A couple of entries ago I mentioned that I’m a follower, fan and student of Barbara Marx Hubbard’s and her amazing work. Like her, I believe that we are a species which is in the process of making a major evolutionary transformation. Evolution is a continual process and one that escapes our conscious mind and eludes our daily vision because it is such a slow moving process. Yet, it is a constant force which by the sheer nature of our existence is affecting each and every one of us.
Given the belief that we are evolving as a species if we look at history as a teacher, what can we learn that might help us understand what is ahead for us as a species? Barbara has done a beautiful job of outlining what she sees as what we have learned. She has four basic beliefs, or principals that can help us make sense of the change we are witnessing every day of our lives across the planet. I want to share those with you and talk about each one as they relate to the messages I’m attempting to bring forth. It’s been said that if you want to understand your present, examine your past. If you want to know your future, examine your present.
In these principals Barbara uses the term “Nature” to represent all of the things of Life, not just meaning the trees and animals. The first guiding principal is “Quantum transformations are Nature’s tradition. The nature of Nature is to transform.”
In the mundane world, change occurs in two ways. The first is “incremental”. This is change which happens over a protracted period and is slow and continual. The other type of change is “breakthrough” or “quantum”. This type of change occurs when incremental change hits a wall. Any process, entity or structure can slowly evolve and transform through incremental change for a finite amount of time and then to change any further it transforms into something which noticeably different from its original form. Take architecture for example. If you compare one of our modern skyscrapers with one of the huts you might see in an African village, you can see how the process and materials used has transformed the end product. At various points along the way various breakthroughs occurred in the process which allows us to create structures in a way that our ancient ancestors could never have imagined. So it is with life.
As I’ve said before everything that has manifested in the physical realm in which we exist is in the process of evolving. This is constant. For static structures such as buildings, equipment and other non-living entities, their evolution is to slowly decay and ultimately be destroyed or disintegrate. This is change which we can easily go out into the world and view. Just look at any old house and you can see how it has deteriorated, decayed and is slowly falling apart yet you know that when it was newly built it was in pristine form. If completely left alone, the house would fall apart, collapse and eventually decay into a pile of rubble. That pile of rubble is a quantum transformation from the new house that had been built in its place. Slow, incremental change occurred over many years until the structure could no longer support itself and then quantum change occurred.
If you consider for a moment the entire history of our planet you can see quantum transformations easily but the key is that you have to be willing to examine it with a very high-level eye. Looking back billions of years into our history, our Sun was born. As it exploded into existence it spewed forth the original building blocks of life which would eventually become our planet and us. All of the particles slowly began coalescing into lumps, clumps and rocks until enough of these rocks formed what we now know as Earth. Slowly over billions of years the Earth boiled, cooled, froze and melted and slowly became a nursery for life. Single cell life dominated the planet until a crisis point hit and those single cell life-forms began to work together to form multicellular life. Multicellular life eventually gave way to complex life-forms. These life-forms eventually became prehistoric plants and animals. The evolutionary processes continued until we arrive at the planet as we know it today.
Only by looking at that history can you really begin to see where the transformations occurred. First there was no planet then there was. There were no life-forms then there was life. Next came plants, then animals and finally humans. If you were alive through all of that and could only see the day to day miniscule changes which were occurring without considering the history you’d probably not see these quantum transformations. Each of these evolutionary changes occurred because of some need which arose within the species until it could no longer survive and was forced to radically transform in some way.
In addition to those types of changes, mutations also emerged. As other stars throughout our galaxy and other galaxies use up their fuel, the collapse inward and when they do they emit extremely powerful bursts of energy called “gamma ray bursts”. These are some of the most powerful bursts that we know of throughout the known Universe. Because of that power their effects can be felt billions of light-years away from the original collapsing star. These bursts can and do cause genetic mutations in DNA. Also, our star, the Sun, also emits solar flares as it burns its nuclear fuel. These solar flares can also trigger genetic mutations. These mutated species then begin their own slow evolutionary journey until they hit a quantum transformation point and make a shift. These shifts are the basis for the remaining three lessons which I will discuss in the few blog entries so please stay tuned.
I know that Evolutionary theory on the surface seems to fly in the face of Creationism but to me they support each other energetically. There is clearly a difference between an inanimate piece of metal and a living, breathing animal or human. That difference is the life that existed in those early single-cell life-forms. It is that consciousness which animated those single-cells and ultimately led them to work together to eventually become us. Where that consciousness originated is where the Creationism comes from but how that evolved into us is where evolution comes in. In fact our very birth process directly demonstrates that history. A sperm and egg merge to form one microscopic cell which grows and divides until it becomes a tadpole. That eventually grows into something that resembles a miniscule human baby and finally one day, as if by Creationism magic, a baby is born. The ability to consciously create life is an attribute that we assign to God, yet here we are doing it via the God-force within us.
What quantum transformations have you seen in your life and across the planet in your lifetime?
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Grounding
Each of us is an eternal energy being that inhabits a temporary energy body which enables us to manifest in the physical realm. Our spirit, or soul, is our connection to the spiritual, energetic realm. As an energy field it is more fluid than our physical body and is able to move beyond the physical limits of our bodies. Each night as we sleep our spirit is able to reconnect with the spiritual realms and journey to other places. This happens when our awareness shifts from our conscious mind into our unconscious or subconscious mind. When we awaken our awareness again returns to our conscious mind.
We have seven main energy centers along the spine which receive and release energy. This energy allows us to enliven our bodies, process information from our environment and other beings and receive guidance from our spirit which is our direct connection to Source (or what religious traditions refer to as God). Each of these seven centers energetically vibrates at various frequencies with the lowest one being at the base of the spine and the highest at the crown of the head. As we move up the spine the frequency increases as we move from one energy center to the next.
If you begin to think of our spinal column as the launching pad for that energy movement it will help you understand the following information a bit more easily. As we engage in the physical world, our body consciousness pulls our awareness into the lower energy centers, or as the Yogi’s call them, the chakras. (Please see the photo for the general location along the physical spine of the seven main chakras.)
