Theosophy – The Cycles of Time, by HP Blavatsky

January 3, 2016 Hālau ʻĀha Hūi LanakilaLeave a comment

THE CYCLES OF TIME

When the astronomical meaning cedes its place to the spiritual and divine — Apollo and Athene transforming themselves into the form of birds, the symbol and glyph of the higher divinities and angels — then the bright god assumes divine creative powers. Apollo becomes the personification of Seership, when he sends the astral double of Æneas to the battle field (II. 431-53), and has the gift of appearing to his Seers without being visible to other persons present — (Iliad, xvii., 322-36) — a gift, however, shared by every high Adept.

The King of the Hyperboreans, was, therefore, the son of Boreas, the north-wind, and the High Priest of Apollo. The quarrel of Latona with Niobe (the Atlantean race) — the mother of seven sons and seven daughters personifying the seven sub-races of the Fourth Race and their seven branches (see Apollodorus for this number) — allegorizes the history of the two continents. The wrath of “the sons of god,” or of “Will and Yoga,” at seeing the steady degradation of the Atlanteans was great (See “The Sons of God and the Sacred Island“); and the destruction of the “children of Niobe” by the children of Latona — Apollo and Diana, the deities of light, wisdom and purity, or the Sun and Moon astronomically, whose influence causes changes in the earth’s axis, deluges and other cosmic cataclysms — is thus very clear.¹ The fable about the never-ceasing tears of Niobe, whose grief causes Zeus to change her into a fountain — Atlantis covered with water — is no less graphic as a symbol. Niobe, let it be remembered, is the daughter of one of the Pleiades (or Atlantides) the grand-daughter of Atlas therefore, (See “Metamorphoses of Ovid,” Book VI.), because she represents the last generations of the doomed continent.

A true remark, that of Bailly, which says that Atlantis had an enormous influence on antiquity. “If these names,” he adds, “are mere allegories, then all that those fables contain of truth comes from Atlantis; if the fable is a real tradition — however altered — then the whole of the ancient history is still in it.” (Lettres sur l‘Atlantide, p. 137.)

So much so, that all ancient writings — prose and poetry — are full of the reminiscences of the Lemuro-Atlanteans, the first physical races, though the Third and the Fourth in number. Hesiod records the tradition about the men of the age of Bronze, whom Jupiter had made out of ash-wood and who had hearts harder than diamond. Clad in bronze from head to foot they passed their lives in fighting. Monstrous in size, endowed with a terrible strength, invincible arms and hands descended from their shoulders, says the poet (Hesiod, in oper. and dieb. v. 143). Such were the giants of the first physical races. The Iranians have a reference to the later Atlanteans inYasna ix. 15. Tradition maintains that the “Sons of God,” or the great Initiates of the Sacred Island, took advantage of the Deluge, to rid the earth of all the Sorcerers among the Atlanteans. The said verse addresses Zoroaster as one of the “Sons of God.” It says: “Thou, O Zarathustra, didst make all demons (i.e., Sorcerers), who before roamed the world in human forms, conceal themselves in the earth” (i.e., helped them to get submerged).

The Lemurians, as also the early Atlanteans, were divided into two distinct classes — the “Sons of Night” or Darkness, and the “Sons of the Sun,” or Light. The old books tell us of terrible battles between the two, when the former, leaving their land of Darkness, from whence the Sun departed for long months, descended from their inhospitable regions and “tried to wrench the lord of light” from their better favoured brothers of the equatorial regions. We may be told that the ancients knew nothing of the long night of six months’ duration in the Polar regions. Even Herodotus, more learned than the rest, only mentions a people who slept for six months in the year, and remained awake the other half. Yet the Greeks knew well that there was a country in the north where the year was divided into a day and night of six months’ duration each, for Pliny says so in his Fourth Book, c. 12. They speak of the Cimmerians and of the Hyperboreans, and draw a distinction between the two. The former inhabited the Palus Mæotis(between 45° and 50° latitude). Plutarch explains that they were but a small portion of a great nation driven away by the Scythians, which nation stopped near Tanais, having crossed Asia.“These warlike multitudes lived formerly on the ocean shores, in dense forests, and under a tenebrous sky. There the pole is almost touching the head, there long nights and days divide the year” (in Mario). As to the Hyperboreans, these peoples, as expressed by Solinus Polyhistor (c. 16), “sow in the morning, reap at noon, gather their fruits in the evening, and store them during the night in their caves.”

Even the writers of the Zohar knew of the fact (as shown in iii., fol. 10a), as it is written: “In the Book of Hammannunah, the Old, we learn . . . . there are some countries of the earth which are lightened, whilst others are in darkness; these have the day, when for the former it is night; and there are countries in which it is constantly day, or in which at least the night continues only some instants.” (Isaac Myer’s “Qabbalah,” p. 139).

