I continue asking guidance what to share that would be supportive and uplifting in these uncertain times.
The same answer prevails. We individually and collectively need a strong spiritual foundation that will carry us through. Many callers are being challenged by job changes and major financial issues. That is happening in my immediate family too, triggering familiar patterns of fear, anxiety guilt, and then "how do i fix it?"
That is when the work begins. This card from the "Soul Coaching Oracle Cards" by Denise Linn provides us with some wisdom.
Silence
Card Meaning - Be still, and take the time to move into that silent place within Card Meaning - Be still, and take the time to move into that silent place within yourself. Locate your internal source of power!
Your Soul Wants You To Know - In silence you will find your sacred witness. It's the dwelling place of the Soul. Your Spirit loves the truth, and in peace you can seek and discover your truth. If you're in pain, go into it, until you find the source, so it can be healed. Move past the bustle and chatter of life into sweet quietude, and surrender to stillness. Resist the temptation to indulge in feelings of urgency, overwhelm, and emergency. Your power is born in silence. Seek solitude to listen to the voice of your higher self and awaken your inner wisdom; this peace gives birth to your serenity.
Affirmation - "I am serene, no matter what is occurring around me."
The trick for our human selves, is to do this immediately when the challenges appear and our fears get triggered. My guides just suggested that we all need a buddy system. That is why the 12 Step Programs have Sponsors and a lot of exercise and Weight Loss Programs recommend getting a "buddy."
If we each make the commitment to finding someone to call upon when we see ourselves beginning to spin into our patterns of fear and alarm, this could start to shift the energy and reflexive response.
Many times we have a friend, a co-worker or family member, who is struggling with similar issues. If we take the initiative to make the suggestion of doing the buddy thing, it could open a door for both.
Set it up so that you use a tool that grounds both of you and gives you spiritual support. Reading aloud from a passage that speaks to both of you on a Soul level will usually bring you back to center. Followed by a short meditation time together you can shift your attention and focus. "Whenever two or more gather in his name."
The subject of "letting go" comes up frequently during calls. It is an ongoing struggle for most of us. Guidance told me to write something about it, but nothing came through that I felt comfortable with.
Then a lovely customer called today and asked for spiritual direction. She wanted to know what she needed to help her to get back on track with her life. I asked if she would like me to pull a Soul Coaching card and she said yes to that. What came up was "Surrender."
The message is all about "Letting Go" and it is exactly what I wanted to share.
Here it is -
Surrender Soul Coaching Oracle Cards by Denise Linn
Card Meaning - Let Go and Let God. All is well. You don't have to do it all alone. Release negative thoughts about yourself, for your life is divinely guided.
Your Soul Wants You To Know - Letting go can heal the need to be in control. the stress of unfulfilled expectations, the anguish of demanding how things should be, and the tension of wanting others to act in particular ways. These things constantly lead to dissapointment and unhappiness. Although there is a time to hold on as if your life depended on it, there's also a moment to just let go. Now is the time to surrender! Remember you aren't yielding to a force outside yourself; your giving into your Soul. By releasing your hold, you're allowing the creative forces of the universe to spiral through you. You're permitting the Creator to give you direction and inspiration. You don't have to do it all by yourself. Help is all around you...open your heart and let it in.
Affirmation - "All is well. I surrender to my inner guidance."
If this is what "letting go" looks like it would seem like something we would all like to do. I know I would.
Peace.....Be Still......and Know..........That.......IAM God!
Begin
by understanding that Peace is not about resolving anything. It is not
the absence of all that you think is causing your conflict. It is not
about a new relationship, new job, or more money. But rather, Peace is
the presence of your Divinity, wrapping itself around your situation.
Resolution will eventually come. And, it has a better chance of coming
to you through inspiration and creativity rather than through worry and
struggle. It will come. Be at peace knowing that.
Actively access Peace Consciousness and stop the mental looping by using the mantra -like vibration of “Peace, Be Still and Know that I am God.”
The
frequency of the “Peace, be still and know that I am God” vibration is
the pure essence of Universal consciousness. When your awareness rises
to this frequency of Divinity, you access and merge with the Universal,
the Oneness. It is here, in the stillness of Divine Presence, where
pure love, pure light of life and pure faith reside, which in turn
births your knowing. Each moment you remember to stop your mental and
emotional chatter by instructing yourself to “be still and know,” in
that single instant of Divine stillness, this knowing emerges and you
are “in-light-ment.”
This Divine access is something like tuning
a radio to various frequencies. Circumstances in daily life may have
your consciousness tuned to the frequency of survival, conflict or
limitation. Fear, confusion, anger, unworthiness, chaos and impatience
are often the tunes playing on this frequency.
By tuning to
another band on the radio of your consciousness, you will discover the
sweet music of Infinite Spirit singing the song of creation within you.
You can access that frequency by declaring “Peace, be still and know
that I am God.” Using this sweet song, you still the monkey mind so
that you can receive the inspiration and direction of your Spirit.
Look at each word in this sacred mantra:
“Peace.”
When something comes up in daily life that stimulates old stories, old
fears and your mental or emotional body begins looping around in the
worry or chaos of it all, you must do something different. You must do
something to neutralize the energy charge on the issue. From a place of
spiritual power, remind yourself of the loop by commanding “Peace!”
That means, stop!
“Be still.” and then, take a
breath. This quiets the mind as well as the heart as you go into the
stillness of the space between two breaths. Therein lies Divinity, pure
inspiration, creativity and faith.
