The Unconsenting Study

I saw a vocational film from the year 1940. Its video quality grainy and scratchy, But the information contained made sense.

We have all the tools today, But not the slightest clue How to learn critical skills Like our grandparents knew.

They took out Home Ec from high school. Skills that taught us how to survive, Upon which we could have built a foundation to thrive. Our education system has failed us, left us unprepared.

Divided we stand, A two-party nation, Who all want the same thing, But can’t see past the screen to realize This perhaps has been socially engineered The government and dark entities feed off fear I hear...

How is it that our generation doesn’t know how to do anything? It’s not for a lack of seeking and desiring. We got burned by college loans; We don’t even have the simple skills of maintaining a home.

Is this just a huge psyop? A controlled study Of unconsenting Americans? How far can we be pushed Before we burst?

Half of us addicted, half of us dependent. How is it that our grandpa’s generation Was quickly employed, with paid training, But we were told to get an education, no added perks for students Despite schools’ prices that keep rising?

So we turn to the internet to learn critical skills, But our sources are in the business of clicks, Not education.

We seek And seek, But what is sought is never found. Is this why there’s no useful information?

Because if we learn, if something clicks in our head, We won’t continue to click on the screen, stuck in a never-ending feed. Hoping to find some guidance, Trying to learn a useful skill, Then interrupted by advertisements for new pills. The hypocrisy and going in circles is what’s making us ill.

We’re shown the way to the answer, But realize it was really an affiliate marketer. What little money we earn, We’re told to spend it on this new tech or this great cure.

The void inside us grows bigger, Our attention span as small as a quiver. Our technology grows bigger and gets quicker, Yet things aren’t as good as we quite remember.

Bait & Switch: Advocating for consumers

Why I’m Becoming an Advocate

I’m about to enter the world of real estate, a place where people make the biggest purchases of their lives. And honestly, one of the biggest reasons I’m doing this is because I’m tired of seeing consumers get the short end of the stick.

We’ve all been there: You see an amazing offer, you sign the papers, and then the painful reality of the fine print sets in. This is the "bait and switch"—a predatory tactic where a company lures you in with one attractive promise, only to switch the terms, the product, or the price once you’re committed.

I recently realized my whole life has been a slow-burn training session in recognizing this consumer injustice. These are two times I fell for the switch, and what I learned about fighting back.

Case Study 1: HP Printer Ink (A new kind of nightmare)

I needed to buy ink for my HP printer. The price was astronomical, something over $100.  Desperate, I stumbled upon HP's "Instant Ink" program.

The BAIT was the promise of affordability: It was advertised as only $6 a month for ink and $3 for paper. I immediately gave them my debit card information, believing I was saving money.

The SWITCH came when I realized I would be billed $40 a month, not the advertised $9.

I was horrified when I realized that I was effectively paying per page. If I wanted to pay per page, I would go to Kinko's, Staples, or the library!

The true fraud, however, was the control: If my card blocked the transaction, the chips in the HP ink would send a signal to my printer, disabling it from printing until I allowed the charge to go through. When I finally tried to cancel the account, a pop-up said, "Are you sure you want to do that? HP Ink costs $135." They were openly rubbing in their devious business practice of bait and switch, not to mention their product's overly inflated price.

Case Study 2: My AT&T Experience

If the printer ink was a trap, my experience with AT&T was a masterclass in deception. This wasn't just about a hidden fee; it was a calculated bait-and-switch that turned a simple purchase into a year-long financial nightmare.

The BAIT: The $25 Promise 

It started simply enough. I was in the market for an iPad, and AT&T had an offer that seemed perfect. The advertisement was clear: get an iPad Air 5 and a service plan for $25.00 a month.

I did my due diligence. I asked the sales representative to confirm the price. I looked at the Installment Agreement, which stated in black and white: 

"Amount of Monthly Payment: $25.00."

It seemed transparent. It seemed affordable. I signed the contract, believing I had secured a great deal for a device I needed for school and my future real estate career.

The SWITCH: The $445 Bill & The Hidden Trigger 

The reality hit me like a freight train a month later. My very first bill wasn't for $25, or even $50 with taxes. It was for $445.87.

I was in shock. I immediately called AT&T, assuming it was a mistake. But instead of fixing it, they pointed to a "disclosure."

Buried deep within a 68-page "Customer Service Summary"—a document I was never shown at the point of sale—was a single sentence of fine print. It said that the $20.99 tablet plan price was conditional on maintaining a phone line. Because I had canceled a phone line on my account, that tiny clause allowed them to unilaterally triple the price of my plan from $20.99 to $75.99 a month.

They had lured me in with a $25 price tag, waited for a specific account change (canceling a line), and then used a hidden term to explode my bill.

