Hello all –
So I thought I’d completely jettisoned my
old self…. but there are some things that are just here to stay… And that was
rather the point – to see what remained after all the excess fell away. Part of the Peace Corps journey was to
re-calibrate. You’ve heard this story
before, so no repeating. In short, I
chose an opportunity that would allow me the space to live my work – and not
sell it. I’ve dismantled two websites,
leaving behind sixteen years of history.
I’ve stopped formally teaching the Feng
Shui, the organization, dispute resolution, the ADHD classes, intuition, hands
on healing. I began teaching these
topics at least a decade before they became mainstream and commercial. I’m glad to say that most of it is now
part of the vernacular. When I started,
some of these concepts were only spoken of in hushed tones with trusted friends
or others who had experiences that were outside the norm. Now they are the subject of websites, books, webinars and Oprah.
Suffice it to say, that what remains after
all that jettisoning of trappings and overhead, is the spiritual practice in
daily life and the essence of that is awareness of what kind of emotion – vibration
– energy I am offering to the mix. Am I a source of light or contributing to the darkness?
Energy – sound – light – matter – emotion: it's
is about vibration. Everything vibrates
at its own rate and that makes us all transmitters. It’s not MAGIC – it’s PHYSICS. This
vibration influences everything around us and is cumulative in its impact. It becomes and defines the collective. It’s one of the building blocks of the principle that thought-creates-form. In
Africa, I had the remarkable opportunity to observe the immediate results of
the concept in daily interactions. Here
there is so much noise, that sometimes it’s hard to rule out the
variables.
So why am I dragging this out now – after
years of hiatus? Because we, as a nation
and as a complex culture, are in a mess - a world of woe. It’s one we created for ourselves - and therefore a situation that we can
choose to dismantle and change before our unconscious actions or knee-jerk re-actions cement what it now
just a possibility into a concrete reality. Regardless of political
affiliation, our collective energy has created this atmosphere of escalating divisiveness. Each political candidate represents the
out-picturing of the mass energy – representing in different measures: hope,
fear, love and hate. We have –
individually and as a society, allowed ourselves to be distracted by the media’s
images of hate, violence, divisiveness and inflammatory rhetoric. We have either not been paying attention, or
often paying attention (aka: giving our energy) to things, thoughts, emotions
and personalities that do not serve us well.
But we can change this IF WE CHOOSE.
And choose is an active verb…
We are creatures of choice and we can
choose to be the best version of ourselves or drift along and let others do the
choosing. But what does that mean on a
moment-to-moment basis?
In part, it means being acutely conscious
of what we bring to every moment, every action and interaction, every decision about
what we re-post on FB, about the stories we tell about others and the worth we
hold for ourselves. In the book The Four Agreements (Miguel Ruiz), there
is a quote:
“Be
impeccable in your word.”
For me, that means not just to tell the truth,
be authentic and honor our commitments.
Our “WORD” is actually our frequency – the vibrational signal we emit. Sound – as an example of frequency – can
destroy or create calm. Is the signal we emit love or
hate, worth or devaluing, supportive or discounting? We
are the tuners of our own devices; we are self-calibrating when we choose to be.
IFF we want a different world, it means
active engagement, but not necessarily in the old ways. If we choose change, we no longer have the
luxury of living on auto-pilot and being asleep to our real value, power or
capabilities to shape the world and the relationships around us. Perhaps we have reached this point of chaos
and despair precisely to encourage us to be more aware, more conscious of the
responsibility we hold for the choices we make, the actions we take and the
words we utter.
Not to belabor the point, but again - we
create with every breath, every emotion, every belief, every judgement, every
blessing or curse – every word, thought, action (and inaction) – and every FB
share! Frankly, acting from conscious
choice all of the time can be exhausting! It means breaking habits, operating
out of new paradigms, questioning our motivations – being fully present.
One practice I have found helpful is
meditation in general, but I really love doing a walking meditation, whether hiking, walking on the beach or to the store or even driving... it's a good way to focus energies and stay out of my monkey-mind. Sometimes,
it’s a challenge to “sit” and still the mind or to re-frame troubling thoughts
and feelings, so I’m sharing a meditation I created for myself, in case it
resonates with you or you want to create your own:
·
With every step I take, may all
beings walk in freedom
May every action I take be one
of compassion
May every thought I have be in
awareness of what I bring to the world
May every word I utter be
spoken in kindness
May every emotion be of love
and gratitude
May every breath offer a
blessing
May I see all beings as the
divine in form.
Namaste,
Nancy
