Lompoc Vision Articles

The Lompoc Vision January 2008

THE NEW HOPE CENTER OF LOMPOC

The message that needs to be made public is that Recovery Works. Millions of men and women are in recovery. They are your mailmen, hairdressers, next-door neighbors, friends in church, teachers, policemen and bankers. People don’t talk about their recovery they just joyously and productively live it. There are over one-hundred 12 step programs, clutters anonymous, and alcoholics anonymous, and emotions anonymous, and the list goes on including programs like Alanon which do not use the word anonymous. All twelve step programs are anonymous which protects everyone’s anonymity and privacy. The National Institute on Drug Abuse has compiled statistics which validates addictions are a critical issue and one of the most challenging health problems today. According to statistics 12.3 million Americans have tried methamphetamine before the age of twelve. NIDA surveys indicate that 35 million men and women are known to suffer from addictions.

The New Hope Center of Lompoc is a private place for women, men, families of addictive love ones and professionals in the field to retreat, renew and reengage with themselves. The environment is not a clinical setting but one of warmth, health and support. There is a fire burning, humming birds feeding in the windows, a hand painted tropical bathroom and the castle room. Tea and coffee add to the celebration of all phases of the recovery process. Our new and innovate approach encompasses beginning recovery, tools for maintain recovery, enhancement to the process of growth and healing and a life long companion to recovery. After twenty three years of working as a drug and alcohol counselor in private practice, in-patient, out-patient and family therapy Mikki Alhart has learned that she is only a guide not a guru; a coach, not a counselor; a motivator, not a task-master; and a catalyst of support as people grow, mature, and create the lives they are imaging they can have.

Guests of the New Hope center tell us it’s better than a face lift or message because they learn being whole requires awareness in mind, body and spirit. Rejuvenation of each one of us honoring our authentic self is where lasting joy really lives. I overheard one guest sharing with another that when you walk in you instantly feel like taking a nap. That was the best compliment we could have as peace, serenity and healing is the true vision of the New Hope Center.

We offer workshops, groups limited to only six for intimacy and growth, and personal couching sessions as well as telephone consultations for individuals who cannot attend personally. Our groups are $15.00 per session and lasts six weeks. Many people sign up for specialized growth and study groups as they progress. Personal, private sessions are $35.00 per hour. Personal coaching by telephone are once a week for 45-60 minutes. The workshop books retail for $28.95 but for our guests who are actively working the cost is $15.00. Groups currently meet evenings 6:30 to 8:00 once a week. Day time groups will be added as needed.

the death to stay alive. Most of us don’t realize this about habits. When we practice a habit we give it life. The beast of habit exists independently in our subconscious and the beast is going to defend his space and fight to stay alive, just as all living things do. Initiating a new habit is a real battle. Picture, if you will, the old habit as king beast sitting on his throne. You are a general creating a new army to dethrone him.
Do you think that King Beast is going to be happy to see you coming down the road? Of course not, Old king habit is going to do everything possible to defeat you. His advance guards – feelings of fear, guilt and anger – will be sent out to make you back down and run away. No king of beasts gives up easily. Recovery from alcohol, and drugs, including methamphamine is to literally go to war with ourselves.

THE ADDICTIONS MONSTER DOESN’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE These books explain and show how our addictions block us from achieving the happiness we deserve. The workshop series of Taming the Beast Named Habit contains a mammoth amount of wisdom in tried and true, tested and refined personal formulas. Having walked the walk and talked the talk, author Mikki Alhart takes the serious progression of addiction to another level. Despite the heavy spiritual emphasis throughout these books, it is very down-to earth and not lecturing at all. This series of journaling workshops presents a refreshed innovative version of the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and other twelve-step groups, modifying the wording to make it non-sectarian, non-sexist, and guilt free.

Mikki Alhart is a published author, public speaker and has been a drug and alcohol counselor for the last twenty five years. Mikki and her husband, Paul’s, goal was for the New Hope Center to provide information and numerous inspirations that can be read in less than five minutes. Something to help you for the day and something to ponder for a long time. This series is a great book of wisdom. They have successfully been able to accomplish this goal.

