of us has the power to stop this insanity.

• When we clear our distorted habits of thinking and focus on thoughts that bring us peace, joy, and harmony we will create the new world.
• When we take the time to tune into other perspectives, to see the value and strengths in everyone, we will increase the quality of our lives.

So, Shirley, we apologize. We admire your dignity and honesty. And, we will work to build a consciousness of Brilliance in our communities so that all can benefit and live together harmoniously.

Back to Brilliance ©2010

Feelings Tell All

If you are feeling a zest for living and enjoy physical health, you need only check in when your appetite for life diminishes. You will likely find a temporary thought that has caused your low mood and low energy.

If you experience tension headaches, racing thoughts, are forgetful, or have cloudy thinking, it’s

Feeling down?

time to take a closer look at your micro-mirror to determine what is creating those experiences and stress in your life. Short of a medical condition, these are not common or normal and no one needs to believe that they simply have to accept these symptoms or that they will somehow miraculously disappear.

It is up to us to discover the cause and shift our thinking, filtering out the old patterns of thought that aren’t creating the health and happiness we all desire. Is it really that simple, just shifting our thoughts to eliminate our stress? Yes!

When you understand how we create what we pay attention to, the choice is clear. We can focus on solutions, not problems, and move out of the line of fire. Stress isn’t an option when our minds focus on our Brilliance, our unlimited inner resources, and our zest for living life full-out.

How Thought Creates Stress

Life is truly an inside-out job. The thoughts which are inside of us create our lives. They certainly create how we deal with situations. The thoughts that we focus on grow.  If we have a lot of thoughts about worries, concerns, and fears, and put attention on those, we will continue to create stress.

When we have situations in our lives that could be precursors to stress we have been conditioned to solve those problems with the computer part of our mind. We go back into our storage banks to find a similar situation, and then pull it out and say “here’s the answer”.

Most often those old ways of dealing with things don’t apply in the new situation because we’ve grown and changed, and circumstances are different. Trying to meet today’s problems from the computer mind is a surefire formula for creating stress and distress.

There is another habit of the mind at play here. It is what we call thought attacks. When you are lost in spinning worries and concerns you are really having a thought attack. While your thoughts are circling around a worry, you aren’t going anywhere. But your life force and energy are being drawn into that whirlpool and being wasted. The more you can recognize and catch a pattern, the faster you can move to clarity and action.

Here’s an example of how thought attacks might occur.

• A sales person has often made sales and lost sales.
• They might receive a call that tells them a sale they had counted on was not going to occur. They might have thought “I was counting on that sale and it just fell through; I can’t believe it!”
• Then as they continue to think about the situation another thought might follow: “Oh my gosh, what am I going to do – I have all my bills plus the new car payment due in two weeks.”

Those two thoughts have created a momentum and they are off and running into the future:

• “Now I have to cancel the roof project on my house – and it will probably leak again this winter if the snows are anything like last winter” and
• “My spouse is going to be upset, big time upset!”
• “The economy is getting worse. The stupid politicians never get the stimulus packages going in time.”

When one thought is given a lot of attention, it can attract a dozen more of the same kind of thoughts. When this happens, one is caught in a full-fledged thought attack, with the computer mind fully in control.

Keep in mind, the chain of thoughts described above started with a message received in a two-minute phone call.  When we take the ride into a thought attack, anything else going on in our lives is up for grabs. We may be worried about our child, toddler or adolescent. Whether it’s their health or grades or attitudes, looking at any concern or worry often attracts the “maybe’s” and “could happen next” thoughts that lurk in our old patterns or in what we observe in the lives of others close to us. We are fueling thought attacks faster than the speed of light and feeling the stress that accompanies the growing numbers of spinning thoughts in our minds.

Our thoughts are the foundation for how we experience our lives. Once we know how thoughts create our lives, it is easier to understand how thoughts create our stress. We have a choice. We can either spin around in our worries and concerns, or we can learn to get back to our Brilliance, and access the thoughts that will create a life of satisfaction and ease.

Excerpt from Stop Stress Guide, Back to Brilliance © 2009

Light Up Your World with Natural Brilliance

Most of today’s Gurus are not teaching how critically important it is to recognize the connection between our feelings and our thoughts. Back to Brilliance is one of the few businesses detailing how important this connection is in mastering our lives. Our Brilliance Formula leads the way.

Light Up Your World

We’ve been trained to see ourselves as ‘small’, ‘helpless’, ‘insignificant’ or ‘incapable’.  When we see someone stepping out with courage, excelling, making a tremendous impact for good on the world, we see them as out of the ordinary, beyond most people’s capabilities.

In truth, none of us are small, weak, insignificant, or unable to make an impact.  In fact, each of us has a core of Brilliance that is the light that illuminates our own lives and the lives of others.  We are not dim bulbs; we are filled with Brilliance.

