tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23863230052058808642024-03-14T02:21:31.484-07:00Talking WeedsAll about healing, green helpers, herbal medicine and the wisdom and spirituality of experience. If you wish to be notified of new posts, please enter your e-mail address below, to translate posts just select your language below. The information contained within should not be substituted for specific medical advice; rather the stories are based on the author's personal experience. Copyright 2023 by Talking Weeds Publishing. No part of this blog may be reproduced without permission.Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.comBlogger185125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386323005205880864.post-65405371122894102962024-01-06T14:34:00.000-08:002024-01-06T14:46:14.431-08:00A conversation with Elisha Daeva, author of Before War: On Marriage, Hierarchy, and Our Matriarchal Origins. <p> </p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial;">A conversation with Elisha Daeva, author of <span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;">Before War: On Marriage, Hierarchy, and Our Matriarchal Origins. </span></span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;">Click <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/paof5y7cbqa37247nazfo/Before-War.m4a?rlkey=r68w77k6r16dz8heerj7n8q42&dl=0">here</a> to listen to the interview.</span></span></b></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111;">If you have Zoom, you can also click on this <a href="https://brookdalecc.zoom.us/rec/play/wCi12BDiNEWrfqOkDWir1rbOL2RorBRWjjLPokfyCt73VVOD9O3zttTZuEn-zJ8S-sqfeGdbQY27YOdS.KuoQ9CZb1W26YrNG">link</a>.</span></span></b></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ4GGJsUTzEbS0Fi0D5mz4_LVcs9Zc2D385mHCk38y8PZF-P8FJybIrELZvvdEpd8O8EJMF_2KmLligxeserd-P2W-t5W0-c84ae_tpawOFgCU29rU_eVGM8BlZTCU4fThYEccJvdchCMSSU73OoakDOsG1F3j81gDonfq7tdLR-OxAwm8VrYMwsSJ5IE/s1500/91VE9kmpknL._SL1500_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="938" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ4GGJsUTzEbS0Fi0D5mz4_LVcs9Zc2D385mHCk38y8PZF-P8FJybIrELZvvdEpd8O8EJMF_2KmLligxeserd-P2W-t5W0-c84ae_tpawOFgCU29rU_eVGM8BlZTCU4fThYEccJvdchCMSSU73OoakDOsG1F3j81gDonfq7tdLR-OxAwm8VrYMwsSJ5IE/w250-h400/91VE9kmpknL._SL1500_.jpg" width="250" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"><span class="a-text-bold" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">The book </span><span class="a-text-bold a-text-italic" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700;">Before War</span><span class="a-text-bold" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"> will change how its readers look at the world — by exposing the female roots of Western civilization. </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">It draws on the evidence from anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, primatology, and the shocking new genetics data, to tell the story of Western civilization.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">For readers of </span><span class="a-text-italic" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic;">Sapiens</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> and </span><span class="a-text-italic" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic;">The Dawn of Everything</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">, this is about another way that our European ancestors lived, without violence, sexual shame, or social inequality. It’s the story of a story that was buried and re-discovered again and again, and is once again being told, thanks to the new science of genetics. It’s the story of the first rape, genocide and colonization in 3500 BCE, and of the peaceful, egalitarian people who lived before. It’s about the most controversial academic debate of all time, which has raged for 250 years. It’s a funny, sexy take on some heavy topics.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">It’s not about blaming men. It’s about standing together against an institution that harms us all.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: -4px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Are you interested in your Eurasian ancestors, in the truth about our ancient past, or in the origins of social inequality? Do you want practical solutions for how we can save the world, or how you can heal from harmful belief systems? It’s time for a paradigm shift!</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: -4px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: -4px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The above is from the author's page (click on this link to purchase the book) on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Before-War-Marriage-Hierarchy-Matriarchal-ebook/dp/B0C6CW888Z">Amazon</a>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: -4px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The author's website can be found at this <a href="https://beforewar.com/">link</a>. </span></p>Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386323005205880864.post-23290093345721359182021-05-09T07:01:00.006-07:002022-12-09T17:33:44.033-08:00LESLIE SCHWARTZ HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR (1930-2020) BIBLIOGRAPHY<p>I find it remarkable just how much media attention Leslie Schwartz achieved in a span of just a few years, and we never had an agent or public relations team, only word of mouth. </p><p>Our work went out to millions of people all over the world. </p><p>I hope to keep Leslie's work and life's message alive for many years to come and to build upon his efforts to educate future generations of students. </p><p>This is an incomplete list; please send me links and I will add them and update as they come in.</p><p>-Marc David Bonagura</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><u>BOOKS</u></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqtePRRXi83EV9Kvqq6uv1V8GoAxmKz4nZmVkh1rPCmkv9UY6UTePGH4kAE2oVK_oWjemWQU_XoykRM1KkRL6alS6seCnv__jVwJMpjE9833Gro1oNNpPzbwn4XNZzdMC5xSx8mNGCXz8/s499/LESLIE+BOOK2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="344" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqtePRRXi83EV9Kvqq6uv1V8GoAxmKz4nZmVkh1rPCmkv9UY6UTePGH4kAE2oVK_oWjemWQU_XoykRM1KkRL6alS6seCnv__jVwJMpjE9833Gro1oNNpPzbwn4XNZzdMC5xSx8mNGCXz8/s320/LESLIE+BOOK2.jpg" /></a></div><i><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p>Surviving the Hell of Auschwitz and Dachau: A Teenage Struggle Toward Freedom from Hatred</i><p></p><p>Leslie Schwartz (1930), Marc David Bonagura (1961)</p><p>2013 Lit Verlag</p><p>ISBN 978-3-643-90368</p><p><br /></p><p><i>Durch die Holle von Auschwitz und Dachau</i></p><p><i>Ein Junge erkampft sein Uberleben</i></p><p>Leslie Schwartz (1930)</p><p>2010 Lit Verlag</p><p>ISBN 978-3-643-10821-0</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoISAhYXAqqxj7R-sLr1RXqbgpy_ZFjPv6ONnJKbDddgDbaRZezyRQDbd9A7J16a6d4OtOQkcVEHDkU-XexUceFp167QmZ8_R4X-fvL-8md6wyCfomwCju1Dzs3RATijoNnYlX1LysPGY/s267/LESLIE+BOOK.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoISAhYXAqqxj7R-sLr1RXqbgpy_ZFjPv6ONnJKbDddgDbaRZezyRQDbd9A7J16a6d4OtOQkcVEHDkU-XexUceFp167QmZ8_R4X-fvL-8md6wyCfomwCju1Dzs3RATijoNnYlX1LysPGY/s0/LESLIE+BOOK.jpg" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i><p></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>At overleve helvede: en af de sidste overlevende fra Auschwitz</i></p><p>Leslie Schwartz (1930), Karen Thisted (1946)</p><p>2007 Politikens</p><p>ISBN 978-8-756-78073-5</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><u> BLOG POSTS</u></p><p>Enter "Leslie Schwartz" in the search box and list sorted by "date" and all my blog posts will be listed.</p><p>Here is a link: <a href="http://marcbonagura.blogspot.com/search?q=Leslie+Schwartz">http://marcbonagura.blogspot.com/search?q=Schwartz&max-results=20&by-date=true</a></p><p>https://blogs.bgsu.edu/history/2015/01/an-evening-with-holocaust-survivor-leslie-schwartz-hosted-by-bgsu-history-department-february-5th/ </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><u>UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM</u></p><p><a href="https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn50293">https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn50293</a> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><u>WIKI PAGE</u></p><p><a href="https://second.wiki/wiki/leslie_schwartz">https://second.wiki/wiki/leslie_schwartz</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><u>NEWSPAPER ARTICLES</u></p><p><a href="https://bcccurrent.com/676/features/leslie-schwartz/">https://bcccurrent.com/676/features/leslie-schwartz/</a></p><p><a href="https://www.sun-sentinel.com/florida-jewish-journal/news/palm/fl-jjps-leslieschwartz-0415-20150413-story.html">https://www.sun-sentinel.com/florida-jewish-journal/news/palm/fl-jjps-leslieschwartz-0415-20150413-story.html</a></p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/28/world/europe/holocaust-history-as-told-by-a-survivor.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/28/world/europe/holocaust-history-as-told-by-a-survivor.html</a></p><p><a href="https://www.sun-sentinel.com/florida-jewish-journal/news/palm/fl-jjps-leslieschwartz-0106-20160104-story.html">https://www.sun-sentinel.com/florida-jewish-journal/news/palm/fl-jjps-leslieschwartz-0106-20160104-story.html</a></p><p><a href="https://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/news/education/usm/2016/02/15/holocaust-survivor-speak-documentary-screening/80422828/">https://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/news/education/usm/2016/02/15/holocaust-survivor-speak-documentary-screening/80422828/</a></p><p>https://www.merkur.de/lokales/ebersberg/poing-ort29300/poing-holocaust-ueberlebender-leslie-schwartz-ist-tot-13780168.html </p><p><a href="https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/ebersberg/nachruf-trauer-um-leslie-schwartz-1.4915571">https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/ebersberg/nachruf-trauer-um-leslie-schwartz-1.4915571</a></p><p><a href="https://wiedertaeufer.ms/kaempfer-gegen-das-vergessen/">https://wiedertaeufer.ms/kaempfer-gegen-das-vergessen/</a></p><p>https://uaatwork.arizona.edu/uannounce/talk-and-film-showing-holocaust-survivor-leslie-schwartz </p><p><a href="https://www.usm.edu/news/2016/release/holocaust-survivor-speak-documentary-screening-feb-23.php">https://www.usm.edu/news/2016/release/holocaust-survivor-speak-documentary-screening-feb-23.php</a></p><p><a href="https://www.bgfalconmedia.com/campus/holocaust-survivor-speaks-about-time-at-concentration-camp-auschwitz/article_202a5d54-adb6-11e4-b652-f78e6297789d.html">https://www.bgfalconmedia.com/campus/holocaust-survivor-speaks-about-time-at-concentration-camp-auschwitz/article_202a5d54-adb6-11e4-b652-f78e6297789d.html</a></p><p>https://www.studentprintz.com/three-times-before-age-16-i-should-have-died-holocaust-survivor-shares-story-at-usm/ </p><p><a href="https://www.wpbf.com/article/holocaust-survivor-finds-peace-speaking-to-teens/1311771">https://www.wpbf.com/article/holocaust-survivor-finds-peace-speaking-to-teens/1311771</a></p><p><a href="https://www.wdam.com/story/31308317/holocaust-survivor-attends-screening-of-film-at-usm-on-nazi-atrocities/">https://www.wdam.com/story/31308317/holocaust-survivor-attends-screening-of-film-at-usm-on-nazi-atrocities/</a></p><p><a href="https://thevarsity.ca/2015/11/02/holocaust-survivor-comes-to-victoria-college/">https://thevarsity.ca/2015/11/02/holocaust-survivor-comes-to-victoria-college/</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><u>AUDIO RECORDINGS</u></p><p><a href="https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2014/02/28/holocaust-survivor-students">https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2014/02/28/holocaust-survivor-students</a> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><u>VIDEOS</u></p><p><a href="https://youtu.be/efdB4Kp0fU8">https://youtu.be/efdB4Kp0fU8</a> </p><p><a href="https://www.pbs.org/video/conversations-leslie-schwartz/">https://www.pbs.org/video/conversations-leslie-schwartz/</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><u>FILMS</u></p><p>The Muhldorf Train of Death</p><p>2012</p><p>Beatrice Sonhuter</p><p><u><a href="https://www.beatrice-sonhueter.de/the-muhldorf-train-of-death/">https://www.beatrice-sonhueter.de/the-muhldorf-train-of-death/</a></u></p><p><br /></p><p>The Samuel Project</p><p>2018</p><p>Directed by Marc Fusco</p><p><span style="color: #0000ee;"><u><a href="https://vimeo.com/223920819">https://vimeo.com/223920819</a></u></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386323005205880864.post-92109444396876172192021-04-21T04:55:00.005-07:002021-04-21T05:04:43.515-07:00FOUR SIMPLE, EASY, EFFECTIVE & HEALTHY WEIGHT LOSS STRATEGIES<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinXWGbMDoBQG6rJEsJWJ2hE6_wzbPt8IjIRkt-3cmGIMds0HgKgxK3PBsSazwzRKOqT34aLnthmZY40K7vlDrp-CiEvJlUJXJvDLRe4l7qGoktKFPIHd00yMAxY_Oh-xUWlqwA8taApT4/s600/thin-belly.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinXWGbMDoBQG6rJEsJWJ2hE6_wzbPt8IjIRkt-3cmGIMds0HgKgxK3PBsSazwzRKOqT34aLnthmZY40K7vlDrp-CiEvJlUJXJvDLRe4l7qGoktKFPIHd00yMAxY_Oh-xUWlqwA8taApT4/w277-h213/thin-belly.jpg" width="277" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p>1. <b>Proper sleep, proper hours</b>: without proper sleep in terms of the hours, as well as the time of day, it is very hard to lose weight as your body is always on hyper alert producing too many of the stress hormones and not enough of the hormones that promote healthy weight, recovery, and muscle building. The best hours are between 10 pm and 5 am--get as many sleep hours within that zone as possible. Short naps of around 20-40 minutes during the day are fine, too, but not too close to bedtime as that may reset your internal "clock" and keep you up. The worst thing you can do is expose yourself to blue light from screens around your bed time or worse in your bedroom--additionally, the room should be dark with no light and electronic devices unplugged around you. Great, too, if you can get sunlight in your face in the morning when you wake up.</p><p><br /></p><p>2. <b>Probiotics:</b> an often overlooked aspect of weight loss is digestion, and probiotics will make your digestive system more efficient and make you less prone to binge eating or junk food cravings. Simple, plain, whole milk yogurt a few cups a day--around or with meals even--add local in-season fruit like strawberries or blueberries in the summer months to make a great "dessert" in lieu of sugary desserts like ice cream or cookies.</p><p><br /></p><p>3. <b>Core exercises like Pilates, Yoga</b>, or other similar workouts: working the core as in Pilates will promote fitness in the most important regions of your body regarding health and wellness, your core areas. Forget the marathons, all you need is 20-30 minutes a day on a mat. This is low impact, safe and effective--you'll see the inches melt off your midsection in no time. Get some exercise bands or ankle weights as you will eventually work up to adding more resistance. there are so many free videos available, you don't even need to pay for a gym membership. You can also add walking whenever possible in your normal, daily routine.</p><p><br /></p><p>4. <b>Intermittent Fasting</b>: this concept is kind of a trendy, hipster key word search these days, but it has been around since our hunter-gatherer days--when people ate only when they could secure food--they might eat a lot on one day and then not again for three days-simply stated, you are just fasting for certain periods of time, usually hours, and this changes your metabolism and eliminates blood-sugar dips and cravings, too. You stretch out the times in between meals--say, eat a 6 pm dinner and then try to go until 9 am the next morning for a 15 hour stretch--you try to put these stretches together without overly stressing your body. </p>Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386323005205880864.post-81061245252465749162021-04-11T05:42:00.012-07:002021-04-11T05:45:07.913-07:00Healing Ginger Chicken Soup<p>This recipe is warming and healing for any kind of virus or infection, like colds and flu or simply to aid in breathing, esp. for elderly people. Ginger is an incredible healing herb with so many restorative and immune building properties. I'd caution not to put too much ginger, only because it will drown out the other, more subtle flavors. Ginger is legendary for relieving nausea and promoting appetite, normalizing blood pressure, regulating blood sugar, lowering inflammation, and helping digestion, and so much more!</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><u style="text-align: left;"><b>Healing Ginger Chicken Soup</b></u></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p>Chop up 3 (three) medium-size onions and several cloves of
garlic in a food processor.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Add those to a large pot of boiling water—add sea salt and dried
or fresh oregano.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Chop up several carrots and add them to the soup.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Take a decent sized bunch of fresh organic parsley and
remove the excess stems, then chop up the parsley along with a few small pieces
of ginger (the more ginger you add, the spicier the soup will be, but too much
will ruin the other subtler flavors in the soup—I suggest starting with less
and learning how much ginger you like from experience).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Add the parsley and ginger to the pot.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Simmer for 20-30 minutes over a low boil.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Add your cut up chicken pieces with skin and bones intact—rinse
the chicken but leave the skin—you can use breasts with the bone or even legs
and thighs, any parts really. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Cook on a slow boil for an hour minimum, preferably longer, but this isn't really a broth, so ten hours is not required!<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">You'll notice all that green parsely, which when combined with the ginger and oregano, makes a potent healing soup!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You can serve alone or with the rice of your choice or various "soup" pastas and home baked bread if you fancy.<o:p></o:p></p>Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386323005205880864.post-82434290160971105662020-07-22T06:33:00.001-07:002020-07-22T06:54:44.447-07:00NOTES ON UTERINE FIBROIDS & HERBS/NUTRITION<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG336XKWsEOa0OJvPzAkl3Mzw8onwORZDS9bameIk1ijhKaGW7vLtonh7vaox5yN4jhUN8JpUJOCaKsJirz5X7h8fBCgltDruAm2vKKnYIouWS39ZxN0XVCc6s40K-qGD3Zem1jAaCn_0/s1600/chasteberry-steven-foster-square.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG336XKWsEOa0OJvPzAkl3Mzw8onwORZDS9bameIk1ijhKaGW7vLtonh7vaox5yN4jhUN8JpUJOCaKsJirz5X7h8fBCgltDruAm2vKKnYIouWS39ZxN0XVCc6s40K-qGD3Zem1jAaCn_0/s400/chasteberry-steven-foster-square.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">from NIH website <a href="https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/chasteberry">https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/chasteberry</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">UTERINE FIBROIDS<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Very common, esp. in women who haven’t had children—perhaps up to 70-80%
of women have them<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Not really a big issue unless they cause pain/discomfort or
excessive bleeding/or require surgery<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Disappear after menopause<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
250,000 women have surgery every year—98% of these surgeries
are unnecessary<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
There are different kinds of surgery—some techniques can
save parts of your tissue/organs<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">IDEAS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
PROBIOTICS AND FERMENTED FOODS—PLAIN WHOLE MILK ORGANIC
YOGURT, KEFIR, ETC<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
SLEEP IN A DARK ROOM, AWAY FROM ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELDS,
BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 10 PM AND 2AM MOST IMPORTANT<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
THREE SISTERS VINEGAR—LIVER SUPPORT<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://redmoonherbs.com/search?q=vinegars&type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage&options%5Bprefix%5D=last">https://redmoonherbs.com/search?q=vinegars&type=product%2Carticle%2Cpage&options%5Bprefix%5D=last</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
