I walked out of my building on the morning of Friday, February 17th on the way to my dentist appointment. I turned to the right to go to the main road that leads toward my dentist’s office. It is a much steeper hill on this end of town, so I decided to take the lower, easier route. I turned to walk back down the stairs, but miscalculated and missed the bottom step, falling, as I screamed in pain hearing a distinct “crack”. Three neighbours and two men passing by stopped to help me. Assessing that I needed medical attention, they made me comfortable with ice packs, cushions, and assisted me into the backseat of the neighbour’s car to take me for x-rays. Clearly the results showed I needed medical care, so they put me back into the vehicle to take me to the medical clinic where they provided pain management for the evening and suggested I find a surgeon to perform surgery the next day. I was then transported by ambulance to the surgical clinic where they operated on the multiple fractures and dislocation of my ankle, as well as installing a steel plate for the multiple breaks in my fibula. Prior to the surgery, I spoke with the anesthesiologist about my prior experiences during surgery and explained that I woke up in the middle of my knee surgery a few years earlier. She said not to worry. However, during surgery, I woke up to the same vision of the blue surgical screen and the smiling face of the beautiful friendly anesthesiologist. I recall having a pleasant, if not short, conversation in Spanish with her and then went back to sleep. Could this again have been only in my mind? Either way, I’m impressed with myself for having sufficient Spanish vocabulary to hold a conversation, even if it is just all in my head!
 
Not having sufficient funds to pay for the surgery, I asked the clinic if they  would take a deposit and my passport as collateral, which they did. So, if you are so inclined, there is a GoFundMe set up with the link on Facebook to assist me with my medical expenses. I thank you in advance for you kind consideration.
 
The moral of the story is this: the easy route is not necessarily the best route, ask and you will receive, you are always supported in many ways. We are not broken; we need to reveal what needs to be healed within us.
 

wDo You Notice Anything Different?
 
I remember hearing my mom asking my dad this question many times. Do you notice anything different? She would have her hair or makeup done differently, or wore a new outfit, or some other subtle change. Of course, my dad would always ask for a clue for what he is supposed to look for. So now I wonder how observant is the average person when it comes to noticing a change. 
 
I used to do the ‘Spot the 5 Differences” puzzles in the daily newspaper. Some days they would be really easy and seem to jump out of the page at me because they were so obvious. Other days, they were a challenge. I’d struggle to find the last one. So, I could relate to my dad’s frustration. Yes, please give me a hint. What am I looking for?
 
How many times do we go through this experience in our day-to-day experiences? I would pride myself in how quickly I would be able to solve the little puzzle in the newspaper, and that was before I even heard of the Science of Mind philosophy. Now, I think I’m even more aware of subtle changes in my surroundings.
 
I have a spiritual practice of meditation, and often will imagine leaving my body to observe it from the outside looking in and around me. This allows me to be able to observe more things subjectively, when I didn’t have all my “stuff” disrupting me, like background operating systems cluttering my thinking and awareness. I could be more focused and objective.
 
Notice what you are noticing. I watch my thoughts drifting across my mind like little “thought bubbles” in a cartoon strip. I often use this technique when tying to go to sleep at night or during massage therapy. I notice what I am feeling in my body and how my skin and muscles feel, what emotions I am feeling, what I am thinking about how I feel. Then I notice how many things I am thinking about at the same time in that moment, and then notice how many more things I am thinking about. Sometimes I find myself just thinking too much, so I try to dial it down a bit so that I am just witnessing them without thinking too much.
 
Recently, I had a massage, and the therapist was interrupted multiple times during my session. This felt very disruptive to my sense of relaxation. I was noticing how upset I was about this and how it was causing me to be more tense rather than the relaxed feeling I anticipated. So, I started counting how many seconds the therapist was spending on a particular muscle and wondering if it was equal time spent on both shoulders, for example. I was counting the seconds, counting the strokes, thinking about how I was feeling both physically and emotionally, wondering how much time I had left in my session, what I was going to do after, where I was going to go next, and again I was noticing how much I was thinking in one moment, all at the same time. I wasn’t allowing myself to just be or allowing myself to relax and enjoy the massage because I was too busy thinking. I needed a remote control to mute out all the extraneous thoughts and noises in my head. I needed to go home and just relax and recuperate both my mind and my body.
 
