Spiritual Principles for Healing

Spiritual Principles for Healing
by Eve A. Wood, MD

Just as a three legged stool requires each of its legs in order to stand, we each need to attend to our bodies, minds and spirits in order to heal.

We need to involve our biology (genetics, inborn characteristics and unique vulnerabilities), our minds (background, beliefs and behaviors), and our spirits (faith or connection to whatever gives our lives meaning) for our total well-being.

In these very challenging times, we need to do as much as possible to stay healthy and balanced.


Spiritual Principles for Healing
By Eve A. Wood, MD

Based on Chapter 10 of Dr. Wood's new book,
10 Steps to Take Charge of Your Emotional Life
(to learn more, pick up your copy of 10 Steps today!)

     The wisdom of spiritual teachings is enduring; its practices are clearly life affirming and enhancing. I personally believe that hope heals, prayer and other spiritual pursuits transform lives, and that anyone can find a spiritual home. What gives your life meaning, and where you can find support for what matters to you is fundamental for physical and emotional health. As you read thru these spiritual principals, think about which ones you already believe and live, which ones make sense to you but aren't active in your mind or behavior, and which ones you have trouble accepting could be true.

1. You're amazing, wondrous, and a piece of the divine— that is, you're enough, and you deserve to be free and well.
2. Your inner wisdom is brilliant; if something doesn't feel right, it isn't.


3. Your inner healer is looking for partners.
4. There's a reason for your symptoms, distress, or difficulty, and you can discover it.
5. You're here for a reason and needed in the world
6. What matters to you is of the utmost importance.
7. You can live the life you want and are meant to lead.
8. Where there's a will, there's a way.
9. Although you may not understand "why" tragedy strikes, you can always learn from it and be transformed for good.
10. There's a right answer to every question, but it's always a personal right answer.
11. There's a spiritual path that you're meant to travel - a spiritual home that's right for you - and you can find it.
12. You're a blessed child of the universe.
13. In giving, you receive.
14. There are no small acts of kindness.
15. An attitude of gratitude transforms lives.


16. You can take charge of your emotional life.
17. Love is almost all you need!
18. You're never alone. Reach out for help, and you'll be answered.

Self-Care Tips

* We need to avoid excessive exposure to traumatic news coverage. (for example, turn off the TV sooner.)

* We need to surround ourselves with love, connection and those relationships which nurture our spirits. (i.e. invite a friend to lunch.)

* We need to make time for silliness and fun. (i.e. make a play-date with a young child.)

* We need to seek help for depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress problems (PTSD) as they emerge in ourselves and our loved-ones. (For information on anxiety, depression and PTSD, visit www.DrEveWood.com and click on resources.)

* We need to nurture hope by reading and sharing stories of healing and transformation. (i.e. read Chris' story in the Spirit chapter of Dr. Wood's book, Medicine, Mind and Meaning: A psychiatrist's guide to treating the body, mind and spirit. )

* Evaluate your life choices. Consider whether you are suited for the path you are pursuing.

* Honor your feelings and inner wisdom. Focus on your core feelings—what can they teach you about your life.

* Identify the mindset challenges that bind you. Have you taken on certain beliefs that are causing you pain or difficulty?

* Use affirmations to address these mindset challenges. For instance, turn the mindset “I'm a failure” into “My best is good enough.”

* Plan a potluck supper as opposed to cooking a full meal yourself.

* Make a donation in honor of somebody who matters to you.

* Put yourself on the guest and present list.

* Pet a puppy. Take a walk around the block. Or dance to your favorite CD in front of the mirror when you are starting to feel a little too overwhelmed.

* Practice deep breathing but do it this way: start by blowing a deep breath out as you think and visualize yourself letting go of the stress and pressure you feel. Then to take a deep healing breath to fill the empty space. Each time you feel overwhelmed, start with a letting-go deep breath and follow up with a series of soothing breaths.

* Manage expectations: If expecting a perfect holiday, for instance, with everyone getting along, the meal perfectly prepared and served promptly at 5pm , you may want to amend your expectations. The unexpected usually happens.

* Maintain regular and ongoing self-care practices which tend to fall by the wayside during travel and holiday times (i.e. nutrition, physical activity, adequate sleep, spiritual practices such as yoga, meditation, etc.)

* Before the holiday, create opportunities for celebration in months following the holidays. Celebrate small successes and minor developments, even in early January.

* Be open to the possibility that some extra help or support may be necessary to negotiate the challenging times (i.e. counseling, psychological or emotional help, extra support from friends).

* Focus on what has worked to alleviate depression during the non-holiday season; take time to treat yourself well and not just cater to everyone else's needs.

* Begin a gratitude journal. Sometime before you go to bed each day, write down one thing that you are grateful for.

* Introduce a new healing or spiritual practice, i.e. yoga, prayer, meditation, singing, reading spiritual or religious literature.

* Add one more family meal to your week. The joy of connecting over nourishment is healing.

* Practice random acts of kindness. Smile at somebody you would normally just pass by. Say thank you in a special way. Buy a sandwich for a homeless person.

* Compliment someone you don't know for something they say, do or even wear.

* Reflect on the words of the Nobel Prize-winning Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore:

I awoke and saw that life was service.
I acted and behold, service was joy.