“And KNOW that.”
Knowing is not just believing. Belief punctuated by faith grows into
knowing. To know something in the depth of your being, gives you
stability and security that resonates in every cell of your body. To
know something from the center of your spiritual truth makes you
unshakeable.
“I am God.” These are the most
sacred words one can utter. These words describe the very existence of
life, which is Divine consciousness, All that Is, YOU! In the instant
you command this decree into your awareness, the vibrational frequency
of this focused intent literally changes you at a cellular level, and
form begins to shift and change. By form, we mean all the illusions of
form, from beliefs to the form of your physical body. You are being
released from density and are expanding and ascending into the Divine
light, moment by moment.
The personal merges with the Oneness of
Divine mind and the personal ego becomes quiet. It has entered the
fifth dimension. It has merged with the light, even for just a moment.
As
the mind, heart and soul unite in the stillness, what springs forth
from this union is all the attributes of Universal consciousness: pure
love, joy, abundance, peace and freedom, and pure knowing. In the
“Peace, be still--” no darkness or conflict can exist. Within this
brief moment you can access an overview of your life and KNOW that
perfection is always flowing and growing within you, whether you can
see it or not. You can KNOW you are acting from your highest
possibility. You are doing what you can, so you might as well be at
peace, with your current circumstances and with yourself. In that
peace, you will know that somehow the organizational grid of your life
will show itself and you will know the next single thing there is to do
when it is time to do it. You allow the NOW, without concern of the
past or worry of the future and you will be at peace with it.
If
on a daily basis, with all the ups and downs, you can exercise even a
little spiritual practice to remember to stop the chatter and tune your
radio to “Peace, be still----” your whole life will begin to reside
here. You will not resist your experiences but rather, be in the flow
with them.
To engage the “Peace, be still and know that I am God”
is not a passive state of awareness, but rather it is a state of
actively listening, staying alert, and alive. It trains the doubting,
controlling, jabbering, looping mind to listen and to interpret the
inspiration, direction and enlightenment as to what is the next course
of action and when. It helps the mind to stay in a state of Peace with the NOW and the circumstances of the Now. With the “Peace, be still---”
you are listening to the voice of your own soul. In that, a moment is
suspended and inspiration can follow. Remember, practice enough, that
just by decreeing “Peace, be still and know that I am God,” your
awareness instantaneously ascends and tunes into that Divine frequency.
Do it enough, until it lives your life and be at peace.
this article is dated 2004
Reprinted
with permission from Juelle Wilkins, author of "The Walk-In" [see
Books-Soul Awareness] http://www.katberard.com/com_peace.htm
The accuracy of psychic readings - A point of contention for many
God, Spirit and your Higher Self are only in this moment. So accuracy is only in the moment. The next moment changes and the pictures and appearances change. Only God is steadfast and absolute. That is why readings can be accurate in the moment and 2 seconds, minutes, hours or days later it can look like the reading was off kilter.
In my experience as a Professional Psychic for over 30 years I have probably shared and had more readings both in person and on phone than I can possibly keep count of. Some of the readers were phenomenal personalities and well known in their field. They would make future predictions and definitely they were correct for that time frame.
Then things would shift within me as I progressed on my Path. What we keep forgetting is that the "Soul" is the definer of the experiences we need for our growth.
When I got disappointed because something I was told would work out and it didn't, that caused a retraction of my energy. That became a barrier to attracting the very thing I was focusing on and wanted to manifest. Then I got in my own way and became sad and would temporarily give up.
Here are some Psychc Readings Do's and Don'ts (of course there are exceptions to every rule) that I put together. If you have others to add to the list please send them to me. I will post this on my blog in about a week.
Do's
When you need a listening and objective ear
When you want to be motivated and uplifted
When you want a different perspective
When you are seeking more understanding of yourself emotionally Spiritually
When you want to know more about your gifts and talents
When you are presented with Life Changes
When you are having trouble making a decision
When there is a fork in the road and different possibilities and choices
(just hearing yourself talk is often enough to help you to hear your inner voice)
When you are trying to understand your interaction with others and the part you are playing in the scenario
Dont's
When you feel needy and are looking for validation (best to meditate and make your inner connection first)
When you need timeframes (that definitely means you need to go within)
When you are angry with someone and don't look within to see what is being triggered
When you have a need for "answers" and call one reader after another
When you are spending money you don't have
When you really need to see a Counselor instead
Whenever you are looking outside yourself for grounding and support
When you are making others wrong so you can feel right
When you are not healing phsically and need medical attention
When you want to know what the future will bring because your present moment is so uncomfortable
From-Conscious Union With God
By Joel Goldsmith
P. 97
Disregard the Thoughts That Come in Meditation
Your meditation is really for the purpose of arriving at the real meaning, the inner meaning, of the statement, "I and my Father are one." As a beginner, however, you cannot keep that up for very long. You quickly lose the thread of it and find yourself thinking about whether you are missing your appointment at the office, or missing the bus or the train. The first thing you know, your thoughts are wandering.
At that point, gently bring your thought back to the statement. "I and my Father are one." Do not become impatient with yourself, do not condemn yourself, and do not think that you are hopeless. Pay no attention to this wandering of the mind, but gently bring your thought or attention back and begin again, pondering this idea, or possibly by that time some other idea will have come to you, probably a better one for the moment. As many times as your thought wanders from it, gently come back to the idea again, with no impatience, criticism, or judgment of yourself.
