Shift now, avoid the rush!

Awakening is a process, a journey with a road that  reaches behind and before us.

Awakening allows for: eyes that open wider, ears that hear more clearly, a mind that broadens and expands to include more and exclude less, and a heart that both widens and opens.

 Awakening is an imperfect course, one with jagged edges that can pierce the smoothness of our contentment and explode the inner space of our reality.

 Awakening requires courage, perseverance, commitment and practice:

Courage to face the day, to see how far we’ve come AND how far we have yet to go

Perseverance to show up, shift and move forward while honoring the missteps

Patience to ride the currents—the updrafts and the troughs

Commitment to practice even in the stuck times

 Awakening is allowing our humanness to be touched our spirit and be shaped by it. It is then that resistance can fall away and we can open into the ease of soul, and let it lead the way.

Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go.

Herman Hesse

The topic for our Monday, January 18^th radio show is “How do You Really Leave the Past Behind?”  Eckhart Tolle in the Power of Now tells us that we need to be in the present to free ourselves of the past. Actually, we always ONLY live in the present.  We are never in the past nor are we ever in the future.  The past, however, does in many ways condition our lives. 

 Our experiences and beliefs over a lifetime are all factors that influence how we see the world, how we live our lives and how we react to situations.

 Our dilemma is that our past experiences and particularly the way we feel about them …are encoded in our nervous systems, in our very cell tissue and form default reactor patterns that are easily—and unconsciously triggered by people and events. The result is that we often react automatically from the past as it were and are not truly, freely in the present.  

 So what do we do? How do you let the past go?

 Come listen to our show and find out!

On Monday you can click this link http://www.divatoolbox.com/diva-toolbox-radio-/hosts/2007-peg-donahue-and-karen-kallie-living-energy.html or join us from the button on our homepage. 

If you cannot listen live, you can download the recording 12-24 hours after the show and listen at your leisure.

It is amazing to see the outpouring of help that arises in the world when disaster strikes such as it has in Haiti this week. Compassion, empathy and a sincere desire to aid our fellow humans —the best in us—is openly displayed and freely given in times of great need. This is truly heartening—a kind of counterbalance to the terror and violence we also witness at times in our world and in our fellow humans.

 When disaster strikes it can rock the very foundation of our individual and collective psyches. It is  as though our deepest fears are shaken loose from the comfortable bed where they have been lying and rise up to remind us that they are still there. We become aware once again that safety is not a guarantee in this world. The truly terrifying emotion that gets triggered in such circumstances is one of powerlessness.

 Someone once said that the emotion we most feared was one of powerlessness. My experience and observation in this lifetime is that this is probably true. We REALLY do NOT like to feel that we are powerless in any area of our lives.

 Daily life, at least in most of the western world, can lull us into a sense of complacency where we can “forget” about this issue of powerlessness. Of course unconscious behaviors show us that in fact some part of us is trying mightily to hang on to a feeling of power, control and safety. However, when catastrophe strikes the mighty energy of fear awakens.

 Each person has their own unique way to defend or cope with the arousal of such fear. Some go on the offensive and cast hateful (and often totally illogical) blame on others. Some creatively weave stories that assign power to an external source with rules and regulations that they themselves just happen to be in alignment with, but the folks who are suffering the calamity are not and hence their troubles.  In fact it may be that we all carry some version of this story in our deepest of hidden places—be good, do this, follow that and no harm will come to you! But disaster has a way of shaking our belief systems and opening us up to our fears about safety, security, as well as to what is really important. This can be a time when we can discover things about ourselves and choose (or be forced!) to grow and develop aspects of ourselves that we may not otherwise.

 If we ask questions about our deepest fears…if we confront them and look to what it would take to dissolve them, heal them, let them go…and yes, maybe even accept that we may have to live with some part of them and learn to manage them more grace-fully.

 Our true power lies within the better part of ourselves, in our spiritual nature. We can choose to grow and develop this aspect—to learn how to attune to the energy of love, peace and ease and allow it to flow through us even in an imperfect world. Aligning with the energy of these higher qualities strengthens us and those around us through a kind of ripple effect.

 Learning to root and ground ourselves in these stronger energies opens us up so we become more aware of healthier choices and responses to our world –ones that nourish and enhance ourselves, others and the world. Centering in these energies brings clarity, a higher way of knowing and Being to us. Our choices and responses can become more kind, loving and wise.

 A question that often is asked is, “Is there a higher purpose in the disasters that strike us? “  Perhaps the answer is that is our choice. Perhaps the real question needs to be, “How do we want to respond to the challenges and conditions of our lives?” We can choose to develop our awareness and consciousness. We can choose to work toward an integration of mind and heart. It is there that we can find the deep choice of wisdom and love.