ELIMINATE ALL RAW FOODS<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
AVOID ALL VEGETABLE OILS<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
AVOID FASTING<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
AVOID SOY PRODUCTS<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
AVOID ALL PLASTICS AND ANYTHING IN PLASTICS ESP. BOTTLED
WATER—DO NOT MICROWAVE OR HEAT ANYTHING PLASTIC<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
INCREASE EXERCISE LEVEL BUT NOT TO EXCESSIVE LEVELS—PILATES,
CORE WORK, GLUTES, ETC. AND GENTLE PELVIC FLOOR EXERCISES ARE BEST—EXERCISES
WHERE YOU STAY ON A MAT ON THE FLOOR IS THE BEST<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
STRESS, ESPECIALLY EMOTIONAL STRESS, IS EXTREMELY DAMAGING<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
HAVE HERBS THAT STOP BLEEDING ON HAND—TO AVOID A TRIP TO THE
HOSPITAL WHERE THEY WILL DO EMERGENCY SURGERY: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">VITEX/CHASTEBERRY TINCTURE</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>25 DROPS (THAT’S 1 DROPPERFUL) 2-4 TIMES A DAY FOR A LONG TIME—WE’RE
TALKING YEARS—GIVE IT 1-2 MONTHS TO SEE SOME IMPROVEMENT<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://redmoonherbs.com/products/vitex-vitex-agnus-castus?_pos=1&_psq=vitex&_ss=e&_v=1.0">https://redmoonherbs.com/products/vitex-vitex-agnus-castus?_pos=1&_psq=vitex&_ss=e&_v=1.0</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
SUPPORT THE LIVER WITH <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">DANDELION
ROOT</b> TINCTURE OR MILK THISTLE TINCTURE<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
LEAFY GREEN VEGETABLES<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
CRUCIFEROUS VEGETABLES<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
DIARY IS FINE AS LONG AS IT IS GRASS FED, PREFERABLY LOCAL
AND RAW IF POSSIBLE—AGED CHEESES, THINGS LIKE THAT<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
FISH—FATTY WILD FISH LIKE SALMON AND TUNA<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
BEANS AND RICE<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
MUSHROOMS<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
BONE BROTHS<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
HERBAL INFUSIONS: STINGING NETTLE AND OATSTRAW AND LINDEN
FLOWER<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
DITCH THE COFFEE AND GO FOR GREEN TEA WITH LOCAL HONEY IF
POSSIBLE<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
GREEN TEA EXTRACTS?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
VITAMIN D have you had your levels tested?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: #444444; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In the first group, small pumps implanted under
the skin delivered a continuous dose of vitamin D for three weeks. The
researchers then examined the animals in both groups. Fibroids increased in
size in the untreated rats, but, in the rats receiving vitamin D, the tumors
had shrunk dramatically. On average, uterine fibroids in the group receiving
vitamin D were 75 percent smaller than those in the untreated group. (source under "Reading Material")</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">NOTES:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
LOOK FOR ENVIRONMENTAL TOXINS CHEMICAL/PESTICIDES?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Reduce fibroids by reducing your exposure to estrogen: avoid
birth control pills, ERT/HRT, estrogen-mimicing residues from herbicides and
pesticides used on food crops (eat organically- raised products). Tampons that
are bleached with chlorine may mimic the bad effects of estrogen, too. (Source under "Reading Material")</span><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">VIDEOS/SOUND FILES:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
SUSUN WEED DISCUSSES FIBROIDS<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.blogtalkradio.com/susunweed/2016/05/24/ask-herbal-health-expert-susun-weed-wise-woman-herbalist-sarah-elisabeth?fbclid=IwAR2X_Qo443SIg__QbfOyFPLwli10BfvUFyWy7gw6F18vBaFYKyUbcTpNG1E">https://www.blogtalkradio.com/susunweed/2016/05/24/ask-herbal-health-expert-susun-weed-wise-woman-herbalist-sarah-elisabeth?fbclid=IwAR2X_Qo443SIg__QbfOyFPLwli10BfvUFyWy7gw6F18vBaFYKyUbcTpNG1E</a>
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
START TO LISTEN AT 1:09:35<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vNZrF8xqns">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vNZrF8xqns</a>
SUSUN WEED INTERVIEW<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxJ_reyhH1g">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxJ_reyhH1g</a><o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1obiV8Zwfzw">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1obiV8Zwfzw</a><o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJ7ThDFkv_I&index=97&list=PLgdPtoxTXmO7mNt-I9aqGIh_8fAr_yX3T">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJ7ThDFkv_I&index=97&list=PLgdPtoxTXmO7mNt-I9aqGIh_8fAr_yX3T</a><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">SOME READING MATERIAL:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.menopause-metamorphosis.com/An_Article-fibroids.htm">http://www.menopause-metamorphosis.com/An_Article-fibroids.htm</a><o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://fibroidscuretreatment.blogspot.com/2014/09/susun-weed-fibroids.html?m=1&fbclid=IwAR3T7mMe5thbnjboJjwFqzMe4Huy-x5pIHxAq5Wx5aOB63ZrrWV07vz0TTo">https://fibroidscuretreatment.blogspot.com/2014/09/susun-weed-fibroids.html?</a><a href="https://fibroidscuretreatment.blogspot.com/2014/09/susun-weed-fibroids.html?m=1&fbclid=IwAR3T7mMe5thbnjboJjwFqzMe4Huy-x5pIHxAq5Wx5aOB63ZrrWV07vz0TTo">m=1&fbclid=IwAR3T7mMe5thbnjboJjwFqzMe4Huy-x5pIHxAq5Wx5aOB63ZrrWV07vz0TTo</a><br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<a href="https://vitalitymagazine.com/article/uterine-fibroids1/">https://vitalitymagazine.com/article/uterine-fibroids1/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<a href="http://www.susunweed.com/herbal_ezine/June06/anti-cancer.htm">http://www.susunweed.com/herbal_ezine/June06/anti-cancer.htm</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<a href="https://thewomenswellnesscollective.com/journal/2019/3/9/overcoming-estrogen-dominance">https://thewomenswellnesscollective.com/journal/2019/3/9/overcoming-estrogen-dominance</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5330388/">https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5330388/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<a href="https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/vitamin-d-shrinks-fibroid-tumors-rats">https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/vitamin-d-shrinks-fibroid-tumors-rats</a><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">WHERE TO BUY HERBS:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.redmoonherbs.com/">www.redmoonherbs.com</a><o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.frontiercoop.com/">https://www.frontiercoop.com/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386323005205880864.post-39139490865490227212020-05-19T04:58:00.004-07:002020-05-29T09:12:56.073-07:00HONORING LESLIE (LASZLO) SCHWARTZ (1930-2020)<b>"Misfortune is virtue's opportunity." </b><br />
<b>Seneca</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>"Forgiveness is a mystical act, not a reasonable one."</b><br />
<b>Carolyn Myss</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>LESLIE SCHWARTZ</b> died in Florida on May 12, 2020 at the age of 90. While this news wasn't wholly unexpected, I thought he would somehow bounce back. Leslie was always superhuman to me, resilience personified; through all the normal misfortunes, diseases and bad breaks we all endure, to the unthinkable horrors he lived through in Auschwitz and Dachau, Leslie could survive, even thrive, in almost any situation. He always told me, "it's not what you achieve that matters most; it's what you've overcome." I figured in a few more months he'd be back on his feet, out of the hospital and doing what he loved best, talking with students, educating them about the Shoah--speaking with all his heart, mind, body and soul, and the unbelievable strength he always seemed to muster, again and again, while traveling the world doing this holy work.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiux2Ly5KkSrCOBViRM9SQH6khRB8OQlCOZDZ5uDFnDs3tVBLMO3AWtwajk2kF3wnSzsDPEolo72HULYJ-ymyHQLekL8WI5CC1_UAkebmdMuY4DSCcRq1T6VS1QqGSfvLFIGtdyGSVdLr4/s1600/with+german+students.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="528" data-original-width="940" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiux2Ly5KkSrCOBViRM9SQH6khRB8OQlCOZDZ5uDFnDs3tVBLMO3AWtwajk2kF3wnSzsDPEolo72HULYJ-ymyHQLekL8WI5CC1_UAkebmdMuY4DSCcRq1T6VS1QqGSfvLFIGtdyGSVdLr4/s640/with+german+students.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">with German students</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: medium; text-align: center;">"This is where my healing started, by trusting and believing in the new generation of Germans."</span><br />
<br />
<b>HE SPOKE WITH TENS OF THOUSANDS OF STUDENTS,</b> from the United States to Europe, and especially in Germany, his adopted country--and while the irony of a Holocaust survivor finding a home in Germany wasn't lost on a lot of people, his reconnecting to the nation that murdered his immediate family was essential to his own healing journey, for it was the descendants of the people who had orchestrated the war and inflicted genocide upon untold millions he sought most to reach, so a better future for them and for the world might someday become a reality. He told me many times the older Germans, those who had been alive during the war, weren't so eager to embrace their history. Once when acting as an impromptu "tour guide" at Dachau, he met an elderly man who had been an SS Guard there. Leslie casually told him, "I was once a prisoner here". The man replied, while sizing up Leslie, "I guess I didn't do my job."<br />
<br />
<b>HE HELD MANY DREAMS</b> close to his heart his entire life; in addition to being reunited with his mother, after being separated from her when he was just fourteen years old in the lines at Auschwitz, he wished for the human race to learn from the dark times and unimaginable horrors he endured during World War II. That we not repeat the Holocaust. That we help to heal each other--without regard to borders, race, religion or personal biases--anything that separates us from one another had to go, for in his wisdom, peace and justice without healing were impossible.<br />
<br />
<b>IN THE PAST DECADE OR SO,</b> Leslie Schwartz and I wrote a book together, presented lectures and facilitated discussions at many different venues, large and small, from elementary schools to college campuses to the United Nations--corresponding with world leaders and children alike, our work was recognized by major media all over the world from <i>The New York Times</i>, <i>NPR</i>, and <i>Fox News</i> in the United States to <i>S<span style="background-color: white; color: #6a6a6a; font-family: "roboto" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold;">ü</span>ddeutsche Zeitung</i> and <i>Bavarian Television</i> in Germany, and so many other outlets I can't even remember. A frequent speaker at international events of remembrance, he was given many honors and awards, even the Knight's Cross for his service to Germany, but the impact Leslie had on my life is still hard to put into words. He was the fourth person who emerged from World War II to educate me <i>personally</i>, so that I could understand how something that ended sixteen years before I was even born was still affecting me in profound ways. Today they call it inter-generational trauma or epigenetics, but all I knew is something wasn't right my entire life. How many other millions and millions of people, the children of Holocaust survivors or combat veterans or anyone who has experienced severe trauma, have felt this same unnamable void? My father, a US Marine who fought in the Pacific, brought home severe, although often invisible disabilities I couldn't make any sense of as a child, yet these disabilities had incredibly detrimental, very real effects on my family; then Bob Worthington, another Marine from the Pacific, who is largely responsible for my career path, literally forcing me to tell his story--he made me become a writer--came into my life, and I began interviewing other World War II veterans from that point on. Although Bob's life was completely destroyed by the war, and his disabilities wrecked havoc in every aspect of his life, he always sought healing. He wanted to change his brain entirely, to see the world in a new way, and he prepared me for that mindset. Then my friend Jimmy Mirikitani, world renown artist who spent World War II in a Japanese internment camp in California--that experience altering the trajectory of Jimmy's life to the point where he wound up homeless on 6th Avenue in New York, well into his 70s--yet another person I met who was seeking his voice and some kind of healing experience--that the world not forget what he went through. And finally Leslie came along. Leslie was a child during the war. Leslie had the opportunity to heal simply because he had more time than the others. I helped Leslie find his voice as I've done for my writing students throughout my entire career. I helped him to communicate his deepest feelings to others, and we shared a simpatico that was instantaneous. I so enjoyed our conversations, sometimes several times a day, for many years. We shared the joys of this newfound recognition. People sought him out for appearances. Suddenly he mattered to a whole new generation, and he loved the connection with those younger students--they laughed with him and cried with him and hugged him like they would their grandfathers. For the German students, the war was a distant memory to their parents and grandparents, but the echoes of the war still affected them. With KZ camps literally all over Germany, they walked through the shadows of their ancestors' crimes everywhere they went, and students and teachers there resonated with Leslie's quiet message; he'd first simply inform them of what went on--to speak for all those whose voices were forever silenced-- and then he'd allow the students into his emotional aura, healing together, no longer alone, to face the impossible task of coming to terms with darkest parts of the human psyche the world has ever seen to create something life affirming out of that spiritual poison.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM6_O4Qu5cjjJ-djBBv3TAzynNZhXCrLlml83AhXtLMDa4WyiLcXEF_Iqzjaybah3AhetRATxcw2bIle7GgShRcLy5owt7AK6mcO0N3sd5cGtKkcOnaB4LKuQcfvixMJCp4sG4Tj9VNIM/s1600/agnes+reisch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="390" height="627" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM6_O4Qu5cjjJ-djBBv3TAzynNZhXCrLlml83AhXtLMDa4WyiLcXEF_Iqzjaybah3AhetRATxcw2bIle7GgShRcLy5owt7AK6mcO0N3sd5cGtKkcOnaB4LKuQcfvixMJCp4sG4Tj9VNIM/s640/agnes+reisch.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1972 with Agnes Reisch</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjMXmhrk9WlwJK6Pu7bhWBEblSRgQn1V0LrsvjcXhNynjPAhv8cvnmVr1l41LrpAOvOk2DFPYEtb306ksXeSQ6mU0rwDduP36aIwuaN_tHav9Hj39UG-cipbNGol3NkP7RoUYUnMrhqno/s1600/Barbara+Huber.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="356" data-original-width="475" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjMXmhrk9WlwJK6Pu7bhWBEblSRgQn1V0LrsvjcXhNynjPAhv8cvnmVr1l41LrpAOvOk2DFPYEtb306ksXeSQ6mU0rwDduP36aIwuaN_tHav9Hj39UG-cipbNGol3NkP7RoUYUnMrhqno/s640/Barbara+Huber.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Barbara Huber and spouse</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<b>WHAT LESLIE FEARED MOST</b> was that the stories of those who had been murdered might one day be erased from history--he also longed to find his mother again; every minute while in the camps he wished to be reunited with her, and he also feared becoming just like the Nazi's, like an animal that preys on other, vulnerable or weakened animals. He feared hatred like we fear a contagious and deadly virus and desperately wished not to be infected. And, strangely, he also wanted to understand everything--even the reasons the Nazi's had created this hell on earth. He had an insatiable curiosity about life, and he wanted to understand his persecutors. But the real reason he wasn't able to hate was because several German civilians helped him stay alive. Martin Fuss, the railroad worker brought him liverwurst sandwiches, and Barbara Huber and Agnes Reisch were farmers' wives who nourished him with bread and love directly in the face of SS Guards. Agnes called him "my son." Her biological son was in a prison camp in Russia. All she saw was a scared little boy who needed a mother--she once asked him, "how can <i>you</i> be a political prisoner?" The guards once confronted Agnes Reisch when she was caught bringing bread to Leslie at Dachau; they told her, "if you keep this up, we'll put you in here." She replied, "I don't care; I'm old." If these good people were also German, how could he hate all Germans? Leslie kept in touch with Reisch and Fuss for decades after the war, even visiting Reisch, bringing her a loaf of bread in 1972 in a famous photograph that made the New York newspapers. She fell on hard times after the war as her husband was murdered by concentration camp survivors in Dachau upon their liberation. He was just riding his bike home one night and was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Leslie wound up sending her care packages for years after the war. He was reunited with Huber in a sense when he discovered her identity a few years ago--she had long since passed away, but he never forgot her kindness. One afternoon in April 1945 she fed Leslie and a few of his fellow prisoners delicious bread with creamy butter and, as Leslie would say many times, the best milk he ever tasted after they had escaped (briefly) from the infamous Muhldorf train of death, only to be captured by Hitler youth later that same day--a woman invites you, a starving, emaciated concentration camp prisoner into her kitchen and gives you milk, and you remember those few hours for the rest of your life as one simple act of kindness alters forever the future. You can't tell Leslie's story without mentioning these people. He never would have reached out to the German people with so much love had those brief moments of peace in the middle of war not occurred. And how many lives did he later affect in Germany because of his openness and willingness to connect with people? And so the cycle of hatred is forever broken. Who needs nuclear bombs when we have love?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVg2XO92f9vo16sYrmveZcjtNtyIyH_t4Pflipb0UHSY0kzrZyOVMb9rBOICS8HCoHu2Y8UmxjGfbsYX3IpHlO8P-u3waMpge_XkdBfqFoLD5sGJPmsHK56_cjCEPS2XG9U9dxCxRTK3A/s1600/Leslie+and+Max+at+Tutzing+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1062" data-original-width="1600" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVg2XO92f9vo16sYrmveZcjtNtyIyH_t4Pflipb0UHSY0kzrZyOVMb9rBOICS8HCoHu2Y8UmxjGfbsYX3IpHlO8P-u3waMpge_XkdBfqFoLD5sGJPmsHK56_cjCEPS2XG9U9dxCxRTK3A/s640/Leslie+and+Max+at+Tutzing+%25282%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Max and Leslie at Tutzing Ceremony<br />
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<b>MAX MANNHEIMER WAS THE KEY TO EVERYTHING.</b> Max and Leslie had known each other in the camps. Max was older and spoke German, so he was a great asset to Leslie, who at that point, spring 1945, saw his chances for survival dwindle with every passing day--Max encouraged Leslie to keep fighting--that somehow he could make it through slave labor, disease, starvation and torture. That had a friendship of sorts that flowered sixty years or so later. <a href="http://marcbonagura.blogspot.com/2016/09/a-tribute-to-max-mannheimer.html">Max Mannheimer</a> spent his life educating German students, helping them to heal from hatred's poison, loving fearlessly the nation that tried to murder him--from the first days after the war, he stayed in Germany and began working for peace and promoting education, spreading hope that change was possible and a better future could emerge if people were willing to face things directly and, first, simply listen to each other. Max and Leslie were not normal people, and when Leslie saw first hand what Max did, especially speaking to German students, Leslie thought to himself, I want to do that as well. And so he did, beginning around 2008 and for many more years to come, and that's when everything began to change for Leslie. He even had an apartment with his spouse in Munster and looked forward to traveling to Germany every summer. Finding his voice and connecting with students and teachers who realized what an incredible blessing it was to have Leslie there, alive, standing right in front of them, willing to answer any question and help them understand what happened in their own backyards and all over Germany--this experience was something rare and Leslie was a treasure to them. He felt their love and appreciation very powerfully, and the experience genuinely gave his life new vitality.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM-pweERDLtQ-S0F3phABrQtscj4hlNlJCykQiuwDskbS5-fN1NtBu-s94oa_xFs6ULUsPySJ5n7ICtQfkLZaTUFiv1WZOwpKanisEmigao4XgEQCmoccy4aNVGq2N6Y5upjOty4Pmkzs/s1600/merkel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1062" data-original-width="1600" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM-pweERDLtQ-S0F3phABrQtscj4hlNlJCykQiuwDskbS5-fN1NtBu-s94oa_xFs6ULUsPySJ5n7ICtQfkLZaTUFiv1WZOwpKanisEmigao4XgEQCmoccy4aNVGq2N6Y5upjOty4Pmkzs/s640/merkel.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Meeting Chancellor Merkel</td></tr>
