Welcome to my blog. Here you will find whatever is bringing me joy right now.
Please join me in this spiritual agreement, from my mentor and friend, Jana Massey:
"Together we agree that everything that we think, that we say and that we do at this time will be of the highest good. And together we ask for truth, the understanding of that truth and the wisdom to use it in our lives."
Thank you.
Intuition is the ability to understand something immediately, without
the need for conscious reasoning. This is a natural human trait, but
for some of us, it is not so easy to access. Outside influences can be
mistaken for our own inner perceptions. Memories and old patterns can
masquerade as guidance. Please enjoy this hour long talk on how to
learn how to listen to, cultivate and trust your own intuition.
We Americans use a lot of the world's resources. I've heard it said that it would take five planet earths if we were to provide all of humanity with the same amount of resources that Americans use. That is a pretty huge footprint. And it reminds me of the gluttonous way that a caterpillar ravages a garden just before it embarks on its transformation. As a little tiny baby caterpillar hatches out from its egg case, it eats progressively more and more plant material. As the days and weeks pass by, it begins to consume many times its own weight per day. This leaves the plants it has been feasting on devastated. And the caterpillar begins to succumb to the need for a deep sleep. It prepares it's bower, camouflaged and hanging down from the boughs of the plants that have sustained its massive appetite. Protected in this dormant state, its outer shell hardens and the caterpillar becomes a chrysalis. Now, this is where things get really interesting. The immune system of the caterpillar begins to be called into play. Rogue cells that have been lying dormant in the body of the caterpillar start arising. These are stem cells and they have an entirely different genetic makeup. The immune system of the caterpillar repeatedly kills these cells, but more and more of them keep arising. Soon the immune system of the caterpillar is overcome. Meanwhile, the stem cells, known as "Imaginal Cells," continue forming. As these imaginal cells proliferate, they begin to create a brand new animal, the butterfly. Slowly but surely the genes of the butterfly, which were there all along, replace those of the caterpillar and the metamorphosis is complete. Those of us who have embarked on a journey of self discovery soon realize that change is the only constant in the Universe. Everything comes and goes. We see similar patterns of transformation throughout nature and the world. Infants become adults, frogs emerge from plump little tadpoles, mountains become hills, lakes become meadows and volcanoes arise from the molten depths of the earth. We learn to accept these changes and to move with them, rather than fight against them. Sometimes we may have to tuck in for a long dark night of the soul, something rather like a chrysalis stage, in between our various metamorphoses. I find it helps to remember that Divine Creator has a hand in everything. We wouldn't want to kill a caterpillar, because then we wouldn't have the butterfly. So, here in the Northern Hemisphere, during the longest nights of the year, it might be worthwhile to ask ourselves, “What have we been overindulging in? What are we resisting? What might we imagine?” Who have we been and who are we changing into? How is this occurring on both a personal level, and a global level? What kind of normal development would we collectively like to see after our embryonic stage is complete? These might be some nice questions for all of us to meditate on. Who knows what beauty might soon begin to arise from the depths of our beings.
Here is a wonderful little trick that I learned years ago for manifesting what you'd like in life. It's simple and it works great. All you need to do is draw it. A very rough sketch will do. Then, post it somewhere visible so you will see it and be reminded of it regularly. Changing our thoughts is like changing a habit. Too often we get stuck in the old pattern, repeating what we don't want over and over again. Our thoughts are very creative. The thoughts we think either desired or undesired are like tracks that are being laid down for our reality to follow. So it is a good idea for us to notice and pay attention to our thoughts. A few weeks back, I realized that I was beginning to have fearful thoughts about something. It was troubling me very deeply. But there was an alternative. There was more positive outcome that I could imagine. So, I stopped, grabbed a hold of myself, and grabbed a pen and a little note paper. I did a quick little sketch of what I would like to see happen. My drawing was a very scribbled portrayal with only the rudiments of perspective. The paper was small in size being only a few inches across and the whole thing was completed in under five minutes time. Though it was very sketchy, it got the point across. I gave it a title across the top and placed it prominently on the dashboard of my car so I'd see it every time I went some where. It made me smile to see this little drawing and within two or three days I had completely dropped my fear based thinking. I began celebrating instead. I'd get in the car and call out "Yeah!" I could see it, I could feel it, and I began to know that this would be true for me. My whole attitude throughout the day began to brighten. Then, quite naturally, within a week or two, things started to take a turn for the better. We can all do this to great effect in our lives. We can visualize what we'd like to see. Then we can infuse it with positive emotion, celebrating the desired change, and begin to reap the reward. Another way to do this is using collage. If you feel insure about sketching, try cutting out photos from some old magazines. You can use these to help you create an image of what you'd like to see. Paste them together on some paper and set it some where where you will see it. Then remember to let yourself celebrate. Delight in the positive change. Do a little happy gratitude dance by tapping your feet, while turning around and waggling both hands in the air.
