Katie Lawson

Empowering Phrases

Steve Whytman was a basketball coach for 12 years.  He used inspiring phrases to empower the players.  He didn’t control or demand.  He simply created an environment where each player could be the best that he could be.  His team was successful, going to the state playoffs every year but his first.

Using this same concept, here are five phrases that Joy Gilfilen and Steve have created or adapted to empower the members (and visitors on the Uniting Creatives website) to be and do their best.

Which of these phrases inspires you?  Which would you change?

  1. PRACTICE RELENTLESS OPTIMISM.
    Never stop.  Never quit.  Be optimistic.  Optimus is Greek for best.  A car cuts you off.  Do you diminish yourself by cussing, honking your horn or tailgating – being pessimistic?  Or do you empower yourself by forgiving the driver and letting go of the incident – being optimistic?
    Practice relentless optimism when things are going well for you.
    Practice relentless optimism when things are not going so well – such as
    when a driver cuts you off, or you trip and fall, or you make a mistake.
  2. BRIDGE THE GAP.
    Being the bridge that assists others to go from where they are to where they
    want to be.
    This could be in any area of life:
    In finances, being the bridge that inspires a person to go from poverty to
    abundance.
    In relationships, being that bridge that inspires others to go from feeling
    alone to feeling fulfilled within one’s self.
    In health, being that bridge that inspires another to move into a healthier
    frame of mind or create a healthier physical body or emotional state.  We, the members of Uniting Creatives, are here to bridge the gap.
  3. FLIP THE SWITCH.
    Every moment is a ‘choice point’, a powerful instant in which you can choose to
    go in one direction toward creating, improving, being happy.
    Or, in that powerful instant, you can choose to go in another direction – a direction of fear or being a victim.  We, as members of Uniting Creatives, are here to be an example of flipping the switch, of making choices in each instance to empower ourselves and others to
    be Innovators, Builders, or Leaders instead of being victims, persecutors or
    rescuers.
    We are working toward operating from joy, finding a place of freedom in our
    lives, understanding that we have greatness within – AND working toward being
    the catalysts to empower others to flip the switch into power and strength.
  4. DECENT UP
    Allow decency to direct our interaction with each other.  Simply being a positive example by being respectful, courteous, honest and considerate.
  5. CHAMPION THE HEART
    Living our passion; leading from our heart.

Which of these phrases speaks to you?
Do you have a provocative or favorite phrase?  We would love for you to share it with us.

Posted in 3- COLLABORATIVE COMMUNITY, 6- PERSONAL GROWTH & RELATIONSHIPS, Collaboration Strategies, Collective Intelligence, Living into Greatness, Personal Transformation | Leave a comment

Bonita Wutzke

Humanity is experiencing a time of unparalleled challenge and change.  As chaos accelerates in every sector of human life and this planet, it would seem that our very existence is in jeopardy.  If things continue in this vein that could well be the case.

But if we were to reflect on the nature of change, we would see that chaos is always the catalyst that brings forth major needed change.  Understanding the purpose of chaos, makes the time of upheaval not only bearable, but a time of great anticipation.

During this time of accelerated chaos, humanity is simultaneously experiencing an unparalleled shift in Consciousness – a quantum shift which is affecting not only our personal lives, but all of humanity, all life on this planet and the physical Earth as well.  As we shift, so does the Earth.

Change is a constant.  Life gifts us with situations to awaken us, to raise our Consciousness in order for us to evolve into our greater self.  We were born with an inner knowing of something more, an elusive calling that draws us onward.   How often in life, does there come a moment – a catalyst, when our life shifts irrevocably?  Something happens that touches us deeply and takes us on an inward search for answers.  Tho we may feel lost for a time, we are brought to a new level of awareness, fine tuning our direction.  Awakening often comes in stages.  Levels of awareness open us to our next step as we move toward our greater calling.  Ultimately, there is the ‘Aha!’ - the shift in our awareness that brings everything into focus and our direction is clear.

Each of our stories is wondrous and unique, yet there is a common thread that brings us all to the same place of knowing – the awareness that we are all One, and that Love is the most powerful force in the universe.  This is when we come alive!  In that moment, we know who we were born to be.

Sharing our stories unites us…for what seemed like a lone path – unbeknownst to us, was peopled with millions walking beside us.  It is time we meet!

Even as a child I was a seeker of wisdom, with a passion to travel and to connect with people beyond my small sphere.  To fulfill my passions and yearnings, I read the great philosophers and adventurers.  As an adult I created a business that was filled with travel and people.  The travel thrilled me, and the people I met, fed my soul.  My dream was to expand my business into Europe, and I was looking for clarity as my plans were coming together.  As I researched, I came across an exercise that reminded me of that used by Einstein when he ‘sat’ for ideas.  As an avid student of the mind, I was fascinated and eager to try it.

