Healing

I'm still trying to process the suicide tragedy at Costa Mesa City Hall on March 17. An extreme consequence from an extreme City Council agenda, is what it appears to me. As we all try to heal through this, may I offer this advice to the mayor and council? First, trim the budget with a scalpel, not a hatchet. Second, treat your employees with respect and compassion; they are your city's greatest resource. And third, stop reducing the operating budgets of the police and fire departments — there have been too many reductions in service already.

Young Chang You hear the words "grieving" and "healing" and "book for the grieving soul" and immediately expect a how-to book. A book that tells you it's ok to feel angry, that the anger will pass and what you might do to hasten that passing. Jorie Nolen's "The Hidden Gardens of Life's Winter" doesn't say anything like that. It's Nolen's opinion, in fact, that society is too often inundated with instructions on what we need or should do and 12 steps for everything.

Suzie Harrison Her life crashed. She had a failed marriage, no career path, no resources and two tiny babies. Some would have been left emotionally bankrupt and turn to drinking or drugs -- but not Jeanette Smith. She turned toward a different path to glue the fragile pieces of her life together. "I really thought it was the end of the line," Smith said. Then she turned to the book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," by Mary Baker Eddy, a book that she had grown up with.

For John and Martine Kohlenberger, their meeting not only led to marriage, but to a mutual spiritual journey, their eventual ordination as ministers in the Mystical Spiritualist Church and a shared, spiritually focused business. In the early 1990s, both were single. John Kohlenberger was involved with a singles discussion group for which he was occasionally a featured speaker. A friend who helped run the group enticed Martine to visit. "I was speaking on love at that meeting," John Kohlenberger recalled.

Healing of the soul at Temple Bat Yahm Congregants and guests of Temple Bat Yahm are invited to heal their souls on Friday evenings during intimate sessions of life enrichments, officials said. Led by Rabbi Rayna Gevurtz, "Healing the Soul" will focus on issues of illness, loss, healing and restoration of inner wholeness through melody, psalms, prayer and meditation. Jewish healing services provide a safe and intimate context in which prayer and meditation leave people feeling completely moved, spiritually comforted and soulfully renewed, temple officials said.

During the Christmas season, the members of the Christian Science church in Newport Beach wish to extend an invitation for you to join them in prayer and singing praise to God. Sunday services are held at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., with Sunday school at 10 a.m. Wednesday evening meetings at 7:30 p.m. offer a quiet haven for focus on gratitude for healing experienced and encouragement for those in search of the healing truth...

May the warmth of Love and the light of Truth surround you and yours this Christmas season! "The basis of Christmas is the rock, Christ Jesus; its fruits are inspiration and spiritual understanding of joy and rejoicing, -- not because of tradition, usage, or corporeal pleasures, but because of fundamental and demonstrable truth, because of the heaven within us. The basis of Christmas is love loving its enemies, returning...

"Alien Abduction: Startling Perceptions From a Skeptical Experiencer" July 15, 2009 @ 7:30pm For 20 years, Nadine?s professional life included working in the legal field as a project coordinator for public entities and as a document management specialist, analyzing and organizing evidence, issues and events to assist in preparing legal cases for trial. Throughout her life, she has also maintained a pervasive interest in the study of psychology and various techniques for recovery from addictive behavior and emotional trauma.

Kimberlie Zakarian EDITOR'S NOTE: Cindy Trane Christeson is on vacation. Her column, "The Moral of the Story," will return next week. It saddens me that lately I have encountered numerous hurting marriages. It seems that at the root of this hurt lies unforgiveness and a fear that forgiving means what another has done to you is OK. It excites me that there can be a victory over every trial. As I counsel various marriages, I have only one hope to profess, the hope that all are able to grasp onto and accept -- God and the Bible.

More than ever, in today’s chaotic time, with Wall Street in crisis, presidential campaign rhetoric filling the news, retirement accounts dwindling, real estate foreclosures and bank instability dominating the day, it is the garden that calls for our attention. Garden- ers already know it; their garden is their escape. Gardens just make us feel better. Eva Shaw, author of “Shovel It: Nature’s Health Plan,” says that gardening reduces stress, lowers blood pressure and helps fight depression.

