November 2013 Healing Communication News

© 2013 Paul Hood

Hello All,

Sheryl does the newsletter this month. Her focus is on healing for the season of the dark.

FLOWER ESSENCE FOR THE TURNING OF THE LIGHT

On my Flower and Spirit blog I’ve started a feature I call the Flower of the Day. Although I haven’t been doing it every day my idea is to ask for guidance through using a combination of dowsing and flower essences and share the insights I glean in the blog. I’ve been doing this kind of work for 10 or 11 years but for my own eyes only.  It has led to breakthrough insights for me and has served as a spiritual education I never would have dreamed possible. This weekend I asked for the flower most suitable for dealing with the turning of the light, the season we've just entered of shortening days and longer darker nights. For some people this leads to longer-lasting darker thoughts. Scorpio energy. Which can also be transformative energy when used wisely.

Dark thoughts can lead to light. Only, however, through intention. Someone wrote me last night, "I feel lost." I have felt the same way at times. So do we all. And if we feel lost way too long we can give up in despair. Things go wrong.  Earthquakes occur, businesses fail, people make mistakes. Recessions can create huge setbacks; wars even worse. Let's not talk about climate change, global catastrophes and the seemingly endless Walking Dead zombie apocalypse -- then I'll really get overwhelmed! But sometimes you need to descend into the dark in order to get to a new place, to recover, let go of the reins, regroup. Like Persephone who was abducted by Hades and dragged into the underworld, sometimes we have no choice but to descend into the depths. But there's a promise in that metaphor. Like seeds that are buried in the ground, held in the dark while waiting for the warmth and rain of Spring, a time of waiting, of developing, of rest and rebirth is a necessary part of the cycle of life. In the mythology Persephone was always returned to the surface so that life as we know it would not permanently fade away. And so it is with us. Terrible events can "abduct" us and take us away. But the light returns and we can return again and again.

The Flower of the Day then is Saint John's Wort. As an herb it is used for many types of depression. In the Flower Essence world we look at it the same way but from a more spiritually-rooted perspective. It’s seen as a tool for coming back into the light.

When you feel depressed you feel deeply pressed -- hopeless, bound up, almost immobilized. "My life is a mess!" we say. "I'll never get out of this place. Nothing appeals to me. When I do think of something I assume it can't be done, at least here, now, in 'enough time', by someone 'like me', someone in my particular predicament, in my age group, [put some limiting belief here]." Some of it's true. In today's world we can't all be professional basketball players, for instance.  With today's cultural conventions, if you're a certain age or never grew taller than 4'10"  that ship hasn't sailed, it never even came into your harbor. So, yeah, sometimes we have to respect certain limitations if we can't or don't want to challenge the status quo BUT we can practice basketball at the gym with our friends or play some other sport, find other things we like to do.

We need to be grounded and work with the physical reality of our lives to find the places we can flourish. We also need light in the sense of being awakened to the possibilities that exist, to be able to see the paths available to us. "Light our way when the darkness surrounds us, give us love, let it shine all around us." Karen Carpenter's voice singing comes into my consciousness although her song "Bless the Beasts and the Children" (see the video) was written in the third person ("Light their way", etc.) That's what Saint John's Wort flower essence is  for. It helps brings forward a feeling of being protected by the light within. We need light in our hearts in order to thrive/survive.


I can make a custom flower essence spray or dropper bottle for you that includes Saint John's Wort.
I also have other products that can help a person with troubled thoughts: Renewed Faith & Optimism, Support for Troubled Times, Restful Sleep, to name just a few.

And, by the way, there is this spiritual counseling thing Paul and I do that can also help. We don't deal with clinical depression as we're not licensed clinical counselors but sometimes guidance from a spiritual perspective can make all the difference.

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WANT TO SET UP A SESSION?
That's easy! Write to us and suggest a couple of times that might work for you. We can meet in-person in Chico, CA or via Skype video or telephone anywhere in the world. We're available these days Friday, Saturdays and Sundays in the afternoons and evenings (Pacific Standard Time) and many evenings throughout the week. We typically schedule sessions at least 48 hours ahead. After you set up a session, pay us to confirm it, provide us with a phone number or Skype address and we'll call you at the appointed time. Information about our fees and a link for paying for sessions is here.
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FLOWER ESSENCE AROMATHERAPY
Sheryl's Mama Love Products business

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WHERE TO FIND OUR ARTWORK

In our joint Etsy shop
Beautiful Photographic Prints by Paul Hood
Beautiful Photographic Prints and Artwork by Sheryl Karas
Art notecards, T-shirts, mugs and other gifts featuring our images

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WHERE TO FIND OUR VIDEOS

http://www.youtube.com/user/healerteam

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JOIN US ON FACEBOOK

We post little tidbits of inspiration and fun, information and news about what we're up to, things that don't fit in the newsletter and things that do. And it's an easy way to interact with what we post through comments and possibly discussions from time to time. Look up "Paul Hood" or "Sheryl Karas" or both. Mama Love has its own page. That's at http://www.facebook.com/MamaLoveProducts. Become a Fan and be sure to let other people know about us, too!

