Musings: Box

Box with Locks – Image by Dean Moriarty from Pixabay

When it comes to all ideas are you likely to stay within the confining lines or do you think outside the self-containing and limiting box?

Sometimes, we do indeed, have parameters that we have to work on so that there may be an issue or concern to start off with that have some causal boundaries. If we are ever going to improve, however, we need to stretch our imaginations and mind muscles.

I think, honestly, the issue started when we were told to be “correct” or “right” back when we were young people and we were instructed to only fill in pictures by colouring inside of the line-drawing. Who says that is the right approach?

Now, I absolutely love beautiful art but isn’t beauty found within the eye of the beholder? Aren’t some of the greatest artists in the world ones who come up with new forms and styles of artwork?

I remember loving art as a youngster from even before kindergarten. I loved to express myself with colour. I just enjoyed seeing something great come out of those little colourful crayons. I loved to create and did follow the rules and coloured inside those lines. I was not about to get into trouble.

En Formation – Artwork by Mary Mikawoz

I continued my fascination in art until junior and senior high school. In grade 10, I took an elective in Art class but not beyond then as I thought it was too frivolous of a pursuit and needed to focus my studies in serious subjects like Biology, Chemistry and Physics.

I remember my art teacher in grade 10 being such a fascinating person – a real avant-garde type of personality. She liked my art work a lot and my creations were often chosen to be featured in a number of art shows or displays in various malls around the city.

Morphology – Artwork by Mary Mikawoz

I remember her special love of the expression of abstract art. I could not fathom it. In my judgment, I saw it as artwork that was simplistic and was created by a person who could not draw. Somehow as the years went by and that initial influence of my art teacher, I realized that those artists often could draw really well but chose to express themselves in another fashion. I then came to be impressed by them and their work. I could see how the essential elements of the object could be represented in an abstract way or concept.

Bursting Through – Artwork by Mary Mikawoz

I started to experiment and I found that there was a special fluidity and flow to my drawings and paintings. It helped me not only on an artistic level but also on a mind level where I could use both my left and right-hand hemispheres of my brain. 

When dealing with issues or problems at work, I was able to work outside the box. When coming up with new mission statements or major organizational work concepts, my mind soared as I learned to love to express new ideas. I loved to have brainstorming sessions where we fed off of one another’s ideas as nothing was left off the table and no one contradicted each other’s ideas to begin with. It was amazing how often we built on each other’s mindful expressions: building up the foundation of a new house of concepts.

Heart Roots – Artwork by Mary Mikawoz

So, when it comes to work or in life, are you still limited by the old paradigms or are you opening to the new, infinite world of potentiality? I hope you are open to stepping outside the box to create a new and novel approach!

Mary Mikawoz
February 19, 2023

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Book Review: Grand Theft Weight Loss

Book Review of Grand Theft Weight Loss

Book: “Grand Theft Weight Loss – How Stealing Scientific Discoveries Outside The Diet Industry Helps You Lose Weight,” Michael Alvear, BooksGoSocial, 2021

Book Review by Mary Mikawoz

Henry Ford revolutionized the auto but he did so by borrowing from other industries. He looked at sewing machines and watch industries where they used interchangeable parts. He looked at continuous flow processes in flour and in canning industries. “He mimicked assembly line techniques from meat-packing plants and breweries.”

In a similar fashion, Michael Alvear has borrowed ideas, information and developments from other industries that have been around, in some cases for decades, and applied them to the diet industry.

First and foremost, Mr. Alvear says the very most important thing to determine is the right question to any problem. Once you have the question, you can look at the information and process it appropriately. For example, in the billion dollar industry of dieting, the only message seems to be a variety of diets but they all say, “eat less and move more.” If that worked, there would be one diet and it would work for all of us. We would all be skinny or fit but in actuality, it does not work.

Dieting is an illusion that says some foods are good and others are bad. Depending upon the particular diet, it gets confusing because they contradict each other from pro-protein to anti-carbohydrate and anti-fat diets. 

Research shows that the harder you try to lose weight, the harder the body tries to fight back. Further research shows that your metabolism can slow by 15% which explains the constant lose weight quickly and then gain it back even though you are sticking to a diet.

Michael Alvear uses a number of techniques from other industries to help a person lose weight. I know a lot of people with eating disorders around the issue of food intake so although a lot of the techniques are interesting, I wonder if they will work.

