Living Energy Blog

Balance is a point crossed over in the swings between two points. Balance is not a  place or condition that should be sought after as a goal! Energy is constantly moving from of chaos to coherence, and so it is with us. The task is to make your swings less intense and extreme. Consider adopting an attitude that balance is imply a concept you keep in mind to appraise how you spend your time and energy. The idea of balance can help you decide and make choices about how to spend your time, energy and attention within any given day. This approach provides you with a valuable aid in keeping the process of your life on track rather than feeling that you are always falling short of achieving the magical and unrealistic GOAL of balance.

Happy Monday!

Years ago when I ( Karen) first heard this phrase, Resist Nothing, it made sense to me on a level where I could use it to feel release and letting go of tension. On other levels though it did not make sense—until I learned more about energy and how it flows through us and the world.

Imagine a huge beautiful tree in the midst of a field. This tree has great strong roots that plunge deep into the earth while its branches reach high toward the sky. Summer breezes and winter storms pass through the tree’s leaves and branches. It does not cling to the wind currents of either. The tree simply stands and adjusts to the shifting circumstances in order to assure its continued survival, growth and nurture.

What does this have to do with us? We are an energetic organism with an energy field that is meant to be strong, vibrant and free flowing. However when the breezes and storms of life come by, our energetic tendency is to react with resistance rather than a continual openness that would maintain our vibrancy and flow.  We react to external and internal (thoughts/feelings/beliefs) events by closing, pushing against or stopping our energy. This is a survival mechanism of course, but that does not mean it is the best choice! When we react with any of the aforementioned dynamics we compromise our energy and therefore our health, happiness and attractor power!

This same clinging reaction is also used with positive events. We want to continue to feel and have the good stuff! Of course we do, but the real truth is that we must attend to our energy and keep it open, strong and moving in order to really be able to create the freedom, health and happiness we seek in any kind of reliable and permanent  way. 

So “Resist Nothing” is a deep instruction for how to maintain your energy field  in a state that truly serves you. Think about it, a tree does not cling or hold—it responds and adjusts while letting so much flow through its branches and around its trunk. It not only survives, it thrives, sometimes for centuries! 

Yesterday I quoted Doc Lew Childre of HeartMath  and then added some thoughts about quieting the emotions. There are many reasons for becoming a Master of your Emotional Self: (1) your health will improve, (2) your relationships will improve, (3) your energy will improve! When your energy improves, your basic “energy tone” does as well, an important factor in conscious creation. You will have more energy available to you and it will be easier to bring it into alignment with those things you want to attract into your life. The energy that was tied up in old programming now can be used to take appropriate  action toward your dreams. Emotional Management, or becoming a MES (Master of Emotional Self—sorry, couldn’t help myself), includes collapsing old patterns, reactions and memories. It also is about engaging in the practice of learning how to let feeling flow through you instead of holding on–and feeling RELEASE. It’s all a process. Be kind, patient and gentle with yourself. Choose one aspect of becoming a MES and practice it for one week before you move on to another skill.

“True creativity quite simply starts with balancing your emotions and activating the power of the heart. Through practicing emotional management from the heart, you tap into the highest form of creativity possible-recreating your perceptions of reality.”

- Doc Childre

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Once turbulent emotions are calmed, peace arises and with it the ability to choose  to respond rather than react unconsciously.

Quieting the bodymind allows for the emergence of insight, inspired thought and new awareness that leads to a deeper, more purposeful and creative connection with life.  

Happy Monday,

Karen

Lately I  (Karen )have had many occasions to think about “going with the flow”. My observation is that too often this phrase is used when we are trying valiantly to not react to stressful things in our lives and to adopt a placid demeanor!
Unfortunately the effect this has on our energy is to stop it and stuff a neat package of nasty biochemistry down inside that closet marked UNPROCESSED MATERIAL: KEEP OUT. This of course does not serve us well in the long run.
So what does it mean to “go with or be in the flow”? We are energy Beings. Every aspect of our nature—- our thoughts, feelings, even our physical makeup is comprised of energy. FLOW is word that is used to describe the condition and the movement of our energies.
The subjective experience of FLOW is one characterized by feelings of ease, peace/ balance and at the top of the charts—BLISS. Flow is a state that allows us to experience inner strength, clear headedness and a deep knowing or trust that we can rise to the challenges of our lives as needed without too much undue turmoil.

Objectively the Flow state occurs when the energies of our bodies, minds and spirits are balanced, in abundant supply and moving freely throughout our entire being. Achieving this state and being able to maintain it with any kind of regularity or stability requires a commitment to ourselves and the practices that support it .
What gets in the way of our natural state of flow? Some common obstacles are the physical ones: the right kinds of food, rest, exercise and air to breathe.
Beyond that the greatest detriment to the proper energy flow and alignment is the functioning of our minds and the management of our emotions.

