March 26, 2008
ACCEPTANCE
This week’s message was sparked by an e-mail I received. Monday through Friday I receive an e-mail from TUT..A note from the universe light@tut.ccsend.com. The major life lessons are all universal topics and can fit into our lives at any given time. This message in particular seemed to arrive on the perfect day that I needed to hear the information. Isn’t that always the case? We seem to see, hear and "know" at the exact time that we need it. The idea is to stay open and alive so that we are constantly receptive and available for the data that is always trying to permeate our being.
Here is the simple and beautiful message I received in my time of need. More to come on this message next week.
"Impatience is a sign of hurrying; hurrying is a sign of worrying; worrying is a sign of fear; and fear is a sign, that someone has temporarily forgotten that its never too late to change their thoughts and therefore their "things". And for these reasons, time will forever be on their side."
Glad we could straighten that out- The Universe
March 19, 2008
The POWER To Speak The Truth
"We must be true inside, true to ourselves, before we can know a truth that is outside us." Thomas Merton
Your voice is your gateway to letting the world know who you are. Let’s focus on and talk about the energy center responsible for our ability to vocalize and let the world know "I AM".
The Throat Chakra
Color: Blue
Mantra: HAM (pronounced HANG)
Sensory Function: hearing
The throat chakra lies in the area of the cervical vertebrae, near the larynx. Its energy influences the neck, jaw, larynx, esophagus, and wind-pipe. The breath and voice also depend upon this chakra. It energizes the neck and shoulders; the thyroid and parathyroid glands can function harmoniously only when energy flows freely through this chakra.
This energy center is the center of sound. "The conscious use of language, the desire to speak the truth in all circumstances, and the ability to express oneself are all dependent upon the energy that arise from this chakra. The throat chakra also plays an important intermediary role, since it connects the heart and forehead chakras and is thus responsible for balancing the worlds feeling and thought.
This need to communicate is by no means exclusively directed toward the outer world. It embraces inner communication as well: The exploration of the unconscious mind, one’s inner language that brings clarity and fullness to thought.
People with a strong throat chakra are always looking for the truth. They trust their inspirations, and their forthright way of expressing themselves can provide positive motivation to others. The throat chakra acts as a bridge between the intelligence of the heart and the intelligence of the mind.
Casey/Vanceburg-Promise of a New Day
Integrity is not a given in everyone’s life. It is the result of self-discipline, inner trust, and a decision to be relentlessly honest in our responses to all situations in our lives. We are quick to recognize this quality in others, and hope to acquire it ourselves. However, we must cultivate risk taking and cast off fears of rejection and derision if we’re to discover the serenity a fully integral life offers.
Recognition of truth in others, realization of the appropriateness of decisions or the aptness of choices is made easier when we’re certain of the truth of our own lives. The inner turmoil dissipates and we are quiet within when we choose to live lives full of truth. And in the quiet we discern all truths. How much softer the edges of experience when we’re guided by truth. How much easier every decision, every choice, when we’ve committed ourselves to a course of total honesty.
Excerpt: Oprah Magazine February 2008, Wally Lamb- "Life Sentences
1. In writing, as in life, voice is crucial. Your voice has been honed by your family, your ethnic heritage, your neighborhood, and your education. It is the music of what you mean in the world. Imitate no one. Your uniqueness, your authenticity is your strength.
2. Learn to love revision. Listen to suggestions about what you might add, cut, reposition, and clarify in your work-in-process. Welcome such feedback with gratitude and humility, returning to your words with sharper insight. Make mistakes, lots of them, revising draft after draft of your continuing story. Your errors will be educational, and if you pencil outlives its eraser, then you will know you’re getting it right.
3. Regarding plot- the twists and turns and episodes of your life- outline as much or as little as you like, but expect surprises. In fact, invite surprise. Each time you begin some next chapter, your composition of yourself will be at risk. But that’s okay- that’s good- because you will not live fully if you never take side trips and detours. "Writing is like driving at night in the fog, " E.L Doctorow once noted. "You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way".
