Archive for the ‘Authenticity’ Category
I Change My Thoughts, I Change the Emotional Quality of My World
By Rita Rivera Fox
- Sunday, May 4th, 2008
Mastering life is the process by which we become aware of how thought and belief have the power to manifest. We can begin practicing self awareness by observing the thoughts and beliefs that we are using to create the interpretation of what the world brings us. After all, thoughts and beliefs are the raw material we use to craft our daily experience of life. While a thought is not real and it does not have substance, it is still very powerful. Choosing which thoughts we will continue to support or which thoughts we begin to challenge is the first step in crafting our lives as a masterpiece of art.
As we perceive the world, it might seem as though the world determines how we will interpret what we are experiencing. This is an erroneous belief. By taking responsibility for choosing how you perceive and interpret the world at large is a big step in changing the quality of your life. The power comes from the choice. But how can we begin to exercise this power? Learning to choose a new interpretation of events in your life is where practicing the art of choice becomes most apparent and the rewards are the greatest.
We have accepted many collective agreements about how an experience should be interpreted. All we have to do is look to the media, conversations with co-workers, family or friends, and there are ready-made interpretations of everything that is going on in our lives – with both personal and global events. Opinions are freely shared. Soon we are agreeing with how someone else is seeing an event without ever asking ourselves “Is this how I see this situation? Is there another way to interpret this? Does the way I’m looking at this circumstance contribute to creating happiness and overcoming fear in my life?”
These collectively shared interpretations often come from a very limited and fearful point of view. These days there is much uncertainty in the events of the world - war, hurricanes, rising gas prices. And that uncertainty is creating a lot of fearful stories and reactions. If we respond with fear to what is happening globally, we are not making the best choice on our own behalf. When we create fearful conclusions and stories to what we are presented with, we give this type of energy to our lives. This energy creates the emotional quality that then colors our existence. Our combined fearful responses have the power to manifest the very circumstances that frightens us. The results are that we feel helpless and powerless in a constantly changing world. This is how we lose our happiness.
The power to challenge the interpretation of what our mind says about current events, whether personal or global, comes from exercising the power of choice. First, we use our awareness to see how we are interpreting an event. If the story we choose creates anxiety or distress in the body, or steals our happiness, we can decide to withdraw our agreement and support of it. Consciously choosing our interpretation means that we begin to challenge the old existing points of view. These old points of view usually reflect our lack of faith in the divine order of life or our lack of faith in our own resilience. By making an active choice about how we want to tell our story actually changes the quality of our life experience.
- To re-interrupt simply means to ask yourself a few important questions. In other words, you question that voice of authority in your head.
- What is the story you are telling? How are you interpreting what is happening now (or what had happened before)?
- Can you believe that this is absolutely true?
- How does it make you feel?
- What if you don’t believe your interpretation? How do you feel then?
Taking a few moments to become aware of what is going on in the internal dialogue in our minds, and then questioning that dialogue to see if a new choice or interpretation is possible, results in shifting our awareness. The simple action of consistently observing the process of thinking will begin to transform the way we think. This then results in a new experience, or sensation in our bodies – potentially one of more peace, joy, and happiness.
Emotions that enhance our experience of life come from our truest, most authentic self. This is the part of us that is accessed when we rely less on thought and more on feeling. Love, or the experience of being one with what created us, results in an enhanced emotional experience of life. We are interacting with that force all the time. What brings us our greatest happiness is our allowing that love to have a clear channel to flow out of us and into the world that we are creating. This is only possible when we challenge our fearful stories and choose to not believe everything we think. While we may not have control over the events occurring in the outer world, we certainly do have the ability to choose our response to it with awareness.
The Power of Authenticity
By Michele Laub
- Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
WISE WOMAN PROGRAMS - The Power of AuthenticityWise Woman Programs champions the essential need to /return/ balance into the world.