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<b>THE MOST IMPORTANT MESSAGE </b>he brought students and to anyone struggling with impossibly difficult situations is that hatred is useless and damaging--even if justified--being a victim is a powerless and lonely existence compared with that of a survivor--even better--a survivor who uses all experiences as a portal toward wholeness, knowing we all need each other to heal, and the world is a very small place. Turning enemies into allies is no small feat, yet some of the most important healing work happens when you forgive and bring your adversaries into the healing process with you, requiring truth telling and active listening, and ultimately action, for forgiveness is an active process that demands a lot of hard work--and time and patience--and you still need miracles to happen after all this, but they will come, though not always according to our schedules. These miracles took more than sixty years in Leslie's case.<br />
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<b>IN THE END</b> Leslie Schwartz understood our sacred task is not to pass along shared trauma but to create a better future and to hand down to younger generations tools for healing and reasons to hope, and Leslie gave us all plenty of hope. The best way we can honor Leslie Schwartz is simply to keep his work alive--resolve conflict without violence--and always to remember him. If you were lucky enough to spend any time with him, you were made better for the experiences. You couldn't look at anything the same way afterwards--your first move, no longer to react, with fight or flight, but to stay and face things, no matter how difficult--to reach for compassion, to find kindness and to value honesty and storytelling as important though often overlooked conflict resolution methods. You find hope, no matter what mountains lay ahead of you in your journey. The simple act of one human speaking to another--listening to each other without judgement--allowing for all the inevitable, uncomfortable silence to be filled with something new--unimaginable miracles--things you couldn't dream up in any parallel universe. And these miracles happened frequently for Leslie, like the time he met Chancellor Merkel--seventy years after the small boy who was supposed to have been worked to death by the Nazi's--greeted and honored by the German Chancellor--that kind of experience far too improbable for any Hollywood screenplay. Even Leslie's famous cousin, American screen legend, Tony Curtis, never made a film that far fetched. I'll never forget you, Leslie, and all I can do now is say "thank you for sharing so much of yourself with me and with the world." Leslie never liked to say good bye, so I won't either.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeJJF2lGPJPV9ECXPJD5J46TijEV1YDUwLngE3G1hY-j64cam351ae7EHsVpXptYDo7vu7F0potdz05nHp_RIo49SBDkLeKlYhxst6fb2VB_YqQG3YIwnh7FM87CGvfsiIAU_OLB_ogKg/s1600/with+students.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="647" data-original-width="1150" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeJJF2lGPJPV9ECXPJD5J46TijEV1YDUwLngE3G1hY-j64cam351ae7EHsVpXptYDo7vu7F0potdz05nHp_RIo49SBDkLeKlYhxst6fb2VB_YqQG3YIwnh7FM87CGvfsiIAU_OLB_ogKg/s640/with+students.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At Bowling Green University, April 2013</td></tr>
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Some links to past stories:<br />
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<a href="http://marcbonagura.blogspot.com/2015/04/70th-anniversary-of-liberation-at.html">Leslie's speech on the 70th Anniversary of the Liberation at Dachau.</a><br />
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<a href="http://marcbonagura.blogspot.com/2011/04/leslie-schwartz-holocaust-memorial.html">Memorial Speech</a><br />
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<a href="http://marcbonagura.blogspot.com/2014/02/leslie-schwartz-bio.html">Leslie Schwartz BIO</a><br />
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<a href="http://marcbonagura.blogspot.com/2013/09/freedom-from-hatred-chancellor-merkel.html">Meeting Chancellor Merkel</a><br />
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<a href="http://marcbonagura.blogspot.com/2010/11/leslie-schwartz.html">My First Meeting with Leslie</a><br />
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<a href="http://marcbonagura.blogspot.com/2011/02/if-you-were-to-see-me-walking-down.html">Leslie's Talk with Teenagers</a><br />
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<a href="http://marcbonagura.blogspot.com/2011/02/leslie-schwartz-redux.html">Regarding Barbara Huber</a><br />
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<a href="http://marcbonagura.blogspot.com/2014/11/freedom-from-hatred-evening-with-leslie.html">An Evening With Leslie Schwartz with Videos</a><br />
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<a href="http://marcbonagura.blogspot.com/2013/08/leslie-schwartz-freedom-from-hatred.html">Our Book Freedom From Hatred</a><br />
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More photos from Leslie's amazing journey! We'll update as new pictures come in.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNwL3waCgr-47tEfwyzAfPiVQjbfy-0-7yLVDMiHfTrcMMTlbXaVSDXoPtKlAeiZ1tovsA2mOYbn9G9HBRpPMkAnFjPOlGGu0fVjCrx9Qr-OLD9nN58wj5D-aVitehjOVC1zoTgPdTVSs/s1600/Leslie+in+Hungary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="723" height="530" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNwL3waCgr-47tEfwyzAfPiVQjbfy-0-7yLVDMiHfTrcMMTlbXaVSDXoPtKlAeiZ1tovsA2mOYbn9G9HBRpPMkAnFjPOlGGu0fVjCrx9Qr-OLD9nN58wj5D-aVitehjOVC1zoTgPdTVSs/s640/Leslie+in+Hungary.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leslie on his last trip to Hungary a few years ago<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixZxzOiavqc1DAC-sSvtQrI8aNZiDbGWXibFBeFp_3iIUkjLOSVk3cUxkG-tl1W06cYyWjtmyUbWDIgeD0t3dGOHe7GdZ_uNszb7BXS3anozRe8cJe5U5Ga8XTCevzqvImgon7Vd35ISw/s1600/LESLIE+PHOTOS.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixZxzOiavqc1DAC-sSvtQrI8aNZiDbGWXibFBeFp_3iIUkjLOSVk3cUxkG-tl1W06cYyWjtmyUbWDIgeD0t3dGOHe7GdZ_uNszb7BXS3anozRe8cJe5U5Ga8XTCevzqvImgon7Vd35ISw/s640/LESLIE+PHOTOS.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anne-Frank Gymnasium in Germany<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsuAAJpXjrs8eSJX5oDLf-gr4eKNqnQ948oIWvg_7nFsMqJLc5quqSKBPXSDiE7SD4weDM0fV3frAZJXVlg7hD61s8xp8E0nJpxSoUrgC8Itcti0N-NwnK0HZB7a3I9uUaFc5oWXf4VPs/s1600/immer-im-sommer-in-deutschland.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="363" data-original-width="610" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsuAAJpXjrs8eSJX5oDLf-gr4eKNqnQ948oIWvg_7nFsMqJLc5quqSKBPXSDiE7SD4weDM0fV3frAZJXVlg7hD61s8xp8E0nJpxSoUrgC8Itcti0N-NwnK0HZB7a3I9uUaFc5oWXf4VPs/s640/immer-im-sommer-in-deutschland.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">with German students<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr2rLn3zLkXHrLsymGMbhX66clsNVBxrO1pAuHo_skdckLVmuPcYm1KJyl61d7RxI4QlWkIMYeofoTUBezLI43yqe4fzKUbslza7-Q9OmDqHOlCFZsNdr5JkgUQxUZvEkm7MEpA8BMXxI/s1600/Untitled-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="374" data-original-width="331" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr2rLn3zLkXHrLsymGMbhX66clsNVBxrO1pAuHo_skdckLVmuPcYm1KJyl61d7RxI4QlWkIMYeofoTUBezLI43yqe4fzKUbslza7-Q9OmDqHOlCFZsNdr5JkgUQxUZvEkm7MEpA8BMXxI/s640/Untitled-6.jpg" width="566" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">at Tutzing memorial</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqu80-wj02usPkFVOu_ziCw7z1iOoLXnkQO34uDMbJKc_q1mN95mxHLvUqEiGb50033nd845dbaLbVwISgE3YpdoxWkFKLs_Dg5Jgw9REFWs92LDcbfSFPRUvmdWWOXKMY2ScEFzxJzAY/s1600/leslie+and+annette.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqu80-wj02usPkFVOu_ziCw7z1iOoLXnkQO34uDMbJKc_q1mN95mxHLvUqEiGb50033nd845dbaLbVwISgE3YpdoxWkFKLs_Dg5Jgw9REFWs92LDcbfSFPRUvmdWWOXKMY2ScEFzxJzAY/s640/leslie+and+annette.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At Brookdale Community College--site of many of Leslie's presentations--watching his life in a film!</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhgZt6NBOYkhg3jOihLkgTVDONqt1fGeSu8a5_fd7WcD_9HeYP75m2fnO4e8oncDqkXiiOmp_bVXhmz1WFrvhPIhUiaHVZGH6H7vMvHJOruStvfJJ8N7jD3Wu68xaSLTFrGsif15iOYUs/s1600/leslie+at+bcc1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="906" data-original-width="960" height="603" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhgZt6NBOYkhg3jOihLkgTVDONqt1fGeSu8a5_fd7WcD_9HeYP75m2fnO4e8oncDqkXiiOmp_bVXhmz1WFrvhPIhUiaHVZGH6H7vMvHJOruStvfJJ8N7jD3Wu68xaSLTFrGsif15iOYUs/s640/leslie+at+bcc1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqHe_gsVoloZ_Mv7vAiKPRdXTKl2ut7pOAHLRRfBOf1OB1mswrB6wxaO_g_jL27noHqBhiZBiGaNrRofRQJ21mLaMz2j-nS7Jg8_k6LOWRsD-GIThznRD0EuYJ-zOern45XIuHG4evtis/s1600/leslie+at+bcc+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqHe_gsVoloZ_Mv7vAiKPRdXTKl2ut7pOAHLRRfBOf1OB1mswrB6wxaO_g_jL27noHqBhiZBiGaNrRofRQJ21mLaMz2j-nS7Jg8_k6LOWRsD-GIThznRD0EuYJ-zOern45XIuHG4evtis/s640/leslie+at+bcc+2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimYgkPNeoYRua0U4-N0afVToNxrpEe-K1BKDV1GkAceEfA8LO7ywiBBlCI4fQDZs3fF1bIGKItyFPNQ-CHrpfBPcbWilcDlG9W-8vxhQwx-NOZKzFR_W1h68fsPGw5pjEdd4-5VOWWgmY/s1600/30127270_10155304305831714_976014335715311616_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="714" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimYgkPNeoYRua0U4-N0afVToNxrpEe-K1BKDV1GkAceEfA8LO7ywiBBlCI4fQDZs3fF1bIGKItyFPNQ-CHrpfBPcbWilcDlG9W-8vxhQwx-NOZKzFR_W1h68fsPGw5pjEdd4-5VOWWgmY/s640/30127270_10155304305831714_976014335715311616_o.jpg" width="475" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dachau</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0wRbQQeTO41FcB7KNesiNx2NxjIRFEjLrGM_FqJigG9Z5N3usoXmfZMATVRrcBsCtAEYVqIR2UW4xFO0lwEp6N4XccghrRdbMf0W4N-K7-zn4fBhV7FubLOtGXItwdj_pJ9rYpPnt-nw/s1600/leslie+bcc+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0wRbQQeTO41FcB7KNesiNx2NxjIRFEjLrGM_FqJigG9Z5N3usoXmfZMATVRrcBsCtAEYVqIR2UW4xFO0lwEp6N4XccghrRdbMf0W4N-K7-zn4fBhV7FubLOtGXItwdj_pJ9rYpPnt-nw/s640/leslie+bcc+4.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My favorite photo of Leslie</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">memorial in Bavaria<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">with his mother in 1933 or 1934<br />
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Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386323005205880864.post-28901483556336409132020-04-22T04:32:00.001-07:002020-04-22T04:32:54.106-07:00Nine Home Remedies for Inguinal Hernias That Really Help!While I should note that an inguinal hernia requires a medical diagnosis and treatment by a competent professional, if one were to find oneself in a situation where that medical help weren't available, <b>say in the middle of a global pandemic</b>, when elective surgery is cancelled until further notice, what would you do?<br />
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<b>Are there actually home remedies that help?</b><br />
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<b>The answer is yes.</b><br />
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1. <b>The Edgar Cayce "Castor Oil Treatment" </b>is actually incredibly worthwhile--while again, this isn't going to replace a surgeon, it may buy you some time while providing significant relief. Apply food grade Castor Oil to a damp, heated cloth--be careful not to burn your skin! You can also put the Castor Oil directly on your skin, and then place the warm, wet cloth on top of the affected area. Next take a dry towel and place that on top on the wet compress and place a heating pad on top of the towel. Lie down with a pillow under your knees and stay warm and covered up with blankets for about half and hour; take a nap if possible; breathe deeply from your belly and relax--listen to nice meditation tapes or relaxing music. You'll find the hernia immediately retreats and the area becomes relaxed as the blood flow is increased. Two or three times a week and you'll notice a big difference regarding the pressure, tension, pain, and general feeling of weirdness or discomfort.<br />
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2. <b>Eat a mostly plant based diet and do not over eat.</b> Avoid constipation at all costs. Any food that causes an inflammatory reaction in your body will make a hernia MUCH worse, especially fried food or foods with vegetable oils or foods high in sugar or overly processed flours--you want to tone down inflammation, which is always a good idea anyway. Any food that causes gas should also be avoided, as gas pain added to a hernia will have you thinking you need to go to the emergency room! A natural remedy for gas is Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar, a tablespoon in a glass of warm water will do the trick. Wormwood tincture, 10-15 drops in a small glass of water will also expel gas. Losing some weight is also advisable.<br />
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3. <b><a href="http://marcbonagura.blogspot.com/2018/03/herbs-for-heart-health-motherwort.html">Motherwort Tincture</a></b> is beneficial because it relaxes your insides and would be preventative of a strangulation or other obstruction--I would have some good quality Motherwort tincture made from the fresh flowering tops on hand at all times, and take a good size dose 25-50 drops, if you are feeling tension or stress down there; repeat the dose in a half hour if you don't feel relief, but you will feel relief in a few minutes.<br />
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4. <b>Gentle Pilates</b> exercises performed mostly on a mat, <b>on the floor</b>, can be very helpful--just don't over do it, and if it feels wrong, move to another exercise--usually glute workout series are best--take it easy on the abs though--you work your abs when you do glute work anyway.<br />
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5. <b>Pelvic floor exercises</b>, again, I stress <b>gentle exercises, </b>preferably seated or on a mat on the floor, not standing, these exercises will prove useful.<br />
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6. <b>Linden Flower herbal <a href="http://www.wisewomanmentor.com/videos-members/3550098">infusions</a></b> are great as they help lower inflammation and make everything slippery in your gut.<br />
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7. C<b>omfrey Leaf <a href="http://www.wisewomanmentor.com/videos-members/7191831">infusions</a></b> are beneficial to build up the strength of the muscles, ligaments and tendons, etc. You need to be careful where you get Comfrey leaf, as some strains are toxic. I only trust <a href="http://www.redmoonherbs.com/">www.redmoonherbs.com</a> for mine.<br />
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8. <b>Deep breathing, meditation, relaxation</b>--<b>Reiki</b> if you know it--or gentle healing touch, laying on of hands--gently place your hands over the area and think of glowing light radiating from your hands into the area, repairing the damaged cells. I like listening to healing meditation tapes and putting an eye pillow over my eyes--this can also be done during your <b>Edgar Cayce</b> time (see point #1). Simply lying down when you've been on your feet too long also helps! Take naps when you can. Be gentle with yourself. Avoid strenuous lifting or bending or ESPECIALLY pushing anything heavy. Envision healing angels standing around you healing you with their hands and with light beams. With a hernia, you need to get off your feet frequently during the day as the pressure during standing pushes everything from the inside out.<br />
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9. <b>Burdock leaves soaked in apple cider vinegar </b>and warmed up in the oven at a low temperature can also be applied to the area much like the Castor Oil treatment mentioned above. Burdock leaves are readily available in the summer months and are gentle and soothing when applied directly on the skin. Afterwards, discard the used leaves in a compost pile. Do not throw away any plant you wish to heal you!<br />
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<b>Warning: Always seek prompt medical attention if you feel anything unusual or dangerous might be going on, like a strangulation or obstruction, which can be life-threatening conditions and require emergency medical attention.</b><br />
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<b>Be well friends.</b><br />
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<br />Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386323005205880864.post-81777782821149458712020-04-10T14:50:00.002-07:002020-04-10T14:50:50.912-07:00Flower Essences for Extraordinary Times from Mark D'Aquila<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;">
Extraordinary times - extraordinary flowers. Flower essences offer unparalleled support for emotional, mental, spiritual balance and well being. In many ways I feel the magic of flower essences shine best in times like this. And, my goal as a flower essence therapist and researcher is to help people move through challenges with confidence and perseverance.</div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif;">To address the energetic challenges brought on by these current times I have put together the Extraordinary Times Kit. This is a collection of 14 flower essences to help your energy system maintain strength, balance, peace of mind and well being. The flower essences in this kit help with anxiety, fear, loneliness, resilience and grounding; </span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: georgia, times, "times new roman", serif;">as well as other mental, emotional and physical challenges we are confronting.</span></span></span></div>
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Key Points that form the basis of my approach.</h3>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: medium;">1.) Support the nervous system</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: medium;">2.) Energetic Protection</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: large;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: garamond, serif; font-size: medium;">3.) Emotional Well being - being with, processing difficult emotions</span><br />
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4.) Staying Grounded<br />5.) Uplifting</div>
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These serve as the foundation. And with good foundational support we thrive, make clear decision and we trust in our ability to meet challenges.</div>
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Important flower essences from The Extraordinary Times Kit</h3>
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<span style="text-decoration-line: underline;">Calm: </span>This blend supports the nervous system to come down a notch. Useful when feeling ‘keyed up’ and unable to unwind. The Calm formula supports us to let go of tense emotions and settle more into ourselves. Use it at night to support sleep.</div>
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<span style="text-decoration-line: underline;">Olive Flower Essence</span>: A deeply restorative essence, good for adrenal stress and exhaustion, helps us with long term recovery on all levels. Useful for recovery after struggle, long term illness and trial. A very useful essence for those suffering from deep fatigue and needing rest. .</div>
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<span style="text-decoration-line: underline;">Protection Formula:</span> This formula is a combination 5 flower essences that helps to create a strong energetic shield of protection. Our energy field is weakened from stress, overwork, fear and anxiety. This all-around useful formula is superb for anyone who feels they need more protection. A key to well being is to maintain a strong energy field. This is our first shield of defense. Us this daily to keep your energy field strong.</div>
