A very interesting commentary by Carolyn Myss on the shift in Medicine as well as change in general. As I listen to her, I am struck by how important it is to meet change with deeper, broader consciousness –one that functions above the level of our conscious mind and its fears.
A great article on the benefits of mindfulness and meditation…
“The practice of meditation gave me the set of skills to guide my own transformation. It has been the most life altering skill that I have gained. I shifted from thinking that my emotion and thoughts owned me to feeling like I could play a role in changing my state.”
From Neuroplasticity: Changing our Belief about Change, by Joanna Holsten
http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?sid=221
Image via Wikipedia
Nature’s graceful process displays the art of “unfoldment”.
It instructs us in the art of pure being.
Nature has much to teach, but this is perhaps its best and deepest teaching.
A seedling, the beginning of form holds the promise of what is to come.
The life force of the seed does not fret about its process. It does not wonder how it looks. It is not concerned about what obstacles may be encountered in its journey forward. It does not seem to care or be impatient regarding how long it will take until it blossoms into final form.
In nature new life gracefully moves through its process, at times moving rapidly…at times moving so slowly it almost appears as though growth has ceased. At all times however it unabashedly takes what it needs from the sky, the earth, the wind and rain….and they in turn seem grateful to provide.
A seedling simply perseveres, growing along according to its own unique blueprint so it eventually becomes what it will be within its own design.
This process of new life unfolding embraces many stages. In none of these stages does the seed weigh or measure its progress or bemoan its fate. The seedling does not seem to worry that it is not deserving of the sunlight, that it is not good enough to drink the rain. All phases and transitions are simply part of the journey to the full expression of the seed’s true nature. The tiny life form takes what it needs, adapts to shifts in environmental changes and perseveres, growing according to its own blueprint….. moving steadily onward toward what it will become…ITS SELF.
The seed travels onward through its life cycle toward ripeness when its mature fruit easily and freely drops to earth in a willingness to change yet again— the life cycle continuously renewing.
We can learn to live with the same grace, beauty, fullness and seamless dancing spirit.
Image via Wikipedia
Rollin McCraty from HeartMath Institute has a great question for himself at the end of the day, “What did I feed the field today”? He is referring of course to the idea that we have a significant impact on our world through the energy field— that it matters what we put out in terms of our focus—for us and for others. This is a great question to ask at anytime of the day to help keep us focused on where we are at and where we need to adjust…not out of harsh self criticism or judgement just simple awareness.
Some help for the journey…
The Impact of Thought and Emotion
Thoughts, emotions and feelings of all types are a major part of our human experience. They (along with free will and judgment) differentiate us from animals and other life forms.
As humans, we have a wide range of emotions. We are meant to feel. If we are to be healthy, fully express our authentic nature and bring the best of our selves to the world, then we must know how to let emotions move fluidly and easily through our systems and not repress them or get stuck in them!
Knowing how to work positively with all our emotions builds our energy and helps us move more rapidly and simply toward the lives we desire. We hold memory all throughout our body-mind … no experience escapes our notice. Our life experience is imprinted through our energy and nervous system into our biochemistry and into the cells and organs of our body.
Thoughts and feelings affect the energy throughout all our systems, but perhaps most important is how they connect deeply in the heart and help shape our experience of the world. Our thoughts and feelings are two primary ways we manage our energy, but they don’t necessarily always work in unison.
We are very capable of thinking one thing and feeling another. We can “know” something in our mind and experience it a totally different way in our heart and body.
Cellular memory is imprinted more through how we feel about something than through how we think about it or how we rationalize it. As a result, we have the feeling police deep inside: the body knows your truth! This is why it is so critical to clear the patterns and beliefs of the past – not because we are bad or have sinned and need to set our records straight, but because through our lack of knowledge and awareness, we have created obstacles that block our health, well- being and happiness.
