by Ginger | Jan 31, 2021 | Blog
Like many these days, I’ve been working on finding the balance between remaining detached while being fully present with what’s happening in our world. Many ancient spiritual traditions teach a version of how to be in our witness self, being in the world but not of it. This means being fully grounded, aware and participating in this world but not coming from the fears, false beliefs or entanglements of the lower self/ ego. It means to remain balanced, detached and coming from unconditional love. It does not mean to stand aside and look the other way as if you have no connection to what is happening in the world. How do we remain fully present in a world with increasing levels of anger, blame and violence surfacing which may feel uncomfortable or even painful?
One step is to keep yourself tuned into Divine Truth to help keep you resonating with higher frequencies and not get pulled into the lower frequency energies of anger in some of our current political and social debates. The debates themselves can be a great tool for self-evaluation and making change, but how we approach those debates, with resentment and suspicion or with respect and openness, is key to the results we will see.
Marsha Hankins recently wrote some useful suggestions for seeing clearly through untruth and biased opinion in her blog titled Do You Know When You’re Being Manipulated? We don’t have to invalidate someone else’s feelings or perspective in order to validate our truth and remain in alignment with our divine self. We do have a responsibility to discern the accuracy of information we might use to guide our actions or inform the kinds of questions we’re asking our Soul for our own clearing.
Another step is to welcome all experiences, including the controversy and chaos, for the healing they bring. How can we heal our darkness, our separation, unless we allow ourselves to bring it to the surface? You can’t truly clean out an old closet if you aren’t willing to pull everything out and look at it. At first, the big piles of stuff that we had hidden might feel overwhelming, but this process of weeding out what no longer serves us is essential for our individual and collective healing. Lori Rock wrote a blog in December on The Mastery of Gratitude which reminds us of the value of gratitude for growth opportunities in all of our experiences, including the unpleasant and uncomfortable ones.
In order to navigate these sometimes muddy waters of change and evolution, we will need to be vigilant with how our own energy is vibrating and whether we are remaining in alignment with our truth within. But the rewards are exponential. Imagine living in this world and seeing the divinity in everything, the opportunity for growth in every situation, the ability to connect on all levels with all beings! This is the heaven on earth that spiritual masters have taught for ages.
Being in the witness self is not a passive state, but one of active, loving engagement. And if we still have judgments or attachments holding us out of balance, then it will take some clearing work on our part. But we are ready for it and now is certainly the time. Make a commitment to take a pause and look at what triggers your emotions or bias the moment it comes to your awareness. Before you emphatically nod or shake your head, look within for the deeper truth. Ask your Soul to help you understand all of the perspectives involved. Even pausing for a few moments in your day to tune in and ask for clarity can go a long way to raising your consciousness and helping you to heal.
We can be part of a great spiritual transformation or we can see our world as being torn apart. Which version do you choose to witness?
picture courtesy of jplenio at Pixabay
by Lori | Dec 31, 2020 | Blog
At this time of year, different traditions and cultures extol the virtue of giving and receiving gifts. Now that we have moved into the New Year, many observe the Feast of the Epiphany, which traditionally is celebrated as the moment when the Three Kings or Wise Men came bearing gifts to honor the birth of Jesus. Each brought valuable presents to show their adoration and love: Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh.
Fast forward a few millennia, Spirit is asking us what gifts we have to offer, not to Jesus per se, but to the energy of Love? What innate abilities, proclivities and gifts do we have to offer each other as Love? How can we show our adoration and love for each other? How can we show our adoration and love for ourselves?
Take the time to remember what matters most to you and what talents you have that can move that energy forward in the world, even if that movement is “simply” sending and receiving energy in your meditation practice. Your gifts don’t need to be material and they don’t need to be what others would consider a gift. Your gifts and talents are needed to help Mother Earth and Humanity at this time. But, most importantly, your gifts and talents are needed for yourself.
Shake off any insecurities or lack of confidence that you don’t possess all that you need to help yourself to evolve. You possess all that you need to remember who you are. Look for it. Embrace it. Give yourself the gift of your conscious intention and self-love. As you embrace your own self-love, your gift for each other will flow easily and your adoration will surely show you as the wise one you are.
