Growing up Psychic

One of the people that we interviewed for our first book was Sloan Bella, celebrity psychic to the stars, based out of LA. What we didn't write about in our book is that I met Sloan many years ago, as a fellow tarot reader and clairvoyant. Over the course of my adult life, I've read tarot for clients and done clairvoyant readings as well, on and off. I think that the gift in our family comes down from our crazy Irish ancestors, but who knows? All we know is that every action needs to be done for the common good, so we've always functioned from that spiritual base. Always trying to convert the desire to receive for the self alone (selfishness) into the desire to share (spiritual growth), so to speak.
My son is a very sensive child, and spiritual as well. Last night he had a dream, and he remembered it very vividly this morning. He had dreamt that he was at school (which is a new age, hippie school run by Bahai) and a new teacher had come in, with a scroll for each student. The scroll allowed the student to shapeshift into an animal, and my son's animal was dog. He used the scroll to change into a rat terrier, and he experienced the world as that animal. He woke up happy and invigorated.

Now doesn't that describe the attitude of a dog? Being in the moment, happy to show love, have fun and just be.

I wish that for everyone in the world right now. As we wrestle with the demons that unchecked desire to receive for the self alone (selfishness) have made within the world right now, we all need to take a breath, find the joy, and just be, if only for a moment.

Then get back to fighting the good fight, healing the Earth, and healing ourselves.

Blessings to you all,

Tracey

Does Everyone Hate Their Job?

I often listen to people's conversations when I stand in line. I don't do this to be nosy – the identity of these folks is totally irrelevant to me; I do it to understand people and to pick up ideas for stories and characters. I was taught to do this at UCLA by one of my excellent profs, Hal Ackerman, when I was doing my MFA in Screenwriting. Hal's idea was that writers are students of human nature and what better way to get to know humans than to pay attention to what they're doing and saying? It was a kind of cultural anthropology; Jane Goodall for people. It almost always yields great insights or great humour.

For the same reason I find Facebook fascinating. Not long ago, researchers released a brief study that showed that women are more unhappy AFTER an engagement than before it. They gleaned this by watching their status messages. Apparently engaged women post a lot of negative messages. The same was not true of men. Yikes.

I decided to do an informal survey of the status messages of my friends about their work. It's really, really surprising and a bit depressing how many people hate their jobs. From the brutal commute that Torontonian's endure, to wishing Wednesdays were Fridays – hell I've even seen Monday messages that say they wish it was Friday.

We are clearly not happy campers.

When you think about how many hours, days, weeks, months and years we spend in our jobs, not to mention getting to our jobs, this is a really sad state of affairs. If you spend just one hour each way on your commute (a quick jaunt for Torontonians who average a staggering 80 minutes each way ) you will spend 6 extra weeks of full time days every year “working” on your commute. This makes no sense to your body, your car, the environment or your sanity.

So why do we do it?

Plain and simple, it's fear. It's fear that keeps us in jobs we don't like. People will almost always say “money” is the reason, but if you dig down just a bit further, it's fear of not having money (and all the accompanying stress) that keeps us at jobs we don't like. It's understandable – we have mortgages, kids, loans, groceries. We need to keep the wolves at bay.

But here's something interesting to think about. Many of us have gone through a layoff in our lives. At first, it feels like someone has punched you in the stomach – you're winded, you're shocked. It's like getting dumped. Then, given a little time, it hurts less. You start to bounce back, get out into the world and look for something else to do. Another company to date. If you're lucky (and this is not going to seem logical) it takes more than a few days for this to happen. If you're lucky, you'll take the time to get to know yourself and figure out what it is that you really want to do. If you're lucky, you won't put your head back in the yoke and start slogging it out again immediately, complaining about what you do and wishing your life away as you look forward to your next weekend. And let's face it – those weekends are never as good as we hope they'll be.

So what does all this have to do with Successful Rebels?

“This is what we want for you – to find your true, authentic self, and have the “rebelliousness” to stay true to that vision of yourself, without being swayed by pressures from friends, family or society in general.

The most liberating part of the current economic (and soon to be societal) meltdown is that it has become clear that there isn’t one “right” way to do things, and that in fact those that have “toed the line” and “made the right choices” have been those worst affected. The time is now to cast off the shackles and be who you are, without regret. Let us show you those that have done this and are happy and successful enough to share their stories with you.”