In this beginning state, it is not only that your thoughts wander, but your thoughts keep racing in and out—all kinds of undesirable thoughts. You may think they are your thoughts. They are not. They are just banging away at you, trying to disturb and distract you, so do not fight them, do not try to stop thinking these thoughts, because you cannot succeed, and knowing that, may save you a great deal of trouble. You will never succeed in stopping your thinking, so let those thoughts come in and go out and do anything they want to do. Do not be concerned about them. Just hew to your center, to the particular subject of your meditation.
There will come a time as you continue in this practice when extraneous thoughts will not come, because you will have starved them by neglect; you will have made yourself so unreceptive to them by not fighting them that they will not return. If you fight them, however, they will be there forever because your fighting them is the very thing that keeps them alive. "Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him." All these wrong thoughts that keep recurring are not dangerous or harmful; nobody will know about them; and they will not hurt you. Let them come; let them go; but pay no attention to them.
Always remember that you are in meditation but for one purpose—to realize God.
*****
If we are feeling stuck, unhappy or
grieving for any length of time, it is because we have a belief that something
should be different than it is. That means that our "belief" is going to get in
the way of our hearing Spirit in the moment and having the ability to follow
guidance.
Many of the belief systems we operate from had their
onset in our early years. Like a seed that is planted in the ground and grows so
have these beliefs. Some of them have created fear, sometimes paralyzing,
sometimes subtle. Others have set us up for disappointment. If you trace the
emotion or feeling that is being triggered in the momen,t you will be able to
find the belief that is the root cause of that trigger. If you are not able to
do it on your own talking about it with a trusted friend or counselor will help
to uncover it.
There are some beliefs that are buried in our
subconscious minds and they are more of a challenge to uncover. The symptoms
will keep repeating themselves until we pay attention to them. If you are
confused by self-sabatoging behaviors that have been with you since you can
remember, you are definitely on to something. Those are the real culprits and
talking with a professional could be a good choice.
No matter how you approach this it is imperative that
you do. You would not wear a blindfold intentionally and expect to be able to
see with your physical eyes. If you did walk around with the blindfold on and
not get any trainining on how to do it safely, you will quickly start bumping
into things, bruise your body, and eventually have a more serious accident.
That is what we are doing by not paying attention to the
belief systems that play the self-talk tapes in our heads incessantly. Again,
those are not as dangerous as the buried and unheard subconscious messages.
Do you hear any of these regularly?
I should make more money
I am supposed to be married and have a family by now
I should look better, be more fit, eat right
I should be healthier
I defniitely need to be more successful
I definitely need to be more educated
I should be smarter
I am not popular
They really don't like me
Why am I alone? I will never find the right person
There is no way I am going to change
I will never have what I want or deserve in life
You get the idea. There are so many more. Start paying
attention and you will find yourself laughing at the absurdity of these beliefs.
They are not rooted in any spiritual base and have no real power. The only power
they have is what we have given them because we were told at some point by
someone or something that "we should" do or be this.
Release these beliefs by finding your "truth" based on
God's truth. Your energy will increase, you will feel lighter, healthier and
beautiful. That is a "belief" to ponder on for this day and always.
This was sent to me by a lovely customer.
As a child brings his broken toys,
in tears for us to mend,
I brought my broken dreams to God,
because He is my friend.
Then instead of leaving Him
in peace to work alone,
I hung around and tried to help
with ways that were my own.
At last I snatched them back and cried
"how can you be so slow?"
"My child", He said, "what could I do?
you never did let go".
This time I have been blessed to be a witness to this inspirational story. Another Keen reader who is a dear friend of mine has been unable to walk without using a walker for more than two years. She experienced a bad fall that injured her back keeping her from being able to walk on her own.
I will call her Jane....that name always works doesn't it? Previously, before the fall, Jane lived largely in spite of a chronic condition which could have limited her but did not. Her sense of humor, quick wit and loving caring heart have uplifted and supported hundreds of clients and friends over the years.
The frustration of being unable to walk on her own eroded her confidence and belief in herself. Fear set in, took over, and Jane moved into grief feeling that she would never walk on her own again. She did everything she knew to do to stay optimistic, worked with different spiritual teachers, teachings, and healers. It all kept her moving forward and she never collapsed into a full-fledged depression.
The reason I said I was witness to this process is that Jane started calling me on Keen for support. She was familiar with the foundation of my spiritual study but had not worked with it consistently on her own. I started to send her the daily transcripts I receive from my mentor. They definitely resonated with what Jane had been studying up to this point. She started applying the principles of the work in her life with deeper committment, and kept me updated on her progress.
Yesterday Jane called to tell me that she had experienced three different miracles. The first and most significant was that she took a step without her walker and continued to take more as she let go of her fear. By the time we spoke she told me that she was about ready to get rid of the walker, use a cane for a while, and then be "as good as new" in a short period of time. It was hard for me to say much to her. The joy in her voice and the sense of freedom she was feeling touched my heart so deeply it brought tears to my eyes.
Miracles Do Happen!
If God Wants Me To Do It Then So Do I
©2009 Iriana Yoshara.
That my friends is the journey of our lives.
We are incarnated in physical bodies. As babies we are clear, aware and open. That continues until there is something that triggers fear. Once the mind registers fear separation is inevitable. For some it happens at a very early age, and for others it may be at a later point in their lives.
For me the experience of separation seems to have been triggered when I was about five years old. It shows in the photographs my father and aunt's took of me. Between the ages of 5-8 it looks like the "light went out" and a part of me literally left the building.
