• Prayers Answered - aka LoA in Action

I recently came across a reference to "Ramtha" -- the "original" channel who came through JZ Knight back in the 80s. It piqued my interest, so I looked up a few youtubes on it, and then I got Knight's autobiography via interlibrary loan. (Seriously - the last checkout date stamped on it was 1997.)

I read the whole 450-page book in 5 days. It was SO INTERESTING. To me, anyways. :)

I don't want to give away much (go interlibrary-loan it for yourself, lol), but there was one specifc point that was so good, I really wanted to post about it here:

Her whole life, from when she started going to church as a young girl, JZ leveraged the power of prayer. By that I mean, whenever she prayed for something, she made it a true, heartfelt request, and when she was done, she knew her prayer would be answered. That is KEY - she KNEW it would be so. In other words, she was in total alignment with the outcome she wanted.

It was that simple, and that powerful.

It's basically Law of Attraction in action: Ask a heartfelt, honest, true request -- while in alignment with your true self and the desire -- and know that the "how" of it will be figured out by the universe.

It doesn't sound so terribly earth-shattering, I suppose, when explained in such simple terms, but in all seriousness, it was very interesting to "watch" her  - via her autobiography - make a request, know "it is so," and then move on with life while the outcome manifested itself, so to speak.

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• Affirmations

I started watching Louse Hay's "You Can Heal Your Life" movie, and it was a good reminder to do more affirmations - to do mental reps of affirmations for your mind and soul just like you do physical reps for the body.

I like coming up with my own affirmations. Today, I wrote one down on an index card and have been repeating it thought the day, doing my "mental reps." It reads:

I Am Willing to Change my Patterns.

I kept it simple and open on purpose. I have a few little goals -- to get more sleep and feel more rested; to have a little bit more of a self-created structure that helps *me* and thus everyone around me just flow through the day a little better -- and those goals will be more easily achieved once I break out of old patterns that aren't serving my highest good anymore.

It's small and simple, but a good place to start. Just thought I'd share!

Peace.

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• How Total Health is Achieved

Yesterday, I wrote about how you need to feel good 70 percent of the time to achieve total health.

I want to expand more on the idea of bodily health.

The overall health of your body is directly related to your vibration - that is, your energy running through your body, spirit, emotions and complete Self. Any issue that your body expresses is indicative of something in your energy field that is not in alignment with your true self and heart-felt desires. We should always *thank* issues that arise for showing us that something is "off" within our vibration.

So how to we get from illness to health? And how do beliefs and healing remedies fit into this picture?

It's kinda like this:

First off, something in our vibration gets off kilter. As a result, we develop some type of physical symptoms.

If we are aware of this, we listen to our body, and try to hear what the symptoms are telling us. Even if we can't figure it out, we start to seek ways to achieve physical wellness.

Some people turn to Western medicines for an answer; others turn to herbal and naturpathic remedies; some may seek chiropractic treatment, and still others may simply opt for energetic healing.

All are perfectly valid in their own way. And, that which you choose -- that which resonates as working BEST for you and your body -- will be in alignment with who YOU are.

If you have aligned yourself with healing, then you will seek a therapy that is -- for you personally -- energetically in alignment with that healing. It may be a pharmaceutical drug or it may be an herbal therapy. Either way, that therapy will have an energetic vibration/frequency of its own, and will resonate with something in your own vibration, and due to this resonance and belief in the remedy, it WORKS. It resonates with you, you believe in it (consciously or, most likely, subconsciously), and thus it does what you think it should do.

Different remedies have different vibrations, however. Most pharmaceutical drugs are of a lower vibration than herbal remedies. But if your vibration matches the vibration of that drug, then it WILL WORK for you. As you raise your own vibration, you'll find you can't tolerate those drugs anymore and won't be drawn to them. Instead, you'll be drawn to herbs, chiropractic, traditional Chinese medicine, energetic healing, etc. -- anything that then matches your new, higher vibration. And, as per Law of Attraction, that therapy which is in alignment with your vibration and INTENTION will show up for you.

Again, because you BELIEVE in the treatment and *match it in vibration* -- it will work for you! Keep in mind, a lot of these beliefs are also subconscious, but they rise to your conscious mind, especially when you need them most.

Now if you have a deep-seated subconscious belief that you are unaware of, then the treatments you seek WON'T work because you are actually still stuck in that belief and its accompanying vibration. To break free, you can use EFT, ho'oponopono, or simply focus on raising your vibration by thinking good thoughts (and thus being in the vortex) 70 percent of the time or more.

So let's all heal ourselves as WE each know best. We each listen to our OWN bodies, and seek the therapies that resonate best with our highest Self.,

And remember that as we heal our selves, we heal each other and we heal our world. Peace to all!

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• Be Happy (at least!) 70 Percent of the Time

I was listening to Abraham-Hicks on Hay House Radio this afternoon, and Abraham said something that was very interesting: He said that in order to have perfect physical health, you need to be in the vortex 70 percent of the time. The person asking the question was saying, "Well I'm happy and grateful " and blah blah blah - but Abraham pointed out: Check in with yourself carefully, and notice how often you are *not* in the vortex. If you were in the vortex at least 70 percent of the time, all your physical ills would be gone.

Interesting! Finally, a measurable number that my left brain can process!

Seventy percent of the time, I need to be in the vortex. OK - so I decided to get to work.

First off, I realize how easy it was to be OUT of the vortex. Heck, I think I was out of the vortex most of the day! I sure as heck wasn't in the vortex trying to get out the door with the kids in tow this morning. I wasn't in the vortex when my baby boy was crawling over me and all I wanted to do was rest. I wasn't in the vortex when I was stressing about my "to do" list.

So hmmmm.... how much was I really IN the vortex?

I made it a challenge. I decided to become VERY aware of my thoughts and accompanying feelings, and to consciously and deliberately move myself INTO the vortex whenever I noticed I was slipping away from it.

To do so, I chose specific happy thoughts. My simplest happy thought is of hiking in the woods: I close my eyes, and pretend I'm on a trail in the summertime or hiking above treeline in the fall. At any rate, the key is to FEEL the joy that I feel when I am hiking in the woods.

Done! Mission accomplished!

But then, a few minutes later, I had myself a crying kid on my hands, which can trigger my own inner upset. I made a conscious effort to stay centered and to shield myself energetically from my child's upset, so that I am centered myself and can take better care of him. I again deliberately chose happy thoughts so that I could FEEL happy - genuine Joy -- as soon as possible.