Each night as we disengage our consciousness from our dense, physical bodies, it travels up and out through the crown of the head. You might think of it as our spirit-rocket blasting off. As the vibration of the rocket increases, it is able to go higher and higher until just like a real rocket launching it reaches a speed where it is able to escape the gravitational pull of the Earth. When our awareness returns to the body however sometimes we do not reconnect fully with our bodies and are ungrounded.
Our natural energy home is in the spiritual realms and physically manifesting requires a great deal of energy. If our bodies are experiencing physical pains, if our lives are chaotic or unfulfilling or if we’re highly stressed, our spirits are more attracted to the loving, peaceful non-physical realms. When this happens or when we are too caught up in thought or fantasy, we are not grounded into our bodies and this can cause problems. Think for a moment of how you feel when you are daydreaming or just really focused on something which requires a great deal of thought. Typically when we do these things, our bodies are resting and become very still and quiet. If you tried to suddenly move across the room, you’d probably stumble, crash into something or even fall because your awareness was in some of the higher centers governing thought. For various reasons, this is how most of us go though our daily lives and why many people feel so disconnected from life.
In order for us to be fully present in the physical realm we need to be fully grounded into the lowest base chakra. I’d like to offer you a few techniques for you to work with that will help you be more grounded as you move through your day and through life. Experiment with these techniques to find what feels best for you and gets you the best results. “Keep the best, leave the rest” is a good rule of thumb here. These techniques are good for starting your day after waking up, during times of high stress or after periods of intense mental processing to help you reconnect with your body and energetic center.
Grounding helps one to stay centered and balanced. If you find yourself bumping into things, having silly accidents, dropping things or just generally unable to focus, this is an indication that you are ungrounded. Many people live such highly stressed lives or are just so generally disconnected from their bodies that they are almost constantly ungrounded. For them it may be the only state of being that they know and they are the ones that will laugh at these techniques the most.
GROUNDING TECHNIQUES
These are just three simple techniques that anyone can use. The main key to each of these techniques is to do it consciously with your full focus on the activity. Each technique should be preceded by the following breath work:
Take three slow conscious breaths and really focus on the movement of air into and out of the lungs and abdomen. Next take a big slow deep breath and as you do increase the tension in the body by squeezing the muscles tighter and tighter as you inhale. At the top of the inhale, your body tension should reach its maximum. As you consciously exhale, slowly allow your body to relax until you reach the bottom of the exhale where your body should be fully relaxed. Repeat this for at least three cycles.
1. Walk about
One of the simplest techniques is to take your shoes off and walk barefooted on the ground (actual Earth if possible). If you can’t take your shoes off or have to walk on floor, that’s fine too. Take a moment to stop all movement and just stand still. Let your feet be shoulder width apart, arms dangling at your sides. Now focus fully on your feet. As you take the steps, focus fully on each foot coming into contact with the ground. Feel the heels making contact, the soles of the foot and all the way up to the toes. As you take each step feel like you are becoming heavier and heavier. Continue walking but do it consciously so that you notice each step and feel the full contact between ground and foot. 30 seconds or so of this conscious walking should do it of course a minute is even better. Taking these steps consciously with the focus on the feet is the difference between grounding and just absent-mindedly walking.
2. Grow roots
If you’re in a place where you’re sitting and need to ground begin by doing the three rounds of deep breathing with your feet flat on the floor. Next, focus on the “sits bones”. These are the boney protrusions in the middle of your gluts. Feel where they come into contact with what you’re sitting on. Now imagine that roots begin to grow from this area, down through your chair, through the floor and into the Earth. Continue to imagine them growing through the ground, through the deeper layers of the planet and all the way to the core of the Earth. Visualize that entire connection from you to the core and feel like you’re drawing energy up those roots as you continue to reach down with the roots. Focus on this connection for at least 30 seconds or more.
3. Hop / Tap
If you are where you can hop around a bit without causing too much commotion this is a great technique to use. After the breathing is done begin hopping around in place or in small circles. Average-sized hops are all that is necessary but definitely hop high enough that you leave the ground and return solidly. As you continue to hop, take one of your open hands and begin to firmly tap the top of your head with your palm. This tapping does not have to be in sync with the hopping just done simultaneously. Be very aware of your feet hitting the ground each hop. Repeat this for 15 – 30 seconds if possible.
Feel free to combine these techniques and allow yourself to be creative with it but just be very conscious with what you’re doing. You should notice a decided difference in how you feel before doing it and after. When we operate from a centered and grounded place, we’re able to make better decisions, move more confidently and react more calmly.
ADDED 01/11/10: One more thing that I'd like to add to this information is that you should try and start each day with at least one of these processes. I'd recommend the roots visualization (#2 above). Once you complete it and get a sense of how your body feels after doing it, check in on that feeling 1000 times through the day. If you feel it missing or just think about the roots for some reason during the day (especially after stressful interactions with others or high-stress periods), mentally feel that you are reconnecting those roots and drawing that grounding energy up. I have a few more techniques that I'll be sharing with you soon to add to this process but get comfortable with the grounding first. The reconnection can be as simple as just getting a quick image of those roots going to the core of the Earth from the base of your spine. Your unconscious mind will do the rest from there with that image...but start the day with the full visualization to set that up.
Are you grounded like a tree or being blown about like a tumbleweed?
We have seven main energy centers along the spine which receive and release energy. This energy allows us to enliven our bodies, process information from our environment and other beings and receive guidance from our spirit which is our direct connection to Source (or what religious traditions refer to as God). Each of these seven centers energetically vibrates at various frequencies with the lowest one being at the base of the spine and the highest at the crown of the head. As we move up the spine the frequency increases as we move from one energy center to the next.
