Are They Connected?

Does the placement of my stuff really matter?

Power Talk Live Radio

presents

Feng Shui Consultant

Diane Kern

kern@prexar.com

It was really fun to ask Diane these and many

more questions on the show.

If you missed it you can

click here to listen~

Marie Maguire, MA, BHE, CMS, CHt, FIBH

http://www.NorthwestHt.com

425-466-1476

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE SHOW~!

What is Hypnotherapy?

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Is it affordable?

What are the benefits?

Passions and Possibilities Radio Show~

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How I began, How I follow,

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You Never Walk Alone

by Terry McBride

As many of you know I have an issue with the teachings that we have a saboteur within or a small self that will always separate us from our good. I especially don’t like the ideas that our egos will always separate us from God, and our personal desires will lead us astray. These limiting ideas have been part of our baggage for so long many think they are true. And again I wonder why would we choose to believe them?

Certainly there are archetypal models that have been around since the beginning referring to evil forces at work in our lives. These scary ideas are in most of the great spiritual teachings. Some call these evil forces satan, the enemy of God, the lord of evil, and the tempter of human beings. The evil within is sometimes identified with lucifer, the leader of the fallen angels. Other traditions have their own definitions.

Do you really believe that you have evil forces within you that will always try to separate you from God and the desires of your heart?

I don’t mind that I have what might be called limiting beliefs or limiting habit patterns. I don’t even mind having what some might characterize as a low Self Concept in some areas. I might even let others get away with grouping some of my behaviors and suggesting that they do not support me in staying on track to create the reality I desire. But I draw the line with references about my mind or my body as if they are not: “the crowning achievement of the Living God.”

I’d like to share a part of my story with you; a story about hope and believing in yourself.

I had a spinal fusion at twenty three where my spine became infected with the E.coli bacteria. That orthopedic surgeon did four more surgeries over the next year to get rid of the infection and finally as the infection continued to spread he admitted he was over his head. He referred me to the University of Washington Medical Center.

After fourteen days of tests, six doctors came into my room to tell me the infection had indeed spread and they would have to do a very major debridement to clean it out. They would open me from two inches above my belly button and go down through my pelvic area to scrape and chisel the infection out of the spine, then between my scrotum and rectum, then up to several inches above my belt line so they could again get to my spine. After that they would open my buttocks and follow my sciatic nerves where the infection has gone down my legs.

The next morning when they opened the abdomen they found my lower colon had holes where the infection had damaged the tissue and they performed a colostomy. They pulled my bowels out, cut them and sewed the two open ends to my tummy. I was sent home to heal and learn how to go to the bathroom in a plastic bag. Thirty five days later I came back for the big one. The one they said I couldn’t come out of whole.

The story starts with the end of that next stay.

Somehow, I had come through this incredible surgical procedure without any severe nerve damage. Oh, I was in a great deal of pain and had a lot of numbness (some that would stay with me for years). The doctors were even more tentative about whether my colon would ever heal enough to have my colostomy reversed.

But I had won the first round. I had demonstrated to myself that through my own personal commitment, I could make a difference in how my life went. I really wasn’t sure whether or not my change in attitude had made the difference. But as Uncle Larry had taught me, “Son, if anything good happens within twenty miles of you, take credit for it.” And that’s what I tried to do.

However, my “I Can Make A Difference” attitude was short lived. The surgeons went back in two weeks later to redo the drains. After I was back in my room and awake, Dr. Hedgewood came in and sat down beside my bed, his usually erect British posture replaced with slumping shoulders.

“We found the infection still has a good hold,” he said. “We can only hope that with the new drains and antibiotics, it won’t spread.”

My confidence crumpled, and depression set in.After a total of thirty-seven days in the hospital and three surgical procedures, I was finally sent home to mend and learn to live with my disease.Within a few days, severe pain returned, caused by new pockets of infection, and I was readmitted to the hospital. I hadn’t even been home a week! When I returned, Dr. Hedgewood was gone. His time as a visiting professor was up, and he had gone back to England the previous week. I became a patient of Dr. Yelton, the head of the orthopedic department. He was a hard-nosed arrogant doctor with an attitude. Dr. Hedgewood would be sorely missed.