Newport Beach and surrounding coastal communities this week received the kind of report card that would make any parent proud: nearly straight As. From Newport Bay to Crystal Cove, area beaches not only scored high in water quality on Heal the Bay's annual report card, but many fared better than last year. The Santa Monica-based environmental nonprofit's report gave A-to-F grades to 447 California beaches after documenting the "routine monitoring of beaches by local health agencies and dischargers," according a press release.

Angela Sinnett and Andrea Allerton treat common health ailments with the one thing many people fear most - needles. That's because they are trained and licensed acupuncturists. "When people hear 'needles' they tend to think of a shot like they do at the doctor's office," Sinnett said. "But, the first thing they say afterward is, 'Oh, that was easy,' or 'I didn't even feel anything.'" The duo have combined their practices, Sinnett's Magnolia Acupuncture and Allerton's Modus Acupuncture, to launch Community Acupuncture, a reoccurring event at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sundays at Studio Seaside, Corona del Mar. The event aims to bring low-cost sessions - $25 for about 45 minutes - to those who otherwise could not afford it. While Sinnett and Allerton accept insurance, many providers do not cover acupuncture.

I'm still trying to process the suicide tragedy at Costa Mesa City Hall on March 17. An extreme consequence from an extreme City Council agenda, is what it appears to me. As we all try to heal through this, may I offer this advice to the mayor and council? First, trim the budget with a scalpel, not a hatchet. Second, treat your employees with respect and compassion; they are your city's greatest resource. And third, stop reducing the operating budgets of the police and fire departments — there have been too many reductions in service already.

Some might say that the New Orleans Saints football team has long been the sporting soul of a city that has suffered so much. On Sunday, less than five years after Hurricane Katrina battered New Orleans — and considering that the Saints nearly moved out of town permanently not long after Katrina — the franchise won its first Super Bowl. Many people in New Orleans, which is still recovering from Katrina, compared the team’s championship game victory to a miracle and a sign of the city’s resurrection.

Some might say that the New Orleans Saints football team has long been the sporting soul of a city that has suffered so much. On Sunday, less than five years after Hurricane Katrina battered New Orleans ? and considering that the Saints nearly moved out of town permanently not long after Katrina ? the franchise won its first Super Bowl. Many people in New Orleans, which is still recovering from Katrina, compared the team?s championship game victory to a miracle and a sign of the city?

"Alien Abduction: Startling Perceptions From a Skeptical Experiencer" July 15, 2009 @ 7:30pm For 20 years, Nadine?s professional life included working in the legal field as a project coordinator for public entities and as a document management specialist, analyzing and organizing evidence, issues and events to assist in preparing legal cases for trial. Throughout her life, she has also maintained a pervasive interest in the study of psychology and various techniques for recovery from addictive behavior and emotional trauma.

It was brought to my attention that there were some complaints from readers that the costumes and dancing style of the dancers performing at the Fish Fry were not to their liking. Well, my daughter is one of those dancers. The only thing my daughter was promoting was her love of dance, the love for her studio, and fellow dancers (who are also her friends) in conjunction with donating time to the community in the way of dance. To the casual observer, dance costumes, as well as many other performing costumes, may not please everyone.

Submitted by Stephen Gregg At risk teens often walk down the path of drugs and alcohol abuse. Operation Clean Slate has found art to be a creative alternative to these destructive choices. Troubled teens from the Coastal Mountain Youth Academy have taken part in an Operation Clean Slate project and have created a mural for New Directions for Women, a chemical dependency treatment center in Costa Mesa. “It’s heartbreaking to see teens experience these events, but we’re glad that they are getting help early in their young lives, and we’re grateful for the mural they’ve created for us,” said Rebecca Flood CEO, of New Directions for Women.

Choosing when to dive into the waters off Newport Beach is as simple a choice as black and white, or in this case, wet and dry. When the weather is dry, which is almost year-round, Newport Beach’s ocean and harbor water quality is great. But when it rains, it’s a complete health hazard, according to a report recently released by the Heal the Bay environmental group, which rated beach water quality statewide. “Newport Beach’s waters, just like greater Orange County, showed very good to excellent water quality during dry weather this last year,” said Mike Grimmer, an environmental data analyst with Heal the Bay. “On wet weather days, you want to stay out of the water for at least three days.