Public health minister takes health warnings with pinch of salt

DutchNews, April 13, 2018 

Photo: Health Ministry 

If every excess glass of wine shortens your time on earth by 30 minutes, is the sum total a joyless life? 

Dutch public health minister Hugo de Jonge suggested on Friday that he was taking new reports on the damaging effects of alcohol and sunbeds with a pinch of salt. 

Speaking to reporters on the way to a cabinet meeting, he said that health secretary Paul Blokhuis was best placed to comment on a new report in The Lancet suggesting that 12.5 units of alcohol a week – or five glasses of wine – is the upper safe limit. 

‘It’s his area, and I am always glad of that when I read reports that say something else is bad for your health,’ he reportedly told NOS. ‘That’s often the case with the joys of life.’ 

He added that he was not planning to stop using sunbeds himself, despite safety warnings earlier this week from the KWF cancer charity. ‘I have become a minister, not a monk, which means that I have my foibles,’ he said. ‘I like to use a sunbed every now and then. Otherwise you lot will tell me I look bad.’ 

His own maxim was: all things in moderation, he added. ‘With all of these things, be aware and be moderate. That is the best advice you can give anyone.’ 

The Lancet story, widely reported in the international and Dutch press, suggested excess drinking was more damaging than previously thought, at lower levels. 

But the Dutch health council has already, for the past three years, recommended that people do not drink alcohol at all or limit themselves to a glass a day.

Related Article:

"Consciousness and Lifespan”, Montreal, Canada, Apr 7- 8, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - New

India bends it like Modi on first World Yoga Day

Yahoo - AFP, Annie Banerji, 21 June 2015

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (C) participates in a mass yoga session 

along with other yoga practitioners to mark International Yoga Day on Rajpath 

Avenue in New Delhi on June 21, 2015 (AFP Photo/Prakash Singh)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday hailed the first International Yoga Day as a "new era of peace", moments before he surprised thousands in New Delhi by taking to a mat himself to celebrate the ancient Indian practice.

Yoga-loving Modi led more than 35,000 people, including bureaucrats, students and soldiers, performing poses such as the half camel and cobra in a 35-minute mass outdoor yoga session beginning at 7:00 am (0130 GMT) on a New Delhi boulevard.

Organisers are hoping the event qualifies for the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest yoga class at a single venue.

People take part in a mass yoga session

 to mark International Yoga Day on 

Rajpath in New Delhi on June 21, 2015 

(AFP Photo/Prakash Singh)

The current title, according to the Guinness website, was set by 29,973 students in Gwalior, India, in 2005.

"Yoga is more than only physical fitness. We are not only celebrating a day but we are training the human mind to begin a new era of peace," Modi told the crowd at Rajpath avenue.

He thanked the United Nations and the 177 co-sponsoring countries for adopting his idea for a world Yoga Day.

"This is a programme for human welfare, a tension-free world and a programme to spread the message of love, peace and goodwill," said the premier, wearing a crisp white outfit with a national tricolour scarf.

Modi then surprised the crowds by leaving the stage, removing his glasses, and securing a spot at the front of the massive session to mirror the stretches, breathing, and meditative moves beamed on giant screens along the historic avenue.

He took a brief break in the middle of the session to walk around and inspect students doing yoga around him before rejoining the routine of 15 different poses, including the crocodile and "wind-releasing" posture.

The prime minister, who credits yoga for his ability to work long hours on little sleep, had been scheduled only to make a speech at Rajpath, where colourful mats were lined across the stretch that connects the president's palace with the iconic India Gate monument.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (C) gives instructions as yoga practitioners

 take part in a mass yoga session to mark International Yoga Day on Rajpath in

New Delhi on June 21, 2015 (AFP Photo/Prakash Singh)

Sea of white

Aerial images taken near dawn showed Rajpath, or King's Avenue, as a sea of white with scores of people, clad in new Yoga Day T-shirts, bending and stretching in sync with the English and Hindi instructions to a background score of Indian classical music being played over loudspeakers.

Central Delhi was sealed off and carpeted, with dozens of metal detectors and multiple checkpoints erected for the big day that saw other VIPs including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal participate.

People in 650 districts joined in, with pictures pouring in on Twitter from across the country.

Some showed soldiers performing various yoga poses -- or asanas -- against a backdrop of soaring snow mountains at Siachen glacier, the world's highest battleground, in disputed Indian Kashmir while others showed residents stretching it out in local parks.

