Hello to all the wonderful people who frequent this site.

At the end of last September, Norman B joined this forum, and I think we’ve all been somewhat amazed at his journey and progress since then. I can’t explain exactly why I’ve been so drawn to Norman’s plight, but I’ve been particularly tormented by his situation, and have tried to think of ways to help since shortly after his first post. I don’t think I’m the only one who has felt this way, as so many of you have shown such deep compassion for him on an ongoing basis, although I would guess that most of you have done a better job of keeping things in perspective than I have.

As you may remember, in October there was a valiant effort led by Christina to help raise some desperately needed funds for Norman. I totally bought into it at the time, but it seemed that, in general, people were not very responsive to the idea of helping Norman out financially through this means. After thinking about it, I feel I’ve come to understand and support what I believe were the reasons for this. Those of you who frequent this forum are incredibly kind to offer your time in sending healing energy to people you don’t even know. But helping financially, for many reasons, is just not what you’ve signed up for in visiting here. Also, if you start feeling obligated to give money as a part of this experience, it’s likely you might stop dropping by at all, rather than feel guilty for not contributing. So, while I didn’t start out there, I’ve pretty much come to feel that fundraising for Norman here on the QT Forum is not really viable or even appropriate. We all get hit by a constant barrage of fundraising requests, and the exceptionally kind people here shouldn’t have to be subjected to yet another one.

The problem remains, however, that Norman is still in what can easily be termed dire financial straits, and this creates an ever present and oppressive stress in his life that’s extremely difficult for him to overcome, and affects his ability to get well on so many levels. In considering alternatives to help him, another idea presented itself, which, with the help of some awesome practitioners, and with Norman’s grateful acceptance, is now available at http://theupwardspiral.net . The idea for this site was borne out of the observation that while people didn’t seem interested in sending money to Norman, they did seem willing to help him by being very generous with their time. So, at the outset, the web site is set up to offer paid distant healing sessions by practitioners of holistic and energy healing arts, with the funds going to Norman, rather than to the practitioners, who are donating their time. There are four wonderful and talented practitioners listed there to start: Holly Dolben, Alfred Heath, Mhari Marrach, and Christina Riggs.

Now, I want to say up front, that you should only use this site, in either offering to donate time, or in using the services there, if it resonates with you and makes sense to you personally. The idea is that the site provides a valuable service, as well as benefiting practitioners by giving them visibility and helping to build their practices. So while the practitioners there initially are there because they are motivated by a desire to help Norman, the plan is for this site to ultimately evolve into something that operates in terms of a more equitable trade-off, rather than an out and out donation of time. The goal is for Norman to eventually take ownership of the site, and turn it into a profitable internet business, but he needs to be much healthier for him to have the time and energy to make that happen.

There’s lots more information on the site that I don’t want to repeat here, but I’d like to invite everyone to visit http://theupwardspiral.net and read the information there. I also want to caution that the site isn’t completely done yet, and it’s still in the process of being revised on a continual basis. There is a sign-up form for a mailing list, but at this point, the actual emails aren’t likely to start for a little while yet.

We’ve been having some technical problems this week with the site, and I’m hoping we are past those at this point (being very thankful we didn’t announce this site a few days ago). If you spot any problems, please send me an email at denise@theupwardspiral.net . Also, if you’re trying to access the site at a later point, without the link, keep in mind that it’s a “.net” domain (the “.com” was already taken). Also, the name starts with a “the” as in “theupwardspiral”.

Thank all of you so much for your good will, and positive energy. I’ve said this before, but it’s true, you’re among the kindest group of souls I’ve ever encountered.

Denise

p.s. When you visit the site, be sure to look at Norman’s blog at http://theupwardspiral.net/blog . I think he’ll have a lot of interesting things to talk about there, like he does on the forum, so you may want to bookmark that page.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Denise S.,

Denise,

I think this is a FABULOUS idea!

The website looks pretty good (although I haven't seen all of it yet ) and I have definitely bookmarked it for use in (hopefully) the very near future!

Congratulations to all involved with this (and to Norman for accepting the idea), and I hope it takes off and is a huge success.

Jo, Thanks for the kind words. Support like yours for this project means everything. I am so hopeful this will really help Norman, as well as others who will see this as an opportunity to have personal sessions that will offer improvement for them, beyond what they are getting otherwise.

Thanks so much for the encouragement,

Denise

The site is positively awesome. Very creative and unique, a testament to your love and the love of so many of the wonderful QT fambly. I stand in awe of the effort, the creativity and talent.

and besides --- WHAT A FABULOUS IDEA!!!