Both techniques, either collage or sketching, will work, but I prefer the sketching. There is something fun and silly about little stick figure type drawings that aren't perfect but get the point across. And I also think that the level of creativity is higher with drawing and that is what we are trying to do here, create! So be bold. Give it a try and see how drawing what you want helps you to accomplish just exactly that in your life.
We know that if we change our thinking, we change our life. But therein lies the rub. How do we go about changing our thinking? Research tells us that 95% of the thoughts that we had yesterday are the same thoughts that we will have today. Our minds and bodies prefer the familiar patterns that we have grown accustomed to. This holds true even in the case of difficult patterns like accepting neglect or abuse. It generally takes something big to wake us up to change. Most of the people, who successfully make changes in their lives, have experienced something fairly major like a bad diagnosis or the death of a friend. These big emotional experiences open our eyes wide, so we can freshly see who we have been and who we have become. This is when we suddenly find ourselves free to choose differently. We see where the old thought patterns have taken us and we decide that we don't prefer that version of our reality anymore. For me, it was three major injuries back to back, requiring two separate years spent in bed and ten consecutive years focused on healing my body. There is a saying that I love about how God helps us to change. It is this, "First she throws a pebble, then she throws a brick." Some of us, myself included have required the brick in order to bring about change. How much nicer it would be to respond to the pebble. A much gentler course indeed. So, how do we initiate that more gentle 'wake-up call?' Fortunately it is fairly simple. One of the traits of successful change is to become more conscious, more present-moment focused, more active in the right hemisphere of our brain. Another way that we can help ourselves to change our thinking is through knowledge and understanding. The more we know about our new potential way of being, the more we can embrace it. While it is true that trauma can catapult us into these types of changes
quickly, we can also bring about quick personal changes in these
more gentle ways. As we increase our knowledge and understanding we see
why we'd like to change. Keep that new information flowing; read books
on the subject; notice how other people do it. Spend more time around
those who focus there, where you want to be. Infuse your awareness with
the positive emotions associated with the changes you are choosing in
the present moment. Let those emotions be big. Bigger than the brick.
Soon this will become the new habit, and the old familiar patterns
simply fall away. Fortunately our habit minds, our sub-conscious minds, reason logically
and follow orders from our conscious mind. This is why intention plus
attention brings manifestation. We grab the meaning behind our will to
change, which is our intention and then give it our full attention by
staying in the present moment with it. We focus on it. We watch how other
people do it. We gather new and novel approaches to solving the
problems of our lives and that holds our energy to the changes that we
wish to make.
In my mother's day, people would tie a string around their finger, as a reminder for themselves. That little string would constantly get their attention and help them to remember. In this case, we might use that little trick to help us remember how and what we want to think.
And then, just like me, injured for those many years, we need something that helps us to drop our former sense of self, our belief in who we are and who we have been. This can happen when we go away on a new vacation or an adventure. Another way that we can help ourselves to embrace our new changes is through meditation, especially if we do this in the early morning while we are first waking up, or at night, just before we fall sleep. As we infuse our our bodies and minds with the emotions of the new desired state of being, then the reality of it quite naturally follows.
I'll leave you with this little affirmation that I learned during the time while I was gaining knowledge for change. It helped me to catch myself and stay in the present moment in order to embrace the new. I would say this to myself whenever my old thought patterns would try to assert themselves. It is a very polite and loving affirmation. And it is addressed to the dutiful habit mind which is still trying to hold onto the old thought patterns. It goes like this, "Thank you for sharing. You used to serve me well, but you no longer serve me now. I now choose differently and reap the rewards of those new positive changes in my life," Then give yourself a big smile and feel how good it feels.
Bless you on your journey of gentle change into a healthier and more joyous life.
Join Josephine as she shares a simple technique involving journaling that can help us to transform and change negative thought patterns into positive ones. This lets us stretch the envelope of our minds in order to embrace new ways of being that are more in accordance with our spiritual principles.