India will be joined by yoga enthusiasts in 192 other countries -- including in Britain, where mats will be rolled out along the banks of the River Thames.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (front L) participates in a mass yoga 

session along with other yoga practitioners to mark International Yoga Day on

Rajpath in New Delhi on June 21, 2015 (AFP Photo/Prakash Singh)

In his maiden address to the United Nations General Assembly, Modi proposed to dedicate a day devoted to the ancient Indian discipline, prompting the UN to proclaim June 21 as the International Day of Yoga.

Indian scholars believe yoga dates back 5,000 years, based on archaeological evidence of poses found inscribed on stones and references to Yogic teachings in the ancient Hindu scriptures of the Vedas.

And Modi, a vegetarian who practises the art daily, has made Yoga Day a key initiative of his Hindu nationalist government since he took office 13 months ago.

He wants to reclaim yoga as an historical part of Indian culture which has been lost to the West, where it has become a multi-billion-dollar industry.

Since storming to power, the Hindu nationalist premier has set up a ministry dedicated to promoting yoga and other traditional Indian treatments, and also started free yoga classes for his government's three million bureaucrats and their families.

"Yoga is the soft power of India and through that soft power the whole world can be one global village... (and) violence can be removed with this kind of peace," Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj has told reporters.

Guinness World Recocrds Representative Marco Frigatti (2nd L) speaks with a 

yoga practitioner as attendees prepare to participate in a mass yoga session to

 mark International Yoga Day on Rajpath Avenue in New Delhi on June 21, 2015 

(AFP Photo/Prakash Singh)

Swaraj is at the UN's headquarters in New York for Yoga Day, when scores are expected to strike a pose in Times Square.

But the government's push for "yoga for harmony and peace" met with criticism in the run-up to Sunday, with some religious minorities accusing Modi of pushing a pro-Hindu agenda in officially secular India.

A few Muslim groups have complained that chanting the sacred Hindu sound of "Om" during yoga and certain poses, such as "surya namaskar" or sun salutation, have clear Hindu overtones and were against Islam.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon(C) takes part in a special event celebrating

the first International Day of Yoga on June 21, 2015 at UN headquarters in

New York (AFP Photo/Mark Garten)

Related Articles:

Yoga event draws thousands, including UN chief, to Times Square

Yoga classes do not violate students' religious rights, Californian court rules

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“.   New Tolerance

Look for a softening of finger pointing and an awakening of new tolerance. There will remain many systems for different cultures, as traditions and history are important to sustaining the integrity of culture. So there are many in the Middle East who would follow the prophet and they will continue, but with an increase of awareness. It will be the increase of awareness of what the prophet really wanted all along - unity and tolerance. The angel in the cave instructed him to "unify the tribes and give them the God of Israel." You're going to start seeing a softening of intolerance and the beginning of a new way of being.

Eventually, this will create an acknowledgement that says, "You may not believe the way we believe, but we honor you and your God. We honor our prophet and we will love you according to his teachings. We don't have to agree in order to love." How would you like that? The earth is not going to turn into one belief system. It never will, for Humans don't do that. There must be variety, and there must be the beauty of cultural differences. But the systems will slowly update themselves with increased awareness of the truth of a new kind of balance. So that's the first thing. Watch for these changes, dear ones. ...."

Finding Well-Being, of a Kind, Through Self-Hypnotherapy

Jakarta Globe, Lisa Siregar, Feb 06, 2015

Hypnotherapist Lala, center, sees her holistic approach to healing as the
most effective way to maintain health. (JG Photo/Tunggul Wirajuda)

Asense of tranquility fills the house in East Jakarta’s Buaran ward as hypnotherapist Lala Latifa uses her steady, soothing voice to lull her client into hypnosis.

Cares and worries gradually slip away for the patient as Lala, 39, pairs her voice with use of pressure points on the forehead and temples. Long used to clearing the mind or improving blood circulation, the acupressure that Lala employs has a beneficial touch by giving positive affirmations. In turn, patients acquiesce to the hypnosis.

Hypnosis, she claims, will induce a sense of peace and deep sleep, while emptying the mind.

Lala then evidences the power of the mind, suggesting to the client that she is tying 20 balloons (imaginary) to her right hand and placing a stone (also imaginary) in her left hand. The client’s right rises in response, and her left hand drops.

“Hypnotherapy is dependent on the mutual trust between the hypnotist and the recipient of his or her treatment,” Lala says.