The search for reconnecting didn't begin consciously until i was in my early 30's. The years in between were naturally lived in a spiritual void. Externally everything looked good, all the normal things happened, but inwardly there was nobody home.
Then it began....a spiritual journey that continues to unfold in each moment. There were detours, side trips and many days filled with joy, excitement and sometimes peace. Teachers within books, physical teachers, tools, and myriads of experiences with many lessons learned.
Then I found the treasure that repeated itself consistently in all of it. "If God Wants Me to Do It, Then So Do I." That was not an easy task for a stubborn Aries with a lot of Taurean energy in her chart. It took a lot of "kicks in the butt, and a lot of hits on the head" (as one of my physical teachers so aptly put it) to get through to me.
God is Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent.
I figured it out finally. If that is the case than i might as well listen, follow and be still. It meant giving up the struggle, letting go of attachments, judgments and even those lovely opinions that were so self righteous.
Did i have fun doing it, Yes and No? Would i change one moment of the ride? Absolutely not! After all is said and done, it is my journey and no one else can take it but me. It has never been boring and i get to share it with you. That, my friends for someone who loves to write, is pure Joy!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart. If this gives even one person hope and motivation then i am happy.
With Love, Peace & Gratitude,
iriana
I know that many of us are perplexed when we do everything we are taught to do, everything we know to do, and nothing in our lives changes. So many of the calls received deal with that kind of disappointment. For years I had that experience and could not figure it out.
I was blessed to live in an area where there was a huge choice of teachings, teachers, healers and talented Psychics. I did take advantage of that and got totally involved in growing, healing and learning. I learned about the "Law of Attraction," Manifesting techniques, Affirmations, Positive Thinking, all the popular schools of thought, that were available and current. There were cutting edge techniques that were always attractive and stimulating. Nothing stuck. I would be excited and focused and then my life would still fall apart. None of this made any sense and it was a mystery to me.
Later I did find my footing on the Path and although there were bumps along the way, I definitely was able to return home and be still and connect to God/Source and feel the Peace that only comes when we are connected to that blessed Presence. That filled me with a deeper gratitude and a sense of knowing than I had ever experienced before.
But, as with all of life, I still had to continue healing. There was still a part of me that wasn't expressing creativity and joy to their fullest capacity. Then I remembered the inner child work I had done somewhere along the way. That was a natural talent of mine and in my zeal for searching for the Oneness, I had left that "little girl" behind. She was still in there yelling "what about me?" I had to go back in and reclaim her. It wasn't easy because I hadn't given her a voice for a very long time.
Each day became an adventure as she and I reconnected. I found out that she did not understand how I was connected to God. She needed me to explain it and I had to do it in simple terms. Then I found that I could take her by the hand and go to God with her. We were no longer separate and the Oneness was complete. She definitely has her voice back and still drives me crazy. LOL Our connection does not interfere with my communion. I just have to make sure that I act in the role of a loving parent and give that part of me, "the little girl" a voice and include her in my daily earth life experiences. It is a lot of fun. Even when she is sad or unhappy it is okay. She knows that she can count on me to support her. It is dynamic and keeps me present in the moment.
The whole piece has come full circle and connects to the process of "The Law of Attraction." During the time period that the part of me was screaming "what about me" and I ignored it because I was so busy becoming "spiritual," there was a missing link. The flow was not complete. The split created a void and if I was focused on one part and not the other, there was a disconnect. That resulted in feeling like a stranger in a strange land. I didn't feel creative and that is a big part of manifesting. Feeling creative and alive is a prerequisite for experiencing Wholeness and Joy.
Each day is a new beginning and there is no other part of us that has that understanding as well as the small child within. It is where our creativity, joy, and life force lies dormant until we awaken it and give it a voice.
When we trust your hearts, we are led to the specific experiences we need for our Soul's healing and expansion. The heart will lead us to the soul's knowing. If our minds tell us to do something else and we listen, we are in the way. We will have the lesson from the experience either way; we are given the choice of the hard or the soft road. If we listen to and follow our heart, we will either receive a lesson in humility, or a clear knowing that our time in a job or relationship, etc. is done. We will be released from the struggle and the decision will be made without us having to decide. It will happen in Grace and Peace. It is truly magical. Spirit knows exactly what we need and how to show us the truth behind the illusion. One way or another if we stay out of the way, we are given Infinite Understanding and Wisdom.
We can then move onto the next level of experience. I often hear "I want to get on with my life." Being in the Now with our feelings and emotions that is how we get on with our lives. If we are in the Moment allowing the different aspects of ourselves expression on some level, we are in the flow. Our true self knows what we need and gently guides us through the roadmap of our lives. Our work is allowing it to unfold without resistance and releasing the judgment of the experiences. Then our Soul is free to learn what it needs to learn and we are able to "move on and get on with living."
YOU ARE MAGNIFICENT! You are free to hear guidance and allow God's healing to take place. When you are true to yourself, you are in the moment and the Now......There is no other moment. There is no place to go. Having to get somewhere is the effect of the hypnotic trance we were indoctrinated with eons ago.
This is the quantum shift for mankind and we are playing out the last dance of "not letting go."
copyright iriana yoshara 3-09-07
As the holidays are approaching I know our emotions become more intense. For some of us this can be a difficult and challenging season.
One of the areas that we are super sensitive to during this time of year, is our "relationships." Are we in one? If we aren't then who are we going to spend New Year's with? If we are in a relationship is it harmonious? Do we feel loved and supported during this busy time?
