What's Alive In You? | The Truth and Nothing But

What I know about truth won’t cover the head of a pin. Truth as in absolutes of the world I can go with. Sure there are very big trees called Redwoods. I believe that is true though I’ve never actually seen them myself. I saw a picture in grade school of a giant redwood with a Model A car driving through a cut out in the trunk. You can search car and redwood and see a modern car in a cut out redwood. Impressive. Sure. I’m impressed by the disregard we have for the redwood. Who are we trying to impress. With any luck at all, these trees will outlive us and many more generations.

Heads of pins and Redwoods with Cars. What do those have to do with truth? Plenty. The big and the little are the illusionist in our life. They trick us into thinking we are big and in charge and also that we are small and insignificant (I’ll teach you and drill a hole big enough to drive through to show you who’s boss here!)

Humans are so small that it’s hard to even get a slight understanding of how tiny we are relative to the universe we live in. Think that “insignificance” is why we try so hard to dominate and be in charge and bully the rest of ourselves around and band together to kick butts (and worse) in other countries. What have we learned after the eons on the planet? I think a lot but we listen too much outside and not enough inside. Our internal guidance systems are dormant as we have cranked up our conscious mind and taken our egos out to play. It’s fun. It seems relevant. But it’s often the death of what’s alive inside each of us.

The truth? I don’t care about the “truth” of what’s around us. I don’t care if it’s true that the universe was created 60 jillion years ago or 5 minute ago. What I care about is the “truth” that I bring to this moment no matter when or how it was created. There is a consciousness alive in me that is full of a truth of one. My mission as an incarnate being more or less awake in a human body is to bring forth the truth of what’s alive in me. That’s I’m not to judge it or hold it or push it. Just bring it out. Live it congruently. I can’t care if anyone else sees it as a truth or a lie. That’s their perception. My life is to live my truth. It’s a message with meaning I may never understand. My conscious mind understanding of the truth I bring is not my concern. To stop it because I don’t understand it or because of fear that others will judge it and, perhaps will criticize and ostracize me for it, is not an option. That would be to come to earth with a delivery which I’m to fearful to deliver. Who benefits? No one.

We think we need to know. Let’s get over that. We live in a big .. very big mystery. That’s ok. To not know is ok. To want to know is ok too. But to not do because you don’t know is not ok. You have and I have something alive in us that came to be here. That came here to planet earth to add to the mix of the zillions of other very unique aliveness … to create and stimulate conversation, to foster understanding, compassion, sometimes dissonance and war. But we all come here with a truth. The challenge for each of us is to live it. Speak it. Be it. Champion it. This is the life we came here to live. Step into the mission of being and living out loud what’s uniquely alive in you. Do you know what it is?

Infinite Love and Gratitude | Peace is Self Healing

I know some people who seek to know. Seek to know how to live in harmony with the earth and with other humans on the planet. I’ve learned that there is little harmony in peace seeking. But let me back up.

Peace comes only from one place. Inside of each of us. External peace is only the manifestation of internal peace. When the people are not at peace with themselves how can their be peace in the land? When the leaders are not at peace with themselves how can their be peace in their dominion? When peace is not the prerogative, how will there be peace? When we don’t bring peace into our families, how can there be peace present?

We most often look for peaceful surroundings to entrance us into peace within. But we have cause and effect reversed. Only someone with a concept of peace within would seek peaceful surroundings. We go to nature, for instance, not to “get peace” but to “exercise” the peace within. To enter into a harmonious environment which harmonizes with and excites the peace within.

There is no peace outside of ourselves. And to the degree that all of us find, attune to and live within the peace within will be collectively manifest peace in the world. How else could it be? Peace is a “state” an event of consciousness or, some would say, a place of the most intimate self.

But peace, some would say, is not practical. This is a tough world. To survive you have to be tough. And to that I would say that as long as that is our perception of the world, that will be our world.

Fear brings fear. Love brings love. It’s all about vibration and attunement. I’m not kidding. We live in a vibrational universe. Even my science friends will agree with that.
We differ when it comes to how those vibrations (vibes) influence our every moment of aliveness. But no one will disagree that there is nothing else going on here other than vibrations. Light, sound, water, wind, rocks, sand, rock, snow, people – it’s all matter (molecules) in vibration. Hard stuff vibrates slower than airy stuff like clouds. So what’s the difference between a rock and a cloud (other than a few elemental molecules) – vibration.

