Archive for the ‘Spiritual Transformation’ Category
Exclusive Excerpt from Rita & Meghan’s (Yet to Be Named) Book
By Rita Rivera Fox
- Monday, November 23rd, 2009
A Mind-Boggling, Heart-Opening Power Tool
As human beings, we have been gifted with a tool that impacts every aspect of our lives, as well as the world around us. We all have it and have been using it daily. In fact, everything that is appearing in the world today is the result of how we use this power tool. Yet for most of us, learning how to effectively use this tool is a relatively new discovery since it doesn’t come with an operating manual. We’re only now beginning to realize the true power it contains. And it boggles the mind and opens the heart – once you get the hang of it.
When we discovered this power tool for ourselves, and crafted techniques to harness it, our lives transformed. We’re now living authentically, manifesting our dreams. We use it daily to fine tune the quality of our lives and the lives of those around us. The reason we tout this tool with such enthusiasm is because we have experienced what life is like without knowing how to use it. But before we reveal this tool, let us tell you our story.
Our Quest
There was a time when we had no idea how we created the problems and heartache that appeared year after year in our lives. We were baffled why our intimate personal relationships were difficult – or dissolving. We felt dissatisfied with our jobs. We couldn’t get ahead financially. We were bouncing checks and running up debt. With all the stress, we rarely made the time to take care of ourselves. We usually pretended that everything was okay, when inside it definitely was not. We chased after impossible images of perfection causing headaches and frustration. And deep down, if truth be told, we believed we were not good enough, not smart enough, and not loveable enough – and we believed we had plenty of evidence to prove it.
Then, we heard an internal call to change. As if seeing the wreckage of our lives wasn’t enough, our hearts pleaded with us to wake up. Take a leap of faith! Please, make a change. When we could no longer ignore this call, we embarked on a journey of self-discovery. We sat with our limited ways of thinking and our emotional pain. We shed our share of tears. We read books, sat at the feet of spiritual masters, and attended transformational seminars.
While working toward personal freedom and self-awareness, we garnered many helpful techniques along the way. We made huge gains in our internal and external worlds, but something was missing. We found it challenging to practically apply the spiritual concepts in everyday situations – especially when confronted with the inevitable challenges and emotions that arise in life. We were encouraged to find our life’s purpose, transform our thinking, and process our emotions, yet no one broke down exactly how to do so. When we looked around us at fellow seekers, we saw that many others were also struggling to merge the spiritual and the practical.
Over time, we synthesized spiritual teachings from different traditions, with scientific theory and our own experiences into a form that worked for us. We recognized that examining our thoughts wasn’t enough to make a lasting transformation in our lives. Re-living emotional patterns didn’t work either. Yet when we simplified how our thoughts and emotional energy are connected and how this affects what we attract in our daily lives, then we created a noticeable difference in the quality of our daily lives.
The results of our quest are The Four Insights. The Four Insights into emotional energy work to assist us in creating a life based in authenticity. Because The Insights are a radically new way of thinking about and experiencing emotion, we also demonstrate practical applications on how to implement these Insights into everyday challenges. When practiced regularly, you can shift what you contribute to your life and to the world, and begin attracting the life of your dreams. The outcome is feeling good from the inside out.
The results of our transformation are beyond words. As a result of using personally using The Four Insights, we’ve emerged with an unshakeable connection to, and belief in, our authentic selves. Today, we have lives that astound and delight us (albeit are works in progress). We live in beautiful towns by the sea with a supportive community of friends, family, and husbands with whom we share mutual admiration and respect. We feel abundant and see this manifested in many ways: with bank accounts that are in the positive and the opportunity to fill our days doing what we most love, what inspires us, and what brings us pleasure. We are content to juggle businesses, homes full of good times, food, and laughter, the joys of motherhood, yoga practices, exercise, and writing and teaching careers. Our lives are now in service – to ourselves and to others. There has been a marked improvement in the quality of our lives, as well as in the lives of those who came to us seeking similar self-awareness and transformation.