“The process can only be done properly if the hypnosis is done with the other party’s consent. The method combines the power of belief and an innate understanding of what makes people what they are. But most of all, hypnosis can and should be used to treat oneself, as only we know what’s good for us and how we should deal with our problems or challenges”.

Discovering hypnotherapy

Lala’s own awareness of hynoptherapy’s benefits originate from her experience with a bout of serious illness.

“I started taking an interest in hypnotherapy in 2013, after the uric acid problem that had long been ailing me reached a terminal stage,” says Lala, a former primary school English teacher.

“The ailment caused blood clots that left my feet swollen, and could have led to a stroke. I wasn’t happy with conventional medication, as it only treat the symptoms instead of the ailment, and hampers the body’s natural ability to treat itself. The side effects of taking medication are also a drawback, as they create further complications.”

Lala’s medical circumstances, as well as her curiosity, encouraged her to give alternative therapies a try.

“I started by trying cupping therapy, which did wonders in treating the blood clots hobbling my legs. After that, a friend introduced me to meditation, and it was from there that I learned about hypnotherapy,” she says.

“I was trained by Rifky Haryo Wibowo, an expert in the field, from September 2013 until I started my own practice in April 2014. Hypnotherapy was an eye opener, as it can treat a range of mental, emotional and physical problems with the help of other hypnotists or ourselves, by harnessing willpower and one’s mind.

“For instance, self-hypnotherapy helped me overcome my phobia of earthworms and enabled me to treat my uric acid problem, to the point that I can eat virtually anything.

“While it does wonders in treating physical ailments, it comes into its own when treating mental or emotional problems,” Lala adds.

“As a skill that deals with the subconscious and the vibrations that it generates, hypnotherapy is also versatile as it can be combined with meditation, reiki and reading tarot cards as well as SEFT,” or spiritual emotional freedom technique, a form of psychotherapy said to improve life at various levels.

“If combined with hypnotherapy, whether on the self or others, the effect is liberating, as we can overcome anxiety and improve our confidence,” Lala says.

Hypnotherapy to help

“Hypnotherapy, particularly self-hypnosis, did wonders for me, but then I realized my true calling lay in helping others and sharing my skills with them,” Lala says.

“Many of the issues that I help my clients with are emotional or psychological in nature. For a method that deals with the subconscious, hypnotherapy is quite frank and literal, as there’s little of the symbolism of tarot reading. As with any other problem, they have to talk to me to identify them and pinpoint them.

“I even treat the very people who tackle those issues, such as psychologists, who are afflicted with issues like bipolar disorder and other problems that they can only manage to repress. Hypnotherapy helps them bring those issues to the fore, as the subconscious is coaxed out.

“The treatment also requires a lot of tact, as both educated and uneducated people with problems are oblivious to their issues or deny them, and often take it the wrong way if you try to point it out. But it’s important that we get them out of denial as repressing their psychological or emotional problems in a prolonged manner can lead to cancer and other psychosomatic illnesses.

“But eventually, it’s vital that I teach them self-hypnosis, so they can deal with their own problems instead of depending on others to resolve them. After all, the only people who can deal with our own problems are ourselves. I’m only there to help them resolve their issues.”

Dealing with challenges

Like many practitioners of alternative healing techniques, Lala has more than her fair share of detractors, from skeptics to religious fanatics.

“Skeptics and fanatics are among the hardest people to convince when it comes to the benefits of hypnotherapy. The former hold on to science and logic, so that even if they’re aware of the subconscious, they are inarticulate about it at best,” Lala says.

“But at least they can agree to disagree. Fanatics are harder to deal with because they’re more irrational and take their holy texts more literally.

“Sometimes they’re not above accusing me of black magic and asking me what my religious beliefs are. They are also more likely to intervene than skeptics. But a lot of them use their beliefs as a shield to protect them from their issues.”

Lala also pointed out that the shady business of spiritual healing casts a pall over those legitimately trying to do good.

“Many [alternative therapy] practitioners aren’t above slandering their rivals in their bid to promote themselves, as well as take out ads. They are also known to make their clients depend on them by predicting doom and gloom and then telling them otherwise — for a price.

“The nature of the business contradicts many of the underlying principles of my hypnotherapy practice, which is to get people to help themselves and reduce their dependence on others.”

Lala admits that hypnotherapy is still a new frontier for Indonesia, but says she’s certain the method will thrive.

