Creating with Intention

Harnessing the Power of the Universe

When the mind begins to recognize it would like things to be different, a huge opportunity has been born. Without the interest or curiosity of the mind, there can be no forward movement. Rather, issues such as forgetting, not finding time for something new such as meditation, or belaboring what does not work all come into play. The mind must be willing for something to be different before it can be.

Let's assume that your mind does want something to be different. It might be that you want a new job, more money, a relationship that feeds you, health and vitality, etc. How has your mind arrived at this awareness?

The mind creates most often through the experience of what it does not want. It recognizes dissatisfaction, it yearns for more, it is unhappy with the status quo. The mind orients through good and bad. It sees situations as falling into one of these two categories. Once the mind determines it is dissatisfied with where an aspect of life currently exists, it can begin the process of determining what it does want, or in the framework of the mind, what would move it from the bad to the good category.

From here the mind has two choices: it can invite things to be different or it can keep them the same. Each action taken falls into one of these two categories. Being dissatisfied with something is not enough for change to occur. An individual can be very aware of their dissatisfaction and yet not encourage things to be different. The frustration may grow and yet things remain the same.

When the mind recognizes dissatisfaction in a particular area of life, it also must envision what it would like for that area to evolve. This can be thought of as a goal or intention. To intend for something in particular to manifest involves connecting with the energy of the Universe to support that desire. Intention is a powerful link between the mind of the personality and the larger structures of an individual that know already how to create using energy.

What allows the intention to fully manifest is the presence of trust and non-attachment. If, for instance, an individual is expecting a particular outcome, he or she may not see all the other options that arise. Rather, because the expected outcome does not appear exactly as the mind had envisioned, the mind determines something is wrong. Often frustration sets in, and the mind begins to doubt the process of intention and manifesting. It may even believe that this is not possible, having not yet fully understood the process.

Consider this example. On a recent trip to a beach resort for a conference (which fits my intention of being in lovely places at the right time of year) I wanted an ocean front room. I knew that I would have considerable time in-between commitments and wanted to enjoy the ocean as much as possible.

Knowing that there were very few ocean front rooms at the conference price, I set my intention and took action. I phoned immediately, only to find that there were none available. Disappointed, I enquired about the regular room rate and was told it was over two times the conference rate. I resigned myself to an ocean view room and decided I would continue to use energy skills (including intention) to see if I could manifest an ocean front room at a good rate.

I watched my beliefs surface. I noticed where in my body I could align with being supported. I envisioned relaxing to the sound of the ocean while sleeping. I could feel the capacity of opening to being fully supported emerging from my cells.

When it came time for the conference, I arrived at the resort only to find out that there still were no ocean front rooms available. I inquired as creatively as possible to see if there was not some way for this to occur. There was not.

Well, I reasoned, as I walked to my room, here I was at the ocean enjoying the beauty, sounds and nature. As I walked onto the balcony I looked with envy toward the ocean front rooms. There they sat, directly over the outside grille on one side, with billows of smoke emerging making it impossible for windows to be open. On the other side sat the nightclub, complete with neon lights and no doubt a fair amount of activity that would have made it impossible to sleep to the sounds of the ocean.

I smiled in knowing gratitude for how fully supported I was, here on the balcony with a perfect view of the ocean. Directly below was a beautiful koi pond which afforded not only a fountain but opportunities to observe birds and wildlife at close proximity. I could not have picked a more perfect room.

When we discover what we desire and take action to achieve that intention, we may be surprised at the form that creation actually takes. Opening to the influence of the Universe requires suppleness of mind as well as a willingness to surrender how we believe things must be.

To start each day in a positive way, you can sign up for Vanati's Free Daily Intention Program to have supportive and healing energy sent to your inbox every morning! Learn more and sign up by visiting: Vanati Daily Intention Program

Article by Deb Schnitta

View the Energy Healing Article archives on Vanati.com >>>

Choosing Peace

Peace, like a familiar friend, lies waiting within the essence of who you are. Disconnection, fear, rejection and abandonment are all images of 'not peace' that serve to engage you so that you may choose this peace.

From Transforming the Personality: Illuminating Your Essence by Deb Schnitta

Releasing the Past

Relinquishing What No Longer Serves You

What would life look like lived from unlimited potential?

