The answer: All are related to the eruptions of Indonesian volcanoes.

The 1815 eruption of Mt. Tambora in Indonesia near the island of Sumatra was the largest volcanic eruption in historic times.  The resulting eruption sent so much ash and material into the lower atmosphere that it made the whole northern hemisphere in 1816 the “The Year Without a Summer”.  For comparison, the 1980 Mt. St. Helens volcanic eruption in Washington State sent .3 cubic miles of material into the atmosphere, while Mt. Tambora sent an astonishing 24 cubic miles of material upward – that’s 80 times more powerful!

Records show that this greatly affected the northern United States, Canada and northern Europe.  In the spring and summer of 1816, persistent fog, frost and even snow killed most crops while ice formed mid summer on many of the rivers.  The result was regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemics and increased mortality.  Due to the unknown cause of the problems, riots took place in many European cities creating the worst famine of the 19th century.

Which brings me to Frankenstein.

Mary Shelley wrote the novel in Geneva during the “year without a summer”.   The weather was consistently too cold and dreary that summer to enjoy the outdoor holiday activities they had planned, so she and her fellow writers spent the summer indoors where she devised and created the concept of Frankenstein.  She even ended the novel in the frozen north, no doubt inspired by what she was witnessing around her.

So what does this have to do with the near extinction of our species?

Another Indonesian volcano on the island of Sumatra erupted about 70,000 years ago that changed the course of human history forever.  Mt. Toba was no ordinary volcanic eruption.  This was one of a handful supervolcanoes known to exist.  Supervolcanoes are so massive that they dwarf regular volcanoes like Mt. Tambora.  Ordinary volcanoes are fed from vents of lava that arise in the earth’s molten mantle.  Think of a thin string snaking upward through the earth’s crust then spewing out as a volcano.  Supervolcanoes represent a huge caldera or magma chamber thousands of times larger just beneath the crust.  When they explode, all the material is ejected at once, leaving a huge caldera of emptied material behind.

The Yellowstone caldera (34 by 45 miles in size) is one such supervolcano that is just slightly smaller than the entire park.  That explosion occurred several times during the last 2 million years, most recently 600,000 years ago.  Even though this last one wasn’t even the biggest one, it still erupted nearly 200 cubic miles of material into the atmosphere, 100 times larger than Mt. Tambora.

The Mt. Toba eruption was even larger.  Way larger.  30 times larger than the Mt. Tambora eruption and over 2,000 times more than Mt. St. Helens.  Roughly 700 cubic miles of material entered the upper atmosphere, effectively altering the weather for years and covering earth in ash.  Parts of India over 2500 miles away were covered in 20 feet of ash.  This enormous supervolcano severely disrupted the weather by plunging the earth into winter-like conditions which killed off much of the plant life existing at that time.  Studies show it might have created a minor ice age.  This massive loss of vegetation had profound effects upon the human population.  Based upon DNA studies, it is estimated that the human population was reduced to as low as 20,000 individuals world wide.  This is a huge drop from the nearly 1 million people that were estimated to have been alive before this event.  Most survivors were in Africa and possibly India, which is why most DNA studies trace us back to ancestors in this area of the world.

So what has all this have to do with hypnosis, positive thinking and leading a better life?

Like it or not, supervolcanoes and minor eruptions will continue to occur.  My point is that right now, we are living in a relative golden age as far as humanity is concerned.  It is estimated that supervolcanoes occur roughly every 50,000 years.  Asteroids hit more frequently.  There are many other earth changing events that will continue to occur in the future as well.

All this should help you put your life in perspective.  We truly are living in a golden age.  None of these significant events have severely disrupted or decimated our population – yet.  But they will.  It’s just a matter of time.  This doesn’t even consider the eventual superviruses or nuclear bombs or a host of other looming issues.

So enjoy your life to the fullest right now, for at any time everything can change in the blink of an eye.  Living with such knowledge should help you see life as the precious gift it is that so rapidly passes by.  When you are awake and aware to this fact you will enjoy the time you have remaining and can help to create for our children and grandchildren a place where they too can fully embrace how wonderful the gift of live can be.

So get out there and enjoy the day!

While driving back from the Bay area yesterday, I started to think about Quantum Physics.  I know, weird, huh?  Anyway, there I was thinking about the nature of reality and how we could ever know that something was true, for establishing truth is pretty important, I think.  It gives us a solid foundation upon which to base our actions, intentions, even motivations.  How can something be real if it has no real basis in truth?