As I breathed slowly and went into the exercise, I experienced a spontaneous shift that took me into a heightened Consciousness that was breath-taking in its scope.  I felt I had woken up into a glorious Light filled and familiar world.  I had never felt so alive!  Never had I experienced such love.   As I took in the much greater reality, my concept of who we are and why we are here was forever changed.  In awe, I basked in the wholeness of this greater reality, and I longed to stay forever.  My entire concept of the world and life upon it, shifted in that moment.  “We are so much more than we know!

As I came back to our normal reality, I sat stunned.  I was profoundly changed by an experience for which there are no words.  Is this where Einstein and Tesla got their inventions – where the great philosophers, poets and composers – where the greatest teachers got their inspiration?  I could never see the world or others in the same way again.

My career soon took a back seat to my deepening need to understand this spontaneous shift – this gift, and to integrate what I saw and experienced in this greater dimension, with the world that I knew.  I was seeing a far greater and grander picture for humanity and the earth, and saw too that we stand on the brink of the greatest shift in human history.  I saw than nothing was out of control.

I searched for others who had experienced this Light or have this knowing, but found little.  Eventually, a new friend shared her book, Cosmic Consciousness, by Richard Bucke.   Within its pages I found that throughout history, Cosmic Consciousness’ spontaneous appearance has been evident, always dramatically changing the lives that it touched.   Impossible to articulate, their lives spoke vividly of their shift in Consciousness.

By now, 20 years later, the number of people shifting into a higher Consciousness has grown exponentially, encompassing the earth in a groundswell of tsunami like proportions.  Humanity is waking up – experiencing a Consciousness Shift as our heart quickens to the beat of a new drummer.   A new era is upon us as we, by the hundreds of millions, are coming together to build the world of love and unity we have individually, yet simultaneously envisioned.  With this new enlightened and more loving vision, a new culture that benefits all is emerging.  Humanity is experiencing a quantum leap in Consciousness, replacing the old and obsolete ways as it makes its way into Love.   We now stand at the tipping point – at the threshold of a world where everyone thrives.

The long awaited global awakening is in process, and we are each a vital part of it.   Together now, we walk hand in hand doing our part, as we step joyously into the future we are creating.   The quantum Shift in Consciousness we are experiencing at this momentous time brings it forth.  It cannot fail.   The Force is indeed with us!

 

Posted in 6- PERSONAL GROWTH & RELATIONSHIPS, 8- SPIRITUALITY & NEW THOUGHT, Changing Worldviews, Human Potential, Humanity's Magnificence, Living into Greatness, Personal Transformation, Quantum Leaping | Leave a comment

Steve Whytman UnitingCreatives Optimal Potentials Coach

Uniting Creative Thinkers: Relentless Optimism (Pt. 3)

The power of words has changed the course and destiny of humanity countless times.  Today, we intend the words, Relentless Optimism to serve as a life-enhancing beacon for change.

The words of Jesus, Mohammad, and Confucius, even the words of Hitler, Mao and Stalin have had unbelievable impact on our history. Every awakening, revival and renaissance were either started by words or supported by words. So too were every war and conflict. Words can bring peace to conflict or conflict to peace. Today it is the power of words that are polarizing a nation between political ideological parties causing division similar in our history to just before the Civil War.

It seems as if politicians and media have been intentionally creating a culture of fear and hopelessness. We have been bombarded by the message that the economy is hopeless, that our moral decay is rampant, that the rich are vile and the poor are lazy, that anger is the only way to bring change, that the world is on the brink of collapse, and on and on. They choose to blame and tear down. “It’s the Republican’s” they rant. ”No, it’s the Democrats,” they yell back.

The force of their message has been crushing many into near despair.  All we have to do is see the results of this onslaught to understand why they do this. It has been dividing us as a people, it’s been distracting us from finding the real solutions, and it’s been paralyzing us as a people because we have been kept too busy fighting each other. Who benefits from this?

The real question becomes:  ”Are we going to keep allowing this or take responsibility for our own destiny?”

The truth for me is that I have found that our actions follow our words and produce the future we are speaking. Our words reveal what is in our hearts.

It is time for intentional change action!

I propose a different kind of onslaught…a force more powerful than fear and anger, and a force that if lived in our personal lives will transform us individually and in turn transform the world: RELENTLESS OPTIMISM! 

A relentless person cannot be stopped. When they are tired they don’t quit. When they are knocked down they get back up, when they meet any challenge they find a way to overcome. But simply being relentless is not enough, we need an approach that brings out the very best to be relentless with.