* Seek help. Ask for it when you find yourself stuck, confused or overwhelmed. For guidance, consult Dr. Wood's book, Medicine, Mind and Meaning: A psychiatrist's guide to treating the body, mind and spirit.(www.MedicineMindandMeaning.com)

A Travesty Played-out In Ignorance

"The human being is a replica of the universe thatcreated/evolved it. Just as billions of stars shine in the sky, so billions of cells sparkle in a human body.... Sometimes stars explode and disappear, accordingly, just because some lights in a persons brain goes out does not mean the rest of that human beings universe is not alight with the melodies of the soul. "_Michael Levy

      When people are educated at universities, but never taught how to apply their education in an authentic manner ... ignorance becomes normal and the more power people get ... the more ignorance of the true meaning of life shows up in their actions. If any proof were need we only have to ask the question...Does a person who has suffered brain damage and can no longer feed themselves deserve to live

     The person who is hitting the headlines in the USA is a lady named Terri's Schiavo who is disease free and all her body organs are in a healthy condition. Her conscious brain is not functioning properly so she is in an -- non compos mentis state of being.

     Solely on the testimony of one person, her husband, she has been sentenced to death by starvation and dehydration. There is no actual evidence from Terri herself that her wishes were to terminate her life if she could not function normally.

     This did not stop an educated judge making his own disciplined decision to end her life, even though the innocent ladies parents wanted to nurse and care for her. Surrounding this case is the normal media hysteria and hype that feeds on educated differences in politicians, lawyers, judges and doctors opposing points of view.

     All involved had advantageous eductions, but unfortunately the education did not teach them how to live an authentic life on earth. Without any true meaning, all that is left is the personal views, opinions and perspectives from so called professional experts who we never taught how to apply their education in a trustworthy and credible manner within universal laws.

     The result is the chaos we read in the newspapers and see on TV news programs. And all along an innocent lady is needlessly being starved to death without any compassion, dignity, grace and true deliberation from people in power. Simply because ... They don't know how live in an authentic way as nature designed ... Unenlightened ignorance is not bliss in America ... It is a crying shame ... A real live travesty played-out in educated ignorance.

Michael Levy
www.pointoflife.com 

words have tremendous power

Second to thought alone, words have tremendous power, both in the manifest and the material world. Spiritual teachings remind us that the universe is energy, thought is energy, and that our thoughts can work directly upon the energy flux of the universe, and thereby manifest our desires. This is ultimately how anything and everything in the universe was, and continues to be, created - through the power of deliberate focused intelligence. Hence, the idea that we can become co-creators with God is true only to the extent that we master our thoughts, purify our minds and develop the capacity to focus them with unwavering concentration upon what we seek to manifest. Spoken words are largely overlooked in the modern world as instruments of immense esoteric power. Yes, we know their exoteric power to sway in a powerful speech. Both Hitler and Martin Luther King were excellent exponents of this - each in his own arena. However, the ESOTERIC power of words to affect change in the universe DIRECTLY has bèen the long-standing secret tradition in ancient wisdom. As the Bible says: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made" - John 1: 1,3 In a very practical sense, the quality of life you experience is directly related to the quality of the words you use. Are your words often cynical, harsh, abrasive or abusive? That is the quality of life that you will tend to manifest. Are your thoughts gentle, pure, tranquil, loving and filled with joy? That is the quality of life that you will enjoy. Your words follow your thoughts, and your thoughts manifest the world you live in. Hence, by monitoring your words and seeking to control them, you get a direct grip on what you mind is thinking and manifesting for you. It is the mind that creates your life experience, and you get a close-up look at what it is doing from focusing upon your habitual words - both to yourself and to other people. In ancient tradition, words were considered to have specific esoteric energies. Even the letters of the alphabet were attributed with specific numerical values, symbols, and energies. Ancient Hebrew is an excellent example of this numerological construction. Words constructed from the Hebrew alphabet represented specific formulations of vibrational energy; which is the very stuff of the universe, since the universe is vibrational energy in its very essence. This is why great significance was given to the names of objects and entities. To have the real name of something or someone was to have control over it. The implication was that you could cause that thing or entity to obey your will. Hence, responsible use of this power was absolutely vital, or else you ran the risk of looking like the Sorcerer's Apprentice, unleashing powers you had no idea how to control and quivering at the consequences of what you had done!. This is why modern day Christians have it totally wrong about blasphemy, and "taking the Lord's name in vain". They mistakenly think that simply saying "Oh God!" or "Oh Christ!" in a moment of exasperation is a blasphemous misuse of the name of God. Wrong. These expletives are about as blasphemous as saying "Oh Goodness!", or something similar. The real idea of "taking the Lord's name in vain" lies in the power of the name itself, as discussed above. The idea is that when you call upon the secret name of God, with all the focus of your mind and will, and with your will tuned to the Source of the universe, you can literally command God to do what you would have him do! Hence, the idea of taking the Lord's name in vain might be to use this awesome holy power for something foolishly trivial, like summoning up a bottle of coke, because you're too lazy to go down to the corner shop. To translate this to a modern analogy, you wouldn't pull the emergency stop handle on a subway train simply to tie your shoelace!. Hence, the blasphemy here is about a MISUSE OF ENERGY - the power inherent in the secret name of God, and entrusted to the believer. One privy to the most powerful secret in the universe must use it with responsibility and full awareness, not for petty self-serving ends. Simply saying "Oh Jesus!" is neither here nor there. Similarly, we can use words to manifest extremely powerful effects in our lives. There are many ways to do so. As we have said, one effective way is to ensure that the majority of words you use on a daily basis are wholesome and helpful: the sort of words you would like the quality of your life to be patterned after. Another way is in meditation. You can take a world like Peace, Love, Joy, Harmony, and repeat it slowly aloud to yourself, or in the silence in your mind. Do it slowly and resonantly, allowing the full vibration of the word to penetrate your mind and body and then surround you, thereby touching your life in all areas. Mantras are another powerful mystic use of words - an enormous topic that you would do well to study. You can take a mantra like "OM" and repeat this to yourself in meditation for healing and spiritual growth. There are even musical recordings of OM and other mantras that you can play to create a healing spiritual vibration in your surroundings. On the other side of the coin, holding your tongue can also be most beneficial! There is increasing noise pollution in our world, as people increasingly give freè and endless vent to their every trivial thought, mostly out of pure ego. Perhaps Rap music characterizes this endless deluge of utterly worthless verbiage better than anything else in our modern culture. When you do waste your words in meaningless chatter, you let that powerful esoteric energy dissipate worthlessly into empty space. That is why it is a great benefit to maintain silence, whenever possible. After all, even a fool may be thought wise, as long as he keeps his mouth shut. In his teenage years, the writer was most influenced by the Christian mystical writer, Thomas A Kempis, particularly when he wrote, "There are many occasions when I wish I had kept my silence unbroken, and had not mixed with men. Why are we so ready to talk and chat with other people when we rarely return to our silence without some injury to our conscience? We do it because we hope to receive some comfort from our conversation together, and because we want to unburden our hearts which are full of all the things we have thought. We are only too happy to fill our thoughts with the things we love or desire of find difficult, and to talk to others about them. The pity is that it is often silly and useless to do so, for this outward comfort can destroy the inward comfort that is the gift of God. We must watch and pray therefore, so that time is not wasted." From "The Imitation Of Christ" by Thomas A Kempis There are good reasons why silence is such a common feature of monastic life and silence retreats abound in modern spiritual culture too. Ponder this, for your everyday life. Overall then, the lesson of this article is that we should speak less (and certainly less foolishly). When we do use words, we should choose them with care, and use them consciously and with power, fully aware of the potent impact that have at all levels - material, emotional, mental and spiritual. Know that words have power to shape your life, and to manifest what you think about and talk about all the time. If you have not done so ùp to now, use them wisely from this day forward. http://www.aksworld.com _______________ _______________

