Personal Growth

FEAR

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As an individual, a country and a planet that is becoming more connected than separated we must learn from our deepest fears. Otherwise, we will continue to inflict suffering, pain and even death to others, and ourselves instead of compassion, kindness, forgiveness, and love. When will we learn? When will we face our fears instead of acting out from them? When will we have the courage to do the right thing?

“What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance, is understanding fear; that means, watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it. We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it.”

– Jiddu Krishnamurti

 

THE SHIFT

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Beginning to Take Right Action

When we act from our True-Self, it is impossible to hurt another human being. The True-Self is our authentic self; we act from divine guidance, unencumbered by social conditioning. Social conditioning is the process of training people in our society to have certain beliefs, behaviors, desires and emotional reactions, which are approved by society in general or by a certain group within it. We all have social conditioning to some extent. Therefore, do not assume you are above it.

It is only when we act from this conditioning or the False-Self that we hurt others. The False-Self is the person we have become from this social conditioning. In addition to the social conditioning or because of it, we have created a persona to show the world that we are OK, strong and without problems or human frailties. We put on a good face in the midst of our troubles.

After reading this, the next time you lash out or take the wrong action, there will be a moment when who you really are, the True-Self will speak to you. It may happen during or sometime after the event, but it will happen. It will be up to you in that moment to hear the message and to then take the proper action going forward.

This will begin a life-changing chain reaction, it will gradually strengthen your connection to who you really are, the True-Self, and eventually your only choice will be the right action.

The challenge here is to have the desire to live from the True-Self and to break free from the False-Self through awareness. To live a life of right action, instead of continuing to live in your current state of habit, hardened conventionality and for many, a form of self-imposed hypnosis created by your social conditioning.

Social Media Syndrome

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Social media syndrome has several symptoms, however today I am only writing about one symptom, not listening.

When it comes to politics and other societal issues, social media has become a platform to champion our views. Unfortunately, many no longer listen to what others have to say and only use the platform to express their beliefs in hopes of convincing others that their views are right.

Many times these opinions are based on long-held beliefs that no longer hold true, were acquired out of social conditioning, or they are based on false information. We will also often disseminate false information without verifying or questioning the information because it falls into alignment with our beliefs. We make comments out of anger and frustration only because someone else does not have the same beliefs. It is our way of saying that what I believe is right and what you believe is wrong.

This kind of thinking only leads to greater divides in our country, which is very evident today. This is how tribal (like-minded) thinking works: if you do not agree with the tribe then you are ostracized from your tribe. It has nothing to do with being right or wrong most of the time; it is about whether your views agree with the majority views of your tribe. If they do not, then you are wrong.

We can look back through history and find many examples of this happening in the world. For example, anyone who disagreed with the world not being flat was considered crazy, as were the scientists and explorers who went against conventional thinking in their time. Approximately 77,000 German citizens were killed for not being part of Hitler’s tribe. In today’s society, we have Global warming: which tribe are you a part of on this subject?

If we ever want to reach a consensus, we must be willing to listen to one another. We can no longer just espouse our views and expect to find our way to peace. We can no longer just repeat the reported facts because they fall into alignment with those beliefs. We must ask questions, investigate and find the facts for ourselves, and we must we must call into question the truth or validity of our own beliefs, instead. Where did they come from anyway? Do you know? Do they still hold true? This is not only true for social media, we must become the listener in everyday life as well, which means at home, work and in our relationships.

The cure for social media syndrome requires each one of us to have the willingness to look at our beliefs and question them, to question what we hear as fact and to become a listener first. Have you ever noticed that you are practicing what you are going to say in rebuttal as soon as the other person starts talking, without even hearing their complete thought? This is not listening, it is an unconscious way of living, we continually repeat the same things and ideas without any thought, and it becomes automatic.

The next time you get the urge to post something on social media, be sure to fact check what you are posting. Do not share it just because it falls in alignment with your beliefs. Monitor your own thoughts about why you are posting or commenting about something. Notice how you are feeling: Are you posting out of anger or frustration? Is what you are about to say or write bringing people closer together, or does it create a greater divide? Does it lift someone up or are you trying to tear him or her down? Is it kind or unthoughtful?

Remember that when we respond out of anger or fear we are not listening, we are ignoring the symptoms of social media syndrome. Remember to fact check your own thoughts, question them and take a breath before posting or commenting out of anger, fear or the idea that you are right and the other person is wrong, stupid or ignorant. Saying nothing in these situations is more self-empowering than speaking out from the wrong state of mind. Holding onto a position to make yourself feel powerful or to make YOU FEEL RIGHT will only lead to sickness in the mind, body, and world. If you look at the world today with an open heart, you will see that this is true.

 

 

Seeing the Actions of Others Differently

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Why is it as adults we have no patience, endurance, steadfastness or love for other adults when they take actions or say things that we do not like? Yet usually, we can find these qualities for children when they are being difficult in abundance. Why does every action by an adult have to be perceived as they should know better or they should not act that way? If they knew better, wouldn’t they do better? Perhaps we need to see them as the child and treat them with some understanding. If we did, maybe our world would be a little better for it.