If you begin to think of our spinal column as the launching pad for that energy movement it will help you understand the following information a bit more easily. As we engage in the physical world, our body consciousness pulls our awareness into the lower energy centers, or as the Yogi’s call them, the chakras. (Please see the photo for the general location along the physical spine of the seven main chakras.)
Each night as we disengage our consciousness from our dense, physical bodies, it travels up and out through the crown of the head. You might think of it as our spirit-rocket blasting off. As the vibration of the rocket increases, it is able to go higher and higher until just like a real rocket launching it reaches a speed where it is able to escape the gravitational pull of the Earth. When our awareness returns to the body however sometimes we do not reconnect fully with our bodies and are ungrounded.Our natural energy home is in the spiritual realms and physically manifesting requires a great deal of energy. If our bodies are experiencing physical pains, if our lives are chaotic or unfulfilling or if we’re highly stressed, our spirits are more attracted to the loving, peaceful non-physical realms. When this happens or when we are too caught up in thought or fantasy, we are not grounded into our bodies and this can cause problems. Think for a moment of how you feel when you are daydreaming or just really focused on something which requires a great deal of thought. Typically when we do these things, our bodies are resting and become very still and quiet. If you tried to suddenly move across the room, you’d probably stumble, crash into something or even fall because your awareness was in some of the higher centers governing thought. For various reasons, this is how most of us go though our daily lives and why many people feel so disconnected from life.
In order for us to be fully present in the physical realm we need to be fully grounded into the lowest base chakra. I’d like to offer you a few techniques for you to work with that will help you be more grounded as you move through your day and through life. Experiment with these techniques to find what feels best for you and gets you the best results. “Keep the best, leave the rest” is a good rule of thumb here. These techniques are good for starting your day after waking up, during times of high stress or after periods of intense mental processing to help you reconnect with your body and energetic center.
Grounding helps one to stay centered and balanced. If you find yourself bumping into things, having silly accidents, dropping things or just generally unable to focus, this is an indication that you are ungrounded. Many people live such highly stressed lives or are just so generally disconnected from their bodies that they are almost constantly ungrounded. For them it may be the only state of being that they know and they are the ones that will laugh at these techniques the most.
GROUNDING TECHNIQUES
These are just three simple techniques that anyone can use. The main key to each of these techniques is to do it consciously with your full focus on the activity. Each technique should be preceded by the following breath work:
Take three slow conscious breaths and really focus on the movement of air into and out of the lungs and abdomen. Next take a big slow deep breath and as you do increase the tension in the body by squeezing the muscles tighter and tighter as you inhale. At the top of the inhale, your body tension should reach its maximum. As you consciously exhale, slowly allow your body to relax until you reach the bottom of the exhale where your body should be fully relaxed. Repeat this for at least three cycles.
1. Walk about
One of the simplest techniques is to take your shoes off and walk barefooted on the ground (actual Earth if possible). If you can’t take your shoes off or have to walk on floor, that’s fine too. Take a moment to stop all movement and just stand still. Let your feet be shoulder width apart, arms dangling at your sides. Now focus fully on your feet. As you take the steps, focus fully on each foot coming into contact with the ground. Feel the heels making contact, the soles of the foot and all the way up to the toes. As you take each step feel like you are becoming heavier and heavier. Continue walking but do it consciously so that you notice each step and feel the full contact between ground and foot. 30 seconds or so of this conscious walking should do it of course a minute is even better. Taking these steps consciously with the focus on the feet is the difference between grounding and just absent-mindedly walking.
2. Grow roots
If you’re in a place where you’re sitting and need to ground begin by doing the three rounds of deep breathing with your feet flat on the floor. Next, focus on the “sits bones”. These are the boney protrusions in the middle of your gluts. Feel where they come into contact with what you’re sitting on. Now imagine that roots begin to grow from this area, down through your chair, through the floor and into the Earth. Continue to imagine them growing through the ground, through the deeper layers of the planet and all the way to the core of the Earth. Visualize that entire connection from you to the core and feel like you’re drawing energy up those roots as you continue to reach down with the roots. Focus on this connection for at least 30 seconds or more.
3. Hop / Tap
If you are where you can hop around a bit without causing too much commotion this is a great technique to use. After the breathing is done begin hopping around in place or in small circles. Average-sized hops are all that is necessary but definitely hop high enough that you leave the ground and return solidly. As you continue to hop, take one of your open hands and begin to firmly tap the top of your head with your palm. This tapping does not have to be in sync with the hopping just done simultaneously. Be very aware of your feet hitting the ground each hop. Repeat this for 15 – 30 seconds if possible.
Feel free to combine these techniques and allow yourself to be creative with it but just be very conscious with what you’re doing. You should notice a decided difference in how you feel before doing it and after. When we operate from a centered and grounded place, we’re able to make better decisions, move more confidently and react more calmly.
ADDED 01/11/10: One more thing that I'd like to add to this information is that you should try and start each day with at least one of these processes. I'd recommend the roots visualization (#2 above). Once you complete it and get a sense of how your body feels after doing it, check in on that feeling 1000 times through the day. If you feel it missing or just think about the roots for some reason during the day (especially after stressful interactions with others or high-stress periods), mentally feel that you are reconnecting those roots and drawing that grounding energy up. I have a few more techniques that I'll be sharing with you soon to add to this process but get comfortable with the grounding first. The reconnection can be as simple as just getting a quick image of those roots going to the core of the Earth from the base of your spine. Your unconscious mind will do the rest from there with that image...but start the day with the full visualization to set that up.
Are you grounded like a tree or being blown about like a tumbleweed?
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Synchronicity
The past couple of weeks have been very intense for me and have had me very busy. There were two main events which I participated in and both were incredibly powerful. The first one was a Native American planetary-healing ceremony called “The Living Waters Dance”. The shamanic drumming community which I am a part of enacted this ceremony in my work studio over Labor Day weekend. This ceremony was one which we last performed four years ago. At that time I had just left my job as a chiropractic assistant and was trying to figure out what I wanted to do next with my life. This ceremony was held at a friend’s property, deep in some remote woods just outside of Seattle. A friend of mine, Alex Jade, who does Sacred Intimate work was there. As we were setting up the grounds for the ceremony, she and I had a chance to talk and I asked her to tell me a bit about her work. The more we talked about it the more interested I became and more aware I was that perhaps this was work that I could do.