Related Articles:

Woman’s Cataracts Healed After Remembering Past Life as Hermit Whose Eyes Were Burned (+Video)

"The Innate Revealed" (3) - Nov 22/23, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

"The Mysterious Innate" – Aug 31, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“.. Mining the Akash - The Role of Innate

What I'm going to tell next, we have given you before. However, I wish to explain it better in this communication. Your innate is also a governor of what you personally need. Let me explain: Turn a page with me. We have talked in the past about mining the Akash. So let us open that door for a moment. Is it possible, dear one, that you could go into the vast storehouse of the attributes of your past lives and pick out something that you need today? The answer is yes. It's called mining the Akash, and it is a staple of the Kryon teaching. However, the way it's accomplished by the individual Human is really difficult to describe. It's a personal intuitive process. However, one attribute of it that is often misunderstood is that permission from the innate is needed. This is because the innate smart body knows what you need. It is then the governor, or the filter, giving you permission regarding what can be pulled out of your Akash and used. It will say no to frivolous things and yes to the things that will allow you to cure yourself of disease, live longer, and increase the efficiency of your DNA. It's a smart body regulator.

Innate doesn't care how you look. It cares about your health. If you want to go into your Akash and pull out something that you need for survival, it's right there with you. If you want to make clearer skin, it won't respond. Do you see what I mean? It's the governor for mining the Akash. By the way, the Akash is very ready to be used for this. [Kryon wink]

You have earned what you've lived, dear ones, and it's very available. It lies in a quantum soup of lifetime information that is ready to be used. If you have a disease in your body right now, and perhaps you want to mine the Akash in a way that will create healing, you can. Like all nonlinear things, it requires a new, mature consciousness and practice to work. But the body is ready for you to "go get" the cellular structure of a past life that had no disease. The blueprint for this resides within you since you earned it and lived it. The innate is responsible for spontaneous remission! Science has no idea how a Human does this. The innate can help you "go get" the things within your earned Akash and place them into your cellular structure. That's how smart it is! Imagine clearing disease so completely that there is no sign it was ever there? It happens all the time. Imagine being able to drop a chemical dependency overnight? It's exactly the same principle.

Did you ever sit in a meeting and something is said or a feeling can happen, and you get chills? What are they? You might say, "They are chills of validation." Guess where they came from? The innate! The innate has the ability to signal you the truth. The brain does not. In fact, your brain will often get in the way. It's the brain that contains your box of belief. It's the brain that contains the perception of who you are based on experience and memory. It's your 3D survival instrument. But the brain can't give truth. It can only give you what it perceives as the truth, based on logical, processed, computed, synaptic reasoning and only based on your past experience.

Your brain can tell you not to touch the stove because of what happened once before. But it can't give you chills of validation from information it does not have. The intellect wants you to believe that your brain is supreme. However, the brain is only one part of the body system and not a very intuitive part. It is the innate that knows the truth. The innate is connected to the quantum parts of your DNA and, therefore, also knows of your spirituality and the truth of God inside. …”

Homeless Hungarian man hits lottery jackpot with his last few coins

László Andraschek plans to use his lottery winnings of £1.7m to set up foundation for addicts and abused women

The Guardian, Dan Nolan in Budapest, Sunday 16 February 2014

László Andraschek, a homeless Hungarian man became a lottery millionaire.
Photograph: H Baranyai Edina/BorsOnline

Unemployed, in debt and facing another year living on the streets in Hungary, László Andraschek spent his last remaining coins on a lottery ticket. Now the formerly homeless man has a choice of accommodation around the world after becoming one of Hungary's biggest lottery winners, with a prize of about £1.7m.

Andraschek, whose 630m Hungarian forint win last September went unnoticed until he made a significant donation to a hostel for the homeless this month, said buying the ticket was a chance decision at a railway station on his way to Budapest for a workshop for recovering alcoholics.

"I had only picked six numbers and the female shop assistant reminded me that I needed to pick a seventh," he said. "I told her to make it 24 – it doesn't matter, anyway."

But he was wrong and now plans to use his winnings to establish a foundation for addicts and women abused by their husbands.

The 55-year-old resident of Gyor, north-west Hungary, said his first act was to repay his debts, before cycling to a car dealer. "When the car salesman asked me how much I would be willing to spend, I held up three fingers. As I had arrived on a bike he assumed this meant 300,000 forints, but actually I meant 3m."

As neither he nor his wife can drive, the car will be driven only by his children.

Andraschek has since bought flats for each of his three children, paid off the debts of his relatives and is planning to travel to Italy, having not previously held a passport.