The island of Delos, the Asteria of the Greek mythology, was never in Greece, a country which, in its day, was not yet in existence, not even in its molecular form. Several writers have shown that it represented a country or an island, far larger than the small dots of land which became Greece. Both Pliny and Diodorus Siculus place it in the Northern seas. One calls itBasilea or “royal” (Vol. II., p. 225 of Diod.); the other, Pliny, names it Osericta (Book xxxvii, c.2), a word, according to Rudbeck (Vol. I., p. 462-464), having had “a significance in the northern languages, equivalent to the Island of the divine Kings or god-Kings,” or again the “royal island of the gods,” because the gods were born there, i.e., the divine dynasties of the kings of Atlantis proceeded from that place. Let geographers and geologists seek for it among that group of islands discovered by Nordenskiold on his Vega voyage in the arctic regions. ² The secret books inform us that the climate has changed in those regions more than once since the first men inhabited those now almost inaccessible latitudes. They were a paradise before they became hell; the dark Hades of the Greeks and the cold realm of Shades where the Scandinavian Hel, the goddess-Queen of the country of the dead, “holds sway deep down in Helheim and Niflheim.” Yet, it was the birth-place of Apollo, who was the brightest of gods, in heaven — astronomically — as he was the most enlightened of the divine kings who ruled over the early nations, in his human meaning. The latter fact is borne out in the Iliad IV., 239-62, Vide “The Greater gods” — wherein Apollo is said to have appeared four times in his own form (as the god of the four races) and six times in human form, i.e., as connected with the divine Dynasties of the earlier unseparated Lemurians.

It is those early mysterious peoples, their countries (which have now become uninhabitable), as well as the name given to man both dead and alive, which have furnished an opportunity to the ignorant Church fathers for inventing a hell, which they have transformed into a burning instead of a freezing locality. ³

It is, of course, evident that it is neither the Hyperboreans, nor the Cimmerians, the Arimaspes, nor even the Scyths — known to and communicating with the Greeks — who were our Atlanteans. But they were all the descendants of their last sub-races. The Pelasgians were certainly one of the root-races of future Greece, and were a remnant of a sub-race of Atlantis. Plato hints as much in speaking of the latter, whose name it is averred came from pelagus, the great sea. Noah’s Deluge is astronomical and allegorical, but it is not mythical, for the story is based upon the same archaic tradition of men — or rather of nations — which were saved during the cataclysms, in canoes, arks, and ships. No one would presume to say that the Chaldean Xisuthrus, the Hindu Vaivasvata, the Chinese Peirun — the “beloved of the gods,” who rescued him from the flood in a canoe — or the Swedish Belgamer, for whom the gods did the same in the north, are all identical as a personage. But their legends have all sprung from the catastrophe which involved both the continent and the island of Atlantis.

¹ So occult and mystic is one of the aspects of Latona that she is made to reappear even in Revelation (xii.) as the woman clothed with the Sun (Apollo) and the Moon (Diana) under her feet, who being with child “cries, travailing in birth, pained to be delivered.” A great red Dragon, etc., stands before the woman ready to devour the child. She brings forth the man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and who was caught unto the throne of God (the Sun). The woman fled to the wilderness still pursued by the Dragon, who flees again, and casts out of his mouth water as a flood, when the earth helped the woman and swallowed the flood; and the Dragon went to make war with the remnant of her seed who keep the commandment of God, etc. (See xii., 1, 17.) Anyone, who reads the allegory of Latona pursued by the revenge of jealous Juno, will recognise the identity of the two versions. Juno sends Python, the Dragon, to persecute and destroy Latona and devour her babe. The latter is Apollo, the Sun, for “the man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron” of Revelation, is surely not the meek “Son of God,” Jesus, but the physical Sun, “who rules all nations”; the Dragon being the North Pole, gradually chasing the early Lemurians from the lands which became more and more Hyperborean and unfit to be inhabited by those who were fast developing into physical men, for they now had to deal with the climatic variations. The Dragon will not allow Latona “to bring forth” — (the Sun to appear). “She is driven from heaven, and finds no place where she can bring forth,” until Neptune (the ocean), moved with pity, makes immovable the floating isle of Delos (the nymph Asteria, hitherto hiding from Jupiter under the waves of the ocean) on which Latona finds refuge and where the bright god Dhvlio” is born, the god, who no sooner appears than he kills Python, the cold and frost of the Arctic region, in whose deadly coils all life becomes extinct. In other words, Latona-Lemuria is transformed into Niobe-Atlantis, over which her son Apollo, or the Sun, reigns — with an iron rod, truly, since Herodotus makes the Atlantes curse his too great heat. This allegory is reproduced in its other mystic meaning (another of the seven keys) in the chapter just cited of the Apocalypse. Latona became a powerful goddess indeed, and saw her son receive worship (solar worship) in almost every fane of antiquity. In his occult aspect Apollo is patron of Number 7. He is born on the seventh of the month, and the swans of Myorica swim seven times around Delos singing that event; he is given seven chords to his Lyre — the seven rays of the sun and the seven forces of nature. But this only in the astronomical meaning, whereas the above is purely geological.
² These islands were “found strewn with fossils of horses, sheep, oxen, etc., among gigantic bTHE CYCLES OF TIME
When the astronomical meaning cedes its place to the spiritual and divine — Apollo and Athene transforming themselves into the form of birds, the symbol and glyph of the higher divinities and angels — then the bright god assumes divine creative powers. Apollo becomes the personification of Seership, when he sends the astral double of Æneas to the battle field (II. 431-53), and has the gift of appearing to his Seers without being visible to other persons present — (Iliad, xvii., 322-36) — a gift, however, shared by every high Adept.