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THANKS FOR ALL YOUR REFERRALS!
Simplest way to tell people about us? Forward this newsletter and include a note saying you like us. It's easy!

What is Spiritual Counseling?

© Copyright 2013 Paul Hood

Happy Fall, Everybody!

This month we thought we'd get back to basics. We're spiritual counselors but we've come to realize that a lot of people don't know what that is. . . or at least what it is that we do. So let's answer that question for those who you who might be wondering.

WHAT IS “SPIRITUAL COUNSELING”?

For us, spiritual counseling has evolved into a combination teaching/counseling session. We work one on one or the two of us with one client or a couple in private where people can share their deepest struggles, hope and dreams. Many of our sessions look a lot like conventional counseling sessions: we listen like good counselors ought to, ask questions and help people come to their own understandings. But we also stop to ask for guidance, sometimes once, sometimes several times, and the guidance we receive helps us focus like a laser beam on what will move our clients forward most. Sometimes that is more counseling; other times a session becomes more like a class with us sharing tools and techniques and various bits of knowledge we believe will be of benefit. Most of all, we bring our authentic selves—Paul’s wild sense of humor and our combination of eclectic spiritual focus, educational background and lessons from our own life experiences into the mix.

That includes the bad stuff, the hard lessons learned, as well as the triumphs and positive tales to tell. People who find themselves a great fit for our practice love this. They come to us because of it and some come again and again so they can take our support with them on their own interesting and challenging rides. Our clients include other healers and counselors (both alternative and conventional), people who believe strongly in personal growth employing a more open spiritual point of view than the norm, people dealing with fairly conventional problems related to relationships, careers and decisions they're trying to make, and people who have challenges of a more spiritual nature and need a set of kindred spirits to buoy them along.

You'll find extensive biographical information and descriptions of how we work and what problems we address on our website at www.healingcommunication.com. We also have a lot of articles online (www.healingcommunicationnews.blogspot.com/) and even some videos (www.youtube.com/user/healerteam). If you’re still curious about who we are and how we do what we do, feel free to send us an email.

Want to set up a session? That's easy! Write to us and suggest a couple of times that might work for you. We can meet in-person in Chico, CA or via Skype video or telephone anywhere in the world. We're available these days Friday, Saturdays and Sundays in the afternoons and evenings (Pacific Standard Time) and many evenings throughout the week. We typically schedule sessions at least 48 hours ahead. After you set up a session, pay us to confirm it, provide us with a phone number or Skype address and we'll call you at the appointed time. Information about our fees and a link for paying for sessions is here:
http://www.healingcommunication.com/How_to_Make_an_Appointment_with_Spiritual_Counselors_and_Healers_Sheryl_Karas_and_Paul_Hood.html

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FLOWER ESSENCE AROMATHERAPY
Sheryl's Mama Love Products business is at http://www.mamaloveproducts.com

–––––––––––

WHERE TO FIND OUR ARTWORK

In our joint Etsy shop... http://www.etsy.com/shop/PaulnSherylArt
Beautiful Photographic Prints by Paul Hood... http://PaulHood.imagekind.com/
Beautiful Photographic Prints and Artwork by Sheryl Karas... http://sherylkaras.imagekind.com
Art notecards, T-shirts, mugs and other gifts featuring our images... http://www.zazzle.com/paulnsheryl*

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WHERE TO FIND OUR VIDEOS

http://www.youtube.com/user/healerteam

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JOIN US ON FACEBOOK

We post little tidbits of inspiration and fun, information and news about what we're up to, things that don't fit in the newsletter and things that do. And it's an easy way to interact with what we post through comments and possibly discussions from time to time. Look up "Paul Hood" or "Sheryl Karas" or both. Mama Love has its own page. That's at http://www.facebook.com/MamaLoveProducts. Become a Fan and be sure to let other people know about us, too!

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THANKS FOR ALL YOUR REFERRALS!
Simplest way to tell people about us? Forward this newsletter and include a note saying you like us. It's easy!

September 2013 Healing Communication News

Paul

Hi Everyone,

Hope you are enjoying your Labor Day weekend. This month's newsletter makes me LOL (Laugh Out Loud). It's written by Paul and he's in rare form. (Mild profanity alert -- Don't read if his wild, straight from the hip style might offend you!) The rest of you, have fun!

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CORN PONE WISDOM

In my circle of friends there has been a lot of talk lately surrounding life philosophies, specifically those philosophies considered to be conducive to “success” in life.

For the most part these are common sense bits and pieces of advice and they tend to center around the whole “be positive and good things will happen” movement. I tend to call it, “corn pone philosophy.” Is that an insult? Kind of, but corn pone philosophy can be useful. I happen to like actual “corn pone” (it means “cornbread,” I had to look that up). Other terms for it might be homespun or homegrown. They all refer to it being common, widely known, simple things you tend to forget but need to remember because they are supposed to be useful. You know, “a stitch in time saves nine,” even though nobody sews by hand anymore. And if an article of your clothing gets torn you’ll probably buy a new one today because it makes more sense. But, figuratively, it means “fix something before it gets worse.” If I think about it, however, once I get all my sewing stuff out, thread a needle, set up a desk lamp, and sit down to sew—nine stitches is not a problem. Might want to wait until eighteen stitches are needed. If I did all that for one single stitch, I’d feel like an idiot. Hey, especially if I have a sewing machine that does, like, nine stitches per second on its lowest speed. And that’s why I’m writing this, I’m trying to fix something before it gets worse.