Being in charge of our mind is a life long challenge that requires commitment and the tools to do the job! It does not need to be an arduous or daunting task though if you become educated and adopt a light attitude with both the learning and doing.
As for our emotions, we need the means to allow our emotions to have their voice, learn from them, and have techniques that let feelings be released from our systems rather than be stuck in repeating loops.
When we can be both fully human (E.G. accepting our imperfections even as we seek to grow) and have a growing edge that includes increasing self- knowledge, grace and skill, life becomes more manageable, easy and happy!
CREATING FLOW There are many ways to approach the mastery of our mental and emotional selves. Much has been written about the various methods that address the management, transformation, and integration of our psychological selves.
What I would like to suggest here are two simple easy to use methods for you to try to create more flow in your bodymind and life. The first is to begin to ask yourself on a regular basis throughout your day if THIS ( activity, thought, feeling) builds or depletes your energy. The “THIS” that you are asking the question about can be a mental process, an emotional pattern or a choice about a person, place or thing.

Asking this question helps to increase your self awareness in regard to the choices you are making and thus helps to empower you to act more often on your own behalf rather than unconsciously giving your energy away.
The other technique is to regularly give yourself some time to relax and imagine that you are entering a river that appears still as you are simply viewing it . However, once you enter the river and let yourself float with it, it will become clear that there is a flow, a direction that the river is moving in. Allow yourself to just flow with the river and experience the ease and peace that develop as you let go into the rhythm of the water. Stay as long as you like with this experience. Over time you will find that this pleasant exercise is installing a felt sense of flow deep within your core. Once you become accustomed to it you can tap back into it during the day as needed or wanted.
There is so much angst in the world. If we are to be part of the change we would like to see externally, we need to begin by creating a dynamic inner space of harmony from which to live. Once you establish flow, strength, courage, and the ability to take conscious well thought out action can emerge naturally. 

There really is a stream of energy, of well being, peace and love available to you. Part of your power is the ability to choose to clear yourself of the obstacles to access and expereince of that stream. The gift for your efforts will be the beauty and grace you come to know within and the quiet joy you can then have in your life.

“Physiologically, it simply doesn’t matter whether your anger is justified or not. The body doesn’t make moral judgements about feelings; it just responds.”

- Doc Childre and Howard Martin,
HeartMath Solution

Each morning we get a Cosmic Do Over!

Upon awakening, take a just a moment to settle deep inside, breathe slowly and freely, to connect to your your heart—focus on gratitude or appreciation or love —-feel yourself expand with that energy and flow it out into your day,  to all the people you will meet along the way, to all the situations you may encounter(do not try to think about what they are, simply have the intention to flow love and ease).

If you have a particular intention for they day release it from this space, not pushing but simply flowing and being grateful that all works for the best for all concerned in your world today!

As you go through your day. make it a point to touch back into the ease and peace that you began the day with..you’ll be glad you did at the end of the day!

 This passage has popped up several times this week from multiple sources—it speaks to the process of clearing our minds and releasing troubling emotionsso we can truly arrive at the state of acceptance mentioned in The New Earth and not merely try to think or will ourselves there —which after-all is not really THERE!

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.
 He said, “My son, the battle is between 2 “wolves” inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, worry, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity,truth, compassion and faith.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

I recently read Eckhart Tolle’s book “A New Earth.”  The subtitle is “Awakening To Your Life’s Purpose.”  This book is excellent and I highly recommend it for everyone who is focused on becoming more aware, more conscious and living a purposeful life. 

Throughout the book he talks about living life from the inside out and that when you do, what happens on the outside has less and less significance in the larger realm of things.

Tolle encourages us to take action from a place of acceptance, enjoyment or enthusiasm … and that if we are not in one of these states then we are “creating suffering for yourself and others.”   Try this out for youself and see if it makes a difference with the actions you take and how you feel about any given situation. As he says, taking action from a state of acceptance means you are at peace.  We are open to so much more when we are at peace than when we struggle, are angry or frustrated, allow oursleves to be disappointed by others’ actions and words, etc.

It is up to each of us to awaken to our deep power within and truly live from the inside out.  Each of us is the only one who can do it for ourselves.

The last post spoke about happiness and the energy connection as well s using the power of your mind. One of the things that I (Karen) notice a lot is as people try to shift into more positive mind states they think that they cannot have “negative” feelings. We are meant to feel. We are human and are wired to feel the full gamut of emotion. We cannot simply hop over to a positive mind state and gloss over whatever negative feelings we may have.

All our feelings are messengers. They are giving us important information about ourselves and our world. For instance, anger can be a signal that our boundaries are being continually crossed. The anger is a signal to us. Of course it is not useful to volley t anger out into the world onto whoever crosses you! But we do need to honor the feeling. Finding positive ways that allow the feeling to move through you with no harm to self or other is the way to go. Once you have allowed the feeling to move through you in a healthy way, you will be able to return to balance again and it will then  become possible to shift into a higher mind/feeling state.

If we a lot of accumulated baggage in the emotional department this shift may not be as  to accomplish  as it would be if we were simply handling this one episode of emotion. In that case you may need to give yourself some time on a regular basis to develop better emotional management skills. Working with your breath to release powerful pent up emotions, EFT, journaling, imagery or communicating feelings appropriately can all help you.     

Being a human being means embracing and accepting all parts of ourselves—body, mind, emotions and spirit. And perhaps more importantly—having a means to “work” with each aspect to integrate them intoa cohesive whole that allows you to live your life with peace, harmony and optimal well being!