We can learn to connect with Brilliance and let it guide our lives because Brilliance is the heart of our true selves. The Formula for activating it is easily implemented once you understand how it works.

The Brilliance Formula allows anyone to avoid reacting to the stressors that are so prevalent in today’s world. This formula shows how Brilliance fuels our efforts to create the best and highest in our lives.

All of our programs at Back to Brilliance teach the Brilliance Formula. Are you ready to light up your world?

Brilliance A Gift From Life

Learning that we all have a core of brilliance was the greatest discovery of our lives. It is our connection to the Universe, to the Source of all that is. Learning that we have direct access to this brilliance at all times was a part of that great discovery. Being able to tap our brilliance for direction, guidance, and understanding is truly a gift from Life. It is our safety net.

This week we decided to share some of our favorite quotes about brilliance. You will notice that several of these quotes come from our book, Activate Your Brilliance: 12 Keys to the Art of Living Happy.

“Happiness is really inside of us, always there as a part of our brilliance.” – Activate Your Brilliance.

“Thinking requires effort, however small.  Happiness requires no effort at all.  In fact, it’s more of a letting go of unhappiness than it is a striving for happiness.” – Richard Carlson, You Can Be Happy No Matter What.

“When we understand that we can live from our brilliance, the pressures, expectations, and limitations of the external world lose their power.” – Activate Your Brilliance.

“Happiness allows you to see information in new and creative ways, and allows you to make rational, productive decisions in a timely manner; it allows you to enjoy, rather than struggle with the ebbs and flows of life, and it encourages your wisdom and common sense to surface.” – Richard Carlson,    You Can Be Happy No Matter What.

“We all have the power to choose. In a world where we seem to have so little control, we often forget that we have choices.” -  Activate Your Brilliance.

“Pretty much, in all battles of the heart over the mind, go with your heart. Because, truly, it’s a lot easier for your mind to catch up with your heart, than for your heart to catch up with your mind. A whole lot. – Michael Dooley, TUT… A Note from the Universe.

“A Key to happiness is listening to your inner wisdom until understanding sneaks past your thought system.” – Jane Nelsen, Understandiing.

“The more we are able to live from the inside out, the more beauty, joy, and fulfillment we experience.” – Activate Your Brilliance.

“Life is magical. When we become masters of brilliance we experience that magic much more often.” – Activate Your Brilliance.

A Mindset for the Holidays

Everywhere we look these days we see evidence that mindset is very important. Athletes have known for many years the value of staying in the flow – a mental state. People trying to kick a habit like smoking know that taking your attention off cigarettes, shifting your mindset, is huge. Oprah has featured many writers over the years who have stressed the value of mindset. Her project with Eckhart Tolle stresses expanding one’s consciousness, which is moving from old beliefs and patterns of thinking to a broader mindset that encompasses much more. Mindset is mainstream.

Perhaps it’s time for a new mindset for the holidays. Some of the major holidays of the year celebrated by different religions have already passed. Thanksgiving is over as well. But no matter where we go we are surrounded by the trappings of Christmas, with Kwanza and Chanukah coming up for those who celebrate these days.  Gifts, decorations, food, and more can frazzle us while they dazzle us. It could be time to start some new traditions.

The real trick is knowing that our mindset is just a set of thoughts and beliefs inside of us, and we can change these if we choose. What is it we really want to accomplish in this holiday season? What is the true gift in our gift-giving? It seems that one reason we give gifts is to show appreciation to another person. When gifts are expected, and few thanks given, we wonder if appreciation is really the issue.  What message do you want your gifts to say this holiday season?

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Stress Relief for Anger in Relationships

Anger is a feeling all of us have experienced. We usually blame others for “making us angry” when, in fact, the real culprit for anger is the thoughts we have inside our own heads. Yes, the behaviors that others have, the accidents that occur, the “stupid” decisions, and on and on, do have the ability get a reaction from us. But, the reaction will come forth from us? Also, we determine its frequency and intensity.

Ask yourself this question: Can I let go of anger in my relationships? Because anger is such a common stressor in relationship problems, we need to give it some attention. To truly master our relationships, we need to master our feelings of anger. Anger is easily triggered because of our family conditioning and because it appears to be the “best” expression that shows how we are feeling at the time.

Our feeling vocabulary may be limited. We may be afraid, and cover it with anger. We may be frustrated to the max and let anger take over our words. We might simply feel defeated by a voicemail system when we have tried to get an important message through to a service representative. No matter when or where our anger takes the stage, we damage relationships with unrestrained anger.

Our frustration, irritation, and distress frequently build into anger because we don’t let these feelings out until we feel safe. Too often we let anger run riot with the people closest to us, or with those with whom we can “get away with it”. Because our anger response often is harsh, explosive, and quickly gets out of control, it is imperative that we recognize its source.

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