I feel like the character in a comic strip who has had a cloud over his head with nothing but calamities and obstacles blocking his every move. No matter what he did, he’d be thrown off stride, be it from a torrential rainfall or an avalanche along a sunshine-filled pathway.  Continue reading
Category Archives: understanding
Best sleep in years follows head treatment
I got the best sleep I’ve had in years last night and I owe it all to the treatments I have received for not only what ails me, but what has been blocking my lower brain from connecting with my upper brain.
Nothing has helped my back pains now
I felt nothing this morning.
For the past five days, nothing greeted me when I got out of bed.
Home where I grew up still haunts my mind
I grew up in a two-story row house in North Philadelphia in a mixed neighborhood where we played in front of the fireplug and got ice from old ice trucks that made their way up the tiny one-way street. Continue reading
Favorite Color Sings Out the ‘Oldies’ to Me
Blue has been my favorite color since I don’t know when. I guess my parents influenced my choice when I was young. I mean, I was a boy. And I was born in in the land of the red, white, and blue. Continue reading
Fun times await all who can be a kid again
I’m Having Fun!
Universe is Conspiring to Guide All of Us
When will I ever learn to trust the Universe?
When will I develop enough faith to believe things happen for my well-being? And when can I truly trust my instincts and live more peacefully in tune with what the Cosmos is manifesting just for me ? Continue reading
Psychic Cat comes alive watching my TV
I think I’m going “Cat Shit.” You probably heard of someone going “Bat Shit.” But I’m here to tell you that I’ve gone “Cat Shit” and this is the reason why:
My Vision Board’s World-Wide Travelling
A few weeks ago, I envisioned what the coming year would be like in a “Vision Board.” I got together with a small group and pasted magazine pictures and bold 48-point type letters to a cardboard placard showing what we would like to see enfold in 2016.
Psychic Powers Arise When You Believe!
Psychometry – the art of visualizing an energy force or spirit from a token or an object – really does work.
‘Singer of Truth’ is Contoveros’ Aspiration
The word, “Contoveros” in Latin means “Singer of Truth.” I didn’t know that as a child, when I learned that it was my father’s real last name. Someone at Ellis Island shortened it to “Contos.” One of my wives once told me that the new word means “Short.” Continue reading
The Ice Man Cometh for Me and for Thee
It was the ice on the truck that beckoned to me when I was six years old and playing on the one-way street near my home in North Philadelphia. Continue reading
Thinking of the Best Way to Speak to You
“Think before You Speak” reads the sign that my new best friend gave me for Christmas. She thought of me when she saw it, she said. She knew how many problems I had had with boundaries. Or, rather, lack of boundaries.  Continue reading
Reiki dream opens me to be ‘truth-telling’
Reiki, the universal life energy, opened me to one of the most vivid dreams of my life last night. And, as my Reiki teacher once told me, “Write down your dreams . . . There could be a message in store for you.”  Continue reading
Peace shared throughout the world today
“What am I doing here?” I asked myself as I sat in a cushioned chair with some 50 other people early this morning on the last day of 2015. I was here at the invitation of a woman I hardly knew, a minister, who enticed me to join the world in a planet-wide prayer for peace.  Continue reading
‘Post-Traumatic Growth’ can help you heal
I experienced something scientists have labeled “Post-Traumatic Growth” twice in my life and some forty years apart. Both led to major changes in my life and a new look at life like I never had imagined it to be.  Continue reading
Inner Being is My Winter Solstice Dream
“Inner Being” is a State of Mind
Feeling 17 again, despite the aging process
I don’t feel my age. I know I’m getting older and will soon meet my Maker. But I just can’t see myself as a senior citizen, let alone someone who will one day praise the glory of Medicare and the free rides on public transportation in Philadelphia.
