The Turning Point?

Yes, Trump won. As terrible as it may seem, (and no, I did not vote for him) does this victory foreshadow the death of the nation, or will it trigger events and changes that many have called for?

Awakening Consciousness and Unification 

President Trump

This presidential election has broken open what had become an entrenched and corrupt political system. The dangers, that once seemed only to affect various minorities, have now become so dire that they threaten us all.  Issues previously shunted to the background of political and personal priorities lists --such as climate change, the dangers of global dependence on fossil fuels, human/indigenous rights violations, racism, sexism, gender/sex discrimination -are going to become even more evident to mass consciousness.

Gone are the days when we could look at social injustices done to others and be silent. This new leader, this new political climate, will push citizens and interest groups to unite their voices, money and power, to find tribal connections in shared beliefs and values. The time of separatist thinking is past. Us versus them didn't work and frankly never supported life. Life loves variety and there are many ways to behave differently, while still sharing a planet, nation, and community. We can remain individuals without being enemies. If there is one thing we can unite behind it is our desire for freedom- to BE. Unification around what we have in common instead of separation over what holds us apart, the things we disagree upon, may be the only saving option we have that will preserve our freedoms. 

We, the people, can rebuilt our government from a local level upward, through community activism. We have no other choice if we are to live free. We will be forced to unite, to build community, connections, to make allies, in order to preserve what is of value, in order to survive. We will only find safety in numbers and through collective actions.  This change of presidency may not be the disaster that we fear.  It may be the beginning of a cure.

Occupy Democracy

Resistance is Futile. Become the Change. Make Allies not Enemies. 

Each of these statements hold truth we can benefit from. 

In this attraction based universe the law of attraction makes resistance of the unwanted futile. What we resist only increases because we give power to it through our attention. It is only through turning toward the wanted and pursuing the desired that we create changes which eliminate the unwanted. Yes we need to be aware of what is happening around us, but once we have become aware and through our awareness discovered our preferences, the only productive option for life is to turn our attention and activity toward creating the preferred reality. "All things are connected" is more than just a unity consciousness slogan. In this ever changing multi-verse, we are continually linked through causal effect. Collectively, we have been asking for change. The results of this election are certainly going to break the old power structure and holds, which have kept our nation from making the changes we have all been calling for.

If you would prefer different leadership . . .

Stop supporting the systems and media which give power and attention to the people who abuse it. Turn off the TV, or change the channel, use alternate NEWS sources. Change what you buy and how you spend your money.  Use your power as a consumer to support companies and banks that share your values. Give your time money and support to organizations,  parties, and leadership that share your values. 

Spend time in getting to know your neighbors. Become the neighbor you wish you had in your community. Join social groups, make friends, spread your values through loving others, entering their consciousness through the heart --which recognizes truth faster than the mind, which is conditioned to believe. There is no better way to connect with another individual and to gain their trust, respect, or cooperation than through heart based/felt experiences and connections. 

Become politically active on a community level to shape the infrastructure of our society in a way that supports the citizen and the rights of the citizen over special interests and corporate entities. Giving focused attention to strengthening our country on the local and state level might take away from the power, therefore abuses, of higher offices to control and dictate policy. A weaker federal government may then be inspired into forming better world relations. 

Changes born on a ground level will either strengthen or weaken policies made at higher levels. SO, take part in making the changes you want to see on a community level. If you want safer streets and better relationships with police, find ways to bring the local people together and to engage with the local authorities that will create the relationships you desire. Scoffing and holding onto a belief that "it won't work," only prevents us from taking advantage of opportunities. We can not know what is in the heart of another person based on their skin color, sex. religion, economic status, or the job they hold. We can not know what kind word or honest act of compassion might influence another person away from fear or hate. The person you smile at today might face a situation tomorrow where they have to choose between prejudice/separation and inclusion/alignment. Every act of kindness and compassion you offer is a step in winning an ally. 

By forcing us to set aside our differences and unite under common values, this election could prove to be the turning point humanity needs in order to balance and heal. What happens in this country impacts the world. What we do now, how we come together in the face of what seems like a terrifying future, could just as easily heal the planet as destroy it.

Is Trump going to lead our nation to greatness? Not likely, but you could.

Be the Change You Seek.

Practicing Mindfulness: Beneficial Beliefs Feel Better When I Think Them. . .

Practicing Mindfulness. . .

Almost daily I encounter someone, or myself, experiencing suffering over or with tumultuous thoughts, thoughts run amok. Thoughts that torture our minds, interrupt our focus, steal our attention and energy have become a plague within our society, which culturally places a high importance on thoughts and thinking ability. 

René Descartes

"Cogito ergo sum. . ."

 a Latin philosophical proposition by René Descartes, translated into English as

 "I think therefore I am. . . "

Complex thought may be one of the factors in the advancement of humanity as a species, but look what has happened to us as the thoughts we think spiral into fearfulness and aggression. . . when our thoughts about ourselves become overly critical. . . when our thoughts about each other become separatist and exclusionary. . . when our thoughts about life become those of superiority and inferiority. . . thoughts of insufficiency and greed. . .