He and his wife, Anikó, said they will invest their money cautiously and avoid the ruinous spending splurges of many a lottery winner. "I have become rich but I have not become a different person. I could buy a large-screen TV because I can afford it, but I won't buy three because I can afford it."

Having struggled with alcoholism, Andraschek finally quit five years ago and says he "now has no need to return".

The news of Andraschek's dramatic upturn in fortunes came as human rights activists organised a wave of protests worldwide against a new Hungarian law that bans sleeping rough, in a country that has 30,000 homeless people. Last week alone, demonstrations were held in front of Hungarian embassies and consulates in London, Paris, New York, Vienna, Lisbon, Dublin, Brussels, Essen and Istanbul. Next weekend a Hungarian NGO run by homeless people, A Város Mindenkié (The City is for All), will stage another protest in Budapest against the law, which threatens those living on the streets with a fine or imprisonment.

US bishop dresses up as homeless man to expose congregation's lack of compassion

An American bishop has taken on the prejudices of his church congregation by dressing up as a homeless man

The Telegraph, Jon Swaine, New York, 29 Nov 2013

David Musselman disguised himself as a homeless man Photo: FACEBOOK

An American bishop who disguised himself as a homeless man to give a sermon about compassion was asked to leave his church by unknowing congregants.

David Musselman, a Mormon cleric near Salt Lake City, Utah, said he wanted to teach members of his church to be kind to all people. “To be Christ-like, just acknowledge them,” he said.

Mr Musselman recruited a professional makeup artist to transform his face and wore a wooly hat, thick spectacles, a false beard and a fake scar. Even his own family did not recognise him.

“The main thing I was trying to get across was we don't need to be so quick to judge,” Mr Musselman told his local television news station.

“Many actually went out of their way to purposefully ignore me, and they wouldn't even make eye contact,” he said. “I'd approach them and say, 'Happy Thanksgiving'.”

Related Articles

• Edward Snowden 'emerges from hiding in disguise' 23 Sep 2013
• Robber caught after posting photos of his disguise on Facebook 09 Apr 2013

After being asked to leave by five people, Mr Musselman walked to the pulpit during a service and disclosed his true identity by taking off his wig, fake beard and glasses.

“It had a shock value that I did not anticipate,” he said. “I really did not have any idea that the members of my ward would gasp as big as they did.”

Jaimi Larsen, one of the congregants, said she was surprised. “I started feeling ashamed because I didn't say hello to this man,” said Ms Larsen. “He was dirty. He was crippled. He was old. He was mumbling to himself”.

Mr Musselman said he was touched by the reaction of younger members of the church. “I was impressed by the children,” he said. “I could see in their eyes they wanted to do more”.

Tara Starling, the makeup artist who transformed Mr Musselman's appearance, said it was the most rewarding job she had done.

“I used to dream that the pinnacle of my career would be to work on a film and the film would get nominated for an Academy Award of makeup,” she told The Deseret News.

“But I would have to say that somebody writing a Facebook comment saying, ‘Thank you for sharing this. It’s changed my mind. It’s changed my heart, and it’s changed the way that I’m living,’ that’s worth more than all of the Academy Awards in the world to me.”

Mr Musselman, whose stunt came just before the Thanksgiving holiday, said that he did not intend to embarrass the members of his church or make them feel ashamed.

Instead, he said, he wanted them to remember to be kind all year long to people from all walks of life.

The Dutch Don’t Care About Marriage

Americans can learn a lot from their indifference.  

Slate, Katie Roiphe, October 30, 2013

Being single in the Netherlands is pretty great. (Photo by Ferdy Damman/AFP/
Getty Images)

I was in Amsterdam for probably three hours when I began to see that having children and not being married was not a big deal there. In fact, marriage itself is not a big deal there. I was there to talk about my book In Praise of Messy Lives, which was coming out in Dutch, but what passes in America for a messy life is in Amsterdam just, well, how things go.

The Dutch attitude, which I like, is that marriage is not for everyone; it is a personal choice, an option, a pleasant possibility, but not marrying is not a failure, a great blot on your achievements in life, a critical rite of passage you have missed. Sometimes people get around to getting married, and sometimes they don’t. Several Dutch women in their 40s, with children and rich romantic histories, tell me about marriage, “It just wasn’t something that mattered to me.”

Katie Roiphe, professor

at the Arthur L. Carter

Journalism Institute at 

New York University

As a popular view, this laissez faire approach accommodates the vicissitudes of the heart, the changing nature of love, the great variety of forms attachments take in real life. It acknowledges that things change, and to exit a relationship with kids is less violent somehow, less publically absolute, than to exit a marriage. A bit of tolerance, of bemusement, of compassion or imagination is built into the system.

