The Storm

Yesterday nature sent some chaos into our lives in the form of our first good wind storm of the year. As we watched it howl we wondered if trees were coming down, whether or not the power would stay on and what effect all of these possibilities might have on the evenings commitments.

Earlier in the day I had gone to the grocery store to pick up some items for the house. I don’t watch the news so I was blissfully unaware of the approaching storm. Later on in the afternoon I heard reports from neighbors that the gas stations and stores were teaming with activity as people tried to prepare for the potential loss of power but I went about my day like any other…I wasn’t terribly concerned or surprised when the power actually did go out around three in the afternoon.

The meal I had been preparing was a stove top meal anyhow and our range is gas. It was funny to me that everything I did that day had prepared me for this outage and yet I was not even consciously aware that it was going to happen.

Our Connections : The Hive Mind

As soon as the power went out the generators around the neighborhood began to hum in such a chorus that it was like living in a bee hive. These sorts of events show us just how hive-like we humans are…we all start thinking about the same things, have the same needs and that is really visible when we have to sit in long lines waiting to get gas or when we’re stuck at traffic lights that have now turned into four way stops ~

Using the Light

So last night as we read bedtime stories by flashlight my son was disappointed that he could not find a story of his own making that he wanted to read. He had searched the house over using the flashlight but it was nowhere to be seen. The power returned at about four in the morning. As my son bounded down the stairs toward the breakfast table he paused while he passed the kitchen counter and said in amused amazement…here was my book all along! He then explained to me that when he was looking for it with the flashlight he only noticed the muk-a-muk (a Native American paper basket he’d made at school that was sitting next to the book) and how the narrow focus of the flashlight could not reach what was beyond, but wasn’t it amazing how the kitchen lights allowed him to see so much more!

I took a moment to explain that the flashlight is a lot like human focus as well. Sometimes we choose to use the flashlight kind of focus and this allows us to see whatever we shine it on in great detail. This is a wonderful focus when we are working on a project. It is a disadvantaged way of looking at the world when we are problem solving or trying to make choices, in that case we will find more options if we turn on the light. I asked him to think about the two different ways he could use his focus and to think about which he would like to choose for the different circumstances he encounters in a typical day.

Getting stuck is usually a matter of using a contracted focus when an expanded one would be more appropriate and likewise not being able to focus on the task at hand is usually a result of using an expanded focus when a contracted one would be the best option. So the next time you’re feeling stuck or scattered you might just try asking yourself how you want to use your light

Image by Stephane De Bourgles

Sacrifice and the LoA

Most of us in the personal/spiritual development realms are aware of the Law of Attraction and how it works. What is less obvious perhaps is that it was once known under a different name and practice…sacrifice.

The idea of sacrifice conjures up a lot of unpleasant images for most of us, as it is a practice whose heart and spiritual significance is vastly misunderstood by the modern mind. So if you find yourself getting uncomfortable right about now…let me explain.

Make an Offering

The Law of Attraction operates on the principle that we are constantly making offerings to the universe…most of which are unconscious in the form of our thoughts. If you want more of something, you find what you currently have in your life which represents the more of what you want, place your attention on it and create a congruency within your thought patterns to support it. Then you cast it out into the universe…you let it go and trust that what you have given will return to you in a greater magnitude.

It is the same with the concept of sacrifice. Ancient peoples quite literally took the best of what they had and gave it back to the universe in a spiritual communication that is as old as time. The ritual surrounding the preparation of their offerings and the thought that went into selecting the appropriate items for surrender placed an enormous amount of attention on the understanding that life is an exchange of energy…a dance and that when energy is given, something new is produced. They performed the process using the body and mind, combining both spiritual and physical elements to enter a place of unity that lives deep within the human psyche.

Acknowledgment: The Heart of the Offering

Both the Law of Attraction and sacrifice embrace the concept of acknowledging that you already have something of what you want (hence the offering) and within that acknowledgment is the understanding that the universe is capable of producing more. They also both involve a trust factor…a making of space, a letting go, a release that sparks new growth in the area of your desires. It is then placed firmly within the hands of their perception of God, and the rest as Einstein so aptly put it…are details.

Getting Stuck on the Details

Seeing how instruction or various other input from us is not needed to create a tree or fish it is also reasonable to suggest that the whole of what we want doesn’t require much from us to create…and that the details are best left within the realm of the divine.