Believing every thought that comes into our minds is a symptom of mental illness, as not all of the thoughts we think are true.

Consider that what we believe shapes our reality and as such it is beneficial to be mindful of the thoughts we pursue and the beliefs we cling to. It may seem simplistic to point this out, but --to paraphrase one of my favorite influencers, Abraham and Esther Hicks-- a belief is just a thought that you keep thinking and thoughts can be changed.

We have the power to choose which thoughts we will pursue, cultivate and grow. We have the ability to examine our beliefs and when we find those which no longer serve us, re-frame them to bring about change.

Distinguishing between which thoughts are beneficial to us and those that are not is a skill which requires practice. When we have been unconsciously allowing our thoughts to rule our lives, it can become confusing to ween ourselves from those thoughts which separate us from the improved state of being we desire.

Thursday's thought to think upon . . .

Beneficial Beliefs Feel Better When I Think Them. . .

There are things in your environment --that you believe-- that match what you want.  And there are all kinds of things in your environment that you believe that defy what you want. How would you ever sort them out? How do you know the active beliefs within you that serve you well and the active beliefs that do not serve you?  How do you know the beneficial beliefs from the detrimental ones? The Beneficial beliefs feel better when you think them.  The detrimental ones feel worse when you think them.

 ~ Getting into the Vortex cards

by Ester and Jerry Hicks

The Teachings of Abraham

Refusing The Call. . .

The Fates

"The fates lead him who will; him who won't they drag." ~ old Roman proverb.

Have you ever wondered what your life would be like if you followed your dreams?

Have you ever considered the cost you will pay by not pursuing them? If so, perhaps you already have an inkling.

Our ancestors understood there were consequences to avoiding the call of inspiration and the desire of our hearts. Mythos from the ages prepare us, using the allegoric anchor of the Hero's Journey stories, to face the psychological repercussions associated with refusing this call.

The Call of the Gods . . .

You may be familiar with the bible story of Jonah and the whale. . . ? 

Jonah's failed escape . . .

Jonah1:1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.

Well, Jonah --the hero of the myth, doesn't want to answer the call to adventure. In the beginning of this bible story, he refuses to follow the quest given him by his god, Jehovah. The people of Nineveh are the enemies of Jonah's people. He would rather they were destroyed. Instead of accepting the task laid out by his god, trusting that there is some greater purpose at hand, he high-tails-it in the other direction, hopping a ship in Joppa headed for Tarshish. Not the most well thought out of plans. In Jonah's story, running the other direction only succeeds in pissing his patron god off. Jehovah basically sends a hurricane to sink the ship Jonah gets on.

Joseph Campbell

According to Joseph Campbell's research of world mythology, when a hero refuses the call to adventure or denies the ability to move beyond the status quo, something, usually some type of magical intervention, is then needed to plunge the hero into the unknown. Where the reluctant hero requires supernatural forces to urge him on, the willing adventurer gathers amulets, power tokens or magical items, and advice from a protector or spirit guide as aid for the journey.

A modern example of a hero refusing the call to adventure/change can be found in the movie STAR WARS.

The Call in STAR WARS

When Luke Skywalker first finds the droid R2-D2, and discovers the message from Princess Leia, he has no intention of investigating the mystery. He is more concerned with the work he has to finish for the coming morning and even mentions wiping R2's hard drive in preparation for re-purposing.
R2 runs away and while Luke is willing to come after him, meeting the Jedi Obiwan in the process, it takes returning home to find the storm troupers have wiped his home and only known family off the planet to send him on his quest.

In mundane life when we refuse the call of inspiration we don't always experience a dramatic or magical event to push us out of the stasis we are in. Sometimes what we experience is an intense feeling or realization that something is wrong in our world, a lingering dissatisfaction with the way things are. The urge to follow our inner calling and visions intensifies, and life events seem to push us to make changes. If we remain unmoved and continue to ignore these feelings, asserting an effort to maintain the status quo, at the expense of our dreams, Life quite often will shift the circumstances around us in ways that force us to grow in new directions. If we continue to ignore the deeper guidance of Source, which is trying to move us towards our highest good and potential, we become blocked energetically and create disease in our lives. Dis-ease can manifest as physical illnesses or chronic poverty, accidents, debt thinking, depression, emotional turmoil, traumatic events, or simply a deep abiding dissatisfaction with life. Our personal hero story becomes one of tragedy, loss, and pain.

It is only through embracing The Call of Life, the inspiration of Source, and engaging in the adventure of living fully that we fulfill the potential of our Be-ing.

The Tarot and the Hero's Journey

The Fool is of the tarot represents Joseph Campbell's monomythic hero at the beginning of his journey cycle. The Fool is given the number placement 0, the number of unlimited potential, which does not actually have a specific place in the sequence of the Tarot cards. The Fool can come either at the beginning of the Major Arcana or at the end, as the hero must return to the society or place of origin to complete his journey of enlightenment. The Major Arcana is often considered as the Fool’s journey through life and as such, he is ever present and therefore needs no number.

