Advertisement
A Better Way to Make Decisions
Simple Solution
When faced with a major decision, have you ever asked yourself: What if I do the wrong thing? What if I make a big mistake? It’s easy to see when the struggle is driven by fear. One way to break the habit of accepting choices made by fear is to change the way you make decisions.
Find a better way to make decisions, here:
Worry is a circular discussion in your mind. You go around and around looking over the same information, the same arguments. It’s like being lost at night in an unfamiliar neighborhood circling in your car and only realizing you are lost after you pass the same house three times.
The circling process of decision-making is driven by the engine of fear--fear of not doing it right, fear of not doing what you are supposed to do, wanting to make everyone happy, or not wanting to be criticized.
The engine-of-fear process of making decisions is all about avoiding pain. We think too much, go in circles, and if we feel uneasy about what we have decided to do, we may ignore our uneasiness or talk ourselves out of it.
There is a better way: Make decisions using an engine of love.
When you fuel your engine with love you recover your passion. That’s because love is what excites you, makes you grow, delivers you into an expanding universe, and compels you. Love is what feels right.
Before you make your next big decision, collect information and become informed. Then let your feelings guide you, and notice whether these feelings are emotions in the moment or emotions in memory. Remember, memories are often filled with lies about what is true right now.
Simple Solution
When faced with a major decision, have you ever asked yourself: What if I do the wrong thing? What if I make a big mistake? It’s easy to see when the struggle is driven by fear. One way to break the habit of accepting choices made by fear is to change the way you make decisions.
Find a better way to make decisions, here:
Worry is a circular discussion in your mind. You go around and around looking over the same information, the same arguments. It’s like being lost at night in an unfamiliar neighborhood circling in your car and only realizing you are lost after you pass the same house three times.
The circling process of decision-making is driven by the engine of fear--fear of not doing it right, fear of not doing what you are supposed to do, wanting to make everyone happy, or not wanting to be criticized.
The engine-of-fear process of making decisions is all about avoiding pain. We think too much, go in circles, and if we feel uneasy about what we have decided to do, we may ignore our uneasiness or talk ourselves out of it.
There is a better way: Make decisions using an engine of love.
When you fuel your engine with love you recover your passion. That’s because love is what excites you, makes you grow, delivers you into an expanding universe, and compels you. Love is what feels right.
Before you make your next big decision, collect information and become informed. Then let your feelings guide you, and notice whether these feelings are emotions in the moment or emotions in memory. Remember, memories are often filled with lies about what is true right now.
posted by:
|
Advertisement
Advertisement
-
REAL MEDITATION AND LEARNING TO LET GO
Tue, November 14, 2006 - 4:33 PMReal meditation is not about mastering a technique; it’s about letting go of control. This is meditation. Anything else is actually a form of concentration. Meditation and concentration are two different things. Concentration is a discipline; concentration is a way in which we are actually directing or guiding or controlling our experience.
Meditation is letting go of control, letting go of guiding our experience in any way whatsoever. Learn more about letting go of control from a master, here:
For a human being to let go of control is actually an immense thing. It sounds easy to say, “Just let go of control.” But for most human beings, our entire psychological structure, our entire psychological self, our egos, are made up almost entirely of control. To ask a mind or an ego to let go of control, then, is a revolutionary idea. When we let go, even for a moment, certain hidden fears and hesitations arise. “What if I let go of control,” the mind says, “and nothing happens? What if I sit down to meditate, letting everything be as it is, and nothing happens?” This is usually why we grab on to some technique or to some discipline, because the mind is afraid that if it lets go of control, nothing will happen.
What I am suggesting in True Meditation is that we actually see, that we look at meditation as a way to investigate. True Meditation really isn’t a new technique so much as it is a way of investigating for yourself--in your own body, in your own mind, upon your own authority, upon the authority of your own experience--what happens when you start to relinquish control and allow everything to be as it is. What happens when you allow your experience to be exactly as it is without trying to change it. Instead of a technique, True Meditation is actually a means of investigation. What happens when we actually let go of control and manipulation?
-
-
WALK YOUR BLUES AWAY
Tue, November 14, 2006 - 4:35 PMCould it really be this simple? Yes! This easiest of self-help techniques has gained widespread recognition: you really can solve problems, heal trauma and trasnform stress by walking.
Here are the five easy steps for walking your blues away:
There are five steps to correctly performing a Walking Your Blues Away session. They are:
1. Define the issue. Before going for your walk, consider the issues that are still hanging around in your life that you feel are unresolved. This could range from past traumas, hurts, angers, or embarrassments to relationship issues with people you no longer have access to (including people who have died).
There is no specific right or wrong issue to work with. If you can think of it, visualize it, and get a feeling from it, then you can walk and work with it.