Being Okay in Uncertain Times

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Many of you are worried; anxious or even downright scared with what you feel is happening in our country and around the world. Yet I can assure you that you will be fine. Let your worry, anxiousness and fear go. You cannot create what you want from this place, besides life is too short to hold onto these feelings. Where has your faith gone?

When the fog moves in, the sun disappears; however, the sun is still shining everywhere. Whether it is clear or cloudy, the sun is always shining. When you are in the midst of these feelings, they are your fog. With all your attention focused on the fog, you have lost sight of the sun, your faith.

It is important to remember that everything in its simplest form is energy. From the chair you sit on, to the car you drive and all you see around you. This also includes things you do not see, like your feelings, emotions and thoughts. When you feel worried, anxious or fearful that energy goes out into the world and energetically feeds whatever or whoever is bothering you. When you continually or habitually think about what is wrong in your life or you THINK is wrong in your life, you are energetically feeding it. By doing this you can be helping to manifest the very things in your life that you are worried, anxious or fearful about.

“My life has been filled with terrible misfortunes, most of which have never happened.”

-Mark Twain

Anger is one of these feelings and a perfect example of what I am talking about here. Have you ever noticed when you get into an argument with someone, as the other person gets angrier so do you? You are feeding off this energy and they are feeding off yours. What happens when you walk away? How many hours or days do you spend thinking about how angry you are and why you were right and they were wrong? How much sleep do you lose?

Would it be more productive to use all that time and energy toward creating the life you do want? This is why it is so important to pay attention to how you feel and think.

To start, pay more attention to what you feel and think. Once you notice a feeling or a thought that is not congruent with creating what you want, then reframe it, let it go and begin to focus on what you do want. This sounds simple and it is with practice. However, in the beginning it can be challenging. We have spent years honing our skills at holding on, avoiding and resisting. Do not get discouraged if you cannot change overnight. Let go of your expectations to be perfect and just practice. If you forget, it is OK, just start again when you remember. With your unbending intention and ongoing practice, it will become your automatic response. Leading you to a more peaceful and joyful life.

Fixed Ideas

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We have fixed ideas about people. We see them through a singular lens and miss the totality of who they really are in this life. Remember the next time you have a particular negative thought about someone to ask yourself, have I had this thought more than once. It may even be about a group of people. For instance, a Muslim, LGBTQ person, a liberal, conservative, or anyone who believes differently than you, if you have, then maybe you have created a fixed idea about that person or group.

When we look at people in this way, it limits the world and our lives. Therefore, before you think a person is this or that way, maybe you should look to see if they are more than what you have allowed yourselves to see. Maybe you should get to know them, before judging them.

Has anyone ever looked at you this way and only seen what they wanted to see? Have you ever had that feeling? It could be a stranger or it might be a parent or friend. Maybe it was because of your job, religion, sexual orientation, your hair, a tattoo. It could be anything that causes someone to think they know who you are and helped them to create this fixed idea of you.

Have you ever assumed you know someone’s beliefs because of his or her political party or religion? Did you take the time to get to know them? Could someone know you just by your political party or religion? Could someone know you for years but not really see you completely? Have you ever felt this way, that you are more than just how people see you?

If you know that you are more than how other people see you, then is it possible that whoever you are looking at with disdain is also more. I can tell you that if you cannot find a way to see the “more” in people then your disdain will keep your life small, fill it with pain, fear and heartache.

There is one thing I can tell you for sure and that is that you are more and they are more. So consider your thoughts when they repeatedly play the same negative message about another person or group. Take the next step and get to know the person or someone from the group. Do not let someone else make up your mind for you, find out for yourself. You may find that you have more in common than your differences.

Being Controlled by Unseen Forces

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You have a mixture of feelings like anger, fear, worry, sadness, hate… in you, stored in your body. These feelings are repressed, stuck and hidden from your awareness. The thought that just came up, did you hear it? It might have said you are just fine or that what I said is not true. That is part of the stored emotions defense mechanism to keep them hidden from you. Moreover, they affect your daily life in many ways that are unknown to you. For instance, they can influence your behavior and the choices you make. If you go through life thinking that the only feelings you have are the ones you consciously know about then you are deceiving yourself.

“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.” – Nikola Tesla

Have you ever overreacted to what someone said or did to you? Of course you have, everyone has at one time or another. The reason that you overreacted was not from what the other person did or said. It was because what they did or said triggered similar emotions that are stored in your body.

Everything is energy and it has a particular vibrational frequency rate (VFR). When this rate is similar to the stored energies in your body, they can be triggered and this is what causes you to overreact. We may not even realize that we overreacted or it may become clear later after we calm down. Some of the people experiencing our overreaction will see it immediately and wonder why we reacted the way we did. Others may internalize this experience creating some of their own stored emotional energies. Maybe you cannot remember overreacting at all, but you can remember being on the receiving end of someone who did.