To begin with, life would be a reflection of the present, not an extension of the past. Moving from there it is the expression of our Soul’s wisdom in moment to moment consciousness. But where do we begin to create such deep transformations? If we open to living life consciously in the present, an easy place to begin is to review what we still hold to, consciously and unconsciously, that does not serve who we truly are now.

It may be by updating the images that we hold of ourselves. Or it may be through the prism of new eyes that we see ourselves more clearly, as we examine the world that is reflected back to us. No matter where we choose to begin, the process of releasing what is no longer accurate in our lives, as a true representation of who we are, comes into play. Without it, we simply recreate the past, over and over again, at times wondering how we got there again.

When an experience occurs, it is flavored by the mind’s understanding of the experience, as well as data from the past. Often the data from the past actually lays the foundation for how the mind sees something now, how it understands what is transpiring.

If, for instance, I see the presence of abundance as something unattainable, then I create the beliefs that I am not abundant already. I may even reinforce these beliefs, simply by focusing on all the areas in my life where I am not abundant, where I have not yet allowed that universal presence to show itself in my life. All the while, I am missing the places in my life where I am abundant already. A simple change in perspective and I experience gratitude for the abundance that I have allowed into my life.

Has my life changed? Has my world view been altered? Or does my mind simply interject, telling myself I am not truly abundant, I am just fooling myself?

The determination of whether this is a moment of transformation or merely a fleeting thought is whether or not I am willing to let go of the past and update my future with ease.

To do so, begin by focusing on something you would like to create in life...Continue Reading on Vanati.com

Excerpt from "Releasing the Past: Relinquishing What No Longer Serves You" by Deb Schnitta

Click Here to View the Healing Energy Articles Archive on Vanati.com

Opening the Doorway to Enlightenment

"Every opportunity in your daily life is one of expansion. How much love can you hold? How much compassion can you cultivate? How much joy can you emanate?"
~Mikala

To be here consciously as your Soul is part of the path of enlightenment and a goal of the Soul as it returns for incarnation. To forge this conscious as a way of living requires openness of the personality as well as understanding of what this relationship means and what is possible. Seeing life through the eyes of the Soul is very profound. Living from here is an ever-deepening process that builds a life of joy, compassion, Soul love and allows the evolution of the Soul itself.

Excerpt from Spiritual Evolution: A Doorway to Enlightenment >>>

On the Vanati website their is an abundance of material to open doors and provide inspiration as you travel your path to fulfillment.

We invite you to take advantage of our many free offers including Evolution - Our Monthly Ezine for Healing and Change.

For daily energetic support to live to your fullest potential, we recommend our Intention Program, to have motivating affirmations sent your inbox each morning.

Being Peace

Ready to join us for the G20 Peace Meditation? This article offers useful tips on how to be in peace, no matter what is transpiring around you...

When we come from our largest self, we are able to align with peace. As we learn to embrace being our largest self, we become peace. From here we generate peace and offer it out into the world. This is part of the path of enlightenment: to live a life of joy and expansion here now.

Embracing our largest self involves opening as a mind to the possibility that we are more than our minds. It also involves aligning with Soul qualities such as peace, love, compassion and generosity... Continue Reading on Vanati.com >>>

G20 Meditation for Peace and Abundance

Pittsburgh G20 Summit

Vanati World Peace and Abundance Meditation

Location: Anywhere in the World - Energy Anchored in Pittsburgh

Imagine a Summit:
Where the highest outcome and benefit for all is the overarching consciousness from where all decisions are made
Where world leaders hear one another
Where cultural differences are respected
Where peaceful exchanges of divergent views occurs
Where each leader finds the courage to connect within themselves to their deepest power and capacity and act from here

Imagine a world lived from here.

Vanati will be hosting a free distance meditation on Thursday September 24, 2009 and Friday September 25, 2009 to support the highest possible outcome of peace and abundance when our world leaders meet in Pittsburgh.

There are many ways to participate:

Join the Facebook Event >>>

Send Your Intention for the Meditation >>>

Learn More About the Meditation on the Vanati Website >>>

Read About the Upcoming G20 Summit in Pittsburgh >>>

What is Unlimited Potential?

Unlimited potential is the complete expression of your Soul’s Light. Part of how your Soul expresses its light is through its life work, or Soul Purpose. Each incarnation allows the Soul the opportunity to explore the fullness of its light, and ways in which it can offer that light out into the world.

