Please check out my guest post on “Quietly Authentic”.
“Burning Old Belief Systems So Your Inner Fire Can Flow”
Offering 5 steps on lighting your own personal prescribed fires.
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I changed my computer’s home page today. I could no longer subject myself to the images I was seeing daily when it opened up to the BBC. Back when I set it to BBC my logic was that I would get a bit of world events from a “somewhat” non partisan source as I no longer subscribe to cable or watch network television. But now it seems the BBC has also resorted to using the most graphic images of any global event.
Maybe I am just more sensitive but I don’t see the point in viewing these images.
My enormous black “vintage” tv sits in my living room looking like a boxy, robotic intruder. I keep it around to watch dvd’s on. I half expect it some nights when I am up late tapping away on my computer to turn itself on like in the “Poltergeist” films. Angry that I no longer pay attention to it, it tries to suck me in with snowy distortion like the little girl in the movie. But the snowy distortion is what made me turn it off in the first place. I grew up having television as a default. You flopped down in front of it whenever you had a free moment to “veg out”. I found myself as an adult watching programming I didn’t set out to watch and then feeling like I needed a shower to clean up after. I felt guilty about wasting time on something that made me feel bad. So, some years ago, I went cold turkey and disconnected my cable. When I called to cancel the rep I spoke to did her job trying to convince me with discounts to stay. When she finally asked why I was canceling I replied “Because tv rots your brain”. She finished the transaction in silence.
You don’t miss what you don’t have. I don’t feel any less connected not being up on the latest installment of “Game of Thrones”. But I do watch programming of my choosing. I love PBS and can usually access anything I would like to see online. But I find my choices are all much more deliberate. That isn’t to say I don’t love some mindless fun programming from time to time. Downton Abbey anyone?
I have found myself of late being faced with the same dilemma when it comes to online “News”. One of my spiritual teachers years back would call the “news” the “olds”. HIs feeling was that nothing you see on the news is actually news. That it is all a illusion meant to keep you swept up in a cycle of fear and anger and not in your highest good. The hope being the next piece of advertising you are subjected to in your weakened state of mind that promises instant happiness you will run out and consume.
What you put your attention on will show up, gain strength and proliferate in your surroundings. So use discernment in what you put your attention on. Is it ultimately positive or negative? Its not that I don’t care about individuals on the other side of the globe who are suffering. I offer prayers, mediation, healing treatment, money and assistance in any way I can for specific causes and situations I feel a personal connection to. I try to focus on a positive outcome and what I can do with the resources I have here to help. Constant worry, opinion, complaints and anger expressed about world events consistently can leave you feeling like you yourself are living it when you actually aren’t. Ultimately this is a symptom of feeling powerless and a self fulfilling prophecy that can cause the most self aware person to end up on the couch eating chips and watching the “Real Housewives”.
Your mind is a powerful computer with a very large memory chip. Even the violent image from a movie gets stored somewhere so it can show up in a dream or fear. Although I have been active in helping animals in need for over twenty years I strictly limit the visuals I allow myself to take in. I already know about the unspeakable cruelty that takes place. For me, I find it aggressive and an intrusion when these images are then displayed in a way I cannot avoid seeing them. Although a group like Peta does excellent work I personally have never felt any alignment with them. The tactics they use and the guilt they illicit in attempt to achieve their goals has made me check out. Ultimately killing the messenger, even if the message is a good one.
Often much of what we do is habitual. We do things because its what we have always done. One of the most powerful things anyone can do is break a habit. Taking a self inventory and using discernment ask yourself what are you still doing that no longer serves your highest and best good. You don’t have to go cold turkey and cancel your cable, but if you catch your arm reaching mechanically for the remote the moment you arrive home make a different choice. One that is powered by free will and not habit.
And once you start doing this your life changes. That’s because what your are putting your attention on has shifted. It will carry over and show up in other parts of your routine. Then you realize you have dominion over your habits and anything is possible because you are strong enough to change.
Namaste & Love
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Yesterday I got challenged in my yoga class. And not in the way you would expect.
I started doing “Hot” yoga about six months ago. This was actually shocking to me as I normally dislike hot anything. But, back in September, I decided with my birthday having just passed I needed to try something new. So I headed over to “Modo”-a studio that created their own brand of hot yoga. And to my surprise I found my body responded positively to the class. The heat made me more mindful and my concentration more focused. The only way I could make it through a class was to pay attention and breathe, effectively shutting up the committee in my mind who try to distract me every chance they get. I also found the atmosphere of the studio and its instructors light and upbeat with a certain level of structure (no latecomers allowed, strict adherence to the number of the people in the room etc) I find calming.
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Yesterday was my laundry day.
Because I have so many bodywork sheets to wash it often is quite a big bag once I get round to making time to do it. This time was no exception.
I do my own personal items more frequently in the small washer and dryer shared by the three cottages on the property where I live. But doing the sheets is a production. It requires loading them into the car and going to the local laundromat about 15 minutes from home. As the bag grows in size I often will pick out a few to wash here. I usually do this when I’ve gotten a bit behind in my washing duties. I then stare at the bag and feel guilty its gotten this big, yet again. I always wish I could stay on top of it but life manages to get in the way.