At the core of every being and of every action stems the authentic energies we know to be the feminine and the masculine, or in other words in—yang, or receptive—action oriented (see also - http://www.lovesedona.com/02.htm). When these energies are not in harmony, imbalance results, creating disorder, extreme behavior, separation, duality and a myriad of other low vibration behaviors. Ego-driven actions have long been overrunning the planet, whirling the dream of Heaven on Earth through a nightmare. In the rush to create more, have more, and control more, our heart-centered nature has fallen into a deep stupor. The power to awaken comes through the illuminated awareness that distorted voices are among us. Through the auto-response of safeguarding us, the mind in turn makes up stories,which cement our emotional reactions exacerbating the distortion. If we cannot trust what we hear when listening to our minds, then what can we do?We can jump-start the process by revitalizing our heart-centered nature.
This is key in awakening our cellular wisdom. This is the sole purpose behind Wise Woman Programs, to facilitate and support all participants in their quest for authenticity. I invite each of you to go forward by repeating on a daily basis the mantra below and notice what happens:
My heart beats in the rhythm of love.
Please return and share your experience!
The Opposite of Crisis is Called Mental Development
By Jamie Gilroy
- Friday, April 4th, 2008
“the opposite of crisis is called mental development (development of consciousness).”
(found on Google searching for the opposite of the word “crisis”)
This morning I woke up thinking about the phrase “midlife crisis”. Why is it that when we turn a certain age and then we do something deemed impulsive and “out of character” it’s assumed that “he’s just having a midlife crisis.”
You see I just turned 50 years old. Or maybe I just turned 50 years young. Depends on your point of view. I also just purchased a motorcycle. Definitely impulsive and irrational to the uninformed observer even though I’ve been riding motorcycles since I was 12 (smaller versions since I was 2) and have been dreaming of owning one again since my last motorcycle that I sold to pay for my son Nick’s mid-wife. That was 1990.
Wikipedia has a wonderful wealth of information about mid life crisis’s. “Midlife crisis is a term used to describe a period of dramatic self-doubt that is typically felt in the “middle years” of life, as people sense the passing of youth and the imminence of old age.” Also: “The result may be a desire to make significant changes in core aspects of day to day life or situation, such as in career, marriage, or romantic relationships.”
What if in fact it wasn’t a crisis at all this passage of time called getting older? What if it was a celebration? What if we actually enjoyed the awareness that comes with the natural aging process? What if instead of searching for our “lost youth” we actually embraced this beautiful phase of our life? I see this process at play all around me - in nature mostly, but also often in the “older” generation I come in contact with. The inherent beauty in Life is what I’m talking about. It’s a process this birth to death journey and I’m seeing the magic in each phase. It’s in my 11 month old son Bodhi learning so many new things for the first time. It’s in my 82 year old mother so filled with an ageless joy as she plays with her newest grandchild. It’s in me as I cross the 50 yard line of my life full of gratitude for all that I have experienced so far.
Again from Wikipedia: “Researchers have found that midlife is often a time for reflection and reassessment, but this is not always accompanied by the psychological upheaval popularly associated with “midlife crisis”.
What if instead of finding oneself in crisis it was actually a time for a shift in consciousness? What if we had this great explosion of awareness as we see the organic process of being born, aging and then returning to the infinite from where we originated? What if in each moment we embraced the idea that life isn’t measured in days or months or years? What if we acknowledged that time is something we humans invented and that there is another way to mark the transit of one’s life?
What if by being present in each moment we were no longer bound by the concept of time? What if we made choices based in our awareness that what is happening to us is as natural as the changing of the seasons? What if those choices were made from that place of wonder and innocence of really knowing we are a mystery exactly like life and age is really just ageless.
Ok back to the motorcycle thing. I wanted to celebrate my living on this planet for 50 years. In a very small symbolic way the motorcycle represents a milestone and a simple way for me to express joy and freedom. Besides it’s pretty sexy too…
Freedom, huh? That’s my next blog. Until then keep the rubber side down.