I try to describe to a couple of audiences in Amsterdam the against-the-grainness of someone, especially a woman, who has not married in America. I try to explain how having children outside of marriage is still considered an alternative, and essentially inferior life choice. I mention that an American writer wrote a coverstory in the Atlantic on the remarkable and exotic fact that she was in her late 30s and had never married. This sort of blew their minds. Who could possibly care? It seemed like a crazy American thing for marriage to matter so much. To them this obsession, this nagging necessity for weddings, the lack of general acceptance toward other pretty common ways of living, is so foreign, so uniquely American, such a quaint narrowness, that it’s incomprehensible as an actual mode of modern life.

At first I started fantasizing about whether I could move to a steep little Dutch house, and if I could balance a child on a bicycle. But it also seems to me it would be a great thing if we could absorb some of the Dutch attitude toward conjugal life. I am not here arguing against marriage, but against marriage as a rite of passage, against the assumption of all little girls that they will one day be married in a white dress on a green lawn, against the socially engraved absolute of it, the impossible-to-evade shining ideal.

What would it mean to end the centuries-long American fixation on traditional family structures? Would we be able to look at families living outside of convention without as much judgment, as much toxic condescension? Would the “smug marrieds” Helen Fielding wrote about in Bridget Jones’ Diary be less smug and just married?

If we woke up one morning and discovered that in America marriage was suddenly regarded as a choice, a way, a possibility, but not a definite and essential phase of life, think how many people would suddenly be living above board, think of the stress removed, the pressures lifted, the stigmas dissolving. Think how many people living unhappily would see their way to living less unhappily. In Edwardian England, the cultural critic Rebecca West wrote about the “dinginess that come between us and the reality of love” and the “gross, destructive mutual raids on personality that often form marriages.”

Whatever one thinks about the institution, the truth is that marriage is increasingly not the way Americans are living. If one goes strictly by the facts—that the majority of babies born to women under 30 are born to single mothers, or that about 51 percent of American adults are married—one has to admit that marriage can’t be taken for granted, assumed as a rite of passage, a towering symbol of our way of life. But somehow this hasn’t dimmed our solid sense of marriage as the American normal.

If we suddenly stopped being in thrall to the rigid, old-fashioned ideal of marriage, we could stop worrying about low marriage rates and high divorce rates. We could stop worrying about single mothers and the decline of marriage as an institution, especially in the lower middle class, and the wasteful industry of wedding planning. We could instead focus on actual relationships, on intimacies, on substance over form; we could focus on love in its myriad, unpredictable varieties. We could see life here in the amber waves of grain not for what it should be, but for what it is.

Katie Roiphe, professor at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University, is the author most recently of Uncommon Arrangements: Seven Marriages, and In Praise of Messy Lives.

Related Article:

Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear Kryon, how do we know when a divorce is appropriate or not?

Answer: It’s appropriate when the energy and consciousness of the one is on a different reality from the other, and it’s obvious that it will never change.

This isn’t about enlightenment, either. It’s about your individual paths. Although contrary to your society, the rules of the church, and what your family wishes for you, sometimes you go through "partnership stages" that are appropriate but temporary. It can also be between two enlightened souls who simply needed to be together for a while.

So if you’re going to separate a partnership, do it with integrity. Do it in a way where you offer friendship. Do it with wisdom and maturity. Never slam the door. Offer the other person your maturity all your life, and always give them the opportunity for forgiveness and discussion.

As you grow older, you’ll eventually see the dynamics of growth, and why a temporary partnership might have been needed in your own personal path, or in theirs. Sometimes it’s only about being a time placeholder, keeping each other in a place so that something else could happen. Each path is different, and there are as many who will stay together until they stand and hold hands on the other side of the veil. Then they’ll do it again the next time around! Don’t pass judgment either way. There is appropriateness in many things that result in growth and maturity for either or both of those involved.

As I discussed before, your cultural rules are often designed to look like they’re also the "rules of God," but often they’re just the rules of Humans who are doing their best, without full understanding of how big God really is.

Yet … we shall not stop. We shall never stop … until of course each one has ‘GOT IT ‘

The Federation of Light channeled by Blossom Goodchild - October 19, 2013

Blossom Goodchild

Blossom: Welcome my friends. I have been wondering what today’s conversation shall entail. Although, if I may … there are a couple of things I would like to address on behalf of some readers who have asked me to ask you about Comet ISON. Now I personally really know nothing much at all regarding where it is heading,  so therefore have no idea where this conversation is heading either … Is that ok? Over to you if I may?