The Fool is shown at the beginning of his journey with unlimited potential. The sun rising up behind him represents the beginning of his journey. He is facing north-west, the direction of the unknown. He is looking upwards, toward the sky, or Spirit. He is about to step off a cliff into the material world but is he prepared? He has all the tools and resources he needs in the bag on his staff but he has not opened the bag yet. The white rose in his left hand represents purity and innocence. He has a guardian in the little white dog who will protect him throughout his journey but who will also push him to learn the lessons the Fool came here to learn. The mountains behind the Fool represent the realms of Spirit that he has just left and will spend his life trying to regain.

When I Reverse the Thought, I Reverse the Condition

I am always checking my emotions. If I am feeling negatively about something, I know that my thoughts are out of alignment with my well-being and with Source's will for me. As soon as I become aware that my emotions are out of alignment, I ask myself what thought is in operation and keeping me from good feeling emotions?  What thought is governing my feelings and my choices? 

When I Reverse the Thought, 

I Reverse the Condition

I examine this thought for validity. Is it true? Is this thought ego based or biased? Is there another thought about this situation that would take me into a better feeling place? Is this thought one of resistance? What would change if I could alter the direction of my thought(s), if I could surrender it and choose something better to believe? After all, a belief is just a thought I keep thinking and I don't have to believe every thought which enters my head. I can choose which thoughts I will believe and make my own.  

Does this thought even originate with me or is this a thought I have inherited? Is this thought one I have been taught? Has this thought been planted by an Influencer? Are my thoughts under the influence of another authority, the media, the church, a friend? Whose thoughts am I nurturing? Does this thought serve me or am I serving this thought? 

There is no condition so severe that you cannot reverse it by choosing different thoughts. However, choosing different thoughts requires focus and practice.  If you continue to focus as you have been, to think as you have been, and to believe as you have been, then nothing in your experience will change. -Ask and it is Given cards, by Esther and Jerry Hicks, the Teachings of Abraham

First, I Reach for Joy, and All Else Follows

When you understand that emotions are your  compass for measuring how far in or out of alignment you have become in relation to Source, joy becomes your goal. 

First, I Reach for Joy, and All Else Follows

Once you consciously identify the current state of emotion, it becomes easier for you to understand whether you were choosing thoughts that move you closer to your desired destination or farther from your desired destination. If you will make the improved feeling or emotion your real destination, then anything and everything that you want will quickly follow. - Ask and it is Given cards, by Ester and Jerry Hicks, The Teachings of Abraham.

Breathe . . .

Breathing is a key component in becoming aware of and accessing emotions. Freeing the breath unlocks emotional blockages and creativity. Since emotions act as an internal compass, emotions are vitally important for total well-being, and creativity. You can't stop one emotion singularly, say. . . anger, without also blocking out the rest of your emotional spectrum, joy, even love.

Have you ever noticed yourself holding a breath in order to stifle an emotion you don't want to feel? 

Holding your breath may contain most of the emotional vibrations experienced in the moment, but at great cost. Emotions are a tool meant to help guide us into alignment with Source energy, and our higher potential. Stopping ourselves from experiencing emotions leaves us rudderless, without the ability to steer our course, for intentional creation of the next moment. More importantly, when we stop our breath, we stop our life, not just our emotions. Emotions are affected by the breath. Changing the breathing pattern, depth, and frequency can alter the emotional overtone, and state of consciousness.

Use the breath to access emotions, and let joy motivate your path forward.

Breathe, just breathe.
Everything will be alright.
Trust your breath and trust your emotions.

I Now Hold the Key to Creating My Every Desire. . .

I love finding my inspiration for the day by drawing from the Esther and Jerry Hicks, Abraham teaching cards. So often the card I pull will coincide or synchronize with events happening in my life. 

Today's card offers encouragement.

I now hold the key to creating my every desire.

It is not possible to consistently feel positive emotion about something and have it turn out badly --for the way you feel will tell you if you are allowing your natural Well-Being or not. Once you understand that the way you feel indicates your level of allowing or resisting, you now hold the key to creating anything you desire.

Archetypes of the Hero's Journey

When embarking on a spiritual journey understanding symbols and archetypes becomes essential.

Exploring Symbols and Archetypes: 

Symbols are sign posts guiding the hero down paths of the unknown. . .

Archetypes are models or patterns of energy. . . knowledge of which informs the hero about what type of challenge she/he may be working with or facing, friend or foe. . .

For those of us on healing and creative soul journeys, symbols offer clues to direct our path. Archetypal characters represent people we meet and face in our ordinary world expanded to mythic proportions.  The wolf in Little Red Riding Hood represents an archetype the dangerous stranger, the rapist, or serial killer, who could victimize us if we are unable to recognize them on the street. The wisdom of our ancestors passed down to us through myth/story.  Our recognition of the archetype assists us in interpreting our experiences and recognizing friend and foe.

What symbols and archetypes do you recognize? 

How powerful an impact symbols and archetypes may have on your psyche would depend on your knowledge and experience of their use. The more symbols and archetypes you recognize the better prepared you will be for the road ahead.

