For many of us, the amulets carried or worn by different people – such as, the Catholic cross, rosary beads, pearl necklaces, unique healing jewelry, and many other ways to make vital use of these tiny specks of heavenly creation – have been familiar daily sightings in the streets, ultimately, causing more of us to take them for granted. This, in turn, has neutralized or lessened their respect and perceived value. However, what we actually are witness to in the presence of these energetically invaluable stones is beyond our meager imaginations. They are items that have been charmed, carried, worn, and passed down since time immemorial. De facto, both civilized and primitive individuals, cultures, and unique societies wear them for many occult reasons, including to drive away evil, heal, protect, to enhance spirituality, and, yes, to attract love.

The word amulet has the Latin origination of amoletum which means a defense medium or to avert evil. People use it because of the belief that it holds special powers to be used for protection against evil acts or entities like dark witches/witchcraft, ghosts, evil spirits, calamities, misfortune, illness, and other disasters/traumas. Also, amulets are believed to carry good fortune and luck that many people refer to them as talismans.

It is amazing to see that all the way from a primitive era in the distant past to the modern era with the varying cultures and sets of societies comprising it, humans still believe in the powers of amulets that specifically and supposedly derive their powers from connections made with religious associations including the occult, from rituals, and with more powerful natural forces. In those ancient days, you would find these amulets or talismans worn or carried, locked in an area desired to be endowed with the influence of their powers, and in religious ceremonies when the high priest wore a Choshen or breastplate, for example.

As mentioned, amulets come in various types and uses. But in the modern world, crystals and gemstones seem to have become more popular seeing the many collections and varieties of them in different sizes, shapes, types, colors, and variations. These crystals and gemstones have also gone into the hands of fashionable designers so they’ve been integrated into jewelry pieces like necklaces, pendants, bracelets, wands, and rings. Crystals and gemstones are also now found in zipper pulls, key chains, bag charms, key fobs, luxury cell phone cases, and in a lot of other gorgeously presented designs that have become not only a form of useful amulets, but fashionable representations as well. But a fact not to ignore, the magic of their healing properties still remains, giving many people this primary reason to wear them despite the nonbelievers in these beautiful, natural items’ efficacy. Remember, everything from Gaia is inherently pure and perfect in its own way.

Some of the most popular crystals and gemstones include amethyst, quartz of various colors, ruby, emerald, agate, tourmaline, opal, rose quartz, sodalite, goldstone, peridot jade, malachite, and, the most popular and commercially sought after of them all – the diamond. Each of these is an embodiment of protective, unique, and spiritual healing properties. There are many resources in the ethos that can provide details of each. With the characteristics that they possess, it is no wonder that the traditional penchant for people to wear these gorgeous and symbolic pieces will continue through to the next generations and further generations to come.

I know I rarely ever take off my amethyst, ruby (my birthstone), tiger’s eye, quartz, aventurine, selenite, and tourmaline. They come in different jewelry pieces (necklaces and bracelets) and pure uncut stones I carry in my pocket. Now, please know that some stones can amplify others like quartz does while some may counteract another, so it is important to know what properties the stones have so you know how to wear them, place them in your feng shui rituals, in your sacred spaces, or just in general. If stones are of interest to you, it is best to find a book or advisor to help you select the best stones for your activities and needs, and how to properly use and maiintenance them. Also, please keep in mind that crystals and stones are living things. They all hold natural power imbued by Mother Nature. Respect the stones and Gaia, above all! Do this and they will serve you powerfully and eternally as any living thing will do.

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Part of it has to do with the way business has functioned in the last few decades.  In our parents’ working years, the norm was to work for the same company and be a “company man” for 40-50 years, get that gold watch and retire with a handsome retirement package.  That formula just doesn’t work, or exist below the C-suite, anymore.

For one thing, retirement plans supported by employers have become a thing of the past. There’s plenty of funds matching and other options employers offer in their benefits, but its fickle and can end if the company changes, merges, etc. Savings for retirement have plummeted as the financial demands of life are all most people can keep up with.  So the concept of working on into what used to be called retirement years is now a given if for no other reason than financial necessity and a shit country who disregards the aged.

The model I just laid out of employees staying with the same company for their entire adult lives is simply no longer feasible or a reality for all but a few in the modern workforce.  Most boomers have worked for dozens of companies in their adult lives so their retirement packages, if they exist at all, are small.  Part of this can be attributed to the entrepreneurial spirit of baby boomers.  But, there has been a discernable shift in the way American business works as well.  Companies don’t like the idea of keeping employees that long.  Add to that the fact that so many companies have gone out of business, been absorbed in huge corporate buyouts, or undergone drastic downsizing that by the time most boomers hit their 50s and 60s, the idea of keeping one single career moving forward is pretty hard to sustain.