Mourning Allison’s Sister with Joyful Love
I didn’t know how much joy there could be in grief until sorrow encompassed me and a warm flow of unconditional love spread throughout my entire being. Someone I knew experienced a death in her family and it hit me like a proverbial ton of bricks when I learned of her demise. Continue reading
Owning the Mental Illness Amongst Us
Mental illness scares the shit out of me. The very term conjures up images of some crazed guy with wild, straggly hair and a demon-like smile of malevolence. Steven King kind of comes to mind when I think of someone who might be a little touched in the head. A Stephen King character, that is. Not Stephen King.  Continue reading
Diving like a Mermaid to Discover Life
I love my cousin Betty Ann. She’s a few years older than me but I warmed up to her just as my adolescent hormones started to bubble up as I visited her at her farmhouse in New Jersey years ago.  Continue reading
Fear not your brightest light, let it shine!
- “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.
How did we choose the journey we’re on?
I would love to write a book about how people actually came to the current journey they’re on.
‘Healthy Brain, Healthy Living’ Mystifies
I know very little about New Age holistic energy and healing. Yet, I believe that some force beyond my understanding has arisen in my life and I’ve become the beneficiary of something mystical.  Continue reading
‘Healing the Western Soul’ heals & inspires
When was the last time you read a book where you had to stop to digest what you just took in because you wanted to savor what you felt?
‘I firmly resolve, with the help of thy grace’
Why is it that I find myself sticking my foot into my mouth every time something good comes my way? Why do I screw things up so badly? What curse have I created in some past life for me to resolve through some kind of karmic debt that I must repay in this lifetime?  Continue reading
Meditation reflections help heal the worst
Reflections opened a new world of understanding today. Years after a traumatic event, I can look back and see things in a totally different and healing fashion.
On my knees being grateful every day
I fall to my knees every day and give thanks for at least three things that I am totally grateful for. I usually include my son and at least one of our cats but also acknowledge the advent of a new day as well as a nice new warm bed and the person who invented the heater to keep all of us warm. The cats included!  Continue reading
‘Never touch the root of evil,’ Francis said
Saint Francis of Assisi believed so strongly that money was the root of all evil that he had forbidden his followers to ever handle it.
Brewerytown never too far behind me
No matter where I go, Philadelphia will always go with me. I’ve taken the old neighborhood to combat in Vietnam as well as to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. I let it shine in the courthouses of Philadelphia and the one and only house of pleasure I visited in Panama.
Reliving the presence of love again & again
I remembered what love once meant to me, and I thought I’d share it with those of us who might have forgotten it.
What I Believe Makes Me Who I Am
Who am I? What do I believe? And can I name a few of my beliefs?
What I believe will enhance my life forever
I believe that all of us are placed on this earth for a purpose, and the aim for us in life is to find out what that purpose is!
My ‘Vietnam War Recall’ starts tomorrow
“I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, and more desolation. Some of these young men think that war is all glory but let me say . . . ”War is All Hell!”
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American Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman
Taps by my Emotional Freedom Technique
If you haven’t tried it, you ought to Google “EFT” and see if such a technique could help with whatever might ail you today!
Opening myself through group awareness
I grew when meeting four people on Monday who helped me expand my consciousness in ways I had never known existed before. Someone introduced me to the Fifth Dimension, while another invited me to a New Age exhibition in Bucks County, where light-workers of all shapes and sizes would introduce newbies like me to new and exciting pathways to Nirvana.  Continue reading
Hoarding Ends at Contoveros Household
It’s finally over — the Big Dump has ended! A thousand and one useless items I’ve been hoarding for 30 some years got picked up and hauled away.
Death is unfrightening once Wisdom grows
Death doesn’t seem to scare me as much as it used to. I mean, I see it as a transition, and not an ending. In some ways, it will be a welcome “new adventure” if you think about it in spiritual terms.
9-11 is Our Generation’s ‘Day Of Infamy’
Like December 7th, 1941, the date of “9-11” will go down in American history as a new generation’s Day of Infamy.
Recalling love in a 30-yr-old 1-night stand
You wanted more, and I couldn’t give it to you. I was seeking love, romance, and someone I could be committed to. You simply saw me as a “one-night stand.” Continue reading
Songs offered hope to Vietnam War grunts
Musical refrains from Rock & Roll songs helped get me through the Vietnam War. I didn’t know all the lyrics of the songs, only those short parts where I’d stop what I was doing and raise my voice in unison with the lead singer. 
A ‘Lot of Heart’ can go a Long Way in Life!