As we enacted the ceremony, it became clear that I was to receive a Spiritual initiation as part of the ceremony. In essence this act was an invitation from Spirit to begin to move deeper into my spirituality on the Shamanic path. I accepted the initiation knowing that whatever this led to was part of a higher calling in life and definitely the direction that I wanted my life to move. That ceremony was four years over the Labor Day weekend while Hurricane Katrina was closing in on Louisiana.
Most shamanic ceremonies or rituals run in four year cycles. The event may last only a few days but the energy of the ceremony works for four years afterwards. This particular ceremony came just as I was beginning the first year of another ceremony I was a part of, my Vision Quest. A Vision Quest is a Shamanic rite of passage or initiation ceremony. Being part of two initiatory ceremonies certainly wasn’t something that I consciously set out to do but it also wasn’t something that I really had control over either. When I left my computer programming career in 1999 I did so with the intention of following a deeper spiritual path. To me, these two ceremonies were simply Spirit responding to me and opening that path before me.
Within two months of the completion of the Living Waters ceremony is when I “accidentally” began my new career as I described in my April 4th post “No More Secrets”. The rest is now Sacred Intimate history for me. The wonderful thing is that this time we were having the ceremony in a space which was only in my life because I surrendered into the call from Spirit. Had I not gone with the flow of energy, built a practice, met the people that I did and moved into the studio when I did, we might not have been able to have the ceremony again due to a lack of a ceremonial site. It was truly synchronicity in action. It was a very powerful event for me and our community.
We finished that on Sunday and then on Tuesday I left for Mesa, Arizona for my first professional conference (the second of my two events). The conference was for ASEP, the Association for Sexual Energy Professionals. This year’s theme was “Sexuality and Shamanism”. It could not have been more appropriate for me at that time and was clearly a part of the synchronicity that was flowing for me. It was so liberating to be a part of a group of professionals who worked in a variety of professions or Spiritual paths connected to sexuality. We had everything from therapists who dealt with sexual issues in traditional talk therapy to energy workers and sex workers and everything in between. We considered ourselves “outlaws” because our work does a tightrope dance with the law, unfortunately.
During the main event of the conference on Saturday night, we participated in a couple of Shamanic trance journeys. This is something I’m very familiar with because of experiences with my Shamanic drumming community. As part of the first trance journey I was taken to what I believe to be some everglades and essentially eaten by a Jaguar. When we returned from that I found out that it was what was known as a “Shamanic dismemberment.” It sounds like a bad thing but it is actually a very good thing because I was clearly not killed physically but rather a part of my ego was destroyed.
Our ego is that human part of us that holds our sense of separation from Spirit and ultimately all that is. It is that part of us that seeks attention for its uniqueness and leads us to feel cut off from life through its own actions. For many it can be the hidden source of depression because it leads one to feel so alone and isolated because “no one can understand me”. Most spiritual traditions speak of it as the part of us which much die so that we can be reborn. Most misunderstand that and believe it means a physical death and the fear of death is a powerful motivator for all of us so we run from anything associated with it.
Even in just the short time that I’ve been back, I’m seeing and feeling changes in my life, my work and myself. Native American tradition teaches that Jaguar is the medicine of Integrity. At some level I have always felt insecure about myself, my abilities, my knowledge, my body, my appearance. This belief that I am not good enough has held me back in so many areas of my life and I feel that part if not all of that belief was removed because my sense of self-confidence is rising and I can feel it shifting my work already and have seen that this week.
I share all of this with you for two reasons at the moment. First, my commitment to you via this blog was to share what is happening in my life with the hope that you will see a connection to your life and hopefully that can help you in some way. Both of these events were significant events in my life and will ultimately shape me in ways that I can only imagine at this point.
The second reason that I share it is because these two events individually would be significant occurrences but because they landed so close to each other they appear to be more synchronistic. The deeper level of that is that they both occurred in my life only because of the first Living Waters ceremony and that one casual chat with Alex. Synchronicity is when there seems to be a relation between otherwise unrelated events. These events tell us that we are on the right path and that the energy is flowing. At an energetic level they occur when we are “in the flow” with life. If “coincidents” are our spirits trying to get us to notice something then synchronistic events are our spirits saying “this way!”
When we are in harmony with life, things flow smoothly for us to propel us forward easily. When we are in disharmony, life seems challenging, things repeatedly go wrong, fights and wars break out and life seems to be one big struggle. I invite you to examine your life carefully and notice the places where it flows smoothly and the areas where you meet constant resistance. Our spirits will always guide us in the direction of our highest good and our greatest evolutionary growth for it is in their best interest and therefore ours. That path will be open and inviting and flow smoothly.
Will you follow the path that flows before you or will you resist and swim upstream? The choice is yours in every moment.
As we enacted the ceremony, it became clear that I was to receive a Spiritual initiation as part of the ceremony. In essence this act was an invitation from Spirit to begin to move deeper into my spirituality on the Shamanic path. I accepted the initiation knowing that whatever this led to was part of a higher calling in life and definitely the direction that I wanted my life to move. That ceremony was four years over the Labor Day weekend while Hurricane Katrina was closing in on Louisiana.
Most shamanic ceremonies or rituals run in four year cycles. The event may last only a few days but the energy of the ceremony works for four years afterwards. This particular ceremony came just as I was beginning the first year of another ceremony I was a part of, my Vision Quest. A Vision Quest is a Shamanic rite of passage or initiation ceremony. Being part of two initiatory ceremonies certainly wasn’t something that I consciously set out to do but it also wasn’t something that I really had control over either. When I left my computer programming career in 1999 I did so with the intention of following a deeper spiritual path. To me, these two ceremonies were simply Spirit responding to me and opening that path before me.
