THE HAIR, THE HEAD AND THE BLOOD STREAM

There is something I've been thinking lately, which has to do with feminine vanity as well as personal hygiene and looks.

It's very normal for women to dye their hair these days, my mom does it, my sister's do it, my aunts do it, I do it, gosh everyone I know does it! Well every woman I know.

I know it cannot be very good for me, after all I imagine those chemicals activating the coloring soak through your scalp and perhaps get into your blood stream.

 "Last year on December 1st, a ban on 22 hair dye substances issued by the European Commission, a body that drafts legislation for the European Union, took effect. These substances had been linked to bladder cancer in a 2001 University of Southern California study." ~ http://www.naturalnews.com/022575.html

Of course they are making hair dye as safe as possible, but let's face it they still have to sell hair dye with a good profit so the major brands aren't gonna go all organic and safe - no don't see that happening anytime soon.

 

I started using this shampoo & conditioner that was organic and bio degradable, very good for hair, head and nature, but not stellar on dyed hair. I got a gift to the hair salon, to get my hair dyed with few colors, it cost bloody 100€ so I thought I'd get the salon quality dyed hair shampoo & conditioner, L’Oreal’s something Professional. Now I didn't see the difference right away it took about a month, but I noticed a lack of interest. Thinking back I can point to what did it. It's interesting that after dyeing my hair ( which I admit I do every two months or so at home ) at the salon, then buying chemical shampoo after getting use to of my organic shampoo that I noticed I wasn't quite so interested in spiritual matter as I was in my first half 2010.

It happened to be a giant bottle of that shampoo, so it is still in use, and I am seriously considering of dropping them, the conditioner as well.

On that note I am considering stopping dyeing my hair - which is a much bigger issue of vanity ( can't imagine I know a lady who would disagree that dyeing is done due to vanity ) and much harder to do. I recall I spend four months not dyeing my hair until I couldn't take it any longer and gave in.

Of course there is the organic way and brands, but how is that any different when you get down to the point of vanity and altering your looks?

Why do I need to look different, or specifically be a certain tone of brunette?

Spiritually speaking I do not see any need for that.

Vanity's point of view is different of course! Finns are known to have this interesting hair color in the shade of ash. Yep - not really pretty under the current standards, where colors are pure and dark and hair needs to be glossy. I recall a hairdresser telling me how my normal hair color was a pretty brown but just dull and not glossy. I didn't think much of it then, and agreed - but I bloody well want to like my own hair! If it happens to be the color of field mouse then be it, it doesn't change anything about me, doesn't change who I AM.

I have been searching some Finnish blogs and there seems to be a trend currently of bringing back our natural hair color, Yay! I don't mind at all jumping into that bandwagon and taking a ride. One lady even went as far to say that natural Finnish hair color can seem exotic to the non-Finns. ( http://pupulandia.indiedays.com/2010/05/10/hiusvarien-taisto-maantie-vs-toffee/ ) LOL! That's a very good positive attitude! 

Also I asked my husband if he would develop symptoms of panic and get urges to divorce me if I stopped coloring my hair, his answer was fairly simple although repeating it I will remove the sexual context for younger audience, 'As long as you women have long hair, were all good...'

Should be a test worth taking, huh? A little dare.

Alright I dare you, Niina, to not dye your hair for a year. To use organic shampoo & conditioner and not spray your head with chemicals.

I would like to not dumb myself down with product of vanity, not lose interest and to be lighter just by knowing I am doing the right thing by my body. I'm ready to enjoy this adventure of a life organically, just as my body was created without messing with the basics. Now a nice shirt or pair of shoes is enough of a decoration!

Love, Light and Joy!

Niina

"FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT"

I can't recall the first time I heard "Fake it till you make it" spoken in spiritual context. But I recall it stuck with me.
I remember a bad spell of time where I had to fake to be happy to eventually be happy.
What I mean by faking is, be it until you believe it.
Not the snotty, posh, snobby way of faking it with a plastic grin and the cocktail ring to go with it.