The King of the Hyperboreans, was, therefore, the son of Boreas, the north-wind, and the High Priest of Apollo. The quarrel of Latona with Niobe (the Atlantean race) — the mother of seven sons and seven daughters personifying the seven sub-races of the Fourth Race and their seven branches (see Apollodorus for this number) — allegorizes the history of the two continents. The wrath of “the sons of god,” or of “Will and Yoga,” at seeing the steady degradation of the Atlanteans was great (See “The Sons of God and the Sacred Island”); and the destruction of the “children of Niobe” by the children of Latona — Apollo and Diana, the deities of light, wisdom and purity, or the Sun and Moon astronomically, whose influence causes changes in the earth’s axis, deluges and other cosmic cataclysms — is thus very clear.1 The fable about the never-ceasing tears of Niobe, whose grief causes Zeus to change her into a fountain — Atlantis covered with water — is no less graphic as a symbol. Niobe, let it be remembered, is the daughter of one of the Pleiades (or Atlantides) the grand-daughter of Atlas therefore, (See “Metamorphoses of Ovid,” Book VI.), because she represents the last generations of the doomed continent.

So much so, that all ancient writings — prose and poetry — are full of the reminiscences of the Lemuro-Atlanteans, the first physical races, though the Third and the Fourth in number. Hesiod records the tradition about the men of the age of Bronze, whom Jupiter had made out of ash-wood and who had hearts harder than diamond. Clad in bronze from head to foot they passed their lives in fighting. Monstrous in size, endowed with a terrible strength, invincible arms and hands descended from their shoulders, says the poet (Hesiod, in oper. and dieb. v. 143). Such were the giants of the first physical races. The Iranians have a reference to the later Atlanteans in Yasna ix. 15. Tradition maintains that the “Sons of God,” or the great Initiates of the Sacred Island, took advantage of the Deluge, to rid the earth of all the Sorcerers among the Atlanteans. The said verse addresses Zoroaster as one of the “Sons of God.” It says: “Thou, O Zarathustra, didst make all demons (i.e., Sorcerers), who before roamed the world in human forms, conceal themselves in the earth” (i.e., helped them to get submerged).

The Lemurians, as also the early Atlanteans, were divided into two distinct classes — the “Sons of Night” or Darkness, and the “Sons of the Sun,” or Light. The old books tell us of terrible battles between the two, when the former, leaving their land of Darkness, from whence the Sun departed for long months, descended from their inhospitable regions and “tried to wrench the lord of light” from their better favoured brothers of the equatorial regions. We may be told that the ancients knew nothing of the long night of six months’ duration in the Polar regions. Even Herodotus, more learned than the rest, only mentions a people who slept for six months in the year, and remained awake the other half. Yet the Greeks knew well that there was a country in the north where the year was divided into a day and night of six months’ duration each, for Pliny says so in his Fourth Book, c. 12. They speak of the Cimmerians and of the Hyperboreans, and draw a distinction between the two. The former inhabited the Palus Mæotis (between 45° and 50° latitude). Plutarch explains that they were but a small portion of a great nation driven away by the Scythians, which nation stopped near Tanais, having crossed Asia. “These warlike multitudes lived formerly on the ocean shores, in dense forests, and under a tenebrous sky. There the pole is almost touching the head, there long nights and days divide the year” (in Mario). As to the Hyperboreans, these peoples, as expressed by Solinus Polyhistor (c. 16), “sow in the morning, reap at noon, gather their fruits in the evening, and store them during the night in their caves.”

Even the writers of the Zohar knew of the fact (as shown in iii., fol. 10a), as it is written: “In the Book of Hammannunah, the Old, we learn . . . . there are some countries of the earth which are lightened, whilst others are in darkness; these have the day, when for the former it is night; and there are countries in which it is constantly day, or in which at least the night continues only some instants.” (Isaac Myer’s “Qabbalah,” p. 139).

The island of Delos, the Asteria of the Greek mythology, was never in Greece, a country which, in its day, was not yet in existence, not even in its molecular form. Several writers have shown that it represented a country or an island, far larger than the small dots of land which became Greece. Both Pliny and Diodorus Siculus place it in the Northern seas. One calls it Basilea or “royal” (Vol. II., p. 225 of Diod.); the other, Pliny, names it Osericta (Book xxxvii, c. 2), a word, according to Rudbeck (Vol. I., p. 462-464), having had “a significance in the northern languages, equivalent to the Island of the divine Kings or god-Kings,” or again the “royal island of the gods,” because the gods were born there, i.e., the divine dynasties of the kings of Atlantis proceeded from that place. Let geographers and geologists seek for it among that group of islands discovered by Nordenskiold on his Vega voyage in the arctic regions. 2 The secret books inform us that the climate has changed in those regions more than once since the first men inhabited those now almost inaccessible latitudes. They were a paradise before they became hell; the dark Hades of the Greeks and the cold realm of Shades where the Scandinavian Hel, the goddess-Queen of the country of the dead, “holds sway deep down in Helheim and Niflheim.” Yet, it was the birth-place of Apollo, who was the brightest of gods, in heaven — astronomically — as he was the most enlightened of the divine kings who ruled over the early nations, in his human meaning. The latter fact is borne out in the Iliad IV., 239-62, Vide “The Greater gods” — wherein Apollo is said to have appeared four times in his own form (as the god of the four races) and six times in human form, i.e., as connected with the divine Dynasties of the earlier unseparated Lemurians.

