Living Energy Blog

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To view ourselves as energetic entities helps us to understand the nature of the authentic self at a deeper level while providing a very effective way to actively develop ourselves to be able to live more from that higher awareness. It is not enough to know that we are spiritual/energetic beings. We need to understand what it is specifically that deters us from living fully from that perspective and have the ability to contact and embody the energy of our more expansive Self.

We need to know how our life experiences have affected us so we can heal and release it. Knowledge is a first step toward healing. Our personal history has helped shape our ways of being in the world. We need to understand the patterns we have formed and have effective ways to release the detrimental effects. Working from a level that incorporates the energy of mind, body and spirit goes to where the deepest core of our issues lie and helps to release them there where they were imbedded.

For instance, you may have experienced deep grief in the past. You understand that this had a profound effect on you. You can describe what happened, how this person was important to you, what (if any) unfinished business there is, and how it is currently impacting your life. If you do not have the means to erase the effects from your mind/body/energy system and install new feelings and behaviors, then you may continue to be affected by the unresolved grief, consciously or unconsciously.

In order to live from more of our authentic self we need to experience emotions appropriate to an event, allow them proper expression and release them from our system. Then all our energy becomes available to us to live in the present and channel towards the goals we wish to see become reality!

Our recording of Letting Go: The Heart of Healing includes tips and an effective technique  to help release old patterns energetically.

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Developing our inner selves, learning to open and connect with our authentic nature, moves us into a personal energy flow that affects our entire life in a strong and positive way.

Our energy system is the means through which we contact and receive information regarding people, places and things. Our inner self or higher nature communicates through the energy system. We call it intuition. We are in constant contact with this information but tend to not understand it, discount it or ignore it. Emotional reactions to people and events, half formed or unexplained feelings and hunches are all ways that our psyche is trying to inform us of the true nature of our interactions. Our thoughts, wishes, desires and attitudes are also a part of this mix. This can make it tricky to sort out what message is coming from which source. It is much more effective to have an open, clear and flowing system in order to be informed in the best possible way regarding our lives.

Our five senses draw our attention to the outer physical world. When we have an outer directed focus we look for our inner needs to be filled through material sources. This is usually a short lived and unsatisfying solution. This orientation leads to blame, criticism, judgments, and compulsivity (repetitive behaviors expecting a different outcome).

Being outwardly directed tends to produce reliance on a spiritual being external to ourselves. We beseech this Greater Being to bestow favors upon us –and we continue to define ourselves through the physical, roles and material possessions. This way of being is one of limited consciousness. Paradoxically, it is a mind set that both begins and ends in fear. An outer focus leaves us up one day down the next with no center to hold on to. Life is about change. Consciousness that is attached to the outer world does not help us to move with the cycles of change. This does not help us to increase our capacity to function in the world in a meaningful way that leads to peace, joy & happiness. Our sixth sense draws our attention inward and assists us to truly find the means to resolve issues, release struggle and longing and receive the true fulfillment of our deepest desires.

This inner path allows us to examine thoughts, feelings and beliefs that lead to problems. It opens the way to creative problem solving. Expanding our consciousness beyond the physical and material world awakens us to who we truly are. From there we can transcend limitations, expand creative ability, and step into true power, tolerance, understanding and vitality.

Understanding our energetic nature and its relationship to our wounds, strengths, lower and higher nature brings us beyond the world of concepts to the world of true co-creation and realizing our highest aspiration.

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The authentic self or spiritual self has an inner focus or center. It directly experiences life through the energy field. In addition, everything is experienced directly without judgment, analysis or even description.

This higher aspect of Self comes into contact with life through feelings in the moment. Its experience is not that of isolated qualities, but more that of a network of relationships, rhythm and vibration. The spiritual self holds an awareness of the interrelatedness of all of life.

By contrast the ego self is outer focused, sees things from a cause- effect perspective and an either/ or polarity. The ego mind is very busy analyzing, categorizing, judging and describing. To its credit, this is a task that fundamentally designed to protect us and keep us safe. Generally for most of us it has run amok with its self appointed agenda! The answer is not to eradicate the ego but appreciate its proper role, have it assume its proper place and balance it with our higher nature.

In working with the ego and the shadow aspects of ourselves we need to remember to have self compassion — we have all needed to have some protection in order to make it through whatever we had to face in our lives. The ego has helped provide that. The shadow holds our wounds, painful memories and split off parts until we are ready or strong enough to enter into the healing process.

Once we realize that we are not to blame for our protective ”constructions” (defenses, mistaken beliefs, reactive patterns), but are to be applauded for our creativity managing difficult situations, perhaps we can move on. If we simply understand our process in this way, we can open the door to healing old wounds and developing different skills that serve us better in the future.

Next time: Your Authentic Self, Intuition and Energy Awareness

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Living Energy From the Inside Out: Your Authentic Self

 “If you don’t hear the whispers you have to listen to the screams!”  Denise Linn

What whispers to your heart? When you listen deeply what do you hear?

