by Ginger | Jul 30, 2024 | Blog
Have you been feeling resistance to some of your mirrors and experiences in the outer world? I’ve been working on blocks to assimilating my experiences, free of the need to filter them in any way. My soul reminded me of “The Guest House” by Rumi to help hold the energy of joyfully accepting and allowing all experiences. The desire to block out anything comes from the judgment that some things are better than others. Judgment is separation. Our belief in separation from each other and from Source has been a necessary part of The Experiment in Duality. It has taught us much. Now, it is time to heal and let go so we can make our way back Home.
Our path to Oneness is through surrender and allowing. What we resist, persists. Our spiritual practice must include surrendering to divine will and unconditionally welcoming all of our experiences as our teachers and healers. The Sufi poet Rumi is a master of love songs to Source. His poem “The Guest House” reminds us that our natural state of being is to walk through life with our arms open wide.
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
Some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
Who violently sweep your house
Empty of its furniture,
Still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
Meet them at the door laughing,
And invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
Because each has been sent
As a guide from beyond.
Image by Manfred Antranias Zimmer from Pixabay
by Ginger | Jun 26, 2024 | Blog
True, lasting change can only ever come through love. Love from within. We sometimes forget this when we are triggered by something in the outer world we perceive as wrong or unfair. In our anger or fear, we may have the impulse to try to fix it or get what we believe to be justice, either for ourselves or those we see as victims. We do still need mechanisms in society to hold people accountable for their actions. But we can’t legislate people into expanding their consciousness. Those changes must ultimately come from within.
There are many who are stepping forward to protest injustice or inequity and are making their voices heard on many issues. It is wonderful when people want to participate in creating positive change. But how we go about creating that change is as important as the actual results themselves. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luter King, Jr. made this point eloquently:
You have very little morally persuasive power with people who can feel your underlying contempt.
When we use our power to create change by coming from anger and blame, the very people we want to enlist in that change often become defensive and angry themselves. It is like throwing gasoline on the flames of conflict. When we approach issues on the attack, we are coming from divisiveness and separation which just fuels more divisiveness and separation.
When we focus on common ground and hold the intention for change to benefit all in the long run, we see far more movement. This is why the truly great visionaries for societal change preached peaceful, non-violent action. Their intention was to take effective action using education and understanding, not to seek punishment or revenge. This takes courage, patience and love. It may not create instant results in the outer world (and the lower self does crave instant results), but once the tidal wave of change gains momentum, that change is powerful and lasting because a tipping point has been reached in the collective consciousness, not just in the minds of a few.
These leaders in change understood that we must hold a vision of love for all involved, including ourselves, in order to create true change. To do that, the change must start within. We must be willing to make the changes we’re asking others to make by modeling that vision in the outer world. Another visionary of change, Mahatma Ghandi, put it this way:
You must be the change you wish to see in the world.*
This should be our starting point for any issue we see mirrored in the outer world. We must first look within to understand what the matching vibration within ourselves is trying to teach us. Then, in humility and surrender, we can follow guidance whether to continue working on the issue within, share our insights with others, or take action steps in the outer world. Once we’ve started healing the issue within ourselves, we are now holding that higher frequency for the benefit of everyone. This is what creates true, lasting change and that divine power lies within each of us.
*This quote has been repeated many times, and I’ve since come to learn that it is actually not a direct quote but a powerful paraphrasing of Ghandi’s meaning. I share it here in its paraphrased form because it is true to his original intent and is in alignment with divine truth.
For further exploration of these concepts, I recommend Divine Justice: Healing through Love, Compassion, and Forgiveness by Marsha Hankins
Image by PopcornSusanN from Pixabay
by Ginger | May 19, 2024 | Blog
In Zen Buddhism, there is a wise saying:
Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.
After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.
My soul recently reminded me of this quote to bring to my attention that I had been focusing a little too much on the results of my spiritual practices. Or rather, what my lower self ego perceived as the lack of results! Oops. Time to adjust my inner pendulum back into balance and re-align with my soul’s vision for my focus and intention.
This saying, like many spiritual truths, has many layers of understanding for students and masters alike. But one of the key pieces for me is the reminder that our spiritual evolution is entirely an inner process. Yes, there are times when we make an inner shift and experience a corresponding change in our outer world. As within, so without is spiritual law. But the further along the path of our spiritual mastery we travel, the fewer and fewer obvious outer world changes we are likely to see. We simply don’t need the validation of seeing a change and, in our mastery, all of our experiences feel equally divine.