It is, of course, evident that it is neither the Hyperboreans, nor the Cimmerians, the Arimaspes, nor even the Scyths — known to and communicating with the Greeks — who were our Atlanteans. But they were all the descendants of their last sub-races. The Pelasgians were certainly one of the root-races of future Greece, and were a remnant of a sub-race of Atlantis. Plato hints as much in speaking of the latter, whose name it is averred came from pelagus, the great sea. Noah’s Deluge is astronomical and allegorical, but it is not mythical, for the story is based upon the same archaic tradition of men — or rather of nations — which were saved during the cataclysms, in canoes, arks, and ships. No one would presume to say that the Chaldean Xisuthrus, the Hindu Vaivasvata, the Chinese Peirun — the “beloved of the gods,” who rescued him from the flood in a canoe — or the Swedish Belgamer, for whom the gods did the same in the north, are all identical as a personage. But their legends have all sprung from the catastrophe which involved both the continent and the island of Atlantis.

1 So occult and mystic is one of the aspects of Latona that she is made to reappear even in Revelation (xii.) as the woman clothed with the Sun (Apollo) and the Moon (Diana) under her feet, who being with child “cries, travailing in birth, pained to be delivered.” A great red Dragon, etc., stands before the woman ready to devour the child. She brings forth the man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and who was caught unto the throne of God (the Sun). The woman fled to the wilderness still pursued by the Dragon, who flees again, and casts out of his mouth water as a flood, when the earth helped the woman and swallowed the flood; and the Dragon went to make war with the remnant of her seed who keep the commandment of God, etc. (See xii., 1, 17.) Anyone, who reads the allegory of Latona pursued by the revenge of jealous Juno, will recognise the identity of the two versions. Juno sends Python, the Dragon, to persecute and destroy Latona and devour her babe. The latter is Apollo, the Sun, for “the man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron” of Revelation, is surely not the meek “Son of God,” Jesus, but the physical Sun, “who rules all nations”; the Dragon being the North Pole, gradually chasing the early Lemurians from the lands which became more and more Hyperborean and unfit to be inhabited by those who were fast developing into physical men, for they now had to deal with the climatic variations. The Dragon will not allow Latona “to bring forth” — (the Sun to appear). “She is driven from heaven, and finds no place where she can bring forth,” until Neptune (the ocean), moved with pity, makes immovable the floating isle of Delos (the nymph Asteria, hitherto hiding from Jupiter under the waves of the ocean) on which Latona finds refuge and where the bright god Dhvlio” is born, the god, who no sooner appears than he kills Python, the cold and frost of the Arctic region, in whose deadly coils all life becomes extinct. In other words, Latona-Lemuria is transformed into Niobe-Atlantis, over which her son Apollo, or the Sun, reigns — with an iron rod, truly, since Herodotus makes the Atlantes curse his too great heat. This allegory is reproduced in its other mystic meaning (another of the seven keys) in the chapter just cited of the Apocalypse. Latona became a powerful goddess indeed, and saw her son receive worship (solar worship) in almost every fane of antiquity. In his occult aspect Apollo is patron of Number 7. He is born on the seventh of the month, and the swans of Myorica swim seven times around Delos singing that event; he is given seven chords to his Lyre — the seven rays of the sun and the seven forces of nature. But this only in the astronomical meaning, whereas the above is purely geological.

2 These islands were “found strewn with fossils of horses, sheep, oxen, etc., among gigantic bones of elephants, mammoths, rhinoceroses,” etc. If there was no man on earth at that period “how came horses and sheep to be found in company with the huge antediluvians?” asks a master in a letter. (“Esoteric Buddhism,” 67). The reply is given above in the text.

3 A good proof that all the gods, and religious beliefs, and myths have come from the north, which was also the cradle of physical man, lies in several suggestive words which have originated and remain to this day among the northern tribes in their primeval significance; but although there was a time when all the nations were “of one lip,” these words have received a different meaning with the Greeks and Latins. One such word is Mann, Man, a living being, and Manes, dead men. The Laplanders call their corpses to this day manee, (Voyage de Renard en Laponie I., 184). Mannus is the ancestor of the German race; the Hindu Manu, the thinking being, from man; the Egyptian Menes; and Minos, the King of Crete, judge of the infernal regions after his death — all proceed from the same root or word.

The Secret Doctrine, ii 771-774
H. P. Blavatskyones of elephants, mammoths, rhinoceroses,” etc. If there was no man on earth at that period “how came horses and sheep to be found in company with the huge antediluvians?” asks a master in a letter. (“Esoteric Buddhism,” 67). The reply is given above in the text.

³ A good proof that all the gods, and religious beliefs, and myths have come from the north, which was also the cradle ofphysical man, lies in several suggestive words which have originated and remain to this day among the northern tribes in their primeval significance; but although there was a time when all the nations were “of one lip,” these words have received a different meaning with the Greeks and Latins. One such word is Mann, Man, a living being, and Manes, dead men. The Laplanders call their corpses to this day manee, (Voyage de Renard en Laponie I., 184). Mannus is the ancestor of the German race; the Hindu Manu, the thinking being, from man; the Egyptian Menes; and Minos, the King of Crete, judge of the infernal regions after his death — all proceed from the same root or word.

The Secret Doctrine, ii 771-774
H. P. Blavatsky

Personal Development: Why Goal Setting is Important? – A Powerful Method to Achieve Your Goals – by Thibaut Meurisse

January 3, 2016 Hālau ʻĀha Hūi LanakilaLeave a comment

goal-setting-300x211

Why is goal setting so important? Why do people set goals? One of the main reason why setting goals is important is that it is human nature to strive when in pursuit of a goal. Having great goals makes us feel alive, gives meaning to our life. That’s the reason why many people feel empty after they retire from their job if they don’t take the time to set new goals to achieve.

