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Natural Awakenings Central New Jersey

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Hymn to Living in Silence

Celebrate the dawn of the winter solstice on December 21 in nature and in silence.
There’s one truth, and it is silence. All truths come from, exist as and return to silence. Silence is behind every holy thought, word and act. All holiness is silent.

This is what all sages know and say: Enter silence and we leave behind the rubble of self and no-self, time and death. Enter silence and we see the world that God created; that we are the created. God, the world and being are one. Life is suddenly real—beautiful and perfect in each curve and angle.

This awakening into truth happens as we surrender everything to silence. We must give away our inventory of unreleased thoughts and cherished beliefs, undigested experiences and dogma, disappointments, fears, worries, resentments and sorrows; even personal desires and joys.

If it’s difficult to do; throw it away, fling it off, kick it out. Just don’t let it stay. We must empty our storehouses of past, present and future, and then burn them down so that nothing can ever accumulate again.

Now give more. Let go of ego, will and humility, ignorance and knowledge, the body and its faculties. Surrender what is and is not yourself. Give away meaning, purpose and happiness, even precious life itself. Nothing can remain.

Then, by letting everything go the second it occurs, we return to clarity, freedom and eternal openness. We live in silence. For it is in silence that God is working, playing and loving. In silence, we become perfectly one with that divine working, playing and loving.

When absolutely all has been given up and only emptiness remains, even then, take one more step towards silence. Give away the emptiness. Hold back nothing. Even the giver is given away.

In silence, we transform and are reborn. We become real with more joy, pleasure, peace and contentment than we ever hoped for. Our highest purpose is fulfilled, our greatest longing is realized in ways we know not.

In becoming nothing we become everything. We need nothing and thus have everything. With nothing to protect, only peace remains. It cannot be controlled or fathomed, only lived. We love this about the holy ones, the sages. No one knows how it happens, only that it does.

In silence, we are moved by what moves all else without knowing how, why or when. This is freedom, love and truth.

Robert Rabbin is a self-awareness teacher and author. Connect at RobertRabbin.com.

 

Inspiration silence winter solstice
Tick Talk

Spring officially sprung on March 21. We have turned our clocks ahead. We are looking forward to warm winds, sunny skies and the smell of fresh cut grass. The daffodils and tulips have recently bloomed and we are just starting with the yard work that comes with the warmer weather.  Sadly, another season has started ramping up.  Tick season.

•             The best form of protection is prevention. Educating oneself about tick activity and how our behaviors overlap with tick habitats is the first step.

•             According to the NJ DOH, in 2022 Hunterdon County led the state with a Lyme disease incidence rate of 426 cases per 100,000 people. The fact is ticks spend approximately 90% of their lives not on a host but aggressively searching for one, molting to their next stage or over-wintering. This is why a tick remediation program should be implemented on school grounds where NJ DOH deems high risk for tick exposure and subsequent attachment to human hosts.

•             Governor Murphy has signed a bill that mandates tick education in NJ public schools. See this for the details.  Tick education must now be incorporated into K-12 school curriculum. See link:

https://www.nj.gov/education/broadcasts/2023/sept/27/TicksandTick-BorneIllnessEducation.pdf

•             May is a great month to remind the public that tick activity is in full swing. In New Jersey, there are many tickborne diseases that affect residents, including Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, Lyme disease, Powassan, and Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis.

•             For years, the focus has mainly been about protecting ourselves from Lyme disease. But other tick-borne diseases are on the rise in Central Jersey. An increase of incidence of Babesia and Anaplasma are sidelining people too. These two pathogens are scary because they effect our blood cells. Babesia affects the red blood cells and Anaplasma effects the white blood cells.

•             Ticks can be infected with more than one pathogen. When you contract Lyme it is possible to contract more than just that one disease. This is called a co-infection. It is super important to pay attention to your symptoms. See link.

https://twp.freehold.nj.us/480/Disease-Co-Infection

A good resource from the State:

https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/topics/tickborne.shtml

 

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