Then, I began to notice things I can simply be GRATEFUL for -- the green grass, the breeze, my children playing happily in the yard -- and even very, very simple things: fresh milk and a glass to drink it in, a cozily warm jacket for when the evening turns cool, bicycles for the kids to ride, the random puddle in the driveway that provide the kids with hours of amusement.

The more I focused on HAPPY thoughts, the better I felt, and the more momentum my happiness gained.

By the time evening rolled around, I was somewhat of a silly, giggily mess. And I could easily get to my "happy place" (mostly) regardless of the commotion around me.

And so now my next missions: To keep practicing this consciously EVERY day!

Let's see how this goes...

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• Speeding Up Manifestations

I "stumbled" across some youtube videos today of JZ Knight. She's been channeling Ramtha since 1977. I vaguely remember hearing of this when I was a teen in the 80s and 90s, but now it all makes sooo much more sense.

There's a ton of neat stuff in the videos (for the links to the videos, see April 2011 on my Reading List page), but a couple things jumped out at me and made me want to mention the ideas here. JZ talked about the "typical" LoA stuff, like you have to be a vibrational match to that which you want in order to manifest it, but what she *also* said that was really neat is that in order to speed up manifestation, you need to RAISE YOUR VIBRATION.

Hmmm now there's an interesting thougt. Focus on your desire, feel its presence before it's technically arrived, and then simply RAISE YOUR VIBRATION. Very cool. And isn't that what this whole project of mine here is all about?!

JZ Knight on Creating Your Reality

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• I Love You I Love You I Love You

Our thoughts create our realities, yes? So try this:

Start an ongoing background mantra in your mind of "I love you I love you I love you" repeating itself, incessantly. Now, go about your day, and see how things appear.

I'm trying this now; thus far, I've noticed that even though I have an *opinion* on things, I can't *judge* them harshly because I keep saying, "I love you" to the thing I'm trying to judge, and in order to condemn something, you have to take love *away* from the situation. And actively I'm using my mind to keep re-introducing love into the situation.

Instead of reading my babbling about this technique (which, basically, is an off-shoot of Ho'oponopono -- but perhaps just abbreviated?), just go DO it yourself -- starting ... right.... NOW!

I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you....

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• Being ME!!!!!!!!!

So! The more I travel this road, the more I have to say that a HUGE part of this journey for me is bringing my TRUE SELF out into the light of day! As I sit here, writing this in the "middle of the night" (1:18 a.m.), I feel SO GOOD. I feel like my TRUE SELF can simply exist, uninterrupted, unchallenged, undisturbed, and I can do what I want to do, how I want to do it, without compromising any part of ME.

Alas, if I wish to follow my heart's path in life, then I must ALSO bring the self of mine into the light of day; into the everyday realm of day-to-day "doing" and dancing; of playing and parenting; of working and wrangling.

I have seen examples of people who are unapologetically themselves in the world at large! They ARE who they ARE!! If they say something that offends, it's OK because they MEANT it!There is no wishy-washy worry about pleasing someone else; they are who they ARE!!

I also want to say this about Being Your Best Self -- it's not just about speaking loudly about what you feel or throwing yourself to the masses just to make a point: It's about first *listening* to your true self, to your highest self, so that when you speak or act, you are doing so from your BEST self, from the most effective place of communication and love; from the place that will best serve (and heal) the planet, the people, the universe, the EVERYTHING.


Alrighty, and now that I've gotten that off my chest, I am going to be so bold as to add the fact that I DO KNOW WHO I AM and WHAT I WANT and HOW I WANT and WHOM I WANT. And that it's only my DOUBT that keeps me pussyfooting around and, well, doubting myself.

Duh! OK so this is my Self saying, "Self, Wake Up and Be Your Self Always. Just Do It. Be. Me. Now."

And thus it is so.

'Night all!!!

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• Clearing and Healing Shame

Clearing. Constantly clearing. Clearing and "cleaning" (aka Ho'oponopono) are normal, daily activities for me now. The more I practice, the better I get.

When emotions arise that I do not like and do not serve my highest good, I work to first listen to the messages they are telling me - whatever it is I need to say or do or be - and then I work to first fully accept and love the emotion; to learn from it if there is a lesson within; and to then clear it. I clear it various ways: sometimes I need to dance it out or run it out while coming into my full power; other times I use EFT (tapping) and positive affirmations; sometimes I journal about it and get more clarity as I write; and still other times I use yoga, meditation or drumming to help me move on.

Whatever the situation is, I consciously work t-h-r-o-u-g-h it now. I don't condemn the emotion, I don't deny it, I don't fear it, I don't chastise it; I accept it, love it, listen to it, clear it, and move on.

Once I am clear, then I can take the action that was the message behind the emotion. But not before I'm clear. Otherwise, I am reacting to the emotion instead of taking action from my true Self -- from my seat of true inner power -- and only a negative result, equal to the negativity of the emotion - can come about. When I clear the emotion first, I then handle the situation from a higher place, and can only get results that serve my (and everyone else's) highest good.

One fine example of clearing came up this past week. I kept noticing a negative feeling around the state of something that, for simplicity's sake, I will label a "messy house." This feeling was nothing new, but was *was* new was my keen observation of it. I separated the feeling from the physical situation that triggered it -- as no situation ever causes an emotion; it only triggers that which you already have within you -- and decided I was going to deal with the emotion. Now. Not later. Now.

I started to write. The more I wrote, the more clarity I got. The more clarity I got, the more I was able to see how this simple emotion - a feeling of shame - has traveled with me along this road of life, attaching itself to various things along the way and expressing itself through unconscious behaviors that my mind then looked at and called "bad" and "shameful."

In a way, I was was shocked. It wasn't until I started working through it all that I realized that a) the feeling I didn't like was clearly "shame"; 2) my mind (a.k.a. ego) was attaching this "shame" to what modern society would label a "messy house" (yet which many happy families would call a "normal house" and what my highest self wouldn't even notice!) and has been attached to this situation for YEARS; and 3) in the past, "shame" was attached to what I can now call disordered eating for many, many years during high school and college.

The "shame" -- the emotion, the negative energy -- took on one form during my teen years, then subsided for a bit, and then stealthily reappeared in another form as an emotion attached to what I like to call "the location of various objects located within my house."

There was no remedy for the physical situation in either case. I could "fix" the physical eating during my high school years, but it would always return because the shame was the real issue, and I could clean my house ten thousand times, but it would always get messy again because, again, the messy house is not the issue, it's the shame.