Most importantly, we’ve connected to what our hearts and souls yearned for – authenticity, balance, passion, and creativity. Yes, we still face personal challenges. But our understanding of the power of our mind, body, heart, and soul have healed and empowered us. Our conviction in the tools and techniques we’ve discovered guides us. And we have no doubt that these Insights and their practical applications can work just as well for you too.
Sounds great, but will this tool work for me?, you wonder. Perhaps, like we were, you’d like to make some changes in your life or in the world at large. Yet you’ve found yourself in a similar conundrum: you might know your life isn’t working – or it’s not as magnificent as you desire, but you don’t know how to remedy this. Perhaps you are ready to explore a transformational path at a deeper level. Maybe your world was rocked by events or losses seemingly beyond your control or you began questioning what’s important to you. Or you’ve glimpsed pieces to the puzzle of why you haven’t been able to create your best life: past memories, habits, repetitive thoughts, and/or painful emotions Yet you haven’t figured out how to fully unravel and completely release whatever is holding you back so that you can move forward toward your dreams. We are certain that once you start experiencing the power of this mind-boggling, heart-opening tool and harness it through our techniques, you’ll have similar inspiring internal transformations and external accomplishments. Of course, you’ll have to confirm this for yourself.
So just what is this life-transforming tool? Join Rita & Meghan at their Insight Series Workshops from 10am-4pm on Apr. 17, July 17, Oct. 16, 2010 in Marblehead, MA. Mention this blog and receive $10 off the April workshop. RSVP to meghan@lifemasteryprograms.com or call 781-254-4172. Click here for more info.
Can’t join us in person? Check out upcoming newsletters for audio and video clips of the Insight Series.
How to THRIVE during the Holidays: 8 Tips for (Mental) Health & Happiness
By Meghan McChesney Gilroy
- Monday, November 23rd, 2009
Thanksgiving. Christmas. Hanukkah. November through December.
What do those words trigger in you?
My guess is some combination of stress and joy, dread and delight. For many years, I loved the excitement of December only to collapse come January. Gatherings with friends and family was both fun – and often left me feeling rundown. I enjoyed buying, wrapping, even making cards and presents only to find myself staying up too late and spending beyond my budget. Sound familiar?
So how can we approach the holidays with awareness? How can we not just survive, but THRIVE during the festivities?Here’s a few tips, I’ve gleaned over the years:
1. What does your heart desire this holiday season? Take a few minutes to pause, close your eyes, and check in with the emotional quality that you’d like to foster throughout this month. Perhaps it’s joy, goodwill, creativity, or connecting with family. Allow the sensation to wash over you. Take a snapshot of what this feels like. Write down your intent for these next 30 days and post it where you can see it. Then look at it daily.
2. Peace on Earth starts with peace within you. Can you spare 5 minutes? 5 breaths? Make time each day, even if it’s only for a few minutes to foster the feeling your heart desires. Everyone around you will thank you for your good vibes. Most of all you’ll feel good!
3. Remember others in need. When we extend beyond our own preoccupations, whether it’s how much money we have (or don’t have) or how much time we have (or don’t have) to complete our to do list, we can gain perspective. Gratitude for what we do have is a great present to ourselves. Volunteer if you have time. Donate to a worthy cause if you have money. When we reach out to others, we foster a sense of connection. T’is the season to give what we can – and not just to our immediate families and friends.
4. Presents & cards. How could you give presents/send cards in a way that feels good to you? I don’t like malls, so I walk around town and shop at our local stores, buy online, or make presents. I used to make elaborate one-of-a-kind cards and gifts, then I had a baby – and realized that stressing out over lovingly crafted handmade gifts wasn’t so heart-centered after all. Play with what feels right. If you are feeling stressed over gifts or cards, it’s your body’s way of saying, “Is there another more pleasurable way to do this?”