Be it until you believe it.
Be happy until you are Happy.
Be brave until you are Brave.
Be true until you are True.
Be genuine until you are Genuine.
Be honest until you are Honest.

It's a small advice but trust me it can do much more for you than you think - it is like learning to drive a car or getting into the flow, getting use to of the energy of it before you can manifest it.

I personally choose right now to be true, until I am always True to myself.
It's almost a play or a dare... what would true to herself Niina do here, stand or flee? Speak or shut up? Do or don't? It'll be an interesting experiment!

Love, Light and Joy!

Niina

31 FREE 1H 30MIN SPIRITUAL AUDIOS

If you've been reading my blogs for a while now you will recall "Beyond Awakening" free teleseries hosted by Terry Patten, an Integral Spirituality teacher. Beyond Awakening Free Teleseries begun with September 12, 2010 Kick-off Call “The Evolution of Awakening” with Terry Patten and Craig Hamilton.

The teleseminars with various but similar topics have now 31 episodes in the online archive, and there is more to come. You can still sign-up for the teleseminar and receive emails of the coming event ( 1 - 2 per month ) and links to audios after they been held.
In the Archive you can listen to the Episodes online or Dowload them in mp3 and listen to them on your phone on your way to work, or during lunch break, where ever you need a dose of confirmation and intellectual conversational spirituality.

If some of these Topics sounds interesting visit http://beyondawakeningseries.com/blog/archive/

Feb 20th, 2011: Lynne Twist
“Changing the Dream”
Feb 13th, 2011: Craig Hamilton
“Integral Enlightenment: Embodying the Impulse to Evolve”
Feb 1st, 2011: Dr. Jean Houston
“Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose: How Living Your Highest Calling Can Change the World”
Jan 9, 2011: Raphael Cushnir 
“Blinders Off! Seeing Through Evolutionary Eyes”
Dec 19, 2010: Terry Patten
“Awakening to Higher Octaves of Our Humanity”
Dec 12, 2010: Marc Gafni 
“Identifying Your Unique Gift”
Dec 9, 2010: Adyashanti 
“The Inner Revolution of Spiritual Awakening”
Dec 5, 2010: Barbara Marx Hubbard 
“Conscious Evolution: Communing with a Future that Wants to Manifest Through Us”
Dec 2, 2010: Sally Kempton 
“The Transformative Cycle and the Upward Shift: What is Progress on the Spiritual Path?”

And much more...

Don't forget to have a listen at The 3 Essential Practices of an Integral Spiritual Life Introduction @ http://evolvingwisdom.com/integralspiritualpractice/download/

Love, Light and Joy!

Niina

ASPARTAME PUTS DIE IN DIET SODA

If you haven't heard of Aspartame yet - watch this short video below.

Aspartame: Is the sweet taste worth the harm?
You can't imagine how hard soft drinks sweetened with Aspartame are on your body. A must-see for anybody with a sweet tooth, this exposé reveals the dangers of Aspartame consumption. Americans constantly obsess over the latest diet fads and skinny trends, yet we're one of the unhealthiest nations on the planet.

According to the US Surgeon General, obesity plagues more than 30% of Americans, killing over 300,000 people every year! Heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are also all on the rise, with one of the main culprits in this disturbing trend being sugar. Almost 20% of our daily calorie intake comes from refined white sugar. That works out to about 150 pounds of sugar per year!

Consumed in small amounts, sugar actually helps your metabolism and supplies a quick boost of energy. In excess, sugar adds nothing but empty calories to your body. Many people have recognized this and now opt for sugar free alternatives, allowing for the rise of the artificial sugar industry. The most prevalent artificial sugar in our food supply today is called aspartame, which is also recognized as NutraSweet or Equal. Aspartame has made its way into more than 6,000 products including almost all diet sodas, chewing gum, frozen desserts, yogurt, and even vitamins and cough drops.
200 times sweeter than sugar, aspartame is a combination of two amino acids: aspartic acid and phenylalanine.