Do you listen deeply? Do you pay attention to your inner life, your longings, desires and dissatisfactions or do you careen through life running to catch up or perhaps running to outdistance the voices that keep threatening to burst through your busy mind and life…through the carefully or not so carefully constructed guise that you believe is you?

The concept of an essential, true, or authentic self is a relatively simple one. The authentic self is our fundamental spiritual nature: wonderfully vibrant, alive, and capable of great joy, bliss and unconditional love. While the idea may be simple, the ability to live from this core self may not be easy! Our ego self, our more human nature, exerts a strong influence on our personal expression.

Many spiritual teachers in recent years have stated that we are learning to spiritualize our human selves. Through this process we may eventually bring forth the best parts of ourselves to create a better world individually as well as collectively.  Before we arrive here however we are challenged to seek out and release the ego’s negative (albeit protective mechanisms) and ‘ways of being’. In spite of what our lower mind may tell us   those means are not truly effective in the realization of our most beneficial goals.

The way to realize our most cherished goals including (especially) inner peace and freedom from stress is to bring our authentic self online and learn to live from there.

Next time: How to Tell the Difference Between the Voice of the Ego and the Authentic Self

Personal power is a vast inner resource that can guide, strengthen and support you. It can help you expand into your true Self. Your personal power, if attended to, can become a deep inner knowing within your innermost being on which you can rely to help you choose options that serve you and those around you in the best possible way.

Traditionally, our culture has had little awareness of or assigned little value to our inner landscape, let alone taught methods that would help us navigate and make sense of it. Consequently, we arrive in adulthood with layers of denial, confusion or distortion covering the inner promptings that would help us discover our deeper life purpose, our reason for being, or perhaps more aptly, our experience of being. Instead we feel disconnected, isolated, alienated, empty, or aimless, drifting through life.

Our essential nature is a wellspring that nourishes us with its life force. When we connect with this life-giving flow, it becomes a source of guidance and direction as well as a foundation of peace and joy. Without a relationship with our authentic self, life lacks passion and true vitality.

One of the ways we can identify our path is to note what inner urges we have and what kind of energy comes with them. If a choice has weak energy, it is probably not really yours. A new path may have some fear and trepidation with it, but it also contains excitement and the power necessary to move forward.

Listening to Your Soul

Here are some questions to help you enter the stream of consciousness necessary to hear your soul’s voice:

1. What do you feel passion for?  What draws your attention?  What do you deeply desire? ?
2. What dreams have you packed away?  What longings have you silenced? ?
3. What do you notice that you are you drawn to?
4. What do you love spending time doing – so much so that time disappears, you lose all thoughts about externals and self consciousness and are just present in the moment?
5. What activities feel easy – just a nice effortless flow of energy for you? What feels natural to you? (You may have trained or become educated in this area, but there is a naturalness to it.)
6. What excites you? What opens and fills you with ease, joy, peace … a quickening that enlivens you?
7. Where are your challenges?  What hooks you in the negative questioning, doubting, collapsing of your energies? ?
8. What blocks your free expression of the best qualities in you? What gets in the way of listening to that soft voice within?

Our intuition is a powerful ally in our search for our purpose. Our wisdom is within. You’ll find it underneath the chatter and baggage you have picked up along life’s journey in the form of other people’s beliefs and opinions.

Our focus on tools for clearing, balancing and strengthening the energy system comes from our conviction that it is essential to address this level of being in order to listen to our intuition and effectively engage universal energy in the creation of our lives.

Excerpt from 12 Keys for Life and Self Mastery session 12, Step Forward, You are in Charge

Related articles

• Your Higher Self, Your Shining Self 2

Galaxy in Universe courtesy of thanucorn

Mark Borax’s Cosmic Weather Report for November is worth reading if you would like to gain a deeper understanding of our unprecedented times.

He articulates how the patterns and cycles of the past 40 years have moved into mainstream consciousness, with 57% of the USA supporting change.

He tells us why the time is right to step into our authentic selves, breaking free of past patterns that have kept us locked in place.

At minimum you may begin to understand your deeper self a little better and know that at times we have all been feeling a bit confused. It is part of the pattern.

Mark tells us that the next significant date of revolutionary social change is June 24, 2012. Hold on tight and ride the wave. You may find that moving forward is about going with the flow rather than fighting against it.

Questions, questions, questions, they have haunted me all my life! The ones below have drifted in my consciousness for some time and this past weekend a presentation I attended lifted them into sharp focus in a profound way. This experience is not filled with answers as much as it is with a profound appreciation for the rawness of living and loving fully, as well as an awareness of the enormous courage and strength that is necessitated to walk this human path, be truly connected with the love that we are and allow it to flow.

As always, would love to hear what you think/feel!