Within two months of the completion of the Living Waters ceremony is when I “accidentally” began my new career as I described in my April 4th post “No More Secrets”. The rest is now Sacred Intimate history for me. The wonderful thing is that this time we were having the ceremony in a space which was only in my life because I surrendered into the call from Spirit. Had I not gone with the flow of energy, built a practice, met the people that I did and moved into the studio when I did, we might not have been able to have the ceremony again due to a lack of a ceremonial site. It was truly synchronicity in action. It was a very powerful event for me and our community.
We finished that on Sunday and then on Tuesday I left for Mesa, Arizona for my first professional conference (the second of my two events). The conference was for ASEP, the Association for Sexual Energy Professionals. This year’s theme was “Sexuality and Shamanism”. It could not have been more appropriate for me at that time and was clearly a part of the synchronicity that was flowing for me. It was so liberating to be a part of a group of professionals who worked in a variety of professions or Spiritual paths connected to sexuality. We had everything from therapists who dealt with sexual issues in traditional talk therapy to energy workers and sex workers and everything in between. We considered ourselves “outlaws” because our work does a tightrope dance with the law, unfortunately.
During the main event of the conference on Saturday night, we participated in a couple of Shamanic trance journeys. This is something I’m very familiar with because of experiences with my Shamanic drumming community. As part of the first trance journey I was taken to what I believe to be some everglades and essentially eaten by a Jaguar. When we returned from that I found out that it was what was known as a “Shamanic dismemberment.” It sounds like a bad thing but it is actually a very good thing because I was clearly not killed physically but rather a part of my ego was destroyed.
Our ego is that human part of us that holds our sense of separation from Spirit and ultimately all that is. It is that part of us that seeks attention for its uniqueness and leads us to feel cut off from life through its own actions. For many it can be the hidden source of depression because it leads one to feel so alone and isolated because “no one can understand me”. Most spiritual traditions speak of it as the part of us which much die so that we can be reborn. Most misunderstand that and believe it means a physical death and the fear of death is a powerful motivator for all of us so we run from anything associated with it.
Even in just the short time that I’ve been back, I’m seeing and feeling changes in my life, my work and myself. Native American tradition teaches that Jaguar is the medicine of Integrity. At some level I have always felt insecure about myself, my abilities, my knowledge, my body, my appearance. This belief that I am not good enough has held me back in so many areas of my life and I feel that part if not all of that belief was removed because my sense of self-confidence is rising and I can feel it shifting my work already and have seen that this week.
I share all of this with you for two reasons at the moment. First, my commitment to you via this blog was to share what is happening in my life with the hope that you will see a connection to your life and hopefully that can help you in some way. Both of these events were significant events in my life and will ultimately shape me in ways that I can only imagine at this point.
The second reason that I share it is because these two events individually would be significant occurrences but because they landed so close to each other they appear to be more synchronistic. The deeper level of that is that they both occurred in my life only because of the first Living Waters ceremony and that one casual chat with Alex. Synchronicity is when there seems to be a relation between otherwise unrelated events. These events tell us that we are on the right path and that the energy is flowing. At an energetic level they occur when we are “in the flow” with life. If “coincidents” are our spirits trying to get us to notice something then synchronistic events are our spirits saying “this way!”
When we are in harmony with life, things flow smoothly for us to propel us forward easily. When we are in disharmony, life seems challenging, things repeatedly go wrong, fights and wars break out and life seems to be one big struggle. I invite you to examine your life carefully and notice the places where it flows smoothly and the areas where you meet constant resistance. Our spirits will always guide us in the direction of our highest good and our greatest evolutionary growth for it is in their best interest and therefore ours. That path will be open and inviting and flow smoothly.
Will you follow the path that flows before you or will you resist and swim upstream? The choice is yours in every moment.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Oneness
I am a huge fan of Barbara Marx Hubbard’s work (www.evolve.org) and I resonate with her belief that as a species we are about to evolve. She does a remarkable job of tracking humanity’s history and bringing forth the idea that we are “due” for an evolutionary leap as an organism. Since we live in an ever-evolving Universe, and since we are a part of that Universe, no more or no less important than any other part, we too are evolving. As above, so below. Whatever we think of the physical Universe, it’s true for us too because we are a part of that Universe. Whatever science teaches us about what is going on in the Universe that too is going on within us individually.
One need only stop and examine anything and one can easily learn or even see how that thing has evolved. Everything we see now has evolved from something else all the way back to when this planet was populated by only single-celled amoebae’s in the ocean. Everything on this planet evolved from that primordial stew of energy. Even the planet has evolved from a time when it was only a few particles of cosmic dust clumping together to form a rock. When we separated our consciousness out from the Divine to take form, we separated ourselves from that which created us until eventually as a species we separated out from nature and became self-aware.
That self-awareness has taught us so much. It has ignited something in us as a species to want to understand the questions of “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” “Where am I going?” and “What am I to do?” That’s where religions come in. About 2,800 years ago the world’s earliest religions were formed around the messages brought forth by the enlightened ones of that time. Those first people who attempted to bring forth an answer to those questions, gained a following from their teachings and slowly the world’s religions began to form.
These ancient teachings basically gave us the notion that everything we see was created by some big, wise, old being and introduced us to the concept of God. By holding on to the view that we are separate from that which created us, we stay separated from the very source of our existence. Yet for any of us to dare to say “I am God” is almost unthinkable in our culture. But the truth is that we are all God and God is all of us. At the deepest level of our existence, at our most microscopic atomic level, down at the Quantum level of our being, we are all energy. That energy is the source of all that we know and as such has created all that we know. Our very consciousness is from that one source. At the level of Source, WE ARE ALL ONE.