See the film with Dr. Imoto’s water work? Yea .. lots of other people didn’t see it too. Find it see it. Believe it. Look into it. Investigate it. Be skeptical about it. But apply yourself to it. I believe that there is peace in that information. More than our mere minds can truly comprehend.

Back story on Bob – I knew about the Imoto material before the film. In fact, a couple of years before the film. I took on a project to mentor a couple of holistic practitioners who were stepping out with a program called the Lifeline Technique. Dr. Darren Weissman and Dr. Tom Bayne were breaking new ground in the exploration of energetic healing. These two young Drs. had something going for them that few who had practiced “energetic healing” before them had .. technology. Dr. Bayne’s Dark Field Microscope was like Dr. Imoto’s dark field microscope in that it let us see what, up until now, could only be anecdotal feedback from patients.

As Dr. Imoto used the dark field microscope to look at the cellular structure of ice crystals to see the effects of intentional vibration on water, Drs. Bayne and Weissman used the dark field microscope to see the effects of “infinite love and gratitude” on the cellular structure of the human body. The images and the results were beyond question. Thoughts are things. Vibrations we emanate from our minds and hearts to create healing states for ourselves and others – or create states of dis-ease and dis-comfort.

I had the honor of traveling with Drs. Tom and Darren for about a year doing seminars and training events across the country. I saw time and again the incredible healing powers of energetic healing substantiated by the physical changes in the patient but also by the dramatic images of before and after blood from those receiving a treatment consisting of “Infinite Love And Gratitude.” Read Dr. Weissman’s Book to learn more. Better yet, see him to have the experience.

I’m not here to sell books (apologies to Dr. Darren) but I am here to say that there something going on in the world that is not what conventional medicine and conventional political, and conventional education and conventional social normal would want us to know about.

I’m suggesting that to live in the “real world” you have to forsake the world of illusion. The illusionary world is one made to ensnarl you into it’s purposes. It’s the Orwellian way to get people to want to be a part of the system. To take pride in being a part of a system that is undoing them. We are proud to be important to our captors. We are just where they want us. Those who are not are depicted as outside the line of reason. “We wouldn’t want to be seen with them would we?”

There is so much more to life than we are going to experience if we live “within the lines.” We have to understand that all of the “rules” no matter how reasonable and sane are made up. They are just the best ideas that could come together at the time. And some pretty good ideas have come together over time. But they are not the end of thought or imagination or inspiration. The big bang was the beginning of the universe not the end of it. We, you and I, are the leading edge of that original blast from eons ago. We are the creative edge of the future that is in the making by our every thought and deed. Today.
We are smack dab in the middle of creation and we, in fact, are the creators in charge at the moment. The world tomorrow will emerge from our decisions and choices of today. It’s not pre-ordained and even if it is, it would be folly to think we had no influence on how things are to be tomorrow. Perhaps some key events and opportunities are “pre-ordained” – maybe not – but if so – those key events are still colored by us. How we behave. How we engage. How we bring what only we uniquely have into play in that moment.

You see I believe that a lot of possibilities are always present in any given moment. It’s like every moment is a multi-dimensional corner. Energy could flow in any number of directions. Energy is neutral – let’s say. It could flow toward “evil” purposes – we know it sometimes does. Or it could flow toward purposes that would create a more compassionate world. My question is how often do each of us direct the traffic at that intersection? I think every moment of every day. “Evil” gets power from the energy we don’t use for good. True or not. Try that one on. I don’t want a drop of my “good” energy available for anything that is not working for betterment. Do you?

When you worry .. what energy are you sending where? I contend that the way most of us worry is to send energy to what we don’t want most. So why do you think those who worry about what they most fear often get exactly what they are most afraid of? Could it be that they “fed it” energy that make it more and more real for them? I would say YES!

Then I would ask you to “worry” about what you want not what you don’t want. Send your energy to what will make your life more wonderful. Send your energy to what will make others life more wonderful. Disallow. Banish. Forever notice and dismiss energy that is fueling your fear and dread and negative thoughts and feelings about yourself and others. That’s how to bring peace into your life and into the life of the world.