OK, so that bit of folk philosophy didn’t work so well. How about “measure twice, cut once.” Yeah, that means be more cautious before you commit. Right along the lines of “look before you leap.” There are plenty of corn pone philosophies directed towards avoiding serious injury, making some kind of mistake which could have been avoided, or the inexcusable sin of wasting material, “waste not, want not.” Most corn pone philosophy comes from humble roots. Corn roots. More specifically, people who are likely to plant corn, harvest it, grind it up, make bread out of it and eat it. Probably with milk from their own cow, the one they raised from a calf. And the butter on the corn pone—from the same cow, and they churned it themselves. Have you ever churned butter by hand? It takes forever. You wouldn’t do it today. Corn pone philosophy can be useful, especially if you’re growing corn, sewing clothes, or building a barn on a tight budget. Because, you know, we all do that. Or in theory we yearn to. There’s even a cookbook out right now, “Make the Bread, Buy the Butter.” Hell no, I’m not going to make the bread! Maybe I should grind the wheat into flour? What’s a loaf of bread, three bucks? I earn that in three minutes (sometimes). Increasingly in our society if you don’t earn that in three minutes you are encouraged to aspire to that and more. But why is the wisdom to aspire to an owner's class expected to to have been sprouted, grown, harvested, ground up and baked from the working class? It doesn’t fit. It won’t even grow in that soil. Wrong climate. But that’s where a lot of this current crop of success oriented philosophy came from. And just when you think you’re getting somewhere somebody throws in the nextgen “how do you define success?” questions or the “it is better to fail at something you love, than to be a success at something you hate” because. . .  because fuck you, that’s why. Because it wasn't hard enough already.

It can be a problem when corn pone philosophy gets mis-applied. Especially when you consider that much of it is contradictory. “Strike while the iron is hot.” “He who hesitates is lost.” And of course I am having to address all this because “necessity is the mother of invention.” These “seize the day” statements directly contradict a lot of prior cautionary ones. Unless of course, you are Steve Jobs. He gets quoted a lot, because he made it out of the cornfield. He says things like:

Here’s to the crazy ones—the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently—they’re not fond of rules. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things. They push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do. ~ Steve Jobs

and also

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. ~ Steve Jobs

and this one

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something–your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life. ~ Steve Jobs

Which sounds a little bit like an old corn-pone saying, “faith can move mountains.”

But where Steve’s post-industrial, big-city, yuppie-class philosophy meets corn pone rural agrarian wisdom is where it really gets interesting. The farmers had kids. The kids went to college. They came home, briefly, but then they moved to the city where Jobs is, and where the jobs are. The city had its own wisdom, some of it cynical, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” “Don’t take any wooden nickels.” “I didn’t just fall off the turnip truck.” Then those kids got married and had kids, and so on, and that’s us, now, right now. The old sayings never went away. They just got new sayings added to them. I still like cornbread. But I really like sushi, too. I’ll have a ten-dollar glass of Napa Valley Merlot with my pulled pork sandwich, thanks very much.

Oh yeah, melting pot and all that stuff, isn’t life grand? Well sure, as long as it isn’t making you crazy. Literally crazy. What if your agri-rural descended grandparents filled your parents' heads with their corn-pone philosophy, to which they added all the new city philosophy, and then passed it down to you? What do you do with all that mess, to which you are no doubt adding a slew and a slurry of current day stuff? What if corn pone doesn’t mix well with caviar and trying to make it go just makes you violently ill. Well, “game over, man.” All your platitudes are belong to us. But then again, “I’ll be back.”

OK, I’m back. Let’s see if we can’t “kill two birds with one stone.” Under the best of circumstances philosophies, corn pone or otherwise, contradict. Some even are self-contradictory. They have to be evaluated case by case in any given circumstances. It’s wisdom that you’re shooting for, which some define as knowledge + experience. Furthermore, as Steve stated above, maybe faith and intuition trumps even wisdom because, after all, you’re only dealing with the dots you can see, and the dots you have seen already. The dots you will see are yet to exist, like subatomic particles they may obey the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, meaning you don’t quite know where they’ve come from or where they’re going to be, exactly. Maybe they appear and come into being at the space into which you stare at nothingness. Are you willing the dots to exist and order themselves? Are you the active creator or the passive observer? Or both? Or neither? Are you sure? Whoa dude, reality can get pretty fuzzy and yet there’s always somebody willing to tell you what to do.