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<span style="text-decoration-line: underline;">River of Support:</span> This is a special blend of essences created to compliment this collection. The flowers in this blend support strength, flexibility, lightness, balance and protection. It is designed to keep our energy system primed and buoyant. It is also a wonderful essence for those who in isolation who feel lonely and cut off.</div>
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All the essences listed above and 10 others are part of the Extraordinary Time Kit. </div>
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<a href="https://www.essencealchemy.com/collections/extraordinary-times-collection">https://www.essencealchemy.com/collections/extraordinary-times-collection</a> <b> </b></div>
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<b>Enjoy 15%</b> off with code <b>Extraordinary</b>. This code applies to the full kit as well as individual essence from the kit.</div>
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All Essence Alchemy flower essences are bottled at the stock level dilution. Because they are bottled at the stock level they can be used together. For example you can use Calm and Protection at the same time without them cancelling each other out. To mix and match essences means you can tailor them to your specific needs that day or week.</div>
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I wish you much health and well being in these Extraordinary Times.</div>
Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386323005205880864.post-54645059237345609932020-03-29T05:56:00.001-07:002020-03-29T05:56:43.504-07:00Cosmic-Ice-BreakerRecently, one student in my creative writing class shared insight into her life during ice-breaker introductions; her response to the ice-breaker prompt of exploring one's heart's desire resonated with me on a deep level.<br />
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While saying she still wanted to enjoy life in this present moment, she also described how she cares about her future and setting up her later-on life by making sound choices and good decisions now, in her teenage years--to have a "set future" as she called it, which I took simply to mean <b><i>a</i></b> future, <i><b>a future life one could rely on</b></i> to some degree, temping fate and randomness.<br />
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Then she added something unexpectedly profound: wanting and hoping to connect to the infinite and lasting while realizing, "everything I do will be wiped away by time." That idea caught us all by surprise. After a short time, I offered that perhaps "everything" isn't wiped away, but I felt disingenuous suggesting a more specific answer to her dilemma.<br />
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I think of her notion as a bit of a mixed blessing; wouldn't that realization take off some of the immense pressure to which we humans often subject ourselves about things that really aren't that important? Maybe that this thing that seems so giant in the present moment really won't amount to much once washed away by some infinite river of time--OK, but while that might help, it doesn't really speak to her question. How do we connect with something greater???<br />
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I thought perhaps should I direct her to the Stoics and "Memento Mori'? Stoics and their followers have used that realization of ever-present death and mortality as a charge to act and to decipher what is vital and meaningful to oneself and to honor these deeper values, no matter what life throws at us, in fact in spite of what life throws at us--a personal code for living, or living well with that eventuality that everything turns to dust.<br />
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That might help, but she's seeking something deeper, I think. Although her realization and implied questions are important; perhaps something she'll spend her life exploring, I can offer, in a muddled, but somehow still oddly confident way, something about acts of kindness, moments of oneness and union, experiences when we transcend the obvious limitations of the human form--tapping into some other place, for lack of a better word--something more than this life's matrix-like quality, the structure of what we call reality--I know there's something more, but trying to put it into words or even concepts isn't easy. Fact is, our human perception is genuinely and severely limited, so why do we trust this reality so absolutely anyway? And even if we find the land beyond the yellow brick road, when we come back to earth, will that trip have really changed us or anyone else in any profound ways? The current state of the world might indicate "no" since many travelers have gone before us and come back to this black and white world without effecting dramatic changes, but there are subtle shifts and moments, when put back to back, that lead us somewhere different and perhaps better?<br />
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Just a few less-than-brilliant tips for would be inner-space travelers like her:<b> the body is a vehicle, not an impediment</b>. There is a physical connection to this infinite cosmos linked within our human experience. Conversely, when seeking guides and fellow travelers, look beyond their immediate or obvious physicality--soul mates along this trip will come in all shapes and sizes, ages, races, genders, etc., and sometimes the one's who might be most important to you might seem most unlikely candidates.<br />
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<b>Approach the way with genuine integrity and compassion for others--helping others is one way we change ourselves. </b><br />
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<b>The present moment is the infinite we seek.</b> The link to making all of this happen is to be completely present, to have access to all that we are in this moment, with these people, in this place--meaning don't think you haven't got what you need for the journey right here and now, already.<br />
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<b>Nature will often bring you out of this fake human matrix--experience it. more about the fake human matrix?</b><br />
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<b>Keep doing the work, whatever the work is for you.</b> And when you find nuggets of experience and wisdom, let them pile up and add up to something greater than the sum of the parts, like a bank account accruing compound interest. Just do the work and keep hope alive, always bolstered by your unique and personal experience--the experience is not flighty or merely subjective--that's your validation and your currency, like a salary for your work--don't cheapen it; treasure it and let it build upon itself.<br />
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<b>Basically, let the path take you where it leads, however much faith is implied in that directive. You will find signs and navigation techniques along the way.</b><br />
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That's all I've got in this moment.<br />
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<br />Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386323005205880864.post-29240935483232658212020-02-26T06:48:00.000-08:002020-05-11T03:13:52.936-07:00RESPIRATORY INFECTION PREVENTION 2020: HERBAL & NUTRITIONAL HELP<span style="font-size: large;">UPDATED MARCH 27, 2020</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Please note: I have many other blog posts on flu prevention which you can search here under the search engine provided in the blog. Quite obviously, COVID-19 is different than anything we've seen previously, yet the same herbal green allies that protect us from the effects of other viruses, including colds and the flu will also have a strong correlation toward protecting us in the case of new and strange pathogens. As with all herbal medicine from a Wise Woman tradition (as my teacher <a href="http://www.susunweed.com/">Susun S.Weed</a> refers to it), using these plants will only nourish you and continue to make you stronger and healthier, whether or not you ever get sick. There is no downside to using these safe, local, inexpensive and abundant plants. And remember, prevention is invisible--you may never know exactly why you didn't get sick. Most people will contract this virus and experience only mild or even no symptoms--the people who are at higher risk especially need all the allies they can find.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">FIRST LINE:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Elderberry</b>--the herbal superstar for cold and flu prevention and healing--use in every form from jelly to syrup to tincture. Take it daily all winter long as a preventive measure, as well as when you actually have an infection or virus. I've been taking a dose of tincture about 50 drops twice a day; upon rising and before going to bed. Generally, Elderberry isn't always thought of as a protector, but more of a remedy when we are sick, but since this COVID-19 virus is stealthy and we could have it and not show symptoms, I think daily doses of Elderberry are fine. I prefer homemade tincture to anything else.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Linden Flower</b>--make linden flower infusions and drink them frequently during the flu season! I have them almost every morning in place or in addition to my normal tea or coffee. Heat up linden infusion, not to the boiling point, and add honey for a tasty and effective morning drink! Linden is a fantastic upper respiratory ally all year long.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>St. John's Wort</b>--nature's herbal viral defender--take it daily during the flu season and even several times a day if you feel you might be exposed to something--use only tincture made from the fresh flowering plants, NOT CAPSULES. If I had to fly, I'd take St. Johns before during and after my flight or whenever I was confined in a closed indoor space or felt I had potentially been exposed to something!</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">SECONDARY/IF YOU GET SICK:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Echinacea</b>--take only if you are sick, and even though Echinacea is mostly for bacterial infections, it can help during a viral infection by preventing secondary bacterial infections. Take your body weight in drops, divided by half, and take it several times a day <i>and</i> for a few days <i>after</i> you feel better, too. Use only tincture, NOT CAPSULES.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Marshmallow Root Tea and Boneset Tea</b>--are legendary herbal helpers for flu-like infections; marshmallow root helps soothe mucous membranes, and Boneset is an old time, natural fever remedy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Poke Root-</b>-the most powerful herbal ally for those with an active infection--not to be used as a preventative. Take a small dose, between 5 and 20 drops--if no effect, take again in a few hours. Be careful with Poke, as it is very powerful--only take as needed and stop taking when the infection is over. Do not use on children! My teacher recommends 2 drops a day, then 4 the next day, then 8--perhaps up to about 25 drops (which is a huge dose) if you're not getting the response you need.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">HELPFUL DIETARY IDEAS:</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Vitamin D</b>--a most important protector, especially for pathogens that attack the lungs. Get sun on your face for at least 20 minutes a day, and then when the weather warms, get sun on as much of your skin as possible--20 to 40 minutes a day is sufficient. Vitamin D deficiency is rampant in our society. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Probiotics/Fermented Foods</b>--eat more yogurt and fermented foods during flu season. Probiotics are the post powerful protection you have against invading pathogens! Sauerkraut is fantastic, inexpensive and available everywhere, for example. I'm sure you have your favorites--personally I love old fashioned plain yogurt!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Garlic</b>--can be used with food on a daily basis to boost your immune system. I'm allergic to it, but if you're not, and don't mind the superb aroma you will emit, go for it. At least you'll keep people away from you in crowded places!</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Red Onions</b>--red onions are super for your immune system--you can eat them raw or cooked. I like a raw red onion chopped fine on top of black beans, for example. They contain quercetin, which is a powerful ally for your immune system. I've read not to cut too much off the outside because there is a higher concentration of quercetin towards the outer part of the onion.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Green Tea</b>--is an old standby that most people have around the house, and green tea is a known anti-viral. Add honey and you've got anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties; plus the warm liquid is also good.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Vitamin C</b>--many people like to load up on Vitamin C--I don't endorse supplements here, but if it works for you, use it. I prefer naturally occurring Vitamin C as found in fresh squeezed orange juice and lemon juice. My mom's old family recipe is the juice of one lemon, the juice of one orange, honey, and a pinch of cream of tartar in a quart of water when you're dealing with colds or flu. She calls it "Imperial Drink," and it is very soothing for the throat and quiets coughs. I heard stories that they are using IV vitamin C in China to treat people with the virus. Those doses would be very high.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES REALLY WORK:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Homeopathic Flu Remedies</b>--check out <a href="https://www.boironusa.com/">Boiron</a> and Umcka's remedies, and have them on hand and, most importantly, use them at the first sign of illness--homepathics work best when you can recognize you might first be getting sick--take them for a few days after and at regular intervals to allow them to work. There is no hard evidence, as far as I know, but I believe Oscillococcinum might be useful in cases of COVID -19</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">SOME OTHER IDEAS:</span></b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Tone Down /Avoid Overly-Strenuous Workouts</b>--stay out of the gym and tone done your workouts--hard workouts depress your immune system in dramatic ways making you way more susceptible to invading pathogens.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Stay Away from Crowded Indoor Spaces, Especially Air Travel-</b>-if you can avoid it, please do so. Nothing worse than an closed off in door space for breeding illness. If I had to be in such a space, I would protect myself with massive doses of St John's Wort tincture before, during and after my time spent in these places.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Be More Aware of Personal Hygiene</b>-health crusader Gary Null said many times he carries a little bottle of alcohol around with him in public places and wipes down any surface areas he comes in contact with--not the worst idea, I think. Probably more effective than masks I'd imagine. And try not to touch your face and eyes if you are out in public places.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Avoid Undue Emotional Stress--</b>emotional stress can greatly weaken the immune system--people can and do die of broken hearts! A severe emotional stress can really limit the ability of your immune system to fight off viruses and bacteria. Fear suppresses your immune response.</span><br />
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<b>Stay Home if You Don't Feel Well</b>--most important is to rest and give your body a fighting chance; staying home also prevents the spread of the illness to others.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Keep Your Kids Home if They're Sick and Keep them Home an Extra Day Even if They Feel Better</b>--I always liked the idea of an extra day home even when the kids feel better. Viruses have a way of rebounding even when you are feeling better, so the extra day is not a bad idea at all. Master Herbalist <a href="https://www.naimh.com/">Paul Bergner </a>recommends rest for every day that you had a fever after the fever has passed to prevent the virus rebound effect, which actually kills many people with COVID-19--they seem to be doing better and then take a turn for the worse.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Good luck and don't panic--fear and anxiety won't help! </span></b><br />
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<b>Taking action will make you feel more in control, and, again, most or all of the herbal remedies are good for you whether or not you ever get sick!</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here are some links to videos and podcasts; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_DsjZcVnBQ&fbclid=IwAR0tcD2OoM4hcoCIen6VI2Bwpt8RVO1svv_ZF0WZWUK_MMWRttdAq4DC1dU">Susun S. Weed (Wise Woman Approach)</a> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Susun Weed also has a free course she is offering--go to </span><a href="http://www.wisewomanschool.com/" style="font-size: x-large;">www.wisewomanschool.com</a><span style="font-size: large;"> You need to register, but then the flu prevention course, "Healthy Immune System Coronavirus Help" is free.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://prn.fm/gary-null-show-can-natural-botanical-herbs-supplements-impact-coronavirus-03-10-20/">Gary Null (Heroic Healer)</a>.</span><br />
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<br />Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386323005205880864.post-14986731963592656492019-12-15T02:21:00.000-08:002019-12-15T02:21:11.630-08:00Unacknowledged Grief, Addiction & Mental IllnessIn my experience there seems a force equivalent to a solar wind of unacknowledged grief running through many mental illnesses, especially addiction, depression and anxiety to name a few.<br />
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The universal experience we undergo on this planet is loss and closely-related grief, and as I've spent most of my life running from this emotional pain, I think the running in various forms is also the developing of a wide range of dysfunction and disease, like addictions, anxiety disorders and depression just to name a few.<br />
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As we try to distance ourselves from reality, that reality being an ocean of grief, and like a fish swimming in that ocean, forgetting it is surrounded by water, we naturally hide everything from that grief, like burying a box of treasure in the backyard where no one can steal it . We think loss unnatural or wrong, as if death is wrong somehow. As a child, when encountering death, what adults actually allow you to process the experience? That's absurd, right? The thought is a child can't handle it. We're taught early to be normal and not dwell on the negative, right? So we're taught early on(whether overtly or not) to find ways to hide from the single most universal experience of all beings on this planet--that of experiencing loss, pain and grief.<br />
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Perhaps we all believe on some level these emotions will weaken us, make us vulnerable, take us away from normal, functional, productive life. So then, why would the Creator put us in this world-- mostly as a cruel joke, where we spend so much time and energy avoiding the unavoidable grief, running around like rodents on a treadmill, so that we're not even alive?<br />
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If you've ever felt the intensity of that emotional pain even for a fleeting second, you can understand why anyone would run from it. Yet that grief is so universal maybe it is actually the entire reason for us being here, the spiritual or energetic (much better word) reality that this grief will break us into a million pieces and isn't wrong but right, and that is actually what is supposed to happen, because by being broken apart we connect with all beings on this planet and recognizes our oneness to them while having the opportunity to lose our egos that mostly torture us in the process. Doesn't every religion preach and teach that? We come here not to come and go as the same entity, but to be changed, and this experience of loss will do just that. Reminds me what I've heard my teacher, Susun Weed say, "whatever is, is right."<br />