Because the Soul works in partnership with the personality, how open and supple the personality is determines how much of the Soul’s light is able to be offered and expressed. For instance, a personality who believes it must do things alone, whether related to issues of trust, gaining confidence/ ego development in being able to do things alone, a history of betrayal etc, isolates itself from support. Since the basic design of the Soul and personality relationship is partnership, the personality moving through the consciousness that creates separation in its life will enhance the relationship with its Soul and in turn what else is possible for the expression of Soul light.

Unlimited potential is, as the word unlimited implies, never ending. As the Soul’s capacity to hold more light is enhanced, the potential of its capacity is enhanced as well. What this means is that as the Soul works more fluidly in partnership with the personality, more of its light can be offered to the world through its life work. As more of the Soul’s light moves out into the world, there is greater capacity for the Soul to hold more light. And in turn, as the Soul deepens its capacity to hold more of its light, then the Soul itself transforms. Since part of why the Soul incarnates is to offer its light to the world in service, the Soul itself is committed to the exploration of its unlimited potential.

Complete expression of the Soul’s light most often occurs over many lifetimes. However, as the consciousness of humanity is evolving, new structures, such as Cellular Expansion and Healing™, that are designed to enhance the capacity for the personality to be fully supported in its exploration of partnership with the Soul are possible. From here the exploration of unlimited potential and the embodiment of the Soul’s light are exponential.

Complete expression of the Soul’s light occurs when the personality partner aligns consciously with the Soul’s full capacity. Living as a Soul infused personality is one stage of that journey.

To discover more about your Soul purpose and unlimited potential, we invite you to visit the articles archives on the Vanati website - Healing Article Archives

Living as Your Soul

Awakening to Your Potential

To live consciously as the Soul is part of the path of enlightenment. It is the expression of the Soul's light into everyday life, relationships, creations, service, etc. that the Soul has come here to experience and contribute.

Living as your Soul creates the opportunity for the mind and personality to step away from what no longer works. This may be issues of lack that manifest in not enough of something - time, money, love etc - or it may be issues of attachment such as recreating old patterns that serve only to reinforce the separation of the personality from its larger self.

Having thoughts such as, ‘I can't find a good relationship because there is something wrong with me' is one example of this. Rather than noticing the aliveness within that is beautiful and filled with the potential of creation, the mind has stepped forward with old beliefs and impressions and determined that these old beliefs are what is real, this is what is possible.

When connection with the Soul becomes easy for the personality, then the personality itself begins to look for this connection; it begins to expect that there is a higher way to view a given situation and a different way to approach the act of creating what is desired. It may be for the personality that initially the act of connecting with the Soul is simply the presence of a deep seated peace....Click Here to Read the Full Article Vanati.com >>>

By Deb Schnitta >>>

View Archives of Energy Healing Articles on Vanati.com >>>

Opening

"Opening takes time, much like the creation of grains of sand. Opening can also be explosive and rich, filled with ease and the excitement of discovery. The wisdom of your Soul guides the choice of this rate of opening moment by moment."

~Mikala

From Opening the Heart: Moving Into Higher Energies by Deb Schnitta

Create Ease, Health and Connection

Cellular Expansion and Healing (CE) is energy medicine that supports healing and change at the building block level of illness, the cells. Through affecting held patterns of consciousness within the energy system itself, CE supports the body's true nature, the call for balance. Through the exploration of what is needed for the body, mind and spirit to return to balance, lasting change and healing occurs.

When a client chooses to receive CE to support life they are in effect choosing to open to their deepest nature, their inner abundant connection to source. They may initially be drawn to CE for a physical ailment, such as cancer or the desire to create life differently. Each time a person chooses to engage with the energy of CE, whether in a session with a trained practitioner, in their own home through our energy programs, or as a practitioner accessing the energy for everyday life, they are saying to the Universe, I choose to create life in the highest way possible in this moment.

The body, as a repository for all life experiences, stores the consciousness associated with the life experiences in the cells. These conscious and unconscious memories and impressions shape how we view the world. We may, for instance, desire to create a relationship. We may think about creating a relationship. We may focus on the longing for relationship. We may feel excited about the prospect of having the relationship in our lives. And yet, the relationship does not come to fruition. Why?