In our professional life, we generally have goals set but we usually don’t take the time to set clear goals for our personal life. Many people spend a considerable amount of time to plan their next vacation in details, looking for the best location, comparing prices, buying the necessary equipment but how many people really take the time to plan their future? If you start planning everything in advance and constantly setting goals you will achieve way more that you would normally achieve.

However, there is no point setting goals you cannot achieve. That’s why you need to have a clear strategy to ensure you will achieve your goals. With the right strategy, most of your goals are achievable. Most of the time the reason people fail to achieve their goals is not because their goal is to hard, but because they don’t have the right strategy.

How to achieve personal goals

The biggest mistake is to set goals that are vague. For instance, “I’m gonna lose weight” or “I want to become rich”. Your goal should be very clear. Clarity is the key!

I will lose 10 kilos by March 31st

I will earn $10,000 per month by December 31st of next year

Decide how much and when.

Decide on the day or even on the hour by which you will achieve your goal. The clearer the better. It is very important! You should constantly try to find a way to measure any of your goals, because otherwise you cannot be held accountable and cannot track your results. When you find a way to measure your goals it will become suddenly more real, more tangible.

Choose a goal that you know you can achieve but that will be quite challenging

You want a goal that will push you out of your comfort and make you feel better once you achieve it. If the goal is out of reach you will have no motivation or you will feel desperate and your self-esteem will suffer. Don’t compare yourself with other people. No matter how small is your achievement, if you had to push yourself a little bit to achieve your goal it is a big success that you should celebrate. It might not be a big deal for others but it is for you. And you matter!

Ambitious goals are good, but they should be followed by massive actions in order to be achievable.

Write all the reasons why you want to achieve that goal

Why is it so important for you? Make sure your goal truly matters to you and is not something you are doing just for your family, your friends or your colleagues. Intrinsic motivation is always better than extrinsic motivation. Make sure you don’t spend years pursuing a goal that is not going to make you happy.

Write down your goals.

Writing down your goals makes them more real. A pen and a piece of paper can work wonder when you think about your life! Make sure you write your goals using positive words and read your goals everyday.

Make the necessary preparations before starting your goal

If you would like to be thinner, spend all your time with skinny people. Have all your meals with skinny people – Vasant Lad

You have a limited willpower. Save it as much as possible. Don’t try to become a vegetarian if your father is a butcher! (just an image :)) Try to create a friendly and supportive environment that will help you achieve your goal. If you want to become a vegetarian buy recipe books, fill you fridge with vegetables and fruits, join a vegetarian association before getting started.

Share your goals with as many people as possible.

For instance, if you want to lose 10 kilos, make a public announcement at work in front of your colleagues. Tell all your family members about your goals. Whenever possible, tell people you encounter that you are on a diet and you will lose 10 kilos by March 31st. You should commit yourself so that you have no way backwards. Make it your reality. If you don’t feel confident enough to do that, it means that your goal might be too ambitious for you right now and or you don’t really want it. In that case, you might want to check whether your goal is achievable or not and modify it if necessary.

When talking about your goals, avoid using vocabulary such as “I will try”, “I think”, “Maybe”, “If it goes well” but use “I will”, “When I will achieve”, “I know I will”, “I definitely will”.

Anticipate all possible ways it can go wrong and elaborate a strategy.

The fastest way to succeed is to double your failure rate – Thomas Watson

We tend to be overoptimistic regarding our ability to achieve a goal and more than often we underestimate the amount of work and the time necessary to perform a task. Ask yourself what things can happen that will prevent you from achieving your goals? If your goals are long-term goals, chances are that you will face multiple setbacks before you succeed. In the past I had many goals but I didn’t achieve most of them. One of the reasons was obviously my lack of confidence. Other major reasons were that I was overly optimistic and was not prepared mentally to face major setbacks. I would try to create a blog about Japan but would give up due to the many technical difficulties I encountered. I would wait for everything to be perfect before launching the blog. This blog was never created. I planned to make videos of my trips abroad and publish them; it never happened. Once I understood that failure was actually part of the process and not an anomaly it helped me significantly to achieve my goals. Here is how I see setbacks or failures: setbacks are here to test you, to see how bad you want it. When you set a goal, you have to be clear not only about your goal but about what you are ready to go through to achieve that goal. If you already made your mind that huge setbacks are likely to occur, you will be prepared to face them and be able to keep pushing and move forward. You should already know how you’re going to react to potential setbacks before they occur.

Avoid putting yourself in difficult situations

If your objective is to lose weight or to stop smoking for instance, you should avoid temptation. Identify all those situations where you are at risk, think of what makes you fail in your previous attempt and see how you can avoid those situations. Maybe you like to have a cigarette when you are drinking coffee, when you eat outside or when you are under stress. Identify those kinds of situations and come up with an effective strategy.

Sharing goals with other people is a great way to push ourselves to take action. Do you have any goals you are working on currently? Please leave me a comment below and let me know how it is going.

Meditation Tips

January 3, 2016January 3, 2016 Hālau ʻĀha Hūi LanakilaLeave a comment

i-meditate

Do you think that you could never achieve a deep, relaxing state of mind?

Believe it or not, meditating really is not that difficult. Just look at it from a simpler point of view for a moment.

There are a lot of people who are interested in meditating because they have heard of the benefits that it can bring into their lives. However, many of the same people refrain from actually meditating, or give up very shortly after trying it, because they feel as if it is too hard or it is something they are not capable of doing.