The False "Enlightenment"

The False "Enlightenment"
Tobias Lars

Most of those who pass themselves off or let their followers pass them off as "enlightened" are really empty shells that have abandoned or as they like to say "let go", "risen above", "ascended", out of what they call the "lower" emotional body.


[This is Chapter 29 of Tobias Lars' highly recommended book Awakening Souls reproduced here with kind permission. You can read the entire book by visiting www.soulcounseling.com.]


The Emotional Body has been labeled the Problem
From almost the very beginning of 'time' here on earth the Emotional Body has been labeled as the problem. We thought, or were convinced by the fallen Angels that the emotions held us back from experiencing the 'heaven' we had envisioned. She, the Mother, the female aspect of God, the emotions, feeling, intuition would nag us with some 'feeling' she had, keeping us from moving forward with out visions.

"There's something off with what you're creating" Mother God would tell Father God. (The Female aspect inside our selves would tell the Male aspect inside our selves is one way to experience it…and there is a real manifestation of Father God and Mother God as our parents 'out there' in the Uni-Verse – Song of One…both realities exist. Why not? Source-God creates all that is…not either or – both and more!)

"Well what is it?" He-God, our rational mind self would ask. And She would reply:

"I don't know, it just doesn't feel right."

This would irritate God the Father aspect, the Yang, the male, the outward 'doing' principle of God in the divided creation. And since She, God the Mother, the Yin, the female the magnetic receptive aspect of God in the divided creation didn't express in a 'rational' logical thought process what She felt was wrong, the Father decided that is must be 'all in her head' and 'we'll go ahead with our plans for Creation anyway.'

AND HERE WE ARE!

In a divided, schizoid, creation where the Male and the Female wage the 'war of the sexes' with each other…with the heart, caught in the middle, being hung on the cross to bleed, and in a very real danger of having the whole Earth experiment go down the drain.

Nymphs, Garden Devas, Rock Beings & Wind Dragons

Yes, so now here we are in a twisted creation of 'fallen' divided, schizoid, Jekyll & Hyde, un-wholy beings who are for the most part severely out of touch with their feelings, disconnected from their intuition, with not much joy or power left, addictively-obsessively trying to find nourishment in over eating, over thinking, over working, over exercising, over 'being positive', over indulging in media etc. We can't even hear or see the Devic Kingdoms anymore, the Nature Spirits. Can you feel or see the water nymphs, the garden devas, the rock beings, the wind dragons? No, the vast majority of us can't and when our kids do we tell them they're 'imaginary' and that they'd better stop doing it or we'll give them Ritalin or Prozac. We're almost completely out of touch with our Selves and rapidly killing our selves, the animals, plants and Mother Earth.

A while back, after a particularly powerful Activation Session for a client, I walked outside and felt the earth, the fruit trees, the wind as part of me. I felt like I was permeable, transparent to everything around me. I was pulling a garden hose towards an apple tree to water it. As I pulled I heard a loud 'STOP' inside my mind. I turned around and saw that a small 12" 'baby' apricot tree was in danger of being hurt by the hose I was pulling towards the apple tree. I turned momentarily to put the hose down. I saw in my minds eye, the third eye, the center for Christ Consciousness, a gnome, about 2 ft tall, lift the hose over the baby apricot tree and place it on the other side. I turned around and the hose had somehow 'miraculously' lifted itself over the little apricot tree and was laying now on the safe side where I could pull on the hose as much as I wanted and not have it push against the baby tree! Wow. I felt happy, giddy, full of joy.