After more high-level meetings with the general surgery and infectious disease specialists, they decided on another course. They told me they would cut out all the skin, muscle and connective tissues down to my spine. Rather than close the wound, they would leave it open and put me in a body cast to restrict my movements so I wouldn’t be able to bend. Leaving the wound open would let the tissues granulate, or heal, from the inside out and leave no place for the infection to take hold. Also, with access to my spine, it would allow them to try some new procedures with antibiotics that might have more of an effect. I was told I’d be in the cast for about six months, which would mean I would not be able to go to school the next quarter.

When I awoke from surgery, my body was in a cast from my armpits to just above my knees. The cast had an opening in the back where the tissue had been removed; bandages were covering that area. The cast also had an opening in the front left side for the colostomy bag and one between my legs for my genitals. It was designed so that my legs were spread apart, with a foot-long brace between them to give the cast strength.

The bandages on my back were changed twice daily. On the third day after surgery, I was curious about the operation and wound. When an intern came in to change the bandages, I asked, “Could you get a couple of mirrors so I could see what it looks like?”

“That would be kind of hard with you in the cast,” he said. “And we don’t really have the right kind of mirrors around.”

I could tell the intern didn’t want me to see the surgical site, which confused me because they had always accommodated me in the past. What was the big deal? I thought. Well, I’d find out.

Taking matters into my own hands. I had a friend bring in a small wall mirror and set it on the windowsill next to my bed. He also brought me a hand-held mirror, which I hid in my nightstand. I practiced pushing myself up on my side, which was no small task while in a body cast from nipples to knees. After I got it down, I waited for my chance.

The next day during one of the two dressing changes, when the intern moved to get new bandages, I pushed myself onto my side, took the hand-held mirror from under my pillow, and looked at my reflection in the windowsill mirror. What I saw shocked me so much I almost dropped the mirror. In the cut-out space of the body cast, I saw a gaping wound, like a raw steak. There were two pieces of red, raw meat side by side, each about two inches wide and a foot long from my mid-back down to my buttocks where there was a hole big enough to put my fist in. Between these two strips of raw flesh was an almost transparent tissue covering what looked like a yellow bumpy thing.

When the doctor turned back and saw me, he just shook his head.

“What’s that yellow thing?” I asked.

“That’s your spine, Terry. Lay down.”

When I lay back down, I was horrified. I felt like I was going to vomit. I broke out in a cold sweat. First they had mutilated my front with the two ends of my colon sewn onto my stomach, and now they had destroyed my back! How was I going to function with no meat, no tissue, no muscle over my spinal column?

“What in God’s name have they done to me?” I cried.

“I thought they explained it all before the surgery,” he said.

“You’ve got to be kidding! I didn’t hear them say they were going to destroy my back!”

“I know it looks bad, but it will heal,” he offered. “It’s a good plan.”

“Yeah, right,” I quipped.

After the intern left, I lay there seething. Every time I envisioned my ruined back, I became more enraged until my body was shaking. These were supposed to be great surgeons, but now I felt like they were a bunch of butchers, and I was the side of beef they were butchering.

Some would say that the outrage and horror I felt was just a transfer of some inner anger about myself or some other bullshit like that. But unless one has seen his or her body being taken apart one piece at a time, explanations like that are just book-learned knowledge. And knowledge alone doesn’t come close to feeling the visceral rage and horror of the experience itself.

I had felt lost before, knowing there was nothing I could do. Now I also felt like I was being destroyed physically. I lay there in a body cast unable to care for myself, with a plastic bag attached to my abdomen for my solid waste and a tube up my penis so I could urinate. And slowly my anger turned to despair.

Beaten down, I slipped completely into the belief that there was no way to be whole again. They had cut out and tossed away the muscles in my back. What would be next?

I went to sleep that night in a black depression. Around midnight, I awoke. My bowels were about to move, but the plastic bag to catch my body waste had come loose. I grabbed a small towel for wiping up spills and shoved it into the hole in the cast. Pressing it hard against the opening of my bowels with both hands, I held back my own body waste.