It's not easy, quick or popular to radically overhaul your life. You will encounter resistance – it's all to be expected. You may have to sell your house, your car or everything you own. You may have to leave the big city, or a bad relationship. But at least you will have the life that you designed, and not one that you're “putting up with until Friday”.

Read more about people that live their lives authentically at www.successfulrebel.com

And be inspired...I know we were.

-- Melissa

Interview with Jodie Emery

Tracey: I first met Marc and Jodie Emery at the Toronto Freedom Festival 2010, held every year on May 1st in Queen’s Park, which is in downtown Toronto. The turnout was amazing this year… 40,000 people asking for freedom of expression, gathering together in a peaceful protest. I was there to show support for Neev of CALM, an interview subject in our book “The Successful Rebel”, written with my sister Melissa Ireland, and a figure in the current shifting sands of medical cannabis legislation.

As my husband and I walked through the massive crowd, I suddenly saw Marc Emery, the so called “Prince of Pot” who was currently awaiting an extradition order to the States, along with his lovely wife Jodie. Marc has been a very public activist for the end to prohibition of Cannabis, and his selling of seeds to the United States compassion clubs has gotten him into hot water with the US Feds. We wished him well, as he is a very respected activist and humanitarian. One of the last things that he said to us was “the media always talks about how my company made millions of dollars, but they don’t talk about the millions of dollars that we donated to activists in the States that changed Medical Marijuana laws to help the chronically ill and dying. It was never about the money. Losing possessions is nothing, if you fight for a just cause.” He also suggested that I interview Jodie for the next book that we’re working on “the Successful Female Rebel”.

I never imagined that less than a month after that meeting I would get a chance to interview Jodie for our book, and it would be about Marc Emery sitting in a US Jail.

Here's a bit of that encounter for you to enjoy. The full interview will, of course, be in our next book The Successful Female Rebel.

Tracey: Jodie, thank you very much for doing this interview today. I know that things have been incredibly busy since your husband Marc Emery was extradited to the United States. In book that we’re working on now, we’re trying to give a voice to the female rebels that we respect, and discussing how and why people get to the point where they become activists and rebels. What situations in rebels’ lives have keyed it off, and how people can channel their rebellion in a positive manner. Do you mind giving us a brief rundown of what you are doing now that you want people to know about and causes that you want them to rally around?

Jodie: Yes. We want to end prohibition, and we want to get rid of the Conservative government.

Tracey: What do you think that this extradition says about the relationship between Canada and the USA?

Jodie: That we’re being deeply integrated, and that our law enforcement is working together more than people know.

Tracey: Do you feel that this is something that we should be worried about? Because personally, I find it confusing that the United States has a president like Obama, who is a liberal and a humanitarian, and yet they are jailing Marc Emery who provided seeds to most of the medical compassion centres that are in the process of becoming legal in that same country. Don’t you find it kind of a strange dichotomy, hearing that California is in the process of legalizing cannabis and yet you have something like this with Marc going on?

Jodie: Yes, it’s ironic that Marc sent seeds and money that led to the medical marijuana state initiatives being passed, allowing for States to let patients use marijuana legally. The federal government in the United States has not approved medical marijuana use. The only thing that Obama has done is issue a memorandum to all federal agencies to respect state rights whenever it comes to difference between state and federal law.

Tracey: Now, I know that you’re running in the next federal election in the riding of Vancouver South, but what party are you representing?

Jodie: The Green Party of Canada.

Tracey: Any word on when the election might be?

Jodie: It’s supposed to be a fixed election date, but this government doesn’t follow the fixed election laws.

Tracey: They also don’t follow the freedom of information laws! When you see all the information that is redacted in their communications, it’s quite frightening.

Jodie: *laughs* Well, I call them the “Consecretive Government”!

Tracey: When you requested information about Marc’s case and when it comes, it’s all redacted, what do you do?

Jodie: Yeah, we asked for all information about Marc’s case shared between law enforcement and justice in Canada and the United States and they got back to us well past the legal deadline, and they said that there were over sixty thousand pages of information, but that most couldn’t be provided except for about sixty pages that we did receive. The vast majority of that was blacked out, except for a few email addresses of federal justice department officials.

Tracey: Wow. I find that frightening. What do you feel is going to be the most important platform that you’re going to be running on in the federal election?

Jodie: Ending prohibition.

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