And then I started wondering if I actually might have attention deficit, jumping so quickly from one thought to the next and then to another. I was making myself crazy! I needed to go home and listen to my favorite meditation where I could just relax and enjoy the moment.
 
* The human brain sometimes takes cognitive shortcuts to help make decisions, shortcuts that can lead to implicit or unconscious bias. The human brain can process 11 million bits of information every second. But our conscious minds can handle only 40 to 50 bits of information a second. it is most certainly possible but highly improbable that you can think about two things at once. A few people out of billions of the world are able to do what is called "multi channelling" where your mind completely focuses on 2 or more different things at once.
 
What do you think about when you think you are thinking about nothing? People who are thinking about "nothing" could also be having stream of consciousness thoughts that don't tell a coherent story, Halassa said. But the brain never actually stops "thinking" in a broader sense. (Michael Halassa's research is focused on the neural basis of cognitive control and flexibility, particularly as it relates to attention and decision making.)
 
It seemed so much easier when I was a child and would lay on the grass in a big empty field and watch the clouds go by. Maybe that’s why I enjoy people watching. Just observing, but sometimes wondering “what the heck are they doing” and wondering if they are wondering the same thing about me.
 
So, how do we keep our concentration? This is what Dr. Ernest Holmes wrote in the Science of Mind:
 
“To concentrate means to bring to a center, and in Mental Science it means focusing the mental attention on some definite and desired thought, image, idea or thing. Of course we are dealing with the idea as though thoughts were things. The spirit of the thing is in the thought. This is its essence, law, and cause.
 
Concentration of thought is not an effort to compel, but the desire to permit, the stream of Creative Energy to take definite for. To try to force, through concentration, would be to give ourselves an adverse suggestion and bring upon ourselves the very opposite to our wishes through recognizing an opposite to the power of Good. And all in accord with well known and defined mental law in the Spiritual World.
 
We concentrate our attention. The Law creates the form. This will solve one of those Divine Riddles which arise out of the teachings of Jesus. He was always telling his followers to believe, to have faith and then he as plainly said, “who by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature?” Here he tells us not to take thought. The riddle is solved the moment we place thought, imagination, will and concentration where they rightly belong in the creative order.
 
 A good psychological balance is struck when the will and the emotions are rightly poised. That is, when the intellect first decides what the emotions are to respond to. After the intellect has made this decision, then the imagination is called into play and the game of living commences. It is the office of the will to determine that to which the imagination is to respond.
 
One of the most important things for us to remember is that we are always causing something to be created for us. And that whatever cause we have set in motion must produce some kind of effect. Are we producing the effects we should like to experience? The creative process will go on willy nilly. We cannot beat Nature at its own game for we are some part of the game. She is playing. Shall the result, in our lives, be a comedy or a tragedy? We are given the WILL to decide the issue.
 
We should carefully consider whether we are willing to experience the results of our thoughts. There should never be any hurt in them, for ourselves or for anyone else. We may be sure that if there is hurt for others there must also be hurt for ourselves. As we sow, so we must reap, but here is no real limitation, for the Creative Life wishes us to have all that we can use. If we keep our thought fixed upon the idea that this is Energy, which is also Intelligence, is now taking the form of some desire in our lives, then it will begin to take this form. If we change the desire then It will change the form. Therefore, there must be a definite purpose in our imagination.
 
We are so One with the Whole that what is true of It is also true of us. We are one with the manifest Substance whose business it is to forever take form and we are on with the Law which gives form. The entire order is on of spontaneous being and spontaneous manifestation. The Law follows the word just as the word follows the desire. The desire arises from the necessity of the Universe to become self-expressed. the Law follows the word. the word follows the desire. The word gives form to Substance and the Principle of subjective Law produces the manifestation. There is no effort in the process whatsoever.
 