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Otherwise, as we seek to distance ourselves from the grief and loss, we also cut ourselves off from all other emotions, like joy and even bliss, because to feel something you need to feel everything. The disease and dysfunction is really a strangling or twisting into knots the flow of energy throughout our bodies, until I'm sure at a certain point our physicality is altered by this dysfunction to the point where the disease becomes (structurally) real and ingrained into our physiology, like the way an addiction changes your brain structure and function, for example.<br />
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We think we need to cut out the illness, like a mass of cancer to be removed surgically, when maybe what we really need to do is use all this experience as a force for healing, healing not being defined solely by removing the problem, but by some new realm of existence.<br />
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And when normal life becomes so unmanageable that literally it cracks apart and we're sick, really sick, everything stops anyway. There is no more normal. We're ill, but maybe we're also healthy at the same time. The illness is there to get our attention like nothing else could to stop us.<br />
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Might swimming in that ocean of grief be the medicine that can heal us, by opening us up, breaking us apart and connecting us to something greater?<br />
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What does that frontier life look like? Where are completely transformed, quite literally, into different beings, and we acknowledge the debt and the grief and also our connection to all living beings, sharing in this samsara, if you will, and transformation. <br />
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Existing in this sea of grief and debt is an opportunity for growth, a portal into a radically transformed life--the one we came here to experience.Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386323005205880864.post-34799166269395181852019-12-02T07:49:00.000-08:002019-12-02T07:49:50.499-08:00Millet Porridge Breakfast RecipeA slightly different twist on your normal breakfast fare, this is a recipe I've tweaked and enjoy very much.<br />
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<u><b>Millet Porridge:</b></u><br />
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Add 1 cup of millet (dash of salt and butter optional) to 2 cups of boiling water; then cover and cook over a slow, gentle boil until water is absorbed (about 15 to 20 minutes).<br />
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Add a few dashes of cinnamon, 1 to 1 1/2 cups of coconut milk, or any other kind of milk you want, a generous pour of maple syrup, to about half of cooked millet (save the rest of the millet in the refrigerator for another day), and mix well with a hand mixer or similar tool to get it almost the consistency of a puree; you won't quite get it pureed as the millet doesn't break up that well, and then cook over a low temperature, a very gentle boil, for about 10 minutes. This will make about 2 servings. Serve warm!<br />
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You can also make more millet and keep it refrigerated so as to save time when preparing this breakfast over the next few days.<br />
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This is a wholesome, nourishing breakfast, good for people who need help with digestion, people with allergies, those who have issues absorbing nutrients, or just anyone tired of the usual breakfast grains, like oatmeal.<br />
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I use whole grain millet for this recipe, such as Bob's Red Mill, as pictured below.<br />
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<b> Enjoy!</b><br />
<br />Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386323005205880864.post-4501293956838357962019-04-18T14:18:00.000-07:002019-04-28T05:38:19.723-07:00Twenty Things We Can Learn from Warren BuffettLike many many millions of people across the globe, I find Warren Buffett endlessly interesting, and I believe we could all do well to take some of the wisdom he's offered the world, either in word or in deed, to heart. Even if one weren't drawn to finance or investing, his wisdom goes far beyond the financial bottom line, although the most successful investor in human history also offers some really good financial tips. Simply stated, I think if we were all just a little more like Mr. Buffett, we might live far happier and more satisfying lives with less anxiety and more self-confidence and personal power. I believe there is a philosophy to the way this man has conducted his life, a philosophy worth exploring.<br />
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Buffett's story should be taught right up there with George Washington regarding his importance to the American experience and collective psyche. When teenagers sit in high school classrooms and study courses in personal finance, for example, I hope part of their curriculum includes books on Mr. Buffett, just as American history classes should feature stories about Washington. <br />
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Full disclosure: Only recently have I become a Buffett junkie. My obsession started when I watched that famous HBO documentary. Lately I'm reading everything I can find about him and watching countless
videos. While I don't know the man personally, nor do I own any shares
of Berkshire Hathaway stock, and this particular post is out of my
normal comfort zones regarding subject material, I have to say I've
enjoyed writing it very much. I hope you will benefit from it as well.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photograph by Danuta Otfinowski —<a href="http://fortune.com/2016/08/15/warren-buffetts-berkshire-hathaway-boosts-apple-stake-sells-walmart/"> http://fortune.com/2016/08/15/warren-buffetts-berkshire-hathaway-boosts-apple-stake-sells-walmart/</a></td></tr>
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What follows are random bits of wisdom and truths I've discovered from my informal research.<br />
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These bullet points are (mostly) not in Buffett's own words, rather my interpretation of what he might think or say. There is plenty of great work featuring his direct quotes and whatnot, biographies and the like--this piece is more philosophical in nature; however rudimentary my understanding may be, I believe I've distilled down some useful thought forms.<br />
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1. Time can be your friend of your enemy; whether in finance or anything else, time is an ally to be cultivated, or a monster that devours us whole--when you do good things and follow a worthwhile process, time will most often reward you with the blessings of the fruits of your labors (not to mix too many metaphors). If we're acting in hurtful or self-destructive ways, time crushes us as our problems only get worse and worse. And never rush important financial decisions based on someone else's timetable, as in "if we don't buy this house today, someone else will."<br />
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2. Your habits and commitment to a process will take your farther than mere intellect or even talent; don't think you need to be the smartest or even the most talented person in the room to be the best; there is so much more to success than just mere ability--our habits and beliefs, all the little things we do all day long, as well as the way we think about ourselves and the way we see our lives, matter so much more.<br />
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3. Start young--you're never too young to begin your life--this notion of waiting until you grow up has got to go. Even in childhood we can discover our lifelong passions and areas of expertise--it is never too young to begin. Even if starting something simply means watching others and observing--you'll find older people who will help you as mentors and advisers--people will be surprisingly generous to a young person captivated by some noble ambition, even if that nobility is simply that they want to be really great at something.<br />
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4. Failure can be your greatest teacher; when you fail, take apart the experience and examine what occurred, so you're better equipped next time. Look at any failure as a step in the learning process; many bad things in life can be overcome if we're willing to start over and follow a sound process.<br />
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5. Play to your strengths, don't be at the mercy of your weaknesses; find out what you are really good at and stick to it. You'll have a much higher rate of success if you stay within your area of expertise and continue to deepen that expertise. This message requires some mental and ego discipline and some tolerance of boring moments waiting for that magic moment when opportunity meets fortune and we are able to make the winning move.<br />
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6. A lot of brilliant people have horrible lives; much of our happiness really does boil down to our own choices and especially our expectations regarding our lives; sometimes expecting less leads to greater happiness. Even great intellect and material success don't necessarily equal happiness. Happiness seems more a product our own own minds and beliefs regarding whether we are living life on our own terms or according to someone else's rules.<br />
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7. Live below your means; the surest path to wealth (and probably financial peace) is to spend less than you make, and to avoid debt whenever possible. There is a classic short story called <i>The Death of Ivan Ilych</i> by Leo Tolstoi, If you want to know the torture of living a false life based on materialistic keeping up with the Joneses' what was true in 19th century Russia is still true today. Buffet, one of the wealthiest men in the world, still lives in the same and the first house he bought back in the 1950s.<br />
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8. Dance to the beat of your own drummer--it's more than OK to be different; it is essential to your happiness. In so many ways Buffett illustrates that we only get one life and it is complete folly trying to live it based on someone else's rules. Know yourself well and knowing what works for you and what doesn't are key concepts--perhaps slightly easier when one is a billionaire, but something we must all come to terms with. Remember he didn't start out as a billionaire!<br />
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9. Take care of your body and mind--you only get one; he's seen telling high school kids this wise tidbit of advice; furthermore he's been quoted many times saying we should develop ourselves through education and an ever-expanding spiral of self-improvement and qualifications. Just another feather in your cap as my dad said frequently. <br />
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10. We don't need an extravagant lifestyle to be happy; really, no matter if you're an hourly wage earner or billionaire, there is a great degree of personal preferences you get to control. Buffett going to McDonald's for a breakfast that costs a couple bucks is the ultimate metaphor when he could have a personal live-in chef. <br />
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11. Make money work for you, not the other way around--the not-so-hidden secret to building wealth in a capitalist system.<br />
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12. You can only control how you react to something and how you treat other people, not the reverse; this is about emotional fitness. Apparently, there is a whole lot Buffett has to say about how our emotions qualify our success especially where money is concerned. <br />
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13. Integrity matters; one's reputation is worth protecting and any time we might be (even slightly) tempted to cut corners ethically (morally or even legally) speaking we should avoid that temptation. Always best to do things the right and honorable way--you will never have to remember any alibis or elaborate stories. Buffett I've been told likes to go on TV just so he can never be misquoted. He does not take the honorable reputation he's built up lightly and neither should we.<br />
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14. Don't waste too much time on your phone or your PC; refrain from too much time on social media. I've seen interviews where,
when asked why he isn't on Twitter, Buffet simply says something to the
effect of, what exactly would that do for me? Aside from the occasional and very welcomed re-connection with old friends or family, or perhaps promoting a business, time on Facebook, for example, leads mostly to rising blood pressure and time wasted.<br />
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15. Being a feminist makes a lot of sense; it is OK to acknowledge the ovarian lottery.This point makes many men uncomfortable but not Buffett. So much of success one might agree is determined at birth as to where, when and what biological sex we are born into. He works for equality for women and freely acknowledges his sisters were just as smart as he was without the same opportunities, born as women in an earlier time and place. Feminism makes sense, especially now, when we realize we have access to the work and creative talents of half the population. The more America and the world promotes equality for women, the brighter the future will be for everyone.<br />
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16. Perhaps the greatest gift wealth affords is that you can help others; his example here regarding philantrophy would be hard to top, but the premise is one we can all follow--he who dies rich, dies in disgrace. You can give it all away; you really can. Why not realize the power of your decisions and how they can impact others' lives for the better? Again, none of us will be able to match Buffett or his pal Bill Gates' philanthropy, but we can all do something to make this world a better place. Don't leave the money to your kids, give it away.<br />
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17. Would you still do your work even if you didn't get paid for it? If what you're doing for your chosen career isn't something you're passionate enough to do for free, you might be in the wrong field. I've heard Mr. Buffett say something to the effect of, if you're doing something you like with people you like, you're on the right track.<br />
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18. Remember this is all just a game anyway--in the end everybody loses--well, that's at least one interpretation of death--but maybe loss isn't that scary anyway-- maybe it is freeing, especially if this insight allows us to approach our endeavors with a kind of casual seriousness and relaxed focus, like an athlete in the zone. Sometimes the freedom of playing a game instead of the tension of what if I make the wrong choice works much better getting you into that zone in the first place. He might deal in billions and billions with the rise and fall of civilizations riding on his decisions, but Mr. Buffett seems pretty chill in the final analysis.<br />
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19. Work on your communication skills, especially public speaking. Buffett often credits his Dale Carnegie public speaking course with increasing his success exponentially. I can tell you most millennials are deathly afraid of public speaking, all this fear conversely existing in an age where our every emotion and whim are often on display on Social Media. I do believe an important component of our voice is masked when we refrain from taking our inner life outside for the rest of the world to see--in person--not on Social Media. This is a key element in my writing courses; when I say voice is it much more than just the sounds we make. There is a connection to some inner source of power that is completely obscured by fear of embarrassment<br />
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20. Focus is the one thing we have the most control over that directly leads to success in any endeavor, and in today's world of multi-tasking and electronically-induced ADD, focus has never been more challenging or important.<br />
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Some links and resources:<br />
<a href="http://berkshirehathaway.com/letters/letters.html">Annual Letters to Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders</a><br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Snowball-Warren-Buffett-Business-Life-ebook/dp/B009MYD9F8">The Snowball Effect</a> (excellent biography of Buffett)<br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/University-Berkshire-Hathaway-Lessons-Shareholders-ebook/dp/B06XT89563/ref=sr_1_7?crid=3ANKF4YK5YWU8&keywords=warren+buffett&qid=1555939940&s=digital-text&sprefix=warren%2Cdigital-text%2C131&sr=1-7">University of Berkshire Hathawa</a>y (a book about the annual shareholders meetings)<br />
<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/brklivestream/">Yahoo Live Stream of Annual Shareholders Meeting</a><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYHPlLsdW0A">HBO Documentary</a><br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByFQ75ZrHWc">BBC Documentary</a><br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Snowball-Warren-Buffett-Business-Life-ebook/dp/B009MYD9F8"><br /></a>
Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386323005205880864.post-37426265364982602772019-02-22T16:17:00.003-08:002019-02-22T16:28:29.732-08:00UPDATE: Dancing with Atrial FibrillationMy earlier post <a href="http://marcbonagura.blogspot.com/2012/08/dancing-with-atrial-fibrillation-herbs.html">Dancing with Atrial Fibrillation</a> has received the most hits of anything I've ever written here. I've also received many personal e-mails with questions on the subject. People have so many questions. To be sure, this condition affects a great number of people all over the world. The anxiety with this condition is off the charts as well. Let me just add a few thoughts to the original post.<br />
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I'm not a doctor, certainly not a Cardiologist, and I have no desire to impersonate one or to dispense medical advice. I am an herbalist with around twenty years experience in the field; herbal medicine is usually my first option for most of the ailments I and my loved ones experience, but if you have access to qualified and competent medical professionals, always seek them out. Employ all the resources at your disposal. Regarding natural remedies, I never advise an all or nothing approach. This is a common though serious condition and not one to fool around with.<br />
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That said, many people, like myself, have a strong desire to heal ourselves whenever possible. We seek to understand what makes us ill and to work in different ways to affect change and to promote wellness. For some of us, increasingly-invasive medical procedures leave little appeal unless desperately required, and I think A-Fib is certainly one of those conditions where the advanced and invasive medical procedures are probably something people like me (and you perhaps) would rather avoid, and I get that.<br />
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My personality and experiences dictate that whenever possible I try to heal things on my own with the least amount of outside medical intervention. But when I experienced my most dramatic and overpowering episode of A-Fib and my initial herbal remedies did not seem to be working, I felt I had to go to the emergency room. I think there is an internal knowing for those of us who have spent time learning the language of our bodies, and we know instantly, this is something I can work with my natural remedies or this is something for which I need immediate medical attention.<br />
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I think about healing A-Fib from at least two mindsets:<br />