I realized as I asked God, why couldn't I have seen the gnome-friend physically, that I wasn't quite ready to view them fully embodied. Being able to see and feel and allow other dimensions to fully manifest it seems that one needs to be fair-ly (thanks fairies!) pure in order to be able to fluidly move between dimensions. Later I tried to share this experience with some friends and I 'd watch their eyes glaze over somewhat. So it is, only those who are at the cusp themselves can feel and know the truth of these experiences.

The Findhorn Community in Scotland started by Eileen Caddy and two friends, started out by them talking with Pan, the God of the Earth and growing vegetables in sand with practically no water. Today she's been honored by the Queen of England and there's a large eco-community and spiritual center established. There's a woman in Michigan at Lily Hill Farm, that allows people to come and visit and connect with Pan, the fairy kingdom, and devas. She met Pan physically in her grape orchard, the fairies would come visit her physically. She was a straight laced librarian, her husband an engineer when this started.

These worlds are all around us, if we are open. These worlds are part of the Original Plan for Earth, we can't just wipe them out by denying them, or suppressing them, or deciding mentally that they 'aren't real'. Feeling our emotions and cleaning-clearing our judgments-misunderstandings-past emotional stuck traumas will open our abilities to perceive again.

From the original judgment against the Emotional Body came the model that to reach 'enlightenment' one must successfully 'kill' the 'lower' emotions that we've labeled hatred, envy, greed, lust, anger etc. Or more sophisticated: to 'rise above them', to 'let them go' through 'non attachment' to have 'no judgment' on them.

Ex-communicating parts of our Souls

How do you think a child feels when its parents 'lets it go', lets them loose as they are hanging from a ledge over the bottomless Abyss, we let our grip loose and let them fall into the Pit? "Good bye sweetheart it is for your own good" we say as they fall screaming in terror into the black, empty, cold, Void. How would they feel? This is 'loving'? That is what we have all done to those parts of ourselves that we've labeled 'wrong', 'base', 'lower'. We have literally abandoned parts, chunks, bits of our Souls because we labeled them 'bad', 'unspiritual', 'reactive', 'counterproductive', 'lower', etc. So we have 'let them go'. We have sent them to hell, banished them to the ends of the universe with our 'prayers' and 'exorcisms', and much of our spirituality. Is it any wonder that some of these 'orphans', these rejected aspects of our Larger Self are a bit pissed off!? And that they don't exactly trust us anymore because almost all our healing modalities have at their root still a wanting to get rid of these pesky, irritating, 'wrong', 'evil', or again more sophisticated, 'unproductive' feelings?

Look around- most of the 'healing techniques' out there are about 'rising above', 'letting go', 'trans-cending' (sending into a trance!), becoming 'clear', etc.

This is a basic delusion – misunderstanding, that there are 'bad', 'dirty' parts of ourselves that we can simply abandon, 'let go', and somehow become enlightened. You can outrun them for a while, pretend you don't have them, but they are connected to us by a spiritual umbilical cord and they need to be 'healed' – wholed – reintegrated – welcomed home, taken back into you. Don't run from them, try not to think about them, stay busy to avoid, avoid, avoid, but turn and face them and transform them back into what they are meant to be. Soul Retrieval is a practice , if done correctly, that does this. All our 'designer diseases' today – cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Chronic Fatigue, etc. etc. are all diseases of the Soul, parts of our Soul's that need to be welcomed back, transformed and healed.

Every Emotion has its seat at your Round Table

Do you think God the Father and God the Mother or the Absolute Source of the Universe made a mistake in creating the Emotional Body? Or that certain emotions, feelings like anger, fear, confusion, doubt, guilt have no purpose? Were these emotions created by something other than God? What? Who created them then? The "Devil" to torment us? How ludicrous. Of course ALL emotions have a role, have an important part to play, there was no mistake made as we were originally created. The Emotional Body part of each of us was made for a reason, made perfectly, to protect us, to warn us, to enable us to experience the Creation, to give us the Power to explore the creation. In our emotions lies our real power. For example, guilt and fear are meant to float around the creation so they tell us when we've reached the end of the creation. They're not meant to be inside us and certainly are not meant to run us as they do most beings on earth today. Fear has another role as well, to warn us of unexplored areas, experiential areas we have not yet mastered. It doesn't mean not to go there, but fear is a guidepost, our servant, a 'pay attention' bell. All the "you have to choose either love or fear" ultimatums are tricks of the Mind, of Lucifer, of false spirituality with the seed of denial in it, to get you to deny your real feelings. We don't ever have to choose either or -- choose both and more! You can always say 'I choose both' or 'I choose neither', '…………….' Or choose to simply not reply as Jesus did in front of Pontius Pilate.

The Dragon's Breath of Protection

Anger is our protection and having shut down our anger as 'non spiritual' has left us open to being invaded, controlled, soul implanted by those interested in controlling us for their own energy and power gain. Our conscious anger will spit them out and the control devices (social & religious programming, schools, TV, etc.) that are implanted in our minds and bodies. Our anger/rage will literally save our very beings. And we've been con-vinced to label our righteous anger/rage 'spiritually incorrect', 'evil', 'lower emotions' etc. We need to wake up and free the Emotional Body so it can merge with our spirits and then we can again function as the whole gods we were originally meant to be and safely explore the Creation without getting trapped in messes like the collective denial we've created on Earth today. I mean look around, is this the Original Intention of God, of Love, of Source, of Divine Intelligence, of Heart that we see around us? Of course not. God-Love-Source did not intend for diseases, killing each other, killing animals & plants, destruction, war, psychic torture, stress, etc….except as a 'remedial learning program' for us to wake back up. All those things are 'wake up calls' to get us to return to our Selves, to our Hearts, to Love, to God (ness).