As Dr. Darren would say “Infinite Love and Gratitude” In Peace.. Bob

Perfecting The Process | Living out a Dream

- Bob Sandidge in Algonquin, IL 2006 on a humid summer evening by the river

What’s going on today? Well I’m feeling badly for neglecting my blog. More so than ever because I know that I have valuable information to convey. But I suspect that whatever I write here now will not be that. Why? Because I’m feeling very close to my life. Very in touch with my surroundings. Very connected to people around me. This is good. Because sometimes my daily sensory input is so overwhelming that I can’t extend myself to others – in phone or in person. I’m “there” in body and voice but the me of me is not really present. I’m outside observing – keeping a “safe” distance from the me that is transacting the business of the day. Result? Not being alive. Walking through the day. Showing up for myself and others as a shell of who I am and what I have to offer.

I think too much. That is my “smart” brain keeps me occupied with so many possibilities of what is going on around me and possibilities of what it all means and the possible ramifications of every word and action that my energy, expression, and presence is always being shunted. Narrowed - compressed – filtered – mineralized – the ultimate in Political and Social Correctness – to a blander less alive and engaged and engaging me.

The good news is that few are fooled. Almost everyone who has had at least a two minute conversation with me knows that I’m not the guy next door. I could be an alien from the future. I don’t think that is as far fetched as it sounds. Here’s why. One of my creative strategies when writing or thinking or leading or visioning is to “think backwards” – that is, if I were in the future 20 years what would today look like from that vantage point. From that alien to this moment vantage point. Inevitably when the “alien” me looks back to this moment there is direction about what to do and how to do it. This “alien” perspective helps me see my today as foundational to my tomorrow. Whatever I begin today is the beginning of an “energy – intention wave” which has great potential as it unfolds into the future.

I also think the other way. When I take a picture, I ask myself – “what about this scene will be a gift to the future?” – “What is going on here that will tell some part of the story of this time to a generation not yet born?” Talk about brining some consciousness to your picture taking .. what is it that you want to “send forward” to future generations.

Never before were these questions as boldly written as they are today. Today the “artifacts” of our culture are everywhere and in the flash of a broken internet could be nowhere.

The internet is our new collective consciousness. Inter and Net are both great words to combine for this globally connective electronic tissue. Inter – between – among – in the midst of. It’s the externalization of our neurology. It is the big brain with each of us connected and talking and feeding the big and bigger ideas and big and bigger relationships that the INTERnet makes possible.

What feeds the internet is the “intranet.” Where do you think this writing is coming from? Very “intra” and I’m going to publish it on the “net” that is an extension of my own thinking process which then puts these ideas into the potential thought processes of hundreds of thousands – yes – millions of other “intra net” minds via the inter net.

Do you remember the amazing, ahead of his time, media visionary, Marshall McLuhan? He postulated that all of our technology is an extension of the human body. The car is the extension of the foot. TV is an extention of our sensory system. Consider that everytime we watch TV or a movie that we are giving up the everyday option that we exert over our eyeball to look at what we choose. When we watch TV or movies there are other people who are holding and pointing our “eyeballs” toward what they wish us to see. We don’t have the option to zoom back or pan over or zoom in. We are looking at what they choose to “edit” into our awareness. The director is creating within us – our screens are only a transmission device to reach our brains – are creating within us the reality that is shaped by their filters and world view. Like it or not. We are influenced and changed by it. We cannot be not changed by what we perceive. The mind can “decide” to not act on something, it cannot make what has happened not have happened. In other words, we are shaped by our perceptions more than by our thoughts. This is how marketing really works.

Most people will say that they are not affected by marketing. And they are right. They are not consciously affected. But the truth is in what they buy and what they own and the lifestyle they live. Who made up that story? How did they know to live the way they do? How did they know to buy what they bought? They may not – likely will not – know how most of the “conventions” in their life came into being. They will have a conscious mind story about all of it. We all make post event stories to explain what just happened – but the stories are just that. They are not what happened. They are a narrative applied by the mind to help us maintain our sense of “understanding” and “control” over what goes on around us. But what if what goes on around us has no words or concepts that fit it? Then what do we call it? Usually .. .the closest reference that we can pretend to believe ourselves or that we think someone else will believe.