Beneath the surface of the whys and longings are the beliefs and impressions associated with having a relationship. The unconscious orientation of the mind as an expression of our consciousness is very powerful. Learning about these beliefs often begins the process of opening to forward movement to create what is desired.

What has been necessary for the change to occur has been present all along. Held beneath the surface, much like a bud encased in ice, it has been waiting to be released so it could unfold. CE provides the stimulus and loving container for this unfolding to occur naturally, easily and with support.

Each time a practitioner offers a session to another person or living being, they are bathing their cells in this same energy. They too are having the opportunity to be held in inclusive respectful energy. The results are life changing. As one practitioner put it:

"My life has changed so dramatically since studying CE. In the beginning I was aware of being my personality and witnessing my Soul as something separate from me. Within the first weekend, my personality stepped back and welcomed in my Soul. By the end of that class, I realized I was my Soul; saw the world from my Soul, loved from my Soul. Since then life has become Exciting! I am creating from ease, learning to fall back and wait for the natural order of the Universe, and above all, remembering who I am."

The next Cellular Expansion and Healing Practitioner training course begins this September. If you are interested in learning more about the benefits of Vanati Energy Healing School for you and your practice, please visit: Vanati Cellular Healing Course

Excerpts from Cellular Expansion and Healing: Creating Ease, Health and Connection by Deb Schnitta

Beautiful Rain

Can't see the video? Click Here to View it on YouTube

"Of course the personality is never alone, in the true sense of the word. It is always tethered to the beauty and support of the Soul. But much like having a rain jacket and leaving it in the car on a stormy day, a Soul not accessed is just not as effective. Without the invitation from the personality to engage, the Soul waits. It holds a beautiful place of love for its partner, the personality. It offers it support as openings allow. It whispers in times of silence or extends warmth as the heart opens to its presence."

From The Personality and Service: Extending our Gifts Out Into the World by Deb Schnitta

Thanks for sending us this video Renny!

A Cancer Epidemic and A Look at Preventive Care

Is Cancer Preventable?

Below is a very enlightening article by David Servan-Schreiber regarding the rising cancer rates in Western life-style societies and a look at how we got here. Amidst all of the shocking facts and statistics there is a positive message here - that there is so much we can be doing to decrease our risks of cancer, strengthen our bodies and live to our fullest potential.

A Cancer Epidemic Started in 1940

"Cancer rates have been climbing steadily since 1940. This is not due simply to the increase use of screening tests or the aging of our population: cancer has been rising in children and adolescents at a rate of 1% per year in the past 25 years. And cancers that have no screening test (lymphomas, pancreatic and testicular cancers for example) have been increasing as fast or faster than those that do (breast, colon, prostate).

The most common cancers in the west are rare in some other countries. In certain regions of rural China in the 1980s, for example, WHO researchers using the same screening tests we use in the west were not able to find any cases of breast cancers. They were told by local physicians "it's a disease of rich women! You’ll find it in Hong Kong, but not here."

When Chinese women immigrate to the US, their risk of breast cancer becomes that of American women within one or two generations. The same is true for Japanese men and prostate cancer. Asians are not protected by their genes, but by their life-style.

A Watershed in 1940: Five causes of a cancer epidemic

Five major aspects of our life-style have changed since 1940 and contribute to the progression of cancer:

1. The massive increase of sugar consumption
We went from 12 lbs of refined sugar per person per year in the 1800s to 154 lbs per person per year in 2000.

Cancer cells feed primarily on sugar. To detect where a tumor may be present in the body, we use PET scans that simply measure where radioactive sugar accumulates.

2. The change in the way we feed animals that feed us
Animals used to feed on grass and seeds rich in omega-3 fatty acids that slow the growth of cancer. Hence, meat, milk, cheese, butter, and eggs were all rich sources of omega-3 fatty acids. Now that animals are fed in feed-lots with corn and soy, omega-3s have practically disappeared from our common foods. Eggs my grandmother used to feed me on the farm I was raised on were a genuine "health food", filled with the omega-3 DHA necessary for the growth of a child's brain. Today’s supermarket eggs have practically no DHA and it has been replaced with the pro-inflammatory omega-6 arachidonic acid (AA).

A diet rich in omega-6 fatty acids is associated with a markedly increased risk of breast cancer. As omega-6s stimulate inflammation in the body, they are likely to feed the growth of many other types of cancer too.