But, these negative explanations are not all there is to why baby boomers are starting over this late in life.  Boomers never did accept that the rules of life or aging applied to them.  They are ambitious, adventurous, and willing to strike on new paths with much less fear than previous generations.  As boomers have faced some of the challenges of the economy, social upheavals, and the modern business world, they have responded aggressively by starting businesses or changing their careers entirely later in life.  And they are just as willing to pay their dues and stick with that new career until they are as successful as they were when they were 30.

Many workers find a line of work and learn they can pay the bills and raise the kids early in life but they do not follow their dream career at that time.  So when the time in life comes that the kids are out of the nest, the house is paid off, and the adventure of living has settled down (somewhat), many baby boomers see that as the chance to finally throw out that boring old career and go after their dream career once and for all.  The same career change and entrepreneurial light shines on my Gen X.

It’s inspirational to see someone in that stage of life setting the standard in not settling for anything less than realizing their dream by launching a new career, doing what they’ve always wanted to do – no matter their age.  Who can fault boomers from wanting that kind of gratification in finding joy and success in a career that fulfills their passions?  So, Jah bless the late in life boomers who go for the brass ring in their golden years.  They will be an inspiration for many coming behind them, like myself and close colleagues, to be as bold about our/their lives as well. This is a more positive way to look at the fact that all of us are struggling and boomers work because they have to, unlike in most other countries who hold the aged in higher regard than we do here in the US. The children and the aged are taken care of first. Sad, but disgustingly true for the US of Asshats. We throw away people that have outserved their usefulness, but we can carefully handle and million-dollar Lloyd’s insure hair, a voice, or someone’s ass. True shit, literally and figuratively.

Happy retirement, folks…at 80, 90 years old! Try not to die the next day.

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Today, his Meditations is by far Descartes’s most popular work, though this would not have been the case in Descartes’s time. Descartes’s Meditations opens by developing skeptical questions concerning the possibility of knowledge. Through a series of several carefully thought-out meditations, six meditations to be exact, the reader establishes groundwork for the possibility of knowledge (scientia). His work uses skepticism as a vehicle to motivate his reader to discover by way of philosophical investigation of what constitutes this ground. 

Descartes’s Meditations was dedicated to the faculty of the Sorbonne, which was the divinity school of the University of Paris. Descartes was a devout Catholic and had no desire to offend the Church, though he certainly hoped to make a contribution to its understanding. There are two driving issues behind Descartes’s Meditations: proving the existence of God and the immortality of the soul through natural reason. Thought processes that have long been challenged, cancelling each other, or, otherwise, kept separate. Here are some samples of Descartes Meditations I and II:

Descartes Meditation 1 – OF THE THINGS OF WHICH WE MAY DOUBT*

1. SEVERAL years have now elapsed since I first became aware that I had accepted, even from my youth, many false opinions for true, and that consequently what I afterward based on such principles was highly doubtful. From that time I was convinced of the necessity of undertaking once in my life to rid myself of all the opinions I had adopted, and of commencing anew the work of building from the foundation, if I desired to establish a firm and abiding superstructure in the sciences. But as this enterprise appeared to me to be of great magnitude, I waited until I had attained an age so mature as to leave me no hope that at any advanced stage of life, I should better be able to execute my design. On this account, I have delayed so long that I should henceforth consider I was doing wrong were I still to consume in deliberation any of the time that now remains for action. To-day, then, since I have expediently freed my mind from all cares [and am happily disturbed by no passions], and since I am in the secure possession of leisure in a peaceable retirement, I will at length apply myself earnestly and freely to the general overthrow of all my former opinions.

This is just one of the twelve paragraphs that’s in Descartes Meditations I, which is all about Descartes establishing his ideas about the world in which he can doubt their truth.

Descartes Meditation 2 – OF THE NATURE OF THE HUMAN MIND; AND THAT IT IS MORE EASILY KNOWN THAN THE BODY.

1. The Meditation of yesterday has filled my mind with so many doubts, that it is no longer in my power to forget them. Nor do I see, meanwhile, any principle on which they can be resolved; and, just as if I had fallen all of a sudden into very deep water, I am so greatly disconcerted as to be unable either to plant my feet firmly on the bottom or sustain myself by swimming on the surface. I will, nevertheless, make an effort, and try anew the same path on which I had entered yesterday. That is, proceed by casting aside all that admits of the slightest doubt, not less than if I had discovered it to be absolutely false; and I will continue always in this track until I shall find something that is certain, or at least, if I can do nothing more, until I shall know with certainty that there is nothing certain. Archimedes, that he might transport the entire globe from the place it occupied to another, demanded only a point that was firm and immovable; so, also, I shall be entitled to entertain the highest expectations, if I am fortunate enough to discover only one thing that is certain and indubitable.