Federation of Light: Firstly we welcome you also. There is much Love and excitement still within and around your planet … which we should also care to address. Yet to comment on the comet. You are quite correct Blossom in your replies to these souls who inquire. If indeed there was to be an up and coming ‘mishap’ with this travelling object … do you not think we would have addressed if before now?

For in this circumstance we can categorically state that there shall be no harm ‘sent’ toward your planet as it draws closer to your sacred sun. If one chooses to be of concern we ask them to let go of the fear around the matter. Again … what does one choose to focus upon? And we would care to comment also … that along with so many ‘proposals’ of Earth’s Eventualities  … the idea that it shall cause a great deal of destruction to your Mother Earth is simply another fear mongering tactic.

Yet a certain gentleman that has written in and looked into the matter greatly would disagree as ‘signs show’ that this indeed could be the case according to certain astronomers etc. and that the Truth about it is once again being hidden and in fact there is every possibility that we are doomed. Please note … these are not my thoughts or feelings … I am just passing the message on from concerned souls.

Dearest souls … How one has so struggled with emotional upheaval concerning many, many matters as you walk ‘with Grace and ease’ into the NEW WORLD!

We have stated before and we shall continue to do so … in order to move into a NEW WORLD … the one that you upon Earth and all that are not … created long ago … would you not consider it to be a rather ‘ridiculous’ plan … to have the end of one age that is to be proceeded by a Golden One to finish in massive death … destruction and chaos?

We ask you to seriously THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT!!!

How much gloom and doom have you been fed for breakfast, lunch and dinner??

How much more do you choose to be fed?

Have you … our dearest friends … not had your fill?

Are you Beings of Light not sufficiently stuffed with that which goes totally against the grain?

When will you stop?

When, dearest souls of planet Earth, will you stop to consider that which you are considering?

YOU ARE LOVE … HAS THIS NOT SUNK IN BY NOW?

I have to stop you there as I have a huge grin on my face … for I really feel a different energy with you … one with so much humour.

We thought perhaps a different way of Lightness may assist one to ‘GET IT’!

We urge you … we implore you … STOP THE FEAR!

STOP THINKING ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF ANYTHING AT ALL THAT IS NOT OF LOVE.

TAKE NOT ONE JOT OF NOTICE OF WHAT IS BEING SAID … IF IT IS NOT BEING SAID IN/THROUGH/OF LOVE.

We are aware of comments that some have written to you Blossom  … asking us to become more interesting for we ‘apparently’ are very boring when we continue to speak of this matter … This subject … LOVE .

Yet … we shall not stop. We shall never stop … until of course each one has ‘GOT IT ‘.

Until each one realises that when you soak up one iota of fear … you create the next iota of it!

The minute … the very minute … concerning ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING IN YOUR LIFE … that there is a suspect of uneasiness … STOP whatever it is that is causing that feeling and CHANGE it …

MOVE ON into the place of easiness … the place that makes you smile.

STOP … STOP … STOP … WORRYING about this and that and whether or not it will or will not happen.

LEARN … right now this minute … that ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS SMILE!

Not from your mouth … from your heart … When your heart is smiling because you FEEL of/in/as Love then you have ‘GOT IT’.

You will realise that there is nothing else to do!

How quickly would your world turn around when rid of the energy of worrying about this and that and the other and then some more of the same?

Say what do you want to say Blossom?

There’s no hiding from you is there?  Well, OK then. In all TRUTH … sometimes ‘I worry’ that maybe there is no Event! What if … once again … we are all hyped up over the next few months and …. Nothing … Nada  … I mean … where does that leave us?

We would imagine worrying? Are we correct?

Ha! Not if we heeded your words and were not of the worrying sort anymore.

What if … as of this moment … this very second … each one of you decided to stop worrying … about LIFE?

Do you think when you agreed to come down to Earth … TO BE HERE FOR THIS INCREDIBLE TRANSFERENCE, you all had a meeting and decided you would probably benefit if you spent your entire life worrying whether or not something was or wasn’t going to happen?

OF COURSE NOT!

Yet BEING THE INTELLIGENT BEINGS THAT YOU ARE … it is far more likely that you held a mass meeting and decided that, as volunteers that had been chosen … you might as well put your heads together and BRING ABOUT THIS CHANGE IN THE MOST GLORIOUS OF WAYS … THE MOST GLORIOUS OF SETTINGS.