The danger for us comes through losing conscious connection/understanding with the knowledge of the past; when we have forgotten the meaning of a symbol and are only affected by a vague sense of shared resonance.

Over time, misuse or misunderstanding of a symbol can create new associations and fearful responses. We might recognize that a symbol holds importance but not know how to interpret it or use it in our lives. 

Growing our recognition of archetypes and symbols is useful to our personal development and lends richness to our life journey.

http://amzn.to/1Ryd4se

Joseph Campbell's book, Hero With a Thousand Faces, examines the archetypal characters found across cultures, in our stories and myths. How many of these archetypes do you recognize?  Can you associate any of them with people who already appear in your ordinary life.

Seven Archetypes:

1. Hero: “The Hero is the protagonist or central character, whose primary purpose is to separate from the ordinary world and sacrifice himself for the service of the Journey at hand - to answer the challenge, complete the quest and restore the Ordinary World’s balance. We experience the Journey through the eyes of the Hero.”

2. Mentor: “The Mentor provides motivation, insights and training to help the Hero.”

The Threshold Guardian

3. Threshold Guardian/Demon: “Threshold Guardians protect the Special World and its secrets from the Hero, and provide essential tests to prove a Hero’s commitment and worth.”

4. Herald: “Herald characters issue challenges and announce the coming of significant change. They can make their appearance anytime during a Journey, but often appear at the beginning of the Journey to announce a Call to Adventure. A character may wear the Herald’s mask to make an announcement or judgment, report a news flash, or simply deliver a message.”

5. Shapeshifter: “The Shapeshifter’s mask misleads the Hero by hiding a character’s intentions and loyalties.”

6. Shadow: “The Shadow can represent our darkest desires, our untapped resources, or even rejected qualities. It can also symbolize our greatest fears and phobias. Shadows may not be all bad, and may reveal admirable, even redeeming qualities. The Hero’s enemies and villains often wear the Shadow mask. This physical force is determined to destroy the Hero and his cause.”

7. Trickster: “Tricksters relish the disruption of the status quo, turning the Ordinary World into chaos with their quick turns of phrase and physical antics. Although they may not change during the course of their Journeys, their world and its inhabitants are transformed by their antics. The Trickster uses laughter [and ridicule] to make characters see the absurdity of the situation, and perhaps force a change.”


Think about the people in your life. Think about the role(s) they have played and their influence on you. Where would you be on your journey through life without them? How have they helped or hindered you?

Causing Pain for Others Would Attract Pain to Me . . .

The inspiration for this morning comes from the Esther and Jerry Hicks Teachings of Abraham deck, Getting Into The Vortex.

The card that I drew today is a good reminder for me that. . . 

"Causing Pain for Others Would Attract Pain to Me".

Most of us don't consciously intend, as we go about our days, to cause pain for other people. We don't intend to be resistant, to insult or reject them, their ideas, their designs and plans. We just choose to give our own interests more focus and support. Sometimes, in focusing on our own desires, wants, and wishes, we offer resistance to others. We make judgments. Those judgments might be matters of simple discernment, the formation of preferences --choosing our own needs, what benefits our own desires. We simply choose not to be consenting components in the support and gratification of their desires or chosen life experience.  

Other judgments may carry thoughts of superiority and even condemnation. These judgments come from a place of reactivity, a place of unconsciousness, usually negative core beliefs we haven't examined or outgrown concerning ego-identity or what is permissible behavior for us. We don't always immediately realize that we are passing judgments or that our actions are causing pain.  After all, we aren't perfect, any of us.  We are all at varying degrees of consciousness, and those levels may change on any given day. Comparisons create egoic and unconscious behavior/thought loops.  It is more important that we self examine, once our awareness is awakened, looking for the flawed premise that is influencing our behavior and beliefs.

The flawed premise "My group's (our) way of life is the only correct way, therefore all other ways must be stopped" is the basis of the majority of unhappiness on your planet.  Not only do those being pushed against feel the pain but those doing the pushing feel it as well. In fact the unhappiest, least fulfilled among you are those who are pushing against others, because in doing so, you are disallowing the most important relationship of all: the relationship between you and You.

Surrender and Forgiveness . . .

I recently had the experience of hurting a person I care deeply about. I didn't set out to hurt them. At first my actions where unconscious, reactive, bringing pain to myself and the other. It was feeling pain which forced me to realize, I was behaving in a way that was hurtful. I didn't like who I had become. 

I tried to make amends, to apologize, but for whatever reason that apology wasn't understood or fully accepted and by mutual agreement a friendship was ended.

It's in moments like these when I'm reminded to surrender to the moment and accept the ebb and flow of circumstance. I am not in control of another person's choices, their point of attraction, or of the energy they are bringing into the relationship. Their choices are private and I have no measure with which to judge them. If I were in their exact place, having their same life experiences, I would likely make the exact same choices. 

It Is Important to Remember That All Relationships, All Moments Involving Another, Are Co-Creative. 