I got it in time, but if I let go with either hand, the waste would pour out into the cast. The door to my private room was closed, and the nurse call button was pinned up by my head where I couldn’t reach it unless I let go of the towel. I tried to get it with my mouth, but the body cast wouldn’t let me move that far. I was completely at the mercy of my diseased body, and there was nothing I could do about it.

For almost forty-five minutes, I called for help; my screams were getting louder and hoarser. Where the hell were they? I kept calling until I was beside myself with outrage and despair. My arms were getting tired holding the towel, and I hurt all over. Finally, the door opened and two night-shift nurses rushed in.

“Where were you . . . where were you?”

“Oh, Terry, we’re sorry! We were at one end of the hall working with a lady in trouble. We didn’t hear you.”

“The bag’s come off and I couldn’t reach the call button.” Suddenly, emotions flooding me, I began sobbing and couldn’t stop. I had gone over the edge, and there was no way back. All of my talk about fighting was lost. I didn’t want to be here anymore. It was too much. The terrible things that were being done to my body and the prospects of living with what was going to be left were no longer tolerable. I wanted to die.

“Terry, it’s going to be okay,” one nurse said, trying to calm me.

She put her hands on the towel so I could release mine, while the other nurse found the bag. They got it back on me without letting too much of the waste leak out. But it didn’t matter to me anymore. It was over. I had given up and I knew it.

An excerpt from: “The Hell I Can’t” by Terry McBride

———————————————————–

I know that some of you are hurting and some have real fear for your future.

Some of you have lost your retirement; some of you have lost jobs or your homes or your health. And perhaps most tragically some of you have lost hope.

Life seems to be just one struggle after another – add to this the belief that you can’t trust yourself and there is something evil about you (your monkey mind, the saboteur within, your small self or your ego) and these old habits of thought can lock you into believing that suffering is the pathway to some greater good. And the lie that you need to accept the things you cannot change, hides the truth that life is about joy and abundance.

Two weeks ago I spoke at the Orange County Center for Spiritual Living in Mission Viejo, Ca.

If you are ever in that area stop and visit with Reverends Sandy and Kirk Moore. They have a magnificent center, and you will love the people who attend. Before I spoke, their guest singer James Higgins sang in his glorious voice, You Never Walk Alone. I was in tears both services, it was a transformational time.

I can’t begin to tell you how many nights I listened to that song on my little tape recorder as I wept into my pillow while they did things to my body that you’re not supposed to do.

I had surgeries on my back and abdomen dealing with the infection for eleven years. The surgeries mentioned above were the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth. I had a total of twenty seven.

To create the reality you desire you must start from the position that you are not your stuff. You are not your past or your history; you are not your beliefs. You are not what’s going on in your now.

You are the crowning achievement of the Living God. And you have the right and the ability to create what you want. Yes it may take time and effort on your part to really figure out how to take charge of your creative mind. There may be pitfalls and challenges along the way.

I know what it is like to be sick; I know what it’s like to be surrounded by disease and terrified of the future. And I know with my mind and my heart, there is a power for good in the universe that we can learn to use to make our dreams come true.

Hear the lyrics, feel them:

When you walk through a storm hold your head up high, and don’t be afraid of the dark. At the end of the storm there’s a golden sky and the sweet silver song of a lark. Walk on through the wind, walk on through the rain, though your dreams be tossed and blown. Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart and you’ll never walk alone. You never walk alone.

Believe in yourself, believe in your dreams and have courage. You are more powerful than you ever imagined and you are not alone.

I send you Love, Joy and Power!!!

Terry McBride

Copyright © 2007 McBride Enterprises

Terry McBride

author of

The Hell I Can’t

Terry will be joining me as Co-host for our show

Relationship Q & A on Feb. 4th, 2011

10am pac time

call in # 347-677-1156

Terry is one of the most powerful speakers I

have ever experienced.  His story is unlike any other

I’ve heard.  His passion for living, his process of healing,

and his commitment to raising others up to their

true nature and innate power are his gifts to us.

If you are looking for a real teacher listen to one

that is teaching what he had to learn!