Optimism comes from the Greek word optimus which means best. It’s seeing the best in every circumstance and in each other. It’s reaching for the best rather than settling for mediocrity or even for just good enough. It’s having an unbreakable belief that our best is ahead not behind us. And it’s learning to be relentlessly optimistic moment by moment.

It is in our moments that our future is determined. A relentless optimist understands that everything matters, every choice matters. We are always At ChoicePoint for change.  The words we say, the looks we give, the hand we lend to another, the love we express. These moments have a ripple effect that transforms every part of our lives over time, and yet immediately changes our future.

What if we individually and together could unleash the unstoppable power of relentless optimism dwelling within the minds and hearts of thoughtful good-hearted Cultural Creatives throughout the world?  What if we gave them an arena in which to enhance humanity? Let’s empower the men, women and young people determined to move into our best destiny, people who refuse to be silent anymore.

Throughout humanity’s history we have faced choice points between conflict and awakening. Sometimes we rose to the challenge and our very best ignited our history, yet other times the worst in our hearts prevailed. Whoever won the battle of words, ideas and spirit seemed to be the ones who ruled the events.

Interestingly enough, history shows that when cultural creatives of those times took a stand, the best in humanity rose to the occasion. Today, you and I are the ones who hold the solutions we need to step into our greatness in all areas of life. Refuse to be silent.  Join together with potentially millions of others committed to the best in us to bring change to our world!

We invite you…and want to hear from you what your relentless optimism is about!

Posted in 1- NATURE & LIVING SYSTEMS, 6- PERSONAL GROWTH & RELATIONSHIPS, 8- SPIRITUALITY & NEW THOUGHT, Changing Worldviews, Healing our Communities, Human Potential, Humanity's Magnificence, Living into Greatness, Personal Transformation, Quantum Leaping, Steve Whytman, Transforming Conflict | 1 Comment

Drug Addiction and Painkillers

In response to Joy Gilfilen’s blog on the rising addiction to painkillers in this country, yes, it is a national tragedy as she rightfully asserts. But it is something that does fit the astrological nature of these times and it can be addressed by looking at the energies involved and using those energies in more positive ways.

Pisces rules escapism and imprisonment in its more negative expression. We have created around ourselves a secular mindset based on technology that is proving to be emotionally and spiritually deadening for too many people. We all seek to escape the drudgery of our lives through addictions to various activities and substances. As biological beings, we all have a need to experience something beyond ourselves, our divinity. This usually happens through the ecstasy of spiritual practice of some sort. In our Western culture, we try to use consumer technology to make us feel that something greater. The latest technologies are our drugs of choice in this techie realm.

Drugs are a major pathway for the Western mind to achieve this end. Timothy Leary in the 1960s proclaimed the drug LSD to be the Western Yoga. We become addicted to recreational drugs precisely because of the Pisces spiritual-like highs that those drugs offer us. Kids have gone to their parents prescription drugs for years because they are legal and available. Is it any wonder that we now have these new euphoric painkillers, and that we are now turning to them in large numbers? These drugs are being used recreationally as much if not more so than medicinally.

With the already failed war on drugs, I have to wonder if we can really do anything about this without embracing the spiritual element of Pisces escapism. A painkiller by its very nature provides escape from the presence of pain. That very escape is addictive, especially to a body seeking relief from the constant pain of life and failure.

Escapism relates directly to spiritual immersion into the bliss of heaven. Oriental thought during this Age of Pisces equates life as imprisonment on the Wheel of Life, and spiritual attainment is escape from this prison. Either we can seek this euphoric bliss through spiritual practices, or we can take the easy way out and try to find relief and euphoria through drugs. For most of us in our secular West, the technology of drugs is the easier more convenient route.

The Pisces solution here is to embrace some sort of spiritual path as important in our lives. This helps give us a positive spiritual focus and helps us to deal with pain, both medicinally and emotionally, in constructive ways.  It focuses our drive to escape away from drugs and toward personal spiritual discipline. Other positive modalities and solutions then become far more effective for us.

Posted in 1- NATURE & LIVING SYSTEMS, 6- PERSONAL GROWTH & RELATIONSHIPS, 8- SPIRITUALITY & NEW THOUGHT, Changing Worldviews, Health & Vitality, Human Potential, Humanity's Magnificence, Personal Transformation, Z- Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Bonita Wutzke
Consciousness definition:  Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. 

As we observe people, we see the great differences among us.  People range from loving and compassionate humanitarians to that of extreme greed and selfishness.  Today it would seem that the gap is greater than ever before.  And indeed it is.  This does not necessarily mean that people have become greedier or more uncaring – tho new technology, war machinery and media would make it seems so.  The vast difference is due to the millions of people who are experiencing an evolutionary shift in Consciousness.  This is the end where the gap is widening.

