Friday 27 September 2013

The Word of the Week - What is your Practice?


Over the many years that I have been studying how to navigate through life from a realm of peace and joy, I have picked up many tools along the way that have greatly assisted this journey.  I have learned that leaning upon my own fear based thoughts do not serve me and now have a wonderful “go to” bag as it were to help alleviate any angsts that I may come across on this sojourn.  Today I would like you to look at your own personal tool kits, your trusted go to methods that help you out of an unpleasant feeling that you may be going through.  Do you even have a tool kit?

When others view me, they see a strong, capable, confident person that stands before them, vibrant and gregarious, practical and a little bit scary.  Peel beneath those layers and you will find sensitivity, vulnerability, a few insecurities and many moments of self-doubt. However, it is the tools that allow others to see the former and not the latter.  Even as I embrace ALL of me, the many facets of my existence, I try to peel through those layers so that I can reveal my true self, a loving, compassionate, forgiving being of light, this is the place where I wish to reside all the time, this is my goal and my purpose.  Irrespective of any career or financial goals that I have personally set, this ideal trumps all the material aspects of my existence.  So I ask again, do you have a tool kit and more importantly are you using it?

To help you answer this question, your tools should enable you to try to clear any anxiety, to help alleviate fearful thoughts and to centre your thoughts to one of peace.  If we allow our egoic minds to take over, then we are indeed out of balance and stepping into the realm of chaos.  The purpose is not to repress but to learn to live in peace with the ebb and flow of life.  For me, this week has definitely been on the ebb and I have had to use many tools out of my kit to restore me back to balance.
For example,  when I am fearful about finances I use gratitude from my tool kit and make a mental or written list of everything that is truly wonderful in my life, even the smallest of things gains my attention, like the first sip of my mochachino in the morning, or the warm hug my daughter gives me.  When I switch to a mode of gratitude, my soul feels light and unburdened by the constricts of my mind.

Through these writings, my hope is to give you a few tools with which you can use when you feel out of balance and to ascertain which ones actually work for you.  These tools build up the mental muscles required to live rather than to exist and now I know I could not live without them.  Top of my list is meditation, prayer, journaling and affirmations, these are essential for my mind and my soul, then yoga and zumba for my body.  The trinity and the use of the three parts (mind, body and soul) is deeply rooted in the annals of time pre dating Christian doctrine.  It is however essential to cultivate these three aspects. Unfortunately, we tend to lean to the body as the first point of call, but it is to the spirit and the deep connection to the soul, which desires our attention, because, ultimately therein lies our freedom.

Have a balancing weekend.


Nameste (I bow to divine in you that which lives in me)

Friday 20 September 2013

The Word of the Week - Resistance


There is a phrase that I hear more frequently in my research into a deeper understanding of my authentic self and that is “what you resist, persists!”   I tried to ascertain any truth in these words by looking at my own experiences and seeing where in my life was my resistance.  Further, I began to question why is it that resistance rears its head in respect to any personal change that one wishes to make.  I had no idea where this train of thought would lead but was pleasantly surprised at the results.

I researched “resistance” and one of the definitions, which intrigued me, was that of electricity.  It stated that resistance occurs because the electrons (i.e. electrical current) flows through a conductor (e.g. a wire) which then collide with the ions  in the conductor and depending upon the size of the conductor determines the level of resistance. Therefore, if the conductor is a thin wire i.e. lacking in space, its resistance is high, however if you use a thicker wire i.e. one that has more space the result is lower resistance.

I surmised that the electrical current within each of us is our “God” energy and our bodies are the conductors with which the energy flows.  This energy then encounters resistance dependent upon how open the thought processes of the conductor.  If you bombard your mind with limiting beliefs about yourself and your ability, you lack space, and the God energy encounters high resistance from the egoic self.  However, when you open yourself to love and this love incorporates forgiveness, the space becomes very wide and results in low resistance.
I wanted to know where I was on the scale of resistance in my life and how did I impede the flow of energy through me.  To do this I had to ask the simple question, where was I lacking in love?

The more I learn to affirm a deep reverence for who I truly am, the more I am open to flow with life rather than against it.  A recent weekend communing with my dear friends revealed to me such an area in my life whereby I was resistant to this universal flow of energy.

Therefore, my question to you with which you can ponder over this weekend, where in your life do you feel that you are resistant to this universal flow?

If you do find such an area as I recently found, make it a point to be extra loving and kind to yourself, because as you increase the love, the resistance falls and the energy of life increases.