This is just one of the sixteen paragraphs in Descartes Meditation 2 where he lays out a pattern of thought (sometimes called representationalism) in response to the doubts forwarded in Meditation 1. He argues that this representational theory disconnects the world from the mind, leading to the need for some sort of bridge to span the separation and provide good reasons that the ideas accurately represent the outside world. In simple terms, critical thinking should be the norm, though some stuggle with activating their own intelligence. We should question everything. It is how we learn.

Descartes Meditations I, II, III, IV, V, and VI, are writings that discards all his beliefs in things which are not absolutely certain, and then he tries to establish what can be known for sure. Religion or science; both or neither? What is it to you?

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The reason why bipolar or manic depression is called such is because a person with this condition has moods that can alternate between the poles of mania (highs) and depression (lows). The length of this change in mood, or sometimes called mood swings, may last for hours, days, weeks, or months, depending on any one person’s individual factors and reactions to depression, and will vary from one sufferer to the next.

Bipolar can cause dramatic changes of mood – from extreme highs and/or irritable to sad and hopeless then back high again, usually with normal/stable moods in between. The periods of highs and lows are called episodes of mania and depression. Here are some of the symptoms of mania or manic episodes:

• Extreme irritability
• Increased or high energy
• Racing thoughts and talking very fast
• Easily distracted
• Sleeps for only a few hours or for hours/whole days
• Decreased sexual drive
• Behave differently from the usual and denies that nothing is wrong
• Aggressive 

A manic event is diagnosed if high mood occurs most of the day, almost everyday, for a week or more with three or more of the other symptoms. If the mood is irritable, four more additional symptoms must be present to be diagnosed.

Here are some of the symptoms of depression:

• Overwhelming and lasting feeling of unhappiness, anxiety, or empty mood
• Feeling of hopelessness or deep pessimism
• Difficulty remembering or making decisions 
• Too much, too little, or broken sleep
• Significant change in appetite resulting in weight loss or gain
• Thoughts of suicide or death
• Feeling of guilt, worthlessness, or helplessness
• Chronic fatigue
• Restlessness or irritability

A depressive episode or manner can be diagnosed if five or more of the above symptoms last most of the day, almost everyday, for a period of two weeks or longer.

Moderate to mild levels of mania is called hypomania, which may feel good to the person who is experiencing it and may also be associated with good functioning and enhanced productivity. If not treated immediately, hypomania may become severe mania and can switch to depression. One of only a couple events in life where too much happiness can be a detrimental thing.

Some episodes of mania or depression include psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations and delusions. The psychotic symptoms in bipolar disorder have the tendency to reflect this extreme mood state. For example, delusions of richness, like believing that they’re wealthy, may occur during mania; or delusion of guilt or hopelessness, like believing that they are completely desolate – ruined and broke, may appear during depression. People who are suffering from bipolar who happen to have psychotic symptoms are occasionally and incorrectly diagnosed as having schizophrenia. As I continually say, this chaos in the mind is a direct correlation to the chaos in the soul. That cannot be diagnosed or treated by anyone or anything, except the sufferer and their mental willingness to heal and their spiritual wellness to sustain. To put it plainly, those who believe they know everything about the mind is egotistically and unintelligently disservicing those who need real help. Hence, the reason the depression numbers are so ridiculously high in this country, yet ‘everyone’ is in therapy. So please seek the help your soul shows/tells you it needs. It’ll never steer you wrong. It can’t because it is the only untainted thing we have, unless we gave in/sold it to negative forces. The latter is another unforgiving process and subject in itself. 

• As a reminder, please seek immediate help at your local ER or treatment center if you feel you might be a danger to yourself and others. I cannot stress that enough.

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There is a classic image of a blue-haired senior citizen driving with their turn signal continuously flashing while slow-poking along 20 miles under the damn speed limit on the highway.  A popular comedian once quipped that if he was 80 years old, he would “drive like hell” since, after all, why the hell not take some risks at 80?

It’s true that as we move into (or, slowly approach) our senior years, we do become a bit cautious in how we conduct our affairs.  Now, if you have health difficulties that a fall or a serious illness could prove life threatening, those precautions are warranted.  In defiance of that comedian’s remarks, our lives are precious. Just because we are closer to the twilight or sunset years of our lives doesn’t mean we want to see our lives end too soon – missing out on a minute of our remaining time on earth, time with our children and grandchildren.

But, one aspect of that joke has some food for thought as we think about our lifestyles as senior citizens.  There may be some good reasons to get out there and take some risks in life and to enjoy the thrill that a little danger can bring.  In not-too-recent history, we remember the elder President George Bush went skydiving even though he was well into his senior years. His life of achievements showed that President Bush was not afraid of a challenge. And, by getting out there and doing something fun that may have, also, been a dream of his, he showed us that our senior years are not all about rocking chairs and naps.  It’s also a time to live out our dreams.