What we concentrate, then, is attention. This is done through intention and the willingness to hold thought centered until the form appears. It is unnecessary to learn any methods of concentration whatsoever if these simple rules are followed.” 
~ SOM pg.194-1
 
Ernest Holmes went on to say:
 
“Remember that thoughts are things and therefore different kinds of thoughts give rise to different types of manifestations.” ~ SOM pg. 254-4
 
Clearly, I was thinking something other than relaxation. So I left my massage appointment feeling drained, frustrated, sore, tense and angry, feeling like I was “ripped off”. I paid three times the amount I normally pay for a massage. So I set out to find a different therapist that was more conscious of the energy exchange between the client and themselves. I needed to get my Zen back. The next day I had a success with a new therapist and enjoyed a two-hour session of bliss. Aaah relief! 
 
Perhaps I should have done a Spiritual Mind Treatment before, during and after my initial massage session and I could I avoided my discomfort. But then again, I wouldn’t have had the experience to compel me to write this article. But now I can ask myself, “do you notice anything different?”

Being Aware of Awareness
 
I recently had surgery on my knee. They opted to use an epidural and other medications to keep me asleep rather than using a general anesthetic. I had specifically asked that they made sure that I didn’t wake up during surgery; I didn’t want to see, hear, or remember anything about it. They gave me some medication just outside the operating room and I was asleep very quickly. Actually, I’ve always been a bit disappointed that I don’t get a sense of giddiness prior to the anesthesia taking hold; I wanted to experience that feeling of being somewhere in the middle of being awake and asleep where everything is joyful and funny. Perhaps that’s only in the movies! Actually, I was hoping for some strange slow-motion sci-fi movie special effects experience.  However; I remember the anesthesiologist saying I’d be asleep soon, but I didn’t have the chance to notice that I was actually going to sleep; I was already asleep. 
Be aware of your thoughts and where you are placing your attention, for this is what will be created or made manifest. I was adamant that I didn’t want to wake up during surgery or see, hear or remember anything about it.  But, about midway through my surgery I experienced what is known as “accidental awareness”. I wanted to open my eyes. I remember having a conversation inside my head, telling myself to just open them. But I couldn’t see anything, until I focused and noticed a blue woven cloth directly over my eyes. I remember thinking it looked like a surgical tent over my head, but I wasn’t aware at this point if I was actually awake or dreaming. Then I heard voices, but I couldn’t understand what they were saying; however, I knew they were speaking Spanish. And then I heard the music, Pink Floyd’s "Another Brick in the Wall". Surely, this couldn’t be a dream! I was awake. I heard a light tapping sound and then felt pressure on my knee. I realized the pressure and tapping were occurring at the same time. Oddly, it was as if I could only focus on one sensation at a time.  
​I vaguely remember trying to sit up, but not sure if I actually accomplished this, or if it was merely a desire that my muscles couldn’t accommodate. Again, not knowing if it was real, or more likely, just in my mind, I asked, in Spanish, for more medicine and then I was back asleep. Back in my hospital room the surgeon came to explain the procedure he performed and I asked if he was listening to Pink Floyd during my surgery. Yes, this was the key piece of information that confirmed I had woken up during surgery. He shyly laughed and confided that this calmed him while he worked.  It made me happy that he had such good taste in music! Now I enter the long process of recovery, unable to put any pressure on the leg that had the surgery, to ensure the procedure of micro drilling (multi-fractures in the knee joint) to allow the creation of bone marrow and stem stems to regenerate new cartilage growth. Just like in Spiritual Mind Treatment, we need to drill down deep into our belief system to allow the truth to be revealed and allow a healing to take place. Oh, the joys of being waited on hand and foot! I am grateful for my friend Kim, who is my personal nurse aide.
Just like dealing with pain management, all life issues are best dealt with treating the cause before the effect (staying ahead of the pain), Spiritual Mind Treatment (aka Affirmative Prayer) works to treat the cause for knowing the highest good and the best outcome. If you or someone you know is experiencing pain (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual), or are looking for something better in life, ask a licensed Spiritual Mind Practitioner for a Treatment. You can find my contact information on our website www.cslpv.org to request a session.