When I came to this big realization, I did what I've needed to do for years and years and years, and I just started to clear the shame, and to make it fully understood by my heart and mind that this shame in no way needs to come back. The journaling took me to the clarity of understanding it; after that, I started tapping (EFT) and using positive affirmations (this is the EFT youtube video I followed) to allow my body to release it. I cried a lot and journaled some more and listened to music that spoke to me in that moment and helped me wallow IN the shame so that I could FULLY love and accept it, and slowly but surely, the clouds of shame cleared and the light of love was able to come through again.

At that point, I stated my clear intention that this shame would never take over me again. I would remain vigilant about it, and note that if it showed up, I would simply tell it to go away; I would say, "I'm dropping you like a bad habit, shame. Get out of here." In the few days since my clearing, I've done this several times, and every time, it's disappeared before it even had a chance to get its foot firmly in the door.

So now, as it stands, my house still has various objects in various locations all over the place. I don't feel mad or glad about it. It is a non-issue. I know I'd enjoy putting everything in its home because then it's easier to function, it's more fun to be able to find all the pieces to my kids' race cars, for example, when they are all in one place. But it's not necessary for happiness and I do not want it to any longer influence how I feel emotionally.

This is getting long I realize, but there is one more neat event that helped bring this into clarity. Last weekend, I was able to fold and put away about 10 loads of clean laundry that had literally piled up in the living room and had been there for weeks. After I finished, I was absolutely ELATED. I was so proud, so happy, so totally on Cloud 9 -- and yet, I knew something was wrong. Sure, it was nice to be able to have the kids get matching socks out of their sock drawer instead of digging through piles to find a matching pair, but still...why was I SO happy? I wasn't feeling that unconditional Joy of Being -- I was feeling proud of my success; I was giving myself one grand "Good Job!" and a pat on the back. It sounds all dandy, but whenever there is that one-sided ego-related "congrats!" then there is always an opposite side to that coin. In this case, it meant that a pile of laundry in the living room for two months is BAD. Hence, putting the laundry away was GOOD. Both emotions - the good and the bad - I realized, were stemming from that same place: Shame.When I put the laundry away, I buried the shame - but I didn't heal and love and clear it. I just covered it up for a while.

(For an example of this, view my post from January 26. Yes, I cleared myself before I physically cleaned the house, but I don't think I specifically cleared the shame. Or maybe I wasn't as clear as I thought. Perhaps if I were truly clear, the mess and the tidiness wouldn't have been issues at all?!?! Or maybe I *did* clear, but didn't actively work afterward to stay clear?!?! At any rate, the "mess" did return after a couple weeks - and it was almost intentional. I could see myself letting the items reappear about the house, and yet I almost *willed* them to reappear. Like I needed it for something.... Well, I can over-analyze this forever, but let's move on.)

In a way, this whole bit about dealing with the underlying emotion of a physical situation is nothing new. Psychology talks about it all the time. But for me it was a breakthrough in realizing that I don't have to FIX anything or spend years in counseling figuring out "Why do I feel this? What caused it? Who is 'responsible?'"

Truth is, we may never consciously recall who or what made such an impression on us that it programmed a certain emotion and reaction into our being. Instead, we only need to love and clear the emotions that block out the light of unconditional love, and in time, the physical reality will fall in line with the true feelings of Joy.

• A Penny for my Thoughts

It feels like there is SO much I want to write about... I'm hit with inspiration during the day, when my hands are full and my life is on "full speed ahead" mode, but it's not usually till nighttime that I sit down and write, focusing on the thoughts and feelings of earlier in the day or week or month that I want to expand upon.

As of late, I've been focusing on sensing the division between consciousness and thought. My Consciousness is who I Am; if my body were to stop functioning right now, my Consciousness would continue to exist, continue to be ME, continue to do whateva' it wants to do. I'd still be there, I'd still be me, I just wouldn't have a body. I wouldn't have a mind.

This Consciousness, my mind reminds me, is Source. It is God, the All-Knowing, All-Loving, Unconditional Is-Ness that exists through all of time and space and all dimensions in between. It is All That Is and then some. It is eternal, and it can't be comprehended by the mind. It can only be felt by the heart.

All this was racing through my mind and then my heart today as I simply stood at the kitchen sink, doing dishes. It became one of those ordinary-yet-strange moments. I stared down at a collection of soap bubbles gathered together atop a cup of water, and I sensed within myself the God-ness of my consciousness watching all the soap bubbles "from above" and accepting all that is, all that played out on the bubble scene, all bubbles that floated or moved or popped or shimmered as I observed from above. And I practiced unconditional love for each and every bubble, and knew that each bubble was a physical form of something Greater, something timeless and immeasurable and perfect, and something that could do no wrong but could only go about being itself and expanding itself and playing about on the physical level for the fun of it and the experience of it and all the growth that was to be had.

I was playing the role of the God that lives within me, and within each being. It was profound in its own personal, meaningful, meaningless, nominal, enormous way.

My mind could just about wrap itself around the concept of all things being perfect in their own way, of the quiet perfection of the seemingly imperfect, and always incomplete, physical. My mind could sense the space between *it* and my *consciousness.*

I spent more time during the day simply noticing my Consciousness existing, and my Mind interpreting. My Consciousness is like a child who wakes up in the morning, giddy for the experience of life, and impervious to the myriad things that so many adults have labeled as "wrong" or "bad." An innocent child -- and thereby, the Consciousness that is truly who I Am -- does not notice a "messy" house; "bad" weather; or even things as concrete as air "pollution." An untainted child accepts all as it simply is, and, when undisturbed, can go about the day in a perfectly pleasant, content, joyful manner, until an adult comes along and teaches that child to *feel* bad about a so-called messy room or to notice how *icky* the amazing, God-sent rain feels on a damp day. That is where the mind enters the scene and paints the walls of the Consciousness whatever color it's been taught to use. It's the mind's perception on the world - maybe the mind puts on rose-colored glasses or maybe it creates a cloud of darkness that hovers over all - but whatever it is, it's separate from who We Are, from our Consciousness. From our SELF.

My mind is understanding the limits it has, and accepting the simple fact that it has limits to begin with, when compared to Source. When this body dies, the mind cannot go on, but I do. My Self, my Consciousness, my Pure, Joyful, Enthusiastic Love for Life will be wide awake, like a child jumping out of bed in the morning, expectant that all things unfolding will be - and can only be - as exuberant and joyful as the very being that I Am on the true inside. My self. My soul. My heart.

But in the meantime, while I *am* here on this planet, enjoying this physical existence, basking in the physical warmth of the sunshine and enjoying the deliciousness of food and drink, I get to take care of my body, enjoy the existence of other beings incarnated into physical form, ride this rollercoaster that we here call "LIFE" and take it for all it's worth.