Taming the Beast Named Habit & the Addictions Monster Doesn’t Live Here Anymore can be purchased at the following locations:
THE BOOK STORE: 1137 North H Suite Q. PRINTED MATERIAL BOOK STORE: 107 South H Street. THE BOOK LOFT 1680 Mission Drive. Solvang. THE BOOK BARN: 220 West Main Street Santa Maria, Calif. WALDEN’S BOOKS: Santa Maria Town Center Mall Santa Maria. B. DALTON BOOKSELLER: Santa Maria Town Center Mall, Santa MariaThe retail price is $28.95. As an introductory offer we are offering a sale of $20.00 if you purchase on line through our web-site. Address: www.alhartenterprises or Goggle New Hope Center Lompoc

The Lompoc Vision February 2008

MIKKI ALHART Featured Artist of March at the Cypress Gallery:

Mikki Alhart is a published author, public speaker and has been a drug and alcohol counselor for the last twenty five years. Mikki and her husband, Paul, founded The New Hope Center of Lompoc in 2005. I privately think of myself as the next aspiring “Grandma Moses”, because I have waited for over twenty five years to seriously pursue my art. My careers outside the art world diverted my attention for many years. I have been driven by a long awaited passion to express in a multitude of mediums the creative spirit of my soul. Searching for and finding that beauty is so awesome, it is beyond description.

My paintings reflect the romance and beauty of nature which inspires the soul. I am endlessly searching to show the tie between my subjects and my heart. The poetry of how I see the work is hopefully what allows my viewers to connect personally with my paintings.

As a relatively new artist I have not found my perfect style or medium. I have been exploring with acrylic, oil, and pastels. My subjects have vacillated from fantasy, landscapes, floral, animals, birds and seascapes.

This oil painting was inspired by a visit to Emerald Cove in Tahoe. I didn’t have a camera so I visualized it from memory. It is a magical place of beauty and color that I wanted to capture. This oil painting has a funny story connected to it. I was commissioned to paint this picture by a family member who’s fiancée is a professional photographer in Florida. She sent me the picture of the Red Shouldered Hawk and wanted me to paint it. When they received the painting they laughed at the pine trees in the background, as this variety of Red Shoulder Hawks apparently only live in the Florida everglades. When they laughingly told me the story, “I told them that I was and artist and artists can put their subjects anywhere. I don’t know if that is true or not since I just made it up. Moral of the story is next time I will do more research.

You Are Invited

“Visual Meditations”

Artist: Mikki Alhart

Cypress Gallery 119 East Cypress Avenue Reception Saturday March 1, 2008 From 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Hors d’ oeuvres –Wine-Beverages Please come and treat yourself to an abundance of “EYE CANDY” We Look Forward To Seeing You There

Exhibition Dates: March 1 - 30

The Lompoc Vision February 2008

THE ROLE OF DOPAMINE

Dopamine is one of the principal neurotransmitters involved in substance dependence. All of the major substances of abuse, including alcohol, psycho stimulants (e.g., cocaine and methamphetamine), nicotine, and opiates, increase dopamine levels. The excess dopamine that is produced gives rise to powerful feelings of pleasure; however, these excess dopamine levels also take a long-term toll on brain chemistry and promote substance dependence.

The brain starts to depend on the presence of the addictive substance to maintain stable levels of dopamine and function normally. In the absence of the excess dopamine provided by the drugs, the substance-dependent person feels considerably less pleasure and experiences symptoms of depression, fatigue and withdrawal. To the substance dependent person it appears that the only way to relieve these symptoms is to use increasing quantities of the substance thereby reinforcing their dependence.

What this means is that your brain is the C.E.O. or the Central Processing Unit of your life functions. All life functions. The Disease model of addiction is probably the most controversial and debated topic in the entire field of substance abuse/addiction. The disease model is credited to E.M. Jellinek who presented a comprehensive disease model of alcoholism in 1960.
According to Webster’s Dictionary disease is defined as follows: “Disease, any departure from health presenting marked symptoms; malady; illness; disorder.” Then we must go on to define concept as well, which according to Webster’s is: “Concept: A notion, thought, or idea. Further studies show the THIQ (Tetrahydrolsoqulnoline) is normally produced when the body metabolize heroin and is not metabolized by non-alcoholics when they drink. According to D.L. Ohlms in his book “The Disease Concept of Alcoholism” states that animal studies have shown that a small amount of THIQ injected into the brains of rats will produce alcoholic rats and that the THIQ remain in the brain.