We can control what we put in our mouth but what our body does in the process of metabolizing it is another issue. We have genetics and we have the environment. How much does each serve to affect us?

There are bigger issues involved. Why can’t we just accept ourselves as we are and believe in HAES which stands for “Health at Every Size.” When will society just accept that people come in different heights, weights, shapes, colours and features. We would never expect a Chihuahua or Poodle to act and look like a Great Dane or a Husky and yet when it comes to people, we need to somehow fit some magical mould of what it means to be “perfect” including people going to extremes with getting surgeries and starving themselves to death.

I give this book a 4 out of 5 for stepping out of the diet industry box in an effort to bring in some other angles to look at.

For more book reviews, check out my wordpress website under Mary Mikawoz.https://mikawoz.wordpress.com/category/book-review/

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Akashic Records

Book: “Discover Your Soul’s Path Through the Akashic’s Records: Taking Your Life from Ordinary to Extraordinary” by Linda Howe

Book Review by Mary Mikawoz

I find it difficult to review this book for a number of reasons. I found myself highlighting a lot of sections based on what I considered good insight by the author, Linda Howe. However, I found the

specific concepts on the Akashic Records systems very new to me and so difficult to appreciate. For example there are five pillars of light consisting of Incarnation, Authority, Discipline, Responsibility and Commitment. Without a graphic, I found it hard to visualize where this in my body and how long they are and exactly where they are positioned. There was a written description, and I understand the concepts but the actual simulation of light around the body in a star formation is difficult for me to conceptualize without a drawing of the body. I would have preferred if the book came with a diagram or sketch.

Further to that, there is the triangle of heart, mind and will. It is located somewhere in the body. The closest I got to its location is that the heart is found in the heart chakra and the mind is found in the top head chakra. The will is then found at the throat chakra. All of this makes sense, but in my mind, I do not see how it creates a triangle that is supposed to be equilateral and balanced. Again, a diagram would have been nice to visualize the concept better.

I understand that the central pillar of light is grace composed of compassion and related components. I understand visually that it is the central pillar of light running through our bodies. I understand it is divine and comes from the source. I can see this one.

I understand that the following is a pattern that we should be using to deal with our problems in our lives: acknowledge, appreciate, acceptance and appropriate action. This makes sense as the stepping stones to dealing with present day problems based on the Akashic Records.

I understand that the Akashic Records is a system that keeps record of every thought, action or energy we have displayed in previous lifetimes, in the current manifestation or in future lifetimes. I understand that there is an energy grid. I don’t understand how someone like Edgar Cayce (The Sleeping Prophet) could only access the Akashic Records while under a deep state of relaxation and that we can somehow access it ourselves without transcending into a deep altered state of mind as well.

I found the questions helpful especially for the group questions. I would recommend that as you read this book, you highlight the Opening Prayer and Closing Prayer. I was using an e-book so it was difficult to go back and forth. (Plus, the Adobe Digital Edition software was not co-operating and would keep messing up which in and of itself was frustrating.) I would recommend typing the opening and closing prayers onto a paper or into a word document. If you have a physical hard copy of the book, you can highlight or dog-ear the page and reference it as needed.

I also found the Appendix helpful. There is a better explanation of what state you should be in for the opening prayer in it on pages 165 to 167. I think it would have been helpful to have read Ms. Howe’s earlier books to get a better idea of the Akashic Records. I think she would have covered some more detail that may have been overlooked or assumed to have been known in this book. Overall, I am a visual person and I would have liked the five pillars of light or consciousness graphed out along with the triangle. Without these concepts down, I feel lost in reading and following the book.

The final recommendation I will make regarding this book is that you should audio record the reflections onto your computer or digital device and then play it back to yourself while you are in the process of doing a reflection. This will give you more time to think of being in a higher spiritual realm of thinking and give you time to make the connections with the Masters, Teachers, Loved Ones and the Lords of the Akashic Records.

Despite my difficulties with the book and some of my personal frustrations, I would still recommend the book to those who are interested in their spiritual development.

Tags: Spiritual Development, Concepts, Five Pillars of Light, Consciousness, triangle, heart, mind, will, grace, heart chakra, head chakra, throat chakra, Akashic Records, Edgar Cayce, The Sleeping Prophet, Masters, Teachers, Loved Ones, Lords of the Akashic Records, Energy, Thought, Action.