2. Bring up the story. Story in this context refers to such thought patterns as “She was cruel towards me” and “He had no right to hurt me like that” and “Why did she have to die?” There is always an internal story, with you and the object of the story at the center, and it’s important to pull that story out so you can say and hear it explicitly. How would you describe the story to yourself, in your most private and safe space, if you had to boil it down to a few words or a sentence or two? Notice the strength of the emotional charge associated with this event. Using a scale of 0 (truly don’t care) to 100 (the most intense you have ever felt), come up with a number to rank the emotional charge connected with this event.
3. Walk with the issue. Pick a route that is at least a mile long, and ideally two miles. The key is not to find a distraction-free walking area--that’s pretty much impossible. Rather, the key is to continue to remind yourself to hold your picture and/or feeling in front of you while walking. When you find your attention wandering, just bring it back to the issue.
Relax into it. To motivate yourself, think of the positive resolution that you’re trying to achieve. There is no failure. There is only feedback. Learn from the feedback and continue on.
4. Notice how the issue changes. As the emotional value or the emotion attached to a picture/memory changes, the submodalities will change. When people walk with an unpleasant memory, it’s not uncommon for them to say they see it beginning to disintegrate or get dimmer or lose its color or move farther away or even behind them.
Once the change has happened, people notice that the emotion they feel about the picture is now different. It’s still possible to remember the event, but the feeling about the event has changed. Often the story of “I was hurt and it still hurts,” for example, changes to something like “I learned a good lesson from that, even if it was unpleasant.” Present-tense pain becomes past-tense experience.
Let the process proceed until you notice a perceptible shift in feeling. Then ask yourself, “What’s my story about this memory now?” If the process is complete, you’ll discover that the story you’re telling yourself will be considerably healthier, more resilient, and more useful than the previous story.
5. Anchor the memory. When the picture is well formed and you notice that your self-told story about the event has changed, anchor this new reality by reviewing it carefully--observe the way the picture has changed, listen to yourself repeat the new internal story, and notice the feelings associated with the new state. Notice all the ways it’s changed. Think of other ways it may now be useful to you, even helpful. As you’re walking back to your starting point, think about how you’d describe it if you were to choose to tell somebody else about it.
When you get home, consider writing something about your new experience, your new vision, your new story. If you don’t want to write it down, just sit in a quiet and safe place and speak it out loud in private to yourself. These steps help anchor the new state, fixing it in its new place in your mind and heart, so it will be available to you as a resource--rather than a problem--in the future.
-
-
Native American Music Clips
Fri, November 17, 2006 - 8:14 AMYou can immerse yourself in the experience of a powwow on this wonderful site, and hear music clips from famed Native American groups and tribal elders.
Enter with respect for indigenous ways and hear the sounds of Native American music here.
www.gatheringofnations.com/nati...a.htm -
-
A Sacred Four-Directions Harvest Table
Fri, November 17, 2006 - 8:18 AMMany of wish to rediscover the long-lost sacred roots of many of our feast-table traditions. Because this Thanksgiving holiday is rooted in the generosity of the Native people, we offer you these simple, beautiful ideas for decorating the table with the Four Directions, as understood by the Cherokee Plant Medicine teachings and traditions. In this way, we honor indigenous ways of balance and respect for the earth.
Simple Solution
Many of wish to rediscover the long-lost sacred roots of many of our feast-table traditions. Because this Thanksgiving holiday is rooted in the generosity of the Native people, we offer you these simple, beautiful ideas for decorating the table with the Four Directions, as understood by the Cherokee Plant Medicine teachings and traditions. In this way, we honor indigenous ways of balance and respect for the earth.
1. Identify the four directions in your dining room. Which side of your table faces east?
2. Choose objects and colors that relate to the energies of each direction. We include some ideas and a list of plants that have traditional correspondences to each direction; choose one or two as meaningful additions to your holiday table.
Please be cautious with the plant materials around small children or animals: they are not intended to be ingested. Older children may enjoy gathering the plants and objects for each direction, and getting involved in their placement on the table.
East: Red or yellow to represent the sun; importance of family life; importance of women as Mother Earth, those who give life; importance of the heart in relationships and life.
Small pictures of female family members, a dried sunflower, a small red clay heart.
Birch bark, bittersweet, dogwood leaves, juniper berries and needles, lavender, maple leaves, oak leaves, pine branches, poke berries, rosemary, sage, sassafras leaves, thyme, tobacco.
South: White or green; exposure to nature; innocence; the child who learns; protection of the skin.
Artworks by the children in your family.
Balsam fir, bay, beet, Native American corn, ferns, goldenrod, gourds, holly, horse chestnuts, ivy, moss, pumpkin, staghorn sumac, thistle, walnuts.
West: Black to represent sacredness or the “darkening land”--the setting of the Sun and the protection of the Moon. The physical body and endurance to compete, animal medicine, water and cleansing.