A simple way to relate to these facts is to come to understand that there is a very sophisticated pharmacy that operates in our brain. Picture these little pharmacists all busy working in their individual labs to produce all the chemicals necessary to keep our human body functioning at a proper level. When an artificial substance such as drugs and alcohol are repeatedly put into the system over a period of time the little dopamine pharmacist packs up his lab and moves out. What happened is that the chemicals that used to provide for our happiness, calm, feel good, natural coping energy, pain killer, joy, ecstasy, enthusiasm, and creative drive to follow our passions is gone. Remember, you fired the pharmacists and sent him packing. You now have a “broken coper” and are building a tolerance of needing more and more to get the same high or relief. This is what is meant by the statement: at first you took the drug or alcohol, and then the drugs take you.

The process of addiction is cunning, baffling and powerful. The process happens virtually unnoticed because of our denial. We didn’t realize it was the main- frame of our computers that was altering our brain chemistry. It just looked like persons, places and things were responsible for our unhappiness and problems. Honestly, assess for yourself which experiences you have had or are having. Awareness is 90% of change. We can/t change anything when we are still “hiding under the bed.”

For more information about the New Hope Center and our books you can view our website at www.alhartenterprises.com or contact us at 736-4624. Informal groups, information and help is available at well.

The Lompoc Vision August 2008

THE ROLE OF LAUGHTER

Lesson’s of laughter that I teach, I would like to share with you. I have given this poem I wrote to many clients who had just forgotten or never been told how really special each of us is. It goes like this: (“Put this in your pocket for your rainy days.”)

The psychology I teach is only you,

Your truth; you are the expert of you.

Your authentic self is tried and true;

It is the only healer because it is the sum total of you.

The mental and emotional process is uniquely your, traits,

attitudes and thoughts are your creations.

The growth of the soul of you is what you came here to do.

We are advanced in mind and body but spirit needs to catch up too, so overlooked and unnoticed. Be your truth, call of the lie, God didn’t make junk and he didn’t start with you. The creator of all doesn’t have favorites, no grandchildren you see; he loves all of you and me. You didn’t create you, so when we will stop rejecting God’s best stuff? Today you can claim to the world the game is off. You are your Highest Best Good, just as your creator intends.

Try this exercise for yourself and see how often you are able to laugh at yourself. Laughter truly is the best medicine. Mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually it touches every human component. Have fun with this.

14 Ways to stay in our own private swamps
Learning to Laugh at Ourselves

1. Seek everyone’s approval: don’t ever offend: “Do it right”: Be everything to everybody; Say “yes” when you’d rather say no: because after all, people might not like you.

2. Keep dependency relationships-- if not a drug, then a girl/boy friend, hobby, job, etc-after all, you just couldn’t live without her/him/it.

3. Keep unreal expectations; set impossibly high standards: (It takes the sting out of failure). “You can fly, Mr. Goldfish, if only you’d tried harder”.

4. Keep hoping others will guess how you’re feeling. After all they are” supposed to know”.

5. Keep taking responsibility for others feelings; “Poor Nancy cried when you didn’t leave her a note. Poor Nancy, Shame on you: It’s your fault.”

6. Continue “magical thinking”. After all, there’s a thousand fairy God-mothers just waiting to give you a permanent fix. I know he/she is really trying; this is really only the tenth time he/she has shown up drunk or high this month.

7. Keep assuming the worst will happen. One way to minimize stress and failure is to never risk anything: Never check things out. After all, your assumptions are always accurate.

8. Hang on to self-indulgent resentments--go out and eat worms; hold your breath; you’ll show them they’ll be sorry. After a11, forgiveness and surrender are signs of weakness.

9. Send mixed messages at every opportunity; Keep ‘em guessing, be mysterious and confusing. Talk about how lonely you are and then turn down the next twenty invitations to do something. “I’d really like to see you but Gilligan’s Island is on T.V.”

10. Keep reliving the past and rehearsing for the future—being alive and aware now takes too much energy.

11. Demand certainty, absolute answers and perfection of complex life issues. After al1, life is pretty simple—there are the good guys and the bad guys and the good guys always win.

12. Avoid really listening to others. After all, it only takes time away from the attention that the universe owes you. “Oh your Mom died? Well, about my new Docksides.”