The VICIOUS CYCLE: Debt by Design It didn't stop at the high bill. Because I couldn't afford to pay a surprise $445 charge, AT&T declared me "past due."

• They shut off my service—the very service I was being overcharged for.

• They then charged me "Restoral Fees" of $35 to turn it back on.

• Then came the "Late Payment Fees."

I was trapped in a cycle of debt engineered by their initial lie. I was paying for a service that didn't even work at my house (another issue they ignored), and every month the bill grew larger with penalties for not paying a fraudulent amount. Over 13 months, that "$25/month" iPad ended up costing me over $6,000.

The FIGHT: Taking Them to Court 

I didn't just take it. I filed FCC complaints. I wrote to their "Office of the President." And finally, I took them to Small Claims Court.

I learned something crucial in that courtroom: Corporations count on you giving up. They count on you not reading the 68 pages. They count on you being too intimidated to sue. And even when you do fight, they will use every procedural trick and technicality to win.

Although I lost my specific small claims case on a strict contract technicality (because I did sign the document with the hidden fine print), the experience lit a fire in me. I realized that "legal" does not always mean "right."

Conclusion: From Victim to Advocate 

These experiences with HP and AT&T taught me that the system is often designed to trap consumers, not serve them. But they also taught me that we have power. We can file complaints. We can go to court. We can tell our stories.

As I move into my career in real estate and aviation, I am taking this hard-earned wisdom with me. I will be the person who reads the fine print for my clients. I will be the advocate who spots the "switch" before the "bait" is swallowed.

My art series, The Heroine's Journey, explores this very theme: the struggle of the individual against corrupt systems. Because in the end, the only way to stop the switcheroo is to shine a light on it.

Betrayal

Betrayal is one of the deepest wounds we can experience. It shatters our reality and forces us to build walls. But what if the wall we build is just an illusion of finality? What if it's the very thing designed to wake us up?

How Betrayal Hurts You

Betrayal hurts you in unseen ways. When you give your trust to someone, especially when that is the only person you have ever trusted, there is an unspoken agreement between your hearts.

The agreement goes something like this: 

I don't have anyone that I can trust. I don't let people get close to me. I am letting you get close to me. I'm laying down my fears so that you may hold my heart with me, and I may hold yours with you. 

We will never do anything to drop these hearts, hurt these hearts, or leave these hearts alone or unsafe.

Betrayal is finding out that your closest council member who has been by your side as you built up a kingdom, is actually plotting your death so their lover can take your spot.

When one is betrayed, they put up a wall around themselves bigger, stronger than ever before. But it's not that wall that hurts them the most, it's the resentment that does.

Think of someone who you (think) you could never forgive. From the day that person betrayed you, and you have decided to never forgive them, you unfortunately included yourself in that un-forgiveness. 

Everywhere you look, you are at fault or someone else is at fault. You can never truly love again; you can never truly be happy again. That is until you forgive your enemies and they are equal in your mind as your closest friends. Then the light that shines upon them, points towards you, and frees all your enemies and yourself from this Catch 22 prison you constructed. 

How Betrayal Wakes You Up

When you move through betrayal, practice forgiveness to your enemies, see them in the same light as your best friends, and allow this light to absolve you of all your issues or "sins" for a lack of a better word, you instantly become one and the same with how the Creator meant for us to be from the start. 

You're unplugged from the false matrix, free from the wires that weighed you down, tripped you, and kept you plugged into something that was actually holding you prisoner. 

"Why would I leave? There's a socket right here where I can get all my energy?," people in the false matrix justify. There are completely unaware that just the simple, but not easy, act of forgiveness removes them from the need to rely upon anything else for life and energy. 

Forgiveness allows us to become self-sufficient, energy producing machines. And together the energy we radiate towards each other forms a network of love where no one needs anything from anyone to live again. Our network has agency and there's no excess, but just the right amount so we all live needing nothing. 

The Purpose of Our Deepest Wounds

There are many people here on earth whose childhoods were so horrific that words fall short in conveyance. If we chose this life before coming here, why would we choose to go through such tragedies that are seemingly crippling?

Because, we want to get enlightened faster. We know this lifetime is valuable, and we want to break the illusion of forgetfulness early so we get to spend the majority of our life awake. 

Is it not true that cruel people cling to their self-righteousness their whole life, and only when they're upon their deathbed do they have a change of heart?  

That is a greater tragedy to us than anything we went through in childhood. To be asleep your whole life until the last day. 

The pain of betrayal is real and devastating. But the prison of resentment is a choice we make every day after. Forgiveness is not for the person who hurt us; it is the key to our own cell. It is the brave act of choosing to unplug, to wake up, and to reclaim the rest of our valuable, enlightened life.