A small statue or carving of a bear, a small container of water.
Apple, aster, beans, black-eyed Susan, carrot, cedar, cranberry, grapes, kelp, parsnip, willow.
North: Sky blue, dark blue, purple, or sometimes white to represent the sky and the snow of the North. The four winds, cold weather, calm. The adult who teaches.
A small statue or carving of a deer or hawk; a star.
Cotton, dandelion, mountain laurel, mint, oats, periwinkle, rhododendron, tomato, witch hazel.
-
-
HOW TO RISE ABOVE THE CHAOS
Tue, November 21, 2006 - 9:09 AMAdapted from Morning Notes, by Hugh Prather (Conari Press, 2005).
Simple Solution
Here is a simple, beautiful image to keep in mind that can help you deal with the inevitable turmoil of the holidays, and of life in general.
Read what author Hugh Prather has to say about rising above the chaos here.
If I will release it, my mind can gently rise above the chaos.
Because its nature is to soar in freedom and enter the place of peace effortlessly, today I will picture my mind as a beautiful and buoyant balloon, and I will release it to the divine. Now it is chained to a world that is old and tired, where we have grown weary of fractured lives and relationships, of pointless triumphs and short-lived accomplishments, of inevitable loss and inevitable endings. Today it is within my power to release my mind and let it soar above separation and pain. Each time I practice this, my self-imposed chains become weaker and my happiness more certain.
-
-
THE BUDDHA ON FRIENDSHIP
Tue, November 21, 2006 - 10:39 PMAdapted from The Force of Kindness, by Sharon Salzberg
The Buddha often emphasized the characteristics of a good friend. He spoke about a good friend as one who gives a kind of happiness based on knowing our interconnectedness, and that learning to be a friend to ourselves and being one to others is really the same thing.
Here are wise words about friendship from the Buddha; what better time to read them than at Thanksgiving:
He spoke about a good friend, or a true friend, as being someone who is a helper, who will protect us when we are taken unawares, when we are surprised by life in some way. This person will be a refuge to us when we afraid. He spoke about a good friend as someone who is constant in our time of happiness and in our times of adversity or sorrow, someone who will not forsake us when we’re in trouble. And as someone who will tell us their secrets and will not betray our secrets to others, and at the same time will be completely honest with us and warn us if they think we are heading off towards danger.
When we have such a friend we have a gift beyond measure.
-
-
FINDING GRACE
Tue, November 21, 2006 - 10:43 PMBy Cait Johnson,
Simple Solution
Your brother the Zen Buddhist, your aunt the Methodist, your cousin the Pagan--when we all sit together at the table and the time comes to say words of thanks and blessing over the meal, how do we do it without offending somebody? The answer is to think outside the conventional prayer box.
Here is a simple quiz that can help you find the perfect words of thanksgiving for your family.
Answer "true" or "false" to these 7 statements.
1. My family and dear ones share a love and respect for the Earth.
If this is true for you, you might want to explore "Earth Prayers," edited by Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon (HarperCollins, 1991) for alternatives. The prayers, poems, and invocations in this book come from many different traditions, including several indigenous groups; all are rooted in honoring the earth. If you are uncomfortable reading a selection aloud yourself, you could ask family members to pass a prayer or poem, with each person reading a few lines.
2. Several of us hate being put on the spot to read or say anything out loud.
If this was a "true" for you, you might want to consider simply holding hands around the table and having a moment of silent gratitude for your lives, the abundant food, and your love for each other.
3. We are a musical family; most of us love making or listening to music.
If you answered "true" here, you could sing a simple song together, or play a short piece of music on the stereo while you toast each other. If a loved one has a talent for composing, ask them to contribute a short song for the group to learn.
4. Many of us share a love of poetry and the spoken word.
If your group likes to write, read, or listen to poetry, "Earth Prayers" mentioned above could work for you, or you could share a piece by one of your favorite poets (I love Mary Oliver and Wendell Berry, for instance, who write very powerfully about the beauty of nature). If you feel creative, you could collaborate on a poem while dinner cooks: pick a theme ("gratitude," for instance) and have each person write a line, then put the lines together. Serendipitous poems like these are often surprisingly beautiful and effective.
5. While our spiritual paths may be different, most of us share a love of art and decor; visuals are important to us.
If this is true for you, the setting and decoration of the table and the presentation of the meal may be your way of sharing a blessing. At an artists' Thanksgiving several years ago, we went foraging around the neighborhood for berries and leaves and then used our finds to make a beautiful centerpiece. Making something with our hands can be a very special blessing-way, as most cooks can tell you. The people who make the meal have already blessed it.