"Spiritual Correctness" is worse than Political Correctness

Now it has become 'spiritually correct' to tell these lost parts of our selves that we want them back, now we want 'integration', 'wholeness', we've invited them to 'come out, come out, wherever you are', 'this time I promise I will take you back and we will live together again.' And every time we've promised these lost parts of ourselves that we'll be open and receptive to them, be willing to listen, hear, allow them their role in our Being, we've again betrayed, banished, punished them with 'white magic'. Today we use mental lasers, tronic mind wizardry, NLP programming, hypnosis, fancy mind techniques, visualizations, affirmations, 'prayers' to the 'Light' to try to ray gun them out of existence. These 'lost aspects' of our selves are terrified by now, are damaged in their receptive centers by our 'white light' and many of these 'lost pieces' have vowed not to trust their god (us) again. Some of these lost pieces are full of rage and rebellion. They are maimed, psychotic, demented, soul damaged bits of essence, because we've made them so! With our warfare with the power of 'light' that we've (m)aimed at them. And then we wonder when these lost, denied, cut off aspects of our self are so denied that they take separate bodies as our children and rage at the mind and soul control in our world by becoming heavy metal musicians, gang bangers, trying desperately to keep the soul control of the Mind machine at bay. We need to wake up and see, be willing to look, to end our denial, our fake glossed over society that is decaying, corroding from within at this very moment. Let's be willing to risk feeling again, get real, get honest, pray for guidance, for real healing, not to the 'Light' of Denial that will narcotize us into altered realities of spaced out, weak, etheric slow deaths. This is the false heaven, the heaven without the 'juice' of emotions.

It's going to take some time to convince these parts of our Self that we are sincere about really healing this time before they trust us again. But there is no way to have this Creation function according to Source's Original Plan without input from the freed emotional body, not the enslaved model where you make the emotions do what is 'spiritually correct'. ('Spiritual correctness' is the ultimate tyranny, much worse than political correctness and it is coming big time to earth) The Emotional Body is the power source, the magnetic energy that grounds the Creation, holds it in place. It can not be gone around. It must be brought 'up to speed', and really healed now if we want real healing. The Emotional Body is what gives the Spirit the power to operate in this level of physical density.


Masque-a-rading as Love

But back to 'enlightenment'. If you let yourself feel many of the people that call themselves or willingly let others call them 'enlightened', you'll feel nothing. They are an emptiness, a void ness that they pass off for 'peace'. And onto this 'blank slate' we've been programmed to project our image, our golden calf idolatrous image of what 'enlightenment' should look like, what our minds are telling us enlightenment should look like. And because most of us have lost touch with our feeling bodies and been programmed by parents-schools-society to not listen to them, we are at the mercy of these vampires of energy, we can't feel them and let our emotional body tell us that they are empty, soulless, dead, energy feeders. And then through their fancy light/intelligence words and using our hope for a lost Eden they in collusion with the Mind (and our minds) have convinced us that this emptiness is 'peace', is 'home' is 'enlightenment', is 'heaven'. It is not peace, it is emptiness at best and often heartlessness that hates the emotional body, hates the Mother of Creation, hates having to have a body and is masquerading as love. It is no feeling, empty eyes of death. Often these people are unaware that this 'enlightenment' that has happened to them is not real filled with Love, filled with Source, filled with Divine Play, filled with God(ness) enlightenment but instead being stripped of their feeling-emotional body, emptied of large parts of their own essence and replaced with a 'light' that is not loving light. They have decided to do this, they have opened themselves to this 'light' and been willing to trade their 'pesky' feelings for the false 'peace' of this enlightenment…just the way British Prime Minister Chamberlain was willing to go into a false agreement with Hitler and a false promise of 'peace' from the unloving light that possessed Hitler. Of course Hitler had no intention of delivering any real 'peace' to Britain. One reflects the other—our inner willingness not to feel, not to sense with our emotional body, in-tuition leaves us vulnerable and open to being 'tricked by the light'.


The Ultimate Bull-Smoke Detector—Your In-Tuition Feeling Emotional Body

Our feeling body, our intuition, if we are in touch with it will tell us immediately that they are empty shells that have abandoned their emotional bodies and are passing this off as being enlightened. Of course this isn't true for all teachers but you will need to learn for yourself how to feel them out. Most of them are fooled themselves and believe they have reached 'enlightenment'. Often this 'awakening' experience comes in some real form of 'letting go' and there is some draining of the old programming from the psyche. There may be a real experience of 'dying', of some form of 'light' entering their body…and the person's willingness to do anything to be rid of the emotional pain they are or have been feeling, opens the door to a wholesale 'letting go' of their emotional selves. 'Please just take this pain away from me!! I'll do anything!' a part of them is saying. This 'letting go' provides a 'relief' much the same way cutting off an arm or leg that is diseased will provide relief…but the person is not whole anymore, they can't walk or hug or function fully anymore. We cannot cut off energy parts of our Selves and remain whole beings as originally created.

And Loving Source, God, Divine Effulgence is a filling with Love…with Warmth…with Play…with Fun…with being tickled by Love – Daddy – Mommy… It is Wonder – Full, it is Full(y)-Filling, your Cup will Run Over…and over…and over. Of course…feel it for a moment…don't let the Mind trick you with its hall of mirrors of 'thinking'. Feel this with your 'gut' your intuition-your heart-your Soul, your sensing, your Inner Body.