Have a loving weekend.

Nameste


Friday 13 September 2013

The Word of the Week - Know Thyself

In the inner sanctum of the great Luxor Temple in Egypt, there are many proverbs inscribed around the entrance, one of the inscriptions is as follows:

“Man, know thyself……..and thou shalt know the gods.” 

This morning as I meditated, my “small self” was trying to dominate my thoughts with my anxieties and fears.  I felt a little bit perturbed by my train of thoughts but, having now trained my internal muscle not to succumb to the many machinations of my small mind, I handed this dilemma over to my big self.  Now, for clarity, when I talk about my small self, I refer to this as my egoic fearful mind whose thoughts cause me anxiety, feelings of lack and tell me that I am not quite good enough.  My big self however is my spiritual, all knowing, loving connection to the All there is; the Universal energy that is limitless, powerful and unafraid.  My habitual small self who tried to control situations, scenarios, people etc. is frankly rubbish at it; therefore, I have learned that this part of me needs to get out of my own way and hand the controls over to someone more capable. 

We all have the voices in our heads that either empower or debilitate us to some degree. It is however, learning to trust that big voice, leaning into it for guidance rather than using the other voice that has been fed from the world of fear.  A great tool from the book A Course in Miracles was made very simple by the author Gabrielle Bernstein in her book May Cause Miracles.  It describes a meditation that encourages you to permit this small voice to vent all of its anxieties and fears based thoughts.  That simply means, you think of all your worst-case scenarios as if they are actually happening and ascertain where the physical manifestation occurs in your body.  For example, you think about not being able pay your rent this month and there is a tightening in your stomach.  Once you have pinpointed where in your body the feeling occurs you simply affirm:

“Inner guide, I give this situation to you for healing and I am willing to see this differently.”

You then hold on to this mantra mentally in your mind until the “physical” feeling dissipates.  After which, either immediately or sometime in the future, you will be guided by thoughts and feelings from your inner guide giving you solution-orientated action with which to take.  

This is the true meaning of knowing thyself; it is learning to trust that innate wisdom from within.

Just for today, surrender your small self’s control to the beautiful, all powerful being that is your reflection in the mirror, for when you know thyself…..you shall know the God within you!

Namaste

Friday 6 September 2013

The Word of the Week - Seeing the Divine in Everyone

As you know, the purpose of my weekly missive is to inspire you to see the greatness in who you are; to recognise that you are a limitless and powerful being whose unique gifts are to serve your highest good.  I tend to close my writings with the salutation “Nameste” and as I mulled over what I was going to write this week, this phrase kept repeating itself in my head and thus I am sharing with you.

Nameste is Hindu in origin and it is a greeting where one places their hands together over their heart chakra or their forehead (which signifies a deeper reverence) and bows.  It simply means that the greeter is bowing to the divine essence in that person.

When I say Nameste the definition that I say immediately afterwards is, “The God/Goddess within me bows to the God/Goddess within you.”  I actually say this silently in my head when I greet people now because it works as an excellent reminder that we are all one.  It helps me to lose my judgements on other people who may not see the world as I do; it reminds me that even in the face of hostility, there is still the divine essence that flows through me flows through them.  I can safely say that this is indeed an ideal that I hope to master one day! Since in reality, I still succumb to the knee jerk reaction of cursing someone out whilst driving in my car or indeed cussing someone in my head when they are acting up in front of me (smile).   However, I often repeat the phrase and the meaning in my head to defuse such reactions in the moment it occurs.  This is because I know that I am trying to work on myself daily to become a better person and to co-exist with all.   Further, I recognise that my accomplishments are also attainable by the very same soul that stands before me.   The only difference is that they have not yet come to that understanding.

When you appreciate that your loved ones, your friends, your work colleagues and every soul that exists, is a reflection of your own self, you begin to adopt a reverence that goes deeper than the surface and you acknowledge the interconnectedness of all things.   
We all have challenging relationships, especially with those with whom we love or once loved, but when you react to an attack situation based upon another person’s fear based projection, you further  increase that fear by defending yourself.  This does not mean that you dissolve your personal boundaries; all it means is that you try as much as you can to take the higher road in all your confrontations, which in turn minimises your own defence mechanisms.

So just for today, silently recognise the divine in all of your encounters.  Not only does it allow you to appreciate those of whom you love dearly, it also helps you to embrace those whom you do not.


 Nameste