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1) Overall nourishment and wellness--the goal being to strengthen our bodies though nourishment, allowing the body to heal itself while promoting greater resiliency when faced with stressors. This is an on-going process, something you cultivate each and every day with individual acts of self-care. While seemingly small in nature, when done over time, they really add up. Nourishment is not just food but everything and everyone we surround ourselves with and using movement and breath in physical exercise--I'm not talking about lifting huge amounts of weight in a gym or running marathons, but exercise that builds health, flexibility and strength, like my personal favorite, Pilates. One dropper full of Hawthorne tincture in my morning tea, and my personal herbal invention, Stinging Nettle infusion with two droppers full of Motherwort, taken several times a week, have been tremendously helpful for me.<br />
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2) Immediate first-aid and fast remedy--the goal to quell the attack keeping one out of the emergency room. Certain herbs are quite useful here, especially the heart-health superstar Motherwort tincture, made from the fresh flowering plant tops. At least two droppers full in a small glass of water; repeat the dosage if you don't feel any results within, say, ten or fifteen minutes. Motherwort can also be taken directly under the tongue for even faster absorption, though, generally speaking, we do not use tinctures that way except in emergencies.<br />
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Let me provide a few other off-the-radar ideas to keep in mind:<br />
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a) avoid getting dehydrated--it seems to me that hydration is key to preventing future episodes, and remember hydration is not just water but electrolytes in the proper balance as well.<br />
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b) keep up your intake of potassium--bananas are a very healing food for the heart, and I try to have at least one or two ripe bananas a day.<br />
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c) the importance of restful, healthy sleep cannot be overestimated--the better quality of sleep, the less likely you are to be in a vulnerable state, and if you have bad nights, tone down your activities for the next day--take a nap--nourish yourself.<br />
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d) proper breathing techniques--learn from such disciplines as Yoga, Pilates, Tai Qi, the proper way to breathe and employ belly breaths with extended exhales during times when you feel on the edge of an episode. I have seen these extended exhales thwart an attack in progress many times. My Cardiologist also employs some physical manipulation to stop an attack; I don't feel confident explaining these techniques here, but they are very simple and mostly safe, so you might ask your Cardiologist.<br />
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I avoid most supplements, especially fish oil. I realize fish oil is often highly touted, especially for conditions such as A-Fib, but its efficacy is questionable at best, and it may even bring on episodes of A-Fib. If you wish to thin your blood, the herbal infusion made from dried Red Clover blossoms is very effective. You might drink that a few times a week.<br />
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A certain degree of A-fib is probably a natural result of aging and getting an episode is not the end of the world; I think former and present athletes, especially those who've have participated in endurance sports like running, for example, are almost guaranteed to experience A-fib during their later years. My personal point of view is older people, how ever you define older, do not need hard workouts to stay healthy--running is for horses! Do workouts that strengthen your body and your Qi, like Pilates or gentle, flowing Yoga or even Tai Qi. I'm sure there are many other kinds of movement that promote this kind of wellness, like ballroom dancing or even riding a bike near the sea. Forget the triathlons, please. Time better spent would be growing your own garden of herbs and tending to it every day as a means of stress relief.<br />
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People write me to ask if I have experienced any more episodes since my original crash in 2012, and the answer is probably, but they were short-lived and they corrected themselves quickly with a little deep breathing and Motherwort tincture. My heart seems much more resilient after having taken Hawthorne every day for about the last seven years. I think that herb has made a tremendous difference. I've also helped others during their episodes with Motherwort tincture; the heart takes only a few minutes after having taking Motherwort to correct, and no matter how many times I see the benefits, I'm always amazed at how that wonderful healing plant works for us humans.<br />
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Think of nourishment as an ongoing process and the progression of healing as a spiral, not a straight line; we move back, again and again, over familiar territory in slightly different ways, while ending up in slightly different place. My teacher <a href="http://www.susunweed.com/">Susun S. Weed</a> outlines different philosophies of healing in her book <a href="http://www.herbalmedicinehealing.com/store/item_view.php?id=1000020&item=healing-wise">Healing Wise</a>, and I would refer you to her work to get a better understanding of the ways people think about healing and how those thoughts shape our outcomes.<br />
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Most of all, be kind to yourselves and learn to say no to requests that don't honor your true nature.<br />
<br />Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386323005205880864.post-48315072210581033332018-06-25T04:43:00.004-07:002018-06-25T04:50:47.057-07:00The Human Garden: Nourishing the Dirt<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">if someone says you are common as dirt, take that as a compliment</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFRWOMPbGUNzBxDWJXi1kd0V7FqXAxSB2Ch2LNrt5eXSi4ka5sRhj9Kl_cB-DJBUhZH-4CvqfATWKjunHHiOd1mjTwe9uF0Rh5yx8p9yRjqrCzNZj9979GN2M4t0db0l3y2PGehOBrYg0/s1600/1d240a9cea2b956a0228140459e7fdab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="978" data-original-width="1240" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFRWOMPbGUNzBxDWJXi1kd0V7FqXAxSB2Ch2LNrt5eXSi4ka5sRhj9Kl_cB-DJBUhZH-4CvqfATWKjunHHiOd1mjTwe9uF0Rh5yx8p9yRjqrCzNZj9979GN2M4t0db0l3y2PGehOBrYg0/s400/1d240a9cea2b956a0228140459e7fdab.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">nourish the dirt, our bodies in all dimensions of space, spirit and time</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">prepare the soil to receive the gifts of the seeds we plant</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">plant good seeds, but it doesn't matter how rare, precious or beautiful they are if we don't nourish the dirt, our literal, earthly bodies</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">there are many things we cannot control, but do the best we can with what we can control--create a fragrant, healthy, rich, organic soil, with fine rows and good water; use dark mulch to create black gold</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">let the sunlight, rain, moonlight, and darkness of moonless nights all work their veiled magic </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">the harvest will come, seemingly all at once; we'll have so much, the harvest will overflow and the hardest task is finding enough containers to hold it or how to give it away</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY7EoqDlqq-XNBYAFjrJN7IKvJ5QzRMhLDK3wfCY-ys0DWSXJreCw_o22jIhLqotuG8u0l_bit5eXovgHW5cR98JXCsdHsmiZdK8J5IlOF4Fik5XeA0hUXGtO0WaOf4v7RiPt3Fo_afmo/s1600/van-gogh-green-wheat-fields.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="591" data-original-width="1050" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY7EoqDlqq-XNBYAFjrJN7IKvJ5QzRMhLDK3wfCY-ys0DWSXJreCw_o22jIhLqotuG8u0l_bit5eXovgHW5cR98JXCsdHsmiZdK8J5IlOF4Fik5XeA0hUXGtO0WaOf4v7RiPt3Fo_afmo/s400/van-gogh-green-wheat-fields.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">think of our bodies, literally as dirt, always potentially fertile in so many ways, procreation notwithstanding, and cherish this commonness, visualize holding in your hand a mound of this black, life-giving substance that brings so much potential if honored and nourished</span></div>
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Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386323005205880864.post-46659815685724085772018-06-25T04:39:00.001-07:002018-06-25T04:41:34.700-07:00Sacred Breath<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sometimes I marvel at simple blessings, like breathing. Are you thankful for breathing? Are you aware of the absolute miracle breathing embodies on this planet? </span></div>
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lately, I've been thinking about the miracle of breathing. We exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen in a dance with the green plants of this earth. Considering all the religions and sacred ceremony in which humans have ever participated are there any ceremonies as sacred and miraculous as simply breathing? Breath is a holy ritual, one that instantly connects us all.</div>
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I suppose if one struggles with breathing, this dance is not taken for granted. Not ever. For those of us blessed enough not to have to fight for breath, do we sometimes take it for granted? This perfect ceremony expressing simplicity and love should be acknowledged.<br />
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How about we try a simple exercise in thankfulness for the gift of breath. Say a prayer of thanks. Offer humble and heartfelt appreciation to all the green plants of this world and to the Creator for their willingness to offer such a common, but incredibly loving embrace, over and over, every minute of our lives.Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386323005205880864.post-63296805819251908272018-03-02T07:18:00.002-08:002018-03-02T07:18:43.781-08:00Herbs for Heart Health: Motherwort <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRdQtD2L1MjTF2dLX4RIiUT2cRRPfgpIb5QNpLf8EGYL0DASW1eCmn-qUkeQQK1RMe9EOaGW6SI0SE9QEH7HNMGm65K0IA3Tsfwppw0t9fVLOLE3EykTxCz0cfaXw4Qx6K43eKMmsUTVE/s1600/img_0534.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRdQtD2L1MjTF2dLX4RIiUT2cRRPfgpIb5QNpLf8EGYL0DASW1eCmn-qUkeQQK1RMe9EOaGW6SI0SE9QEH7HNMGm65K0IA3Tsfwppw0t9fVLOLE3EykTxCz0cfaXw4Qx6K43eKMmsUTVE/s200/img_0534.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://thedruidswell.com/2015/06/28/motherwort-and-other-characters/">image from The Druids Well </a></div>
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<b>COMMON/LATIN NAME:</b> Motherwort (LEONORUS CARDIACA)<br />
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<b>HOW IS IT MADE/USED:</b> Tinctured from the fresh, flowering plant tops in 100 proof alcohol.<br />
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<b>HOW MUCH TO TAKE AND HOW OFTEN:</b> The dosage I use is for heart matters is 2 (two) droppers full (approximately 50 drops) in water. This can be repeated in 15 or 20 minute intervals if relief is not achieved. Relief should be fairly quick and quite noticeable.<br />
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<b>WHY:</b> The desired effects include but are not limited to: soothing emotional upset or heart-break, restoring heart rhythms from irregular heart beats, including atrial fibrillation, to normal, slowing a rapid heart-rate, normalizing blood pressure, increasing blood flow and oxygen in blood. Motherwort is also said in tales of folklore to restore blood flow around blocked blood vessels in the heart, a "bypass in a glass" as I've often heard my teacher Susun S.Weed say.<br />
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<b>CONCERNS:</b> If you are taking heart medications, consult with your doctor or pharmacist for any possible interactions, although I have found no issues using Motherwort even with people on other medications, and I have even seen people reduce and eliminate medications with regular use of Motherwort. I find Motherwort can be taken safely on a long-term basis with no ill-effects. As always, one should never forego qualified diagnosis and treatment from licensed health care professionals. Herbs are quite safe when used properly, but in matters of emergency, my personal rule is to use herbs, or whatever else is at my disposal, and then seek medical help. I don't exclude one healing tradition for another. I'll use anything that works and always choose the method that does least harm.<br />
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<b>SPECIAL NOTES:</b> Try Motherwort tincture in Stinging Nettle infusion for a synergistic effect. Within a few minutes, this combo will relax blood vessels and improve blood flow and breathing, increase oxygenation and ease discomfort and anxiety around the heart Charkra.<br />
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<br />Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386323005205880864.post-71342751429809166282018-02-17T05:24:00.001-08:002018-02-19T07:06:10.707-08:00Parkland Shooting A Call To Action<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/parkland/florida-school-shooting/fl-florida-school-shooting-alyssa-alhadeff-obit-20180215-story.html">Lori Alhadeff</a>, mother of slain Parkland student, Alyssa Alhadeff, vocalized feelings all good Americans are sharing. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I had a dream right after the shooting that I was a parent and I was yelling and screaming at President Trump. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Strange that I turned on my TV the next day to see this mother speaking words I would have spoken in my dream. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">When they've gotten to the point at which the lives of our children, children who are in imminent danger is merely a political debate, our leaders and representatives should lose their right to lead. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Just some random bits of information that struck a chord with me:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;">1. Police came to the Florida shooter's house 39 separate times for domestic abuse calls</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;">2. President Trump repealed Obama's law making it easier for mentally ill people to buy guns</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;">3. The NRA spent more than $50,000,000 on ads during Trump's campaign</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;">4. The shooter bought his gun LEGALLY</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline;"><br />5. Trump never mentioned the word "gun" once in his consolation speech</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline;">Some specific examples of politicians paid off to turn away when children die f</span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/04/opinion/thoughts-prayers-nra-funding-senators.html">rom the NY Times</a>.</span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">A more detailed look at NRA funding and political influence from <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/totals.php?id=D000000082&cycle=2016">Open Secrets.</a></span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">If we sought real justice, the politicians who allowed these slack gun laws, unlike almost all other civilized nation on earth, would be prosecuted and jailed as if they were the shooters. At the very least we can take away their source of revenue, bribery.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">One particular student eloquently and passionately spoke out. Her words have gone viral.</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/Florida%20student%20to%20NRA%20and%20Trump:%20'We%20call%20BS'">Emma Gonzalez</a></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br />The anger of these students over a completely failed federal and local policy on the sale of firearms has reached a critical mass. Is the American will finally strong enough to do something about this mass terror reigned down on our students?</span></b><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386323005205880864.post-89019905145322190272018-02-11T07:30:00.000-08:002018-02-14T15:46:56.079-08:00US Figure Skater Adam Rippon's Dilemma & The Spiritual Teaching Implicit in Trump's Rise<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The Olympics always makes for strange bedfellows while also offering rare opportunities for meetings between people who would otherwise never be in the same space together. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-TiG4zSjBx5sVA3rfLrdzXl_13VdJXUHouvEGqOCnABtscgn6-koncUa9DwziszupYQf7chyauCvfLHF79tePiR-GI2Vmt8Wl4lkkY4JSHSEnxOVBUOyeKUfA8_HtYHiMsjMzh3RtI84/s1600/160714-michaelson-mike-pence-tease_imhr9j+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="832" data-original-width="1480" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-TiG4zSjBx5sVA3rfLrdzXl_13VdJXUHouvEGqOCnABtscgn6-koncUa9DwziszupYQf7chyauCvfLHF79tePiR-GI2Vmt8Wl4lkkY4JSHSEnxOVBUOyeKUfA8_HtYHiMsjMzh3RtI84/s320/160714-michaelson-mike-pence-tease_imhr9j+%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">While I wouldn't disagree in any substantive way with his <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/olympics/news/gay-skater-adam-rippon-says-hes-open-to-speaking-to-mike-pence-after-olympics/">Rippon's</a> assessment of Pence's politics and its harmful impact, I also think our only salvation (as a nation or perhaps even as a species) is to sit down and talk with each other, especially those with whom we disagree. To be fair, Rippon, who spoke of his skating as having a "greater purpose," has hinted he might meet with Pence after the games are over, though perhaps their opportunity for convergence existed only in Pyeonchang. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">What I've learned simply from my own experiences during the very strange and very troubling political season of 2016 and its aftermath is we must not shy away from those with whom we disagree. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">If we can't acknowledge that we all need each other, it's hard to move forward. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><i>This for me is the single most important spiritual teaching or lessen of Trump's political ascendancy: <b>There is no other.</b> We can play the games of separation and fear-mongering for political gain or just to assert power or moral superiority over another person, but <b>there is no other</b>.</i></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The notion of separation being an illusion serves us well when we're at a spiritual retreat meditating twelve hours a day; however, when we bring it into everyday practice, quite another beast emerges.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Even if we who would side with humanism and progressive pursuits believe the others somehow disqualify themselves from the human family by their beliefs and actions, which let's be blunt can be extremely damaging and dangerous and we rightfully must speak this truth, we must also find a way to come together because we need each other to heal and to move into a space of wholeness. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">If we cannot get together, face to face, in real time and communicate WITH each other, we'll need to start building new </span>KZ<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> camps, and one side or the other will require imprisonment torture and reeducation. I've never seen this level of meanness, separation and violence, mostly verbal, psychological and psychic from one opposing side toward the other. What good does it serve to be "right" when nothing good gets done?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Do I think Pence hates gay people? How can I even attempt to answer that question. Is it possible that some people are so afraid of paradigms, if you will, which exist outside their comfort zones, they're willing to resort to meanness to keep their own demons within on a tight leash? Any human who says they can never relate to that experience is not being terribly honest. We've all been there, OK? </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">While the always charismatic Rippon says, via Twitter, he has nothing to say to Pence, quite the opposite is true. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Here's the latest <a href="http://www.cnn.com/videos/sports/2018/02/13/adam-rippon-mike-pence-us-figure-skater-pyeongchang-2018-winter-olympics-intv-intl.cnn">video</a> with Rippon discussing the platform gained with Olympic Competition. </span>Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386323005205880864.post-10481090514554076362018-01-10T08:43:00.001-08:002018-01-11T11:27:37.548-08:002018: TIME'S UP <b>An extremely brief overview of the past year: </b><i>Did you know the most looked up word during 2017 was feminism? </i><br />