Would a Source, A Divine Intelligence, God Him or Herself feel bad, painful, stressful, fearful, difficult to you as it was filling you up? Would you feel bad when the energy of Source, Love, God, Heart, Intelligence was reconnecting w/ you? Of course not.

The purging of the old, of the 'dis-ease' yes, as it's leaving doesn't look nice, or always feel nice. There's a 'draining out' of the old stuck energies. But I have even found personally for me and people I've worked with for healing, that even the 'bad' the 'dis-ease' the old patterns, the fears, the energy of terror, or rage, or doubt, doesn't feel bad when it is being released-healed- re-capitulated-integrated when it is the loving Light of Love-God-Source assisting in the emptying and refilling. Then even the healing-purging-detoxing process feels fine, feels good and certainly when it's done…you feel wonderful, reborn, healed, light, open, clean, clear, happy…because the Source-God-Love that created us is effervescing, effulging, bursting, giving, overflowering, orgasming, feel good energy.

A Personal Note

I have had several lifetimes practicing yoga. I had a personal awakening in this lifetime when I spontaneously recalled the yoga Asanas (positions), stopping of the breath and heart and feeling the kundalini energies release in my body. It happened one night in my dorm room as a freshman at college. I had had no religion in my life, no family churchism, no organized programmed teachings on how to interpret life whatsoever in my life up to that point. I had felt drawn to read the Tao Te Ching and had started feeling God-the Tao-Essence behind Lao Tzu's timeless gateways of simple words. Then one night I came across a book with pictures of Yoga positions. As I saw the positions my body wanted to do them. My body instantly 'knew' how to do the Asanas. As I did the yogic positions it was as if keys were being put into locks in my body and turned. Each position opened gateways-doorways of energy in my body. My body loved it- I felt rushes of energy course through my body, I saw and felt other lifetimes of doing this yoga in caves and with brother renunciants. My heart and breath stopped and I felt myself spin out of the top of my head. For the next 7 years I faithfully would do my yoga- the positions, the breathing, the energy work. This was an undeniable awakening for me as a 19 year old. I am very familiar with the Indian teachings, history, Sanskrit, the Vedas. Babaji, Paramahansa Yogananda, Sai Baba and have been a (several) lifetime student and practitioner of these traditions. 'Advaita' teachings are teachings of 'non duality', all is One, there is no 'other', no 'second'. It is an attempt to place the concept of Oneness before us. Like any other teaching, when the Mind gets a hold of it and uses half truths, then the essence of the teaching often becomes twisted. Because the Advaita concept is so close, the final 'concept' before merging back into Oneness-God-Source it is also particularly subject to false 'understandings' of it's idea. The Mind can never give us 'enlightenment'. The Mind can bring us to the 'end of under-standing' where we take the leap into heart-beingness-Source-God-the unnameable. The Mind can follow and be part of the true awakening of the Soul, the Heart, the Source, the overflowing of God…but mind understanding is destined to 'stand under' (under- stand) the Heart as a trusted servant to assist in carrying out the Divine Inspirit-ations of Love, of the Heart, of God. The 'rebellion' of the Mind, having the Mind run the show, is the Luciferian rebellion of wanting to leave Love-Christ-Heart behind and create a universe without the 'pesky feeling of the heart' holding it back. It is an attempt at circumventing the Heart-Love-Feelings that is doomed to fail. It is a temporary mort-al non sustaining creation. Getting involved with this way of trying to live will only lead to dead ends, as it should! Thank you God, thank you Heart, for waking us up from false teaching!

"The Proof is in the Pudding!"

From one side of the dual coin of Awakening, yes it will feel painful, excruciating, de-toxing, like going through addiction withdrawal. Because we are addicted to our old mind programming. But if after your detoxing it does not feel freeing, fulfilling, open, looser, more clear…then it is not a real 'enlightenment' teaching. Re filling with Love, with God, with Source, with your Self will feel GO(O)D! The proof of awakening is in itself. Easy, simple. Stay in touch with how it is feeling for you. Be present. Stay in touch with your Inner Body of sensation-feeling-emotions and if it is feeling clearer, cleaner, more awake, more able to enjoy the world, less judgment, more love…that's the road to real en-Light-enment.

But if you believe that it would be painful, hurtful, excruciating, difficult to reconnect w/ your essence, Source, God, oneness, true enlightenment…then you believe that whatever created this Uni-Verse is at it's root painful, hurtful, excruciating, difficult… You are of course free to believe that…but the reflection you will be creating is not going to be a nice 'wake up call'. You will be fighting your Self, punching your self in the mirror. Of course you have the 'right' and power to do this…and ultimately yes it is a game…a play…of shadows…and you can play any game you want.


