#1: Has Shelley Jumped the Shark?
Introduction
This weekend, I received a message from a dear friend I haven’t spoken with in a while. It was not long after I posted about the launch of With Love Gaia’s consultations. It went like this… “Hi! Is this really you, Shelley? Wow, what a change of careers!”
It’s obvious that most would see what I’m doing as a little out there – or a lot. When you break from popular belief, that’s inevitable.
Inspired by that message, I’m launching With Love Gaia’s blog today. In this blog, I will share perspectives on health, science, spirituality, consciousness, and insights from my work with clients.
This first post will offer some insight into why I made this change, and it takes us back to my science roots. I don’t intend to convince you of my beliefs, but perhaps you will find it interesting and maybe you’ll even take a moment to think about some of what I share.
It’s Not Working
When I left my traditional health care strategy executive job a few months ago, I told my colleagues I would continue working in health care strategy but move upstream into spiritual and emotional health and trauma healing – figuring out how to solve problems differently. This is true, but obviously a pretty limited explanation of what I am doing.
But here’s the thing, the traditional way is not working. People are suffering. Health care only touches a tiny sliver of a person’s total health. We don’t have enough doctors or nurses and the ones we do have are worked to the bone. Pharmaceuticals are largely treating symptoms not solving problems. Health care is already unreasonably expensive, and expense trends continuously exceed inflation.
It’s just not working.
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." – unknown (often attributed to Albert Einstein)
This is not meant to be an attack on the people working in traditional care – they are respected colleagues and friends who are working tirelessly to improve a faulty and limited system. I still see the work they are doing as critically important. (Love to all my pharma, health plan, and clinical friends – you know who you are!!)
But there must be another way, and I believe it’s been right in front of us for a long time.
We Are Made of Atoms
We agree that all matter - including the human body - is made of atoms, which are essentially electrical clusters of protons and neutrons with clouds of electrons orbiting around them. Atoms are energy in constant movement.
At a slightly larger scale, our bodies are built around the central nervous system – which is made of atoms arranged into cells called neurons. Neurons specialize in sending information from one location in the body to another through an electrical signal (action potential) and then transduce the electrical information into chemical information (neurotransmitters), serving as a bridge from the electrical to the physical and leading to the expression of genes, proteins, etc.
In short, the basis of the human system is electrical (atoms). The electrical informs and translates to the chemical and physical (neurons, genes, proteins, etc).
We are atoms. Atoms are energy. We are energy.
Atoms Are Governed by Quantum Physics
Classical Newtonian physics does an excellent job of describing the laws that govern large objects – like a molecule or a dust particle or larger. But Newtonian laws break down at the atomic and subatomic level. In the micro, quantum laws take over – and this realm is all about probability, uncertainty, non-locality, entanglement, etc.
Our bodies are made of atoms. Atoms are governed by quantum physics. Our atomic bodies are governed by quantum physics.
We use quantum physics broadly in technology, in transistors, microchips, computers, the internet, lasers, TVs, etc. Nearly all modern electrical technologies rely on quantum physics in some way – and it’s been around for a long time – even your old tube TV relied on the laws of quantum mechanics to function.
And of course, many health care technologies rely on quantum physics. MRI scanners rely on quantum spin. PET Scans use antimatter particles called positrons and quantum decay. Gamma knife surgery uses high-energy photons to heal tissues at the quantum level, without cutting tissue. These are just a few examples, and none of them would work if we only used Newtonian physics.
We Are Quantum Too
This is the part where our mental models start alarming – and it’s understandable because it threatens our beliefs of what we are as humans. We see ourselves as matter and ignore that matter is made of energy. But science and basic deduction lay it out quite clearly.
Maybe a new definition of insanity could be believing that the laws of physics apply to everything except us.
(Sorry, that’s a little spicy but to me it’s the elephant in the room.)
You experience your own quantum-ness all the time and don’t realize it. Here are some practical examples that most will personally have some experience with:
Your child, who is an empath – She tunes in to your emotions and you can’t hide them from her. How does she do that? It can’t be explained, but you believe in it because you experience it every day. It’s a non-local connection, which aligns more with quantum entanglement than Newtonian physics.
You sense something just before it happens or have DeJa'Vu – We all have experienced these and many of us often. You think of someone just before they call or text you. Or you remember something you just experienced as having happened before. These experiences relate to non-linear and multi-dimensional time of quantum physics.
The placebo effect – In pharma trials, it’s standard to observe measurable improvements in physical symptoms in a control group. How? It’s not a physical result of an active medicine binding to receptors and changing chemistry. It aligns with the quantum observer effect, where measurement or belief causes uncertain potentials to become specific realities.
The gamma knife surgery – I’m repeating on this one from the technology section, but it’s important. It can’t work just because the technology is quantum. Your atoms and cells must rearrange according to quantum laws for healing without cutting tissue. You must also be quantum.
The release of spirit from the body at death – This one is for my physician and nurse friends and any other person who has had the honor of supporting someone through death. There is a correlation between when the heart and other organs stop and when the spirit leaves the body, but they are not the same. When you have experienced this – especially for our clinicians who have experienced it a lot – you know there is a specific moment with the soul leaves the body and the spirit is no longer there.
My New Frontier
This is the space I am working in now – it’s the realm of the quantum, where consciousness is the foundation of all things and potential is unlimited. Where we are both energy and physical, quantum and Newtonian.
I’ve been studying spirituality and consciousness in my personal life for some time.
At a certain point, when you have experienced enough things that you can’t unknow or overlook, the only authentic option is to break away and be willing to do something different than everyone else.
Particularly as one who works in strategy, when you know there is a potential that blows what we are currently doing out of the water, it would be crazy to ignore it.
The opportunity cost is too high. It’s too high financially. And more importantly, it’s too high in the impact to our health and happiness.
Conclusion
And so, to answer the title question of this blog post, “Has Shelley jumped the shark?” It depends on your perspective.
If you’re not ready to consider our atomic and quantum nature, that could be your truth.
But maybe I just jumped from the fish tank into the ocean and I’m inviting you to join me.
You decide for yourself. There is no wrong answer.
I’ll leave you with this brilliant quote, that was brought to my attention again recently and at just the right moment:
"The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence." – Nikola Tesla
With love and gratitude, Shelley