Each person within a relationship comes pre-programmed with their own set of negative core beliefs, moral code, value system, thoughts, habits, and attitudes, all of which impact and shape the energy of the shared moment. We only have control over our own frequency offering. Perhaps, this moment was agreed upon, unconsciously or consciously, to offer both parties an opportunity to self examine and heal those negative core beliefs and or patterns. . . Perhaps, I like to think it is so, these are the moments we actually come together in relationships to create, for the very purpose of growth and expansion. In this way relationships serve the evolution of human consciousness and Life.

If another person chooses pain over forgiveness. . . negative core beliefs over healing, that's a choice they are making. It is more important that we support their personal empowerment/choices by releasing them, than that we be proved right. What others think about us is not our business. Instead. . . 

How Will We Move Forward?

Do we choose to forgive, freeing our energy from the moment? Or will we choose to personalize a negative response, allowing an activation of our own pain story and beliefs concerning acceptance, rejection, humiliation, and shame. . . ? 

We are not responsible for the choices others make and can only do our best to make right whatever actions we have personally taken. We have no power to correct or to change the direction their thoughts take or the way they choose to direct their energies. Forgiving others and forgiving ourselves is key to redirecting energy and changing our point of attraction/frequency. It is through Surrender and Forgiveness that we disentangle our energies from these negative patterns of interaction.  

Surrender to the Moment.

Forgive the Moment.

Release the Moment.

Something is Wrong in My World . . .

The Journey begins with a feeling of unease, the sense that there is something out of alignment or wrong in one's world.

At the root of unease is the dawning recognition that something --in our world view, our society, and/or the circumstances reflective of our beliefs, has become out of sync with our expanding experience. It may be that our inner and outer experiences are in conflict. We might have noticed that the material circumstances around us are in opposition to our inner desires or aspirations.

Socrates

Each of us has our own set of experiences, our own defining belief patterns, all tools with which to build our reality, to create using. And so, there are many things that could be triggering a feeling of discontent with the status quo. The Hero's Journey always starts from that realization point. "Something is wrong in my world. . ." It is from this seed that the path of discovery unfolds.
If you are ill-at-ease in your life, it pays to take time out from doing, for reflection and self examination.

Questioning one's beliefs and expectations is a sign of growing awareness. 

Left unexamined feelings of unease multiply, allowing confusion and discontent to grow. Soon those feelings will color and influence the totality of our experience, until we are forced to take action and make different choices. Our feelings, acting as a compass, show us how far in or out of alignment our choices and actions may be taking us from our higher purpose and joy. The worse we are feeling, the further we are from receiving our true desires, and from alignment with Source.

Through self examination awareness is discovered, and the Call of Life is heard.

Listen for that call. It will lead you toward action and down the path to enlightenment. Avoiding the call life gives is as productive as holding our breath. We simply die.  It is honoring that call which leads us forward into a life more fully and freely lived.

Banned! What THEY don't want you thinking about. . . The Science Delusion

Although this blog's themes may seem unconnected to the scientific research in which Rupert Sheldrake Ph. D. is engaged, his theories on Morphic Resonance do serve to provide a scientific foundation for understanding how the theories and research of others, namely psychologist Carl Jung and anthropologist Joseph Campbell, can be believed and applied as truth.

Scientific theories and research can now provide measurable proof-- for skeptics of the mystical, which can explain how knowledge of sacred symbols and archetypes may be passed along on a collective level with other evolutionary knowledge hardwired into our DNA. With scientific theories such as Morphic Resonance entering global consciousness, intuitive leaps made by free and creative thinkers in the past suddenly become more digestible and less likely to be relegated as dubious pseudo science.

There was a time when humanity collectively viewed the world as flat. This idea was held in place by the governing branches of the establishment, and even enforced by the ruling order of the Christian church through religious dogma. Today, Science has become a form of religion, and scientific dogma threatens to limit the expanding edge of evolution.

The following is the banned TEDx Talk,  entitled The Science Delusion at TEDxWhitechapel. given by Rupert Sheldrake Ph. D. on January 12th, 2013. The theme for the night was Visions for Transition: Challenging existing paradigms and redefining values (for a more beautiful world). In response to protests from two militant materialist bloggers in the US, the talk Rupert gave was later taken down by TED and placed in a special corner of their website. Before it was removed from their main website it had had about 35,000 views. Since it was "banned" it has been seen by at least half a million people.

I am sharing this talk with you because it raises some valid questions about how our society has erred in failing to apply scientific principles to our beliefs about Science itself. If we are going to value Science and scientific evidence as the measure of truth, ought we not be able to apply those same tools of measurement and achieve demonstrable proof that they hold up under their own weight? What delusions are in operation that could limit humanity's leap forward in evolution? Would correcting our understanding assist us in affecting changes and creating a better society, one more in harmony with the natural world?

As part of my personal development and Hero's Journey, I have come to recognize that all is not right in my society. Rupert is one of the teachers and guides I have discovered on my quest for knowledge, clarity, and purpose.