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I find this fascinating and welcome and truly inspiring.<br />
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Perhaps younger people are becoming aware of or being introduced to the meaning of feminism all over again while seeking to redefine the concept as it spirals through the collective mind all over again. Sensing the urgency and necessity of such a powerful initiative, 2018 began with the advent of the <b>Time's Up</b> movement, introduced so eloquently and powerfully by Oprah Winfrey at the 2018 Golden Globes; we are now entering a new wave of feminism and humanism.<br />
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Thinking back to how 2017 began, with the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as United States President <b>and</b> a very powerful and visible <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/21/us/womens-march.html">women's march</a>, I get the feeling this process unfolding is like a wave that began as a ripple in the ocean, now a tsunami of hope inundating the shore and overwhelming seemingly solid objects in its wake.<br />
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As Trump delivered his inaugural address, millions and millions of women in the USA and elsewhere took to the streets, quite literally to fight back and to reassert their power against the tide of indifference or even outright hostility allowed to fester in the current political climate. They spoke peacefully, loudly and clearly.<br />
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Later in 2017 #MeToo, as conceived of by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/20/us/me-too-movement-tarana-burke.html">Tarana Burke</a>, went viral as women and men across all cultural, political and economic lines began speaking about their own experiences with violence and harassment. Ms. Burke, a New Yorker, was even chosen as the celebrity icon in Times Square to ring in the the new year as the ball dropped on 2017.<br />
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What we are witnessing in the United States now is unprecedented.<br />
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So many powerful and previously well-respected men outed and ousted from their positions due to stories and allegations of their acts of harassment and violence against women again and again. From film producers to journalists to senators to actors to sports executives, and on and on. We hear their names echo throughout the media with announcements of jobs terminated and large salaries eliminated. To me this phenomenon is a millennial thing.<br />
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In our justice system crimes against women, including rape, are woefully under-reported and more shockingly seldom prosecuted. These inherent systemic biases are all too well known, but a new kind of organic justice has emerged. If you injure someone in this terrible way, you may no longer be able to make a living. I've learned this theme from millennials I teach. They've taught me something. They say they will not support <b>economically</b> anyone who has created this level of pain and suffering, no matter how good they are at their jobs or what they produce. This is something new. The notion that such individuals even if they are not ever prosecuted for their crimes deserve this street justice, this economic retribution, again, in essence, they're not going to be allowed to make a living because people will not buy what they're selling--an old-school economic boycott on steroids--what I would call millennial justice.<br />
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This new wave of feminism is truly grass roots even though fueled by technologies that didn't exist in previous times. But grass roots is always good. Solutions that rise from the bottom up, from the common places to touch all levels of society hold the most endurance and staying power. THIS feminism is nothing new; rather, it marks a return to the wellspring of all human spirituality.</div>
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This new spirit reminds me of filmmaker Maggie Hadleigh-West who made an important documentary film called War Zone (1998) back in the 90s; her film speaks directly and powerfully to the reality of street harassment that women endure every day. I urge you to revisit her work. The spirit and premise being an openness and willingness to initiate a conscious confrontation if you will. The work is unique and powerful and as timely as ever.<br />
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Feminism is like the ancient olive tree pictured below, surviving and enduring all cycles of natural and human change, one that endures and continues to bring forth fruit essential to all life.<br />
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So we revisit what we in the modern times simply call feminism, but the term requires a deeper definition and understanding.<br />
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In ancient times, until only recently, really, say the last few thousand years, feminism has always been the way human beings related to each other and to their understanding of the cosmos; this ancient tree has roots that go deep, to the very beginning of time, back to the void and simultaneously the source of all creation.<br />
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Do you know only in modern times have humans considered "god" or the creator to be male? For thousands and thousands of years, the creative energies were always thought to be feminine. Matriarchy and goddess-centered societies are not the stuff of fantasies, but rather the reality for the majority of human history--these experiences trace back to our deepest levels of understanding and interpreting our reality on earth.<br />
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Like a spiral returning into itself and becoming new again in subtle yet definite ways, we reinterpret and create new ways of deepening our relationship with these archetypes and energies--the same that have always kept us alive and allow all good and holy things to flourish.<br />
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This is an amazing time to be alive. There's so much potential and opportunity for growth and healing; to redress the injustices against woman and the earth has never been more important and to heal without the presence of the Divine Feminine energy is impossible. All possibilities trace back to that ancient tree.<br />
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<b>TIME is UP.</b><br />
<br />Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386323005205880864.post-49166233534169490652017-09-20T13:55:00.000-07:002017-09-20T14:08:52.953-07:00Celebrating National Punch a Nazi DayA video has gone viral of a man in Neo-Nazi garb getting punched in Seattle. The individual is left crumbled up in pain on the sidewalk as the person who assaulted him is congratulated.<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/nazi-man-swastika-seattle-punched-beaten-up-streets-video-a7954406.html"> The Independent</a> is one of many on-line news outlets featuring the story, and here is a slightly more detailed story from <a href="https://munchies.vice.com/en_us/article/43awzg/seattle-neo-nazi-punched-after-throwing-banana-at-man">Vice</a>.<br />
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Many of my current and former college students have commented about the story both in social media and in person, mostly expressing their satisfaction, even leaning toward joy, over the outcome.<br />
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My Holocaust scholarship including my book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Surviving-Hell-Auschwitz-Dachau-Selbstbehauptung/dp/3643903685">Freedom From Hatred</a>, written with survivor Leslie Schwartz leads people to the assumption that I, too, am pleased with the outcome; they obviously never read our book or any of the hundreds of articles or news stories posted about Leslie Schwartz and have completely missed the thesis of our work together.<br />
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We strive to resolve conflict and to heal the destructive consequences of violence and hatred by non-violent means, which include, but are not limited to education, empowerment, and mutual truth-seeking while increasing humanism and democracy in all nations.<br />
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Despite their immense and incalculable losses during the Shoah, neither Leslie Schwartz nor his mentor, Max Mannheimer ever punched a Nazi.<br />
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Rather <a href="http://marcbonagura.blogspot.com/2016/09/a-tribute-to-max-mannheimer.html">Mannheimer</a> dedicated his entire life after the war to peace and education. He lectured to hundreds of thousands of German students dating back to the first days after the war right up until the present. His presentations never tainted with malice or hatred, only love for truth and hope that if people knew the truth, they might well strive to become better people and to make the world a better place. Mannheimer received countless awards and recognition all over the globe for his work. Leslie Schwartz began his work of educating German students by following the example of Mannheiner. Leslie wanted to share the feeling of doing good. Easing his suffering by helping others, yes, even the descendants of the people who murdered his entire family.<br />
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Schwartz also told me stories of prisoners once freed from Dachau murdering German civilians in fits of rage immediately following their liberation in May 1945. One of the people killed was the husband of a German farmer woman named Agnes Riesch.<br />
<br />
Frau Riesch spent the war years bringing bread to fourteen year old Leslie Schwartz while he was imprisoned at Dachau. She also gave him money and food coupons to shop in a local bakery.<br />
<br />
She called Leslie her son while her unconditional and perilously public displays of affection for Leslie often brought down the ire of SS Guards who once remarked to her, "If you keep this up, we'll put you in here."<br />
<br />
She responded, "I don't care. I'm old."<br />
<br />
Her biological son was a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union and never returned to Germany alive.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCTU8CCxh0X1V09tzicpfHmDUbx6ASMZYYNOCPhUtjhwaxwga63WCrH1CE00npCa-7ecRSMcQkplu9FyrZF4mAAXeR6PCRt88d6FfR-z8tu_J_9Q4Rnbpb66frWacJSS-9KWeo9s_B8KU/s1600/Frau+Riesch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="1600" height="337" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCTU8CCxh0X1V09tzicpfHmDUbx6ASMZYYNOCPhUtjhwaxwga63WCrH1CE00npCa-7ecRSMcQkplu9FyrZF4mAAXeR6PCRt88d6FfR-z8tu_J_9Q4Rnbpb66frWacJSS-9KWeo9s_B8KU/s400/Frau+Riesch.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Leslie kept in touch with Frau Riesch for many decades. He even brought food to her from the Red Cross immediately after the war while Leslie was living in the Displaced Person's Camp nearby. Leslie finally visited Frau Riesch again in 1972, bringing her a loaf of bread and smile, pictured above.<br />
<br />
There were also other German civilians who helped Leslie survive the camps. He carried their acts of kindness and compassion with him when he left Germany for America. Yet for sixty plus years he wasn't able to speak publicly about the camps until he had a moment of epiphany and freedom experienced during a visit to Germany a few years ago; he had became obsessed with finding out the identity of yet another German farmer woman who took him and his friends into her kitchen one afternoon during their failed escape attempt near Poing in the final days of the war. Leslie never learned her name was <a href="http://marcbonagura.blogspot.com/2011/02/leslie-schwartz-redux.html">Barbara Huber</a> until recently, but her kindness haunted him each and every day. He needed the world to know what she had done, as simple an act as feeding a few starving emaciated prisoners milk and bread with butter. <br />
<br />
Hate and violence are energies that achieve only what they achieve: to bring about more hate and more violence in endless cycles of suffering.<br />
<br />
What shocks me so terribly is the flippant attitudes of younger students toward this violence. I don't know the person who was punched or the person who punched him, nor do I know how their life experiences brought them to that particular and unique moment in time, Flannery O'Connor would call it "<span class="st">a peculiar <i>crossroads</i> where time and place and <i>eternity</i> somehow meet". I do know I see hate being held up an venerated by intellectually lazy, spiritually ungrounded, and terribly ignorant people who somehow think this is all just OK. People are angry about a lot of things--righteously angry--I get that, but this is not the way forward. </span>Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386323005205880864.post-4159815670277921372017-03-28T12:49:00.002-07:002017-03-28T12:49:58.977-07:00The Modern Refugee: Holocaust Revisited? Probably a blessing and a curse is my Holocaust scholarship; I've never been able to look at anything the same since taking up the cause of Leslie Schwartz' powerfully redemptive and healing message beginning in 2009 when I first met Schwartz. After all the interviews and articles and even our book together, I find I've developed this hyper-sensitive radar to intolerance, oppression, bullying, no matter the form or the venue. I'm not always fun to be around; at times I've even found myself creating an uneasy distance from my closest colleagues. The election of Trump hasn't helped much. I vacillate between outbursts of anger and a more rational, intellectual approach; however, his xenophobic tendencies are deeply troubling on so many levels. That so many people don't seem to understand the regressive nature and inhumanity of the man's words shocks me daily. I simply have a deep concern for helping those less fortunate or those who have been left behind. In small ways, I've been able to affect change, and certainly my work with Leslie has been recognized all over the world, but, again and again, I come across a situation over which I'm powerless and liable to lose many nights sleep over because of ensuing frustration and anger. Not terribly healthy, actually.<br />
<br />
When I investigate the refugees now "housed" on the islands of Nauru and Manus, and especially after speaking with some Australian sources, I'm left with yet another powerfully resonant image referring to the ongoing world-wide refugee crisis as well as a empty feeling in my gut as we repeat (forgive me) many of the same thought-forms the world exhibited during the 1930s and 1940s regarding Jews and others oppressed by Hitler. The notions of America first are certainly not new, and looking back on history is always problematic when factoring in the narratives we attach, often having more to do with now as opposed to then, but I keep asking myself, how can the world turn it's back on these people suffering so horribly and for so long?<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjWo8MWnY58dzOpIqrm6ItTxHolG-yxvpKpQkPryjzILcC_oKEl54rLj1Kf87TQEA9CCTASHFS7cKWhtIRZsk8L5M6hncJ1d1RSgo6rrf0w79lZlE-YoINBlI9tdtA20R48NDkeiBLuiU/s1600/maxresdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjWo8MWnY58dzOpIqrm6ItTxHolG-yxvpKpQkPryjzILcC_oKEl54rLj1Kf87TQEA9CCTASHFS7cKWhtIRZsk8L5M6hncJ1d1RSgo6rrf0w79lZlE-YoINBlI9tdtA20R48NDkeiBLuiU/s320/maxresdefault.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoXkN4TFxw5chrc5bbOjz62z2P09ei9i9olRrlAqYm5gVTMQoZ2sJyiRA4wX1jpXxRV4zcsBMjFmESxsHQeoKoqdrJ0lRTvVYE35k3N1ze1fw84tuXKhKKhpAx4ceuFYFloiLv5pPaGMk/s1600/flucht-politik-staaten-fluechtlingspolitik-australien-100%257E_v-img__16__9__m_-4423061158a17f4152aef84861ed0243214ae6e7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoXkN4TFxw5chrc5bbOjz62z2P09ei9i9olRrlAqYm5gVTMQoZ2sJyiRA4wX1jpXxRV4zcsBMjFmESxsHQeoKoqdrJ0lRTvVYE35k3N1ze1fw84tuXKhKKhpAx4ceuFYFloiLv5pPaGMk/s640/flucht-politik-staaten-fluechtlingspolitik-australien-100%257E_v-img__16__9__m_-4423061158a17f4152aef84861ed0243214ae6e7.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
This refugee "thing" as I have written in my blog is happening all over the world. And nothing about Trump is new or unusual or different. He's just riding a
tsunami of fear, anxiety and inhumanity that is gripping the entire
planet at this moment in time. Refugees are not going away; there are
only going to be more of them. These situations always propose a test of one's
humanity--how an individual or a nation responds to another human in
need. For me echoes of the Holocaust are all too clear. Every minute<span class="text_exposed_show">
of every day we get to relive history and recreate the future, over
and over and over, yet we often choose the same dark outcomes and ask
ourselves why? We should and must turn back to Victor Frankl's <i>Man's
Search for Meaning</i>. You either have two responses to
suffering--according to Frankl, compassion, seeking to alleviate another's suffering, or
fear of what is happening to them happening to you, and thus a closed and
hardened heart. Simple and complicated at the same time: </span><br />
<br />
<span class="text_exposed_show">"</span>. . .there
are two races of men in this world, but only these two--the 'race' of
the decent man and the 'race' of the indecent man. (Frankl 108)<br />
<span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span><span class="text_exposed_show">Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Turnbull and American President Trump argue over the details while people virtually imprisoned continue to suffer horrors of which I cannot conceive.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="text_exposed_show"><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/02/01/politics/australia-us-refugee-deal-turnbull-trump/index.html">http://edition.cnn.com/2017/02/01/politics/australia-us-refugee-deal-turnbull-trump/index.html</a> </span><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7nKwA2uj5FkbnXomXBlfj1OEB_QfGRK9ibdGUy5msiS1Ao7ss2k3ul1zOcsTY-2H4rvsTiUb8k4fphRd-wiDjms2T_ud51tHPlWUMx6eMKZHMc_iYe-b065Vj-pgFE6xtbjOYKHbE15U/s1600/Australian-Government-No-Way-You-will-not-make-Australia-Home.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7nKwA2uj5FkbnXomXBlfj1OEB_QfGRK9ibdGUy5msiS1Ao7ss2k3ul1zOcsTY-2H4rvsTiUb8k4fphRd-wiDjms2T_ud51tHPlWUMx6eMKZHMc_iYe-b065Vj-pgFE6xtbjOYKHbE15U/s640/Australian-Government-No-Way-You-will-not-make-Australia-Home.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
I remember 2012 very well: During Hurricane Sandy, we had no power
for 11 days. I was very ill at the time, and I also had to take care of my elderly mom. Things like heat and hot meals were a priority. I felt a lot
of anxiety. My neighbors stepped up and helped us. One neighbor brought
me ice for my cooler, another let me use her stove which had gas to heat
meals, and another rigged my furnace to run off a generator, his
generator by the way, so we would have heat and hot water. The town provided phone charging statio<span class="text_exposed_show">ns
and MREs. All this help got my mom and I through it all just fine. Then I think of all these people fleeing war torn countries. Wars they didn't
start. They just happen to live there, you know? They too must have
children or elderly parents and health problems of their own. What are
they supposed to do? Don't their children deserve a life as well? Water to drink and food to eat and to live in a place that isn't
dangerous and warm at night? I just can't get past putting myself into
their lives for a second. No power, ever, no access to doctors or
hospitals, dangerous depleted uranium from our weapons all over the
place, people trying to exploit them and rape them and do all manner of
harm to them, and I ask, how can we not help? We have so much here; then I see a President who panders to hate and fear and the most base, guttural reactions to shove their faces back in their misery in a
spiteful and demeaning manner, and I cannot comprehend any of this.