We are here to grow, enjoy, learn, love, laugh, heal, help, support, enlighten, bask, stretch, reach, GO. We are here to Do. Let's. Let's do and live and enjoy and never take our minds too seriously. Our mind is here to serve us, not to make us servants.

Let's live from the heart and be Joy. Have fun. Trot about. Do whatever. But most of all, let's never take anything the mind preaches too seriously. It can't give us the meaning of life or the answers to the big questions; all it can offer is food for thought. And REAL life tastes so much better than that.

• The Dance

Another HUGE shift this weekend. Mega. Lemme explain..

Wednesday night, I went to yoga. My second class ever.

Not entirely sure of what goes on for me during yoga, but I’m pretty sure it has something to do with clearing clearing and more clearing, and opening blocks and doorways and paths to the higher self and whatnot. Everything seems to come flooding out afterwards, all emotions come a tumblin’ down onto me, and then they muck around in my being until I usher them on forward and transmute the blecky energy into GOD energy, Source energy, Light.

So that’s what happened this week.

Wednesday I opened the floodgates at yoga class. By Saturday, I was a wreck. The best way I could describe it was that there was an ICK inside of me. And icky feeling. Bleck ick yuck blah gack. It sucked. It belonged to nothing anymore; it was a leftover icky feeling that I had held somewhere in my body, and yoga had released it. I kinda knew that Saturday, but the issue then became, how would I transmute it into light, how would I let it TRULY go and move on.

The answer this time, for me, is a common theme: The Dance.

Saturday night, one of my favorite bands was playing at a local scene about 45 minutes from where I live. I don’t go out too often – once a month or so, if that – and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go out and dance, or if I would be better off staying home and sleeping. I pictured myself in bed, tossing and turning from the discomfort of the blech, and knew I needed Dance Therapy. I was going out.

I shouted out to the usual troops – my sister, a couple close friends, and a general call to ANYONE who wanted to get out and boogie on the dance floor. Cuz when I dance, the whole world dances, and I’m not exaggerating. You can be ANYONE, and if you can so much as sense the Joy of the Dance with me, then you are there. You are dancing. We are one. Healing takes place, energy shifts, and light shines through again.

I arrived at the dance club at the time I wanted to get there, but since the whole evening was kind of a topsy-turvey event planning wise, the two people I’d planned on meeting there truly could not make it due to totally reasonable circumstances that I fully understood and held no grudge against. Still, after arriving and realizing that my friends could not meet me there, I didn’t know what to do. I needed to dance. I knew that. But I was hesitant about going in on my own. And all I could really feel emotionally was this wicked messed up, intense, HUGEly overwhelming emotion of BLECH. It was no longer attached to an event, but was free-floating and secured somehow still to my being.

I sat in the car and cried for a while and just let the emotion BE. I sat with the feeling. I didn’t know what else to do with it; there wasn’t anything else I really could do with it right then. I had to let it be; I had to fully accept it and let my SELF be.

I talked on my phone to one of the people I was supposed to meet there – a someone who knows me very well. Just go dance, she told me. Go inside and dance. Don’t go home; you need to dance. You NEED to dance. Go dance.

She was right. Though part of me was like, “I can’t go in and dance alone all night,” another part of me was all, “Dude, you’re totally good. Go.”

Well, I went.

As it turned out, I stayed there till the band finished both sets at midnight. I talked to almost no one (though I did run into an acquaintance of mine from my high school days); had myself one beer; and just did my thing. I was completely comfortable, I was completely at ease. I had a mission, and I didn’t really care what anyone else thought. I had to DANCE to the band.

The first set of music was fun, but not transforming.

The second set of music – when all the real energy and fun and verve and craziness sets in – took me to the place I needed to go. I hit dancing bliss, I got on the stage, I saw the crowd, I did what I DO – I danced. I didn’t care what anyone thought or didn’t think or wanted or didn’t want, and yet, I also knew that anything I wanted at that moment, I could have, and already had. I was in my own personal nirvana, and all the ick that had been hovering around my being for days simply vanished. It didn’t just leave me and go find another hapless victim to attach itself to; it was actually transmuted into light.
The icky energy was, in a sense, loved to death by the dance. By my dance. By what I had consciously chosen to do.

The Dance.

It’s one more step up the consciousness ladder on my personal journey, and thus one more step for All Humankind and Planet Earth as well.

This, my friends, is my Work.

Peace out.

((Peace in.))

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• Leading with your Heart

Sometimes in life you get stumped.

Everything looks perfect. All is ideal, in place, as it "should" be. And yet - something's off.

How do you describe that? How can you put your finger the the "thing" that's just not right.

I thought about this for a while, and then I sat, and sank into the feeling, and felt my way through it. And then I realized: the perfect image, the ideal place is lacking HEART.

It's lacking true love, true heart, true connection to Source. There are varying degrees of this, but to some degree, that love is missing.

When something is created by the mind, without enough heart, it feels partially.....dead.

Tap into this feeling of heart connection when you are somewhere, anywhere, and want to get a sense of your space, your self, your life's purpose.

And when you are out and about, living your life, doing your thang, listen to your heart, and follow it. It is that simple.

Lead with your HEART. That is the only way we, as a life force on this planet, can ever hope to survive and THRIVE.

"Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. This question is one that only a very old man asks.

"Does this path have a heart? All paths are the same: they lead nowhere. They are paths going through the bush, or into the bush. In my own life I could say I have traversed long long paths, but I am not anywhere.

"Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't, it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart, the other doesn't. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong; the other weakens you."

- Carlos Castenada

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• Dream Interpretation

I thought I'd share here a dream I had last night:

In my dream, I went to a Great Healer with three physical issues to heal. One issue, I have completely forgotten. A second issue, I also have forgotten, but I remember the Great Healer hearing about the issue, pondering for a moment, and then brightening suddenly and saying, "Aha! Retinol A! The supplement you need for this is Retinol A!" (I don't use Retinol A and truly feel no need to, but it sure perked up the Great Healer to shout it out with great vigor and authority!)

The third item is what was most interesting. I said to her, something along the lines of, "I'm having an issue with my kidneys." (Which is not an issue at all in my real life, by the way.) The Great Healer got all emotional at this; very intense, her eyes started to well up with tears; and she began to cry out of emotional joy. The words she then spoke were along the lines of this: "You are on a great spiritual journey, and you are rising up immensely, tremendously. You are way up high now, soaring, high like the clouds and the winds and the birds." I was glad to hear that, but wasn't sure what that had to do with my kidneys.

She looked at me, teary eyed but happy, and said, "You're kidneys are perfect. There is nothing you need to do with your kidneys."