Gratitude to Natalja Dauilchenko from Pixabay.com for the image above.
by Ginger | Dec 30, 2020 | Blog
Like many people these days, you might be feeling a little (or a lot) stuck. Globally, we’ve been in a phase of deep review of old beliefs, old patterns, old paradigms. This can sometimes feel like a tedious, even painful, process. Yet, it’s truly necessary for new life, new patterns, new creations. This global pandemic is giving us, collectively and individually, the opportunity to re-evaluate many aspects of our lives, culture and institutions. It can bring up fear, resistance, anger, blame, judgment and even violence or abuses of power. We may feel like we’ve been staring at these issues so intently that we’re ready to just be done with it, but if we’re still not seeing significant outer change in our situation then feelings of doubt and confusion may come bubbling up. So, we might be feeling stuck right about now.
And it’s okay to feel stuck. Really. Our natural instinct is to struggle against feeling stuck by reaching for the nearest action or “solution” just so the lower self/ego can feel a little bit more in control again. We may even understand intellectually that what we’re doing is just a band-aid that will have no real, lasting effect, but we reach for the temporary relief anyway.
What if you give yourself permission just to allow your stuckness? I don’t mean to just sit in your living room perpetually doing nothing. I mean, taking time each day to be quiet with yourself, including the scared, stuck parts, and allow them to just be without trying to fix or change or solve them. Just be present with those emotions. Breathe them in, really get in touch with all the emotions underneath the stuckness, then breathe out with release. Then breathe them in again. And so on. Allow what comes.
I’m not suggesting that this is a magic formula which will instantly stop the feelings of being stuck. You might feel stuck for a while. And, your particular situation may require some form of more immediate response in the outer world. Of course, you should do what you need to take care of immediate needs. But, instead of taking blind action to get it over with and then burying the emotions so that you can feel “done with it”, try staying conscious of those continuing feelings of confusion and ambiguity. Wherever we bring our awareness, our consciousness, we bring healing and light. This way, we help to release the emotional charge of fear and judgment as we open ourselves to deeper understanding. When we remain present and conscious, even in times of self-doubt, we activate our own inner creativity and discover inspiration for moving forward in ways we weren’t even able to imagine previously.
So, commit to remaining open and accepting even when you don’t immediately see the way forward. Take an action step when you need to but stay receptive to new directions and course changes as the way becomes clearer. Allow the feelings of being stuck to teach you and guide you rather than trying to get rid of them. Being stuck may seem like a weak and helpless place to be, but when we let go of resistance we find great power and potential within. Our emotional blocks can be useful teachers if we allow ourselves to be still and listen.
Try the following e-book for more insights about working through feelings of being stuck:
Getting Unstuck: The Inspiration to Move Forward Again! by Lori Rock
Blog image courtesy of Pixabay
by Ginger | Nov 30, 2020 | Blog
Many traditions include some version of a festival of lights around this time of year. We are going into the darkest season, so there is a natural desire to balance that out with more light. This season is also a time of quiet and going within, into the creation void, so it’s also a great time to see where we can reflect more of our inner Light out in the world. Are you willing to let your true Light shine?
For many, the answer is an emphatic “yes” until the realization surfaces that shining our Light more brightly may also highlight our shadows. Fear comes up that others will see our darkness, or even that we will see our own darkness more clearly, and we start to pull back within. Yet, that is also the gift of shining our Light – to more easily identify that which is still unhealed within us, that which is still in the illusion of separation. So, it may feel safer to hold back, but that also holds us back from our greatest healing.
Our Divine Light is of Source, the One Source, the source of what we believe is our light and also our dark. They are One. It is only in the illusion that we see them as separate. In order to fully actualize our healing light, we must acknowledge that this is the same creative power that created our belief in our dark. It is the same creative source.
This season we invite you to celebrate your own festival of lights- to truly honor your inner Light. Allow your Light to shine and if you also see your dark, let go of the judgments and hold gratitude for the opportunity to see all that much more clearly in order to allow healing. This is not about excusing or glossing over that which is out of alignment within ourselves, what we might call our dark, but about forgiving our self-judgment, owning our responsibility for creating it and beginning the healing process.
So, are you willing to let your true Light shine, unconditionally? Take a deep breath and take a moment to ask this question sincerely. Make a commitment to let your Light shine and feel the freedom of releasing yourself from all expectations of where that will lead you. May your inner Light shine with radiance and joy!
picture courtesy of Myriams-Fotos from Pixabay“>Myriams-Fotos on Pixabay
by Lori | Nov 28, 2020 | Blog
At this time of year, we are encouraged to count our blessings and to be grateful. Even in 2020, this “unprecedented year”, people are expressing gratitude for the things that are going well in their lives. Some people are expressing gratitude for family, friends, nature, abundance, and good fortune. Others are expressing gratitude for frontline workers in the medical fields and distribution chains, emergency first responders, food banks and their volunteers and contributors, and others who are making a difference in their daily lives.