I am sure that you have heard the phrase "your relationships are mirrors" more than once. If we zoom in on this time of the year that could give us a great deal of insight into what the mirror is reflecting back to us.
Here are some questions to ask the self in the mirror with possible creative answers from your Higher Self. Those answers are in bold type.
Do I feel sorry for myself this time of the year because I am not in a meaningful relationship?
Does not having a significant other make me feel unworthy?
Are your abandonment issues intensified this time of the year?
Channeled Message - iriana yoshara (c) 12-05-08
Beloved, it would be most appropriate for you to spend time in meditation with us. We will comfort you and take you on a journey to places you have never been within your own consciousness.
Did you know that you are loved beyond measure? God knows exactly what you need and will bring it unto you in short order. All that we ask of you is to spend some time contemplating that which you know as God. In each moment your Soul is waiting for you to wake up to that Love. It is so much greater and more powerful than anything you have imagined or experienced here on your planet.
Many of you are becoming dedicated to the practice of meditation. It is essential to your healing and to achieving that state of Peace within you are all seeking. The need for external relationships which is so much a part of your human DNA bcomes less intense as you achieve the connection within.
God provided your Planet with a place for you to play and heal. Your natural settings, water, trees and the creatures who make the beautiful music in your forests, are here to help you. When you step out into nature you have the ability to connect with the healing energy and feel the unconditional love of your Creator. When you feel that sense of separation and aloneness, we encourage you to go out into your playground. If your weather is cold or wet, bundle up and go out even for a few moments. Open yourself to the moment, breathe and let your heart feel lifted.
If you live in a city find a park or hug a tree that is nearby. That will suffice. There is no need for expensive journeys or vacations. You have everything within reach if you think creatively. It is hard for you to remember that there is only "One," one Love, one God and All That Is. You need meditation and connection to what is true and real to reawaken to that Universal Law.
From the place of satisifaction and peace you find within, the more you will attract to you everything and everyone you need. Your cup will flow with abundance in every form. Celebrate your holidays by celebrating yourself. It will bring you the love and joy you are so richly deserving of. You are Love. Celebrate it and it will Celebrate You! It Is So.
Thank you beloved. We will speak again.
Silence - Soul Coaching Cards by Denise Linn
Card Meaning - Be still, and take the time to move into that silent place within yourself. Locate your internal source of power!
Your Soul Wants You To Know
- In silence you will find your sacred witness. It's the dwelling place of the Soul. Your Spirit loves the truth, and in peace you can seek and discover your truth. If you're in pain, go into it, until you find the source, so it can be healed. Move past the bustle and chatter of life into sweet quietude, and surrender to stillness. Resist the temptation to indulge in feelings of urgency, overwhelm, and emergency. Your power is born in silence. Seek solitude to listen to the voice of your higher self and awaken your inner wisdom; this peace gives birth to your serenity.
Affirmation
- "I am serene, no matter what is occurring around me."
Are you aware of your Higher Purpose? Do you feel that sense of connection and inner fire that lives your life for you?
If you aren't then you may find yourself in the deep waters of life without a life preserver. It is amazing at how so many of us are not aware and conscious of our Higher Purpose and our Soul's direction and guidance.
There are those "light filled" beings who come in knowing. They stay clear unless they are traumitized and lose their footing. Even if they do, there is a part of them that "knows" the truth. I have been blessed by those wonderful beings numerous times in doing this work. Making contact with them fills my heart and soul with a bouyant feeling and I am lifted for quite sometime afterward. They listen to the beat of their hearts and the music of the soul's. Even if they get caught up in the worries and stresses of being on Planet Earth, there is a sense of something else that is beyond this level in their energy and it is unmistakable and unique.
The best way that I know to reconnect with that part of yourself is to think back to when you were a small child. Usually cognitive awareness does not take place until between the ages of 7-10. Up until that time the ego is not activated and our energy is still pure. If you are unable to remember what made you happy as child, what you were drawn to, ask family members until you receive answers. Ask your Angels and Spirit Guides to fill in the gaps for you. See as you progress with the intention of reconnecting to your "true self" the signs, messages and guideposts along the way. Pay attention to your dreams, both nightime and your day dreams. If you doodle see what you are doodling. Read books about soul healing and soul evolution.
Make this the most important and highest priority in your life. Once you experience the energy of who you really are, you will be reengerized and filled with a sense of wonder and expectancy. Your life will change outwardly as you focus inwardly. The challenges that seemed so monumental, relationships, employment, family, finances, will start to fade into the background as you move forward and step into this higher vibrational being, the "true you."
Doors will open that you dreamed of being able to walk through. New relationships will come into your life. You will wonder why you waited so long to wake up and step off the cliff into the life that God had planned for you all along. Take the risk and find the real meaning and purpose of your life. The life you were born to live. Do it now. There is no time like the present. Our world is in chaos. We need to find the place of peace amidst the chaos. It resides within us always. (c) iriana yoshara 10-22-08
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Crone is the bridge between old and new world views. It is she who "watches over our dreams and visions, whispers secrets to our inner ears. Her function is to assist people who are no longer where they were and are not yet where they hope to go." Vicki Noble
 Crone Works - Billie C. Delawie - copyright Ch 2008 The Crone Works
Change Beliefs, Change the World
| Standing on the edge of tomorrow |
| Like--wow--I wonder what's going to happen? |
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1972 Poem |
In 1972, I couldn't have imagined the woman I've become.