6. I don't feel comfortable with any of the suggestions above.
If you answered "true" to this one, just being together and offering up a meal is your way of giving thanks. Simple mindfulness of the blessing that life is counts just as much as any poem, prayer, song, or visual display.
-
-
If You Were to Choose One Book for Meditating …
Sat, November 25, 2006 - 8:13 AMA sister of mine asked me for advice about meditating. How to start? What type of meditating to do? While very spiritual she has no training or intention in any particular tradition. After much consideration here is my recommendation for her, a high level meditation that is full of grace, and I am going to give the book/CD with it to her as a gift.
Click here: store.soundstrue.com/bk01046d.html -
-
This is the maximum depth. Additional responses will not be threaded.
The Joy Diet - A List of Pleasures
Sat, November 25, 2006 - 8:15 AMAre you waking up today feeling like you need to go on a diet after Thanksgiving? Why not try a joy diet instead: the happier you are most likely the healthier you will be, too. Try allowing yourself this list of pleasures.
Have time to yourself every day to do nothing.
-Buy yourself some flowers.
-Make time to communicate with nature.
-Go for a walk in the park.
-Buy yourself a book or a magazine.
-Watch the latest movie in the cinema.
-Have a cup of coffee in your favorite coffee bar.
-Have your nails done, or for the men, a professional shave.
-Treat yourself to a new perfume or aftershave lotion.
-Get a new hairstyle and be daring.
-Buy the outfit you have been ogling up for the last few weeks.
Then move on to the bigger stuff:
-Take the singing lessons you have wanted to take for years.
-Join the dance club your feet are aching to get into.
-Climb the mountain you have always wanted to conquer.
-Build the house of your dreams.
-Have the relationship of your dreams.
-Travel to wherever your heart takes you.
Enjoy!
-
-
BELIEVE
Tue, November 28, 2006 - 12:56 AMToday, as I meditated and asked for the message to share today, I was lead to pick up the "Healing with the Fairies" deck by Doreen Virtue and shuffle it where I could see all the beautiful pictures, because each and everyone is so important! The energy is very strong right now and the messages are coming from everywhere, telling us to hold on, to stand fast, stay strong, be open, let things flow, allow, keep believing that our desires are being manifested!
Spiritual circles, higher love, higher consciousness, plans and dreams are coming to fruition! So much that we've all been working for and towards is beginning to truly show up! Some in smaller ways, some in big ways... "pay attention" is what I'm being told ... continue to be aware and ask for validation in your dreams and from your new connections and new opportunities. Watch how things that once were unclear, now will become clear! Take action and believe that things are coming together and are working for the highest good! Begin within and all things will fall into place in perfect "Godly" timing. Some relationships are ending, but do not despair because there is so much more coming your way! That which you've been desiring and asking for, which is for the higher good is now manifesting... keep believing!! If you've had a powerful connection and you thought it was lost, keep asking for clarity and it will come to you. Everything happens for a reason and you're exactly where you're supposed to be right now, even if it doesn't seem likely. Know that healing comes in many ways and from many sources.
Miracles come in all sizes.
Share your light and love and it will grow!
When you think you can't go on another step or another day... leave it all to Spirit/God/Our Creator/Goddess and know that it's alright. Trust, know and go with your intuition.
Trust your heart... go within... know that you are loved unconditionally and that you are never alone!!
-
-
SOLVING EARTH'S PROBLEMS
Tue, November 28, 2006 - 9:39 AMThe Earth faces many crises, as major threats loom over our social fabric, environment, and well-being. But there is also hope since, for the first time, we have the tools and a growing awareness of our interconnected nature that can help to deal with these threats. It all depends upon how humanity responds. Our troubles are all related, and so must be our solutions.
If enough of us come together around the value of peace,
war can be brought to an end.
If enough of us shift our awareness toward social justice,
human rights, and environmental sustainability, then
injustice, oppression, and destruction of the ecosystem
can be stopped.
Every great change in the world begins with a shift in
awareness, and a critical mass of this new consciousness
will bring about global change.
What can we do?
Let us share the joyful news of our human possibilities and
help change the story of humanity.
Let us support each other in creating a global giving
exchange that combines efforts, resources, and talents to
collaborate for positive change.
Let us inspire in each other the realization that we are all
part of a single humanity with Earth as our home. This
shared vision promises a great evolutionary leap for all,
and will provide the basis for sustainable solutions to the
greatest threats facing us.
We shall discuss Deepak's deep involvement in the nature and movement of human consciousness, the problems the world faces, and touch upon solutions for real change we each can apply in our daily lives.
For the live broadcast, click here. worldsoundhealing.org/keepinformed.php -
-
REFLECTIONS IN THE WORLD AROUND US
Tue, November 28, 2006 - 9:58 PMWe are mirrors of the world around us. This means that our bodies, cells and state of mind reflect that which we have experienced in our lifetime, and often even of experience before that which is passed on to us in a chemical form called DNA.