As people experience an awakening Consciousness they see the greater picture of who we are, and our interconnectedness to one another.  They see as tho through new eyes – eyes of compassion and love.  Whereas before they could be indifferent or uncaring – now that is not possible. Theirs is a deep knowing that there is a new and better way to live, and feel compelled to do their part to bring it about.

What then is the difference between the selfish and the loving individual?  It is their level of Consciousness.  An evolved Consciousness is an expanded version of oneself as part of a whole, rather than separate.  Love is the force that evolves us.  Forgiveness is a given, gratitude is joy expressed.

As Consciousness expands, all aspects of fear fall away.  This includes the fear of death.  From this greater vantage, we recognize dying as the doorway to our greater Consciousness – as we release our body, we re-merge back into our glorious Spirit self, and to a level of Consciousness accessible only beyond our physical experience.  We also see birth as leaving our greater Conscious Self, to temporarily experience our next amazing human adventure.

This level of consciousness – Cosmic Consciousness, is not a new phenomenon.  Throughout history our greatest spiritual teachers such as Jesus and Buddha experienced a profound Consciousness shift that changed them from ordinary to extra-ordinary teachers of love and compassion.  What is new, is the global magnitude of those now shifting in unison into greater Consciousness.

Any who have experienced this level of Consciousness are irrevocably and forever changed.  Their memory has been awakened, their Consciousness heightened, and they live in the joy of the human experience regardless of how it looks from the ordinary conscious state.

An evolving consciousness has an expanded sense of wholeness which includes a connection and love for all things.  We begin to see the world and life around us differently, and feel things we have never before felt.

We see animals as intelligent fellow beings who have incarnated into physical form with us to experience life on this planet.  Like us they have a great capacity for life’s joys, and a deep love for their young – some even mating for life.  Without agenda, their unconditional love and loyalty can extend to us.   The thought of eating them as food becomes unthinkable.

We see the earth as a living, breathing being, supporting our life system and experience.  We bask in its exquisite beauty, its glorious sunrises and sunsets, its expansive blue oceans, and majestic mountains, and desert plains.  Like a mother, it nourishes and supports us if we but love it back.

Our heart grieves when we look upon mountains sheared of their trees, at great caverns cut deep into the earth to mine coal, where oil rigs suck out the richness of earth’s blood, using it to pollute the very air we breathe.  When we see the rain forests, once beautiful and lush and sustaining us, now nearly dead with struggling efforts to live and breathe, we feel as though our very flesh has been ripped open, for our connection to the earth is deep.  When we see great war machinery moving in to kill and maim we can hardly breathe, for we are feeling what their targets are feeling.

We also see the humans we are becoming as we evolve.  We know that nothing is lost, nothing is really out of control.  What we see are the birth pangs of a birthing and awakening to the next level of the human experience.  We see and feel it all…from the anguish to the ecstasy as we shift from one level of consciousness to the next.

The evolving human is us.  We are becoming more.  We are aware that our beingness extends far beyond our physical bodies to include all else, and with this knowing, are compelled to fulfill our part in this planetary shift into a more joyful and loving world.

We feel the ecstasy of our own becoming, and great joy as in every moment more and more are reaching this threshold of Consciousness to join us as we create a new culture – a new world of love and sharing.

As we move swiftly into 2012, humanity is reaching the tipping point where we could loose it all – or we could gain our greatest dreams.   My heart tells me that we are already tipping into the welcoming arms of our joyous evolved selves.

Posted in 1- NATURE & LIVING SYSTEMS, 2- CONSCIOUS VOICE & PARADIGM SHIFTING, 6- PERSONAL GROWTH & RELATIONSHIPS, 8- SPIRITUALITY & NEW THOUGHT, Appreciating Nature, Changing Worldviews, Healing our Earth, Human Potential, Humanity's Magnificence, Peace & Social Change, Personal Transformation, Quantum Leaping, Social Intelligence | Leave a comment

Steve Whytman UnitingCreatives Optimal Potentials Coach

Uniting Creative Thinkers: Empowering Beliefs (Pt.2)

When I took over coaching a girl’s high school varsity basketball team several years ago they had never had a winning season. I knew I had to instill a winning attitude before I could change the culture of losing. I wanted to create a few empowering phrases that were simple, clear and full of meaning to guide our approach to creating a championship environment. One of these was, “touch the line”. Within that phrase lay an empowering belief system that the girl’s fully bought into. These girls set a new standard of greatness that in one season launched us into a perennial top ten ranked team, laying the foundation that eventually propelled them to the state championship.