In my dream's mind, I interpreted this as the fact that my kidney's were acting as they were (and I have no idea how, exactly, they were acting in this dream of mine) because they were in alignment with, and physically expressing, something to do with my spiritual growth.

I was satisfied with the Great Healer's recommendations, and was joyfully surprised at her own emotion, and then went merriily on my way.

Today, I figured, hey, let's google "What do kidney's represent in a dream?" Sure enough, the first thing that popped up (courtesy of dreammoods.com/dreamdictionary) is:

Kidneys: To dream of your kidneys, represent a need for cleansing.
Um, Universe, thanks. I've got that "cleansing" bit goin' on already. Much appreciation for the confirmation. And I'll step it up a notch, if that's what you're a sayin'.

Peace out, with love.

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

• My Own Version: Listen, Pray, Eat

My last post was about listening. It was written quickly, and briefly, because someone close and dear to me mentioned that I kept interrupting when she was talking. I don't know who was "right" or "wrong" in this particular conversation -- if I was right for interrupting to say my piece, or if she was right for insisting I wait until she was finished what seemed like a very long story to me, but either way, it didn't matter. She wasn't feeling heard. That was the issue that I saw as most important. I truly wish to listen, hear and feel when one speaks; I wish to honor their story, honor their Being.

A while back, I did several several weeks of an Eckhart Tolle-inspired meditation class. For one part of the class, we were partnered up, and the instructor gave us a topic or question to discuss (such as "Describe an event in the past week when you felt frustrated") and we took turns speaking about the event while our partner truly TRULY listened. The person listening wasn't to say anything at all until the person speaking finished. The listener was only to be still, look into the speakers eyes, and listen with their heart.

If you ever try that with someone, I warn you - it's a practice that can bring one or both people to tears. It's very powerful to speak and be heard, or to be the listener of someone speaking from the heart.

You can ask a question as simple as: "What did you eat for breakfast today?" And if you are the one answering, the beauty of having a person truly listen to you can be absolutely breathtaking, humbling and revealing. If you are the one listening, anything the speaker says echoes throughout your whole being, yet doesn't contaminate you in any way. There's no residue of anger from a past experience, or leftover, aberrant frustration from a story about something that just couldn't work out the way the person wanted it to.

Instead, when speaking and listening with an open heart, every single word is cradled with compassion, love, and understanding, -- and the simple allowing to simply BE, without judgment.

So where is this all leading now, and why is this post titled Listen, Pray , Eat?

Because, for starters, *I* need to be heard right now. I need to speak in a way that comes from my heart, with unconditional love, and expecting and needing nothing in return. I need to speak and act from the center of my being, as I know that if I speak from my heart, then nothing can ever be misunderstood.

Much of what I have to say isn't even with words. It needs to be spoken with actions, with inner stillness, with prayer and intention.

Here is one simple example: Tonight, several of us went out to dinner - something we do about once a month. In all honesty, going out to dinner these days brings me to tears out of utter sadness. My mind can analyze the entire situation and realize that the food on my plate is most likely from mistreated animals; is covered in a sauce containing vegetables that have been genetically modified and are harming our Mother Earth; and isn't honoring organic practices.

Despite this knowledge my mind dwells upon, I attempt to enjoy the experience as it is, in the Now, without the story of where the food came from, what it's cost our environment, and what animals may have been poorly treated so that I could sit there and have a meal. To simply, mindlessly enjoy the flavors, scents, textures, good company, and the fact that I could relax while another made the meal, served it, and cleaned up afterward.

As I now reflect back on the agony I felt with that meal in front of me earlier tonight, a few things have made themselves clearer: If I want to go out, and enjoy such a meal, I need to speak from the heart, as if the whole universe is listening with its heart, and bless the food, the animals, the vegetables, the farmers, the restaurant servers and cooks, the company behind the GMO vegetables on our plates -- everything in front of me -- so that I am at true peace before entering into the actual consumption of the meal.

To do this, for me, I need to do the following: When my food arrives, I need to cup  both hands lightly, palm down, and put them over my plate of food; close my eyes; and bless and thank everything I can think of and not think of that was and will be involved in bringing that plate of food to me. And I need to do that for every plate of food on the table. I do not need to be loud about the gratitude - I can speak quietly or even silently - but I need to be very, very clear about my gratefulness, so that it reverberates across time and space and reaches every person, machine and corporation that the single plate of food reaches back to. (I must clean on the food, as Dr. Ihelakala Hew Len would say.)

I have considered that doing this will probably bring me to tears at the table in the restaurant, but I do not have a choice, really, if I want to feel clear and help heal the planet. And I *must* be clear and help heal the planet, Mother Earth, nature, our world. It is far to precious to let fall uncared for.

And this simple act will also heal me. I am constantly clearing my own self, and part of that clearing means not burying emotions anymore, not letting things sit and fester unspoken or unheard. I can not always find the right words in a heated situation to adequately express an argument in the right way;  for example, I can't sit in a restaurant and convince the patron next to me that eating GMO corn is simply "wrong" if he or she truly believes it is "right"; but I can allow myself to fully feel the sadness that the thought of GMO corn elicits in me, and I love the emotion and let it be and simply bless and love the GMO corn on my neighbor's plate with all my heart and being so that, again, I turn around my own scary, sad, angry feelings revolving around someone fucking with Mother Earth, and transform it into love and light, in which there is no dark opposite, no right/wrong choices, no good or evil vegetable-modifying empires.

By honoring and loving my own emotions about such situations, I heal my Self and, by virtue of my own physical existence, Mother Earth.

Peace, peace out.

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

• Listening with the Soul

At times, I do really think I could learn to listen better; to quiet my mind, listen with my *being*, and be still, allowing the person speaking to access the deepest part of who she or he is while talking to me.

From that place of stillness, I can listen with my soul and hear the meaning behind the words -- and reflect that back to the person who is speaking, thus allowing him or her to perhaps gain a clearer vision of the situation at hand, and a greater understanding of it as well.

Meister Eckhard Tolle puts it best, so I'll keep my part of this post brief and wrap up with his words.

Peace, all.

True listening is another way of bringing stillness into the relationship. When you truly listen to someone, the dimension of stillness arises and becomes an essential part of the relationship. But true listening is a rare skill. Usually, the greater part of a person's attention is taken up by their thinking. At best, they may be evaluating your words or preparing the next thing to say. Or they may not be listening at all, lost in their own thoughts.

True listening goes far beyond auditory perception. It is the arising of alert attention, a space of presence in which the words are being received. The words now become secondary. They may be meaningful or they may not make sense. Far more important than what you are listening to is the act of listening itself, the space of conscious presence that arises as you listen. That space is a unifying field of awareness in which you meet the other person without the separative barriers created by conceptual thinking. And now the other person is no longer "other." In that space, you are joined together as one awareness, one consciousness.