Spirit urges us to continue to review all of the positive aspects in our lives. However, we are reminded that it isn’t that difficult to be grateful for these things. It is harder, and perhaps more rewarding, to be truly grateful for the situations in our lives that we don’t find to be particularly pleasant. Being grateful for when a situation pushes our buttons is the sign of someone mastering their experience. This is what we are calling the Mastery of Gratitude.
If we are only grateful for what is going well in our lives, then we are missing out on the gratitude that comes from knowing what is still dense inside of us and recognizing that it needs to be healed. Until we understand what needs to be healed, we will founder. Once we have the awareness that something makes us mad, frustrated, sad or hateful, then we can seek guidance in order to heal the discordant emotions that we still feel. We may be guided to look at the situation from a different perspective or from a larger point of view. We may be guided to look at our belief system or old patterns of behavior which are contributing to the discordant emotions. Then, we ask to clear / heal the issues. When we do this, the situation no longer triggers the negative response or at least, doesn’t trigger as negative of a response. The more we allow for this healing, the less and less we will be triggered.
After she traveled to India for a spiritual journey, according to Wikipedia, Alanis Morrissett and her writing partner, Glen Ballard, wrote the song Thank U. The lyrics might not sound like the things you normally hear at a Thanksgiving Day gratitude circle with your family members. Here is part of the song.
How bout me not blaming you for everything
How bout me enjoying the moment for once
How bout how good it feels to finally forgive you
How bout grieving it all one at a time
Thank you India
Thank you terror
Thank you disillusionment
Thank you frailty
Thank you consequence
Thank you thank you silence
The moment I let go of it
Was the moment I got more than I could handle
The moment I jumped off of it
Was the moment I touched down
How bout no longer being masochistic
How bout remembering your divinity
How bout unabashedly bawling your eyes out
How bout not equating death with stopping
Thank you India
Thank you Providence,
Thank you disillusionment
Thank you nothingness
Thank you clarity
Thank you thank you silence…
Perhaps we should start a new tradition – expressing gratitude for the potential to heal after recognizing issues that underlie the pain we feel. The more we master gratitude, the more we will master the illusion, and the more we will be the Masters That We Are.
Gratitude to Swmiananda with Pixabay.com for the above image “Namaste”.
by Ginger | Oct 30, 2020 | Blog
One of my spiritual teachers, Kris Duffy, used to tell a parable she learned from a Native American tradition. It went something like this: Every morning, a man would wake and ask Great Spirit, “Is today a good day to die?” and every morning he would hear “No” and then go about his daily routine, living his life as usual. One morning, he awoke and asked, “Is today a good day to die?” and he heard, “Yes.” The man went about his daily routine, living his life as usual, and then he died.
That’s how she would tell the story, in just that kind of spartan language. And I remember that I really didn’t like that story the first few times I heard it! It seemed so stark to me. I wanted more. Intellectually, I believed that I understood the point of the parable but I didn’t fully know what it meant from a place of true wisdom.
One day, I was inspired to ask the same question of myself and I heard, “Yes.” Now, my Soul didn’t literally mean that it was a day for me to die. To me, that “yes” meant that I was in a place of peace and balance and if I did leave this physical life in that moment, I would do so with ease and a sense of completion. That’s when I understood the deeper truth of that parable for me. My desire to hear some profound revelation the man experienced before he died or some great deed that he did came from the energy of incompletion and lack. The man in the parable didn’t need to do anything special on that day because he had no regrets and no unfinished business. He had lived a life that was aligned with his divine purpose, in sync with All That Is, so when it was time for him to leave his earthly life, he was already in perfect surrender.
Viewed from this perspective, asking this question of ourselves can be empowering rather than deflating. It can be used as an internal barometer to check in with your own energy field. Are you in balance? Are you at ease? Are you living in your divine purpose? If not, you can ask your Soul what you may still be holding onto and what you need to do in that moment to shift your energy and come back into alignment.
By living in a way that keeps us in divine peace and surrender at all times then any change in our lives becomes a simple transition into another phase. It becomes just another experience. May you find that perfect balance within!
Image by Ralf Kunze from Pixabay