If you have ever played basketball you’ll remember the pain of running “suicides”. This was a conditioning drill where you would start at the baseline of the basketball court, sprint all out to the free-throw line, back to the baseline then to the half-court line, back to the base-line then to the far free-throw line and back, finally to the opposite baseline and back…and the whole team had to complete each “suicide” within a limited time or the whole team had to do it over again. After about ten of those you were exhausted.

The winning attitude comes from understanding that you give your best through the whole drill. “Touch the line” taught them that you don’t cut corners (compromise) and stop short of the line to make it easier. You don’t compromise when you are tired but push through your tiredness. It teaches that you are in it together so you don’t let each other down because you are tired. You learn the value of excellence and a determined heart. You learn to trust the heart of each other…so many lessons from a simple phrase.

At UnitingCreatives we are building into our DNA empowering values that will lift creative thinkers to greatness by not leaving greatness to chance. We hope you will enter this conversation and add your own greatness to our world.

We have five empowering phrases that guide our approach:

  1. Relentless Optimism
  2. Bridge the Gap
  3. Decent Up
  4. Flip the Switch
  5. Champion the Heart

In my next five articles you will see these phrases are deeply full of meaning. And they guide our approach as we seek to create an empowering legacy for our world.  These are the essence of who Cultural Creatives are…and what we are at UnitingCreatives. What greater goal can we have than that?

Posted in 6- PERSONAL GROWTH & RELATIONSHIPS, Collaboration Strategies, Collective Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence, Healing our Communities, Healing our Earth, Human Potential, Humor & Insights, Living into Greatness, New Thought & Living Systems, Personal Transformation, Quantum Leaping, Social Intelligence, Steve Whytman | 2 Comments

Living in a Loving Universe

New Age, Biblical and Native American prophecies tell us that we are on the verge of graduating into a new universe of unimagined love and prosperity. This new universe is also a multi-dimensional astrological string universe where a very real love fills every corner of creation. For Native Americans, this is the end of the Fourth World and entry into a beautiful new Fifth World. In Christian prophecy, it is the advent of the golden age of the Millennium of Christ following a period of Chaos apocalypse. Oriental religions tell of immanent entry into the Age of Enlightenment. And astrological ages say that this extremely real and it is happening now.

There is a period of time prior to this entry that corresponds to a dissolving and disintegrating of the old in order to prepare for the new. The old feast has been eaten and the table of the current astrological age is cluttered with dirty plates and the remains of half eaten food.  So, how do we graduate to this new world?

The connection between astrology and superstring theory indicates the real possibility that we live in a universe literally filled with the energy of love. At present we see our universe in terms of survival and aggression. In this worldview, we tend to keep our hearts closed and protected. This simple universal act of closure has created immense suffering for humanity. If we wish to graduate to the next level, we need to become the seeds of enlightenment for the next world. This means that we have to open our hearts in all instances and embrace the spiritual ideals of love, compassion, and forgiveness.

There are many ways to do this, but to start we need to understand one very important fact. Love never comes to us from the outside. It always comes up from within us. We live our lives awash in love. It is everywhere around us and within us. We are love. We don’t see or feel this love simply because we see ourselves as separate from God and love. When we fall in love with another person, that person merely acts as a trigger to our opening to our own heart. That opening allows the love that floods our atoms and molecules to rise up within us and fill us with feelings of emotional completeness and happiness.

Our subconscious insistence on our separateness from our own love ties our feelings to that other person. When that person leaves us, then we feel separate again and our suffering increases exponentially. What is needed is to hang onto our love experience even when the object of our love has left. It is our love, and does not require a trigger for us to open to it.

Whenever you feel love overtake you, stop and settle into that feeling. Make that a meditation of sorts. Feel that love and embrace it. Consciously express that love in your thoughts.  At first express your love for the person that you are in love with. Feel it deeply in a conscious way. Don’t just flow with that feeling on the surface, but consciously make it an essential part of who you are. Eventually try to express your love in your thoughts without your lover in mind. Take your thoughts of “I love you Melissa or John” to “I Love you” without any names, to simply “I Love.”

Become love. Feel love. Express love. “I AM love.” This phrase then becomes a mantra for you. Anytime you feel angry or judgmental, drawn off your center, repeating this mantra becomes an effective way to remind yourself that you indeed are love incarnate. In this way, you align yourself with the incoming energies of the next age. Feeling your own love like this counters feelings of fear that are on the rise with the paradigm shift that is happening now. Being in your state of love gives you a greater ability to help others during this transition. Aligning with love in this way can even allow us to help create the coming Golden Age.