Rupert Sheldrake, a biologist and author, is best known for his hypothesis of morphic fields and morphic resonance, which leads to a vision of a living, developing universe with its own inherent memory. He worked in developmental biology at Cambridge University, where he was a Fellow of Clare College. He was then Principal Plant Physiologist at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), in Hyderabad, India. From 2005 to 2010 he was Director of the Perrott-Warrick project, funded from Trinity College, Cambridge. [View Biography]

Aligning with Abundance

I Can Praise Abundance Wherever I See It. . .

"If you seek financial well-being for yourself-- you must praise it wherever you see it.
If you would like more abundance for yourself, personally, or for others you care about-- you must not criticize those who are experiencing abundance.  When you criticize or condemn or push against anything, you activate an opposing Vibration to what you seek. Every time. No exceptions." 

~ Getting into the Vortex Cards, by Esther and Jerry Hicks, The Teachings of Abraham

It is easy for me to recognize that my criticism and condemnation of others who are experiencing the abundance I desire reflects attitudes, beliefs, and thoughts of lack I must hold. Attitudes and thoughts which limit my ability to see opportunities for financial growth and abundance; thereby effectively blocking prosperity in my experience.

If I hold negative core beliefs about money and those who have it, those negative beliefs need to be released in order for money to flow into my world. As long as I have unresolved negative beliefs about money-- and am projecting those beliefs outwardly toward those experiencing abundance-- I will be activating a vibration of lack and attracting from a place of lack.

Simply by turning my attention and gratitude toward the abundance that already exists in my life, I am closer to receiving the increased wealth and prosperity I seek. If I choose thoughts of joy and appreciation for the success and affluence of others, I will be less likely to block or judge the wealth and abundance which flows in my direction. By choosing thoughts that embrace money rather than thoughts that reject it, I am leaving room for wealth growing opportunities and will start attracting from a vibration that supports rather than rejects prosperity.

* * *

When I read this card, I was most affected by the statement "When you criticize or condemn or push against anything, you activate an opposing Vibration to what you seek. Every time. No exceptions." This last bit carries weight far beyond my desire to have abundance or more money in my life.

Something worth thinking further on. . .

This is important because our point of attraction is the frequency we visit most often. If I am giving all my focus to what I find undesirable that is where my attention and attraction point is dominant. I am just going to get more of that, the unwanted!

SO, how do we get around the things in life that we oppose without activating a vibration of opposition; pollution, sexism, racism, and over vaccination as a few examples?

By focusing on the desired instead of the undesired? By taking action and choosing thoughts that focus in the direction we prefer? Instead of spending energy on thoughts and actions which proclaim what we do not prefer, we give our attention to supporting the existence and perpetuation of the preferred.

For example, instead of complaining about and pointing fingers at plastic pollution . . .  I start carrying reusable cloth bags to the grocery store, and make purchases from companies that use packaging in harmony with my desire to reduce the use of plastic? Glass bottling. . . . shopping for and sharing info about reusable products instead of fretting about one-use plastics. . . .

What about educating ourselves and others? How does that fit in? Can we talk or inform about the non-preferred without activating a vibration of negative attraction? I guess that would mean changing tactic, moving the focus of our attention as quickly as possible, from problem focus to solution focus. Would presenting a preferred alternative also serve to inform?

If my disapproval is an attraction point,  I choose to find ways of letting go of judgment and condemnation in favor of discernment and opening myself to new ways of growing what I prefer.

It seems to me, the quicker we can turn our attention to the preferred and away from the non-preferred the better off we are.

What are your thoughts on this Thursday's card?

There are Many Right Ways For Us to Behave . . .

Thought for Thursday. . .  

There are Many Right Ways For Us to Behave

It is possible to live upon this planet with large numbers of other Beings--who believe and behave in a variety of ways--in peace. . . . When you are able to focus in such a way as to allow your alignment with Source even though others are choosing to behave differently than you are choosing, then you will truly be free from the bondage of attempting the impossible task of getting everyone to agree on one right way. One right way would lead to endedness. Many "right" ways allow Eternal expansion. 

Taken from ~ Getting into the Vortex Cards, by Esther and Jerry Hicks, The Teachings of Abraham

Seeking the Experience of Being Rapturously Alive

"People say that what we are all seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think that's what we're really seeking. I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances within our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive." - Joseph Campbell

STAR WARS' Luke as the Hero

The wisdom of the ages has been bequeathed to us by our ancestors in the form of myths, truth tellings, and because this wisdom is filtered through metaphor it provides guidance without the imposition of dogma. The Hero's Journey, the mono-myth illuminated by Joseph Campbell's work and writings, can be used as a template for living Life.

Viewing our personal stories laid against the backdrop of the Hero's Journey template can help us find clarity and meaning for the events and relationships within our life experience. Patterns of belief and disbelief emerge to be examined -demons to be overcome. We recognize our teachers and the gifts we have been given -tools needed for future battles. We begin to recognize where distractions have misdirected our steps -sirens luring us away from our intended destinations and goals.

More importantly, when we are able to recognize aspects of the mythic journey within our personal stories, we gain insights which allow us to direct our own path forward and which imbue deeper meaning and value to each step, each experience along the way.