Great video on interaction of mind, experience and brain and the benefits of developing  mindfulness. Cultivating this state helps to improve  health, relationships, and the ability to learn and enjoy life. This video is focused on children but it has great wisdom for all of us!

Fear in all its forms, doubt, anxiety, uncertainty, is a feeling–a vibration that you can shift.

We can work with our minds to shift our energy or we can work directly with our energy to shift our minds—both work but I find it simpler, more effective and efficient to go directly to working with the energy—fewer stories, less resistance to change  and it is going to the source!

To beginto work from the level of energy: Choose to center within yourself and ground your energy (see Articles and Tips elsewhere on this site for information regarding these two concepts). Once grounded you can more easily place your attention on thoughts and feelings that open and build energy.

 Open from the inside out and feel the miracle of your life force coursing through you. Once in touch with your inner energy in this way it becomes easier to place your mind (feeling and thought) on things that enliven, nourish and strengthen you. As you become stronger, lighter and brighter in your energy you can more easily connect to soul and flow with more joy, peace and love.

A very dear and wise friend once said to me, “In my culture we are taught to choose well at the start”. Each morning we each have a new start….how will we choose? Your energy matters! Your heart matters! You matter…choose well what energy you live your day(s) in.

Coherence of our energy field helps us to feel better, be healthier and develop stronger abilities to create the circumstances of our lives. Coherence combined with intention is a powerful combination for attracting and creating more of what we DO want to show up for us.

Developing our power to let go of what doesn’t feel good is a large part of bringing our energy into coherence. Learning to let go is a challenging task. As with any learning in life, there is a learning curve. Please be patient with yourself. Generally speaking, the learning involved with all the concepts and tools presented in this program is part of a lifelong journey that can bring you continuously to deeper and broader levels of experience in many areas of your life.

Stop for a moment now and consider these questions….

Can you remember a time when you felt fearful or anxious and it helped you to be prepared?

 Can you think about a time when you experienced fear or anxiety and it was not useful but became a feedback loop within your mind and emotions that kept you all churned up to no avail?

We know that it is healthier to let go of negative feelings and be more positive, and we can learn how to respond to situations from a higher perspective as we go through our lives. Often, though, we do not; because of mental and emotional conditioning that occurs during our lives, particularly during our youth. Conditions and experiences are registered in our energy fields and then become self-referencing feedback loops.

Learning skills that allow you to imprint in your physiology the FEELING of letting go moves the ideal from the realm of thought into the realm of reality and experience.

Reprinted from Chapter 1, 12 Keys for Life and Self Mastery

Your energy system has a direct influence on your mind, body and spirit. It impacts your health, your moods, your outlook on life and much more. By tuning into your personal energy level throughout the day you will feel better and begin to develop a foundation for being able to expand your ability to manage, focus and channel your energy.

1. Upon awakening, before you even get out of bed, notice how you feel. If you dreamt something that has a negative hangover effect, consciously release it. Use whatever means you can to accomplish this: EFT, breath-work, imagery and pivoting can help you shift your feelings.
2. Choose you emotional state for the day. Yes, you can! Let yourself feel ease, peace, well being to whatever level you can and imagine flowing that good feeling out from your deep inner center into your day.
3. As you move through the day notice what expands and opens you and make it a point to settle into these feelings. Appreciate and feel gratitude for all that is present that is adding to your life. (These feelings create very real biochemical and neuro-hormonal changes.)
4. Notice what triggers negative feelings or thought patterns and consciously release them as best you can as they arise. At times there may be a need for more than you can manage in the moment. If the latter is the case, schedule time to do what you need to in order to collapse those patterns more thoroughly from your bodymind.
5. As you notice what diminishes and drags you down can you also begin to think about how you can consciously make choices that eliminate those situations from your life. That may not be possible in all cases, but you may be able to let go of more than you realize. Over the longer term you can do what you can to build and strengthen your energy in order to more easily change de-energizing ways of reacting to the situations or people in your life that cannot be eliminated.

We would love to have you join us on our radio show on Diva Toolbox on Monday 11-23-09 @ 10 A.M. where our topic will be Practical Solutions for Holiday Stress. If you cannot make it at that time the show is aways recorded and you can access it from our link on Diva Toolbox.

http://www.divatoolbox.com/diva-toolbox-radio-/hosts/2007-peg-donahue-and-karen-kallie-living-energy.html

Have a happy stress free weekend!

From one of my favorite people, a wonderful statement on shifting from a feeling of powerlessness to one of empowerment.

“Who lives a life of joy? Who in this society knows the day to day thrill and privilege of being alive?”

These two questions can lead us all to a daily choice-

1. To let drop away all that blocks our experience of  life as a gift and privilege

2. To do what it takes for the energy of joy to find its free expression through our being.