Do you hear what I am saying? These stored emotions affect your choices and behavior in life on an subconscious level.

Shining the light of awareness on them is often all that is needed. Other times it requires questioning and going into the body to release them. This is not a mental exercise and you cannot think your way out. This is a feeling exercise using your body. For example, when you are in one of these states, where in your body do you feel sensation? Can you find it and not thinking about it? Do not use words like sadness and anger because they have a history, and will trigger the story that you tell yourself. Just find it in your body, feel the sensations, be curious and sit with them. Strip away the words and stories; feel the aliveness in the moment in your body. Know that the places you are feeling are calling out for your love and attention. They are not your enemy, but a friend seeking your empathy and compassion. You have nothing to fear. Yes, it may feel uncomfortable, but know that you are safe. Being present and in the moment with these sensations will empower you, if you are open to trusting the process.

Being in the presence of certain VFR’s can transmute our stuck emotions. For example, certain types music, poetry, movies or healing modalities, like Spiral Release Bodywork®. A higher VFR can transmute a lower VFR; this means it will actually raise its vibration.

Just know that once you become aware of a stored emotion, you will be safely guided to releasing it in whatever way is for your highest good. Remember life never gives you more than you can handle and any thought that does not support this truth is in support of the very thing that is holding you back. Pay attention when these thoughts come up and let them go, the thought alone does not make it true.

True Power

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When you are in your true power, you do not lash out at others. It is only in the present moment that you can access your true power and feel empathy for others. Therefore, when you see someone lashing out, know that this person is hurting and cannot access his or her true power. They can only lash out to make themselves feel powerful. Since this is a temporary feeling, they will have to keep repeating the behavior to keep up this false sense of power.

Remember when you see this behavior in someone else, stay in your true power and show him or her compassion rather than expressing the same behavior back to him or her. This is how we can begin break the cycle. You cannot fix someone else; you can only be the highest expression of yourself in each moment. When we put this energy out into the world, it has the power to change everything!

External Pursuits

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When our external pursuits become more important than our internal exploration, we will eventually feel lost in life. Even when we follow the path of external pursuits and our life seems good, we will wake up one day and feel that something is missing in our life. If we continue to pursue this missing thing “out there”, then we will begin to feel stress, melancholy, worry and other uncomfortable feelings.

Our sole purpose is to reconnect with our God energy, the True-Self. Without this awareness, there will always be internal disturbances that create external upset in our lives. It is important to know that religion alone will not offer you the answers you seek, unless it teaches you this truth. Otherwise, it too is just another external pursuit.

Therefore, whether you are religious or not, believe in God or not, LIFE requires that you let go. It is only through the process of internal exploration and letting go that we can ever finally find what we are looking for and in the end, you will realize that what you were looking for was never lost, just covered up by the thoughts that you believed to be true, that said otherwise.

The World’s True Enemy

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The world’s true enemy and that of every person on this planet is not who or what you might think. It is not our governments or the lobbyist. It is not the corporations, banks, military or even terrorist.

How do I know this to be true? Because these organizations have one thing in common, they are made up of people just like you. Yes, they may have different beliefs, politics or even religions, but none of them would exist without our part in creating them.

We like to place blame elsewhere for our problems. Even as much as we would like to THINK it is true, our real opposition never resides out in the world. The real opposition resides within and is often invisible to our conscious awareness. We find ways to distract, ignore and resist the truth. In fact, to hide its very existence, the False-Self convinces us through our thoughts that the problem is always somewhere else; we are never our own worst enemy, “they are”. Who are they? Well it turns out that “they”, are just another human being.

Without careful observation to build our conscious awareness muscle, we will be forever under the influence of the False-Self. Once we start to notice this influence, it is the beginning of awakening. Our suffering increases anytime we resist the call of the True-Self and only follow the guidance of the False-Self.

When you find yourself blaming someone else or something else for your upset, stop and pay attention to your thoughts. This is the only way to shine light of awareness into the darkness. What are you saying to yourself and are these thoughts making you feel better or worse? Do they actually help you resolve the issue or perpetuate your uncomfortable feelings? It will only be through this careful observation that you can awaken to this covert influence of the False-Self and begin let it go.

When our leaders, voters, the people who make up our corporations and military are coming from this alert and conscious place, then we will begin to see the change we wish for in this world. Until then people will be led around by their False-Self. This can only lead to one place, the destruction of our home, Mother Earth and our continued collective suffering.

To those of you who resonate with what is written here, I ask that you continue on your path. Remember to breath and let go. Live your best life. Pray, meditate or practice any pursuit that brings you peace. Then spread this peace throughout your life to those people you meet with acts of kindness, compassion and most importantly love. Forgive yourself when you are not able to follow through on this intention and then begin again. Remember there is no act to small and the collective power of these acts will change your life and the world. We can only do our best each moment of each day. Remember when we know better, we do better. Let us help everyone know better by example, so we can all do better for our children, grandchildren and all the future generations that come after we are gone.