I have always believed that the root of all

darkness is humanities Identity Crisis.

We have forgotten who we are and with

that forgetting lost touch with our natural

power to live as co-creators in our lives.

Terry remembered and it saved his life!

Click here to Listen to the Show

Take it from the American Federation of Astrologers. The hype about a supposed new zodiac sign, Ophiuchus, “doesn’t change your chart at all,” Federation spokeswoman Shelly Ackerman told the Associated Press.

Your sign has not changed. No one’s has. And if you don’t want to take her word for it, take it from NASA. By understanding just one definition in the star-gazer glossary at NASA.gov, you will understand that the news of a supposed “new zodiac” featuring 13 signs – and the claim that people’s sun signs have changed – were bogus “news” from the start.

The hoopla began when Parke Kunkle, an astronomer who teaches at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College, gave an interview to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The resulting story, which can no longer be found in its original form on the newspaper’s website, failed to distinguish between constellations and the signs named for those constellations. It led to many news outlets, including the Star-Tribune, printing fake lists of fake new sun sign dates. Kunkle told the same newspaper Friday that it has all been “an exhausting hoot.” He has had a lot of fun.

But ha-ha, people, the joke’s on you.

I’m just glad I’m not paying money to attend one of Kunkle’s community college classes, because it would be a drag to have a teacher who holds himself out to be an astronomer and doesn’t understand simple definitions that NASA plainly lays out for the public on its website.

Here’s the most important definition, straight from the rocket scientists:

“First point in Aries – Another name for the position on the celestial sphere of the vernal equinox.”

That’s the crux of the matter, right there. The first point of Aries, both for NASA and for western astrologers, is determined by the vernal equinox, the first day of spring, and not by the position of the constellation Aries. The divisions of the map of the “celestial sphere” – the space around Earth – proceed from there, 30 degrees for each sector or sign.

Futher, NASA says, the first point in Aries “is called so because in ancient time that point was in Aries, a constellation of the zodiac. It is currently moving from Pisces to Aquarius.”

And the current movement of that point in space (the first point of Aries), from the constellation Pisces to the constellation Aquarius, is our current movement from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius.

Simply put, the constellations align with the ages, but the signs align with the seasons.

Just as the vernal equinox determines the starting point of Aries, the summer solstice determines the first point of Cancer. The autumnal equinox determines the first point of Libra, and the winter solstice ushers in Capricorn. For each season, there is a beginning, middle and ending sign. For spring, that’s Aries, Taurus and Gemini. For summer, there are Cancer, Leo and Virgo. Fall has Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius. Winter is Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.

Ancient astrologers named those seasonal divisions, or signs, for the constellations they aligned with at the time, but they knew they weren’t going to stay put. The precession of the equinoxes, through which the first point in Aries moves backwards through the zodiac, has been recognized by astrologers since about 140 B.C. They also knew the constellation Ophiuchus was roughly within the band of the zodiac, but they chose not to name a sign Ophiuchus. Thank heavens.

I doubt the community college astronomer and the Star-Tribune reporter were intentionally playing a hoax. They just didn’t know what they were talking about. The publications that followed suit and printed the bogus list of new signs should print corrections.

But in any case, don’t worry about being an Ophiuchian. You aren’t.

***

For more information, please see my column from yesterday: Astrological signs are not changing, but journalism is.

Continue reading on Examiner.com: No new zodiac sign, says Astrology Federation (and rocket science backs that up) – National Astrology | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/astrology-in-national/no-new-zodiac-sign-says-astrology-federation-and-rocket-science-backs-that-up#ixzz1BMIlFBLN

Listen to Power Talk Live

Fri. Oct. 15th as my guest Tim Anderson and I

discuss the Rally to Restore Sanity that will be

held here in Seattle October 30th!

LISTEN TO THE SHOW HERE

Tim’s website:  http://www.nextsteptogether.net

FIND A RALLY NEAR YOU ON OCTOBER 30TH~!