Likewise the world around us that we perceive is also a reflection of our own present state of beingness.
We tend to see in the world that which is a key being handed to us to identify our own state. We have all had days, when driving down the road, that 'Everyone else seems to be in an awful hurry'. This is an example about how the Universe is constructed so as to be an apparent mirror to each of us, reflecting how we are choosing to be at the present time.
In actuality, these others may, in fact, be in a hurry, but they have all congregated at the exact instant of our passage in order that we may take notice of their state, and thus are able to more accurately define our own. In truth, it is we who are in a hurry.
The Universe is giving us vital information to perceive our own state by the projections we appoint upon those events around us. The functioning of this machinery is a wonderful tool to allow us each the opportunity to examine our own state of beingness; in order precisely for us to choose a different state if what we perceive does not fit in well with our own will as to how we decide to be as we traverse each day.
This tool's existence does not mean that everything we view each day is a reminder about how we are being, necessarily. To see a short picture of bombing of innocent victims in a far away land on TV is not to be acknowledged as 'Gosh, I'm being violent', necessarily. The trick is more to notice how we feel in relation to what we witness. Our feelings about what we witness can tell us volumes about what we are currently choosing to be.
In the example given before this one it is not the actuality of what speed each motorist was driving that is the important thing to notice, but our own feeling about what we witnessed which can be an indicator to us about our own state. Recall in that example that we felt that 'Everyone else is in an awful hurry'. Thus as a reflection of our feeling about the 'outside world' we can see ourselves as the image providing the reflection.
The conceptualization of this facet of the Universe's grand scheme to aid each and everyone one of us instantly every day in order that we may have a greater understanding of our own selves is beautiful beyond belief.
It truly becomes our friend, our companion in motion as we begin to unravel these secrets about its nature, and our relationship to it. Succinctly, where this idea eventually leads is a realization that we both are One. It takes our activity or state of mind at one moment, and reflects it back to us, giving us unlimited ability to choose Who We Are in each present moment.
The separation begins to dissolve. We realize that our every movement is a dance, but that the difference between leader and follower in it becomes less and less able to be perceived. We mesh as one, and the dance soon becomes perceptible no longer as two separate things, but as a Younion amongst apparently separated things.
In our every movement we see reflections in all that passes before our eyes, giving us the opportunity to have a virtual mirror in which we may take note of how we are behaving. Be-having.
We can then choose to Be-Having all we want to ascribe to ourselves as personal attributes.
In joy we then move and peace we then find from the realization that at every moment we are being given the opportunity with which to both see clearly Who We Are Being, and the tools to make manifest Who We Choose To Be -
-
BE REBORN THROUGH INSPIRATION
Thu, November 30, 2006 - 7:18 PMAdapted from Consciousness in Action, by Andrew Beath (Lantern Books, 2005).
Find out why it makes sense for people to use breath to calm their thoughts, and explore the connection between spirit and wind: it's all right there in the word "inspiration," and it will inspire you to feel reborn over and over again.
The word spirit is derived from the Latin spiritus, which is translated as breath. In Hebrew, ruah means both spirit and wind. The observation of one’s breath is a popular form of meditation to calm thoughts. The word "inspiration" evokes the excitement of creativity. It is imbued with exhilaration and passion. This is my primary association with the word, but Webster’s first definition of inspiration is "breathing in." Our life’s first breath is our inspiration. It gathers us from our mother’s womb and receives us into the cradle and adventure of Mother Nature.
Life is a charm dangling on the thread of inspiration. How many breaths have I been given? How much happier would I be if I remembered the gift of life with each breath I take? To be fully alive is to be aware of the delicate nature of inspiration and expiration.
In this way I am reborn--into the present--several times every minute. If I knew my last breath was to come in a few days, would I be satisfied with today’s choices? Would I be pleased with the last conversations I had with members of family and close friends? Do I express in the world all the love I feel?
It helps my sense of connection to remember that the oxygen that supports my life was made by the photosynthesis of plants. The vast rain forests are often called the lungs of the Earth. The thread that is my life will sever in minutes if I am deprived of air, so I owe my life to trees and other plants.
-
-
LIGHT UP THE HOLIDAYS 7 EASY ENERGIZING WAYS
Sun, December 3, 2006 - 5:00 PMThroughout the holidays, most of us are stressed and strapped for time, longing for simplicity and hungry for something consumerism just doesn’t satisfy. How can we find our inner light, rekindle our energy, and feel goodwill towards all in this often-difficult time of year?
For millennia, people have used fire to spread light in the darkest season. Many of our fondest childhood memories of the holidays often revolve around fire: the ceremonial lighting of special candles, strings of lights twinkling on the tree, singers’ faces glowing by a bonfire, gathering together beside a warm hearth. Connecting with fire is one way to help us center ourselves.