13. Do comparisons at every opportunity! Beat yourself up when you don’t measure up. Judge and blame others when they don’t measure up.

14. Cut yourself off from your support systems - family, friends, AA, NA, athletics, church and family gatherings, etc. After all, John Wayne never needed others.

True Fable: They say that people who learn to laugh at themselves are amused most of the time! Your thoughts are what shape your reality. Write a summary using your own words on how you may begin to learn to laugh at yourself. Are you aware that you may take yourself too seriously? What would be the honest pay off if you could begin to see yourself as a child of the universe who is in a learning growing human form?

Informal groups, individual sessions, consultations, & public speaking available with Mikki Alhart.

New Hope Center Lompoc, California 805 736-4624 Web Site: www.alhartenterprises.com

SIMPLE WISDOMS VERSUS DIFFICULT LESSONS?

I learned from Peter Jager and other mentors of my life that the goal is to question what we think is so and in so doing perhaps open up new opportunities.
Somewhere along the line we arrive at a point where we shun the simple in favor of the complex. We’d rather take a long, expensive University course in Ethics, than adhere to the ancient Golden Rule, “Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.” We’d rather invest in extensive quality programmer, than follow the advice of an old carpenter, “Measure twice, and cut once.” And we need to be beaten into submission before taking regular backups, rather than remembering, “An ounce of prevention, is worth a pound of cure.”

Compulsive addictive behaviors and thoughts are no exception to the proven outcome of complex issues relating to change and recovery. Take a minute to question what you think is and is so doing perhaps open up new opportunities for you and your loved ones.

We are what we learn, we do what we know. Is something not working for you? Take a minute and look at the progression of learning what we know or choosing to unlearn what we thought we knew, but obviously is not working for you anymore. One example is: Painful family systems that lower self worth: The No Talk rule; Internalized Feelings; Unspoken Expectations; Entangled Relationships; Manipulation and Control; Chaotic Value Systems; Rigid Attitudes; Reveres Past; Tradition; Grim Atmosphere; Frequent Illnesses; Dependent Relationships; and Jealousy and Suspicion.

This brief overview has led unknowing, unquestioning people to cope with life situations by escaping and numbing out with mood altering substances or using other compulsive behaviors.
Contempt prior to investigation keeps us all in eternal ignorance. Imagine how different our world would be if each and every one of us set a true goal to be more open minded. I believe a true fact of life is that not one of us will never even be an authority, as one of the main lessons is humility.

If we are all here for soul growth and our experiences and life are the best teachers………Maybe we can rethink the trials and tribulation we face on a daily basis. Play for just a minute the “What If Game. What If?

And what if these are a few of the gifts we receive from the trials and tribulations of our life journey. Open your mind and ask what if? We may just be able to rethink our sorrows and count our blessings.

GIFTS OF SPIRIT AND SOUL GROWTH

Staying Power, Endurance, Mercy, Humility
Strength, Determination, Vigor, Resiliency of Spirit
Compassion, Stamina, In Tune with Truth
Above Average Intelligence (studies prove this statistic)
Holy Connection with Intuition
Helper of Others because of Your Hell
Sensitive, Perfectionism
Survivor, Hero, Healer
Kindness, Purposeful, Strength of Mind
Need for Higher Power I Exciting Spiritual Journey
Ability to Surrender, Learned Power of Acceptance
Gratitude, Honesty, Healer of Emotional Wounds
Love, Recovery, Messenger
Joyful, Enthusiastic, Passionate (survived hell,
what’s not to be happy about)
Overly Sensitive Feelings
A True Personal Love of God
A Common Bond with Other Suffering Souls
Need to Learn Intimacy
Trust, Willingness, Openness
Forgiveness of Self and Others
Sense of Humor (you’re reading this aren’t you)

Learn to Surrender EGO
The Greatest of All These: Love

Mikki Alhart counselor and author of twenty-five years is offering free consultations for people wanting
to stop: Self-Sabotage, Internal Conflicts, to independence via honesty, Traumatic Memories, the
Inner Critical Voices Forever, Co-dependence and other addiction or Emotional Enmeshment with anyone Now!

Twenty Years as a counselor has taught me how special, unique, and precious each person is.

Live your Highest and Best good everyday and experience the true essence of you.