]]> http://powertalklive.com/everything/rally-to-restore-sanity/feed/ 0 http://powertalklive.com/everything/spiritual-vocabulary/ http://powertalklive.com/everything/spiritual-vocabulary/#comments Tue, 07 Sep 2010 02:29:30 +0000 Karen http://powertalklive.com/?p=1223 Sept 7, 2010    10 am pac. time

Spiritual Vocabulary Series

with Rev. Ellen Debenport

of Unity Church

I plan to do a couple of these Spiritual Vocabulary shows because

connecting to others and our own understanding is very dependent

on good communication, and good communication requires an

agreement on the definition of the words we share.

So often even we aren’t sure of the full meaning of the words

we use and it’s easy to assume others understand not just what

we’re sharing but what it means.

I’ve invited my friend Rev. Ellen Debenport to join me for this

series of shows to explore the meanings of the words we use and

hear regularly especially as they pertain to our spirituality.

This first show will focus on:

Compassion vs Co-dependent:

(click to listen)

How can you show compassion without giving away your power?

Vanity vs Confidence:

( click to listen )

How can you be confident and not be vain?

More Topics TBA

Astro Tips from Linda Sprague

August 2010

The following quote by Andy Warhol appeared on Robyn Wakefields’s web site as her juicy reminder on August 18th (see http://www.urbangoddess.org/ ): “They say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”

Robyn has some antenna stretching out to the big tug of war going on between Saturn, Uranus and Pluto. Suddenly, this month, we are challenged to put our dreamy changes into motion. We can stop complaining that we can’t get what we want. It’s time to focus on cooperating with life and become a co-creator with making those changes happen.

I ought to know. I’m finally in the process of moving. After months of wondering where will I live and where will I office and when will all this happen, it is happening. In order to assist the universe (!) in arranging the changes, I have had to focus on many details—like packing and talking to AT&T. The planets couldn’t do that part for me. Finally I have a moment to send out an encouraging reminder that astrology works if we assume our part. As above, so below. Whatever happened “up there” is now happening “down here” but I have to do the physical plane labor to put that “down here” into motion.

The New Moon in Leo (August 9) gave the creative juice for getting the train out of the station. For some of us life has been non-stop since that New Moon. The visions we have held for many months are suddenly taking form. Not everyone may experience this. It all depends on where Saturn in Libra, Uranus/Jupiter in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn fall in your horoscope. For many weeks, these planets have been pulling, constricting, irritating and intensifying our desires for internal and/or external transformation. Suddenly the arrow is released and we are flying.

The Sun slipped into Virgo on August 22. Time to focus on the details of the changes we have been making. For months many of us have been holding the dream of some big change we want to make. The planetary stress with Saturn/Uranus/Pluto has made our dream for change prolonged and laborious. The movement of these big planets into the cardinal (or moveable) arena has pushed many changes into action and reality. The Virgo Sun gives us a package of energy to attend to the minutia on the to-do list.

Today is August 24 and the Full Moon is shinning in Pisces. Pisces (the dream and the vision) opposes Virgo (the organizer). If you are not making any big change at the moment, then at least take time to hold the tension between your dreams and your concrete activities (that Virgo energy). One word of caution: the Full Moon in Pisces sits close to Neptune (the ruler of Pisces). This means we may dream too big or we may try to escape some problem or challenge. The Sun opposing in Virgo tries to help us stay grounded and focused.

Mercury is currently retrograde in Virgo (August 20 through September 12). Instead of worrying about snafus and computer breakdowns, try to be pro-active. Check your car, confirm appointment times and reach out to people you haven’t talked to in a while. And please keep in mind that retrograde periods are great for bringing the past into the present. In preparing to move I came across an old photograph that I decided to frame and hang on the new wall. I googled the friend involved in this photo and now we are emailing. That’s a positive Mercury retrograde event, especially in a technology sign like Virgo. Mercury is the ruler of Virgo. The inter-net is a Mercury-communication-vehicle. Instantly I am reconnected with an old friend. Mercury retrograde can be a positive experience, not just a time of problems.

Liberating Information awaits you!

Here’s a FREE Experience for YOU!

Click on Andy Dooley’s link and ENJOY ~

Andy Dooley Visualization

Thanks Andy!

Andy Dooley