What if we live in the world of the “unbelievable.” What if it is all beyond our comprehension? What if nothing means what we insist that it mean? What if that were the definition of freedom? What if freedom was living outside the encumbrance of cultural thinking? What if what we called real was not? What if we were far more powerful and divine than we could have ever imagined (especially considering that we live in a world where keeping us enslaved to the idea of “higher power” and “higher authority” is what our social and religious institutions work so hard to keep us believing.)

My point? This is my personal Bob’s Eye View …. That each of us is so much more than we can currently imagine given the cultural and social hypnosis that keeps us in the aggressive, domination, strive, kill or be killed mode. How many times a day do you evaluate where you are at by are you “right or wrong” – “Good or bad” – you see any of those choices are not about who we really are. Those are judgments about us . Judgments made about us and internalized by us as legitimate coterie for deciding how to be. The only way to know yourself is to be beyond judgment – “good” or “bad” both ideas carry just as much life limiting energy. Do you have the courage to just .. BE?

New Marketing is Old

THE “NEW” MARKETING IS THE OLD MARKETING.

In the June issue of the McHenry County Business Journal Anne and I authored an article entitled The Secret of the Carrot and the Stick. Our assignment was to wax large on the topic of motivation. I hate the whole idea of motivation. I hate the whole concept of carrot and stick. As someone who did a stint in a mental hospital in the mid 60’s – in this instance I was on the side of the keys – I really hate the idea that we are just gangles of behavior that can be so easily manipulated by “carrots.” I have come to learn that no matter whether I like it or hate it, there are many things that are what they are and I’m a better person, and a more effective one, for acknowledging that and taking charge of the process.

We humans are amazing. So amazing we don’t even know it. Because we have many capacities and capabilities that are out of daily awareness. Language is one of those things that we so don’t know anything about. In the Business Journal article we touch on the work of a Canadian Roger Bailey who developed a LAB profile instrument that “sorts us out” – that is it sorts out what we trained in NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) call Meta-Programs. These are the structures that, for the most part, are outside of our awareness but exert a definite control over our every choice and behavior. In that article we use for the motivation example the research that shows that 40% of us are motivated toward what we want and the other 40% are motivated away from what we want. The group in the middle? They, as we say, go either way and actually mix strategies.

An interesting point that we didn’t have room for in that article is that we tend, and I stress tend, to use the same strategy in all areas of our lives. So knowing if a person is away from or toward could not only be useful in sales but also in personal relating. You can thank me because I’m not going to write a relationship column – this time but what I do want to point out is that – I HATE IT! You see, all of this unconscious stuff that “runs us” is doing it even when we think we are making rational conscious decisions about what we like and don’t. Sorry. We have so much to learn and so little time. We are so busy deciding to get more of what we don’t want and can’t stand and defending our right to do so that we’re not aware of the life we are really living. Or I should say that is living us. Want to learn more? We hate teaching this stuff. Because like everyone else we have to deal with the fact that we don’t know what we think we know. 847.854.1111

TAKE BACK YOUR INTERNET!

COMMENTARY | Listen to this Commentary

It really concerns me that the “nice” people do not derive the benefits of the internet that they should be. I don’t mean that we are entitled any more or less than anyone else. But, fact is, we’ve abandoned our internet to the abusers.

Each of us likely spends a good bit of time each day cleaning out spam (my definition of spam is anything I don’t want in my mail box). In all of that spam how many messages do you get from fellow business associates?

Here’s my point. I WANT to get email from my local fellow business people. I want to know what is going on in your business. I want to know what specials my local and area friends have. I want to help my fellow business partners thrive and grow. To do that I need to know when to mention them, when there is a special, what is news, timely, seasonal. How can I know that when they are intimidated off the internet for fear of being perceived as spammers. What do you think? That I would rather read the one hundred millionth Viagra ad more than I want to hear from you?