Awakening, in my experience, is an arduous process that begins with a crisis or trauma that cannot be denied. For me it happened in 1967 when I fell in love outside my marriage--an unthinkable event--a crisis that I could not deny. It led to dissolving my traditional family life and questioning the way I'd lived until then. This led to other questions: who was I and what was my purpose in being alive? I had to admit that I didn't know whether I had any purpose and certainly didn't know who I really was beyond wife-and-mother, or why I was so depressed.
Finally I had to accept a core woundedness of which I'd been unaware. And I set out to heal myself.
I believe such an awakening is now occurring in our country (as well as in the world beyond our borders). Issues raised by the election and the economic crisis raise similar questions: what does it mean to be an American? Why are we here? Who are we really? What's the source of our pain?
In his book,The Audacity of Hope, Barack Obama discusses fundamental constitutional conflicts, and pinpoints what I, too, believe is our core American wound, the source of our pain: the unresolved issue of slavery.
The constitution, he says, created a framework that "organizes the way by which we argue about our future. All of its elaborate machinery...(is) designed to force us into conversation...
"Only once has the conversation broken down completely, and that was over the one subject the Founders refused to talk about--slavery."
He goes on to say, "I cannot brush aside the magnitude of the injustice done, or ...ignore the open wound, the aching spirit, that ails this country still."
In the interests of space, I've reluctantly edited a lot of his thinking in order to pursue my central idea that the current election is bringing our country's deepest wound to our attention. The poisons of racism and injustice can now be cleansed from our national psyche. Together they are the elephant in the living room that our white culture has not talked about. Yet the first step in healing is to own that we are wounded.
A black man running for president cannot be ignored. We are being forced to see racism--and to consider injustice, to face our own beliefs and feelings about both, and even change some core beliefs.
Changing my core belief that I was unworthy of love and respect, though difficult, moved me from the illusion of a happy family into facing my warts and wrinkles with compassion and, eventually, forgiveness. I have come to a place of peace with my flaws, sometimes even embracing them.
I believe this is the process in which we're now engaged: facing our American warts and wrinkles, seeing the elephant in the living room at last.
Questioning our identity and purpose in being Americans at this time is opening the wound we've denied: the fear and grief that while some of our citizens have prospered, others have not been included on the basis of race or ethnicity. White America s now being challenged to live up to our stated ideals of liberty and justice for all. The Constitution and Bill of Rights provide the framework for the conversation Obama talks about.
Opening up old wounds for me was the way to healing my personal wounds. As a counselor I have noticed that facing aspects of themselves that don't want to see, my clients find healing and increased consciousness, acceptance and forgiveness of themselves first of all. Most of us deny, at least to some extent, that which we most fear: learning something terrible about themselves. Facing the worst opens the door to love of ourselves--without qualification.
Audacious as it may be, I'm hopeful that our national dialogue about race and politics, despite the ugliness of hate and fear, is leading us to healing this disabling wound. Such buried feelings when brought out into the open can lead us to reconciliation with our authentic selves and one another. Just as in 1972, I couldn't imagine the healed woman I would become. I believe that we Americans can't now imagine who we will have become when this racist wound is healed.
Peering beyond the illusions we've harbored, I see that we are ending ancient belief systems that served to separate us from our divine source--and from one another. Our dysfunctional, though most cherished, beliefs have defined our us and our culture. Like it or not, our racist beliefs are being exposed for us all to see. Though we'll never all agree on what's pork barrel and what's necessity, we may one day agree that racism hurts us all Then we can heal and get on with finding solutions to pressing problems tha affect us all.
Living in these times is interesting, exciting, sometimes terrifying--and is leading us to the kind of questions I asked myself in 1972 with only a slight change. Who are we as Americans--and why are we here? What is the source of our pain?
I think our answers to those questions will keep changing. I'm not who I was in 1972--or even yesterday. My understanding of why I'm here is changing, too. I believe that's what we are doing as Americans--separating from an old, worn out paradigm to find our authentic identity to guide us to our new purpose in evolving this democracy.
Standing here on the edge of tomorrow, holding my breath, again I wonder: What is going to happen? Who will we be?
When the power of love
overcomes the love of power
the world will know peace.
~ Jimi Hendrix
Conscious Choices, An Evolutionary Woman's Guide to Life
Due out in November--in time for Christmas gifting!
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Eckhart Tolle on Our Very Unhappy Entity: The Pain-body
Excerpt from transcript of Oprah and Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth Online Class Podcast
OPRAH WINFREY (HOST): Well, tonight we're discussing Chapter 5. So glad we're in "The Pain-Body."
So I wanted to just start with my idea of an overview of this chapter. You say that in this chapter that the human mind seems to be hooked on my, me and my story, constant mind chatter that keeps negative emotions alive and personalizes everything.
You say at the beginning of this chapter
— on page 129 I'm on, everybody — that the greatest part of most people's thinking is "involuntary, automatic, and repetitive.
It is no more than a kind of mental static and fulfills no real purpose. Strictly speaking, you don't think: Thinking happens to you. The statement 'I think' implies volition," you say.
"It implies that you have a say in the matter, that there's a voice involved on your part." But, really, you say, "'I think' is just a false statement as 'I digest' or 'I circulate my blood.' Digestion happens, circulation happens, thinking happens." Yeah.
ECKHART TOLLE (author of A NEW EARTH: AWAKENING TO YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE): So it's becoming aware that thinking happens to you all the time. The key is becoming aware of it.