Become the love that you already are in a universe filled with love.

Posted in 6- PERSONAL GROWTH & RELATIONSHIPS, 8- SPIRITUALITY & NEW THOUGHT, Changing Worldviews, Communications, Emotional Intelligence, Human Potential, Living into Greatness, Personal Transformation | 1 Comment

Bonita Wutzke

Going to the Light – From Angst to Ecstasy!

What if dying is not the enemy after all?
What if instead… it is a miracle of the greatest magnitude.

Is it possible that the part of life that has been so hidden and denied, could be
the most wondrous and miraculous experience of all?  What if in that wondrous moment as we leave our body, we experience the greatest of freedoms and joy?  What if, to our great surprise, we realize that we are now more alive than ever, experiencing joy and beauty beyond description, with love so intense and profound that our aching heart breaks open.  What if dying is more like waking up… to experience a sense of belonging and boundless joy such as we have never known, and in that joyous moment are welcomed in a grand homecoming, surrounded by loved ones who have gone on before us. What if, instead of loosing it all, we find that we are coming home to our deepest and most desperate longings.

What if, in that moment as the Light opens to us, we suddenly know who we were before being born into this life.  In that moment we know that this physical life has been but a grand adventure, just a part of who we are.  And we now are joyfully returning home – to our wholeness!  Always, it is referred to it as ‘Home’.

Is this just wishful thinking?  Indeed it may seem so, but this is the experience of those who are transitioning from this world, and are able to speak of what they see and are experiencing as their awareness begins to open within the Light.  This can happen months before dying or just moments before.  Much of this depends upon their openness to the experience.  This is a time of greatest joy as we transition back into our true spirit-self… but it is also a life changing experience shared by those who are privileged to sit with them at their bedside during these life altering moments.

Wondrously, this thrilling awareness and joy within the Light, is not the experience of the dying alone.  No, but it is also the experience of the great mystics and teachers, the poets and composers who speak of it in their great works.   Even more commonly now, it is also the life-altering experience of those who have experienced clinical death, and have been revived (the Near-Death-Experience).  From these sources, we have a greater idea ofwhat it is to experience ‘the Light.’

What wonder and profound sense of awe, to share this experience with a loved one as they begin their journey into the Light – their journey home!  They often go in and out of the Light before they transcend completely, often being open to full reality of spirit and the physical simultaneously, and are able to describe in brief inadequate words to us what they see.  To be with them during such a time, is a privilege that fills one with greatest awe as we too are touched by a love uncommon to the human experience.

Many are the stories told of the experience – the unfathomable love, the joyous homecoming and the ecstasy within the glorious Light.  In each and every case, once the Light opens to them, the fear of dying just falls away.
Their former fear of death gives way to unbounded joy, as they realize that they are not dying at all, but are returning to their greater and more wondrous ‘self’ and the life from which they came – to a glorious ‘home’ that is so very familiar to them.  They return not as a stranger, but as a beloved one in joyous reunion with family and friends who have preceded them, as well as those who have been on the journey with them from this side, and now they too are coming home after a long and often arduous adventure into the physical.  Yet within the eternal Light, the journey into physical life has been but an amazing moment. 

As I work with those who are dying, as they are in process of leaving their physical body and life and are opening to their greater self, I am filled with the deepest sense of awe and wonder as I realize what a grand privilege it is to
share their preparations for their journey Home. 

Many are the wondrous experiences I am privileged to share with them.  Following is one such experience:

“Who is that young man standing beside you?” asked Ruth, blind with macular degeneration.

“Can you describe him?”  I asked.

Ruth described in detail the handsome fair haired young man.  She described the clothing he wore, his engaging smile and personality.

“Do you recognize him?”  I asked.

“No.”  Her brows drew together as she looked deeper.

“Ask him his name.”  I prompted.

Her eyes widened in astonishment.  “Why, he’s your brother!”

My heart stopped.  “My brother?”

“Why yes, It’s your brother David!”

“Oh my God…David?!”  David is here!!!  My heart melted as tears filled my eyes.  I had never spoken to her of him.

Other people came into her vision – family, friends, acquaintances filled the room.  She continued to describe in vivid detail,  their looks, clothing, what they were doing – pointing them out until there were too many to describe, as we laughed and cried, embracing one another in joy.

Time stood still, as her meal tray was delivered, then picked up untouched, still her vision went on.  “They’re starting to fade now.”  she said at last, her face radiant with wonder.  We talked for hours of her opening vision, and the wonder of it. 

My beloved friend Ruth, had terminal cancer.  With her vision, her fears of dying fell away.  Her attachment to her body was gone.  Peace filled her remaining weeks, as we often talked of the joys just ahead for her.