Have you ever stopped to think that cautionary philosophy only works well on people who aren’t already cautious? That philosophical memes warning against deception only help the helplessly naive?  That, for example, sayings promoting “Hard Work and Sweat!” are like poison to the workaholic? And that the partner to the perfectionist-promoting, Protestant work ethic, winning-divine-status-through-the-fruits-of-one’s-own-labor “pones” are actually a total contradiction to the old “the world is not fair, babe, nobody promised you anything” statement? And yet it always seems to be the same guy repeating these things back to back. “Work, work, work and you shall (not) be rewarded because the world is not fair, so follow the rules, because nice guys finish last but you should always be nice and the winner makes the rules, and by the way money is the root of all evil and something about a camel threading a needle, and just for good measure be it ever so humble there’s no place like home.” It’s a wonder we aren’t all insane.

Since we’re on the subject of insanity now, Steve Jobs may have been a genius and a leader and an innovator, but he’s also on record for a lot of other things. There’s the story of a clerk at Whole Foods finding Steve Jobs parked in a handicapped spot in his silver convertible Mercedes screaming into his cell phone “Not. Blue. Enough!” And yes, that’s an allegory. Just one more to make you completely nuts. Remember that next time you get "poned."

All I’m really asking for is some awareness, some inkling of calm compassion, perhaps a sense of humor. I don’t have a four line meme to answer all of life’s questions, although there might be a four letter word that will get you most of the way there. “Love” is a good one, but there are others. Pick one, I guess, and then stick to it because there is something to be said for consistency. In the absence of a meme I have a question: How much of your current life philosophy is based upon the post traumatic stress disorder of your ancestors? Come on, laugh, don’t think about it. It’s a joke. Geez.


-- Paul Hood, © Copyright September 2013

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SPIRITUAL COUNSELING
Would you like a session? Seriously, for real. We work with people in person (in Chico, CA) and all over the world via telephone or Skype video.
http://www.healingcommunication.com

–––––––––––

FLOWER ESSENCE AROMATHERAPY
Sheryl's Mama Love Products business is at http://www.mamaloveproducts.com

–––––––––––

WHERE TO FIND OUR ARTWORK

In our joint Etsy shop... http://www.etsy.com/shop/PaulnSherylArt
Beautiful Photographic Prints by Paul Hood... http://PaulHood.imagekind.com/
Beautiful Photographic Prints and Artwork by Sheryl Karas... http://sherylkaras.imagekind.com
Art notecards, T-shirts, mugs and other gifts featuring our images... http://www.zazzle.com/paulnsheryl*

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WHERE TO FIND OUR VIDEOS

http://www.youtube.com/user/healerteam

–––––––––––

JOIN US ON FACEBOOK

We post little tidbits of inspiration and fun, information and news about what we're up to, things that don't fit in the newsletter and things that do. And it's an easy way to interact with what we post through comments and possibly discussions from time to time. Look up "Paul Hood" or "Sheryl Karas" or both. Mama Love has its own page. That's at http://www.facebook.com/MamaLoveProducts. Become a Fan and be sure to let other people know about us, too!

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THANKS FOR ALL YOUR REFERRALS!
Simplest way to tell people about us? Forward this newsletter and include a note saying you like us. It's easy!

August 2013 Healing Communication / Mama Love News

© Copyright Paul Hood

Hi Everyone,

For those wondering, we had to say goodbye to our sweet cat Chloe last month and we're still feeling her loss. But otherwise we're still here, doing sessions and contemplating a few changes in our lives. Nothing we know for sure just yet but supposedly the next month or so is the perfect timing for it! More on that in Sheryl's article below.

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TIME FOR A CHANGE

A number of astrologers have been saying that the time period we are currently in, extending through the month, is ripe for and conducive to great transformation. Are you up for that?

When I first started doing spiritual counseling, before I teamed up with Paul and a little after, I tried to call what we do “Transformative Counseling.” Some of our earliest clients can attest that this is exactly what we meant. Our sessions were sometimes two hours long, lots of energy would move, and clients would wobble as they left the house. We worried. “Go to the beach!” we’d say. “Take a walk or sit down and ground!” They’d smile blissfully and thank us as they left, say very complimentary things, promise to take care of themselves . . . and we’d never hear from them again.

Later we developed the wisdom to intend that each session be only what a person could healthfully assimilate at one time. We do one hour sessions now, almost never blow people away, and have a lot more repeat sessions, working with a few people regularly for months or more than a year at a time. People claim they want to be wowed—they need their healing to be AWESOME—but it rarely does people any good if they don’t assimilate it properly. And most people mustn’t even attempt it. We get a lot of questions from people struggling with sudden overwhelming Kundalini energy surges. If those surges had come in the context of an awareness of energy healing (personal experiences through long time supported practice) they wouldn’t be concerned. It would make sense, they could let go into it, they wouldn’t grasp on to it as proof of their specialness, they wouldn’t be terrified or even afraid. But when it happens out of context, all at once, people become very afraid. People write to us saying they’ve had problems for years. And believing that these experiences are “special” or proof of one’s specialness makes it worse because then you’re stuck between wishing it wasn’t happening and being afraid to have it go away.

This is not to say that transforming a situation that isn’t working anymore isn’t a useful thing! So back to the original question. Are you up for transformation? Or does the thought terrify you? What if “transformation” wasn’t necessarily an overnight event? If you knew it could happen in manageable chunks, never more than you could assimilate at one time, what would you wish for now?