5. Visit an alien planet. At some point this month, I’ll bet you have an obligation to entertain or interact with people that can push your buttons. Could be when you’re visiting family, going to an office holiday party, or connecting with your husband’s/wife’s/other friends. Pretend like you are a visitor on an alien planet. Instead of taking their customs personally (no matter how bizarre they might be), simply notice how they live, what they like/dislike, how they communicate with a sense of curiosity. Oh, so that’s how they ____ here! And don’t forget to thank god that you’ll be travelling home soon.
6. How good does it really feel to be completely stuffed after a holiday meal? In my experience, not so good. When a table laden with delicious food appears in front of us, we are tempted to eat more than normal. Why do that to your body? Eat in moderation. Save some for leftovers. Take pleasure if what you do put in your mouth. Enjoy (just not too much!)
7. Think back to your favorite holiday memories. Are they about gifts you received or a special tradition or time with your family? My strongest holiday memory is tied to my grandmother making cookies. How can you spend quality time with your family, your self, or your friends? Last year, one of my students realized that they couldn’t afford their typical tons of presents under the tree. So instead of asking her children to write a “what we want for Christmas” list, she asked them to write a “what we’d like to do as a family list.” The kids asked for sledding, making hot chocolate and cookies, and decorating the house to the nines. She turned a potential “lack” into an “abundance.” Her family had their favorite Christmas ever.
8. What gift can you give yourself? What would be the best gift you could possibly give to yourself this year? Could you splurge on taking extra good care of yourself by taking more baths, getting a massage, or spending time meditating? How about splurging on a gift that you normally wouldn’t treat yourself to? This holiday, invite yourself to take care of YOU in whatever way feels right to your heart. If each of us takes responsibility for how we are feeling this year, what energy we contribute through our thoughts, words, emotions, and actions, and how much love we spread around, it will be a very merry holiday indeed.
Happy Holidays! May the light that you are shine brightly!
The Gift of a Spiritual Journey Keeps on Giving
By Barry Schwartzbach
- Monday, November 23rd, 2009
On November 1, 2009, I returned home from my latest Spiritual Journey, a two week adventure in Peru. I was there as a co-facilitator with my ‘Dreaming’ sister, Life Mastery Programs Associate Teacher Gayle Franceschetti. Gayle organizes journeys, through her Lightworker of Vibrational Energy (L.O.V.E.) Institute, as a service to all those who feel attracted to visit sacred sites around this Earth. The next trip Gayle is planning is March 8th – March 21st, 2010 to the Timeless Mystery of Ancient Egypt.
This was my second journey to Peru having gone two years ago with Life Mastery Programs Master Teacher, Rita Rivera Fox. This most recent trip allowed me to build upon and deepen the experiences I had during my first adventure there.
What a magical land Peru is! We spent most of the two weeks at high altitude, anywhere from 8,000ft. to 16,000ft. above sea level. While the altitude was a challenge to my body the vibrational atmosphere fed my Spirit. We visited many sites built by the Inca; around Cusco, in the Sacred Valley, in Machu Picchu, at Lake Titicaca and near Arequipa.
We were blessed to have Peruvian Shaman and the author of Andean Awakening, Jorge Luis Delgado as our guide. Jorge explained the Andean world-view as based on love, service and wisdom and on the principal of reciprocity; quite a difference from our western view of the world. As we traveled throughout the country, I was struck by not only the physical beauty of mountainous terrain dotted with ancient Incan cities and sacred sites, but also the love and acceptance of the Peruvian people.
Personally, this journey provided me an opportunity to take my spiritual practice up a notch. I find that when I am away from my normal routine, especially with like minded people, I can focus on my deep intent to be who I truly am in each moment. Who am I truly? I am a spiritual being in a human body; a traveler on this earth seeking oneness with the ‘all that is’. So, being in the presence of other seekers, feeling the deep energy and intent of sacred sites, performing ceremony meant to open to light and release that which no longer serves, all provide the framework upon which growth is possible and even easy.
This is the reason to take a spiritual journey! To facilitate your own insight and personal growth; and to provide an extra dose of energy to continue the process when you return home! This is a gift you can give yourself that continues to give light, inspiration and purpose to your path for many months and even years.