Where will following the path of this epic journey lead us . . ? Some would say to empowerment . . . emancipation . . . to the experience of being fully, rapturously alive.

First, let us look for our hero self in the places where we live, the ordinary world, where all heroic journeys begin. . .

Spend time this week observing your life and taking stock of your world. Before you go anywhere you first have to know where you are starting from.

Later in our exploration of The Hero's Journey we will offer a guided meditation. . . Finding the Hero Within.

On Doing

There are times in life when we feel, no matter what or how much we do, things just don't seem to work out right or in our favor. We try to be prepared, to get our ducks in a row, to store up our treasures for rainy days, but nothing satisfies. It may seem to us that we just aren't DO-ing enough. The bills keep on piling up. The chores mount.  There isn't any time left for ourselves, what with the laundry to do or hauling kids to soccer practice, dance, and after school games. Doing becomes an addiction. If we aren't doing, we feel we can't be successful.

Doing can be just as much of an ego crutch or avoidance tactic as not doing. 

Filling our lives with activity, projects, and work alone will never fulfill the needs of our lives, especially when our energies become spread too thinly causing us to loose focus on our larger goals.

When doing doesn't seem to be getting us anywhere it is time to look more closely at the hidden attitudes and beliefs that we hold and at our choices.

I am just not good enough.
Good things never happen to me.
I never have enough of what I need.
I am not as talented as they are . . .
The world is a hard place.
I can't afford to take the risk. 

What attitudes do we hold on to that could be blocking life's prosperity from flowing into our worlds.
Our thoughts and beliefs open and shut the doors of life, attracting to and repelling situations and circumstances that we both want and desire as well as those we fear. The more we dwell in the shadow of fear, nurturing thoughts of fear and self loathing the harder it is for the blessings of life to flow into us.  No matter what or how we do, a block, is a block, is a block. Doing alone is only a tiny piece of the pie, wanting and allowing are far more important when it comes creating the lives we desire.

Today I would like to affirm the efforts of my hands.

I am taking the passage and affirmation from Louise L. Hay's book, Meditations to Heal Your Life.

On Doing:

I flow with an attitude of serendipity through all kinds of experiences. There are endless ways of doing things. if I have done a great deal of work, I rejoice. If I have done very little work, I rejoice. If I have done nothing at all, I still rejoice. Whatever I do is perfect in the moment. There is really nothing that I "have to do." There are things that might be best to do: however, I always have a choice. Life is an adventure, and the universe is always on my side!

Affirmations: I feel good about what I do.    I flow with life easily and effortlessly.

Conversations with God: An Uncommon Dialogue

A review of the book . . . Conversations with God: An Uncommon Dialogue, Book 1, by Neale Donald Walsch

Sales link available
 in blog bookstore 

Series: Conversations with God (Book 1)
Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons; 1st hardcover ed edition (October 29, 1996)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399142789
ISBN-13: 978-0399142789
Reviewer: Vonnie Faroqui, of Ink Slinger's Whimsey
Rating: 5 Star

"Transformational reading,
a real paradigm shifter!" 

What is the meaning of Life?
We hear that ultimate of questions posed so often, and with it other such questions; what is my purpose for being; is there a purpose to suffering; how can we eliminate suffering from our lives; and will there ever be an end to wars?

These questions have puzzled mankind through the ages. The saints and gurus of every spiritual tradition have tried to answer.  Whole religions have sprung up and died away, built entirely with the purpose of seeking and supplying answers to such questions.

Author Neale Donald Walsch opens his account by sharing his very personal, soul blistering, call to the creator for answers to these and many other questions. The surprising response he receives is recorded in Conversations With God.
Of the thousands of books written in an attempt to offer answers to the many questions humans have asked about life, there are few which challenge the perceptions, beliefs, and the underlying premises upon which the questions arise, Conversations With God is one such book.  The answers God gives go beyond conventional religious responses, shattering dogma and religious doctrine, challenging even the general agreements humans have made with each other about how we will perceive the nature of life. Whether you accept this conversation as a channeled and divinely inspired work, or approach it as a philosophical exercise and literary device, the questions raised and the answers proposed are paradigm shifting.

If you are looking to have your current belief structure sweetly supported, look elsewhere. These conversations are not going to be comfortable for the timid, the religious zelot, or the spiritually squeamish. The questions posed and discussed are profound and the answers given could reshape our world.

Reading Conversations With God may prove transformational.  It will all come down to a simple choice. What will you choose to believe about who you are and the nature of God?

I greatly treasure this series as one of the most healing reading experiences of my life. Reading this, contemplating the dialogue --with its proposed Life perspective changes, has transfigured my relationship with Creator, allowing for the healing of many wounds from a traumatic religious upbringing.

  

Letting Go Of The Old Pain Story

Why is it so important that we as individuals be able to move on from and let go of the old pain story of our life circumstances?
How are we served by letting go?

Here is a wonderful audio clip taken from one of the Abraham-Hicks seminars found on Youtube.
I hope you are as inspired by it as I am.