- Eckhart Tolle

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• Ahhhhh Regroup

Phew. It's Monday evening as I type this. Saturday and Sunday were exhausting in a sort of nebulous-draining way. Not entirely sure why, but I have a pretty good theory:

Saturday morning, I had a deep-tissue massage from someone who really knows what the hell she's doing. See, every once in a while, my youngest child (in this case, age 16 months) gains an ounce or two that turns out to be the straw that breaks this mama's back, so to speak, and my muscles knot up and wince in pain and beg for mercy. Hence the massage session.

What's so interesting about the whole ordeal is that as the massage therapist went along and undid all these various muscle knots, she released not only the tension and stress, but also whatever emotional energies were harboring within. It wasn't something I actively expected beforehand, but afterward, it was very obvious. Walking out of the session, my body was exhausted but at the same time refreshed, like it had been tweaked and twisted out of a bad habit and ushered into detox therapy.

I thus spent the rest of the weekend feeling sore, drinking a LOT of water, getting overly emotional over nothing, and wanting to just sleep as much as I possibly could (which I did, thank goodness).

Now what else is interesting is how I happened upon this particular massage therapist at this particular time.

First off, I decided a little bit ago that I need to keep releasing these blocks through my body  -- in essence, through the physical. That's part of the whole house-cleaning blog post: Cleaning the house was equivalent to clearing an energetic block.

To that end, the massage therapist I went to this time around is the best for cleaning physical blocks. But did I actively seek out an appointment with her last week when I decided my body needed a session? Noooooo... I instead chose the closest massage therapist so I'd have to drive the least distance on a Saturday morning. I made the appointment last Wednesday, and verbally reminded all those around me that INDEED my poor, aching body was getting a desperately needed massage on Saturday morning at 9! Come hell or high water, I'd be there!

And then on Friday at 1 p.m., I got a phone call that my massage therapist had fallen off her roof shoveling snow and needed to rest her aching knee, and couldn't do a massage the next morning. HA HA that was SO funny to me, after my clear intent for a massage Saturday morning at 9! I was not to be dissuaded. They asked me if I wanted to reschedule, but I politely declined, knowing I'd find exactly what I needed, and at the right time.

I dug up phone numbers for a couple other massage therapists in the area. Massage Therapist No. 1 wasn't there when I called, so I left a voicemail. Massage Therapist No. 2 turned out to not do weekend appointments. And then - a lightbulb went off, and I remembered Massage Therapist No. 3 -- the one I ended up going to. I called her up, and sure enough -she'd just had a cancellation for her 10 a.m. appointment on Saturday morning, and would I like to come in at 9:30 or 10?

Ahh -- 9:30, thank you. A more perfect time for me even than 9, since this was about 20 minutes from my house.

Why is this significant? Simply because I internally decided that I will be clearing energetic blocks via my physical body and environment, and a massage by this particular massage therapist -- not the other ones I've been to in the past, and keeping in mind I only get massages once or twice per year -- is exactly in line with that desire. And also, this was completely in alignment with my intent for a massage on Saturday morning, at 9. (OK, so it was at 9:30 - but I can't complain, because 9:30 worked out even BETTER than 9!)

To make things even more clear, on Sunday morning, I got a phone call back from Massage Therapist No. 1, saying that yes, she got my voicemail from Friday afternoon and would have been available for a Saturday morning massage, but due to some technical issue, she didn't actually hear the voicemail until Sunday.

Hrm. Go figure. Having fun playing, Universe?

Always perfect, always right on.

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

• Lucky Numbers

I have been reading and hearing about numbers lately - how different numbers represent messages from your angels, etc.

This isn't really a blazing new concept to me because I've always been kind of fascinated with numbers and number patterns. I'll give you the best example of this: When I was a kid, maybe between the ages of 5 and 8, I had this great little habit: Whenever I saw a time pattern number on the clock at home, I had to celebrate it by jumping up and down while turning in circles, and repeating whatever it was - for example, "10:10 exactly! 10:10 exactly!" - over and over, until the time changed. I'm not kidding. I *had* to do this. I have no idea where this came from.

Fast forward to last week, when I was reminded about Angel Numbers on Doreen Virtue's weekly Hay House radio show. I didn't consciously decide to pay attention, but I began to see a couple things here and there.

Driving down the highway last Friday on empty, for example, with three little kids in the car, and the "Miles Left till Empty" meter reading "0", I figured I'd ask my angels for help in making sure I get to the gas station OK. A few minutes later, my eyes jump to the odometer (which, honestly, I never pay attention to) and I see a series of 7's: 7777. And I *know* it's the angels talking.

Sure enough, I check it when I get home, and according to theangelchanneler.com: "The quadruple number sequences are used by our angels to communicate messages to us... The 7777 number sequence when seen repeatedly signifies travel."

Ha ha ha!!!!

Ok ok, so I'm sitting up and taking notice.

Later on that night, when I'm dealing with emotional issues, I look up 7777 again, and I find: "The 7777 number is an extremely positive sign and means that you should also expect more miracles to occur for you."

A couple days later, I start seeing 11:11 frequently - three times in about a day and a half. Again, enough that I have to sit up and take notice.

I didn't look it up right away, but today, reading an online group that - mind you - does NOT focus specifically on angel numbers (but focuses more on LoA and family topics), I see a post specifically asking about LoA and the meaning of the number 1. And, more specifically, the person posting has been seeing 11:11 frequently. The meaning she has found attached to it is that NOW is the time for your enlightenment. Ok, ok, again, point taken. Time to consider the meaning of 11:11 and ALSO time to post here about it. It's all part of my journey to enlightenment, higher consciousness, etc.

P.S. Shortly before posting this entry, I got an e-mail with a bunch of pics in it; they were all too wide to see completely in the software I use to view my email attachments, so I just scrolled down quickly, glancing at parts of each photo, and sure enough -- out jumped 1111 at me again, this time from a license plate in the photo! Yee haw.

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• Doreen Virtue on Law of Attraction, etc.

I LOVE this interview with Doreen Virtue so much, I just want to share it here.

She starts out talking about how she grew up incorporating Law of Attraction into everyday life when she was a kid. She also elaborates on how she followes her intuition, feelings and guidance, taking things one step at a time, to arrive at the vision that she saw before the journey had even begun.

For those of you who aren't familiar with her, Doreen Virtue has many books about working with the angels, angel therapy, angel healing, etc. She has a radio show on hayhouseradio.com on Wednesdays at 4 p.m. EST that I try to catch every week.