Even though the safety of aspartame has been affirmed by the Food and Drug Administration 26 times in the past 23 years, the FDA has received more complaints about adverse reactions to aspartame than any other food ingredient in the agency's history. In fact, at least 30% of the US population is sensitive to even moderate doses of aspartame and may suffer several symptoms. Immediate reactions include severe headaches, dizziness, attention difficulties, memory loss, throat swelling, and seizures. Long term effects include blood sugar problems, insomnia, diabetes, ovarian cancer, and brain tumours. One study from Kings College in England found that the more NutraSweet is consumed, the more likely tumours are to develop. With all of the hazards associated with aspartame, how did this sweetener get approved in the first place?
The flurry of debate about Searle's tests prompted the FDA to establish a Public Board of Inquiry, comprised of independent scientists to rule on safety issues surrounding NutraSweet. In 1980, The Public Board of Inquiry concluded that NutraSweet should not be approved pending further investigations of brain tumours in animals.

The following year, Ronald Reagan became President of the United States. His transitional team, which included Donald Rumsfeld, CEO of Searle (manufacturer of aspartame), then handpicked Dr. Arthur Hull Hayes Jr. to be the new FDA Commissioner. In one of his first official acts, the new FDA commissioner overruled the Public Board of Inquiry's recommendations and authorized aspartame in dry foods and carbonated beverages. In fact, The National Soft Drink Association (NSDA) to delay approval of aspartame for carbonated beverages because of its instability in liquid form. When liquid aspartame reaches a temperatures above 85 degrees Fahrenheit, it breaks down known toxins and side effects become worsened.

Arthur Hull, FDA commissioner who pushed through aspartame, later left the FDA under allegations of impropriety and took a position with Burson-Marsteller, the chief public relations firm for both Monsanto and GD Searle, revealing his apparent conflicts of interest with aspartame's manufacturer. The first carbonated beverages containing aspartame hit the market in 1983 and for the last twenty-five years aspartame has made its way into thousands of food and beverage products.
Even in the face of its sordid past, weight-conscious Americans will likely still opt for products containing aspartame because it is marketed as a weight loss aid. Ironically, studies have shown that it actually increases appetite and sugar intake because the empty sweetness from artificial sugars makes your body expect food. When it doesn't arrive, you actually get hungrier! Recently, many people are jumping on the sucralose, or Splenda bandwagon, but this might not be the best substitute.

http://www.sweetpoison.com/phenylalanine.html

Aspartame Symptoms Submitted to the FDA
http://www.sweetpoison.com/articles/0706/aspartame_symptoms_submit.html

Aspartame (NutraSweet) Toxicity Info Centre
http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/

Abuse of the Scientific Method Seen in Monsanto Aspartame Research
http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/abuse/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Rumsfeld

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevia

http://www.stevia.com/Stevia_Article.aspx?Id=2269

From: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVrTKxTpZWY

DAILY "INTEGRAL" PRACTICE TELESEMINAR (FREE)

"Greetings!

It's been a long time since I've sent an email to you as a part of my "own" email list (apart from Beyond Awakening, which, together with what I'm announcing here, has kept me very busy!)

But I want to make sure invite you to tune in to something I've been working on for the last 7 years, and really, the last 3 decades of my life. I believe it will be of deep benefit to you and our whole community.

What would our world look like if many of us were actually doing a heartfelt, deep spiritual practice that reconnected us each day to our hearts, our bodies, Life, and the Mystery of existence?

I'm convinced--and I hope to share my radical optimism with you--that the only way to truly evolve ourselves individually, culturally, and as a planetary civilization...

... our best bet, and also the simplest and most immediate action we can take today, to gradually, yet profoundly, change the course of our lives ...

... is for each of us to have a daily, do-able spiritual practice based on integral principles.

And, I believe I've distilled the essence of what such a practice looks like.