Kids I grew up with in the tough section of North Philadelphia said that I had “a lot of heart.” I cherish that statement more than any I later heard as a teenager, a young adult, or someone older looking back on what made him the proudest in his short lifetime.
Reiki Melts Away Stress Very Handily
Reiki melts away stress. That’s how it works on me. I feel parts of my body easing up, relaxing, and “collapsing in” on themselves, if that is possible or, rather, imaginable. I liken the feeling to the green-colored Wicked Witch of the West, who, when splashed accidentally with a bucket of water by the Tin Man trying to douse a fire engulfing the Straw Man, the personification of evil in the Merry Old Land of Oz, declares, “I’m melting. I’m melting.” Water melts away the bad, and Dorothy is proclaimed all that is good.
Recalling some cool summers in the Army
Summer always served as a “new beginning” for me when I was in the US Army. I got drafted on the Third of June and did my basic training in the hot, dry air of Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
A rant against disrespect, hurt & the war
Much of what I know about War was what I learned while playing as a kid. You know, using a stick or a broken branch from a tree, I’d pretend it was a rifle to shoot the bad guys who were out to get me and the rest of the good guys in my old neighborhood. 
Defense Attorney Regrets His Prosecution
All of my legal career involved defending someone charged with crimes or offenses against the law. I worked 20 years as a lawyer, trying more than a hundred jury trials, winning more than half of them.
Achilles Contoveros spoke with his hands
We could never have had a delicate coffee table in our home when I was growing up. My dad – who came to America from Greece when he was only 15-years-old – would smash his hand onto the table, breaking it in two or more pieces.  Continue reading
Open yourself to hear the Universe speak
Listen to what the Universe is saying. It may speak to you in ways you might not understand unless you’re open to all means of communication. 
All senses call out to me when meditating
The smell of lavender and a hint of myrrh greet me as I walk into the meditation room. I had not expected my sense of smell to be the first one to experience such a warm and inviting welcome. I should not have been surprised. The olfactory system is the first sensory organ I usually use, and I’m not too proud to state I am usually led by the nose.
Continue readingListen for the ‘Wisdom You’re Born With’
Listen to Yourself.
Close your eyes and go within and listen to the Sounds of Silence.  Continue reading
True Love Passed Over for a Child’s Sake
Peggy sat at the table of the Blue Jay Restaurant, staring out the window and wondering where her life had gone and what she should do with her new condition. 
Calling all ‘Spiritual Soldiers of Fortune’
I believe that I have become a “Spiritual Soldier of Fortune” and would travel anywhere my heart beckons me to learn, to pray, and to find answers about the Universe.
Touched by an Angel to Help Guide Others
Angels can Perform Magic if we Open Ourselves to ‘Em!
Today, while in what I call the “Post-Meditative State,” I wondered if something spiritual might have occurred when I was much younger.
Science Supports the Law of Attraction
If you didn’t know it by now, science supports the claims made by Abraham about the Law of Attraction and how it could help revitalize your life from this moment on.
Meditation helps the Law of Attraction
“You don’t need To Work when you are Meditating.“
That’s the advice that Abraham offered to a young woman who was called to the stage to question the Spirits about issues she was facing on Saturday. She was among some 15 people who shared the “Hot Seat” at the Renaissance Hotel near Philadelphia’s International Airport for a workshop.
Abraham Calls Me to the Law of Attraction
I met Abraham up close and personal yesterday, and I learned the universe had called me to study the Law of Attraction as voiced by Esther Hicks, the one who channeled for the spirits guiding us back to the Source within. 
Gifts from within that we all might share
Spiritual Gifts are Available Right Now
Ever wonder what you can do to be more like the person you have always aspired to be? You know, the one you hoped you would grow up to be, but didn’t get the chance because life seemed to hit you upside your head and throw you off course? 
Buddhism is Simple Love and Awareness
What do you tell a person who wants to know about Buddhism?
Lucid dream opens a new world to explore
I dreamed a lucid dream for the first time in my life last night.
Love is the only gift I can bestow on you!
What gifts can I offer the world today? What insight, wisdom, or thought could I bestow on others seeking the healing we need for our mutual pain and suffering?
I am All the Love I Aspire to Be Right Now!