</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show">If you're OK with all this, then you are clearly a better person
than I. Because this shit bothers me to no end. There was a family from
Syria that took two years to get moved up to come to America and settle in Jersey City, near where I live. A
church sponsored a nice apartment for them. They got here the other day
and were sent back. They have no money and no support system. Back to
the refugee camp in Jordan while they had a nice, cozy apartment waiting
for them and a new life here in America. I cannot understand the inhumanity in any of this.</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span>
<br />
<span class="text_exposed_show">Below are links to some excellent work illuminating the tragedy in the islands off Australia by CNN and The Guardian.</span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/18/asia/australia-nauru-offshore-amnesty/">CNN</a> ( solid overview)</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/01/politics/australia-us-refugee-deal-turnbull-trump/">CNN</a> (regarding Turnbull/Trump)<br />
<span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/aug/10/the-nauru-files-2000-leaked-reports-reveal-scale-of-abuse-of-children-in-australian-offshore-detention">The Guardian: Nauru files</a></span><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2016/aug/10/the-nauru-files-the-lives-of-asylum-seekers-in-detention-detailed-in-a-unique-database-interactive">Nauru Files (Leaked) Database</a><br />
<br />Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386323005205880864.post-50887837388615834972017-03-15T14:14:00.001-07:002017-03-15T14:14:49.743-07:00Leslie Schwartz Regarding the Current Political Climate<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">When World War
II ended, as a 15-year-old-kid, I was so convinced we would never face another
war. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">After all
the horrors I had just experienced in the Concentration Camps—all because of a
crazed man like Hitler—I thought—now there will finally be peace. The world
will have learned the lessons and never ever repeat this madness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">More than seventy
years have passed and countless wars waged, yet, unbelievably, the global
psychology has changed drastically for the worse over the past year or so; I now
hear there is even a lack of interest in Holocaust Studies, even as hate crimes
and threats against Jewish people and institutions have doubled in the United
States over the past year alone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I wonder if
compassion and empathy also fading from the world scene because of the current
political climate? In one country after another, the human heart is closing
itself off to the suffering of others and taking on a hardness not seen since
the darkest days of WWII. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Is this why
people are losing interest in the Holocaust? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">You must
explain this to me because I cannot fathom this new mindset sweeping the globe.
I lived through a world where brutality and violence ruled. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">These people
today have no idea the demons they are summoning. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Believe me,
if you owned a time machine, you would not want to travel back to the places I
survived. You have no idea what people are advocating with this renewed
interest in xenophobia and nationalism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">To witness
this shift in America is so strange for me because after the war, there was no dream
like the dream of America. The reputation of Americans throughout the world was always number one. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Americans
were heroes, known all over the world. I only wanted to come here to start my
new life. I fear we are losing this honor gained through so much sacrifice and
heroism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">When I think
back to my days in the Displaced Persons camp leading to my first experiences
in America, I am constantly filled with gratitude for all the people who helped
me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I was then like
a refugee today, fleeing the devastation of war, seeking a new home. So many
people were so kind to me. I started to learn English for Foreigners at
Jefferson High School in East New York. I had a teacher I will remember to this
day: Mrs. Hayes, a devout Catholic by the way. Why did she care so much about
me and my fellow survivors? Why did she take it upon herself to make sure we
succeeded in this new country? Her spirit was of welcoming and building a
better America by spreading love and compassion, so that someday her students
would also help others. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I will never
forget her and so many others who helped me when I was at my most vulnerable.
Perhaps what people forget is how much power they truly have—literally to
change the world by changing one person’s tragic journey into one filled with
grace and hope. </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">We all have
this power and this spirit still lives today, just look deeply into my life
story and you will see hope and complete transformation shining brightly. Please, let us never lose this
spirit. Learn history so you too may build a brighter future.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386323005205880864.post-80018702654739573722017-01-12T07:13:00.000-08:002017-01-12T07:18:21.556-08:00Trump: The Ultimate New Age Guru<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;"><b>To me Trump is kind of like a new age guru gone off the rails.</b> The cult leader whose desires ultimately consume him and his followers in a blaze of nuclear-ego-meltdowns. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;">OK, thankfully, for humanity's sake, the meltdown hasn't yet occurred, but what he says is what will be--reality be damned. The one dominant theme in his campaign and his life, as far as I can tell, is t</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;">ruth is malleable. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129;">He illustrates, in a kind of DarthVadar-like mirror image, what my herbal teacher Susun S. Weed writes about in her book <i><a href="http://www.herbalmedicinehealing.com/store/item_view.php?id=1000020&item=healing-wise">Healing Wise</a></i>: "there is no longer and objective statement or an objective universe." Safe to say she meant the wisdom gained by exploring the joys of the Wise Woman tradition, a tradition I'm not sure Trump is willing to wade into very much. He seems far more Heroic if we're following along with Ms. Weed's paradigms as described in her masterwork of healing and understanding life. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;">I'd phrase the Trump-thrill-ride-experience more in a Huxley-like way to say, what one perceives is what one will discover. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;">New-age prophets of every variety have</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;"> been touting these immutable axioms for instant fulfillment for decades now. You know, the gospel of prosperity thingy. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;">That technique sadly (up till now, anyways) never worked for me, even though I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s when many self-help gurus advocated creating your own reality. I definitely bought into it (wished it were true) and bought a lot of self-help books, and attended way too many (very expensive) lectures over the years (never Trump University, thank heavens). I don't really think any of it EVER did any one thing for me.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;">So, wha</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: inherit;">t changed me (at least the part of me that can be changed or perhaps even the part that never changes)?</span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9capqnUHVxB6gNl9h60dCtSz44PAK9js7WGv6URm0XTEyNTfIMU_wA4kLtQXMhkJTjcoj8Wva0KtK4aisOKpfLJGR9LuiUlNaNHxY49cVrLspfKJNihsiiu_owE1oboJkFaqs_lSWNNU/s1600/15873343_1205320179548420_3133755586406447569_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9capqnUHVxB6gNl9h60dCtSz44PAK9js7WGv6URm0XTEyNTfIMU_wA4kLtQXMhkJTjcoj8Wva0KtK4aisOKpfLJGR9LuiUlNaNHxY49cVrLspfKJNihsiiu_owE1oboJkFaqs_lSWNNU/s400/15873343_1205320179548420_3133755586406447569_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;">Kindness, beauty, art, the natural world, music, and especially an awareness, mostly through myth and personal narratives I've tripped over, of a force which acts on human will greater than our material/physical limitations--a spirit within us that yearns for some kind of other-worldly triumph over impossibly difficult life circumstances and that somehow I, too, could tap into that and that maybe I could even help someone else, ease their suffering in some way. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline;">An awareness of Grace in my life; in other words, despite my all too numerous fuck-ups, God or The Creator (or whoever or whatever you feel represents the Divine, perhaps even just Chance or Fate or "The Universe" as my generation likes to call it) had been far kinder to me than I really deserved and that I must somehow pay that Grace forward--that's really the meaning of life to me.</span></span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9;">While I'm on the subject of semantics, my generation spent far too much time WORKING ON OURSELVES. </span></span></span><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;">I've found the fastest way to eclipse our issues and truly alter reality is to find </span><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;">someone "worse off" and help him or her. We quickly lose our ego that's causing us to suffer when being of service to someone else AND. . .wait for it. . .we make the world a better place in the process! </span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9;">All of us are going to get sick and die, so why not simply do some good while we are here. </span></span></span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9;">Stop obsessing about all this stuff--sometimes life is far more simple than we make it out to be. </span></span></span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9;">Do good. Right now. Be kind. Right now. </span></span></span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9;">Don't wait until we've worked on ourselves to save the world. Save one person and we've succeeded. </span></span></span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9;">Spend a little less time in the gym or yoga studio or obsessing over wacky diets, most of which tell us what we must remove from our diets, and by definition do not nourish, as nourishment never comes from removing something, only adding (Susun Weed again). </span></span></span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9;">Get up. </span></span></span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9;">Get out. </span></span></span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9;">Do some good. </span></span></span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9;">We all have so much power within us--power literally to change reality--more power than a thousand nuclear bombs or a million terrorists to do evil. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;">Accessing this power means forgetting our tiny little selves and connecting with infinite bliss that surrounds us as we transcend our own suffering.</span><br />
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<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12.8px; text-align: center;">Photos Courtesy of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/IslandSunrises/?ref=page_internal">Island Sunrises</a> </span></span>Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2386323005205880864.post-70161780777763791282016-12-28T08:17:00.003-08:002016-12-29T08:27:31.757-08:002016's Unholy Triumvirate: Xenophobia, Fake News and Extrajudicial Inititiatives<b>While not new, among the most disturbing trends I've witnessed in 2016 are increasing tolerance for xenophobia, proliferation of fake news and greater acceptance of extrajudicial initiatives.</b><br />
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<b>Xenophobia:</b> <a href="http://marcbonagura.blogspot.com/2016/12/coming-to-terms-with-election-of-donald.html">As previously discussed</a>, the concept of foreign or non-familiar as inherently dangerous and something to be avoided at all costs, ironically including self-destruction under the false premise of protection or security while the inherent weaknesses and limitations of isolationist policies or those initiatives which seek to limit diversity in a world brought increasingly closer together with technology and trade further underscore the problems with this world view. Opposing every aspect of modern progress and humanity, this paradigm encourages a return to some "simpler" and "safer" time where the more troublesome aspects of globalism or even modern life could simply be ignored. Anyone can see a future growing tide of refugees and displaced persons as a result of continued armed conflicts and even climate chaos and to advocate for regressive and anti-human, even hateful, thought forms is a cozy hiding place from a reality that must be faced and even embraced if we are ever to heal the planet and create a better future. One can argue hate and racism have always existed in the United States, for example, but what we've seen in 2016 is an open embrace of these ideologies, even pride in using hatred as a tool for "progress." Many of the statements and policies advocated by President-elect Trump are unprecedented in my lifetime. The US is not alone. With a strong undercurrent of xenophobia in the Brexit vote, you have arguably the two most progressive nations in human history advocating regression and abandonment of humanistic values. That to me is truly shocking.<br />
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<b>Fake News:</b> As evidenced by the proliferation of websites and links seeking click-bait as I would call it and defined by made-up stories profiting off the complete abandonment of even the premise of critical thinking or rigorous analysis while appealing to those seeking narratives that conveniently explain "reality" or more directly, an unwillingness to live with the unknown and ambiguity. Fake news subverts scholarship and rigor, which admittedly are difficult and often lead to more questions than answers, in favor of scattered fragments of meaningless conclusions based on fabricated sources. Ripe with fast and shallow conclusions replacing any depth of analysis, this phenomenon is the dark side of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. In my previous <a href="http://marcbonagura.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-fake-news-epidemic.html">post</a> I delve into the implications of fake news; most troubling not simply the existence of these websites but the open acceptance, even championing of them by many individuals who seem fine with making important choices, such as how to vote, for example, based on this nonsense. I imagine people in former times being ashamed of sloppy and anti-intellectual pursuits; today people appear to hold the opposite values, even condemning attempts to reign in this intellectual pornography as somehow limiting free speech, as if I were to stand up as tall and straight as I possibly can in a public square and shout mightily to the welkin my loving embrace of ignorance while a mob cheers me on. <br />
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<b>Extrajudicial Initiatives:</b> The growing perception that the structure of longstanding legal and democratic processes have reached their limits in terms of the ability to solve the incredibly complex and difficult problems facing the world--the solution simply to subvert laws in favor of a mob rule,whereby the means supposedly justifies the ends. This paradigm is increasingly popular among politicians who willfully and openly tout simplistic solutions to impossibly difficult issues.<br />
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<a href="https://teddycasino.wordpress.com/2016/09/18/confronting-extrajudicial-killings-under-duterte/">Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte </a>is the most striking example with his advocacy for extrajudicial killing of drug addicts and criminals; he reportedly bragged about his exploits as former mayor of Davao City. But Duterte is by no means the only one. <a href="https://theconversation.com/donald-trump-claims-torture-works-but-what-does-the-science-say-70236">US President-elect Trump</a> has vowed to bring back torture while in <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/07/indian-court-tackles-extrajudicial-killings-manipur-160724121240369.html">India</a> there has been an exponential rise in extrajudicial killings over the past decade, just to point to a few examples.<br />
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These current trends push the human race toward dangerous and completely unpredictable outcomes while standing in tacit, even open defiance to the values modern Western civilization first honed precariously and often rescued over the past two-hundred fifty or so years, the future of humanism and democracy now in peril. The strangest aspect is the manner in which people seem to embrace these regressive thought forms openly with no regret or pause.Marc David Bonagurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11170585643130579763noreply@blogger.com0