Give yourself back to you; each of us is a precious angel never to live before or after we are gone.

I Am I.
I Do Love Me.
My Freedom To Be Me,
My Right To Do My Own Thing
Are Infinitely Precious To Me.
Am Aware
That Inside Any Anger Or
Hurt I Feel In Our
Relationship,
Is My Demand That You
Change And Live As I
Prescribe.
I Cancel That Demand.
You Are Not In This World To
Live Up To My Expectations. I
Will Have No Demands As
Conditions For Loving You,
(Although Many Demands For
Living With You - On These I
Will Seek Solutions
Satisfying To Us Both).
I Am I And You Are You. If, In Being Ourselves,
We Find Each Other, It’s Beautiful If Not, It’s
Sad. Such Finding Can Only Come If You Love
Me For Being Me And I Love You For Being You.
I Will Do All I Can To Find You, And Willingly
Accept Whatever Responsibility Is Mine For Its
Happening. For When, Simultaneously, We Each
Fully
Affirm The Other As He/She Is, We Meet, And
We Are We.
With Me with One Another! Unconditional
Regard And Acceptance Equals - Community!

Thank you for your continued interest and participation in taking advantage of my free telephone consultation service. It has come to my attention that many of you are confused and concerned as to the when, why, if and how you know that you need help or how to assist a loved one. No one can tell us if or when we or another needs assistance and guidance when addiction of any kind is a factor is one’s life. That is a personal decision. I have for your personal interest and information a guide to help assist anyone who asking themselves these personal questions. I hope you find this information helpful.

Also, for your convenience and information a schedule of local self-help groups is listed on our web site. www,alhartenterprises.com.

Rigorous honest, “It is what it is what it is”. Introduces non-judgments and non comparisons.

Immediately state you are not there to fix, just to hold the light while the client is the only expert on themselves.

The universe has always honored your choice. Make good choices, good things happen. Make bad choices bad things happen. It is impartial, the true power is choice.

Peace and happiness can result from the crisis and chaos. Empower client to use it as a teacher or wallow is the misery. Pain is inevitable, misery is optional.

Re-write your story. Hurting boys and girls hurt others. Dare to break the chain, dare to heal, dare to believe something greater than you are is there to assist you.

Total detachment; get yourself out of the way. Take drastic measures if necessary. Visualize their guardian angels doing the physic surgery. Allow for growth beyond human comprehension and trust the process. Don’t judge by appearances as we do not know their destiny plan. It’s all OK

Empower each soul to be their own special essence, healer and master of their fate. Introduce the invisible tools that are at their disposal. Give them permission to use, interrupt, and believe in a higher power any way that resonates with their truth.

Unconditional love and acceptance is shown by example. Accentuate the journey in life is not good or bad, right or wrong it is only the thinking that makes it so. If on the journey you read some of the sign posts wrong, U-turns are allowed at any moment.

The greatest healer is attitude of gratitude. Every cloud has a silver lining. Learn to laugh at ourselves. Acceptance is when we think the entire journey is just a blinking of an eye in the whole scheme of things.

20. Either Adapt Readily To People, Places And Things, Or Try To Rigidly Control

33. Overly Responsible For Others, This Enables Us Not To Look At Our Own Faults

We have difficulty in identifying feelings=am I angry? Am I lonely? Sad? Happy? Joyful?

We have difficulty expressing feelings == I am feeling happy, sad, hurt, joyful.

Other people’s actions and attitudes tend to determine how we respond or react.

Our self-esteem is bolstered by outer/other influences; we cannot acknowledge good things about ourselves.

Our serenity and mental attention is determined by how others are feeling and/or behaving.

We tend to judge everything we do, think, or say harshly, by someone else’s standards....nothing is done, said or thought to be “good enough”.

We do not know or believe that being vulnerable and asking for help is both normal and okay.

We do not know that it is okay to talk about problems outside the family; or that feelings just are and it is better to share them than to deny, minimize, or justify them.

We are extremely loyal, even to the face of evidence that the loyalty is undeserved.

We use giving as a way of feeling safe in any relationship, partners, friends, children, parents, etc.