MICHELANGELO, THE 16TH CENTURY artistic genius, once said this about his work: "I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free." My inmate students, you, and I are damaged angels in waiting who have the potential to sculpt our best selves with the aid of paper and pen. The rehabilitative power of our words invites us to test our still wet wings, tentatively at first and then with greater assurance. And as that happens, we rise above the concrete and razor wire of painful memories, baffling personal mysteries, and imprisoning secrets. Our load lightens, our perspective changes. We fly away.
March 5, 2008
YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE AND YOUR TIME
"How you spend your time defines who you are". Oprah Winfrey
Time is a big issue in our lives today. We all seem to want and need more of it. We all get the exact same amount of time, yet it seems there are people who manage to experience time better or eke out more joy in the time that we all get. I believe it is because they enjoy life and have connected with a purpose for being here. Finding your life purpose means you are unwilling to waste time wallowing in fear and recognizing what a gift it is to be alive. We are all unique with gifts incomparable to share. Finding our life’s purpose involves taking time to learn what it is that you want. It’s like signing back up for college. Get a degree in yourself!
"Our relationship to time is what it is because we lie to ourselves about what we are and what we can do and we hide from ourselves what we are meant to be and what we are meant to serve." Jacob Needleman
In her what I know for sure section, for April 2004, Oprah Winfrey talks about time so eloquently. Here are some of her words.
"I am more aware of time now that I have ever been. Something about turning 50 does that to you. I feel an almost primal awareness in the core of myself that there’s a finite amount of time left, and that feeling permeates everything I do and dictates how I react in every moment. I’m more conscious and appreciative of every experience, every awakening (gee, I’m still here; I get another chance today to get it right). I try to take them all in, even the negative one’s and see how they relate back to something I created: I believe nothing is happening out of order with yourself. What I know for sure is that how you spend your time defines who you are. I try not to waste time-because I don’t want to waste myself. I’m working on not letting people with dark energy consume any of my time. I’ve learned that the hard way, after giving up hours of my time, and myself, which are synonymous, when you think about it. I’ve learned from my experiences of getting sucked into other people’s ego dysfunction that their darkness casts a shadow on the light you need to be yourself and for others. What I know for sure is that giving yourself time to just be and not do it essential to fulfilling your mission as a human being. I know for sure you cannot give and give and give to everybody else and not give back to yourself. You will end up empty, or at best less that what you can be for yourself and your family and your work. Replenish the well of yourself, for yourself first. And if you think there is no time to do that, what you’re really saying is "I have no life to give or live for myself". And if you have no life to live for yourself, then why are you here?"
"Time rushes by because we are not engaged enough in life. Not enough of our being is involved in our own life. To be devoured by our life is not to be engaged in living. On the contrary, when we are devoured by life it means the self, one’s own self, is not present." Jacob Needleman
We all dream of getting to a point in life when we have it all together. What am I supposed to being doing while I am here? Very minute percentages of people are lucky and know what their destiny is and are able to pursue it with one pointed focus. Most of us have many jobs, careers and junctures in life that seems to create relatively satisfying lives. Others still, never seem to find any purpose and often settle for what is comfortable and accepting that their life is just mediocre. One huge purpose of life for us all is to live rich, satisfying life, where we walk erect and free. We discount today, because it doesn’t really matter much". We often hear, its just another day. Each day is a gift, a chance to as Oprah says, to get it right.