-- Sheryl Karas M.A.

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SPIRITUAL COUNSELING
Would you like a session? We work with people in person (in Chico, CA) and all over the world via telephone or Skype video.
http://www.healingcommunication.com

–––––––––––

FLOWER ESSENCE AROMATHERAPY
Sheryl's Mama Love Products business is at http://www.mamaloveproducts.com

–––––––––––

WHERE TO FIND OUR ARTWORK

In our joint Etsy shop... http://www.etsy.com/shop/PaulnSherylArt
Beautiful Photographic Prints by Paul Hood... http://PaulHood.imagekind.com/
Beautiful Photographic Prints and Artwork by Sheryl Karas... http://sherylkaras.imagekind.com
Art notecards, T-shirts, mugs and other gifts featuring our images... http://www.zazzle.com/paulnsheryl*
–––––––––––

WHERE TO FIND OUR VIDEOS

http://www.youtube.com/user/healerteam

–––––––––––

JOIN US ON FACEBOOK

We post little tidbits of inspiration and fun, information and news about what we're up to, things that don't fit in the newsletter and things that do. And it's an easy way to interact with what we post through comments and possibly discussions from time to time. Look up "Paul Hood" or "Sheryl Karas" or both. Mama Love has its own page. That's at http://www.facebook.com/MamaLoveProductshttp://www.facebook.com/MamaLoveProducts. Become a Fan and be sure to let other people know about us, too!

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THANKS FOR ALL YOUR REFERRALS!
Simplest way to tell people about us? Forward this newsletter to your friends via email, Facebook or Twitter and include a note saying you like us. It's easy!

July 2013 Healing Communication News

© Copyright 2013 Paul Hood

Hello Everybody!

Happy Independence Day! Is there anything in your life you really want to be independent from even if you need to be interdependent? Yeah, there are times… The newsletter article this month was written by Paul. Sheryl has new unscented flower essence formulas for pets she wants to tell you about (you can use them for people, too!) And if you happen to be anywhere a reasonable distance from Chico, CA you might want to check out Sheryl's art in a special show there. The reception is Friday, July 12 and details are below.

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IN THE MOMENT

I’m not a big fan of hot weather. For almost a week I saw the reports of weather coming: 115 degrees by the weekend. I hate that. But as I kept seeing the estimates change, day by day, I got to noticing that I’d have been better off not knowing anything, especially since what I “knew” were just estimates and predictions. By Friday it was indeed 109. But what I didn’t know was that the humidity would be a startlingly low 9%. As little as I had to be out in it, it was no big deal, even though our car has no functioning air conditioner. Yet our apartment surely does. First world problems, right? Boo-hoo, it’s kind of hot. The worst part, of course: worrying that it will be hot. Sheryl reminded me that Californians don’t know weather like East Coast people do, that the high humidity in the East means your natural evaporative body cooling system (sweating) no longer works so count your lucky stars. “I’m sure it will be much worse tomorrow,” I told myself, shortly before telling myself to stop thinking that. And I had a hunch that the weather might be nearly identical anyway. It was. The dreaded 115 degrees never came. We had a leisurely Saturday morning and enjoyed indoor activities in our air conditioned cocoon of an apartment.

Heading out to breakfast our Jeep wouldn’t start. Dead battery. Whoops. I knew it was weak. I knew it for a long time. I had not considered that it would fail on the hottest day of the year (so far). But that’s when batteries do fail, when it’s hot and when it’s cold. Some people learn from the errors of procrastination early in life, some are pushing fifty and still haven’t figured it out. Lucky we could borrow my dad’s car (he lives next door) and proceed. Pretty interesting day because we then proceeded to have several different experiences at the same place of business within just a few hours: really good service, almost too good, then really bad service, then almost as bad, then good again but sort of reluctant. I thanked the first one and the last one profusely and, by the way, the “too good” guy was on crutches and working anyway. The last guy seemed so shocked that I had thanked him, and a look passed over his face indicating that I had just changed his day with a simple “thank you.” If anybody asked me if I’d recommend that auto parts store I’d have to say, “It’s great, and it’s terrible, and it’s mediocre, and it’s pretty good.” It’s like probability in statistics, the truth only becomes evident as the repetitions of an experiment approach infinity. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

By the afternoon we’d had a nice breakfast out and the Jeep was functional again. It actually seemed “happy” to have a new battery. A couple hours later and we had a power outage in the apartment. A transformer had failed and half the complex would be doing without. More first world problems-- considering that a whole crew would be dispatched to replace the transformer, working through the night to do so. Off to the movies we went, but decided against going as we stood in the lobby. The air conditioning blasted through the open doors, refrigerating the parking lot. Young women kept striking up friendly conversations with Sheryl and I, smiling, happy, and I reflected on the fact that so many people in this town are. The heat doesn’t seem to affect them. Or possibly, they love it. Our cat was happy, too. She was actually very sick with a tumor, but as far as she was concerned a dark, quiet and warm house was pretty fun and interesting, plus she got to enjoy the undivided attention from her loved ones without intrusions from the usual electronic devices like TV and the internet.

