Jed Shlackman, Contributor
Waking Times

The path of the spiritual adept progressing toward mastery is one that requires a steadfast commitment toward balance and integration. In life we develop a variety of skills and master the characteristics of archetypes and polarities so that we can reunite them in ourselves to recover our wholeness.

A quality that is seen as desirable can be taken to a polarized extreme and become unhealthy and dysfunctional. A quality that is perceived as negative or pathological can be recognized as being the polarized extreme of something that is actually beneficial when applied in balance and moderation. Even some of the most valuable and empowering spiritual teachings can be taken to an extreme or out of context and lead to unhealthy patterns.

HJ: How you start the day is half the battle.  There are some great tips here for how to set things of in a positive, self and life affirming way right from the get go.  Simple but powerful and highly practical.

- Truth

7 Things Happy, Healthy People Do Every Morning

By Marc Chernoff | Marc and Angel

–

When you get up in the morning, think of what a priceless privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to learn, to love – and then make the day count!

The morning is extremely important.  It is the foundation from which the day is built.  How you choose to spend your morning can be used to predict what kind of day you are going to have, and thus, what kind of life you are going to l...

There is a time for introspection and a time to step out and play in your world. Too much of one and not enough of the other creates an ‘imbalance'; reserve time for equal amounts of both. ~ Creator

Zen Gardner, Guest
Waking Times

Anyone who thinks waking up is simply a spontaneous event or some kind of cake walk hasn’t woken up yet. It takes a lot to arrive at the door of discovery as well as courage to open the door. In fact, all of the doors, as life is a series of decisions on where to travel and what to do when faced with the myriad of options presented before us.

Ask anyone who’s in any sort of awakened state and despite their present calm brought on by strong conviction for truth, I dare say they’ve been through the mill in their life to get to where they are today.

It may seem like peaches and cream to an outsider looking in at some of the more ethereal spiritual conclusions many arrive at in the course their travels through life, but I guarantee you there was a lot of suffering, confusion, physical, spiritual and/or mental abuse and times of darkness and despair along the way. It’s part of the process...

Apparently Snoop Dogg isn’t the only person to have smoked marijuana in the White House. According to John F. Kennedy: A Biography, President Kennedy relieved the symptoms of severe back pain and Addison’s disease, which is a rare endocrine disorder, by using medicinal marijuana. From the book:

On the evening of July 16, 1962, according to [Washington Post executive] Jim Truitt, Kennedy and Mary Meyer smoked marijuana together…The president smoked three of the six joints Mary brought to him. At first he felt no effects. Then he closed his eyes and refused a fourth joint. ‘Suppose the Russians did something now,’ he said.

Addison’s disease causes the adrenal glands to produce insufficient steroid hormones and its symptoms include low blood pressure, weakness, coma and severe abdominal pain.