Written by Wes Annac, The Culture of Awareness

I’ve written a lot about my passion for music, and like a lot of people, I think it’s the language of the soul. It connects us with the spiritual realms in a direct and intense way, and playing it is one of the best ways to stay in touch with our essence; the aspect of our consciousness that’s constantly connected with the higher realms.

I don’t think I could ever stop playing music, but I recently decided to make it more of a hobby than something I pursue full-time. It’s a talent I still have yet to fully develop, and after working for months to develop it, I’m realizing that I’ve started to take it too seriously.

Singing is the main aspect of it that I’ve taken too seriously, because I put too much pressure on myself to sound ‘good’. Singing is something that you want to be good at if you want to seriously pursue, and this decision stems from the fact that after months of relatively consistent practice, my voice isn’t quite where I want it to be.

The decision to make music more of a hobby is actually liberating, because it allows me to free up time for other pursuits like writing, meditation, developing the blog and, when it’s warm out, getting out to nature and feeling the good vibration Gaia constantly radiates.

By: Meghan Toups & Heather Brown

More and more people are wanting to find safe, natural options for boosting their health. And, understandably so! With the state of healthcare, chronic stress and disease, feeling more in control of our health can make us feel empowered and strong.

Immune building and alternative ‘get well’ remedies are becoming abundant and easily available. As you begin to delve more into the world of natural healing, it’s important to become conscious consumers and educate yourself on products and services that interest you.  Essential oils have been used for thousands of years with great benefit.

While they can be extremely effective in helping our bodies heal and prevent illness, building our knowledge base before use is very important. High quality, therapeutic essential oils are very potent and it’s important to understand how and when to use these beneficial healing aids.

Valerie Tarico, AlterNet
Waking Times

Some of humanity’s technological innovations are things we would have been better off without: the medieval rack, the atomic bomb and powdered lead potions come to mind. Religions tend to invent ideas or concepts rather than technologies, but like every other creative human enterprise, they produce some really bad ones along with the good.

I’ve previously highlighted some of humanity’s best moral and spiritual concepts, our shared moral core. Here, by way of contrast, are some of the worst. These twelve dubious concepts promote conflict, cruelty, suffering and death rather than love and peace. To paraphrase Christopher Hitchens, they belong in the dustbin of history just as soon as we can get them there.

1. Chosen People –The term “Chosen People” typically refers to the Hebrew Bible and the ugly idea that God has given certain tribes a Promised Land (even though it is already occupied by other people)...

Bright lights and sonic booms in the night sky above North Island, New Zealand have been reported on February 11, 2015.

The event, which illuminated the sky and later shook doors and windows, happened around 22:00 local time (09:00 UTC). Descriptions of the light ranged from white and orange to green and blue.

Video courtesy of Josh Sherborne

Reports came from Auckland to Nelson, and the Coromandel to New Plymouth,  Stuff writes. Even people in Christchurch and on the West Coast witnessed the event.

Each year that goes by, we get a spectacular new set of things to see in our skies. How exciting is that? Be sure to mark your calendars for these amazing celestial events.

April 4th, Total solar eclipse

You won’t see a moon in the sky on April 4th, but right around noon, the Earth will pass between the sun and the moon, triggering a total solar eclipse visible to the south Pacific, including Australia, Alaska and Japan. North America will see a partial eclipse. Womp womp.

July 30th, Jupiter and Venus.

On July 30th, Jupiter and Venus will be side by side in the night sky. This paring will be visible for only 7 days.

September 27th, Super Moon

North America, Africa and Europe will experience the spectacular super moon on September 27th beginning at 10pm.