I used to send my sheets out. I would drop them off in a big mangled heap and return to find them washed, precisely folded and wrapped neatly in bags. And all I needed to do was hand them my credit card. I would put them away as soon as I got home and look at the little deflated bag in the corner of my treatment area with a sense of ease. But it wasn’t a sense of accomplishment.
Although my sheets were now clean I didn’t do the job. And I felt something was missing. I felt that I was handing over a tool of my trade to be cared for by someone other then myself, someone I didn’t even know. And it concerned me.
Since I believe so strongly in how everything transmits energy I wondered about my sheets. Were they receiving the loving care I knew they needed to be the conduit of care I wanted them to be for my clients. This is something I knew I could give them if I made the time to wash them myself.
So, about four months ago, I began to do them myself again. And discovered I enjoy the process.
I set aside more then enough time to make sure they get done and plan the trip at a time the laundromat will be close to empty. I usually find a parking spot pretty close to the door (yesterday the parking Fairies really liked me as I was directly in front of the door-yee haw!) and I begin the process of carting them in, sorting, washing, drying and folding. Once they are all done and folded, they get placed in the bag, back in the car, driven home, back in the drawers and I look at that little deflated bag with a sense of accomplishment.
And I feel calm.
I don’t multitask while I do the laundry and try to leave the phone in the car.Yesterday I did take a walk to the grocery store next door to purchase 3 items I needed but the pace was so relaxed because I knew I didn’t have to rush-there was no point. I was on “laundry time” and at the mercy of the wash and dry cycle. It got me wondering how often we rush for no reason at all. And what this does to our health.
Nowadays so many of us have forgotten the pleasures in a simple task. We often look to hire someone to do something we may deem not worthy of our time. I do agree there are tasks that require someone of more expertise to do, or even someone who is simply better at it. And if you genuinely don’t have the time why not give a job to a person who most probably will appreciate the opportunity of work (keeping the cycle flowing). But I think in many ways we end up taking it to an extreme. Doing a simple task like laundry, cleaning the bathtub, washing dishes, gardening are all precious moments to use to go inside and experience quiet and peace while still being engaged.
One of my own personal pet peeves is when I see people walking their dogs and talking on the phone. What a beautiful opportunity to share with your furry companion who has probably been waiting all day for you to get home from work. Yet what I see so often is people walking, talking and disconnected. Yammering away on what almost always sounds to me (most often these folks talk LOUD) like a throw away conversation. Their dog occasionally peering up to see if they are paying attention. It actually breaks my heart.
Doing a simple task with attention and direction can be a moving meditation if you allow it to be. It often can give your mind an opportunity to journey to a different vista and to see things with new eyes since the task does not require concentration. Great ideas are born out of simple tasks. Ask Google why they have a play room with ping pong tables and board game and they will tell you its true.
So, now my sheets are done and I get to use my favorite natural soap and my dryer balls made of wool. I get to make sure all the love and care I can give them gets infused into every fold. And I hope that is felt when people stretch out on them. And I may even be in a more balanced place myself having taken time to do my own laundry. Who knew laundry day could be so beneficial.
Namaste’
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Hello and Welcome to not only my new website, but my new blog. I hope you will visit often and not only take in what I have to say but add your own voice to the comments.
Its quite an auspicious moment for me who often struggles with change. I debated about changing my website. My previous site was less then a year old. But I knew to move forward, to manifest what I was claiming -change was required. Scary as it can be at times. I feel the fear that shows up is to test us a wee bit-to see if we are up for the challenge and worthy of the reward this new direction shift may bring. The leap of faith required to get us to our new destination only proves that we are serious in our attempt to make it there.
Our actions convey our intentions. We can talk about it, we can even “make a plan”. But if we don’t actually start the process how can we expect divine support? We are charged to lay our cards on the table. If we don’t believe in out own hand, who else will?
Like attracts like, wishy washy begets only more wishy washy. Hence if we expect things to change firm steps are required to send the right signals.
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Albert Einstein
Change doesn’t always have to be something visible. Often the most powerful changes come from deep within. Perspective can shift and once it does it can change your entire world. It can often have a domino effect. Change your reactions and your sense of calm and peace becomes more grounded. Use more discernment in what you allow into your life, more quality flows in.
I ran into a friend recently, a very wise and spiritual man, and I asked him how he was. His reply was “everything looks the same on the surface but lots going on inside”. I could relate.
We are on the doorstep of 2014. Many folks decide now is the time for change to happen when a new year rolls around. Gym membership sales skyrocket in an attempt to make a change people will acknowledge. But all too often these attempts are ephemeral and forgotten as the year moves on.
But what we can do is take a moment of quiet time to breathe and be still and see how we are really feeling about this new year rolling in. Do an inventory of your life and make a list of what needs attention. Then make a plan. Put it somewhere you can see it every day so you don’t let yourself forget.
And before February 28, 2014, make sure you’ve checked something off that list.
No one need know what it is you did. This is for you.
Happy New Year!
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