Imagine with me this scene set some time in the future …

I hurry off the exit ramp at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in a rush to get to my connecting flight. As I am making the “Simpsons sprint” though the concourse, something in the peripheral catches my eye. It's the familiar face of “Dr. Phil” McGraw beckoning me from a neatly piled stack of newspapers at a nearby newsstand. But this isn't just any newspaper. It is a national newspaper alright, like The Wall Street Journal or USA Today, but what sets this publication apart is the fact that it is FREE for the taking and it's filled with GOOD NEWS. Imagine that! A national free publication that uplifts and inspires readers.

Okay, back to the present. Everyone knows that right now there is no such thing as a national free publication, much less one that uplifts and inspires its readers. But a good choice for such a publication, if there were one, would certainly be our own Balanced Living Magazine.

In just its first two issues, Balanced Living Magazine wowed Northeast Ohio with several good news stories packed with amazing information about such topics as the practice of integrated medicine at a world-renowned health center and the production of a bona fide alternative to petroleum diesel fuel. Yes, my friends, these current events are impacting Cleveland right now! Balanced Living Magazine “broke” the news about Reiki practitioners healing in the Cleveland Clinic and Biodiesel Cleveland converting french fry cooking oil into a renewable resource. Imagine how much better the world would be if the national media followed the example of Balanced Living Magazine to seek out and publish news stories that have the power to uplift and enlighten.

Nearly every large metropolis has a free new thought publication, but to date the industry has not grown beyond its grass roots. Thank Heaven for these dedicated visionaries. Balanced Living Magazine in Northeast Ohio, Conscious Choice in Chicago and Nexus in Denver are three examples of the countless free new thought publications across the country produced with love and good karma. Many of these publications have been in business for decades, and we can only hope that someday soon one of them will make it to “the big time.” Such a publication, taken to a national level, would have a huge impact on our collective wellbeing.

My own excursion into new thought publishing came in 1996 when I launched Paradigm, Northeast Ohio's first metaphysical free street paper. After a year and a change in principles, the paradigm shifted. Picking up where Paradigm left off, I launched The Shifting Times. From the start it was my vision for The Shifting Times to be our country's first national free newspaper. Unfortunately my efforts to secure financing fell short and my dream was not realized. Much to my chagrin, some havoc was wreaked along the way, and The Shifting Times printed its last issue in March 2000.

I choose to believe that the efforts of all those involved with The Shifting Times went into creating a “benevolent energy grid” to support the emergence of a national free new thought publication. Perhaps all the changes taking place in the world today are indications that the times are shifting and our thoughts are shifting in a more positive direction. Perhaps the way in which news is reported will change and a national free new thought publication will finally come into being.

Indulge my imagination one more time…

… As I slow down long enough to grab a couple of free copies of Balanced Living Magazine, I know it won't slow me down too much in my rush to Concourse B and my plane waiting for me there. And besides, the flight attendants might give me some special attention when I hand them the latest issue of BLM. You see, they will no doubt want to read about Dr. Phil who is making a comeback. It seems he made good on an old promise to BLM to grant an interview when he did!

(Well, I can dream, can't I?
Bo Wise is the former publisher of The Shifting Times, a free publication that, with the love and support of many individuals and businesses, was enjoyed by readers in the 12-county Northeast Ohio area during the last few years of the 20th century. She hopes that her volunteer efforts on the Editorial Advisory Board of Balanced Living will be interpreted as a love offering to those who were negatively impacted by the closing of The Shifting Times.