Then I saw a rainbow.  Not really much of one actually, but enough to move my thoughts away from my internal musings toward this outer manifestation of beauty.  So ephemeral, so transient.  I knew that rainbows appeared to us opposite the sun, so that with my back to the sun the chance of seeing a rainbow ahead of me on a rainy day with some sunlight was pretty likely.

Then I realized that others would be seeing this rainbow from a slightly different perspective.  Depending upon their position they would see the rainbow against a different backdrop, in a different location.  In reality there is simply the possibility, the probability, of a rainbow, and if there is an observer it’s likely they would see a rainbow, although the state of “rainbowness” actual existed across a wide area.

I wondered how many other events, other probabilities always surrounded us of which we were unaware.  How many possible moments of inspiration or real breakthroughs surround us at any given time?  I was reminded of the common phrase from the law of attraction, that there always exists the possibility to attract to us what we truly feel like we deserve.  Like an energy that is always there, just waiting for us to reach out and embrace it.

Whether it’s being aware of an opportunity, a rainbow, or the fact that this world is far more magical than we will ever fully understand, I trust your day is full of insight, wonder and joy.

Many people are astonished to discover that they have the ability to significantly change their life by altering the way they speak and think.

Is that possible?

Can you learn to take control over how you speak – or think?  Yes, it is possible and yes, you can learn how to do this.  Here’s a few simple steps that you can take:

1. In order to change habits it is very useful to first be aware of them.

2.  As you become aware of how you speak and think, you begin to exert your willpower over how you speak and think.

Here’s an example…

Say you want to lose weight.  You realize that your constantly thinking about food and talking about food leads you to snacking or overeating.  When your thoughts begin to focus upon food, you actively direct your thoughts upon something else.  You begin to make some inroads into your once all-powerful desire for instant gratification, even if these changes are minor or short-lived.  Still, it is enough for you to explore more powerful methods that support these efforts for change.

Here is where hypnosis can help.

We use hypnosis to intensify your desire to eat better and significantly change your life.  Hypnosis helps you to focus upon what it is you do want and naturally avoid thinking and saying what you don’t want.

Here’s why that’s important.

When you mistakenly focus upon what you don’t want, such as not wanting to eat sweets or not going to overeat or not wanting to  think about snacking on chips, guess what your subconscious mind thinks about?  It thinks about what you told it not to do.  For example, don’t think about an elephant.  And whatever you don’t think about a pink elephant.  And make sure that you don’t think about a dancing pink elephant.

You get the idea.

Your subconscious mind goes right to the image and doesn’t even hear the word, “don’t” in the sentence.  It hears “elephant”, “pink elephant” and “dancing pink elephant”.  If you say you don’t want sweets, chips or sodas, it thinks sweets, chips and sodas.  In order to change your habits, you need to change your thoughts – and words.

Here’s what you do.  Tell yourself that you now desire healthier foods, snacks and drinks. You want to eat better, to drink water, to exercise.  Saying this out loud or silently to yourself has some benefit, but done under hypnosis it is very powerful.  When you are under hypnosis you not only access your subconscious mind, you also learn that you can use this state of mind to make significant changes in how you eat, what you drink and when you exercise.

So learn to focus upon what it is you do want, and avoid thinking or saying what you don’t want.  And use hypnosis to boost your willpower so that what you consciously think about is supported by a deeper belief within your subconscious mind, improving your ability to permanently change your eating habits.

I have to admit, one of my favorite things to do is stargaze.  I know that it doesn’t have much to do with hypnosis and positive thinking…or does it?

My favorite constellation has always been Orion, the Hunter.  I don’t know why.  Maybe it’s because  I think about the ancient Egyptians and the devotion that they gave this group of stars.   Orion represented one of their chief gods, Osiris.  And his consort Isis is the brightest star in the sky – Orion’s companion – Sirius.  Did you know that recent archeological investigations support the belief that the alignment of the pyramids correspond to the alignment of the belt stars in Orion?