Releasing judgment, embracing self compassion, letting go and acceptance
Practice going inside, grounding your energy ( for more info on this click here: http://www.livingenergyworks.com/articles.html )and developing an internal network for surrender, acceptance, letting go and releasing by practicing the feeling of those concepts. You can work this into a daily meditation rather than making it a whole new task to accomplish. Things in the internal world can be accomplished with ease — where there is no time and no space, there is magic!
Relaxation 101 is a great guided meditation that incorporates the foundation for all these taske. You can find the download or CD here:
Self-compassion is your greatest source of strength (Photo credit: wildphotons)
The other day I was talking with a friend about her experience with grief and loss and she expressed that she felt she should be further along on her path of recovery. She is six weeks past a major loss after a grueling year of care-taking, medical emergencies and life adjustments. Can you relate to that belief? I can !!
How tempting…and human…to think that we can hit the ground running after a time of grief, trauma or major life adjustments. We want to get on with it. We want to move past the intensity, the deep aching sadness, hurt, confusion and doubt. It is hard to be with all the feelings, the voices in our heads and the hurt in our heart. However this is the time to lie fallow, to process and be able to digest our experience.
Every aspect of our energy –part of our body, mind and spirit is affected by trauma, loss and grief no matter how well we have managed through it. This is the time to rest in the quiet, to let the silence behind the difficult emotions emerge from that deep place within. It is time to let that silence envelope you in its healing arms. This is what allows your energy to return. It is what allows wisdom to bubble up from a profoundly authentic place inside. This is how you help yourself heal, find meaning and integrate your experience.
Patience is needed to move with the natural rhythms of life especially with the troublesome times. Self compassion is necessary to let yourself be where you are. Patience and self compassion are your allies through transition times. A new life needs to be birthed gently, in its own time and with a consciousness that is full of understanding not hurried movement. Time, space and healing attention are necessary luxuries when we are at such a stage on our life journey. There are many gifts to be had if we become present and mindful to our experience…a profound inner connection with our authentic self and the rejuvenating flow of spiritual energy are two such gifts that can stabilize our minds and hearts…for the now and for the future.
Release, by Rita Loyd
There is something deeply settling in living with awareness, to our life questions and being open to the information, release and healing that comes from attending to them. It feels like an ever present opportunity to come home to our essential self in the midst of daily life….the inner space that nourishes and sustains u…s if we connect with it.
Recently I was searching for a file and came across an article I had written back in 2007. The topic was about these very things–looking at life through different eyes, being aware of messages and their deeper meaning. The funny thing about the core issue I discovered and wrote about in the article is that I have recently been having thesame message come back around….again! Not so strange really, just human and the way it is for those of us who learn more slowly! It gets easier with experience and there is gratitude for that!
To pay attention to life moments , with an attitude of ease and patient spaciousness is one of the ways that we turn the ordinary into extraordinary- paying attention, we open our hearts and minds and become receptive to something beyond the noise in our heads, the something that heals.
I do not think that we should live our lives under the burden of analyzing and inspecting every moment for deeper meaning. However, my experience has taught me that there is a great deal to be gained through being open to the broader perspectives that life is always inviting us toward.
To read Energy, Meaning and Messages: http://bit.ly/A35PTH
Questions to Ponder
Do you think symbolically about the events of your life?
How does the universe speak to you?
How has your life been enriched by deeper listening and clearer seeing/vision?
I would love to hear your experiences and comments about this topic!
“True personal growth is about transcending the part of you that is not okay and needs protection.”
Michael Singer
Transcendence requires a process of growing, learning and being willing to change or transform. It is not a matter of denying or bypassing our pains and dark places, but of learning to pass through the difficult spaces and to ultimately embrace the truth of our essential/greater selves.
I (Peg) am fascinated with the energetic aspects of money and what is does to us, what it does to society. For some time I have been thinking about the value of work and goods and services. Why do people work at jobs they don’t like? What factors go into deciding that an hour of time from one person is worth more or less than an hour of time from another? How did we get to the point where so many people are not earning a living wage while others have more than they will ever need or use? There are many reasons for all of this, on multiple levels.