As we surrender our egoic nature (that part of us that believes that we are separate from all that is) and release into our oneness with Source, with nature, with God, we come to understand that the God-force which created us IS us. When we can be at One with it and continually ground that awareness into our consciousness we begin to live in Cosmic Consciousness. By allowing our consciousness to re-merge with Cosmic, Christ or Krishna Consciousness, we allow those energies to manifest through us. This awareness that we are at one with all that is, at one with Source, brings us the knowledge that all those attributes that we ascribe to God is true for us when we are in that Oneness.
Krishna Consciousness was what this awakened energy state was called when the ancient’s of India wrote about their enlightened one, Lord Krishna. When Krishna was a small young goat herder, he awakened to his oneness with the Creator. 2,000 years later a young Jesus went to India during the twelve years in the Bible where he is unaccounted for. There he was known as Isa and his time there is well documented. While in India he studied the ancient science of Yoga. As Krishna did before him, through his training, spiritual practices and experiences, Jesus fully awaked to his Oneness and became Jesus the Christ. Christ is Aramaic for Krishna, which is a Hindi word. When he fully realized his Oneness, he was still a human, just like the rest of us. The difference is that he, like Krishna and others before him, was willing to open himself up to the Creative force and surrender into his Oneness with that Source.
What these wise ones are trying to show us is that if they can do it, anyone can. They were born of flesh and blood, just like those of us alive today. Each of them said to those around them that anyone could do all that they had done. Our own sense of shame tells us that we are not worthy of that so instead we idolize them and say that they are God manifest in the physical world, which they indeed are. The people of the time passed on stories about them because they truly stood out. Over time these great spiritual leaders have become the center of various cultures and ultimately they have become objects of worship. The real lesson is to follow their example and not simply idolizing them.
If we look at these wise ones as examples and not as idols we can begin to see how what was possible for them is indeed possible for each and every one of us. Through study, faith, commitment and surrender we too can follow directly in their footsteps but to do that we have to believe it is possible. As long as we are locked in the belief that we are separate from Nature and from the Divine we can never move into Unity Consciousness. We must become the “chosen ones” by making the choice to believe otherwise we will continue to be subservient to those who seek to control our power. Everything which separates us from our true nature must be removed so that we can begin to live in Oneness with the Divine. This includes our limiting beliefs as well as those individuals or organizations who would seek to retain power over us and keep us separate.
To many, the act of claiming their own personal power would seem like sacrilege. It flies in the face of all that they have been taught by those in the establishments that teach that we are only human and can be nothing more. This shows the depth and power of the control that they seek through those teachings. This is where the expression “Religion is the opiate of the masses” originates. Retaining power over others through fear is a common technique employed by any control structure. When we live in fear consciousness we stay inside our self constructed prisons even when the doors are wide open. We retain our limiting beliefs, persecute those who would tell us otherwise and maintain the status quo. It feels safe, easy and comfortable.
As most of us are aware, we are in a time of planetary unrest. We are decimating the very environment which sustains us and gives our bodies life. We live in fear and attempt to destroy all of those who are different. Worst of all our world leaders do this in the name of their God and believe they have the moral high ground. We are witnessing the results of our behavior as humans (our karma) as well as the natural cycles of our planet as it evolves.
As Einstein stated “Our problems cannot be solved by the same consciousness in which we created them.” The time has come for us to awaken to our true nature as emanations of the Divine, claim that power and transform our lives and the planet. To begin that transformation we must evolve our consciousness. To understand what is ahead however we should examine our past and see what lessons are there for us that might guide us during the transition ahead. These lessons will be discussed in upcoming blog posts. It is my desire to help you to awaken to your Oneness with mankind, the planet and ultimately the Divine.
Until then I invite you to ask yourself “What limiting beliefs am I holding onto and why do I hold them?”
One need only stop and examine anything and one can easily learn or even see how that thing has evolved. Everything we see now has evolved from something else all the way back to when this planet was populated by only single-celled amoebae’s in the ocean. Everything on this planet evolved from that primordial stew of energy. Even the planet has evolved from a time when it was only a few particles of cosmic dust clumping together to form a rock. When we separated our consciousness out from the Divine to take form, we separated ourselves from that which created us until eventually as a species we separated out from nature and became self-aware.
That self-awareness has taught us so much. It has ignited something in us as a species to want to understand the questions of “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” “Where am I going?” and “What am I to do?” That’s where religions come in. About 2,800 years ago the world’s earliest religions were formed around the messages brought forth by the enlightened ones of that time. Those first people who attempted to bring forth an answer to those questions, gained a following from their teachings and slowly the world’s religions began to form.
These ancient teachings basically gave us the notion that everything we see was created by some big, wise, old being and introduced us to the concept of God. By holding on to the view that we are separate from that which created us, we stay separated from the very source of our existence. Yet for any of us to dare to say “I am God” is almost unthinkable in our culture. But the truth is that we are all God and God is all of us. At the deepest level of our existence, at our most microscopic atomic level, down at the Quantum level of our being, we are all energy. That energy is the source of all that we know and as such has created all that we know. Our very consciousness is from that one source. At the level of Source, WE ARE ALL ONE.
As we surrender our egoic nature (that part of us that believes that we are separate from all that is) and release into our oneness with Source, with nature, with God, we come to understand that the God-force which created us IS us. When we can be at One with it and continually ground that awareness into our consciousness we begin to live in Cosmic Consciousness. By allowing our consciousness to re-merge with Cosmic, Christ or Krishna Consciousness, we allow those energies to manifest through us. This awareness that we are at one with all that is, at one with Source, brings us the knowledge that all those attributes that we ascribe to God is true for us when we are in that Oneness.
