March 2007 Rev. Celeste Shakti Hill Inspiration and Intention   "When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be." --Patanjali   As I put together this issue's Good News, I found several pieces that talk of the power of who we are. As human beings we often think of ourselves as flesh and blood, and certainly, we are this. But we are so much more. It is our mind, heart and consciousness that enable us to transcend and affect our life and our world. We are beings of goodness and energy; therefore able to do and be whatever we want to do and be.   As we move into this New Year, set your consciousness and intentions high! We can achieve what we can dream!!   Namaste' Rev. Celeste Shakti Hill     Wired to be Inspired   "To do something, however small, to make others happier and better, is the highest ambition, the most elevating hope, which can inspire a human being." --John Lubbock   Most theories in social sciences say that people's actions and feelings are motivated by self-interest. So here's a puzzle: why do we care when a stranger does a good deed for another stranger? Psychologist Jonathan Haidt has been pondering this question for years. Haidt uses the phrase "elevation" to describe the warm, uplifting feeling that people experience when they see unexpected acts of human goodness, kindness or courage -- and the power of this feeling to inspire widespread compassion. Examples of elevation exist across cultures and historical eras. While psychology has traditionally focused its energy on studying the origin and impact of negative moral emotions such as guilt and anger, Haidt's work seeks to look scientifically at the compelling effects of goodness.   A common theme form Haidt's study is a desire to be with, love, and help other people. The effects of these feelings appear to have potentially life-altering effects. One participant described how moved he was when so many people came to visit and support his family while his grandfather was dying. He said he still had those feelings seven years later, and that those feelings helped inspire his decision to become a doctor.   Service has a way of producing humility. When we honestly seek no reward for our gifts -- not even so much as an expression of gratitude -- we act with true selflessness. We set aside our own circumstances, sublimate our personal desires, and offer ourselves to the greater whole to which we belong. We lose ourselves in something so much vaster than ourselves. (charityfocus.org)     The Power of Intention   "To live more voluntarily is to live more deliberately, intentionally and purposefully -- in short, it is to live more consciously. --Duane Elgin"   The great boxer Muhammad Ali, in the later years of his career, had a secret: he was not training his body to win; he was training his mind not to lose. Ali remained "the greatest" by drawing upon the power of intention for strength in the ring. Lynne McTaggart's research on intention demonstrates it's role in performance, healing, and well-being -- and furthermore, how intention works neurologically. For example, studies with both electromyography (EMG) and the electroencephalogram (EEG) show that thought produces the same mental instructions to the body as action!   To be most effective, an intention should be a highly specific aim or goal, which you should visualize in your mind's eye as having already occurred, while you are in a state of concentrated focus and hyper-awareness. When you imagine this future event, hold a mental picture of it as if it were occurring to you at that moment. Engage all five senses to visualize it in detail. The centerpiece of this mental picture should be the moment you achieve the goal. (charityfocus.org)   This suggests that we have an awesome level of responsibility when generating our thoughts. How are you affecting your life and the planet in this very moment?