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After last week’s newsletter article, “Eve of Destruction,” I thought we’d do something lighter this week.

I grew up in a family of Sicilian immigrants in rural New York State. As you’d expect, we were all Roman Catholics. Those were the days when the Catholic Church was pretty strict and conservative. Having grown up in that era, I clearly see the positive changes in the church over the years, although I am no longer Catholic. But back then, in the church I remember, it was a pretty bleak and joyless environment.… Read more

Eve of Destruction has been moved to  this location.

 … Read more

This week we’re continuing our discussion of health and healing, again responding to yet another letter from a close, long-time friend. If you missed last week’s newsletter or want to review it, here it is.

John Cali

Here is the relevant excerpt from our friend’s letter:

I feel better about everything and that is due in no small part to the words you published. I refer to them often and use them as a starting point in my visualizations and meditation.

The past several weeks we’ve been discussing health and healing in these newsletters. Also, you’ve sent us questions and comments about this whole issue of our physical bodies and their healing. Spirit and I realize this is a huge challenge for so many today. So we’re continuing the topic this week and next.

John Cali

In response to last week’s newsletter article, one of our readers, a long-time and dear friend, wrote us. Here’s the essence of her letter:

Well, though I’ve heard this message countless times, I still find that it disturbs me.

You sent us some excellent questions and comments on our newsletter article, “A Sight To Behold” from November 28. So this week we’re doing a follow-up to that article. If you missed it or want to re-read it, here it is.

John Cali

First an excerpt from Spirit’s original “A Sight To Behold.”

Your bodies know how to heal themselves. They have a consciousness — every cell within them has a consciousness of its own. That consciousness is always — always — moving toward perfect balance, perfect healing, wholeness….

We received many interesting comments and questions in response to our recent newsletter article, “Inter-dimensional Traveling.” So we thought we’d do a follow-up. If you missed that newsletter, or want to re-read it, go here.

John Cali

One of our readers sent us these questions. They’re typical of questions from other readers:

• Do we just disappear and live in another dimension with the same consciousness?
• What do we think of our new-found place?
• Do we think we have made our transition?

We’re sort of following in the “footsteps” of last week’s newsletter and making this week’s article also a bit out of the ordinary. If you missed last week, read it here.

John Cali

I’ve been nearsighted (can’t see at a distance) all my life. So I’ve always needed glasses (and, later, contact lenses). It was very dangerous for me to drive a car without my glasses. Not to mention illegal.

One sparkling spring morning in 1994, I awoke to a brilliant blue sky filled with warm sunshine.… Read more

I thought we’d do something different this week, something fun and lighthearted. Of course, everything we do here is fun. But it’s not always lighthearted. Anyway, I’ve always been fascinated by this subject.

John Cali

Many years ago my wife Theresa, our young son John, and I were visiting Pennsylvania’s Gettysburg Civil War Battlefield. For those of you outside the USA, this is one of the better known battlefields of the 1861-65 US Civil War.

We’d always loved visiting Gettysburg and sometimes stopped there when traveling from our home in Virginia to my family in western New York State.… Read more

As most of you know, last week, on November 4, we switched from daylight saving time back to standard time. I had a strange experience with the switch, something that had never happened to me before.

John Cali

My telephone, which has a built-in clock, is supposed to automatically switch back and forth from standard to daylight saving time at the usual 2:00 a.m. hour. It’s worked perfectly in previous years.

But in the change last week, the phone refused to switch.… Read more

There was a fascinating article in The Washington Post last week. A man called Aubrey de Grey is arguing humans are capable of living in a healthy and youthful state for 1,000 years. That’s not 100 — but ONE THOUSAND!

John Cali

De Grey recently published his long-awaited book, Ending Aging: The Rejuvenation Breakthroughs That Could Reverse Human Aging in Our Lifetime. A group of renowned, respected scientists have reviewed de Grey’s work. They concluded, as the Post article said, no scientists “had succeeded in blowing de Grey out of the water.”… Read more

One of the responses to last week’s newsletter article, “Depression,” asked how Spirit and I define the term “higher self.”

John Cali

Here are some excerpts from our reader’s response, and her question.

Hi John:

Thanks for today’s newsletter. I enjoyed it as always.

I’ve got a question for you. How do you define your “higher self?” I’ve heard it defined as your God self, but do you communicate with yours? Is it something you should be in touch with every day?

Our recent newsletter articles, including “Should Healing Be Easy?” from last week, have brought feedback from both ends of the spectrum. Some folks resonate with the messages while others are turned off. I suspect this week’s article will be another of those.

John Cali

I recently read a short article by Andrew Weil, M.D. on depression. Dr. Weil said “Depression is rampant. The World Health Organization estimates that major depressive disorders will become the second largest cause of disability worldwide by 2020, exceeded only by heart disease.”… Read more

Last week’s newsletter article, “The Rut of Earthly Reincarnations,” generated a lively discussion at our discussion group.

John Cali

The discussion turned into an interesting conversation about healing. I’m paraphrasing here, but one of the participants said she was sometimes reluctant to use a healing tool called EFT because “healing should not be that easy.”