Here, then, are seven easy, energizing ways to light up the darkness with the power of fire, inspiration for creating moments of peace and joy for you and your families. May they help us to celebrate our elemental unity as one human family this holiday season.
1. Small Flames in Nature
If you have access to a yard, try placing a few luminaria or candles in glass outside where you can see them from an indoor window. There is nothing more heartening than the sight of small brave lights shining in the darkness. (See the easy directions in this newsletter for making your own luminaria.)
2. How to Create an Indoor Sanctuary
We can all benefit from spending time in a little quiet corner where we can find our center, and be recharged. All you need is a private place and a candle, although some of us also like to include photos or statues or gifts from nature in our sanctuary spot. Taking time out to simply gaze at a lighted candle is one way to commune with the inner stillness that brings such peace in the midst of frantic activity.
3. Simple Light Out of Dark
This couldn’t-be-simpler idea encourages us to slow down and be present with the darkness, with the light, and with each other. Just gather at dusk and allow the darkness to gradually deepen, without turning on any lights. Notice the changes in color, the shadows, the peaceful, nurturing stillness. When it has grown as dark as it can get, light one candle. What a change! One small candle can make a world of difference. So can each one of us.
4. Spice Things Up
Nothing beats a little fiery spice in our food when holiday hustle and bustle drains our energy. Just add some cayenne, Cajun spice, curry, or Jamaican jerk sauce to your meals and enjoy the fiery glow!
5. Have a Candle-Sing
Call friends and family together, furnish each with a candle in glass to hold, and sing! Nothing beats singing together for making people feel connected, and the glow of candlelight can transform familiar faces into something very special indeed.
6. Burn Away the Old
Most of us drag a burden of old “stuff” - regrets, disappointments, grudges, bad habits - with us into the New Year. Why not have a small bonfire to give ourselves a fresh start? Simple as it sounds, this little activity can actually help us to feel lighter. Write on a piece of paper all the things you would like to shed before the turn of the year. Then burn the paper. If you don’t have access to an outdoor bonfire site (or a barbecue grill or hibachi), you can use an ashtray and a lot of mindful caution and do this indoors.
7. Fire-Lit Meal
Pull a table up to the fireplace, if you have one, and eat a meal together by its warm light. Or eat by candlelight: it gives an air of special magic to even the simplest food.
-
-
INVOKING ARCHANGEL RAPHAEL FOR HEALING
Sun, December 3, 2006 - 7:46 PMSpiritual wisdom suggests invoking different archangels for different life challenges. Gabriel, for example, is invoked for justice and righteousness, and Uriel for the high light of consciousness and lighting the way in the dark. Raphael, one of the primary archangels and the one dedicated to healing, is invoked for this reason.
Raphael is the angel we invoke when we ourselves are not well, physically or mentally; when our beloved friends or family are suffering; or when we are praying for the end to suffering of all beings and for the end of suffering of nature and Mother Earth.
It is interesting to note that each of the four archangels is connected with a symbolic creature, described by the prophet Ezekiel in a vision--considered to be one of the most significant mystical revelations in the entire scripture. In this vision, Michael appears with the face of a lion, Gabriel with the face of an Ox, Uriel with the face of an eagle, and Raphael with the face of the man.
Of all the angels and archangels, Raphael is in many ways the “friendliest,” most accommodating intermediary between humans and the great multitudes of angels in the various realms.
Raphael is envisioned as standing directly in back of us, supporting us at all times. Moving behind us, Raphael cleans up our mistakes and erases any disturbances we may have left behind on our path.
**See Spell for The Day, I put in there a corresponding Spell called the "Lesser Banishing Ritual" I have tried this ritual a few times, it is very powerful.
-
-
A PAUSE FOR BEAUTY
Thu, December 7, 2006 - 8:20 PMWatercolors of great blue herons and other water birds are the hallmark of this free weekly newsletter. Its arrival has become a favorite moment in the week for the staff of this newsletter, a true moment to pause for beauty. At least one copy always gets forwarded on to some special person we feel might benefit. It is a treat to open it just to see what painting is featured, or what poem.
See some sample watercolors here, for yourself.
www.herondance.org/ -
-
THE ART OF HAPPINESS
Thu, December 7, 2006 - 9:32 PMAmid the stress of the holiday season, scientists have some comforting news: People can make themselves happier, research suggests--and not just for a day or two, but long-term. Find out more about the prescription for happiness here.
dsc.discovery.com/news/2006...s_hum.html -
-
WAYS TO BRING KINDNESS TO ALL
Wed, December 13, 2006 - 9:38 PMAdapted from The Force of Kindness, by Sharon Salzberg (Sounds True, 2005).