Trans-fats, introduced widely in the 1960’s, are now present in almost all industrial foods (pizza, cookies, French fries etc.). They are thought to increase the risk of breast cancer by a factor of 2. A Dutch government report of 2007 estimates that that the number of deaths due to trans-fats in that country exceeds that due to motor vehicle accidents.

3. The introduction of chemicals in all aspects of life
DDT was invented just before WWII. Many common herbicides and pesticides mimic the effects of estrogen hormones in the body. They can stimulate the growth of an existing tumor. In 2005 the CDC found 149 toxic chemicals in the blood and urine of American of all ages that were tested. In 2003 the University of Seattle tested pre-schoolers who eat conventional (non-organic) foods. The level of pesticide residue in their urine was high. For some of them, it exceeded by a factor of 4 the limit recommended by the Environment Protection Agency. Children eating organic diets (70% organic or better) had practically none.

4. The massive reduction in our physical activity
Do you know anyone whose grand-parents did not walk to school? How many children do you know today who walk more than 10 minutes to go to school? Something powerful has happened to our relation to physical activity. We are the most sedentary humans that ever existed.

The risk of a relapse from breast cancer is 50% less in women who walk 30 minutes six times a week. Physical activity is a highly effective protector from cancer that we have eliminated from our lives.

5. The disorganization of our social support networks
We Americans now move on average every 5 years. This means that we change neighbors, often friends, and get further and further away from our aunts and uncles, our parents, and our siblings.
In times of major stress, the most effective protection from adverse psychological and physical effects on our body comes from the strength of our intimate relationships. How strong are they today when we no longer live near each other? Twenty-five percent of us say that we have no one in whom we can confide.

One Australian study found that women with a major stressor in their life and no intimate support had 9.5 times more chances of developing breast cancer.

The encouraging part in this sad picture of an epidemic is that each one of us can start to reverse these societal changes in our own life. We can decide to nourish balance, to stimulate health, in us and around us. We can opt for a new way of life. And in doing so, we simultaneously help prevent cancer if we are cancer free, and strengthen our bodies if we already have it."

From Health.DailyNewsCentral.com

Questions to Consider in Exploring Healing

It is rejuvenating for your mind, body and Soul to take time out to consider your life as it exists right now. This can help to understand your life's larger vision and support learning from your current perspective.

The following questions are not intended to be used as a barometer or gauge, but rather as a consciousness raising exercise to support your evolution.

1. What kind of time do I have for myself each day?
   
   
2. What activities do I do that are just for pleasure?
   
   
3. What is the most relaxing time of day? How do I spend it?
   
   
4. If I had all the time I needed, what three things would I like to see more of in my life?
   
   
5. Being alone is what to me?

As you become more aware of being in a body with needs and desires, it will become even more important to continue the process of connecting with your physical body more fully.

From the Vanati Healing Energy Program meditation Cellular Expansion and Healing

Learn more about Cellular Expansion and Healing >>>

Sand Fantasy - Meditative Art

We love this video from http://www.sandfantasy.com/index.htm - another wonderful way to meditate.


Can't see the video? Click Here to View it on YouTube

Thanks Judy!

Spiritual Evolution: A Doorway to Enlightenment

"Allowing the presence of the Universe to guide your life takes courage. It is great wisdom that recognizes that there is more than what the mind could create and even greater wisdom to invite that in." ~ Mikala

Spiritual Evolution is possible when the personality is open to living life as a Soul. This suppleness of the personality signifies that as a personality, you are willing to move forward consciously as your Soul, learning about life from this perspective.

From Spiritual Evolution: A Doorway to Enlightenment by Deb Schnitta

If you are interested in reading more about evolving to an integrated perspective, we invite you to read more on our website - Vanati.com/evolution

Transforming the Personality

"A single breath is all it takes to shift your perception. Life seen through the eyes of the personality is often colored by old experiences. Seen through the eyes of the Soul, it is a thing of wonder." - Mikala

The personality has a great many impressions and beliefs, most that have been created by an earlier time in our lives and reflects a distortion of what is actually true.

What life events have you experienced that may be keeping YOU from living at your full potential and illuminating your essence?

