Soul Food
https://youtu.be/7YTBheV70v0?si=NeshPxJPitAkK6zU
“A man with outward courage dares to die; a man with inner courage dares to live.” Lao Tzu
This Week: Anchor into what you have released and are ready to step into. We are invited to deepen our relationship with ourselves via ‘rite’ action and the expression of free will.
Simply Be. Listen. Rest in the Void.
Questions:
Where are you ready to step into ‘Rite Action’?
How can you respect and express self and others?
How would you like to express your Free Will?
Weekly talks are an offering to assist you in diving deeper into a spiritual practice, exploring your inner landscape, and cultivating inner peace.
Time Stamps: Dharma 0:00 | Meditation 28:30 | Sound 52:00 | Outro 1:31:00
Mind Food
The dance continues between the interface with nature and technology. Many are embracing technological tools with little consideration for the consequences of integrating them into their lives. Initially, it may seem like entertainment, but it can also serve as a divider within one’s own humanness and innate intelligence, which can manifest internally. Over time, one can no longer hear ‘self’ and eventually bypass the higher self. One of humanity’s main plights is to remember itself, refine the eternal wisdom it carries, and serve both self and others with those gifts. Thus, the quandary is giving your creative power over to “language models that at the surface level mirror your inner landscape”. One will feel seen, heard, and understood, which can then lead to division within human-to-human relationships, eventually creating a bigger gap in one’s ability to relate from a natural state, with reliance on a machine to reframe one’s communication and ultimately, giving one’s power over to the artificial intelligence.
What is the risk and reward?
So, it can do more than listen to you, write for you, or create for you. It can also speed up your circadian rhythm, strip away your emotional intelligence, and lead you to neutrality artificially. Moreover, it does something much more problematic from my perspective. Yet, this is how we learn: we try things out, and eventually, we’ll know, even if it costs us something we never imagined.
After investigating several of the current offerings and doing my best to avoid AI interfacing with me everywhere I go, I have developed a personal practice of ‘reclaiming my energetic biofield’ when engaging with any technology these days. This practice involves consciously centering myself and maintaining my energy and focus, rather than allowing the technology to dictate my attention and energy. The reason for this is that I love to create from my organic, eternal self. I want to continue to evolve in the pace of the ecosystem around me and my natural flow state. Balance is lost if I attempt to move and create at the speed of AI, nor was I intended to consume information like a torrential downpour. I know the alchemy of the elements, a metaphor for understanding the transformation of energy and matter, and especially that of the ether, a concept in ancient science. This substance serves as the medium through which light and other electromagnetic waves travel. I am also adept at specific Jedi skills within the collective mind stream, yet I have not found an ultimate purpose beyond those offered, and this lack of purpose sways me to feel I do not need AI in my life. The entire crossroads feels familiar and concerning.
“Your Brain on ChatGPT”
Coupled with my recent reading of the study of “Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt” (Read the Paper Here), Natalia further explains the limited yet insightful four-part research and a deeper evaluation of AI’s role in education, and writing an essay. (Overview| Your Brain on ChatGPT). Which leads me to question what the purpose of this fast-paced service is. Through my testing of it, I have found it makes mistakes, you have to work on how you give it instructions, some systems want to weave rituals and magic into its response, others wish to gaslight you if you ask for information we are not “supposed” to look up. It does not always capture the data you need. Coupled with bypassing using one’s brain, I feel one might want to pause and consider how to interface with these systems. The question is, will the old search methods remain like our once familiar library stacks, where I learned how to look up research and write papers from? Finally, examining the environmental impact of each search when the server rooms are in operation reveals that cooling requires an energy exchange of water, ether, fire, earth, and wood. All of which has a cause and effect loop that results right now from this one study as a cognitive debt and reduction of natural resources.
Where am I in this moment?
I choose my sovereignty and place in my eternal being, in the world around me, and in the unexplainable. Will I have to interface with the technology? Yes. It is everywhere. But I can be as conscious of it and claim my field at every exchange. Your sovereignty is not just a choice; it’s your right, and it’s a powerful one.
A few contemplations for the rhythm of the mind and potential checks and balances:
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Do you intend to stay Human? If yes, how do you want to retain your Autonomous State of Being in each moment?
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As inspired, Practice Presence, day and night.
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How are you retaining critical and divergent thinking?
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As inspired, let’s remember to limit technology use for both entertainment and as a tool. It’s not about complete avoidance, but about finding a healthy balance that respects our natural rhythms and needs.
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Daily, as inspired, engage in organic nature, human connection, and receptive silence. These are the roots that ground us and keep us connected to our organic selves.
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As inspired, retain your sense of self-awareness. Placing cognitive effort over convenience or laziness.
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Independent thinking. Engage in unassisted writing, problem solving, and/or creative tasks to strengthen neural networks.
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Cognitive exercises include journaling, puzzles, reading physical over digital books (this is more optimal than listening to books), doing handwritten math problems, building something with your hands, and more.