Over time, offering lovingkindness to all beings everywhere, including ourselves, unites us to one another, so that we know we cannot go forward forgetting those left behind. We cannot experience true happiness without the development of kindness and compassion.
Fold these ways of bringing kindness to all into your life.
1. Before a meal, take a moment and reflect on those far-flung people involved in your enjoying that meal--the people who grew it, the people who transported it, stored it, and prepared it.
2. Before a meal, reflect on the earth, and the sun and rain and all that nourished that food so it could nourish you.
3. Think of a friend or family member who is difficult, but whom you love anyway. Examine the dynamics of that relationship and how we might care for someone and still honestly see the difficulty.
4. Stay open to surprise. Roles and relationships are constantly changing. Reflect on how we go up and we go down all the time.
5. Pay attention as you are offering help or aid to someone. What emotional or spiritual benefits are coming to you in return?
6. Practice lovingkindness meditation for all beings.
-
-
TRANSFORMATION WITH FEATHER SYMBOLISM
Wed, December 13, 2006 - 10:13 PMAdapted from Birds, Divine Messengers, by Andrea Wansbury (Findhorn Press, 2006).
Simple Solution
A feather is synonymous with the soul, metaphorically speaking. They are light in weight and are the only means by which a bird is able to fly. Similarly, the soul is extremely lightweight in comparison to the dense physical body that houses it; when free from restrictions, a soul can fly uninhibited.
Unclip your wings, and let your soul rise to meet your goals in this lifetime! Here is inspiration from feathers and myth:
In Greek mythology Icarus and his father, Daedalus, were trying to think of ways to escape from the labyrinth, a palace with intricate corridors, in which they were imprisoned, and they came up with an idea after watching some birds fly past. They collected all the bird feathers they could find and, using wax from candles, they fashioned a pair of wings for Icarus.
When Icarus flew out of the labyrinth and away to freedom it looked as if the plan was going well, but Icarus flew too close to the sun, causing the wax to melt and the feathers to fall off, and he came crashing down into the sea below, where an island formed to mark the spot. Icarus, with wings like a bird, represents the soul, and the labyrinth in which he was imprisoned denotes the physical body; once free of the physical body, the soul is able to fly to higher realms.
The sun represents the Light or creative forces of the soul, and the air represents the mind. The soul knows what is best for us in any given moment, and by aligning our minds with the creative forces of the soul, we can allow a higher order to guide us through life. If we allow our egos to set our sights and ideals too high, we can get our “wings burned” and be brought back to earth with a bump.
Shamans symbolically use feathers to assist their souls to rise above the material world. Feathers reflect the fact that no matter what physical obstacles are put in our way during our life’s journey, we all have the capability to rise above our fears and limitations and, in so doing, we will be able to rise to new levels of understanding.
In Egyptian mythology, Ma’at was the goddess of truth, justice, and the underworld, and it was her job to evaluate and judge the souls of all those who had just died. She weighted each soul against a feather; if the soul was too heavy it was sent to the underworld, but if the soul was as light as a feather it was allowed to proceed upwards to the heavens. Ma’at was often portrayed wearing an ostrich feather on her head, a symbol of truth in Egypt.
Birds that have feathers but cannot fly, like ostriches and penguins, are also significant. They symbolize the fact that we are souls living on the physical plane, and also that we have to be grounded to Mother Earth so that any spiritual guidance can then, in turn, be grounded into our conscious minds.
We all know how it feels when we add an extra few pounds of burdens and worries onto ourselves--we feel energetically weighed down. But as soon as we release these unnecessary burdens, we feel light as a feather, because we are allowing the lightness of our soul to flow freely through us.
Shop for Supplies
Birds, Divine Messenger
store.findhornpress.com/Hosted...LassoAp
p?-ResponseLassoApp=detail.lasso&ID=e1edd28d2537fe
ccc34b339ae6938518&s1op=cn&s1=Andrea%20Wansbury&s2
op=cn&s2=Andrea%20Wansbury&s3op=cn&s3=Andrea%20Wan
sbury&s7op=cn&s7=Andrea%20Wansbury&s8op=cn&s8=Andr
ea%20
Copyright: Adapted from Birds, Divine Messengers, by Andrea Wansbury (Findhorn Press, 2006). Copyright (c) 2006 by Andrea Wansbury. Reprinted by permission of Findhorn Press -
-
WHAT PART ARE YOU PLAYING ON THE STAGE IN THEATER OF LIFE?
Thu, December 21, 2006 - 12:32 PM============ ========= =====
What Part Are You Playing
on the Stage in Theater of Life?
By Isis(c)2006
============ ========= =====
Playing a part in the theater of life on the stage called Earth is not new to any of you; you have but changed the costumes and have changed the roles you have chosen to play. The scenery changes, the time changes and as you enter the theater and step up on the stage you feel a familiarity, you know you have been here before.