"Most of us put a great deal of time into work, not only because we have to work so many hours to make a living, but because work is central to the soul’s opus. We are crafting ourselves individuating, to use the Jungian term. Work is fundamental to the opus because the whole point of life is the fabrication of the soul." Thomas Moore
In this very moment we are developing our life purpose. Carol Adrienne, in her book The Purpose of Your Life, she says: "At this moment, you are in a stage of your developing purpose, and you are not off track, no matter how blocked you currently feel. Your calling has already made itself known through what motivates you (past and present), what attracts you, what you resist, and what frustrates you. Your calling may have made a brief appearance between the ages of 3-8, or revealed itself in adolescence through a sudden interest. Your calling can also be a glimpse in what you admire in others. It can be seen in those abilities you have that you don’t even think are special. You are almost always working on purpose when you lose track of time. Some part of your purpose is also being served as you deal with obstacles and problems (resolving obstacles brings you great power and knowledge of a specific kind- necessary for your specific purpose). A piece of your life purpose may be fulfilled by the knowing that results form pain, struggle, and illness. However, if your life is only a mountain of continual obstacles, then you are going to have to take another look at the kind of beliefs you have about life. Generally, when you are on the right path, things flow.
"FOR THE UNCONSIOUS ALWAYS TRIES TO PRODUCE AN IMPOSSIBLE SITUATION IN ORDER TO FORCE THE INDIVIDUAL TO BRING OUT HIS VERY BEST. OTHERWISE ONE STOPS SHORT OF ONE’S BEST, ONE IS NOT COMPLETE, and ONE DOES NOT REALIZE ONESELF. WHAT IS NEEDED IS AN IMPOSSIBLE SITUATION WHERE ONE HAS TO RENOUNCE ONE’S OWN WILL AND ONE’S OWN WIT AND DO NOTHING BUT WAIT AND TRUST TO THE IMPERSONAL POWER OF GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT. WHEN YOU ARE UP AGAINST A WALL, BE STILL AND PUT DOWN ROOTS LIKE A TREE, UNTIL CLARITY COMES FROM DEEPER SOURCES TO SEE OVER THAT WALL."
Dr Carl Jung
WHAT ARE THE QUESTIONS WE HABITUALLY ASK OURSELVES?
HOW DO WE MAKE THE COMMITMENT? WHAT ARE WE COMMITTED TO?
Anything capable of decay is also capable of regeneration
The purpose of life is to wake up to the gift of the experience of life.
Mary Oliver
What is it that you want to do with the one, wild, precious thing called your life
The antidote to exhaustion may not be rest. It may be wholeheartedness. You are so exhausted because all of the things you are doing are just busyness. There’s a central core of wholeheartedness totally missing from what you are doing.
We all have islands of fear inside of us, but we also all have continents of wisdom and truth. How do we find our way to them when we are not educated in the interior dimension? These inner landscape hold the patterns of our passion and purpose. Without knowing how to journey there, our lives remain unlived.
Carol Adrienne
WHAT TO DO NO MATTER WHAT
Simplify any way you can
Take care of yourself. Breathe. Get back into your body
Back off a little
Keep your focus on what you want
Assume there is a purpose to what’s happening
Trust the process
THIRTEEN PRICIPLES TO HELP YOU STAY ON TRACK
You were born for a purpose
You are a magnetic field
Anything is possible
Stay in gratitude and positive energy
Look for meaning or purpose in what you are doing
Participate more and plan less
Start anywhere; purpose is not linear- its surprising
You don’t have to become a different person
Focus on what you want, not what you don’t want
Love what you do. Do what you love
Pay attention
Listen carefully to your intuition
Take action on intuition
"No one can tell you how to find your purpose. It can only be found, slowly, in your own dark sky, in whatever is sacred to you, be that church or woods. It can’t be found by searching around for a role model or learning how cultural heroes handled their difficulties. It seldom found by following anyone else’s rules. It lives in the rest in the place where music is born, the fertile void, the silence between notes. It is simple and basic. It emerges slowly as a sunrise, as we search through our gifts, our darkness, our losses and loves. Your job and mine is to be quiet and alone from time to time. To present to ourselves and the natural world, and to be in conversation with what is hidden in us in such a way that we can explore what brings us more alive." Dawna Markova
CLOSING MANTRA
I will remember
to focus on what I want, not what I don’t want.
To breathe and remain as calm and centered as possible.
To find strength within myself and trust in the divine power of love.
That there are forces beyond my control, and
my job is to add something positive to each moment.
I am a ray of light and a fountain of good humor,
allowing my own special life purpose to be used for the common good.