I close my eyes, and I enter a world where nothing, but love exists within. It is a state of mind I visit more often now that I meditate early in the morning. You see, I roll over in my bed and wrap my arms around me, feeling the warmth slowly develop and then spread throughout my body.
Please take me back my love; I need you so!
I miss you. My God, how I have missed you!
Do no harm and happiness will flow freely
“First, Do No Harm.”
This quote from the famous Greek of antiquity, Hippocrates, could be the basis for a new Golden Rule for the Road.  Continue reading
State of Our Spiritual Union is Flourishing
True Meaning of Life Flowering Now
Seeds planted in the 1960s have flowered, and the Age of Aquarius has finally dawned on the world, awakening many of us to a new way of living, a new way of forgiving.
Sniper triggers nothing but bad memories
I never saw a sniper as a hero. I don’t think many Americans did either. That is, until someone made a movie about one of them that fought for “our side.” Continue reading
What really goes into publishing your book
Ever wonder what goes into the marketing of a book before it ever hits the bookstores or gets on Amazon.com? Well, I never knew until I saw it up close and personal.
Who had the biggest impact on your life?
A Person of Spiritual Growth and Guidance
The person who had the biggest impact on my life was my second wife, Wendy Wright Contos. She had a 157 IQ, but never once acted as if she was better than me. She easily got angry at injustices and would, on occasion, lash out against the hypocrisy of politicians, while helping the underprivileged and the rights of women in a male-dominated society. Continue reading
It was me an enemy sniper was trying to kill
A Sniper Takes Aim at this Young Lieutenant
A Viet Cong sniper was trying to kill me. Some motherfucker hiding in the trees, the bushes, the triple-canopy jungle had just shot at my platoon. I thought he was shooting randomly, despite the debris from the ground, grassland and other tiny bits of rock that struck me from a bullet’s ricochets.
What is awakening my senses now-a-days?
I got hit upside the head today. Continue reading
Mystery key opens door to new adventure
Missing Keys Reappear Somewhat Mystically
Healing others starts first with healing self
Words of Another can help in Your Healing Continue reading
Ithaca Mystical Insights — by Contoveros
Trying to Understand the Meaning of Life
I am looking for the type of cover for my latest book, my son. It tells of a Mystical Journey I embarked upon several months ago, arriving in Ithaca, New York, for a three-day retreat. There, I met a teacher who explained how I could understand my life and its meaning.
- He spoke no English, yet conveyed to me the Wisdom of the Ages.
As stress keeps arising, meditation caps it
Someday I may just get my stress under control.
‘Israel’ directs Francis “toward” the Creator
(The following is an excerpt from a book I wrote entitled
“St. Francis of Assisi, A Novel Awakening to Lady Poverty“)
Continue readingLearning a ‘Little Greek’ from Francesco
Student of History Learns About Saint Francis
What did I learn about Francis of Assisi while researching the facts about his life?
At least, no one is shooting at me this time
Riding high on the back of an Amazon.com
Seeing your new book on sale quite uplifting
My book on St. Francis now on amazon.com
Well, I told you my first book would soon appear. And it did.
Contentment: Learning to be Content OK
“Good Enough” is the lazy man’s way to enlightenment . . . There’s nothing more to do . . . Your job is good enough . . . Your spouse is good enough . . .Your life is good enough . . . Your meditation practice is good enough. . . You don’t need anything more, and what you now have is good enough. —
New bucket list headed by state of Alaska
North to Alaska!
That’s where I’m headed next week, and I’ll start checking off the newest box of my “bucket list,” the list of things I want to do before I “kick the bucket.” Continue reading
Ups & downs of life provide me lessons
“When you’re down and feel like nothing,
God is usually up to something just for you.”
Growing up with Catholic Sisters (Nuns)!
While growing up in a Catholic School, I met all kinds of nuns. Some I liked more than others.
Ithaca Insights Serve Up Peace & Calm
How May I Serve You? Continue reading
Meditate First and Foremost Each Day!
What a Surprise!