From Transforming the Personality: Illuminating Your Essence by Deb Schnitta

Living through Changing Times as a Mechanism of Creation

"All of life is a laboratory to explore the presence of spirit"

As the world seems to spin in ways that the mind tries to fathom, it can be hard for a personality that desires for things to be the same. Old institutions that seemed to be there forever now are gone, leaving questions in many minds.

But more importantly, these changes that may not even be in your personal daily sphere, impact the larger fabric of humanity. Adding a wave of fear, of uncertainty and even survival in their wake, change can elicit unconscious reactions of constriction. Different from action steps of changing your spending habits, or modifying plans, these places of constriction aid in keeping the personality entrenched in the past.

So what’s a person to do, amidst a sea of change that is brought about by the actions of others?

Since all of life is a laboratory to explore the presence of spirit, then these times are indeed an accelerated opportunity. Flexibility of mind and emotions are key to not feeling distraught. And remembering that if you do feel shaken, that having an emotional response is not wrong. It does not mean you are not spiritual enough, it simply means you had an emotional response.

What you do next, in the moments that follow this initial response dictate whether you will unconsciously join the sea of fear and reactivity or whether you will take a breath and find expansion. Yes, even in the midst of turmoil there is expansion.

Change happens from the inside out. As spiritual beings we know this place of orientation. But when change seems to happen from outside of us, it can rock our foundation. Righting ourselves with ease is the expression of our spiritual training.

Do we remain neutral while others share their own stories of fear? Or do we join them, reaching into our own recesses of unexpressed fear? Where do we choose to resonate?

It is when we get larger than our individual selves, to the constructs of our Souls, that we see the change around us as a series of flows. And as a series of flows life is nothing more than patterns of movement and possibilities. Things that have been out of balance simply right. Areas of greed bring down entire financial structures and we, as Souls, see this as life coming back to balance.

Not from a place of sugar coating the loss of a 401K or a job, but from true understanding that the Universal flows are larger than our personal flows. They intersect, and as we choose clarity, integrity and balance, we are drawn to what is next, what serves our highest purpose and learning.

Maybe in the process we learn about our own patterns of unconsciousness, where we, for instance have been taking care of others financially, or not attending to our own needs. Where does this one strand of consciousness flow? Does it exist simply in one area of our life, or is it, like the recent financial implosions so interrelated that a forensic expert couldn’t identify all the connections?

Each time we pause in a moment of reaction and choose expansion, we disconnect from the unconscious habits of constriction. We exercise our ability to choose ease, until this now becomes the new normal. What do you want your new normal to be? And once you hear its voice, what steps are needed, the actions of your daily life, to mirror this new normal with the choices you make?

Each time you exercise your capacity to create, you add this proactive energy to the larger fabric of humanity. It can be easy to forget the impact you have, as an evolving spiritual being, upon the lives of those you may never meet. To the mind, it may simply look like one simple choice of expansion in a sea of change.

To enhance your capacity to open and create we suggest Receiving the Energy of Connection.

Potential

"Within each breath is the potential for everything. Consciousness, intention and the expression of choice determines the birth of that potential."

~ Mikala
From Opening the Heart: Moving into Higher Energies

The Key to Spiritual Evolution

Soul connection is key to spiritual evolution and inner peace. It is part of the evolutionary shift for humanity-- to be the Soul in daily life.

When the personality aligns with the Soul, it is given an opportunity to step away from past perceptions and see the world as it exists now. Aiding the capacity of the personality and mind to be present now, Soul connection fosters living a life of expansion. When the mind sees things as they truly are, and not how it believes them to be, the opportunity to open to living unencumbered becomes real.

The unencumbered state is one of Divine alignment, free from separation. For the personality this means living life free from drama. Life events unfold but the reactive nature of the personality does not dictate the reality. This furthers the capacity to remain expanded in the present. The unencumbered state also leads to heightened awareness, where the expansion of the Universe is felt and experienced in daily activities. Walking, performing daily tasks, engaging in life work all become a state of meditation.

How expanded daily life (where spiritual life becomes present in all aspects of living) can be is dependent upon the degree of suppleness of the personality and depth of Soul connection. Soul connection occurs in stages, ranging from the personality having awareness that there is a Soul and relying on its wisdom, to living fully blended in all aspects of life.

To learn more about the stages of Soul Connection and how to augment them in your own spiritual development visit us here: http://www.vanati.com/spiritual-enlightenment