The false "Ascension" Schools

Emptiness-Heartlessness-Mind-Lucifer is working through many so called 'enlightened' teachers with his 'Light' and is giving them a false paradise for a season until he is finished with them at which point he takes his light back and they are abandoned like so much husk and they usually drop to earth back into the incarnational cycle they desperately had tried to escape from. The overriding escape wish that 'seekers of the light' often have, that wanting to 'go back home' to their remembered 'heavens', their astral worlds of no gravity, of beautiful instant thought manifestation, pastel colors, 'peace' etc. This escape wish , this wanting to step out of the reincarnational cycle and being willing to do anything, sell our soul to go back to our imagined heaven allows The Mind without Heart, i.e. Lucifer to use those of us who are desperate 'homeseekers' and to keep the lie of 'ascending', 'rising above the emotional body' spiritual teaching schools of 'enlightenment' going. These 'ascension schools' usually attract the intellectual, mental, blue and white light spirits, the ones of us that have never 'landed' on Earth, that avoid our emotions at every turn, that want formulas, techniques, methods for 'enlightenment'. We want a clinical, antiseptic, technological, Mind-thinking way of enlightenment. Anything to avoid having to go back in to our original terror imprints in our emotions, those Original Wails of Loss as we were separated from our Hearts, from our Selves, our God. We like to apply 'scientific' 'research' techniques to spirituality. We like the antiseptic, rational, mental approach to everything. In these rational-mental models of 'enlightenment' sex is usually 'base' or only meant for procreation or at least separated from God-Source, or just considered a body function and somehow subtly looked down upon or at least not held as the sacred Life Source energy gateway that it obviously is. It's where we create children, pure gateways of Beingness from! We sit and chant for hours, we use 'discipline' to control the physical and emotional bodies, the list is endless how we've subjugated and imprisoned the Body and our Emotions. One more dead end of fancy technique and manipulation of energies that give us occasional 'highs' to think we're on the right path. This is truly 'black' magic, using and imprisoning the emotional body and forcing it to give its energy up, without any gratitude or Love in order to send us back to our false heaven.


Real Ascension includes the Body and Emotions! E=mc2 !

The problem is we never achieve real ascension this way; we never liberate that part of ourselves that has congealed as a body and as emotions, so we never become really whole again. We simply leave our bodies behind when we die, 'ascend'. But that energy of the Body and Emotions is a part of us that we leave as ghosts, as lost energies forced to wander the Earth and we will eventually have to reclaim them if we want to be truly free. Jesus resurrected his body! He took it with him! So did Babaji, Sri Yukteswar, Patanjali, Krishna, Emil, St. Germain and many others who are not known to the public. They sped the energy up to the point where they didn't need to leave their bodies behind at death. The physical matter of their bodies became pure energy again. Einstein with his simple equation E=mc2 showed that matter and energy are interchangeable, that's what the equals = sign means, it can go back and forth from one side of the equation to the other, matter turns into energy and energy congeals into matter. So of course we can also do this because we are pieces of the Source that creates All That Is. We are pieces of God, pieces of Love, pieces of Source. We are made 'in the image' of this Source-God and we have the same creative magical abilities. I know that perhaps that sounds unbelievable but it is the truth no matter how much mind programming we've received that convinces us that we are just helpless pieces of flesh that live and die capriciously at the hands of some dominating 'god' or chaotic universe.


Real Masters are ever fresh 'babies'

And these masters that remembered how to set their souls and their energy free they became free to choose when and how to incarnate again, to congeal another physical body whenever they want, not as a trap, not in a Karmic cycle, no veil of forgetfulness at birth, not a prison of body anymore. And they told us how to do it. "Become Ye as little Children." "God does not reveal Himself to the prudent and the wise…but to babes" Original Innocence, openness of heart i.e. open up to our emotional bodies, allow them to heal, allow them to express freely, don't force or control them and they will heal themselves and supply the power on earth for magnetizing and grounding the spirit-god into full in-carne-ation (in-flesh-ation), which will be the real 'second coming'. Yes, it will seem painful, yes it requires you to listen, to follow, to choose to be aware in a world gone insane, but what else are you going to do? Put your head in the sand and hope it all changes magically without you having to become aware, awake, change your death creating habits? Those religions and their followers who believe they don't have to 'walk the walk' and actually re-spiritualize their emotional and physical bodies are infantile in their belief systems or spiritually lazy.


The Easy Way to tell a True Master

Do these 'enlightened' ones feel like they are the innocence of children, the "Become Ye as Little Children" that Jesus from his gentle heart talked about? Or do they feel above it all looking down in bemused, patriarchal (evaluating with the mind) 'love' on their 'wayward children', con-descending to come and teach us, themselves untouched by the 'lower' emotions? Do they become innocent themselves, can they let themselves go and be goofy, human, sad, not perfect all the time. Do they come off their throne and play like equals? Or do they need to remain up above and untouched by these human emotions? Are they afraid of 'descending' into humanness? Are these 'enlightened' 'gods' afraid of being human? Do they use all their fancy wizardry and words to keep talking so they won't have to feel, for 'feeling is weakness' the imprinted subconscious program says. The Impulse of God feels like Chaos to them, scares them, they must have their god 'Order'. They can't just truly surrender, which they talk about all the time, that we all need to 'surrender to the Lord' But they can't just surrender and be however the Impulse of God wishes in the moment themselves. They must keep themselves above and thereby put us down in the process however subtly and couched in the language of 'oneness' and 'love' they do it. 'Dear ones, we come to you in the Light…etc.'


"God does not reveal himself to the prudent and the wise…but to babes."

The acid test is do they allow their emotional body input into the Creation, i.e. their being. Or do they need to present an image of 'enlightenment', of never having these 'lower' feelings, always remaining calm, peaceful 'above it all'? If they are not allowing the Emotional Body to be part of the game of creation they still have learning to do, aren't fully healed themselves and most often create dead ends for themselves and their followers. They are not fully then of Love. They can easily falsely lead themselves and others into imprisoning Love, becoming controllers and usurpers of energy interested in power, not innocence and love. This is not helpful anymore to healing ourselves or the Creation. This way of being will not be able to remain on the planet earth as it returns to Love, Innocence, Free Will. Just as these deniers of the emotional body were kicked out of Tibet by the 'base', 'red' root chakra (anger) soldiers of the Chinese army, so will these false teachers be dethroned everywhere unless they choose to wake up.