Francis of Assisi; awakening him by a novel
Dream of Writing a Book about to Come True
As I stand on the precipice of my literary journey, the dream of writing a book feels closer than ever. The countless hours spent brainstorming ideas, developing characters, and crafting intricate plots have finally begun to take shape. I can see the pages of my story unfolding before me, each chapter brimming with potential and passion.
Continue reading‘Do’s’ and ‘Don’t’s’ of Radiating Wisdom
Today’s meditation showed us that we all have a profound and innate wisdom. How have you experienced this in your life? Write about a time that you spontaneously said the right thing at the right time to someone. What did that communication feel like for you? — Deepak & Oprah 21-day Meditation Experience.
Wisdom Flourishes from Deep Within
As I struggle to come up with a satisfactory answer for this question, let me focus instead on what Deepak had quoted William Blake as saying in reference to wisdom. Wisdom is “organized innocence.” What a concept! In order to have or to cultivate wisdom, I know that I must be in awe of something; I must see that thing with wonder, with the eyes of an innocent child.
The Enlightenment of a Dharma Listener
I’m down to just two more days now . . . Two more days in which to become enlightened through the 21-Day Meditation Experience of Deepak & Oprah. Today is the 20th Day. Tomorrow, I’m afraid, it will end for me and you.
Living with passion; name your 5 favorites
What are your passions in life? List five areas and describe what quality of energy and joy that passion brings out in you. – –Deepak and Oprah Meditation Experience
Writing heats up; twice blesses me & you
I am hot. I feel like I have a fever . . . A fever that pulses through me for the past several weeks. It seems this fever entered my bloodstream just about the same time as I started doing twice-a-day meditations with Deepak and Oprah for a 21-day Meditation Experience. Writing in the journal has added to the mix.
Journey Propels Me to the Lower World
Our Shamanic Journey to the Lower World
The Gospel according to Micha’el the lesser
Hoping for a lofty goal, I write a lot & often
(Question 2 on Hope)
Think of a time when you felt sure you were going to attain a lofty goal, even though the path to the goal was not apparent. That is the hope that comes from your being.
Continue reading
Hope fills your presence and your future
We introduced a new understanding of hope today. We want to build a sense of hope that is a force of change that comes from a feeling of certainty and well-being within, rather than an anxious kind of hope that vaguely wishes for things to turn out well.
Explosion shatters Peace but calm prevails
Question 2 of 4 on ” Feeling Peaceful“
Thinking of this same peaceful experience, imagine that feeling of calm becoming deeper and stronger within your soul to the point where nothing happening in the environment could shake it. Describe what that kind of peace would feel like physically, mentally and emotionally. How could this type of peace change your life? — Deepak Chopra 21-Day Meditation Experience (Day 3 — “Feeling Peace”)
Getting a Good Last Laugh is so Laudable
Despite always having a smile on my lips and a laugh at my tongue, I found it hard to think of anything to write about for the latest meditation round for Oprah and Deepak.
Peace Found Deep Inside the Vietnam War
(Part 1 of 2)
Recall a time when you felt calm and peaceful, even though the circumstances were not peaceful. Write down a description of that event, and describe how you were able to be calm in that situation. What was the source of this peacefulness if it didn’t come from outside? — Deepak Chopra 21-Day Meditation Experience (Day 3 — “Feeling Peace”)
Transcending My State of Meditation
Transcend to a Higher Level of Consiousness
I took off from Planet Earth this morning. It all happened when Deepak Chopra pushed a button inside of me, using the words “transcend” and “Higher Levels of Consciousness. Continue reading
Fuzzy needs Kabbalah Group to grow by
(Unpublished Kabbalah story from Feb. 18, 2011)
Fuzzy needs Group to glow bright
NaNoWriMo done in 30 days, Thank God
I just finished writing 73,000 words about Francesco, the young man from Assisi who overcame post-traumatic stress from battles, as well as a year-long imprisonment, before being ransomed by his rich mercantile father.  Continue reading
Love notes discovered from a distant past
Him: God, I miss being in love. I guess I could say I miss you.
You helped me tap into the feelings I usually only get with Shekinah, what the Kabbalah says is the feminine side of the divine. She’ll always be with me, and I see now you simply took her place for a little while here on Earth. Love is still there, but only redirected now.
Thanks. Continue reading
Contoveros 