Micromanaging what you manifest limits your options. It takes something with infinite ways of showing up and forces it to travel down a traffic clogged roadway, where it is likely to get stuck in the congestion, placing it at the mercy of the environment and severely limiting its chances of making it through to its final destination.

Yet this is what many of us do with our requests…we funnel them down to exactly how we want them instead of allowing the universe and the infinite intelligence housed within it…to surprise us. It’s no wonder so many people become disillusioned with the process.

Creativity: The Art of Holding Space and Letting Go

I discovered a method recently when I was knee deep in the creative process that I think accurately portrays the art of holding space and letting go. We are by our very natures, creative beings, and what I’d like to demonstrate here is that creation comes effortlessly when it is coupled with space and intent.

I was working on the concept for my new web site when I stumbled upon this method. I wanted to be extremely clear about who I am and what my mission is and this required me to distill it down to its very essence. I needed to get to the heart of it, to journey down several layers within my unconscious mind and translate what was there into the words and images that are its perfect energy match.

I started out by loosely holding the images and feelings I resonated with for the site while going into deep trance. In the trance state I found myself beside a great rectangular pool of unimaginable depths. It looked Greek in architecture, beautifully tiled in white and with aesthetically placed giant columns along the side. I walked to the front of the pool and lined up one of the things I was working on, literally taking it out of my mind and body and placing it on the tile right next to the waters edge.

I backed up a few feet and sat down to watch, cross legged in meditation. I simply observed with no expectation other than wanting to see truth. Sitting there, holding the meditative state I was peacefully detached, empty, open and free.

Effortless Return

Eventually the item I placed began to change. Sometimes it levitated off of the ground and morphed into something else right before my eyes. Other times the item was claimed and swallowed up by the waves of the water lapping against the tile only to return as something new traveling along the surface of its white crested tips. And once when the offering was particularly well received, hands like those of the Lady of the Lake appeared with a gift from the depths of the pool.

Each time I exited my trance state the items I went in with had been transformed…and imbued with a new energy that gave me something more to work with. Increasing my clarity with each image I placed…until I was absolutely certain I had what I was looking for.

I think that what I’ve found with this experience is that the secret to an effortless return lies in entering a state of curiosity about how life comes up to meet the mind that’s seeking truth

What do you think?

Treadmill Meditation

I haven’t run for nearly two weeks. It’s unlike me but between all the car rides on vacation, catching up on the stuff to do at home and focusing on creating a new routine and direction that is how long it has taken me to work it back in.

I am zealous about physical activity however, so today was the day I turned it around and rededicated myself to my running routine. While I run, I usually do chakra meditations and this routine was no different.

Changed Chakras

The first thing I noticed when I entered this meditation was that my chakras were larger, brighter and for lack of a better word…stronger. Especially the first, second, fourth and sixth.

Lately, I have been very focused on working to rewire my neurology toward activities and thinking that support my purpose in life. So I guess it is not surprising that some of the changes I created might also have an effect on my chakras as I could feel them responding to the way I was reorganizing my mind.

As I experienced them during this run, there were massive differences in their openness and shifts in the energy surrounding them. They seemed to sing. Some part of me responded and I went further into the trance state.

Creating a Circuit

When I reached the seventh it opened wide and I saw energy roots coming from my legs, reaching deep into the earth and then connecting with what looked to be a plug originating from my eighth chakra. Once the cord was connected I experienced a surge of energy flow through me, pouring down into my flesh from my eighth chakra, a waterfall that filled me from the inside of my form like a container, until all I could see was a being of silver light.

Experiencing a New Me

As I ran, my limbs became the limbs of this energy being. Watching my arms and legs pump up and down, I caught sight of her silver sheen within me…causing my skin to become transparent in her light. I could see and feel her perfect beauty with every step and understood that it was the energy circuit that was holding her in place.

Experiencing myself through her was marvelous, I noticed my fluidity, my strength. It felt like all the potential of energy…like eternity. It was in this moment that I felt most like myself in an unlimited form.

I’m fairly certain it is the work I’ve been doing on my purpose that brought on this meeting with my higher self.

Knowing she’s there and that I can experience her in this way fills me with a sense of peace and is a wonderful validation of my current path.