[This is Chapter 29 of Tobias Lars' highly recommended book Awakening Souls]

Transforming Life's Challenges

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Transforming Life's Challenges
by Dana Reynolds
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Recently I have become very aware of how often grief and mourning surface in our lives. Our losses include not only the departure of the physical presence of those near and dear through death, but we also endure loss through divorce, or moving away from familiar surroundings. Changes in employment, children growing up and leaving home, and other transitional life events also create voids in our hearts and souls. We are constantly letting go of people, places, and things as we circumnavigate the pathways of life.

How do we cope, and more importantly heal, during the times that sweep over us with grief, pain, and loss? How do we transform agony into the clay from which new beginnings can be shaped and formed? I believe that each of us carries tools for healing the empty places created by grief through our sacred imaginations and creativity.

There comes a time in the grieving process when the spirit signals it is ready to move forward, to engage in a return to life, to begin again…. yet the body and mind resist. This is the time to co-create with the Divine to open the doorway to deeper healing and to begin the return journey to life from the depths of the abyss. Making sacred art, creating altars and shrines, writing poetry or expressing feelings in a journal, these activities engage the body, mind, and spirit in a dance of physical manifestation, imagining and contemplation, and mystical expression. When we engage with the sacred imagination we step into the alchemist’s chamber. This is the place where transformation occurs.

Many famous writers and artists have expressed that some of their greatest works were born from their darkest moments. Through the suffering, pain, and loss, the human heart and soul are dropped like a bucket into a well to be filled with solace and healing. When the bucket is full to overflowing it is time to pull it up from the darkness into the light to be emptied into the river of life where the waters of grief merge with the flow that is unending. Art and creativity and the sacred imagination are the hands that pull the bucket from the well of recovery to be poured into the river of life once again.

May Sarton said,

"We have to keep the channels in ourselves open to pain. At the same time it is essential that true joys be experienced, that the sunrise not leave us unmoved, for civilization depends on the true joys, all those that have nothing to do with money or affluence---nature, the arts, human love."

If you are grieving a loss or know someone who is, here are two gentle suggestions for ways to honor and integrate pain by transforming it into beauty and prayer. It is important to mention that each individual has his/her own particular way of journeying through the grief process. There is no universal map to guide the way. To hurry the process is not the goal. Rather, think of art, creativity, and sacred imagination as kind friends who are present and ready to offer support and wisdom.

The Blessing Bowl: When a person is going through a dark and painful time it is helpful to have touchstones, reminders of love, support, and joy, present and near for comfort. Create a Blessing Bowl by gathering small objects and touchstones to represent healing and nurturing. These may include an array of treasured keepsakes; tiny gifts received from friends and family, special finds from nature, and other visual reminders of love and caring. Add your prayers written on dried leaves. Next, fill a shallow bowl (large enough to hold your touchstones) with sand. Arrange the objects with prayerful intention in the bowl. You may want to place a small votive candle in or near the bowl. Think of this arrangement as your Blessing Bowl. When you are feeling empty come to the bowl and select an object to hold for comfort. Offer your prayers to Spirit. Open your heart to receive healing.

Prayer Vessels and Boxes: Sometimes when the pain of the heart is just too much, a container is called for as a physical reminder that the pain can be offered to the Divine for healing and transformation. Select a box or a vessel (preferably with a lid) that will serve as a sacred container. You may want to paint, collage, or otherwise decorate your box or vessel.

When you feel overwhelmed by your problems write your prayers and those things you are choosing to let go of on small slips of paper and put them into your Prayer Vessel. When time has passed and you are on the other side of your healing journey you may choose to burn the contents or bundle them in a sacred way as a reminder of how your trust and faith were blessed with healing.

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soulfulliving.com
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LOVE & THANKS TO:
LoVe*addict -aka- lightworkers
For Sending/Passing it Along- :)

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Living in the Present

Be Present

Live in the now. Be in the present. The past is gone. You can never re-live what was yesterday. Do not look ahead on what may come......rest assured that the actions and reactions of today determine what is ahead. Affirm - "I am here. I am present"



Let Go Of Judgment

Accept everyone for who they are, embrace the differences, for if you do it will ease your own mind on the differences that you may have within yourself. We are all alike..experience the freedom of letting go of judgment towards other's and yourself.



Nature

Cleanse your soul and take some time out to get close to the earth. The fresh air and scenery is therapeutic, healing, and healthy. Many a problem can be solved, or many a dream can begin by a walk in the park or the seashore.




Forgiveness

Forgive yourself for past mistakes or shortcomings, for parents or siblings who may have hurt you, for lovers who may have wronged you. Forgiving is about coming to peace within yourself inspite of your circumstance. Forgiveness and carrying grudges keep you stuck where you may no longer want to be.



Nutrition

Your body is a machine...poor nutrition can lead to depression, lethargy, and lack of desire. Feed your soul with positive foods and supplments. You don't need to become a health nut but eating a balanced diet as much as possible will create positive change in how you think or feel about your life and/or circumstances.





Spirituality

Read books that are uplifting and have positive messages. Give thanks for your health, your home, the people in your life that you care about and all of the good that surrounds you. A simple prayer every morning never hurt a kind soul.




Service to Others

Reach out and help others. Lend a hand to a neighbor, an elderly person, a friend or family member who needs support. The greatest thing we can do as human beings is to spend time each day creating opportunities to do kind deeds towards others. Thoughtfulness, helpfulness, and kind deeds never goes out of style!



May you create the tomorrow of your dreams