WORDS/PHOTOS: ADRIAN DE GROOT
PHOTO: MIA MEDAKOVIC
THE THEME FOR DECEMBER, CLEARLY MEANT FOR JUST-AROUND-THE CORNER-2025, IS “NEW YEAR, NEW STORIES”, IS OBVIOUSLY ALSO MEANT FOR FAR INTO THE FUTURE! THUS: AN ANNUAL REPETITIOUS CYCLE OF RENEWAL (OR AT ANY TIME, ACCORDING TO YOUR WISH).
When we look back at 2024, and the years before, we wish so many of the new stories then that are part of our human history now would have been so much happier than the wars, conflicts, and natural disasters we have seen exploding all over. Nevertheless, also many unsung heroes have done truly amazing things in many fields, even though the media often ignored them and stuck to sensational and, in essence, negative and fear-laden news.
So you and I will wonder if there is anything we can individually do to make 2025 and beyond a better, happier, and more peace filled year, filled with great new stories? Isn’t that what we really all want?
Yes, many new stories will fill 2025. Some will undoubtedly be the same old sad news, but for many it will be a time to truly turn the tables and make ardent and joy-filled contributions to 2025, and form a permanent habit that carries on and on way into the future!
A dear friend of mine, who seems always so positive, optimistic and a joy to meet, recently posted some wisdom expressed by Yoko Ono, which deeply inspired me: “Try to say nothing negative about anybody; for three days; for forty-five days; for three months. See what happens to your life.” And just “imagine” (Beatles pun intended) what will happen if you go well beyond three months! Making it permanent!
So, this article could be very short and stop right here by telling you to just do what Yoko Ono suggested. And include “Say nothing negative ‘to’ anyone.”
The year 2025 can be a new beginning! It can be filled with beautiful stories you create yourself, which is of course the best thing you can do for others, with others, and surely for yourself too.
In 1918, Max Planck received the Nobel Prize in physics. He said that the entire universe is not material but is consciousness, and Nikola Tesla and Albert Einstein expanded upon this by adding that everything is energy, vibration, and frequency. Thus, if you are negative, angry, judgmental, violent with words or actions, you create a disturbance in the vortex of this world. The ripple effects of such negative vibrations go out further and cause more harm than you think. And it’s really a boomerang: this kind of boomerang will not only affect others during its journey, but in the end, return to harm yourself as well, and you may become a very grouchy, bitter and cold person in old age, quite isolated and lonely. I know and observe people like that, and it’s so very sad to see.
How you are is what you do for others and yourself. “Your vibration creates your situation”, says Slovenian spiritual teacher Tjaša Dorelay. Thus, what you do for others, in unselfish service, in altruism, in volunteerism, and in many other ways, you also do for yourself. Even the nuns and monks in monasteries who, in their isolation, just pray for others and for a better world, are sending out vibes that positively affect the world. And we can see so many manifestations, big and small, of all these different efforts. We can be so thankful for all these contributions, for all these unsung heroes. It’s such a rewarding thing to be part of this globally growing positivity vibe.
Let’s say you think very lovingly and longingly about a friend you haven’t seen for a while, and then suddenly, your friend calls you, or gets in touch with you somehow. Coincidence? No, because your vibrations can immediately affect the one you are thinking about. Of course, it works the other way around too. Physical distance plays no role here either.
Several decades ago, in 1973, The Secret Life of Plants was written by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird. The book revealed that plants reacted to negative human thoughts even from a certain distance, like a next room. If someone just even had the thought alone to cut off a leaf, the plant would already react. It’s too bad this book seems ignored now by materialistic scientists.
The Japanese researcher Isamu Imoto did amazing, groundbreaking work with water that would react to different forms of positivity or negativity, whether expressed verbally or even just in writing. He did the same with cooked rice, which would turn to a very foul smelling odor and dark substance when exposed to negative words spoken to it every day. That easy experiment was repeated by thousands around the world with the same result! Again, I boldly proclaim that everything in this universe has some level of consciousness and responds to love and positivity very well, and to hate and also neglect very badly.
I frequently run into videos on Youtube and Facebook of animals we normally think of as mutual enemies getting along just splendidly and especially videos of animals, birds and even fish returning love given to them by humans. And what about dogs? And dolphins? Need to say more? Animals also love music, and music can have such a deep effect on the human soul. No wonder that Ludwig van Beethoven said that making a mistake is inconsequential, but that to play without passion (read: love) is inexcusable. Cows give better milk listening to beautiful classical music, and plants grow better with it as well. Talking nicely or singing to plants also helps them a lot. So we see, our new positivity laden stories in the years to come can make such a wonderful difference!
What will you and I make out of 2025? What will our new stories be? Lots of travel? Making new friends? Marriage? A baby or grandchild on the way? Visiting a friend? Organizing a family reunion? Doing volunteer work? Meditation or prayer? Becoming more spiritual? Loving your health more and taking steps to exercise, quit smoking, reduce or stop alcohol and junk food? Reading empowering books? Joining a yoga group? Learn how to play a musical instrument? Pick up a totally new hobby? Paint? Pottery? Start a new business? Redecorate? Pamper yourself? Change your wardrobe? As you can see, so many amazing positive options!
Of course, it really doesn’t matter what you do, as long as the outcome is a happier you and more love, kindness, peace, joy and blessings will radiate outwards and happily affect all your relationships and truly anyone you meet.
Going back to Imoto-san: he gathered a group of people to hold hands and stand around a small lake, and recite and think and declare positive thoughts. The quality of the otherwise dirty lake water had improved significantly by this collective ‘prayer’. Likewise, I have read somewhere that people in a city got together and started to pray en masse for their city after which the crime rate dropped significantly. The power of a positive group!
I like to think that this universal consciousness Max Planck talked about, is true unconditional love which is also the Source of all intelligence, the cosmos, our Earth/Solar System, nature and its beauty, human creativity, art, music, technology, wisdom, intuition and other spiritual experiences, and you-name-it.
To me, the three most wonderful things I can do to create positive new stories is to be more grateful for small and large things, perfect my unconditional love for others and self, and therefore also forgive others and myself totally. This will be such a very beneficial frequency for sure!
As this is apparently my last regular monthly article, all of which I have immensely enjoyed writing and illustrate with my own photos, I want to express my deepest gratitude to my dear friend Mia, our amazing Miomira Anima Mundi Medaković Topalović, for allowing me to be part of this groundbreaking the-loving-way-showing magazine, wishing that many amazing stories will follow and radiate outwards in 2025 and beyond to inspire many and especially contribute its part to help make this world the one we all long for it to be!
I say goodbye for now from my heart of love to all RYL’s readers!