The problem is that the spammers have created the impression in us that all unknown email is spam. The spammers have taught us to get upset, if not indignant, that someone is putting unwanted stuff in our email. They have taught us to stop making distinctions about email that we want to see. The spammers are hurting our local business because they have forced us off the internet. I say let’s take back our internet. Let’s educate ourselves and our fellow business people so that we can re-link our business community. So that we can know more about each others businesses and encourage more communication among our colleagues.

To do this WE have to start making the distinctions when we look at email and begin to welcome local e-mailers. To see messages from fellow businesses as a good thing. A very good thing. Because that email means that we can all begin to avail ourselves of the most powerful way to interconnect our businesses and business interests.

I invite each of us to make an active commitment to take back our internet and use it and encourage its use to build better business for our local community of business associates.
In Peace, Bob Sandidge www.SpectralHost.com

Speaking Peace - What's Alive In You?

Hi all .. Just finishing up an article to be published in The Pathfinder, The Heartland’s Resource for Conscious Living, published in St. Louis.  The article is on Speaking Peace as Anne and I will be in Collinsville, on the Illinois side of the really big Arches in St. Louis, Saturday April 29 from 9 to 5 to facilitate an introductory training program for the Association for Research and Enlightenment. The article, which will be published in March or so, highlights a few of the key themes in Speaking Peace or Compassionate Communication. Themes that deal with our using violent language on ourselves and others while heaping on the moralistic judgments in order to be “right” and totally evading any opportunity of meeting our needs of fully expressing what’s alive in us. Take a breath.

No time here to go into the whole thing. It takes a full day just to cover a bit of introductory material. That’s not to say it’s complex. It really is simple to learn and very difficult to master. Think about it. It takes a lot of personal awareness to overcome a lifetime of programming. Check out the books “Speak Peace” and “Nonviolent Communication” by Marshall Rosenberg. Join us in St. Louis for a fun workshop in April. http://www.areheartland.com/stlouis/index.html - program details and if you want to know more right now (or when you have a few minutes) take a listen to Anne and I – this is a service on Speaking Peace we presented January 8 at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Elgin www.uuce.org – go to www.PerfectingTheProcess.com – click on Speaking Peace to hear it or read the script. Remember – What YOU say next will change YOUR world!

On Purpose

The turn of the year is a great time for reflecton. My suspicion is that we don't do that much reflecting nor, perhaps, know how to do it. Reflection? Is that the same as thinking about? Not for me. Reflection is a process of reviewing a process while paying attention to the feelings and needs that are resonant with those reflections. Is what we are doing meeting our needs and the needs of others? Important questions because life processes are about meeting needs. Not wants. Needs.

As we shine our minds eye on the important processes of the past year or so, work, family, personal and intrapersonal relationships, just listen. Listen with an emotional ear. Let those feelings put you in touch with your deeper needs. Give yourself time for this. Get away. Be quiet. Let your daily life rest for a minute. Go deeply to feel and listen. What needs were met by your previous activities. Yours and others? What needs were not met because you were not aware of them? What needs were not met because you didn't think they were important?

What if we started off this year with a new presupposition of life? That everyone's needs could be met. What if you entered each situation and process of your life "as if" this were possible?

Consider how different we might behave with ourself and others if we were operating from a needs consciousness. How rich life might be if we were really experiencing it. To do so requires introspection and reflection. As our buddy Socrates says, "Know thyself." (Needs - Feelings) I add to that, know thy others.

In Peace, Bob | www.PerfectingTheProcess.com

Posting On

It's the end of the year 2005 and what better time to scrutinize one's life processes and determine if adjustments need to be made to accentuate the life force for 2006. Life Force is the ultimate process of all processes and one that we can't directly tweak but what we can do is work with our own internal processes to enhance the flow of life force through our body, mind, spirit envelope.

How do you do that? There are many ways. Meditation is one. Good nutrition and exercise. Laughing a lot! Great sex. I don't know about you, but even "bad" sex is pretty good. And it turns out is very good for us. Endorphins light up the brain and let loose a whole bunch of other good chemicals in the body. Ok. That's only one way to stimulate the life force.

Of course there are other ways to get life force rockin'. Think about it. What do you do that most engages you? Where you lose yourself in the activity so completely that you lose track of time. More than likely you are in tune with what's really alive in you. Your life force!

More soon. visit us PerfectingTheProcess