Some risks, like skydiving, can be done with the guidance of skilled professionals to help reduce the actual dangers.  But, the illustration of what President Bush did emphasizes one rationale for “going for it” and taking some risks in our golden years.  For one thing, it’s a tremendous inspiration to younger people when they see their elders exhibiting courage and a willingness to get out of their comfort zone.  Many times your own children may be the ones who need that kind of inspiration that they, too, should live life courageously and not let fear stop them from enjoying every moment.

Another great reason to take a risk is that it may be a great way to bond with family.  Not long ago, I had the chance to do some youthful things with some friends.  Now, I am still, and will always be, an adventurer and still in good physical shape to do anything athletic.  But, this was a moment where I could establish a deeper bond with my friends by going into a great, thrilling adventure with them and coming out with fantastic stories.  Because I am writing this article for you shows that I made it.  There were a few heart stopping moments but I wouldn’t trade those moments for the world. I prefer these moments.  You, too, may be presented with a chance to make a memory with a loved one by taking a risk.  And, it’s worth going for it, in a reasonable fashion, to capture that memory and build that bond as well.

Some risks you might take don’t involve physical danger.  Maybe you need to finally take the plunge and get up at the local open mic night and deliver that stand up comedy routine you have been polishing up with the family between the horribly bad dad jokes.  They say there is nothing more terrifying than facing a crowd and trying to make them laugh.  But when you hear their laughter and their thunderous applause, that will be a dream come true for the amateur comic in you – the careful senior who wanted to “go for it” for once.

So, consider taking a few risks in your old age as you plan the leisure activities in your busy retirement schedule.  The rush of adrenaline will put some spring in your step and give your heart rate a workout. But, it will also add some fun and adventure to your life.  And, that is something we all can use now more than ever.

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I have seen grief at its worst. We frequently hear of people being abducted and their bodies have never been found. Thoughts of family members or loved ones who have committed suicide or randomly killed keep us up at night thinking there was more that could have been done.  The loved ones of those souls, sometimes, do not know whether to let go or continue to cling to their hope that someday they would meet their loved ones again or, at least, have justice served. With no body to bury or resolutions to put minds at ease, the loved ones hold on to hope, and, simultaneously, despair.  After time passes, some start to realize they will never see their loved ones again or there isn’t anything that can be done to bring them back. Some of their bereavements may have taken a toll on their work, relationships with friends and family, and their overall wellbeing. Other loved ones may get professional help for those struggling to let go, while others will get on with their lives without any debilitating feelings of loss.

Grief may not always be about the death of a loved one. It may also be the loss of things people value or care for deeply. This is a natural reaction to a loss. Although painful, grief or bereavement is normal and necessary to expunge all the negative feelings associated with that loss. People react to a deep loss differently. Others can cry, as this is cathartic. But, there are others who stoically bear the sorrow of bereavement. It may take months or years before they can come to grips with themselves. There are an infinite number of reactions to the death of a loved one. One may be shocked or disbelieving, harbor a sense of deep loss, and feel guilt/survivor’s remorse and regret.

Other people are not aware that bereavement may prod feelings of injustice, envy, anger, and relief, especially in the cases of abductees or suicides and their loved ones. They nurture this nagging suspicion that there is something more they should be doing on the decedent’s behalf or that they should not feel this way at all.  When others wallow in loneliness and depression this is also normal, to an extent. The process of grief does not follow a formula, but we are not meant to stay in that emotion. Some may need professional help to return to their normal, and others may get back on with their routines in a snap.

Bereavement is also painful for children and adolescents. Very young children may not understand the extent of the loss but they feel the pain as much as adults do. They may not communicate their grief, for they see that the adults are grieving. Sometimes when young adolescents feel they are to blame for the death of a loved one, this can do great harm to the mind of a young child or adolescent. So, it is very important that we develop a grief process for young children as they are delicate and must understand that loss is a naturally occuring part of life; and, not ever any fault of theirs.

Some individuals may seek help from religious, nonprofit or volunteer organizations.  Others may have to add a psychotherapist or a bereavement counselor to their routine. It is advisable to get professional help when someone cannot get over bereavement. A psychiatrist or family doctor will provide medical help and prescriptions for those going into deep depressions that they cannot seem to pull themselves out of. Despite the feeling of being alone during a deep loss, grief and the pain of grief is experienced by everyone in the world at some point in life. Don’t ever feel alone during your grieving and reach out to someone if you feel you need help. Don’t hold on to or ignore the feelings during the process. Understand them and embrace what they are. It is conducive to your healing, no matter the type of loss it is.

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