It's happening to everybody until awareness occurs, you are identified with that voice in the head, with its repetitive thought patterns.
And that is what most people are trapped in, and it makes up their superficial personality with all the continuous repetitive judgment, and likes and dislikes, and prejudices and whatever makes up the content of their egoic mind.
So people are trapped in that and derive a sense of self from that, which is ultimately insubstantial, conditioned by the past and not who they are.
OPRAH : Absolutely. And you say also in Chapter 5, "The Pain-Body," you show how this addiction to these thoughts in our head, to this negativity, is at the root of humanity's problems. On page [138] you write, "We are a species that has lost its way."
ECKHART TOLLE : AWAKENING TO YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE): Yes. And we are lost, I could say. We are a species lost; we are lost in thought. We've lost ourselves in the mind.
So looking for some kind of identity in the movement of thinking without ever really finding it. So the most important step in any point of awakening is to realize that there is a voice in the head that doesn't stop speaking.
When you realize, "Oh there's..." and then you begin to realize what kinds of things the voice is saying: repetitive judgments and so on, negative thoughts about yourself, about other people, about situations you are in.
Especially all these repetitive negative thoughts that many people are trapped with. You become aware of that.
OPRAH : Yes, and you, then you become aware that it's really just the story that you've told yourself about yourself. And that's all it is.
ECKHART TOLLE : Yes.
OPRAH : All right, that it has no power. Past has no power over you.
ECKHART TOLLE : No power. The power comes in with your awareness that there is a voice. Because the awareness is not part of it. And that is part of being, becoming present.
OPRAH : Yes. One of my favorite quotes of this chapter is, "Nothing," on page 141, "Nothing ever happened in the past that can prevent you from being present now; and if the past cannot prevent you from being present now, what power does it have?"
ECKHART TOLLE : Yes. Yes. Cause many people are so attached to the past that they carry a burden, like carrying a huge sack on your back, a burden. You're identified with that.
And they believe that they're unable to be present because the past prevents them from being present.
But it can't do that. You can step out of the stream of thinking. Take your attention into present, and immediately the past no longer has that power over you.
OPRAH : Because nothing ever happened in the past that could prevent you from being present now.
ECKHART TOLLE : Yes.
OPRAH : You say that the core of all this is the pain-body. On page 141, we read that, "Any negative emotion that is not fully faced and seen for what it is in the moment it arises does not completely dissolve. ...
"The energy field of old but still very much alive emotion that lives in almost every human being is the pain-body."
And Chapter 5 introduces us to the pain-body. Amazing. You know, when I read this, I thought about my childhood. Now, I've shared my childhood with lots of people, and as a child, I was raised by my grandmother for the first six years.
And my grandmother used to whip me often. Like, I used to get beatings on a regular basis. And it was really a part of our culture, and I know many of you were raised this way too, that not only would you get beaten for almost, you know, for doing nothing, for, you broke a glass or you, you know, spoke out of turn or whatever the adults deemed was inappropriate for you in that moment.
But I would get beaten, and then I was never allowed to have any emotion about it. And I remember feeling
—many times my grandmother would whip me with switches.
She would braid the switches together, and I'd get a whipping, and then in the middle of whipping me, she'd say, "Stop your crying. Stop your crying." And I'd get whipped until I would stopped crying.
And then afterward she would say, "You better wipe that pout off of your face. You better put a smile on your face. So you'd have to now act as though the beating that you just had didn't happen.
And when I read this
—that "any negative emotion that is not fully faced and seen for what it is in the moment it arises does not completely dissolve. It leaves behind a remnant of pain" — I realized that that pain of not being able to express the motion of just being able to be angry.
I mean, now I see kids today, when their parents say something, and they don't like it, the kids can say, "I don't like you," or "That upset me," or you know, God forbid, "I hate you," which, you know, in my culture was never allowed.
You had to suppress that, whatever you're feeling, if you're beaten, "Wipe that pout off of your face. Wipe your tears. Stop crying right now."
And so that would be a huge pain-body that I would end up carrying. Especially as a child. Cause you say children especially carry it.
ECKHART TOLLE : Yes. Yes. So did you find then that as you grew up that there was a lot of unexpressed negative emotion in you?
OPRAH : I didn't. It wasn't unexpressed. It was repressed ability to
—it's what caused me to have the disease to please for so long.
A desire to please everybody because the ability to say in the moment, "This upsets me," or "This really bothers me," or "What you're doing I don't like," was not something I felt I could do for the longest time. Yeah.
ECKHART TOLLE : Yes. So all these negative remnants of negative emotions, they become, they accumulate in the body. And then together they form what I call, because, now, we need to realize that any emotion that you have is a form of energy. That's acceptable, I think, to most people. Just as every thought you have is a form of energy.
OPRAH : Right.
ECKHART TOLLE : Every thought is energy, so there's nothing spooky about that. So when we say, when I say that the pain-body can be considered almost an entity in its own right that lives in you, some people find that's a little spooky, but all that I'm trying to say is here that it's an energy form.
Entity is another word for it. So an energy form lives in you that you may not be aware of all the time because some of the time it is dormant, and it's only active for a certain percentage of the time.
So first realization is that there is something in me that seeks unhappiness, that seeks unpleasant experiences, that seeks more negativity because it feeds on those things.
Those things, negative thoughts, will feed the pain-body. That is one of the favorite ways the pain-body feeds, is on your own thinking.