Smudging actually kills airborne pathogens

 

This is taken from Gardiningsoul.com.

"The Science of Smudging: What Sage Does to Bacteria

Recent research suggests that there may indeed be scientific evidence to support the idea that smudging can help purify the air.

One study, published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology in 2007, examined the effects of burning medicinal herbs, including sage, on airborne bacteria.

The Study: Air Purification with Medicinal Herbs

The research study, led by Dr. Narendra Singh and his team, investigated the antimicrobial potential of burning traditional medicinal herbs. The researchers wanted to determine whether the smoke from these herbs, including sage, could actually reduce the number of airborne bacteria and other pathogens.

Key Findings:

• The study found that burning medicinal herbs like sage significantly reduced the number of airborne bacteria. In fact, the smoke from the herbs eliminated up to 94% of airborne bacteria in a closed space within just one hour.
• What’s even more impressive is that the air remained almost completely free of harmful bacteria for up to 24 hours after smudging. Some potentially pathogenic bacteria were absent even after 30 days in the smudged environment.

These findings suggest that the antimicrobial properties of burning sage could indeed help reduce the presence of bacteria and other microbes in the air, making it a viable option for air purification in enclosed spaces.

How Does Smudging Work?

The antimicrobial effects of sage smoke are believed to come from the bioactive compounds found in the plant, including volatile oils and terpenes like 1,8-cineole (eucalyptol), camphor, and thujone.

When burned, these compounds are released into the air and may interact with the cellular structures of bacteria, effectively neutralizing them.

Here’s a closer look at how some of these compounds work:

1. 1,8-Cineole (Eucalyptol): Known for its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, 1,8-cineole has been shown to inhibit the growth of certain bacteria and fungi.
2. Camphor: This compound has strong antimicrobial and antiviral properties, which may help eliminate harmful pathogens from the air.
3. Thujone: A major component of white sage, thujone has both antimicrobial and insecticidal properties, making it effective against a range of bacteria and pests.

The interaction of these compounds with bacteria in the air likely contributes to the purifying effects of smudging.

Other Benefits of Smudging

Beyond its impact on bacteria, smudging with sage may offer other benefits for the air quality and overall well-being. These include: 

Reduces Airborne Allergens

The smoke from sage may help reduce allergens like dust, mold spores, and pet dander, making it beneficial for those with respiratory sensitivities.

Improves Mood and Mental Clarity

Sage has long been used in traditional medicine for its calming effects. Studies have shown that compounds in sage can reduce stress and anxiety levels, which may improve mood and mental clarity.

Repels Insects

The compounds released when burning sage have natural insect-repellent properties, which can help keep mosquitoes, flies, and other pests away.

Balances Energy

From a spiritual perspective, many people believe that smudging helps to clear negative energy and create a more balanced, harmonious environment."

(https://gardeningsoul.com/the-science-of-smudging-this-is-what-sage-does-to-bacteria-in-the-air/)

Wild, right?

Lesson 68 Love holds no grievances.

 1. You who were created by love like itself can hold no grievances and know your Self. ²To hold a grievance is to forget who you are. ³To hold a grievance is to see yourself as a body. ⁴To hold a grievance is to let the ego rule your mind and to condemn the body to death. ⁵Perhaps you do not yet fully realize just what holding grievances does to your mind. ⁶It seems to split you off from your Source and make you unlike Him. ⁷It makes you believe that He is like what you think you have become, for no one can conceive of his Creator as unlike himself. (ACIM, W-68.1:1-7)

Annotated the Sides

 by Hannah Janicke

You may feel powerful

Sitting atop your throne of 

Male-White-Christian 

Separateness

But I’ve been blessed with 

The ability to see what you are too

Scared to see

“The Muslims are terrorists, they 

Burn Christians. The Quran is evil.

Muslims pray to the east and west- 

Their false God.”

I’ve been born into Islamophobia, yet 

I saw through it when I was young.

Naturally, curiously,

I ordered an English Quran 

Online, to learn about this religion 

When my fathers lips 

spew out hatred,

I see a demon 

Caressing his soul

While he gets indignant,

I watch a demon

Cloak his body in a suit 

and veil his eyes so that

He can no longer see 

Anything other than

what’s in his mind

I offer to loan him my Quran 

So he can see that

Muslims and Christians are quite

Alike actually, I even 

Highlighted the passages of peace

With this,

He flew into a rage,

“Why have you read the Quran 

Page for page but you 

Have not read the Bible 

Front to back?”

Calmly responding to his attack,

I said, “Actually, I have. Many times,

and I even annotated the sides.”

He doesn’t see through 

the opaque veil 

Over his eyes

When you’re busy pointing out 

A speck in your brother’s eye,

You don’t even realize

That you too have

A bigger one in yours