Believe it or not, meditating really is not that difficult. I would like you to look at things from a simpler point of view for a moment.

Among various possible tips for self-improvement I believe that meditation is a very important one. Often when people hear the word meditation they tend to be a little bit scared. They imagine something somewhat mysterious or religious. They believe it is a very complicated technique that will required them a consequent investment in time and money before they can start getting some hypothetical benefits. Or maybe, if you are like me, you have problems with your knees that prevent you from sitting cross-legged. In this short article I would like to give you simple meditation instructions to get you started.

Meditation Made Simple
Let’s look at what is actually meditation. In a nutshell, meditation is a practice where you focus on your breath while trying not to think about anything. That’s it!

Meditation:

• is not a religious act in itself
• doesn’t required any materials to get started
• doesn’t require you to be a contortionist
• doesn’t have to take a lot of your time

I have only been practicing meditation on a daily basis for several months but I really feel that it helped me become more calm, more at peace and more focused. Meditation is also a great way to enhance well-being in general.

I’m not an expert and it is exactly what I want to tell you: you don’t need to be an expert! If you believe that you need to take meditation classes or read books to get started, only those of you who are really motivated will give it a shot. Since meditation practiced on a daily basis is beneficial for everyone, as a self-improvement advice I would encourage everyone to adopt that new habit.

When you will start meditating, you will realize how hard it is to stop thinking. Your mind won’t stop. Sometimes, people told me: “I can’t even do meditation for 3 minutes, my thoughts are all over the place”. It is totally normal. As long as you are trying to control your thoughts the best you can at your current level, you are doing meditation. And I’m convinced you will get benefits from your daily practice. Meditation will help you become more aware of your thoughts and to better deal with your negative thoughts.

Let’s make it very simple to start with, and progressively work on improving the quality of our meditation practice.

Meditation Exercise
I don’t want to give you any excuses not to try meditation. Here is how you can easily get started:

Close your eyes, breath slowly through your nose, focus on your breath while trying to get rid of any thoughts that come to your mind. Do it just for 3 minutes. That’s it! You can sit on a chair or sit on the floor with your legs crossed. Practice every single day for two weeks, then go for 4 minutes, 5 minutes and so on. If possible aim to reach 20 to 30 minutes per day but it is entirely up to you. Some people do more. If you are busy you can do less. Personally, I’m currently meditating 20 minutes every day but plan to meditate more in the near future. Last but not least, be patient! It takes some time before you feel the benefits of meditation.

SeaWorld Orlando Returns Sea Turtles to Florida Waters

January 2, 2016January 2, 2016 Hālau ʻĀha Hūi LanakilaLeave a comment

HONU
On the morning of Dec. 31, 2015, the SeaWorld Orlando Animal Rescue Team returned three Kemp’s ridley sea turtles – the world’s most endangered species of sea turtle – to the warm Florida waters by Canaveral National Seashore. The sea turtles spent more than 13 months at SeaWorld’s rehabilitation facility after being rescued in 2014. The three Kemp’s ridley sea turtles returned were the last remaining of the 72 sea turtles rescued during a mass cold stranding.

Ranging from 4.1 to 4.6 pounds at the time of rescue, the turtles have been thriving during their rehabilitation, gaining significant strength and weight. Upon their return today, the three turtles’ weights ranged from 9 to 15.8 pounds. The SeaWorld team worked with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) on the return location for these Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, which are found near the Gulf of Mexico and along the East Coast. The same species and size class are found along the Florida coast at this time of year.

Kemp’s ridley sea turtles are the most endangered species of sea turtle in the world, mainly due to egg collection and other human activities. Today, under strict protection and the help of organizations like SeaWorld, the population is on its way to recovery.

Throughout 2015, SeaWorld Orlando has rescued 64 sea turtles and returned 91 to the ocean. This year marks a record year of rescues, rehabilitations and returns for the Orlando Animal Rescue Team, with more than 600 animals rescued and rehabilitated.

2015 YEAR-END REVIEW: Breakdown of Rescues for Specific Species

– Turtle rescues (including sea turtles, tortoises and freshwater turtles) – 91
– Bird rescues – 529
– Manatee rescues – 33
– Cetaceans – 1

For more than 50 years, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment has helped animals in need – ill, injured, orphaned or abandoned, with the goal of returning them to the wild. More than 27,000 animals have been rescued by the expert animal rescue team that is on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If you see an injured marine animal, you can help by calling the FWC hotline at 888-404-3922 or by dialing *FWC on a cellular device. To learn more about SeaWorld’s commitment to animals and the environment, visit SeaWorldCares.com.

© SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, Inc.

Tapping Into The Aloha Spirit (the Love Frequency)

January 2, 2016 Hālau ʻĀha Hūi LanakilaLeave a comment

Love is in the air, all around us, each time we breathe, we actually breathe in the Love and breathe it out, and if we bring awareness to this, every moment becomes filled with Love, Peace and Bliss. Our lives are perfect, we just don’t realize it. Higher Dimensional Love is all around us, we just fail to perceive it and feel it 24-7.

The string theory talks of 11 dimensions, i guess if each has a trillion subdimensions, it’s ok to say that there are within the same space – in any location on Earth – where you may be now – dimensions of ecstatic love that we can tap into and remain into partially – so as to enable a happier, kinder, more altruistic and more peaceful future, where we got clean water, decent food, healthcare, 100% renewable energy, longevity and space exploration.