A recession may be upon us, which would mean fewer jobs, declining tax revenues, and sinking consumer confidence. This is a time where each and every one of us can choose to participate in the fear based thinking or positively influence ourselves and others by giving a gift of cheer, faith and a Thankful Attitude. Others hold out hope that a recession will iron out distortions in the housing market, thus allowing them to move into previously unaffordable neighborhoods. These simple guidelines truly illustrate how fruitless fear is. We are blessed to have a newspaper where we can read about “Good News You Can Use”. My holiday gift to you is Power-Centered Thinking. Pass it on it is infectious and the greatest gift you can give another.

Fear-Based Thinking, as the name implies, is based on all of our fears. This mind set constantly searches for past experiences to reinforce its beliefs that we are something other than whole and created by the love of your concept of a Higher Power, thus taking us away from the awareness of really how unique each one of us is. Simply put, the ten commandants of Fear-Based Thinking are:

God/Higher Power-Centered Thinking, or our "inner guidance," is based on love and compassion, and brings us to the awareness of the spiritual awakening. God-Centered Thinking recognizes the interconnectedness of life. It is the source of kindness, empathy, and understanding. The ten commandments of God-Centered Thinking are what lead to the awareness of the healing power of a spiritual awakening.

9. Being happy and peaceful is important. The peace of having a Higher Power in your life is the only goal that is important.

No matter how much we may believe it to be true, it is never external circumstances that determine what our inner experience is. We are well served to do our best to not lose awareness of our spiritual condition, no matter what is going on.

We are all evolving and growing and know intuitively that the Higher Power of the world, no matter what each of us believes, is the energy that heals. When we bring the willingness, action, open-mindedness and honesty it is taken care of for us. Is this just too good to be true?

Thank you each and every one of you who have taken the time to write and call to share your inspirations, personal experiencing and thoughts concerning my articles. I continue to be in awe and gratitude that a monthly newspaper is now sharing only “Good News You Can Use”. I am in the process of expanding my education and working on a degree from the American Institute of Holistic Theology. I am excited about validating my years of successful experience in being a hypnotherapist and dream interruption therapist through the study of Carl Jung philosophy with archetypical symbols and understanding the subconscious. This Spiritual Journey series I have published here for each of you to experience and enjoy is a tool I have used for over twenty years to allow each of us to access our true inner self, authentic self, window to the subconscious or individual spiritual essence. As you can see, we can use a vast terminology which all lead to the same place. The purpose is to come to understand and appreciate the individual beauty of you. As each of us learns just how unique and wonderful each precious person is, we will out picture that energy to everyone in our world. This is the root problem to any dilemma we may be facing. Simply put we will then come to know it really “Isn’t good or bad, right or wrong it’s just the thinking that makes it so.

Remember these one line journal statements are worded so they will expose your passion, opposing viewpoints, curiosity, possibly anger, and humor. Use these statements as a tool to articulate what your world looks like through the filters of your unique expression. Feelings are the language of the heart and soul, so pay particular attention to the statements that trigger an emotional response. Have fun and continue to e-mail me your experiences and “AH HA MOMENTS”.

Expectations, the source of all unhappiness, tend to live in an illusionary bubble of fantasy.

No one knows who or what God is, your love, belief and faith allows for a living God.

What if God commanded nothing, what if the commandments were really a covenant, of a loving God?

Where does a thought go after you think it? The brain can’t think so who’s doing the talking?

Universe is impartial, make good choices and good things happen, and make bad choices bad things happen

When you hate yourself, or claim that you are not good enough it’s like a slap in God’s face

What you think of me is none of my business; it’s what I think of me that count.

Maybe god is the indivisible air between all objects and inside our body ……….Who really knows?

What you are looking for, you are looking with, we did not create the eyes that see.

If you are constantly told you look like a duck and talk like a duck, you will soon believe you are a duck.

Get out of the driver’s seat; claim a higher new manager for you, some call this reborn.

Act as if everything is exactly the way it is supposed to be, there are no mistakes in God’s world.

We are encouraged to be against ourselves, call off the war; it’s so much more fun than confusion and indecision.