Krishna Consciousness was what this awakened energy state was called when the ancient’s of India wrote about their enlightened one, Lord Krishna. When Krishna was a small young goat herder, he awakened to his oneness with the Creator. 2,000 years later a young Jesus went to India during the twelve years in the Bible where he is unaccounted for. There he was known as Isa and his time there is well documented. While in India he studied the ancient science of Yoga. As Krishna did before him, through his training, spiritual practices and experiences, Jesus fully awaked to his Oneness and became Jesus the Christ. Christ is Aramaic for Krishna, which is a Hindi word. When he fully realized his Oneness, he was still a human, just like the rest of us. The difference is that he, like Krishna and others before him, was willing to open himself up to the Creative force and surrender into his Oneness with that Source.
What these wise ones are trying to show us is that if they can do it, anyone can. They were born of flesh and blood, just like those of us alive today. Each of them said to those around them that anyone could do all that they had done. Our own sense of shame tells us that we are not worthy of that so instead we idolize them and say that they are God manifest in the physical world, which they indeed are. The people of the time passed on stories about them because they truly stood out. Over time these great spiritual leaders have become the center of various cultures and ultimately they have become objects of worship. The real lesson is to follow their example and not simply idolizing them.
If we look at these wise ones as examples and not as idols we can begin to see how what was possible for them is indeed possible for each and every one of us. Through study, faith, commitment and surrender we too can follow directly in their footsteps but to do that we have to believe it is possible. As long as we are locked in the belief that we are separate from Nature and from the Divine we can never move into Unity Consciousness. We must become the “chosen ones” by making the choice to believe otherwise we will continue to be subservient to those who seek to control our power. Everything which separates us from our true nature must be removed so that we can begin to live in Oneness with the Divine. This includes our limiting beliefs as well as those individuals or organizations who would seek to retain power over us and keep us separate.
To many, the act of claiming their own personal power would seem like sacrilege. It flies in the face of all that they have been taught by those in the establishments that teach that we are only human and can be nothing more. This shows the depth and power of the control that they seek through those teachings. This is where the expression “Religion is the opiate of the masses” originates. Retaining power over others through fear is a common technique employed by any control structure. When we live in fear consciousness we stay inside our self constructed prisons even when the doors are wide open. We retain our limiting beliefs, persecute those who would tell us otherwise and maintain the status quo. It feels safe, easy and comfortable.
As most of us are aware, we are in a time of planetary unrest. We are decimating the very environment which sustains us and gives our bodies life. We live in fear and attempt to destroy all of those who are different. Worst of all our world leaders do this in the name of their God and believe they have the moral high ground. We are witnessing the results of our behavior as humans (our karma) as well as the natural cycles of our planet as it evolves.
As Einstein stated “Our problems cannot be solved by the same consciousness in which we created them.” The time has come for us to awaken to our true nature as emanations of the Divine, claim that power and transform our lives and the planet. To begin that transformation we must evolve our consciousness. To understand what is ahead however we should examine our past and see what lessons are there for us that might guide us during the transition ahead. These lessons will be discussed in upcoming blog posts. It is my desire to help you to awaken to your Oneness with mankind, the planet and ultimately the Divine.
Until then I invite you to ask yourself “What limiting beliefs am I holding onto and why do I hold them?”
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Claim your power
In every moment we make choices. We choose to be kind, cold, loving, fearful, happy, sad or any range of emotions. These choices are key to accessing our personal power. For many of us, these choices are made at an unconscious level. The choice seems almost to be made for us because it happens so quickly and at such a subtle level. These are instinctive choices based upon stimuli and past response. Eventually these responses become habit almost to the point where it feels like we have no choice in the matter at all. People in this place will often justify their actions and responses as “that’s just the way I am”. They become a victim of their own emotional states.
At some point we’ve all probably gotten angry at someone for something and said “he made me so mad” or “she hurt my feelings and made me sad”. The truth is that the decision to feel mad, sad, hurt or angry were all choices that we made in the moment. The decision was informed by our past experiences and our response to those experiences. For example let’s say that you said to me “you are crazy”. If I had a history of mental illness I might feel hurt. If I had been trying to make a point and you simply disagreed I might feel angry instead. If I were simply trying to be silly I might feel happy and just laugh it off. The difference between them is based upon the choice I made to feel hurt, angry or happy.
The key here is to recognize that our emotional responses are choices that we make in every moment. As much as I might like to blame someone else for my emotional state ultimately I cannot. When we do that we give our power away. “You made me feel this and that” says “I’m giving you the power to control my emotions”. When we give our power away, we move into victim mentality. When we are victims we feel that we have no control in a given situation. We’ve all been there at some point and probably know people who seem to be victims constantly. Is it any wonder when we’re in that state that we feel powerless to change the situation?
Our emotional responses are shaped by our past experiences. All of our past experiences are stored in our subconscious memory and our conscious minds use those experiences as filters for interpreting current experiences. The catch here is that as I mentioned in the “The power of the mind” post (05/15/09), our minds don’t know the difference between what we actually experience and what we simply imagine or think. Given that, some of the “past experiences” could be real or come from other sources as described in the earlier post. These could drastically alter our emotional response without our being fully aware of it.
Eventually our instinctive minds process the current experience through all of its mental filters and we are left with an emotional and mental response. Our conscious minds take those responses and react in some way and not always in the way that we might desire. This is where our power of choice comes in. This choice happens at the conscious level. We may feel the desire to be angry, fearful, resentful, etc. but by holding our awareness on our reactions we can make the choice to respond differently. This change however will only happen once we have made the decision to change. If we have no desire or motivation to change then we will continue to be victims of the past.
The key to this change is our awareness. Our awareness is that part of our conscious mind that is doing the observing or the focusing. It is that part of you that is following these words and absorbing the information that you are reading. If your mind wanders while you are reading so that your awareness is elsewhere then you are just looking at words and the message is not being absorbed. This is true in any situation. Our minds will not record and process what we are unaware of even if it is happening right before our eyes. One might think of awareness as the lens for our mental camera. Whatever it is focused on is what will be recorded and everything else will just be background noise.