I urge anyone who is attracted to these words to consider giving yourself the gift of a journey of the spirit. There are two journeys coming up sponsored by Life Mastery Programs or by Life Mastery Associate Teachers. The first, February 11 – 16, 2010 is to the pyramids at Teotihuacán, Mexico. This journey will be led by Life Mastery Programs, Master Teachers Rita Rivera Fox and Meghan McChesney Gilroy. Information for this journey can be found on the Life Mastery web site or by contacting Rosemary Nichols at Rose@lifemasteryprograms.com .
The second journey is to Egypt, March 8 – 21, 2010, with Life Mastery Associate Teachers Gayle Franceschetti and me, Barry Schwartzbach. Information on this trip can be found on the L.O.V.E. web site www.return2love.net or by contacting Gayle at sunnispirit@sbcglobal.net or by calling 203-265-2927.
To help facilitate your decision please accept the gift of $100 off the cost of the journey to Egypt by mentioning this blog when you register. Please click here Egypt Flyer.
Holistic Health Program
By Grace Sardonicus
- Monday, November 23rd, 2009
Free Holistic Health Counseling Session
Do you have the desire to balance & increase your health, happiness and well-being? Through EMBD’s new Coaching based on “The 4 Alignments of Self-Care™”, you will work together with Grace to create & implement a personalized program for your physical, emotional & spiritual health. This program will span 6 months and include 2 (1) hour private sessions, 1 group sessions, email & phone support plus unlimited access to her web library filled with an abundance of nutritional support.
Please click here to contact Grace, or call 603-651-9642 to schedule your session long distance or in person!
Spiritual Transformation: An Early Morning Visit
By Ellen Luksch
- Sunday, November 22nd, 2009
Early Morning Visit
You wake me
In the middle of the night
Whispering something beyond words
That sets my soul to dancing.
I lie here in the same bed
In the same room
Feeling not the same at all.
The air shimmers.
“I am alive.”
Stones start speaking.
Roses fall tumultuously
From the lips of saints.
My mind turns inside out.
I am lost inside my own bewilderment.
My heart whispers reassurance
And leaps toward total abandon.
You wake me
In the middle of the night
Calling me by my true name,
“Beloved”.
ecluksch
Please join me for a Solstice telegathering and poetry sharing on Monday evening, December 21st, 2009 from 8pm-9pm. We will savor poets musing on the mystical path of love and abandon presented by the likes of Hafiz, Rumi, Mary Oliver and some homegrown offerings of my own. The last 20 minutes is open for a poetry slam where anyone can offer a poem of their own or read one of their favorite inspirational poems from any spiritual tradition. Let’s get together and share some intoxicating verse to transport ourselves to sublime sweetness in preparation for our holiday gatherings and winter repose.
The cost is free except for the cost of the call to you. Dial 218-486-1600 and enter code 920454 and join our evening of divine inspiration!
Manifesting Your Dreams Seminar
By Grace Sardonicus
- Monday, November 16th, 2009
Dates: Jan 6, Feb 3 & March 3, 2010
Time: 6:30pm – 9:00pm
Cost: $85 for the series or $35 per class
Yoga Passion, 32 West Street, Beverly Farms, MA 01915
Through The 4 Alignments of Self Care ™, the journey of Manifesting Your Dreams begins with the desire to be healthy, happy & well. Next, the awareness of your personal history, e.g., story of your life. Once there is alignment with your core purpose & priorities, dream manifestation is the result.
Workshop includes lectures, 4 Alignments awareness-building exercises, Toltec Dreaming practices, group interaction. The series ends with an optional journey to the pyramids of Teotihuacan, Mexico from March 25-30, 2010. To See flyer click here.
You Are the Creator of Your Life
By Kevin Murray
- Sunday, November 1st, 2009
If someone told you that “YOU Are the Creator of Your Life”, and asked if you believed that statement, how would you respond?