In Love, Light, and Awareness,
J
What Choice Now
By Rita Rivera Fox
- Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
The energy you are receiving as you move through the process of manifesting your heart’s desire and creating your new dream is occurring on every level of matter from the cells of your bodies to the mantel of the earth and beyond. At this time this energy is being felt very deeply and vibrating and fluctuating in ways that are certainly getting your attention. This movement is asking you to stay so focused in your bodies and the sensations that are moving through them. It is with these movements that you are creating the energy that is revealing your integrity at deeper and deeper levels. In other words, the more you are willing to feel, the more you will be accessing the energy that is all about breaking down old ways of seeing and doing things and the quicker you are able to correct your alignment to the abundance that is the flow of Life moving through you. Remember it will take you being able to hold higher and higher feeling and energy levels in your body to bring about the transformation inherent in new dreams in both the individual Dream and the collective.This is what we are really in service to, is the bringing of heaven into an experience in matter. This means that no matter how you perceive what is going on with what you are birthing into being, it is important to challenge any familiar perceptions that create fear or self doubt in your body sensation. Become aware of how you are feeling so that peace and pleasure are what you are ultimately creating in your body. Every other sensation that causes discomfort is just an indicator that there are still beliefs and programming that you are now being asked to let go of. The more choices you make on a consistent basis to challenge your programmed beliefs, the more you are causing a deep disturbance within. From this disturbance is the created the movement for old structures to pass through you to be released. This is what must occur in order to enjoy the new energies that your body is being prepped for. Empty the old so the new can root and flourish. The opportunities to choose what you will believe and consequently bringing into manifestation, are everywhere and the consequences are being lived in the moment.
One choice that can be helpful these days as you go about the act of creating new dreams, is to choose “not knowing” which is simply trusting and putting your faith in the energy and emotional quality of what you want to create rather than relying on an explanation from your old programmed mind. Can you choose again to believe in what is not yet in form and keep investing your love for your vision of your self? Part of not needing to know is the willingness to challenge what you think it will all look like, what you will be like in the transformed version of you. As all humanity is now being given the power to re- design the mind of the future, can you continue to take action and place your intention in what is being birthed through you without worrying about the outcome. It is in each moment that we are creating the new dream, the new interpretation, the new transformed version of you by staying aligned with the energy of peace, pleasure and love and those sensations created in the body.
Have you noticed that it seems that when you are experiencing what you don’t want in life and the emotions that are the results, is when you get to really align with what you do want and the feeling quality of that? This is how we are learning and shifting the energy of our experiences, and empowering our ability to choose. So when you choose something that you see later because of the consequences that you don’t want to manifest, choose again with all the power of your heart’s desire because it just wants to create more of itself and is waiting for the green light. Waste no time in judging the former choice, just see that your awareness has improved and the time is now to act in a different way. As you make new choices, and empower the choice with action, and complete confidence, it becomes more possible for more humans to do the same.
Beliefs are what we are actively transforming with these new choices and along with that the present and future of humanity. This is why in actuality your process is not personal at all, and with your awareness you are contributing to the transformation of an old programmed belief system and bringing us all into the potential to dream a New Dream. This is simply humanity in the process of evolving. Isn’t it exciting?
Life is quite fascinating when you remember that you are Dreaming all the time and make your choice from that awareness. Faith is having its way with us. Enjoy the ride!
The Transformation of FRUSTRATION
By Meghan McChesney Gilroy
- Friday, March 7th, 2008
I love being married and being a mother. I know that this is part of my Life’s Purpose, along with being a messenger for this wisdom.
Yet at 1:30am last night, I wasn’t in love with any of these roles and I wasn’t so pleased with Life either. For the past hour, my husband Jamie had been popping in and out of bed to determine what was causing the strange, loud noises coming from next door. It was our neighbor, in her pajamas, dragging who-knows-what through her yard. Then my 10 month old, Bodhi, who has recently been sleeping through the night, started wailing.
I was groggy and unhappy to be jerked awake by all three of the offending parties - husband, neighbor, and baby. As I crawled out of bed and pulled Bodhi into my lap in our rocking chair, I was aware of a sensation racing through my body. I felt FRUSTRATION. The stillness of the night amplified it. Since I knew I’d be rocking for awhile, I placed all my attention on what I was feeling.
With the world now quiet, I was keenly aware of Life passing through me. This omnipresent energy was moving and vibrating - and then thunking against the jumble of thoughts in my mind, causing the FRUSTRATION. I suddenly had an image of a child jubilantly riding his bike, legs pumping, flying down a hill with so much momentum. A playing card vibrated against each spin of the wheel. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.