All of us are coming together in a renewed community of healing, sharing and talking about the real issues. It is an exciting time of renewal and coming together. I was contacted by Hoot Hooten a local popular radio personality to be interviewed along aside of himself and his new book Drunk & Disorderly Again by Claude “Hoot” Hooten which was released April 1, 2009. He was so impressed with my workbook series for women that he now endorses it on Andy Caldwell on AM 1440 from 4:pm till 4:30 next Thursday March 26th, then from 7:am to 7:30 the next morning with Doug Nelson at 1240 KSMX. The books and tapes can be found on our web sites, check it out ………it really is a Hoot. The most exciting aspect of Hoot’s endorsement was that he recognized that my sixteen workshops for women was equal to experience of at least two treatment centers and years of personal therapy in a do it yourself manualized treatment. This savings is over $30,000 to $60,000 today which is the average of cost of a 28 day inpatient treatment program.

Continue to Grow and Glow and as we practice learning gratitude together, love and life can only expand to the next highest best level we have ever experienced before, in spite of adversity and challenge……………….In fact we will know intuitively that it is because of adversity and challenge that our joy grows and grows.

Hello everyone. I am enjoying the feedback and experiences everyone is sharing with me concerning their new awareness and new ways of understanding the importance of the power of our individual beliefs and faith. Good News You Can Use is the foundation and goal of aspiring to a new vision and The Vision Newspaper of Lompoc founded and edited by Victor Jordon is just that. Many of you have shared that the insights now live taped to your refrigerators, dash boards of your cars and/or on your bathroom mirrors to remind yourself of the power of positive thinking and the power of attraction. Thank you for taking time to share your experience and feelings of how many of you are not willing to buy into the negative energy of the personal challenges facing many of us today.

As the one liners for easy remembrance seems to be so popular, I have continued to include them in this series. This series is truly Good News You Can Use. When we feel and hear good news that resonates deep inside of us it can be called our individual spirit recognition or spirituality. I have taken the liberty to insert a clarification of an often confused buzz word called spirituality which is only your truth. Consider how and why you are able to resonate only with YOUR truth:

Spirituality is not religion, church affiliation, of even belief systems. It has to do with our individual spirit. Our Spirit Individually meaning Spirituality.

Spirituality has to do with the quality of our relationships with whomever or whatever is most important in our life.

The whatever or whomever is “Most Important”. It defines the main focus of our spirituality.

Spirituality is closely related to values, priorities, goals and preoccupations. It has to do with whatever is at the center of our life.

A Spiritual issue could be anything that makes our relationships with others more or less loving and caring.

Spirituality has to do with the things which are the “Loves” of our life. We will find our hearts invested heavily in the spiritual areas of our life.

Spiritual relationships evolve from how a person has experienced life or how he or she has come to deal with life situations.

Spirituality is a life force which provides the energy for growth that enables us to move beyond ourselves and experience a passion for a commitment to a cause greater than ourselves.

Values are simply the rules that one lives by; The development of the value system becomes a major aspect of spirituality.

The first quest for spiritual (individual spirit) human fulfillment was possibly for camaraderie and togetherness. This is basic human need and simple desire to be happy.

As we change our spiritual focus, we will necessarily develop a different lifestyle because what is important to us has changed.

That is probably why we can use the Good News of a one liner truth statement: Remember the guidelines:

Throw away what doesn’t fit and embrace your “AH HA’s” as your truth. The joy and power of being “Your Authentic Self” is then realized.

You never have and never will do anything except exactly what you wanted to be doing.

Give yourself permission to trust when you’ve been had by a master manipulator.

Stop blaming, and making up excuses, take responsibility for your own beliefs and actions.

Being left alone with yourself when you are depressed or in despair; you are in really bad company.

Your trials and tribulations are your greatest gifts, they are the real teachers.

Take off your super-human suit, no more running harder or going faster just to feel normal.

The crisis and pain in our universe is newsworthy because it is truly the exception. We tend to forget that!

We all honor each other’s choices even if they choose to be a criminal. Let us begin to remember that is what they do and not to be confused with who they are.

Financial security is not a check in the mail, but gratitude for what is available.

Gurus in drag are not necessarily the problem; we sometimes don’t see them as gifts.

If today is the beginning of the rest of your life, release it and start it over as many times as you need to.

Did you know that 90% of our planet believes in God? Who said we are going to hell?

Defenses keep out the very thing you need the most……a connection with another soul.

If everyone is truly one, put on a new pair of glasses and see everyone else as you.

Please continue to share with us your questions and inspirations. It is such a joy when Good News is shared and multiplied.