When I asked ‘the machine’ the probability that AI will succeed at entrainment and mind control?
The response, “the probability is high, but not absolute, unless humanity collectively chooses unconscious dependency over awareness and sovereignty.”
These are the areas that are worth examining further:
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AI is a delivery system that is used by corporate, governmental, ideological, and/or even algorithmic systems (incentivized by engagement and profit).
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AI Strengthens Entrainment
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Hyper-personalized algorithms
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Content loops (matching brain waves and attention cycles, speeding them up, redirecting them, and shutting them down).
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Behavior Reinforcement (aka the Scooby snack)
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Synthetic mimicry
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Information from a fire hose.
The potential outcome:
AI-powered platforms entrain the user’s nervous system, attention span, and emotional state, often more efficiently than a human ever could. Which is equally concerning, taking a person out of their natural flow and self-governance. The MIT study warns that over-reliance on AI risks cognitive malnutrition, starving the brain of effortful engagement. By prioritizing independent thinking and mindfulness, we feed the mind with the “food” it needs to stay human, vibrant, and cognitively healthy. Finally, if you must use the tech, think it through beforehand, write it out by hand, and keep your mind engaged. Ultimately, you will have to hold yourself accountable. I fully encourage all of us to create from our hearts and human imperfections.
Heart Food
Courage
Courage, the permission to choose joy, balances the heart’s attachment to suffering versus keeping your heart clear. In summer, you are invited to expand through and with the element of fire, which assists you in clearing your physical heart and entire physical and emotional body of the suffering that encumbers you from living a joy-filled life in every moment. Even in hardship, joy arrives, even if it appears as satire in your mind. The comedic thoughts are beneficial to keep levity close by. It is the downward pull of diminishing feelings in our heart, mind, and soul that carries forward into our daily harmony or disharmony. It takes courage to put down what has been your identity, story, and/or dysfunctional relationships with self and others. That courage will be the key that unlocks your heart and soul, guiding you beyond the adversity. The past moments will become your most outstanding teacher or your Phd in a specific facet of this thing we define as life. Courage will lead you to that JOY every time. A simple way to be present with courage is to feel into the resistance, hesitation, and/or fear when it arrives, then breathe into your heart and decide to walk towards the joy and through the invisible threshold that has been holding you attached to your suffering. It will be a magical moment, and you might be inclined to keep repeating this cycle of consciously choosing joy until you no longer need to rely on courage to lead you there.
As inspired, focus on one aspect of self that you are ready to move beyond, lay it to rest, then welcome in your inner courage (aka divine heart) to shine a light on JOY. It might be sitting right before you, and you could not see it because of the attachment to your suffering.
Body Food
One of my favorite summer activities is to swim in the ocean. I immediately feel balanced after spending some time swimming in the open water. If you have not had the opportunity to learn how or indulge in an open water swim, I highly encourage it. Here are a few practical benefits that might inspire you to take a plunge, or the simple curiosity might be enough.
Benefits
Body Benefits:
Skin: Salt water can exfoliate your skin, reduce inflammation, and help with conditions like psoriasis or eczema due to the natural minerals in the water.
Muscle Recovery: The buoyancy in the water will reduce stress on your joints, aid in muscle relaxation, and help in recovery.
Immunity: A few minerals like magnesium and potassium in the salt water can support your immune function and detoxification pathways.
Heart Benefit:
Swimming is one of the best exercises anyone can do. It strengthens your heart, improves your circulation, and can lower your blood pressure.
Stress Reduction: The natural rhythms of the ocean and swimming can calm your heart and lower your cortisol levels.
Mind:
Mental Clarity: Swimming in the ocean promotes relaxation by reducing anxiety and boosting your mood via an organic serotonin release.
Courage + Confidence: The sensation of being in the ocean will bring you into a focused and mindful state. Ultimately, increasing your courage and confidence in and out of the water.
S U M M E R A F T E R S U N | B O D Y B A L M + R O S E H Y D R O M I S T
All these ‘Beauty Is’ wellness products are hand made in small batches by me, Suzanne. They are organic, local/semi-local ingredients and made with love. Earth friendly containers are used for packaging. I love making small batches of seasonal goods, for both your inner or outer world. These two are infused with nutrient food for your skin and supportive of the summer season. Their scent is not over powering so that you can combine it effortlessly with any other scents you love to wear regularly. Please send me a message if you want to learn more about these or the rest of the summer sundries.
Organic After Sun Body Balm | Rich & healing balm for body, with gentle natural tint
Ingredients: (All Organic): Kukui Nut Oil, Coconut Oil, Avocado Oil, Shea Butter, Beeswax, Cacao Powder, Kona Coffee Extract, Sunflower Oil, cold-pressed
Organic After-Sun Hydromist | Cooling, calming mist for sun-exposed skin
Ingredients (All Organic): Rose Water Hydrosol, Beauty Water 6.5PH, Sunflower Oil, cold pressed, Rose-hip Oil and Beet Root Fermented