So this is very important for people to realize, to observe within themselves that periodically in many people, an addiction to negativity arises. And if you can recognize that as it arises, then you're no longer totally at the mercy of it.
OPRAH : And so back at this point, though. Whenever there is negativity in your life that you never fully dealt with, that negativity
—the energy of that negativity—has to go someplace.
And you're saying where it goes is inside us. And for me, everybody knows I've struggled with my weight for years, for me. That's the form that it takes. For a lot of other people, it makes them, you know, outwardly, you know, angry or negative toward other people.
But it has to take some form. For some people it makes them sick, makes them ill.
ECKHART TOLLE : Yes. And a very frequent manifestation of it
—perhaps the most frequent manifestation of the pain-body — is in intimate relationships where, periodically, partners have to go through their drama.
They have to re-enact drama every few weeks. So, in some cases, every few days they go through intense emotional negativity.
And usually the pain-body awakens first in one, in either the man or the woman first. And when the pain-body awakens, it wants some kind of reaction, negative emotional reaction.
OPRAH : It's seeking that from the other person.
ECKHART TOLLE : Because it feeds on it. So many people have realized when I've spoken about it, they realize, "Oh yes, this is happening in our relationship."
That periodically the need, the pain-body arises, and it then will attempt to push the partner's buttons, as they're called in some form of psychotherapy, they say.
Pushing the person's buttons means the pain-body knows exactly what buttons to push in your partner, buttons that will certainly bring a negative reaction.
OPRAH : Now, is the pain-body ultimately this feeling of not being good enough? Is the pain-body there because of a feeling of not being worthy, of not knowing its sense of presence or consciousness? Is that why it's a pain-body?
ECKHART TOLLE : Well, it's the emotional aspect of the ego. So, really, the pain-body is part of the ego, and it's a very unhappy entity.
But because its very existence consists of this unhappy vibration, it does not want an end to its unhappiness because an end to its unhappiness is the end to the pain-body.
Article from transcript of Oprah and Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth Online Class - Chapter 5.
Free podcasts available at
Oprah.com and Learn Out Loud
The class is a discussion of his book A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose.
Also available as an
audio CD.
Eckhart Tolle was educated at the Universities of London and Cambridge, and at the age of 29 experienced what he considered a spiritual transformation that marked the beginning of his life as a counselor and spiritual teacher. He is author of The Power of Now and Oprah's Book Club selection A New Earth.
The Hidden Spirituality of Men
By: Matthew Fox
Published: October 2008
As a 67 year-old who has been male all my life, there’s something I feel compelled to say to my brothers and the young men and boys who will soon be men.
Our species is in trouble. And we men are a big part (not the only part) of that trouble. A renowned scientist at Stanford University told me two years ago: "We are the first species in 4 and a half billion years that can choose not to go extinct. But of course we have not yet made that choice."
As long as men are bogged down is superficialities — many of which our consumer-driven economic culture strives to addict us to — we will not be our real selves, our best selves, our most beautiful selves. We get into a locked squirrel cage of work, work, work and spend, spend, spend and have no time for asking: "Why am I here? What can I contribute? How do I give back my love and gratitude and wisdom?"
While lecturing recently in Chattanooga, Tennessee about the spirituality of men, a middle aged African American man came up to me and said, "You are right. I am far too addicted to television and sports on television. I am wasting my life away on the couch. I really want to get going and contribute."
We are fools if we think we are on earth to watch an infinite number of games of other men (not us!) playing their hearts out to put balls in a hoop, pitches in the strike zone, footballs over the goal line, or a golf ball in a hole. Sports has its place, both personal and vicarious. But only a place. Not the space that our souls should be occupying. Not the space that should be communicating with the younger generation, so many of whom need relationships with elders and adults, males modeling how to live, love, relate, celebrate, care, learn, and grow.
I speak to the hidden spirituality of men because I think most of us have a kind of inferiority complex when it comes to spirituality. We think some minister or preacher, some pope or monk, some professional pray-er knows all about spirituality and we are just novices kneeling to hear their wisdom and kiss their ring. While we can hope that our ‘professional pray-ers’ know something about spirituality that is not the point. The point is that spirituality (unlike much organized religion) is about the wisdom we all carry inside of us: the dreams, the aspirations, the yearning of soul, the ability to let go, to forgive, to move on, to struggle, to survive, to care, to be strong, to honor what is beautiful and what matters, to stand up for justice. We all carry these things inside us. We have all tasted the Divine—maybe it was on a camping trip out at night with the stars; maybe while studying the history of our people or nature; maybe it was in making music or dancing or making love; or in organizing for worker’s rights or civil rights. Wherever the best of us has been called forward, that is where Spirit dwells. And it dwells and works in each of us.
We have to change our ways. We have to want to find the hidden parts of ourselves. Otherwise, how will we change? How will our species survive if we don’t search for the best in ourselves? It is from this depth that our creativity will come alive and we will find ways to create alternative energies, participatory politics, more fair economics, new ways to grow and distribute food, and alternatives to war.
Our depths are often hidden even from ourselves. But they are there. We all carry depths within us. We need to remove the veils in order to uncover what is in us. Let us not fail to act.. Let’s throw off the toxic messages about being male that society has been feeding us for centuries, messages that confuse the reptilian brain with manliness. Let us be lovers. The women in our lives will thank us for it and love us all the more. The young will emulate us and become the men they were destined to become, as we become the fathers and elders we are called to be.
Matthew Fox is the author of The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Spiritual Masculine and 27 other books. You can visit him online at http://www.matthewfox.org.