If we tap into this dimension of love, we can also reach happiness without alcohol; the money to bring a better future is there, about 3 trillion spent a year on alcohol, smoking, gambling and illegal drugs – more than the entire money we spend on warfare each year. It must be crushing to have your house bombed into dust – after you worked all life to build it and then have to leave, maybe with a few kids dead too, etc. Experiencing the ever present Love will prompt us to seek world peace out of Love for the victims of wars.

It has been hypothesized that the smallest particle of matter is a love particle, funny name i know … if so, every human being is made of these lovely strings of love – tiny and unseen, able to take any color when we look at them, say if you love purple, then they would seem purple to you. So, imagine your favorite color and every human being being this shimmering ocean of these love particles. We already live in a Paradise of Love, we just have not yet realized the truth. And the funny thing is that this is who everyone is – and we forget about it, and those who recall this can perform miracles while in the body or projected, bypassing all known laws of chemistry and physics. So yeah, love opens all doors, to the higher sciences, where hate cannot enter. So, let’s be the ♥ we are meant to be. Everywhere we look, there are rays of love coming at us, but i usually forget it. This is the reality of higher dimensions and also on Earth once people realize that these dimensions are super-imposed on time-space realms. Heaven on Earth is easy once a perceptional shift happens, World Peace is doable then. The trick is how do we retain awareness of this all the time? lol. Because our minds, subconscious minds are not normally filled with these beatific sentiments and perceptions. It requires such a deep de-programming to see Love in all people. This seeing though has a magical power of being able to turn enemies into friends. But hey, if at least we recall it once a day or hour, still something is changing towards a world of peace and love.

In moments like these, when we get a glimpse of cosmic consciousness as it were, when we perceive things differently, we realize how empty and nonsensical human language is, since it cannot express even a thousandth of the depth of what is perceived and felt. So then, it becomes even more essential to use body language and voice tones and spiritual tones and energetic tones to render something that cannot be expressed via words.

Love = Altruistic♥ Kindness and Gentle Healing Soft Nurturing Compassion, Friendliness♥, Wisdom, Goodwill♥, Benevolence♥, Honesty, Empathy, Humility, Fellowship, Sympathy, Amity♥, Concord, Inoffensiveness, Sweetness, Non-violence, Boundless Selflessness♥, Accomodativeness.

You can send loving energies while astral projected too (see also, www.iacworld.org for soul travel) and to all spirits you encounter, especially those who are more “loveless” and in need of it.

As the song goes, sometimes, Love (Gratitude is one aspect of it, among many) is all we need. Well, we do need regular sleep, exercise or physical activity and a healthy diet, too.

Astrology – A New Leaf in 2016, and Mercury Retrograde (already!)

January 1, 2016January 1, 2016 Hālau ʻĀha Hūi LanakilaLeave a comment

Mercury will be going retrograde on the 5th, signaling a time of potential communication issues, travel woes, and tech glitches. Take time to communicate clearly, slow down on the roads, prepare for delays, and avoid buying tech gadgets until after the 25th, when it goes direct. Be mindful of signing contracts and be sure to back up your computers.

What is Mercury retrograde?

For those who are not aware, Mercury retrograde happens 3 times a year. The planet slows down its orbit and to the human eye, it almost appears to be going backwards (don’t worry, it’s not). Mercury is attributed to communication, travel, electronics, thinking and mechanical objects – so when this planet begins to stall, we may experience problems in those areas.

The transit lasts for approximately three weeks. And those who are sensitive to this transit may actually begin to feel the energy early during the shadow period, which begins about three weeks before the actual retrograde.

Many astrologers stoke the fear by predicting the worst – from natural disasters to computer meltdowns. But there are also many who prefer to take a proactive and productive approach and instead will educate people how to ride this wave and make the most out of it. With that goal in mind, here are our tips for keeping your sanity and making your retrograde a smart and strategic one:

First of all, you want to think about adding “RE” to every action: rethink, redo, renovate, replenish, reflect, relax, recycle, repeat, etc. This little tip alone sums up the entire mindset behind proactive astrology.

Let’s apply that:

Communication – During a Mercury retrograde, communication can go haywire. Misunderstandings may happen and people might have trouble expressing themselves. Our advice: practice active listening now. Pay attention to what others are saying. Don’t rush to make your point, instead give the other person your full attention. Also, choose your words carefully. Before you shoot your mouth off or hit that send button, REFLECT on what message you are conveying. Bring mindfulness to your words and infuse kindness and compassion into every message you put out there.

This applies not only to your personal relationships but also to your business ones. This is not the time to run a negative ad campaign (ahem, politicians!). Instead, focus on what you can do to solve problems. Keep business conflicts out of the public eye and try to handle issues behind the scenes with diplomacy and tact. And if you are stumbling with your public image, consider investing in a good PR manager. Often they are able to find a more positive way to get your spin on.

Relationships – I have seen many people break up during a Mercury retrograde only to get back together again! If you are having troubles with a loved one, this may be a good time to hold off on making any major decisions. Instead, REFLECT (yup, that word again!) on how you feel. Are you really happy? Has the relationship been on a bad course for a long time? Do you and your partner want the same things? Are you willing to work on the problems – or it is it time to find closure and set yourself free?

Visiting a counselor for clarity may help you to make a wise decision or find the path to healing. If you have been struggling with your relationship, let Mercury retrograde be a time of healing rather than drama.