This is very helpful, super cool, and fun to listen to. Check it out! Two parts:

• Clearing, clearing.... Clean!

In the past several months, I have been clearing and clearing and clearing emotionally, and the latest manifestation of this is my CLEAN HOUSE.

This may not be a big deal for you neat-and-tidy people out there, but for me -- a perfectionist organizer type who used to just make "messes" and leave them because the stress of cleaning them up (and organizing each item perfectly!) was more than the discomfort of having the mess -- this shift is HUGE.

It's very important to note that before I cleaned my house, I cleared my SELF. How? Well, ho'oponopono, EFT (tapping), listening to youtubes on Abraham-Hicks etc. to raise my vibration, etc. And then - I just kept kind of training and working with my inner self.

In the simplest terms, I'd go about my days, notice all my emotions, notice the "space" between the emotions and my perfect, higher self; let the emotions BE, accept the emotions, love the emotions, and watch where they bring me.
After sifting through difficult emotions, I then get clarity of what action I should take. For an example: Last week, I had an emotional "block" that was soooo stuck! It was this funk that followed me around like a dark rain cloud. I couldn't shake it, I didn't know what it was from, I couldn't figure it out -- it was just THERE.

So I let it be. I listened to what my body needed (REST), I let myself expect NOTHING of myself that wasn't absolutely necessary, and I relaxed into the unknowingness, and TRUSTED that the universe, my angels, my higher self and even my mind would solve this riddle for me.

It did. At some point, something clicked. And then --

Then I started doing something that I have not been able to do in the 8 years since my first child was born.

I cleaned the house, and have kept it tidy every single day since. With no stress, no worry, no anger - but rather with Joy Fun and Enthusiasm! GENUINE joy - no bribery or voice in my head convincing me this is wonderful. Simple JOY at presenting a house that is clear of crap because I, inside, am clear of crap!

Mind you, there is a flow still - the kitchen gets messy when I'm busy cooking and caring for the kids, but as I go about my day now, I effortlessly clean it up! I don't get upset about it or stressed, so there's no stress to express to the kids. Quite the opposite -- I feel WONDERFUL in my genuine, authentically tidy house! Trust me - for someone who was quite happily a "messy" person (and I mean fairly happily messy, not all angrily messy - though it did have me frustrated at times) years ago when I was living solo, and who then married a tidy person, this is a HUGE change for me. And it's permanent. I know so because the shift is 99 percent inside me - and the 1 percent outward manifestation is the tidy home.

Going from messy to tidy is like an alcoholic going from drunk to sober in one second. It just HAPPENED after I accepted all my emotions, let myself be, and was content. And trusted. Step by step. I've had other energetic blocks clear in the past as well (including one for laundry that cleared sometime in September), but this is, by far, the biggest one.

It's AWESOME!

Thank you angels, universe, higher powers, higher self, and whatever whoever however I need to thank on this. This feels soooooooooooooooooo good.

Off to sleep now in my TIDY room and my already-made bed!

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

• Inner Peace, a.k.a. Losing One's Mind

Among all the spiritual teachings I've come across in my journeying, Eckhart Tolle's have stood out to be, for me, the leader of the pack. He's like the quiet torch-bearer of peace in a loud and noisy world. Among the energy-moving din of OMing, chanting, crystal-bowl playing and tribal drumming, he silently raises energy by simply exuding the presence of a true Master in the flesh. He teaches inner peace simply by Being it.

I've read all his books, watched several videos of him and attended meditation classes that feature audio recordings of his as part of their practice. All of it is uplifting and healing. All of it helps me practice my own mind-quietness. All of it teaches presence.All of it shows you how you can consciously quiet the mind, let Being take over, and simply Exist.

Eckhart has been my true teacher of how to "actively" achieve of inner stillness.

But then, I learned, there is actually *another* way one can quiet the mind. One can have a stroke.

Yep, a stroke.

It sounds extreme - and isn't something you consciously intend - but the story told here by neurologist Jill Bolte Taylor, MD, - who HAD a stroke and lost the capacities of her left (read: thinking/logical) side of her brain - occurred to me as simply another explanation of what presence IS.

Presence is the joy that happens  when you really, truly and honestly shut up that damn chatty left side of the brain. It is, in a sense, losing your logical mind, and letting the creative, intuitive, conceptual, free right-side reign.

Keep the concept of presence in mind, and watch to Jill's story, and then take a listen to her NPR interview after. It's truly some amazing insight into the mind, the spirit, and where the two intertwine and divide.

• Her Presentation on TED: http://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html
• Her Interview on NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91861432

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• Really Cool Video: "We Become 2012"

This is a beautiful video I stumbled across. The A/V quality is a little 'eh' but the singing bowls interspersed with this person's talking is soooooo soothing. Makes me want to acquire my own collection of singing bowls:


We become 2012 from kedarvideo on Vimeo.

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• Letters to Abraham

In one of the Youtube videos of Abraham-Hicks, someone asked how it is that Abraham came to Esther and Jerry Hicks. In a nutshell, the answer was: Jerry Hicks asked and asked and asked many questions. He filled notebooks with questions that he wanted answers to, and so, the collection of energies we call Abraham showed up via Esther to answer them.

That got me thinking: I have lots of questions - things that I don't yet have clarity on, that I can't figure out or entirely feel my way through. It'd be awesome to start writing all my questions down on paper so that I clarify exactly what it is I want to know - and so that an answer can come that more easily.

Now, I write a lot. I write here, I journal regularly, and - heck, I've been known to email quasi-mini-novels to friends sometimes - so I figured the best format for me is to start a just-Abraham-questions notebook filled with short letters to Abraham. Most of them are private matters, so I won't be posting them here, but one such question that I don't mine sharing sounds like this:

     1/7/2011

     Dear Abraham,

     Can you please tell me why I've manifested dental caries in my past?

     I would like to heal all my teeth and have them be STRONG and HEALTHY  and LAST FOREVER.

     Please offer insight.

     Thank you.

I like this - I like writing down all my questions, and keeping all blame out of them, and keeping them on the "up" side of positivity. If nothing else, it clarifies the question for me, so that I can feel or discover the answer wherever it may show up in my world.

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

• Different Kinds of Gratitude

Today I received a package in the mail of a great kitchen gadget that I've been dreaming about for a few months now, and decided to purchase a few days ago. I'm super excited to have it, but its presence here is expected and it will fit right in with all my other kitchen gear. And yet, although I'm not jumping out of my skin with excitement, I'm still thrilled to have it here and am extremely grateful that I'm able to purchase it. So that got me thinking.....