Jana, Thanks so much for your support. It is greatly appreciated! You are so giving and kind.


I heard from Nancy yesterday that she was unable to bring the site up, and I think that probably has to do with our moving it the day before because of technical problems, and the changes just not getting updated throughout the internet. If anyone who wants to look at the site today has any problems, then please let me know.

Also, I would like to mention that I've now included a link to Nancy's site (Nancy O Botanicals) in the lower right sidebar under Recommended Sites, so you can always link to it from there if you'd like. Also, a quick plug for Nancy's owie cream. My husband has really dry skin in the winter, and Nancy says the owie cream will really help, so I'm going to order some later today to give it a try. I expect to have glowing reviews in a few weeks.

Many many thanks, Jana, and everyone else who is offering support.

Denise

Thank you, thank you Denise!!

I still cannot get on... I don't understand since I don't have any other problems with ANY other site... oy!! I have the latest Internet Exporer version.

error:
Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage

Nancy,

Bummer that you can't get on. It's possible there's just a huge lag time in the location change we made a couple of days ago, but that's really odd. I don't want to bore people with the technical details, but when you move the location of a web site, the change has to be propagated throughout the internet. Several years ago, it used to take up to 72 hours, but I haven't found it to take that long for some time. However, I suppose that may be it. Just not sure.

I will pm you with some things for you to try (and to discuss the order I put in on your site earlier today).

Thanks, sweetie.

Denise

What an amazing idea Denise
Great website too Good luck to you all, especially Norman

Love to you all

Mo x x x

Denise...YOU ROCK! And we're all ready to roll!
GREAT job on the site. It looks awesome.
May you be blessed ten thousand-fold by the generosity and love you've shown others.
Special big hug to you my friend.
Christina

This is beyond love....

My deepest respect,

Gerda

I have booked my first session and the website process went very smoothly! I had a slight blip with PayPal over the currency conversion from $ to £, but it is done, and I am pleased to have sent my payment off to Norman!

Once again, this is a WONDERFUL idea, and thank you so so much to the fantastic and generous healers who are doing this pro bono work.

Hi Denise,
This is a great idea!
Just sent you a mail would like to join.
Love, Light, HAPPINESS.
Pinky

Molinda, Christina, Gerda, Jo, and Pinky,

Thank all of you so much for your support in donating sessions, having sessions, or just being there.

Since announcing the site just last Wednesday, we've had Cris, Jana, and Pinky offer to join us as practitioners, and Zeneagle has offered to donate the equivalent of two hours of work from the custom jewelry business she is starting. This is all so kind, and so supportive to help us get things off the ground.

I'm going to send out emails to a few friends this week to try to atart getting a little more business, but even what we've had so far has really helped Norman out, and I think things will pick up over time to make a big difference in his life.

Love back to all of you, and thanks again for everything you do,

Denise

Hello Everyone;

I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone on this forum for your love and emotional support.

Denise has done a magnificent job of putting together this site, but it was inspired by the love that is so freely given here in this forum.

Of course, the donations of time and sessions from Holly, Alfred, Christina, Mhari, Pinky, Cris, and Jana are ever so much appreciated. I am just so overwhelmed at the outpouring of love and giving coming from this family.

I haven't been on the forum much in the last few weeks because of personal issues, but my heart has been here. I really love and appreciate each of you people. You give freely of your time, wisdom, love and healing energy to people you have mostly never met. It is so wonderful.

In fact, this very thing, your love, has inspired a post that I put on my blog tonight. I hope to be posting on a more regular basis, and even putting out a newsletter. One step at a time though.

Norman,

It's great to see you feeling well enough to be posting again! Hope you continue to feel much better, guy.

You've probably already noticed, but I wanted to let eveyone else know this, too. In addition to the wonderful original four practitioners (Holly, Alfred, Mhari, & Christina), we are so fortunate as to have Cris and Jana on the site now, with Pinky to be added later this month when she completes her practitioner certification. And Zeneagle has kindly offered to donate from her custom jewelry business, once she has it online, and we can link to it from your site. It's wonderful to see so many people willing to help out.

There are now little "next" and "prev" buttons on the individual practitioner pages so you can scroll through the practitioners without having to go back to the main page. I'll be adding enhancements like this over time, but they just take a little while to program and test.

Hope you and everyone else has a great weekend!

Lots of love,

Denise

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Denise S.,