After over 3 decades of doing my own practice, after teaching Integral Practice for 7 years, and after a year of interviewing over 30 of the brightest and deepest spiritual teachers of our time--I am ready to share with you my essential synthesis in a FREE special teleconference:

The 3 Essential Practices of an Integral Spiritual Life: How to Gradually, Yet Profoundly, Deepen Your Life while Serving the Evolution of Our World

I'm so fired up to share this FREE teleconference because I know that spiritual practice is alive--and it's evolving--and it will continue to evolve because that's what it loves to do... and because it must.

And it makes perfect sense.

We are living and doing our practices in a world that would be totally unrecognizable to the great enlightened luminaries of ancient times.

Before the Buddha awakened under the Bodhi Tree, he wasn't dealing with spam, computer viruses, voicemail, insurance claims, credit ratings, childcare, coordinating busy schedules, or fears over global warming.

But we're not passive victims of our circumstance. Not at all.

There are simple yet powerful ways for us to rise to these unprecedented challenges, and this is precisely what I will be talking about in my free teleconference.

I invite you to listen to it live, or hear the recording afterwards.

Sign up here to get on the notification list and receive free instant access to the telesconference details right away.

Truly, I am excited and honored to share with you what is in many ways the culmination of my lifetime of work and research.

I look forward to being with you on the teleconference!

With love,
Terry

PS - Please feel free to invite your friends and loved ones to attend this teleconference. Simply forward them this email."

MUSIC AND LYRICS

From A Lightworker to All Lightworkers,

from All Lightworkers to Mankind.

Come stop your crying
It will be all right
Just take my hand Hold it tight

I will protect you
from all around you
I will be here
Don't you cry

For one so small,
you seem so strong
My arms will hold you,
keep you safe and warm
This bond between us
Can't be broken
I will be here
Don't you cry

'Cause you'll be in my heart
Yes, you'll be in my heart
From this day on
Now and forever more

You'll be in my heart
No matter what they say
You'll be here in my heart, always

Why can't they understand
the way we feel
They just don't trust
what they can't explain
I know we're different but,
deep inside us
We're not that different at all

And you'll be in my heart
Yes, you'll be in my heart
From this day on
Now and forever more

Don't listen to them
'Cause what do they know
We need each other,
to have, to hold
They'll see in time
I know

When destiny calls you
You must be strong
I may not be with you
But you've got to hold on
They'll see in time
I know
We'll show them together

'Cause you'll be in my heart
Belive me you'll be in my heart
I'll be there from this day on,
Now and forever more

Oh, you'll be in my heart
No matter what they say
You'll be in my heart, always
Always

EFT (EMOTIONAL FREEDOM TECHNIGUE) FOR FREE (LAST DAY TO SIGN UP)

We have a really important "last chance" reminder for you...
You've probably heard about the 2011 Tapping World Summit from a dozen places by now. Everyone is talking about it and with good reason... This event teaches a phenomenal technique known as Emotional Freedom Techniques or "EFT" and it's 100% fr*ee to attend online. Last year 130,981 people attended this event without paying a dime and received unbelievable information. And this year there has already been over 200,000 new people register for the event which starts on February 21st.

~

On the day of the presentation, you'll be given a webpage that will contain all the information you will need to participate, including a website to our online Virtual Event Room.
For ten consecutive days starting Monday, February 21st, through Wednesday, March 2nd, there will be 2 presentations every night.
These sessions will be available for ONLY 24 HOURS for free after their initial broadcast.
The reason I've structured the event this way is because I want everyone to be able to access this information regardless of time zone or financial ability.
It is all available for FREE...

~

Want to Sign up - you can do it here: http://www.2011tappingworldsummit.com/tws_video/registration.php

FOOD, INC (FREE MOVIE)

Food, Inc

If you recall my entry yesterday on Why Eating Local, Organic Foods Matter, then you might be interested in seeing this movie.

Trailer

Food, Inc. Part 1/6

Movie is HERE.

Love, Light and Joy!