In between all that we went to Denny’s and bumped into other folks from our apartment complex waiting it out. At the next table was a beautiful child with her parents. She kept sneaking stares at us from beneath her mop of blonde hair. Mom wasn’t happy, not at all. Dad was running interference with the kid-- who was actually doing nothing at all wrong except being a slightly bored 2 year old at a restaurant at 10 at night. I’m talking about an angel of a two year old. I wanted to tell the parents how beautiful their child was, both in spirit and the obvious sense, the kind of kid you want to photograph for the sheer joyous life in her. I even caught the kid mugging it up to cheer up her mommy. The parents didn’t take the news well that the power might be out until some time in the morning. You’d think it had been the news of a death in the family. Before they left I commiserated with the mom about the raising of a 2 year old (I’ve done it twice) and she seemed to like that a little, as long as the topic stayed on how difficult it was.

I had a hard time complaining about anything after that. That family blessed me.

Back at home, Sheryl and I watched an unusual movie on my laptop in the dark. We put the cat between us on the bed and she loved it— she purred and cuddled and did not mind the heat. The movie was a series of short stories themed on being somewhere you are not, being something you are not, or pausing for a moment between here and there, contemplating exactly where you are and who you are now, right now, right in this moment in time.

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SPIRITUAL COUNSELING IS KIND OF OUR THING
Would you like a session? We work with people in person (in Chico, CA) and all over the world via telephone or Skype video.

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NEW FROM MAMA LOVE!!!
Unscented flower essence sprays for people and pets. Or pets and their people! Sometimes people write to ask about flower essences to use with their pets and forget that whatever is upsetting Fido might be upsetting them, too. Or vice versa. Our pets pick up our insecurities, worries and anxieties. They act out or even get sick where a person would act differently but if I ask for guidance about it I'll usually pick up on a dynamic affecting the family unit as a whole. If you pick a flower essence for their issues, consider using it for the entire family. I've seen it make a difference time and again. Unscented, please, for use with your beloved pets! Yes, you will find testimonials on the internet about using aromatherapy with animals but some essential oils that are great for you and me should not be used with them—I discovered that with a flea remedy I tried one day. Go lightly with using scented sprays in rooms they cannot choose to leave. Use unscented sprays for their food or for use in their beds or personal space. http://www.healingcommunication.com/mamaloveproducts/Products.html

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SHERYL HAS AN ART SHOW
Five large pieces based on our time in the Arizona desert are being shown for the month of July as part of a group show at the 1078 Gallery, 820 Broadway St  Chico, CA. This gallery has a reputation for being hard to get into so we're pretty pleased about that. The reception is 5:00-7:00 pm on Friday, July 12. Come by and say hello!

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WHERE TO FIND OUR ARTWORK
In our joint Etsy shop.
Beautiful Photographic Prints by Paul Hood.
Beautiful Photographic Prints and Artwork by Sheryl Karas.
Art notecards, T-shirts, mugs and other gifts featuring our images.

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WHERE TO FIND OUR VIDEOS

http://www.youtube.com/user/healerteam

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JOIN US ON FACEBOOK

We post little tidbits of inspiration and fun, information and news about what we're up to, things that don't fit in the newsletter and things that do. And it's an easy way to interact with what we post through comments and possibly discussions from time to time. Look up "Paul Hood" or "Sheryl Karas" or both. Mama Love has its own page. Our artwork also has a brand new page at www.facebook.com/paulnsherylart. Become a Fan and be sure to let other people know about us, too!

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THANKS FOR ALL YOUR REFERRALS!
Simplest way to tell people about us? Forward this newsletter and include a note saying you like us. It's easy!

June Newsletter

Chloe, ©2013 by Sheryl Karas

Hi Everyone,

A little about what's been going on in our lives lately along with more new products from Mama Love— Sheryl writes the newsletter this month.

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CHLOE'S TEACHING

As I sit down to write this newsletter our cat Chloe is sitting on a chair on the balcony porch. It’s her very favorite place besides Paul’s lap, another spot she was spending an enormous amount of time in before temperatures in Chico got too hot. Chloe has been sick with an inoperable tumor that appeared less than two months ago and grew surprisingly fast. We’re doing Reiki and other healing treatments for ourselves and her daily, giving her lots of petting and her favorite treats, and (perhaps most importantly) making sure she gradually gets enough of the pain meds our vet provided for comfort care.

This sweet being has accompanied us every step of our journey criss-crossing the country from the beach in Santa Cruz to the high desert of Arizona and back to valley California near the foothills of the Sierras so we can be close to Paul’s dad. In some cases she adapted better than we did— reacting with great joy by racing back and forth in our current apartment, jumping into boxes and pouncing on packing material, long before we had decided it was great to be there. We were too stressed about moving again to notice what a nice place it is and I know it was Chloe who reminded me to take the time to be grateful.