I don’t mean that you create everything in life. But as in any aware relationship, you are responsible for your 1/2, and your 1/2 only. Let’s look at what you create and what you don’t create. The 1/2 that you don’t create; the buildings and cars and stuff out there, we call that a part of the FRAME of the world and we generally have some agreement around these things. You didn’t create the frame. In this 1/2, a.k.a. “the world out there”- things are as they are, and we don’t expend too much energy on them, other than in our opinions and beliefs about them [which is an "inside here" not an "out there"]
When I say You are the Creator of Your Life, the 1/2 I’m talking about is your emotional response to 2 things. One is to “what is out there” and the other is all of the responses, beliefs, habits and agreements about you in your mind. This content of your mind and all the emotional energy it generates, is where you are the creator. In this arena, you have been creating forever. As we begin to bring this process into the light of awareness, we can take new ground in our creations. Considered in this way, emotions are the key to the most important things in our lives. If things don’t show up on your emotional radar; if things don’t catch your interest, then they don’t matter much to you at all and we don’t need to concern ourselves with them. But for the things that show up in your life, particularly around people and relationships, and more importantly our interpretation of and response to people and relationships, and the emotions that we feel, this is the Creation that I am referring to.
In the area of emotion there is much more individual subjectivity around what we experience vs. the ‘frame’ of the world. What this really means is that you are the Creator of the Emotional Quality of everything that you perceive. And we have been creating in this way for years, but something begins to shift when we start to create with Awareness.
The starting point is always where we are now. What are the predominant emotions you experience through a day, a week, a month? Looking through the lens of emotion, we begin to see the way we have learned to create. If we don’t like what we see, then we can start to change things. But we need to see first the way we learned to create.
We are offering a day together on November 14th in CT to explore this in person. You Are the Creator of Your Life Flyer
If you can’t make this day in person, but are interested in what we find and how you can play in this new way, please be in touch and we’ll share our results and findings.
Embody Your True Heart
By Grace Sardonicus
- Friday, October 23rd, 2009
How often are any of us in the experience of genuine feeling vs. thinking about feeling/judgment? The mind is such a conniving trickster. In a recent session a client said, “I have been doing all the things I think I should do. I am eating right, walking, getting enough sleep, and doing my spiritual practice. Yet I still get sick. How could this be?” I asked how she was feeling emotionally.
I sensed a disconnection between what she thinks she should do vs. how she was really feeling. Through our dialogue she gradually uncovered the exact moment when she decided to stop feeling. Her ego won the battle but her integrity & health lost the war. Does this scenario sound familiar?
What’s more important? Exercising power over the body or truly loving, feeling & caring for oneself? What’s the cost of disconnecting by listening to the mind’s agendas and judgments? How do we find our way back home to our inner knowing? Here are a few steps towards inner alignment:
1. Willingness to look at oneself honestly with the barometer of integrity.
2. Acceptance of who you are with no judgment.
3. Awareness of the mind’s distorted beliefs.
4. Remembering that every reaction/experience is an opportunity to see yourself.
5. The world is a mirror. You create your reality from beliefs of whom you “think” you are.
6. Lighten up. It’s just your ego in reaction. Its not really who you are!
Join Grace in aligning with your true heart and cultivating self-care. There are 2 options currently available:
Bimonthly meetings of Wisdom & Grace in Beverly, Ma or Embody Your True Heart at the sacred pyramids in Teotihuacan, Mexico March 25-30, 2010
For more information you can visit Grace’s website http://www.embodydreamprograms.com/
Hibernation (www.jamiegilroy.blogspot.com)
By Jamie Gilroy
- Monday, October 19th, 2009
It’s time to take an extended break (as if I’ve really been diligently blogging regularly). Yesterday it was snowing (at least it was on TV during the Pats game) here in Massachusetts. So old man Winter is trudging our way. Coincidentally my beloved has urged me (actually has been urging me for quite some time) to write down my experiences I have had while travelling this particular Spiritual path I’ve been on (meandering anyone?) the past eight years.
I have decided to devote whatever time and energy I have left after running my business to this project. It will be a book. Probably short. Most likely humorous, all about Love & Redemption, sprinkled with mysticism and rebellion, boy meets girl, lots of driving, and transformation – not necessarily in that order.