Niina

SPIRITUAL WRITERS AND CELEBRITY IDOLIZATION

I have met some top names on the spiritual writer/teachers circle on the Spiritual Expos/Fairs. It still amazes me to meet stuck up spiritual writers. What's going on there?
I approach no one differently, stranger or friend, I act as if there is no difference between us. Brothers or Sisters, same family, same bodies, same ultimate goal of Unity.
It's probably due to this view that I find it so odd that some people build a quick brick walls between us at first meeting, especially after writing such grand ideas on books, ideas they don't seem to be following.

Is it due to celebrity idolization of our time?

If you write a great book, people buy it, take it to heart and praise you, you can easy lift your nose a little right. Sneaks up on you.

Finland is a small country, but we have our share of "celebrities", and I see few of them once in a while living in the capital - and I still get the 'nose up, look away' treatment if I smile at them. Well I am odd for smiling at strangers I know, but they don't give me the cold shoulder quite like 'famous' people.

So are our spiritual writers and teachers getting snobbish? Well some are, even my favourite angel lady has this lesson to learn on her list. I expected a different feeling from her few years ago, and was so to say disappointed.

Why am I writing about this? Well I suppose I still don't understand how some people can view themselves better than others. Seriously can someone give me one good, kind, constructive reason for thinking some people are better than others?
How does this fit to us all being sisters and brothers, all divine by origin, all here to learn to find our way back to divine love? How?

One of the things that puzzle me about humanity, but explains our current state of discord.

Love, Light and Joy!

Niina

Dialogue @ http://lightworkers.org/blog/125267/spiritual-writers-and-celebrity-idolization

QUOTE ON RESENTMENT/GRIEVANCE

"Having a grievance or a resentment is like drinking poison and thinking it will kill your enemy."
~ Nelson Mandela

MEANING OF MY TAROT READINGS

What is the meaning of me giving these Tarot readings?

Ten of Cups - SATIETY - Cups represent the reality of our inner emotions, they rule over Love, Emotions and Interaction in Relationships. They rule the Element of Water.
Satisfaction, Mars in Pisces, Fulfilment, Radiation.
The ten of cups have arranged themselves in the shape of the Tree of Life, everything is in their right place in perfect balance, this symbolises deep fulfilment. At the top the Lotus flower is a sign of Love's abundance received, this love is so over flowing it gives to all participated, anyone willing to accept it can be participating in receiving it through this current on flowing Love. The Cup handles are made of horns of Aries which represents Mars. The golden color tells of total transformation that can now access the energies of Mars. Mars in the spiritual Pisces does not express itself by being crude or rough, toxic or snobby. Mars in Pisces expresses itself by bringing what seems a fragile creature with determination that this needs to express the deepest beauty carried inside. This needs no dramatic expression of emotion. Person fulfilling their purpose radiant these qualities. A tree is known by its fruits.
Life will give me what I need to be Happy.

~

Well, those of you who have contacted me know I always begin the reading relationship by stating this...
First I have to tell you few things about how I read the Tarot. I do not operate through fear or shady metaphors. Those have no place in a Lightworker. I also do not read reversed / "upside down" cards that interpret through / cause negativity. The Tarot are meant to be tools of Unconditional Love and connection to our spirit guides and ascended masters - and it would be silly to think they would try and scare us. So, in my reading you will not get bad news or scary threats, all of my readings come from Higher Power, our Higher Self, these cards are the way of interpretation through Love, and it's Wisdom.
Perfectly at balance with the Mars in Pisces energies, and who are you calling fragile, huh? Well, suppose that applies as well, not that I like admitting it.

I do get a deep sense of fulfilling my destiny as I do these readings - I have forever wanted to help and heal with all my power that has been granted to me ( by me, by I AM,  I might add ;) ), I've used Reiki, I've used the power of words, and now I use the Tarot, which has brought me in close contact with so many people who have needed guidance, and I have been given a chance to give what naturally comes from me.

I like how it is said through the card, the over flowing love, because that is how I feel it as well, I have so much to share and give that it overflows. People who are willing to accept it, by asking for a reading, will always receive it through me. The divine wisdom coming through from our I AM, yours and mine, the Universes.

I'm glad I did do this reading, a great Confirmation.

Love, Light and Joy!

Niina