The driver for our awareness however is our intentions. Our intentions are made at the conscious level. So for example, if my intention (desire) is to change my instinctive response of being “angry” to a response of being “loving”, when the anger arises my awareness will notice that angry response. Then using the power of choice in that moment I can chose to respond differently rather than immediately going into a habitual response. This is not something that will necessarily happen the very first time you make the intention to change but the awareness will be there. Learning to access the power of choice and change your response is a learned behavior and so it may take a several instances of angry responses before you change the behavior but it can and will happen with your intention to make it so.
Now this isn’t to say that you should become an emotionless robot, quite the opposite actually. As I discussed in a previous post entitled “The energy of emotions” (06/14/09), emotions are energy moving through your system. When your brain perceives an experience and selects an emotional response (let’s say “anger”) and your brain releases the neuropeptides for that emotion, you may feel anger but that doesn’t mean that you have to respond angrily. All that may be necessary in that moment is to notice the anger and simply say “I feel anger”. When you do that without attaching an angry response, you can now utilize your power of choice and respond from a more loving place. This is conscious choice and it is the key to claiming, or reclaiming, our power.
Once we fully recognize that we have the power to consciously interact with our emotional landscape we move out of victim mode and we begin using authentic power. We can begin to harness this power for creating the life we want to live the way we want to live it. The happier we are with the life we live, the more loving and compassionate we become. This loving compassion now begins to shape our emotional response until we begin to respond almost automatically with love to all experiences. Love opens a pathway to the Divine, the very heart and source of Love. In that Love we become one with the Divine. This is only possible through the power of conscious choice.
Hold your awareness on the blame you assign to others and the power that you give them and just notice how that feels. When you catch that happening and you say “(s)he made me…” simply reframe the statement into “I am choosing to be…” and feel the power that it instills in you and your decision making process.
How will you choose to respond today?
At some point we’ve all probably gotten angry at someone for something and said “he made me so mad” or “she hurt my feelings and made me sad”. The truth is that the decision to feel mad, sad, hurt or angry were all choices that we made in the moment. The decision was informed by our past experiences and our response to those experiences. For example let’s say that you said to me “you are crazy”. If I had a history of mental illness I might feel hurt. If I had been trying to make a point and you simply disagreed I might feel angry instead. If I were simply trying to be silly I might feel happy and just laugh it off. The difference between them is based upon the choice I made to feel hurt, angry or happy.
The key here is to recognize that our emotional responses are choices that we make in every moment. As much as I might like to blame someone else for my emotional state ultimately I cannot. When we do that we give our power away. “You made me feel this and that” says “I’m giving you the power to control my emotions”. When we give our power away, we move into victim mentality. When we are victims we feel that we have no control in a given situation. We’ve all been there at some point and probably know people who seem to be victims constantly. Is it any wonder when we’re in that state that we feel powerless to change the situation?
Our emotional responses are shaped by our past experiences. All of our past experiences are stored in our subconscious memory and our conscious minds use those experiences as filters for interpreting current experiences. The catch here is that as I mentioned in the “The power of the mind” post (05/15/09), our minds don’t know the difference between what we actually experience and what we simply imagine or think. Given that, some of the “past experiences” could be real or come from other sources as described in the earlier post. These could drastically alter our emotional response without our being fully aware of it.
Eventually our instinctive minds process the current experience through all of its mental filters and we are left with an emotional and mental response. Our conscious minds take those responses and react in some way and not always in the way that we might desire. This is where our power of choice comes in. This choice happens at the conscious level. We may feel the desire to be angry, fearful, resentful, etc. but by holding our awareness on our reactions we can make the choice to respond differently. This change however will only happen once we have made the decision to change. If we have no desire or motivation to change then we will continue to be victims of the past.
The key to this change is our awareness. Our awareness is that part of our conscious mind that is doing the observing or the focusing. It is that part of you that is following these words and absorbing the information that you are reading. If your mind wanders while you are reading so that your awareness is elsewhere then you are just looking at words and the message is not being absorbed. This is true in any situation. Our minds will not record and process what we are unaware of even if it is happening right before our eyes. One might think of awareness as the lens for our mental camera. Whatever it is focused on is what will be recorded and everything else will just be background noise.
The driver for our awareness however is our intentions. Our intentions are made at the conscious level. So for example, if my intention (desire) is to change my instinctive response of being “angry” to a response of being “loving”, when the anger arises my awareness will notice that angry response. Then using the power of choice in that moment I can chose to respond differently rather than immediately going into a habitual response. This is not something that will necessarily happen the very first time you make the intention to change but the awareness will be there. Learning to access the power of choice and change your response is a learned behavior and so it may take a several instances of angry responses before you change the behavior but it can and will happen with your intention to make it so.
Now this isn’t to say that you should become an emotionless robot, quite the opposite actually. As I discussed in a previous post entitled “The energy of emotions” (06/14/09), emotions are energy moving through your system. When your brain perceives an experience and selects an emotional response (let’s say “anger”) and your brain releases the neuropeptides for that emotion, you may feel anger but that doesn’t mean that you have to respond angrily. All that may be necessary in that moment is to notice the anger and simply say “I feel anger”. When you do that without attaching an angry response, you can now utilize your power of choice and respond from a more loving place. This is conscious choice and it is the key to claiming, or reclaiming, our power.
Once we fully recognize that we have the power to consciously interact with our emotional landscape we move out of victim mode and we begin using authentic power. We can begin to harness this power for creating the life we want to live the way we want to live it. The happier we are with the life we live, the more loving and compassionate we become. This loving compassion now begins to shape our emotional response until we begin to respond almost automatically with love to all experiences. Love opens a pathway to the Divine, the very heart and source of Love. In that Love we become one with the Divine. This is only possible through the power of conscious choice.
Hold your awareness on the blame you assign to others and the power that you give them and just notice how that feels. When you catch that happening and you say “(s)he made me…” simply reframe the statement into “I am choosing to be…” and feel the power that it instills in you and your decision making process.
How will you choose to respond today?
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