Hang in there if your jonesing for more info (or gawd forbid more blogs). I hope to emerge from my self imposed hibernation when the snows have melted, the trees begin to bud again, and the warm sun has returned. Until then…
Thanks for reading. Blessings.
J
Dedicated To One I Love
By Grace Sardonicus
- Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
This morning when I woke up feeling stiff in my low back, I realized how disconnected I have been feeling in my body. I got on my yoga mat and woke up the joints of my limbs and spine. My low back was so tight that the dominant sensation was PAIN. The dominant feeling was loss followed quickly by sadness. Where did I go? Why did I let myself go this far? I thought I had been feeling.
This past month my middle daughter’s dear childhood friend Jessy was murdered by her Marine husband after he returned from the Iraq war. She was a beautiful 21-year old with a heart of gold. The memories I have of this young man/boy are that he too was a sensitive kindred spirit.
The immediate response I felt to this news was deep sadness at the thought of never again seeing Jessy, whom I had watched grow up alongside my daughter. Then I was enveloped in judgments about the war, the Marines & our political leaders. How could this beautiful soul be taken so young and so horrifically? I started feeling in my heart and landed in my head in reaction. I wanted to judge, make someone wrong.
It blew me away when Jessy’s mother expressed no animosity to the boy. Instead she felt deep compassion for his troubled mind. And wanted him to get help. She knew they were in love and happy. She also knew that he returned from the war a changed man/boy. He had left as a sweet soul and returned deeply pained. Now tragedy had struck.
I found it quite a challenge to wrap my mind around this experience and find neutral ground. How can I stay present in my heart with all of my mind’s editorials? It’s so easy to lose track of our way. Heart or mind? How do I integrate both for clear expression instead of either/or, right or wrong?
I looked at a couple of ways I could express my feelings. I could say “I feel deep sadness, loss and pain in my heart for the passing of Jessy, the lousy war, insensitive Marines who didn’t even call to acknowledge her passing and offer their comrade any kind of support.” Or I could say, “I feel deep sadness, loss and pain in my heart for the passing of Jessy. I can feel the light that radiated from her smile and laughter. I can feel the sweetness of her gentle heart. I carry her sparkle with me as she is an angel buzzing around sharing her love in the heavens.”
I then I ask myself, how do I feel after each communication? Which one keeps me in my heart or takes me into my thinking/judging mind resulting in feeling negative and like a victim?
We have a choice. We can get hooked into old patterns of drama, gossip, ill-will, fear, negativity & judgment. Or simply feel what’s in your heart.
There is a presence in you that is always experiencing. It is a presence that is separate from your thoughts, from your feelings and from everything else.
This presence is the nonlocal domain from which everything originates. It is the infinite source of possibility and potential. It is you, without name, without concepts, without beliefs, without anything your mind could think of.
When you learn to live from this level of existence you are the one manifesting everything. You are the wizard – and remarkable revelations at this level become almost ordinary and normal. Tom Herold
What will inspire you to have gratitude and take responsibility for your life?. A loved one dying or witnessing a new life being born? Or you could step out into nature, breathe deep, feel the rhythms of life in the trees, rivers, oceans, the earth beneath your feet and FEEL YOUR PRESENCE connecting your mind and body.
Now I breathe and consciously feel my lungs expanding in my chest. I am waking up my muscles after long weeks disconnected slumber. Boy, does it feel great! I feel life coursing through me again. At once I feel relaxation and energy. I am whole. I am alive. My body is my earthly vehicle. How can I love it even more? When I am connected to all of myself, I feel plugged into all of life.
Ask yourself a few questions. Am I truly feeling today or do I think I’m feeling? And what concrete actions can I take to make feeling life a higher priority than mentalizing life?
Are you trying to put them into a box so your mind understands? Or are you living in presence? The discipline of asking such questions can wake us up to splendor of feeling alive today. From wherever Jessy is now, I’m sure she’d agree that it’s worth the inquiry!
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