Your first director will most generally be a parent. This first director will lead you through the theater and onto the stage where you will begin learning your lines. You must learn the words, the intensity of emotions, the meanings behind expressions and the actions that follow the words. You become aware of actions that cause you pain and actions that cause you pleasure.
You discover you cannot always hold the spotlight, that others have an important role to play and they will push you away if you try and hold center stage. You gradually become aware of where you can and cannot perform your role.
As you wander around through time and space in this living theater of life you begin to view certain scenes, and the director gives you information which allows you to evaluate and categorize the various types of acting, of performances, of costumes, of characters and of dramatic presentations. These are seen as either tragedies, comedies, satires, dramas or fantasies. Some of these intrigue you more than others and creates within you a feeling that the director explains to you is an "interest."
As you continue you find certain other actors will intrigue you and maybe one in particular will create within you a feeling of deep interest, so much so you find your self imitating this entity, using this one as a model for your own performing art. After you perfect the technique of this actor you so admired, and you try it out on the director and others of the company of actors, you find instead of applause you receive a slap in the face. This does not appeal to you so you go on and watch and learn and imitate others until you finally receive a comment of approval or a smile for your performance. This gives you a feeling of self-worth, of having accomplished something notable.
You may even discover as you grow and observe the many parts in this living theater of life that the one directing you is in error and that they are directing you for selfish purposes or for purposes that are not in your best interest. You begin to explore the theater to see what you can learn about other types of scenes, plays, situations, and activities of other actors. You see some appear happy and content and others who appear to be terribly unhappy. You find actors on the same level of development you are and find a kind of affinity with these whereby you can communicate your feelings better than with your directors.
You find sharing your feelings becomes very important to you and you begin to set your stage and your play with these actors and you begin to mock and mimic plays you see going on -- on the larger stages where the old professionals play.
You see professionals playing with huge tanks, guns, armaments in the theater of war, and so you and your fellow actors grab whatever appears to be likened unto
a tank, gun, a knife, a weapon of some sort, and you begin to imitate the scenes which you see played out before you in the theater of war.
You begin to identify with either those being hurt or those being victorious. You decide which of you and your fellow actors will be the victim and which will be the victor, and you may find that you are the one being hurt. Now this part is not as appealing to you as you first thought it would be, so you decide - 'next time I will be the victor and you will be the victim. You notice the victors have larger weapons and so you find yourself a bigger weapon just in case the others wish to repeat these war games in the theater of war. In this manner you learn the roles being performed in the theater of war, when you play these roles. This theater of war produces a great number of actors and then turns them out upon the living theater of life and asks them to live in peace or else.
These young actors coming into the theater of life, seeing these older professional actors, will model their act and their behavior on the role-playing games, attitudes, moods and behavior of those around them; of those they hold in high regard.
You are the models for those that follow, just as those who were before you were your models. Check very carefully to discover whether the models you chose and patterned your role and character after were really the best models...whether your character has been patterned after those actors who have been contributing to the theater of war, hostility, greed, separateness, and tragedy. Or whether those actors have contributed to the over-all joy of the theater of peace, play, enjoyment, comedy, happiness and harmony.
Ask yourself if you wish to play your roles in the theater of tragedy, or the theater of comedy. Whether you wish to play a role in the theater of pure fantasy, the theater of irony and satire wherein you are always in a double-bind -- caught between success and failure, and every success carries with it a failure. Every joy carrying a pain, every slaughter bringing forth sorrow. The theater of dilemma where every action is canceled by its opposite. The theater of drama wherein everything is serious, significant and meaningful.
Ask yourself if you wish to play in one or all of these, or only certain ones; then take a good hard look at these areas and discover why you favor one over the other, and whether the values you hold are your own or ones placed upon you by the directors who caught you when you first came into this theater. Pick those areas which you enjoy.
If you pick tragedy as an area of enjoyment look deeper to discover what it is that you feel is wrong with you, for those who seek tragedy do indeed feel that they are in error and need to be hurt, to be punished in order to gain acknowledgment from the other players. A feeling of needing to be hurt before you can be accepted by the other players is generally brought on by a feeling of low self-esteem, through the suggestion of values placed upon you by some director who probably also had low self-esteem, who received her or his directions from another who also had low self-esteem.
All players in the theater of life are worthy actors, all have their part to play and the days wherein entities applauded at the death or sorrow of a villain are ending and being replaced by the applauding of the happiness of all.
WE ask that you play only those parts that bring you joy and harmony and creates happiness for those around you, without sacrificing yourself in order to make others happy.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Unsu...
Re: DAILY INSPIRATIONS - INSPIRED TO ME BY ANDREW
Fri, December 22, 2006 - 6:14 AMI needed this information today!
