The Cave: Going Within

Escaping the Noise

The demands of life in today's society place enormous pressure on all of us. Finding a moment away from the constant noise of traffic, advertisements, television and the urgency of every day concerns seems impossible. Friends and loved ones need us. There are bills to be paid, projects to finish. The babble is deafening! This myriad of distractions creates a cacophony of sensations that overload our receptors, desensitizing us to the voice of our creative being and Spirit.
Don't beat yourself up if you find yourself in need of "Me" time or for feeling the need to withdraw from others into the seclusion of your own private cave. Going into the cave physically or metaphorically is an important and life affirming act. Before you can find new direction you need to take time for reflection and self awareness. Winter is traditionally the time associated with going inward and self contemplation. As winter draws to its close and we often look forward to spring with restlessness and a desire to renew ourselves. Gifting yourself a period of reflection offers great benefit.

The Cave

Symbolically, the cave represents isolation, contemplation and a gathering of resources needed to face future challenges. The silence of the cave affords us an opportunity to regain our center and to ground the overflow of stresses which otherwise lead to anxiety and depression. Knowing yourself and listening deeply to the promptings of your inner voice is essential to making healthy life choices. When we fail to honor time spent alone, secluded from outside influences and demands, our spirit suffers. Desensitized and disconnected, the choices we make are not genuine to our soul expression and the sublimated urging of our authentic self will manifest in unhealthy attitudes, behaviors, and as illnesses. We become destructive, lashing out at the forces that bind us. Anger turns inward where it becomes self-loathing. We find ourselves sabotaging relationships. Our desires go unfulfilled.

Time spent in silence and contemplation may at first seem uncomfortable and challenging but the experience is healing. By turning inward and seeking the solace of isolation, energies spent in fruitless action pool internally, coalescing, focusing to recharge our mental, physical and spiritual batteries. Listening to and questioning that part of our self which remains hidden behind a social mask, will reconnect us with hopes and dreams we've buried, freeing us to gather resources, hone talents and prepare to face the rigors and challenges ahead. Often answers found within the cave reveal hidden and unexpected jewels of creativity or personal insight, opening the door to authentic self expression and deeper relationships.

A Womb Of Self Discovery

Going into the cave requires more than shutting out the intrusive demands of others, it asks that you remove yourself from the flood of outside information bombarding you. Try turning off the TV and radio. Resist popping in a DVD and "vegging" out with a bowl of popcorn. Put down the novel and separate yourself for a time from the voices of other people's creativity. Make a journal entry. Spill you guts onto the page. Paint a picture. Use your child's mud like finger paints. Go for a walk in the woods or sit on the porch and simply watch the world move around you. Observe the thoughts inside your head without criticism. Take time to be alone with yourself as a friend, listening.

Marvelous things happen in the cave; Spirit speaks, lessons are absorbed or learned. Hibernation, germination, and reflection are essential to growth and connection with the divine and they happen in the womb of the cave. The cave is your cocoon and in it your infant self develops adult organs, undergoing complete metamorphosis. Take time to know yourself and to transform. Free yourself to embrace this stage of your development. Enter the cave with trust and at peace, knowing that you will emerge from it renewed and inspired.

Emotional Set Point and My Miracle

Vonnie

Miracle Return . . .

It has been a long while since I last posted a blog. Plenty has been happening since that last post, but I didn't feel safe in writing about it.

To catch you up, Irfan and I have returned to the United States from 8 months living in India.

Irfan, Abby, Brent and Liam

We arrived in St. Johns, MI, at the end of July 2018, and are staying with my aunt until we are able to re-establish ourselves.

We are safe. We have shelter. We are nourished.

We have been enjoying the green of Michigan with my brother Brent and his children Abby and Liam. GREEN TREES! WATER! Wide open spaces!

Goldie

We have purchased a 2008 Chevrolet HHR.
I have been to a doctor and my diabetes is being treated.

Happy Vonnie

In short, we have experienced a series of miracles that have left our minds reeling and challenged our understanding of how Source is able to provide for our needs.

I didn't write for the longest time because I was avoiding bringing attention or focus to the difficulties we were experiencing while trying to settle in with our family and the religious/cultural environment  we faced in India. Focusing on what wasn't working and on the pain being experienced would only have brought more energy and focus to the things that were troubling us than was healthy for our situation.

Emotional Set Point . . .

The guiding principle of the universe, The Law of Attraction, would tell us that --what we give focus to is drawn to us, or rather, we are drawn toward what we give focus to.  By sharing the difficulties, I was concerned that I would put myself in a negative mindset and contribute to or place undesirable focus on the things I did not prefer. Giving additional focus to the negative would place me more deeply into, and make, the negative complaining voice in my head my "emotional set point" for attraction. The more I talked about the things I did not prefer the more accustomed to that negative frequency I would become. Instead, I focused on what I could do and on the blessings we had around us - a private apartment to live in, enough income to set up house and to meet our living expenses, a scooter - no need to depend on others for transportation, a washer - no need to wash clothes by hand.  We made gratitude lists and repeated them nightly.  We listened to inspirational teachings on YouTube from Ekhart Tolle, and from Abraham/Ester Hicks.  We held each other. We spoke only words of encouragement. We supported each other in every challenge with unconditional love.

I would like to offer an audio I found on YouTube that has helped me. It was taken from the teachings of Abraham, at one of Ester Hicks's channeled workshops.

Practicing a Positive Emotional Set Point . . . 

Even now, I would prefer to keep my mind focused on what is going well in the moment, rather than share with you the drama stories of my time in India. In future blogs, if I am able to re-frame these experiences into a useful example or illustrative story with some spiritual benefit, I may write about what I experienced, what I discovered about myself, the struggles of humanity, the problems I witnessed, and other such. For now I just want to share that. . . We have come home. And I want to reaffirm what became my mantra in India . . .

I am safe.

Source is my generous provider.

I always have everything that I need, with enough to share and to spare.

I Am Safe. 

Source is my generous provider

I always have everything that I need, with enough to share and to spare.

I Am Safe. . . .

What I will share with you today is this . . .

While I was in India our financial needs were being met by our income. However, there was no way for me or my husband to earn enough money to purchase return tickets to the USA. Certainly, at our level of earning and the exchange rate, it would have taken us an unknown number of years to save the price of those tickets. If we had been able to come home, there was no apartment to return to, no job, no car, no clothing. We did the only thing we could do. We surrendered to what was, and accepted all of that. I set my mind, and my husband set his mind, toward finding or creating work -- with the agreement that we would prefer to live in the USA, and should the means be present we would come back. We then turned our focus to doing the best we could where we were at, accepting that for the moment our life was in India.

The next time I was asked how things were going I responded honestly. "Not well, but I don't want to go into the horror stories. If we could come home we would."

That was the turning point. Source took over and moved the willing components into alignment. We stepped into the Vortex of Creation and out poured the miracles.

Four days later my husband and I boarded a plane headed to Detroit. We were able to leave our Indian relatives in good health, with more than enough money to cover our remaining expenses, and all of our household possessions including a new clothes washer, a new refrigerator, and a 2017 Honda Activa 4G scooter. We left without debt, having benefited our family.

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?

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.