Vehicles – We have had cars break down during a Mercury retrograde. But guess what? We’ve also had them die during periods that had nothing to do with this transit! Do not assume that this retrograde has a stranglehold on car problems. That being said, it is a good time to get necessary REPAIRS done. Get your oil changed, new spark plugs and tires or whatever you feel is needed.

What about buying a vehicle? This is not considered a good time to purchase one but what are you going to do if you need one now? We’re not that superstitious about it – if you need a car, simply go get one, Mercury retrograde be damned. But – RESEARCH carefully so that you ensure you get the very best car you can as well as the best deal. Feel free to buy your car now – but walk in an informed consumer.

And as far as driving, don’t REACT. Road rage is common during this period. Stay aware, slow down and above all, do not drink and drive (although you should never do that anyhow). And if some jerk cuts you off, RESIST the urge to do something crazy. Instead, breathe deeply and count to ten.

Computers – Years ago, I watched a Sex and the City episode where Carrie loses everything on her computer because she didn’t back it up. D’oh! Lesson learned! Back up your computer! We now use iCloud and Box.com to create an online backup weekly. And for additional security, we also have an external hard drive. CD copies of the most important stuff isn’t a bad idea, either.

If you are buying a computer or gadget, once again, Mercury retrograde is not considered an ideal time. Because we like to tempt fate, we will often purchase stuff regardless. In fact, RESEARCH the heck out of your targetted purchase before plunking down those dollah bills. And for good measure, purchase insurance just to be extra safe.

Travel – You might hear that the majority of travel snafus happen during this transit. This is not entirely true because travel drama can happen any time of the year due to many unforseen events such as weather trouble.

Sometimes travel during this transit is necessary, so here’s what to do: RELAX. Try to plan an extra day into your trip if possible (especially for business travel) so that you are not frazzled should your plane be delayed. Keep your gadgets fully charged up so that you may contact people if you need to. Grab a book and hit the food court in the airport and search for a decent restaurant. And then get some wine and chill until things work out.

Also keep a toothbrush, toiletries, water and snacks as well as a change of clothes in your carry-on – just in case. If your luggage is lost or you’re stuck on a tarmac, you can hunker down stress-free.

If you are the extra nervous type, get some travel insurance as that will cover you nicely should you lose your luggage or end up getting a canceled flight.

Business – Mercury retrograde is a perfect time to REDO your business plans and goals. Armed with a new, improved agenda, you can spend the rest of this retrograde organizing, clearing clutter, preparing and making plans for future goals. This is the wisest way to use this energy for your business!

We also recommend REORGANIZING your office now. Get rid of old pens, file your papers, straighten out your contact file and clean up your computer. If you have been ignoring your taxes, take care of them now. Balance your books and get all your paperwork up to date. A visit with your accountant or financial advisor would also be a smart move.

This period is also useful for updating your web presence. If your information or picture is outdated, invest in a good head shot and REDO your web copy. Even better, hire a whip smart copywriter to polish your words and craft a smarter online you. Your clients will thank you for it.

Speaking of websites, this may not be the best transit to launch a site (or a business for that matter) but it’s a great time to fix problems. Whether you do your site yourself or have a designer, start playing around with new themes and widgets. Edit your pages and clean up any spelling errors or broken links. Tidy up anything that is cluttery or confusing (potential clients prefer an easy to use site).

Contracts can be tricky during a Mercury retrograde but if you are mindful and pay attention to the fine print, you should be fine. Look over everything carefully or have your attorney do it for you before you sign the dotted line.

Networking and finding new clients is another great use of this transit BUT you must bring great awareness now to your communication (see above). Don’t be that pushy salesperson that creeps people out – instead listen- REALLY listen – to your potential and current clients. If you practice deep listening and show that you really care about solving their issues, this could be a rewarding time for your business.

If you struggle with networking and sales, consider investing in a class to learn how to amp up your hustle. A retrograde is a great time to RELEARN and REFINE your business skills.

If you are looking for a new job now, this transit can be challenging. REDO your resume and polish it up! Get all your information as current as possible (even your LinkedIn account). And most of all, be patient. Often things happen slowly now as potential employers may be feeling uber cautious about making decisions to hire. Do not give up or sit on your hands if nothing seems to be happening. Keep going, champ. Eventually someone will realize how awesome you are!

Surgery – Mercury retrograde is not considered an advantageous time to have a surgery but if your appendix bursts, you are not going to have a choice in the matter. My advice: take plenty of time to heal. RENEW yourself with plenty of down time if you can manage it. And above all, listen to your physician – especially if they advise REST.

Spiritual – One of the things that I probably practice the most during this transit is REFLECTION. Slow down, meditate, do plenty of yoga and check in with yourself. A Mercury retrograde can be a wonderful time to come back to your spiritual practice – especially if you have been “too busy”.

It’s also the perfect time to consult with your astrologer or tarot reader (like Lana!) to examine the current path you are traveling. In fact, many of our smartest clients like to get a reading now so that they can learn how to best work with this energy. Having a clear road map will give you insight and the ability to make mindful choices.

So what are you going to do now? Sit around and trip out as you wait for the sky to fall and be held hostage by some random astrological transit? Or are you going to own it, claim at, and work this Mercury madness like the badass astrobabe that you know you are?

Remember this – your life is always up to you. No planet is the sole determining factor in your fate – ever.

Have A Happy Mercury Retrograde!