Is it easier to accept our flawed nature than our goodness, our potential, the love that we are in our deepest hearts ?

What is it like to sit in the deep stillness of your own heart and feel who you truly are?

Does our preoccupation with doing, improving, striving keep us from a direct, honest experience of not only  ourselves but of the world? 

What would it be like to take in and embody the truth expressed in the following quote instead of simply being fascinated with the concept or of understanding/expressing it at the level of the mind rather than the heart?

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Marianne Williamson

Steve Jobs did great things by exploring his curiosity, listening to his intuition and following his heart. One of the legacies he left behind is his 2005 commencement speech to Stanford graduates. It’s worth watching repeatedly. Sharing three personal stories, he masterfully communicates the value of doing what you love and living your life according to your terms. Follow your heart. It will always steer you right.

There is a bit of controversy at Harvard University about the voluntary “Kindness Pledge” the institution has asked incoming students to sign this year. Some of those in opposition have indicated that kindness conflicts with intellectual freedom and that the pledge does not have a place at Harvard.

The Kindness Bus

I can understand this perspective. Kindness is a virtue that emanates from the heart, not the mind or the intellect. In my opinion, kindness is an automatic response when we cultivate love within our hearts, within ourselves. I can see where too much thinking about kindness might get you all mixed up inside. If you are arguing a point, the rational mind might suggest tossing aside civility and going for the jugular … win your argument at all costs.

What is “kindness” anyway and why is it important? The dictionary defines kindness as the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate. Wikipedia indicates that kindness is the act or the state of being kind —marked by goodness and charitable behaviour, mild disposition, pleasantness, tenderness and concern for others. It is known as a virtue, and recognized as a value in many cultures and religions. In his book “Rhetoric,” Aristotle wrote that kindness is an emotion that is defined as being helpful to someone in need, not in exchange for anything or for an advantage to the helper. Kindness is about caring. Kindness is important because it holds the possibility of all of us creating a better world. We are all human and we are one global community. What we do to one another, we do to ourselves.

While Harvard debates kindness, the rest of us can model kindness. Act according to your heart. Do what feels right. To learn more, check out Random Acts of Kindness, One Million Acts of Kindness, Carry Out Kindness. They’ll take you to even more resources and sites.

Be kind to yourself today and be kind to everyone you meet.

Related articles

• Harvard’s ‘Kindness’ Pledge: (huffingtonpost.com)
• Harvard Pledge Values ‘Kindness’ Over Learning: Virginia Postrel (businessweek.com)

Today’s Daily Om inspirational essay about conscious decisions coincides nicely with the thought I’d like to share today: taking personal responsibility for yourself leads to an empowered and authentic life. This in turn supports better physical, mental and emotional health, resulting  in overall well-being and happiness. When we make conscious decisions we actively sort through our options, choosing the ones that feel right at the time. We actively choose our response vs. defaulting to decisions unconsciously. We choose what to do because it feels right vs. merely doing what we are told, even if it is not the popular or recommended approach. Acting by default is taking the easy route and doing whatever someone else says. Acting by default is a lazy approach.

Recently I met with a dermatologist. This individual made two recommendations that did not suit me. The first was to use a sunscreen that I know ranks high on the EWG’s “hazard scale” for sunscreens. The second was to use a petroleum based product with methylparaben to moisturize dry skin. When we discussed the sunscreen and alternative choices, it occurred to me that this professional was simply unaware of better choices for your skin. She was recommending products that block the sun but may also contribute to skin cancer. I wrote down the name of the second product, looked it over at the pharmacy and later researched the ingredients on my own. Although I didn’t remember why, paraben-based products were a flag in my mind. A quick Google search provided the answer: concentration of parabens, particularly methylparaben have been found in breast tumors. So here we have an educated professional recommending products that may contribute to more problems than the ones I was trying to solve. My guess is that this is a common occurrence. How often do we defer to others’ because we think they know better or they must be right (including me!)?

Rather than be angry about this professional’s lack of knowledge in this area, this experience reinforced my resolve to be personally responsible for my choices. This professional provided her best recommendation. In my opinion her recommendation fell short of being more fully informed. That part is up to me and up to each one of us.

As you go through each day, become more aware of your decisions. Pay attention to the ones that you consciously make vs. the times you just do what others say. Responding by default may seem like the easier and less overwhelming choice at the time. If it leads to you feeling disempowered or blaming others for any part of your choice then it’s really about delaying the inevitable: being responsible for your own choices, actions, thoughts and words.

The healthcare system is just one example. Each of our lives is filled with many more, particularly within our work, family and social environments. Play with these thoughts and try them out. How do they apply to your life? What changes can you make to live a more empowered and authentic life?

Related articles

• Study Shows Bisphenol-A and Methylparaben Have a Triggering Effect on Cancer (guide.thesoftlanding.com)
• A Review of the Five Best Sunscreens that are Safe for Both You & Your Child (savings.com)