And today I notice the same thing. Too quick to want to move on from situations where I’m not quite satisfied, I can suffer immensely with emotional distress and related physical symptoms until I make the changes I need or wait with more aplomb. Chloe is still playing the role of teacher. We know she’s in pain but whenever we internally request guidance as to whether her time has come she immediately sits up and shows us through her actions that she is not. She’s not ready to move on from laps and cuddling, eating her new favorite foods (salmon and dry food cooked with water), or sitting outdoors where she can hear birdsong and watch squirrels with sunlight and a soft breeze blowing on her face. That’s all she needs.

“Heaven” can wait.

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NEW FROM MAMA LOVE

I have just launched a new line of unscented Reiki-infused flower essence pet formulas. If you check near the bottom of the Products page on my Mama Love website (www.mamaloveproducts.com) you’ll find them all there. I have formulas for Happier Indoor Living, Bonding with a New Family, Recovering from the Loss of a Caretaker, Getting Along With Other Pets, and Healing Aggression. You could also use some of my other unscented formulas with your pets. Doing New Things with Confidence, Releasing Worry and Fear, and Support for Troubled Times are the ones I most recommend. And consider taking appropriate ones with your pet! If you’re going through a worrisome time chances are they picking up on it, too!

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INTERESTED IN A SPIRITUAL COUNSELING SESSION?

Spiritual Counseling sessions with one or both of us can be set up by clicking here: http://www.healingcommunication.com/How_to_Make_an_Appointment_with_Spiritual_Counselors_and_Healers_Sheryl_Karas_and_Paul_Hood.html
We work in-person (in Chico, CA) or by telephone or video via Skype anywhere in the world.

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COME SEE OUR ARTWORK!

If you happen to live close enough to visit Chico come check out our fun and whimsical artwork in the window at Ellis Arts at 122 Broadway for the month of June. Then in July Sheryl will be showing photos and painting based on our time in the desert as part of a group show at the 1078 Gallery at 820 Broadway in Chico. There will be a reception Friday July 12 from 5:30 - 7:30 pm.

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MORE ARTWORK

In our joint Etsy shop... http://www.etsy.com/shop/PaulnSherylArt
Beautiful Photographic Prints by Paul Hood... http://PaulHood.imagekind.com/
Beautiful Photographic Prints and Artwork by Sheryl Karas... http://sherylkaras.imagekind.com
Art notecards, T-shirts, mugs and other gifts featuring our images... http://www.zazzle.com/paulnsheryl*

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OUR VIDEOS

http://www.youtube.com/user/healerteam
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JOIN US ON FACEBOOK

We post little tidbits of inspiration and fun, information and news about what we're up to, things that don't fit in the newsletter and things that do. And it's an easy way to interact with what we post through comments and possibly discussions from time to time. Look up "Paul Hood" or "Sheryl Karas" or both. Mama Love has its own page. That's at http://www.facebook.com/MamaLoveProducts. Our artwork also has a brand new page at www.facebook.com/paulnsherylart. Become a Fan and be sure to let other people know about us, too!

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THANKS FOR ALL YOUR REFERRALS!
Simplest way to tell people about us? Forward this newsletter and include a note saying you like us. It's easy!

April Healing Communication News 2013

© Copyright 2013 Paul Hood

Hi Everybody,

Happy Spring. Have you been feeling renewed energy for change and transformation? It's been fits and starts for us the last couple of months -- lots of unexpected change with illness (we're now both well, thanks) and computer glitches but things are starting to turn around. Sheryl -- the newsletter sender -- got a new computer and all hell broke loose for awhile. But, she says, it is SO great to finally join the 21st Century with plenty of RAM and all her computer programs up to date (or close enough for now).

Another new thing for Sheryl and her Mama Love flower essence aromatherapy business is a new line of unscented flower essence sprays. These sprays, so far, address the same issues her old line does minus the essential oils but the decision does lead to many new ideas about potential new products. Animal formulas top the list, also some for workaholism and its polarity (repressed motivation). She's looking for suggestions for healing topics that address a wide enough segment of the population to be applicable for a ready-made product list. You'll find her new unscented sprays at the bottom of this page: http://www.healingcommunication.com/mamaloveproducts/Products.html. They'll be available at wholesale prices for stores and those who can afford to buy in bulk -- just ask if it turns out that the "wholesale" webpage isn't updated yet.

-------UPDATE------
Apparently at least one person was confused enough about this last paragraph to write to me. Figured I better clarify this for everyone else: I don't make anything out of anything but certified organic botanical ingredients--I won't be making anything out of animal products. I plan to make flower essence products for pets! And I'm not doing scentless aromatherapy. I have been combining flower essence therapy with aromatherapy but for the scentless products I am doing straight flower essence therapy -- no essential oils. The reason I'm choosing to do scentless products in addition to my original product line is that despite what we in the industry believe is true about the safety and inherent value of aromatherapy... chemically sensitive people who have been frightened through past experience to avoid scents and those who care about them want scent free alternatives no matter what anyone says. Also some people don't want to smell like a rose or patchouli or whatever I decide to use but still want the benefits. My flower essence formulas will not behave the same as the flower essence aromatherapy combinations but they do provide at least an alternative some people might prefer to use in some situations.
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Sheryl also wrote the newsletter article this month. It's about a spiritual counseling choice that comes up for us and our clientele on and off.

Be well!