You were the ones who decided about all this long ago … Let’s not forget that!

It would have been rather out of favour would it not … to have decided for it all to end really, really, REALLY disastrously and then those ‘left over’ would do the best they can to pick up the pieces and TRY and start all over again?

WAKE UP PEOPLE!

WAKE UP!

WAKE UP!

Remove this humdrum activity of your lives out of your mindsets.

SERIOUSLY! SERIOUSLY! SERIOUSLY think about this.

Why would you do such a thing?  Why would you choose for it all to end badly?

WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY?

YOU WOULDN’T!

YOU DIDN’T!

Yet, you have fallen into the mire of despair and have chosen to believe that which the mire of despair offers … and cheap at half the price.

LISTEN TO WHAT YOU ARE ATTUNING TO … DOES IT MAKE ANY SENSE TO THE INTELLIGENT BEINGS THAT YOU ARE?

WE DON’T THINK SO!

So we say with such fun in our Beings … for we are so enjoying this banter …

Oh and so am I … I can’t write quick enough ….

Listen up … and listen up good!

STOP WORRYING about whether or not THE EVENT is going to happen!

Stop worrying about WHEN it is going to happen.

AMEN!

Why worry? Either way … whether it will or won’t take place … Do you think worrying will make the difference as to whether it does or it doesn’t?

BE FREE FROM IT ALL.

ALLOW YOUR HEARTS TO KNOW THAT IT WILL.

FOR YOUR HEARTS DO KNOW THIS … DO THEY NOT?

Well, as I have said many times before … yes, my heart knows it. It just doesn’t know when … and little point in ‘geeing us up’ once again … if the ‘when’ is not going to be for another 50 years or so!

Would that not be a little out of sorts for us to use the words ‘imminent” therefore?

Guess so! I know you can’t and won’t give dates which I am more than relieved about … or my head could be on the chopping block. Moving on then … A dear friend of mine has recently reviewed over a year of your messages and through all that he has only one question he has asked me to forward on to you. So … here it is:

When you say “All is well …” are we to assume that this also means for the masses of people who are not aware of the imminent Event? In other words, are you satisfied that only a miniscule number of people have been apprised worldwide? No religious body and very few spiritual sources speak of such a happening … Are we correct to conclude that the element of surprise in this case is not such a bad thing?

We would answer this by saying that although you are ‘assuming’ many are unaware of it … this is not necessarily the case, on a deeper level of the self.

The fact is … that every one of the souls on this planet KNOWS that The Event is to take place … for each one agreed to be here at this time. As to whether or not they choose to be aware of it on the human aspect of their soul self , that resides on Planet Earth at this time … is another matter.

Yet we express that WHEN THE EVENT OCCURS … Each one will have a recognition of TRUTH within the deepest place of their soul .

The recognition shall be felt for some as if they once dreamt it … or perhaps even a déjà vu … perhaps some will INSTANTANEOUSLY change from the ogre to the prince.

As we have said, and White Cloud has concurred … that it shall be too … that some souls shall leave their physicality … their human form … in that time … for the revelation shall cause their heart to stop beating … and some …. shall literally forget to breath. Yet NO-ONE shall miss out on the GLORY. Not one soul shall ‘miss the boat’.

Yet … many would ask at this point … ‘What about the dark souls of this planet and all the atrocities they have brought upon another human soul … thousands of human souls?’

And we should reply … ‘Like it or not … they are your sisters and your brothers‘.

A hard one to take is it not?

Well … to be honest … your answer didn’t surprise me … for in TRUTH … We are all One … The good … the bad … and the ugly!

Yet … this is not to say … that suddenly all misgivings shall be instantly removed from the souls ‘field’. There is still Divine Law in place … and we would say in a way of kindness … ‘YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW’. There is no escape from this.

Yet, as we have spoken of before … ALL IS NOT AS IT SEEMS … and we would add … in many, many cases.

So to sum it all up … your theme song for the day would be ‘Don’t worry … be happy’?

Not just for the day dearest friends … Always.

LET GO … AND KNOW!

Wow, that hour went so fast … as did my typing … a lot of typos to correct I expect!

Thoroughly enjoyable … Thank you so much … In Love Light … and as they here in Australia say … No worries mate!!

Related Article:

The brave girl who had to face armed assassins because she stood up for her right to educate herself