My mind was no different. As I heard each story whiz by - Can’t Jamie just stay in bed? She shouldn’t be out there at this time of night. Bodhi should be sleeping. - I saw that each of these opinions was a belief that crashed into the magnificence of this moment in the night, impeding Life from flowing. My idea of how everything should be was causing me to get lost in the noise inside my head and this resulted in the unpleasant FRUSTRATION inside of my body.
What is frustration? I wondered. It’s having an expectation or judgment about Life not being the way I want it to be. It’s my small “me” believing that I know the right way, the way it should be, instead of accepting the way it is. It’s seeing the world through only my lens, without consideration of others.
I took a deep breath. And another. I asked for acceptance and compassion. I sent loving energy to myself. May my heart be full of peace. Another slow, deep breath.
Was there another way to be in this moment? Swiftly I felt a shift in my point of view. I looked down at Bodhi snuggled in my lap. What has he been experiencing? He’s growing at an astonishing rate - learning to talk, crawl, walk, teethe. Ah, compassion. May his heart be full of peace. My awareness traveled to my husband. What was he experiencing when he got out of bed? A desire to protect his family? A frustration at being awoken as well? Ah… May his heart be full of peace. I continued on to my neighbor. Anyone wandering around in the middle of the night is more disturbed than I. May her heart be full of peace.
The night gently settled around me. Enveloped, I sighed, let go and sunk into the rocking motion of the chair, enjoying the warmth of Bodhi nestled into me. I relaxed not knowing how much longer I will have the opportunity to sit quietly in the darkness with a little bear cub in my arms, my husband slumbering soundly in bed, alone with my thoughts and feelings, receiving another message from Life.
Ah… That’s transformation. That’s peace within on a beautiful night.
Please feel free to comment.
Ancient Art of POJSU
By Kevin Murray
- Thursday, February 14th, 2008
What is POJSU? It is an ancient technique (actually not yet ancient but it may be in thousands of years.) It is highly effective. It puts you in the flow of all kinds of good things. When practiced, even in the face of fear, it has the capacity to support you moving towards your dreams. Or, we could say, it magnetizes you so that your dreams come to you.
Okay, you’ve waited long enough. What is this thing?
POJSU is the Power Of Just Showing Up.
How do you use this? Where can you use this? When can you use this? How does it work?
We’ll start with the last question because it’s the easiest. How does it work? Who knows? But really, who cares? That it does work is certain.
When can you use it? Use POJSU whenever you feel that it might be preferable to retreat or play it safe, but a part of you knows that pushing forward a little RIGHT NOW might be just the thing that is needed.
Where can you use it? Anywhere. At home with your spouse. At work. With anyone. You might be avoiding a conversation with someone. POJSU supports you to be available to listen. POJSU shows that you are willing to go beyond initial discomfort to what’s next.
How do you use it? Just Show Up!
In my business (where we made this up) we use POJSU for sales. We use this technique particularly when we’ve exhauseted all other methods and feel like there’s not a whole lot more you can do. You can call a client, fax, email, but sometimes, when things need a little boost, POJSU is just the thing. Even if the client can’t see us, we leave a card, a note, and they know that we took the time to show up personally. IT MATTERS. The next time we try to reach them, we find that they are a little more accessible. POJSU is respected.
I very often see POJSU in the realm of spiritual practice. In my community, POJSU is part of the discipline even when you’d rather stay home this weekend than travel to a retreat. It’s also showing up for my meditation when I can find many excuses not to. Over the years, those of us who continue to JUST SHOW UP know that this committed action tends to bend the universe a little in our direction. POJSU brings many gifts: sometimes peace, ease, insight, humor. Whatever the gift, there is almost always a reward, if we are willing to look for it.
In some situations, POJSU is what gets us there and yet there may be other work to do, things to say, or hear.
But none of that can happen without first showing up.
Where can you practice POJSU now?
Where is there work to be done that is being postponed?
Where is there a relationship that could use some attention?
Where is there a place where you are a little stuck?
Try Just Showing Up! and see what happens.
I welcome your comments, thoughts and reflections. Please leave a comment to continue and expand this conversation of POJSU.
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