When we fully realize the wisdom of “chop wood, carry water”, we understand that every moment is our spiritual path and also our deepest spiritual expression. A moment savoring a simple piece of lettuce just picked from the ground is as joyful as listening to the most beautiful, world-renowned symphony playing a complex composition. Scrubbing the floor can be just as inspirational as sitting in meditation in a beautiful garden. It all comes back to how we’re resonating and the frequency with which we’re vibrating.
Since this quote about enlightenment is coming into your life today, take it to your soul and ask what its particular meaning is for you and your life. What is your unique expression of chopping wood and carrying water with enlightenment? I’m sure it will be absolutely divine.
Image by TheUjulala from Pixabay
by Ginger | Apr 24, 2024 | Blog
Marcel The Shell With Shoes On is a tiny conch shell who wears shoes. He is small but mighty and is inspiring many. Originally created by actress Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer Camp as a stop-motion animation character in a series of video shorts, his story was expanded to a full-length animated film called Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.(1)
When the movie begins, Marcel is feeling lonely. All of his friends and family are gone, except his grandmother, and he misses them greatly. He doesn’t know where they are but he yearns to re-create the close-knit community he lost. Eventually, he gets the courage to connect with the big, wide world for help with locating them. It’s a huge endeavor given that he is very tiny and has never left his house, but he has hope. And he finds help.
Throughout his adventures, he offers many insights to the audience. Marcel doesn’t see himself as any sort of teacher; he simply shares his inner thoughts and feelings about his life experiences with honesty and earnestness. In his innocence, he is actually quite wise.
Without giving away too much, Marcel’s story does have a happy ending and he shares his final, deep insight about life in a scene where he describes sitting by an open window and feeling a breeze blow through his conch shell. I’ll let Marcel’s words speak for themselves in his very unique and sweet voice:
And one day, I was just sitting, and the wind blew in and it blew just over the top of my head in such a way…and it made a beautiful whistling sound…
It connected me… to everything, because if I wasn’t there, the sound would never exist.
And I felt like everything was in pieces, and then I stood there and suddenly, we were one large instrument.
I like to go there a lot because it reminds me that I’m not just one separate piece rattling around in this place, but that I’m part of a whole.
And I truly enjoy the sound of myself connected to everything.
Try this meditation with your soul: Ask to feel the resonance of yourself connected with everything. Then ask to feel the resonance of your unique “sound” connected to everything. This is the essence of your unique expression as your Source-self.
When we truly know ourselves as One with All, then we know ourselves as the magnificence of all of creation. May we each remember the beauty of ourselves connected to everything!
Image by Marc Pascual from Pixabay
(1) Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp, based on characters created by Dean Fleischer Camp and Jenny Slate, A24, 2022.
by Ginger | Mar 30, 2024 | Blog
Recently, I was checking in about a few areas where some of my clearing was feeling slow or stuck and my soul recommended that I upgrade my technology. I’m a bit old-school with my use of electronics and I knew immediately that my soul meant spiritual technology. The guidance wasn’t about replacing the tried-and-true healing techniques I’ve been using for my spiritual evolution but rather upgrading my use of those techniques with higher frequency energy, deeper understanding and greater mastery. It was time for a fresh approach and renewed intentions.
In the physical realm, many people look at spring as a natural time to re-organize or reset various aspects of their lives. With gratitude, we let go of the old things that no longer serve us and look for ways to re-purpose or revitalize what we’re guided to keep. As we know, the outer can only be a reflection of the inner. For true change, we will need to do our inner spring cleaning.
Here are some questions you might take to your soul. Of course, there may be others you are guided to ask:
– Am I checking in about which healing technique or energy will work best with each situation/issue?
– Am I using my healing techniques to their full effectiveness?
– Am I allowing the maximum healing benefit of the techniques I work with or programs I set in motion?
– Am I bringing through the highest frequency energy I am able in my healing work?
– Are there any spiritual tools/techniques I’ve learned but forgotten about or stopped using that I should bring back into more regular use?
There are many divine healing modalities and techniques that have been seeded on the planet over the ages. We don’t need all of them in our spiritual toolkit. With your soul, choose the ones you’re guided to use and then focus on using them well. Continue to allow them to evolve, allow yourself to evolve with them and you will go far!
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
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