The response from another member clearly articulated what I think, judging from the work I’ve done with Spirit over the years, is a common perspective:

I have a hunch there are those of us who, no matter how much we understand that life is not “supposed” to be hard, at some level believe that nothing comes without effort and sweat equity.… Read more

We received mixed feedback on our two most recent newsletters, “Feeling Good” and “All Roads Lead Home.”

John Cali

The feedback ranged from “unsettling” and “maybe you are after feedback from conflict” to “Thanks to Spirit for never wavering.”

Then there was the letter from my good friend of many years, George Ball. Here’s George’s letter:

John,

It’s nice to hear from the Spirit group that we will all return safely home. I don’t doubt that there is truth to that.

Many of us, especially when we were young, had a hero or heroine in our lives.

John Cali

Sometimes, we had more than one. These were people we looked up to, people we wanted to model ourselves after.

At various times in my younger years, my heroes ranged from cowboys to politicians (believe it or not!) to religious figures, and so on.

Who have been some of your heroes and heroines? I think the answer to that question can teach us a lot about ourselves.… Read more

Spirit raised more than a few eyebrows in last week’s newsletter with these comments:

“As bizarre as it may sound, we believe addictions are a good thing. Because they temporarily take you away from your pain and help you feel good. You will — you must — ultimately come to the point where you know you don’t need anything or anyone outside yourselves to feel good.

“But, in the meanwhile, any light is better than the darkness.”

John Cali

Spirit is not the first to say something like that, but it still provoked some interesting feedback.… Read more

As you may know, the American entertainer and television game show host, Merv Griffin, died August 12, 2007. He’d lived a good, long life. Like all of us, he had his challenges. But he always saw his life and his work as one and the same — a big game. He radiated that wonderful energy of always having fun and feeling good.

John Cali

I read an interesting recent article on addiction in the Washington Post a month or so ago.… Read more

I recently saw an interview with Warren Buffet, reportedly the second richest man in the world (after Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft).

John Cali

It was a fascinating look into the private side of this amazing man. Here are some interesting facts about him.

He still lives in the same small, simple three-bedroom home in Omaha, Nebraska he bought when he first married fifty years ago. He says it’s all he needs.

He doesn’t have a driver or security people — he drives himself everywhere.… Read more

In last week’s newsletter, Spirit said we’d talk about a couple of comments John and one of our readers, Barbara Webster, had made in that newsletter on the opinions of other people.

John

Here are those comments, first Barbara’s, followed by my response to her.

Barbara: . . . when I seek different audiences to give me validation and sympathy, there are too many human opinions that cloud the reality of the true situation. It’s just a way of putting off dealing with the truth and moving forward.… Read more

We received still more questions and other feedback in response to the past two weeks’ newsletters. If you didn’t see them, go here and here.

John Cali

One of our readers, Barbara Webster, sent us some excellent and thoughtful comments I’m sure there are others among you who’ve had similar thoughts.

Following is an excerpt from Barbara’s letter, followed by part of my reply to her, and then Spirit’s response.

Barbara

I too struggle with this. When reading the follow up I was confused when Spirit said never, ever talk about what you don’t want more of, and then went on to say it’s okay to talk about your challenges if it helps but not to continue dwelling on them.… Read more

We received some interesting questions and other feedback in response to last week’s newsletter. If you didn’t see that newsletter, you might first want to take a look at it here.

John Cali

One of the responses we received was from my dear friend, Suzanne Keyes, who sent us an email asking for some clarification from Spirit on last week’s newsletter.

By the way, Suzanne has a wonderful website called Finding My Way to Well-Being.

Here is Suzanne’s email, followed by Spirit’s response.… Read more

I talked about one of my neighbors in a recent newsletter. I don’t mean to be picking on the neighbors, but they seem to be a rich source of stories for our newsletter. So here’s another story, courtesy of another of my Wyoming neighbors.

John Cali

This story really begins about a year ago. But first, let’s fast-forward to the present.

Two weeks ago. I was walking down my driveway toward my mailbox when I ran into a neighbor. So I stopped to chat with her.… Read more

We had a death in our family last Saturday. It was neither tragic nor unexpected. She had lived a good, long life, and she was ready to go.

John Cali

That same day, I spoke with another family member who’d just faced her own mortality in a totally unexpected way.

She’d been on a business trip, and was on her return flight home. A few minutes after takeoff, the plane made a terrifyingly loud noise. Moments later, the captain announced they were descending immediately to land.… Read more

A few days ago, I was out jogging early in the morning. Although it was a clear sunny day, I could barely see the sky. There were wildfires burning in the mountains to the west, and the wind carried the heavy smoke down into the valley and town.

John Cali

It was hard for me to breathe, and smoke was getting in my eyes — it felt like they too were on fire. But I must say this summer has been pretty good so far — we haven’t had a lot of wildfires around here, unlike many other parts of the West.… Read more

I’m sure many of you remember that classic western film, High Noon, starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly (later, Princess Grace of Monaco). As a kid, it was one of my favorite movies.

John Cali

Every night at 6:00 p.m. at Buffalo Bill’s Irma Hotel in Cody, Wyoming, there’s a gunfight, Old-West style. You might even find Jesse James or Wild Bill Hickok there.

As you probably can guess, this gunfight is a nightly stunt put on for the enjoyment of summer tourists.… Read more