Ser consciente de la conciencia
 
Recientemente me operaron la rodilla. Optaron por usar una epidural y otros medicamentos para mantenerme dormido en lugar de usar anestesia general. Les había pedido específicamente que se aseguraran de que no me despertara durante la cirugía; No quería ver, oír ni recordar nada al respecto. Me dieron un medicamento justo afuera del quirófano y me quedé dormido muy rápido. De hecho, siempre me ha decepcionado un poco no tener una sensación de vértigo antes de que la anestesia se apodere; Quería experimentar esa sensación de estar en algún lugar en medio de estar despierto y dormido y todo es alegre y divertido. ¡Quizás eso sea solo en las películas! En realidad, esperaba una extraña experiencia de efectos especiales de películas de ciencia ficción en cámara lenta. Sin embargo; Recuerdo que el anestesiólogo dijo que pronto me quedaría dormido, pero no tuve la oportunidad de darme cuenta de que me iba a dormir; Solo estaba dormido.
Sea consciente de sus pensamientos y de dónde está poniendo su atención, porque esto es lo que se creará o se manifestará. Me mantuve firme en que no quería despertarme durante la cirugía ni ver, escuchar o recordar nada al respecto. Aproximadamente a la mitad de mi cirugía experimenté lo que se conoce como "conciencia accidental". Quería abrir mis ojos. Recuerdo haber tenido una conversación dentro de mi cabeza, diciéndome a mí mismo que simplemente los abriera. Pero no pude ver nada, hasta que me concentré y noté una tela azul tejida directamente sobre mis ojos. Recuerdo que pensé que parecía una carpa quirúrgica sobre mi cabeza, pero en ese momento no sabía si estaba realmente despierto o soñando. Entonces escuché voces, pero no pude entender lo que decían; sin embargo, sabía que hablaban español. Y luego escuché la música, Another Brick in the Wall de Pink Floyd. ¡Seguramente, esto no podría ser un sueño! Yo estaba despierto. Escuché un ligero golpeteo y luego sentí presión en mi rodilla. Me di cuenta de que la presión y el tapping estaban ocurriendo al mismo tiempo. Era como si solo pudiera concentrarme en una sensación a la vez. Recuerdo vagamente que intenté sentarme, pero no estoy seguro de si realmente lo logré o si fue simplemente un deseo que mis músculos no pudieron acomodar. Una vez más, sin saber si era real o más probable, solo en mi mente, pedí, en español, más medicina y luego me volví a dormir. De regreso a mi habitación del hospital, el cirujano vino a explicarme el procedimiento y le pregunté si estaba escuchando a Pink Floyd durante mi cirugía.
Sí, esta fue la información clave que confirmó que me había despertado durante la cirugía. Se rió tímidamente y confió que eso lo calmó mientras trabajaba. Me hizo feliz que tuviera tan buen gusto musical. Ahora entro en el largo proceso de recuperación, incapaz de ejercer presión alguna sobre la pierna, esa cirugía para asegurar el procedimiento de microperforación (fracturas múltiples en la articulación de la rodilla) para permitir la creación de huesos y tallos de tallo para regenerar el crecimiento de nuevo cartílago. Al igual que en el tratamiento de la mente espiritual, necesitamos profundizar en nuestro sistema de creencias para permitir que se revele la verdad y permitir que tenga lugar una curación. ¡Oh, el placer de ser atendido de pies y manos! Estoy agradecido por mi amiga Kim, mi enfermera auxiliar personal. Al igual que tratar con el manejo del dolor, todos los problemas de la vida se tratan mejor tratando la causa antes que el efecto (adelantándose al dolor), el Tratamiento de la Mente Espiritual (también conocido como Oración Afirmativa) trabaja para tratar la causa para conocer el mayor beneficio y el mejor resultado. Si usted o alguien que conoce está experimentando dolor (físico, mental, emocional, espiritual) o está buscando algo mejor en la vida, solicite un tratamiento a un practicante de la mente espiritual con licencia. Puede encontrar mi información de contacto en nuestro sitio web www.cslpv.org para solicitar una sesión.