There's a lot of encouragement to be grateful, express gratitude, and show appreciation. However, appreciation - like love - doesn't look the same in every situation, and yet it can be equally powerful. Sometimes gratitude is HUGE and LOUD and EXCITING! Sometimes it's quiet, serene, and subdued.

I thought about a good analogy that would clarify it for me, and I came up with this: When you travel somewhere that you've been just dying to get to - say Disney World or Machu Pichu or the Alps or the Sahara -- you are SO EXCITED when you get there! Jumping out of your skin, full of energy, can't wait to see it all, feel it all, smell it all, experience it all, take it all in! There's appreciation pouring out of your ears, beaming from your smile and emanating from your being. You are ready to go go go and do do do and take pictures and show appreciation and tip generously and live large. It's all outward and upward and grandiose and larger than life and FUN!!

Ahhhh... and then, when you've seen it all and tasted every morsel and adored every sunset and ridden every ride and are done for that journey, you return home.

And once home, you walk in the door and want to hug your house, cuddle with your familiar cup of tea, snuggle under the best blanket ever, breathe the familiar scents of the kitchen soap and re-read every favorite book you've got sitting on your bookshelf. You can't imagine ever not having this haven to come home to, to peacefully and quietly appreciate, to love to pieces for the simple sake that it's *you*, it's familiar, it's perfect, it's HOME.

Some things we appreciate LOUDLY; other things are warmly appreciated on the inside. Neither is better nor worse; they are just two wonderful ways to love the lives we are blessed to live.

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

• War and Peace

As usual, I "accidentally" ended up watching a show tonight on war; specifically, it was a NatGeo channel documentary on American soldiers in combat in Afghanistan. The filmmakers recorded it while embedded with the soldiers. The soldiers were stationed in the mountains and were engaging in shooting combat with the enemy through the woods, etc. I forget all the technical terms and names of locations, but the impression in my mind and heart is very clear.

Here's what I saw and felt.

I saw really good men, really noble men, with high ideals and very active egos, swearing a lot and scared but acting tough. They were good at what they did, they busted their friggin' asses, and had a strong desire to be successful, protect America, and make their families proud of them.

I saw how they reacted when a fellow soldier was killed, and though I can't in my wildest dreams pretend to know how they felt or feel, it was incredibly, horribly sad just to see. Some men cried, some men just worked harder and told themselves they'd deal with the emotions later. But they all were fueled with the fire to do MORE, work HARDER, fight BETTER, and KILL THE ENEMY ever more profoundly.

It was inspiring to see their dedication and passion; it was heartbreaking to see them filled with hate.

Again, I first would like to reiterate my cluelessness here in that I've never experienced war on the front lines. So, I don't understand the anger that the group of soldiers felt when they heard that 9 other soldiers, in a different company, had been killed by the enemy. I don't understand, but I know I heard one of the soldiers announce to all the others that they were going to "Make those mutherfuckers PAY!" That they were going to exact on them ten times the pain, agony, death and suffering that American soldiers felt they had recently suffered. That they were going to "make the mutherfuckers feel like we feel right now!" That they were going to get revenge.

I get the anger. I get the rage. I get that I don't "get" it, too, in that I'm not in their shoes, I'm not experiencing what they went through. But watching it, it all seems sadly ridiculous. We are all One. Killing your enemy is actually killing a part of yourself. Shooting at and hating your enemy is shooting at and hating yourself. It's no wonder so many soldiers come home traumatized; they are attempting to squash the life force that they were born to embrace.

Here these men are - in the beautiful mountains, full of life and energy and enthusiasm - but fueled by fear.

I take the images I see on the television, and when the show is over, in my mind's eye, I turn it around.

I love them all unconditionally - the soldiers, the "enemy," the filmmakers, the families.


I create a new vision. In this vision, all the soldiers lay down their guns. They lose their desire to fight, but are still full of passion and energy and enthusiasm. They all sit down, close their eyes, and meditate.

Yes, these muscle-men full of testosterone silently meditate.

They breathe in the mountain air; they are at peace with themselves; and they focus on forgiving and loving themselves, thereby forgiving and loving the enemy.

They practice ho'oponopono, or whatever peace-bringing discipline works for them. And just as Dr. Hew Len used ho'oponopono to heal a ward of mentally ill criminals, the soldiers use ho'oponopono or their own choice of energy healing to heal the emotional wounds of the enemy and, at the same time, themselves.

They take their strong will and unwavering dedication and use to toward the goal of true inner and outer peace.

They offer no more resistance, but instead acceptance, forgiveness and love. And soon enough, there is no more war to fight because there is no more enemy on either side.

Peace has blanketed the land where war once raged, and the mountains are again a place of boundless joy and true freedom.

They all surrender - not to some self-created "enemy," but to the greater Love and Knowing that abounds.

All war has dissolved, and love again flows in.

~  ~  ~  ~  ~

• Greeting the New Year

As 2011 awaits before me, I am ready. I can see clearly now that the past few months I have been lining everything up, and that now is the perfect time to really step into action. Here's what my actions are for 2011 as to how I am raising my vibration, helping humanity, and healing this planet in the process.

To begin with, my life is a bit of a walking meditation, and I have begun focused meditation in small blocks of time throughout the day, whenever possible. During these meditations, I become still and breathe in love and joy, clarifying visions of peace, and feeling the Oneness of Source and All that Is.

Second, I am clearing clearing clearing as I go about my day's activities. The easiest method is Ho'oponopono. I keep the "I love you, please forgive me, thank you, I'm sorry" chatter going as I take care of the children, run errands, clean the house, play, nurse my young baby - whatever. I'm aware of it all and the feeling behind the words. It feels very cleansing to keep the chatter going in the patter of words that most applies to where I'm at. Sometimes it becomes a series of "I'm sorry, very very sorry. It's almost tragic, yes I'm sorry." Other times, I find myself thanking a situation profusely. It's been very healing and very cleansing to keep these words silently on the tip of my tongue.

And in the midst of all the focused, serious meditation and clearing, I am inspired every day to take on some form of Dance. Dance is my unhindered, free, self-expression of pure joy and ME-ness. It allows Source energy to take form in the special way that only I can channel through dance and music combined.

Interspersed  among these actions are dozens of opportunities to practice patience, unconditional love, forgiveness, kindness, and service to others. There are aspects here that I want to work more on, but that will come in time. As I reinforce my solid foundation of meditation, clearing, and dance, it will all come together perfectly, as only the Universe can orchestrate.

Peace to all, and happy new year. Thank you for being here, to share this journey together.

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