What is interesting about our current times is that these topics have reached the mainstream and we are beginning to have intelligent conversations about them in many spheres of influence. Last week I started reading Debt: The First 5,000 Years, by David Graeber. Within a few days, a friend told me about Sacred Economics: Money, Gift and Society in the Age of Transition by Charles Eisenstein. Interestingly enough, they were published on the same day: July 12, 2011, just ahead of the Occupy Wall St. movement. As I was scanning my email today, a third link came in. The Daily Good posted a story called: “When Generosity Meets Venture Capital.” When I delve deep into a topic, things often come to me in groups of three.
A public conversation about money, debt and humanity is emerging. It’s a growing movement and it’s exciting. During Biblical times, Jubilee years were held periodically where all consumer debt was cancelled. Just imagine how things would shift if we did this today! The time is right to envision a world where we all live in peace, health and happiness … and we can all contribute in one way or another.
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.
A Halloween sign, from a shop in Northern London. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
One of the latest challenges was the October Nor’easter that swept through New England last weekend. I (Peg) happened to be in NYC and was caught off-guard. Following a gorgeous late October Friday, the wet and heavy snow felt a bit surreal as we were suddenly plunged into winter. Sloshing through city streets with umbrellas blowing and wearing shoes instead of boots was not fun. The next day was gorgeous again: a clear blue and sun glistening through foliage. As we traveled north, however, a different picture emerged. Abandoned cars on snowy roadways and fallen trees soon gave way to long gas lines that reminded me of the 1970’s energy crisis. We knew something more had happened. Power was out throughout parts of NY, CT, MA and NH. Luckily we were able to fill the gas tank just when we needed it.
We arrived home to no power and an hour’s light left. Since our town felt like a war zone with extensive damage to trees and power lines, we decided to pack our bags for a Tuesday trip to CA and head further north where things were operating fine. I spent Monday with a client near the NH seacoast. By mid-day the snow had melted and everyone was preparing for Halloween. Simultaneously, Halloween was quickly being rescheduled in areas hard hit by the storm. Very early Tuesday morning we traveled back home and emptied our refrigerator by flashlight. Three days without power were beginning to take its toll on the refrigerator. Later in the day we arrived in San Diego, a world apart from the one we left behind, where five days later the power remains out in many areas. Along the way, our connecting flight was cancelled due to a maintenance issue. The two-hour delay gave us time to slow down, enjoy a meal and people-watch in Phoenix.
It’s been a whirlwind week with many experiences of energy extremes: calm vs. stormy weather, cool vs. warm temperatures, East vs. West coast, city energy vs. country vs. seacoast, the generosity of friends and neighbors, and more. I used much of the time to observe and study energy …energy of the environment, the weather, people, and people’s reactions to events, as well as my own feelings and reactions to the circumstances and events around me. I consciously pulled my energy in while riding the NYC subway and allowed it to expand and soak up the energy of the NH seacoast as well as the coastline of southern CA. I was grateful to one neighbor for clearing our driveway of fallen tree branches before we returned home on Sunday and for another driving us to the airport Tuesday morning. I was also grateful that we found gas exactly when we needed it on our return trip from NYC and to the airline customer service rep for rescheduling us on the next flight to San Diego after the cancelled flight. We were delighted to find our luggage waiting for us when we arrived and now look forward to visiting our West Coast family and friends.
We are clearly living through changing times. An effective response is to be flexible and adaptable. Know that plans may change at any time. Be open to the unexpected and maintain a sense of curiosity about what it may bring. Notice your reactions and feelings. If you find yourself getting tense or feeling stressed, breathe. Take a step back, reflect about what is going on and more importantly, notice your reaction to what is occurring. You may not be able to change what is happening, but you are in charge of your reaction to it. Use these changing times to practice going with the flow. Be flexible, kind, compassionate, and patient. Adapt to each situation at hand based on what is happening in the moment. You may find it’s an easier way to live.
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