Sheryl and Paul

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WHY WE DON'T LIKE TO BE ASKED TO "PREDICT" THE FUTURE (Revisited)

An interesting conundrum comes up for us as counselors from time to time: what if you could predict the future but the belief you'd have about that future is incorrect? For example, people frequently wish to know what they should do about a sticky problem in their lives. "Should I go back to school, go out with this guy, do this thing I really want to do, whatever it is?" They may want Paul and I to tell them whether or not to do it. But perhaps not for the right reasons. They might not want to know if the risk is worth it; they want to know if it will be a "success." That's a hard call because Spirit doesn't always define success as they might want things to end up.

"Should I go out with this guy?" a person might ask. "Will it be safe? Will we wind up in love, walking down the aisle, happy for the rest of our lives?" We might not be able to answer that right off because the answer in some cases is deeper. What if the most important person to ever be in your life walked in the door right now and you weren't ready because the adequate preparation had not occurred? What if guy #1 (the one being considered today) was a step, a necessary step, to get prepared? Would you go on that date, those series of dates anyway? What if you are essentially “destined” to have several good years together, and then your partner dies? Would you altogether avoid what might be the love of your life?

Here's another one, a much more common scenario in our practice: "I need to make a change! I hate my job. It's a dead-end anyway. I can't figure out how to make a living in my chosen profession because I'm not prepared. I can't get prepared because I'm too busy. How do I make time for my highest callings?" "You need to go back to school" we sometimes say. "But how will I afford it?" "You'll find a way." we say. "There are job training scholarships you might qualify for, Pell Grants if you haven't gotten a B.A. before, other possibilities if you're over a certain age, under a certain age, a minority, etc., etc. But that's not the important thing.

Do you know what you should go back to school for? The answer is NOT just to get a job because who knows where this economy is taking us, what jobs will be in demand and why you may not be qualified even with the appropriate degree. Training might be more important. Exposure to new ideas always is. That's why you should consider going to school. To get out of your own limited world view and be exposed to something new. What do you REALLY want to do? No! Not that one, the thing you're afraid to consider. The one that will take you out of your comfort zone.

But wait! Is that practical? Is it wise to "waste the money" as some people might say on a college degree that won't mean anything when the economy changes again and new economic realities replace it (as is going to happen over and over in the course of one's life)? Or would it be better to at least take some electives in the course of getting the training you think you need to open your mind, to extend your horizons, to get a longer gameplan in gear.

Case in point: I went to school straight out of high school with the intention of creating a career that combined my love of art with writing and psychology, three interests that have stayed with me to this day. But I never have made my living as a fine artist, a writer or exclusively as a counselor although many of my jobs have involved at least two of these skills. Unanticipated things have occurred. I started out as a professional paste-up artist when that was a decently paid job and not a set of commands on a computer keyboard. Overnight that profession disappeared. Later I worked for a book publishing company in the days when small publishing houses that made their owners and employees a reasonable living were considered a "success" and not a liability by the larger multinational mega-publishing houses that bought them all later and demanded blockbusters. You may not realize that some of these publishers were not put out of business by the "internet" as people frequently assume. They were cannibalized by bigger fish for their most profitable offerings and then disbanded.

So how do you plan for sea changes like that? To some extent you don't; you prepare yourself to be able to change instead. That's where inner guidance comes in. Broaden your horizons, try something new and see where it goes. Follow your heart. And don't forget to wake up in the morning with the thought "I wonder what I'll get to do next!" Happy with anticipation.

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INTERESTED IN A SPIRITUAL COUNSELING SESSION?

Spiritual Counseling sessions with one or both of us can be set up by clicking here: http://www.healingcommunication.com/How_to_Make_an_Appointment_with_Spiritual_Counselors_and_Healers_Sheryl_Karas_and_Paul_Hood.html
We work in-person (in Chico, CA) or by telephone or video via Skype anywhere in the world.

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MAMA LOVE FLOWER ESSENCE AROMATHERAPY
Check out what's new at www.mamaloveproducts.com.

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WHERE TO FIND OUR ARTWORK

In our joint Etsy shop... http://www.etsy.com/shop/PaulnSherylArt
Beautiful Photographic Prints by Paul Hood... http://PaulHood.imagekind.com/
Beautiful Photographic Prints and Artwork by Sheryl Karas... http://sherylkaras.imagekind.com
Art notecards, T-shirts, mugs and other gifts featuring our images... http://www.zazzle.com/paulnsheryl*

–––––––––––

WHERE TO FIND OUR VIDEOS

http://www.youtube.com/user/healerteam

–––––––––––

JOIN US ON FACEBOOK

We post little tidbits of inspiration and fun, information and news about what we're up to, things that don't fit in the newsletter and things that do. And it's an easy way to interact with what we post through comments and possibly discussions from time to time. Look up "Paul Hood" or "Sheryl Karas" or both. Mama Love has its own page. That's at http://www.facebook.com/MamaLoveProducts. Become a Fan and be sure to let other people know about us, too!

–––––––––––

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR REFERRALS!
Simplest way to tell people about us? Forward this newsletter and include a note saying you like us. It's easy!