Amazingly, millions of people are now experiencing great shifts in consciousness.  We are becoming aware of a greater reality, so are more open and comfortable talking about and sharing these wonderful conversations.  We understand and accept that these experiences are real.  In our acceptance, they feel free to share with us. There is so much to learn from our beloved ones who are transitioning.  It is their gift to us, if we but listen.

It is from this perspective that I am writing their book, as a wayshower, a peek into a glorious reality that lies ahead for all of us, given by those who have gone on ahead, that we may follow in their joyous tracks when we too transcend from the physical life we have been living, into the wholeness of our spirit.  It is to be a small book, a quick read for the dying and their families, to help them gain a spiritual insight into the amazing experience of dying, and what it really is, so that they with their loved ones can share in a greater way.

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Steve Whytman UnitingCreatives Optimal Potentials Coach

Uniting Creative Thinkers: The Beginning

Can you imagine unleashing the collective power of words written by thoughtful, intelligent, solution oriented Cultural Creatives around the world? Every problem by its very nature has solutions, but for many solutions, especially those for our most difficult problems to surface, a unique approach is required. The first step is to identify where the solutions REALLY lie.

History reveals that more innovation, more solutions to the pressing issues of the times, more breakthroughs come through the creative genius of individuals not afraid to think for themselves, often outside the box. Usually these ideas are birthed in one individual but perfected through another. Knowledge usually grows one precept upon another until it reaches critical mass. Sometimes it takes years to get to a place where everything falls together for someone who can see how it all fits.

For the first time in history we can quantum leap this process to critical mass. By simply beginning the conversations necessary to our pressing needs we can unleash the creative genius of tens of thousands, perhaps even millions of thoughtful people on our greatest challenges of the day. When people with differing perspectives and expertise engage with each other we can create synergistic creative power in every area of life. The answers we need will come from creative people connecting. Perhaps a new renaissance or age of enlightenment has been waiting for this time.

I believe the current culture of conflict is our greatest challenge to overcome in finding these solutions. It stifles creative dialog and genius by pitting us against each other and changing the conversation from solution focus to unprofitable accusation, blame and anger. I’m determined to rise above this climate and elevate our dialog to that which is life-enhancing and solution driven.

There is a very poignant story told to us in the Bible (whether you believe this story or your beliefs or political leanings disagree) there is a lesson there for us glean from. Maybe you are familiar with it. After 400 years of slavery to Egypt the people of Israel found themselves at the banks of the Jordan River waiting to go into the Promised Land. They sent twelve spies into the land to investigate. Sure enough, the spies reported that it was an amazing land that held great promise for them. But ten of the spies were filled with fear. They saw giants in the land, for them the challenges were too great! Their fear infected the rest of the people and the nation of men and women, children, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters were too afraid to enter the land. Rather than children of destiny they became victims of fate driven by fear and ended up wandering in a wilderness for a whole generation. I believe our world stands at a symbolic Jordan River. A future of promise awaits us if we will only dare to drive out our fear and those who prey on it and embrace a magnificent destiny.

The real lesson here is about taking personal responsibility to who we listen to and the words we use. Are you listening to those who infect us with fear and division? The power of words can keep us from a destiny of promise if we give these people the power to move us where they want us to go. If we do then we only have ourselves to blame. As a creative thinker I take responsibility to take a different path than fear. Won’t you join with us? In my next six articles I will lay out UnitingCreative’s conversation that we believe has a chance to change our future. One thing I know for sure: the victory will go to those who are the most committed. Come and join the conversation and tell us what you think!

Posted in 3- COLLABORATIVE COMMUNITY, 6- PERSONAL GROWTH & RELATIONSHIPS, 7- APPRECIATING SOCIETY, 8- SPIRITUALITY & NEW THOUGHT, Living into Greatness, Steve Whytman | 2 Comments

The principle I want to talk about in this article is that “Fear mongering destroys life, joyful passion enhances life!”  This is an extension of the last article I wrote about “Why Sales of Painkillers Soar..?” and referred to a news article that I believe is nothing less than a sensationalized commercial for drug companies masquerading as news.

Published in the Bellingham Herald, virtually the entire article, as it was written, displayed and endorsed the destructive to life through fear-mongering. Let me be say it a different way:  By emotionally charging the article by their choice of words and images, it becomes news carefully crafted into a professional commercial to sell more painkillers to you, your friends and family.

Whether this is done consciously by the crafters or unconciously, the net effect and the end result is the same:  not to stop the sales of legal narcotics, but to increase the sales.