The sword of Orion is actually the famous Orion nebula, the leftover remnants of supernova explosions over millions of years.  Composed of nearly a 1,000 stars  about 1300 light years away,  it’s visible to the naked eye and appears as a fuzzy blob.  Mentioned in the Bible, Homer’s Illiad and Odyssey, as well as by the ancient Babylonians, the nebula has been around for about 1.5 million years.  As seen through a telescope, the Orion Nebula is one of the most colorful nebula in the sky – a multi-colored hue of reds, greens and golds.   Nearby is the equally famous Horsehead Nebula.

The constellations are so constant.  They’ve always been there, at least, throughout my lifetime.  Whether I was camping in the mountains, taking a walk outside, or traveling around the world, my favorite constellations were always there.  Unchanging, steady, a pillar of trust in the midst of a constantly changing world.

Now with each passing day Orion appears to rise later and later each night, until soon (early-summer) you might only see a glimpse of it early in the morning before sunrise.  At that time I’ll put it out of my mind, not expecting its return until late Fall, when once again it will rise up to greet me like an old friend coming back to remind me that it’s still there.

Perhaps you have something outside yourself that you rely upon.  Maybe a pet, or a person, or some other event you look forward to.  Something constant and significant.   What is important is to understand that we are all a part of something greater, something more wondrous and magical than our critical thoughts and anxious mind lead us to believe.  Looking up in the night sky reminds us that we are connected in some mysterious way to something far larger than ourselves, something more profound than just our tiny, disconnected selves.

Just something to think about as Spring appears and Orion begins to fade away.

Hypnosis is a powerful ally in your struggle to quiet that critical inner voice so that you permanently lose weight. We all have lapses when we overeat or snack on the wrong foods. Far too often you then might experience a bout of self-criticism and disappointment. The “critical inner voice” starts speaking up, and its message is extremely detrimental to your emotional and physical well-being. The voice beats you up by calling you weak or a failure. For some, the inner voice is less harsh, mildly disapproving or merely somewhat gloomy. However you experience it, how you respond is vitally important to your efforts to lose weight.

Why is it so important?

These negative thoughts can, and usually do, sabotage your efforts to lose weight. If you want to lose weight, it is absolutely necessary to overcome this negative self-programming. That critical inner voice can be thought of as that part of you whose job it is to defend and fulfill the beliefs of your subconscious mind. Think of your subconscious mind as a vast library – the repository of all you have seen, heard, felt and experienced. It also contains the template for all of your beliefs and behaviors about what you deserve or, in this case, how you respond to food.

Your critical inner voice operates like a head librarian, deciding upon and implementing policy based upon what you feel you deserve. That voice is actually trying to protect and guide you, although it does not know how to accomplish those goals in a gentle way. It wants you to be strong in the face of life’s challenges. Therefore, like an overbearing parent, it forcefully tries to control your thoughts, emotions and actions. It treats you like a child, convinced that you are unable to deal with stress, anxiety, loneliness, sadness and other feelings. So it has you eat, distracting you from your emotions, escaping from your issues with food or drink. Do you see how powerful it is? It both forces you to do something against your conscious will and then it beats you up for doing it! It overcomes your will power then scolds you for being weak.

Why does it do this?

It wants to remain in control. It feels you are incapable of coping without food or some other form of medication. This cycle of failure keeps you from becoming empowered and regaining control over what you eat and drink.

What is the solution?

Hypnotherapy can be a huge part of ending this cycle of sabotage. It is important to confront the part of you that keeps you from succeeding. Hypnosis gives you access to your subconscious mind, opening a doorway so that you can anchor in new positive beliefs and behaviors, beginning the process of regaining control of your life.

Remember the analogy of your subconscious mind and the library? Often the most popular books in a library are found up front on display. They are current, influential or significant. Hypnosis helps you place up front in your personal library thoughts, beliefs and behaviors that reflect your desire for health.

The more constant and important those thoughts become, the sooner you begin to eat better foods in the right sized portions, reduce snacking (and choose healthier snacks), drink more water and exercise. Hypnotherapy essentially creates in your subconscious mind an ally for your conscious mind, boasting your willpower and ability to resist then transform that critical inner voice.

While hypnosis is very easy to use, you only begin to see the powerful benefits when you experience it. So give yourself the opportunity to listen to a full length, sample session.  Click on the following program to download the free:

“Create Optimistic Thinking” hypnosis audio program

Discover how well it can work for you.

Then, when you’re ready, choose the hypnosis audio program that best fits your needs.