What If Source Were Standing In My Physical Shoes?

This blog isn't about my being a guru or having any special knowledge to offer that isn't already known to you on an internal level. I am writing as a real person with issues, sometimes struggling to hold my world together. I admit it, I'm scared. I have more bills than I can handle, and fewer friends than I would like.  I am self conscious about my weight and often self abusive. When lacking an outer crisis or drama, sometimes I attack myself. Religion has never offered me answers that made a difference, so I have turned spiritual. I create art. I sing when there is no one around to listen--sometimes when there is, and I write.

I am so tired of making choices based on how frightened I am. I am sick of being motivated through fear responses, being crisis driven. I long . . .  yearn. . . for the comforting arms of my mother. I remember how it felt to be held by her and loved without judgment, without need. I am doing the best I can do and yet it doesn't seem to be enough.

Today I reached for inspiration from Esther and Jerry Hicks -The Teachings of Abraham, Ask and it Is Given cards, and pulled the following message. . .

What If Source Were Standing In My Physical Shoes?

Ask and It Is Given Cards, from The Teachings of Abraham

It is not your job to make something happen--your work is to simply determine what you want. If we were standing in your physical shoes, our attention would be upon bringing ourselves into alignment with the desires and preferences that we have launched. We would consciously feel our way into alignment.

Feeling my way into alignment. . .  

"I am through being motivated by fear. . !"

How can I make that into a positive statement?

"I choose to be motivated by Love. . . Joy!"

What do I want? What dreams do I have that I have been squashing through fear thinking and self doubt . . ?  What makes me feel good? How can I move myself into a feeling of strength and security?

I love to sing. I love singing and I have been making an effort to overcome my fear of the microphone and performance. I find it so much easier to talk about being fearful than to pick up a microphone, learn some lyrics and actually put myself out there. But that has been shifting. . .  

Feel my way into alignment . . .

Me and DJ- Jeff Wear, "JW"

I sang Karaoke for the first time in 20+ years, 2nd time ever, a week ago Friday, at a birthday party for my friend Kari. My hand was shaking so hard I had to grip the microphone double handed to steady myself. "I Can't Make You Love Me", by Bonnie Raitt, was the song I chose. I did a fair job, I think. JW didn't kick me out. In fact, people actually quieted in the bar to listen. . . I could do it again, couldn't I? I might have to learn a few different songs though. I don't want to be a one trick pony. . . It sure did feel good. . . 

Anyone up for The Corner Bar off Elliston Friday nights? Jeff "JW" Wear of Coyote Joe's Karaoke is DJ-ing. . .  I'm looking for a ride.

Freedom to Choose Empowerment

Thoughts Take Us Places. Where Are Yours Carrying You?

 

When I was an infant my reality was shaped by the thoughts of others, by their attitudes, and their beliefs. My infant mind was open and pliable, absorbing the energy and images transmitted to me by my parents. Sadly, my parents were pretty frightened people. I look at my niece and I see her learning, exploring and I think about myself at her age. I think about how vulnerable a child is to absorbing their parents' negative beliefs and how easily influenced a child's thoughts are.
As I grew older, I took on - inherited, many of those fear based beliefs and negative thought patterns and began attracting to me, or creating, circumstances that affirmed and grew those beliefs. I even came up with a few patterns of my very own, some good and some not so healthy.  Still, I accepted the reality that had been established for me through my parents and through others, whose fears painted very bleak pictures of life and what I could have or attain in it. So many beliefs, so much pain.

Now I am grown. My parents are no longer with me. Now, my reality is shaped by the thoughts and attitudes I am holding on to. Now the creator of my experience is, well. . . ME. I am the thinker that opens the door for pain, judgment, rejection, and fear. Now, I am the creator responsible for what I attract into my life.  Owning that responsibility makes me very powerful indeed.

I am free to choose thoughts and beliefs that empower my life, thoughts that will attract a positive, prosperous Now; the only moment that has any power.


Meditation: Meditations to Heal Your Life - Louise L. Hay

No person, place or thing has any power over me unless I give it, for I am the only thinker in my mind. . .
I have immense freedom in that I can choose what to think. I can choose to see life in positive ways instead of complaining or being mad at myself or other people. Complaining about what I do not have is one way to handle a situation, but it does not change anything. When I love myself and find myself in the midst of a negative situation, I can say something such as, " I am willing to release the pattern in my consciousness that contributed to this condition."  I have made negative choices in the past, but this does not mean that I am a bad person, nor am I stuck with these negative choices. I can always choose to let go of the old judgments.

Affirmations:  I always have the freedom to choose my thoughts.  I make new, more supportive choices.

Let the Journey Begin!

Welcome to the new site for "Divining The Self"

A blog about healing and expanding through creative self exploration and expression. The Hero's Journey, archetypes, sacred symbols and inspired artistry.

2016 has arrived with the migration of my blog over to the Blogger platform.

Let the blogging begin!

"The Flower of Life"

The Flower of Life can be found in all major religions of the world. It contains the patterns of creation as they emerged from the Great Void.