While the smokescreen idea is to motivate you to be aware, the sales pitch comes in the backend.  Notice what is missing:

  • It does not redirect you to life enhancing alternatives.
  • It does not give you any actions to take that would make any difference.
  • It does not give you any real sensory appreciation for the real cost to the taxpayers, to the family, to the planet.  In fact, what it does is tell you how many narcotics the average family member takes.

The article as written leaves the reader feeling any number of emotions…especially hopeless, powerless, overwhelmed or angry.  All these feelings feed depression, and pain in the soul.  Bottomline, it feels bad.

And the emotional response is to want to feel better.  Painkillers make people feel better, they say.

So the cause of the bad feeling (problem) and the painkiller solution (antidote) are directly linked subconsciously in your psyche by the story.  You never made the link yourself, yet unwittingly you are likely to walk away from the article with a seed planted in your head that painkillers will solve the problem.  Whether this is true or false is not the point.  The seed was planted by the way the presentation.

And our local news staff placed the article/ad appropriately in the Bellingham Herald in the business section.  Why?  To further scare the marketplace, and inform on market trends, so investors know where to invest to get the best return on investments?

Then the key words of the search engine system strengthened the article’s impact on the emotional hearts of people, selecting appropriate ads to support the articles impact. More fear mongering. 

The Herald editorial staff probably has no idea they were manipulated by the drug companies with the illusion that they were serving the public to inform them of the dangers of using these addictive legalized narcotics.

Now, I do not say this lightly, for the illusion of being a concerned article is strongly maintained by the writers  There are only a couple ways to know if what I am saying is true:

1)  Compare:  Feel your way through the article as written.  Then compare it to a different article written with the same or similar data, different purpose.   Find one that is actually designed to enhance your life and gives you tools that you can use in place of painkillers. Or find one that actually is designed to stop the sales of painkillers and watch how they write it.

When I write a comparison article…it will be along this line:  ”Let’s stop the escalating sales of painkillers: Here’s what you can do!”  And I would go through alternatives to the various narcotics, giving the dangers, and providing alternatives from various industries that are less harmless.  I would only name them once.  Then I would call the medical profession on their legal oath to do no harm, and invite the medical professionals to go read the Naturopathic Physician and other qualified resources for more education.

2) Study the actual composition of the article and the rest with a thoughtful analysis of sales techniques, subliminal messages…and diagnose it rationally.  Use your critical awareness to notice how many fear mongering words are in the article. 

As it is written, it strikes fear into the soul just in the title.  They do it by saying, “Sale of Painkillers Soar Around the US, Fueling Addiction”. This scares and intriques you…you are hooked.  Why?  Virtually every word has an emotional hook and energetic density that captures and triggers a subtle fear response in the cellular memory of our bodies.  Look at every word and feel your bodies reactions.  Sale. Pain. Killers. U.S. and “us” (the people, you and me). Fuel. Addiction.  I feel reactive, don’t you?

Unless you are totally numb to looking at authentic reactions in your body, most people have a negatively charged emotional reaction to this.  We will react…whether it is by choosing to deny it and cancelling it out, getting irritated or angry, or wanting to know more so we can say, “I knew it.”

Now, when you read down through the body of the article it feeds your fear, making it an epidemic of reactivity.  They use the medical profession…and we all have been trained to mind the medical professsionals…to create the authenticity of the story.  They use the stats to prove their point.

3) Study the layout of the article and notice all the trigger words in the article, in the visuals that are motivating you from a fear place.  Notice that the ads that are linked all have women in them (victims) or pictures of the drugs themselves.  Notice that the commercial names of the drugs are listed multiple times in the article and in the related photos.  Notice that a commercial enterprise is where you go to fight the addiction, and to get more narcotics.

This is so clearly a commercial disguised as news, that it should be blackballed from any serious news media outlet.

As writers and critical thinkers, lets start calling our media, our commercial enterprises, our fear mongering stories out for fouls.  Let’s start asking anyone who writes to write from a position of education in critical thinking, and from a solution basis.  We must start to build all new industries that support life-enhancing behaviors and actions.

Who else sees this stuff happening all over the news…daily?  It is time for a new story that is about turning this culture away from the sensationalism, and inviting people to step into their own empowerment to create change, to build all new industries that are life enhancing and more.

Who do you know that is doing something that is deeply, truly awesome that we need to know about?  Invite them to join us as a writer on UnitingCreatives.com

Posted in 3- COLLABORATIVE COMMUNITY, 4- LIFE-ENHANCING BUSINESS, Authentic Marketing, Conscious Business, Conscious Storytelling, Conscious Writing, Health & Vitality, Joy Gilfilen, WISDOM KEEPERS | Leave a comment