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Fear has been on my mind a lot lately, especially when it comes to this venture of Pajamas Notebook. I started out as I always do, like a firecracker, but as time goes on I find myself getting fearful again. This time around, it is a different type of fear than I am normally accustomed to. Usually, I would get scared of failure. “What if no one likes me?” “What if I fail miserably?” Those feelings I am used to and have become really good at handling,so they don’t bother me anymore. What this new fear does deal with is the fear of success! Odd, isn’t it?
This time around I find myself saying, “What if I become successful?” or“What if my message takes off and the spotlight starts to shine on me?” How do I handle that? Being a humble person, the thought of “all eyes on me” is a bit daunting, as I have never wanted to outshine anyone else in my life. I suffer from “feeling bad for those around me when I start to take the lead so I step back” syndrome. This was even stronger when I became a Wife and Mother. I always wanted to be a Stay-at-Home Mommy (which I am), a supportive wife (which I am), a loving sibling (which I am), and a loving daughter (which I am)…which is why my mind keeps putting me in checkmate by saying, “You have everything you ever wanted… why push it and try for more? How will you balance your home with a business? How will you care for your husband? How will you make time for your kids?” It is those moments where fear starts really knocking at my door.
With that being said, I ended up spending the entire weekend thinking about this subject. What fear is, what common fears are, and how it affects different kinds of people. Through this process, I was finally able to muster up enough courage to no longer allow this emotion to get the better of me. How did I do this you may ask? Simply, by deciding to put all TRUST in me, so that I will be able to answer any knock at my door with a smile and with love. You see, the truth is that fear is constantly knocking at our doors if you really take time to listen. We can either choose to ignore that it’s there and just keep pressing on, or we can finally stand up with all that we are and open the door to invite fear in!
That is what I have chosen to do. I have decided to walk straight up to my door, open it up, and invite fear inside. I am going to ‘trust’ that this feeling knocking means I truly am on to something with my business…I am going to love the crap out of this scary emotion until it’s so full of love it has no choice but to love me back…I am going to put all my light towards the fear, and whatever else walks through my door, that it will be overrun with the warmth of which I am.
I have decided right here and now, to no longer live life by constantly ‘exiting stage right.’ Instead, I choose to harness the gifts provided to me and get to gettin’ when it comes to sharing my message with all of you!
Since I have made this declaration to myself and to the universe, I am overrun with pure joy for what lies ahead and am excited to have ‘fear’ along for the ride. Maybe, just maybe, I can finally teach IT a thing or two about how the soul really works!
What would you do, if you knew you wouldn’t fail? What would you do, if fear no longer conquered your life?
(Jaimie Schultz , a/k/a Pajamas, is a fun-loving, passionate, adventure seeker who loves life and loves helping others see how much they should love theirs. She is passionate about all things mystical and out of her control. You can visit her website at www.pajamasnotebook.com)
(If you would like to contribute an article you have authored to the Guest Column, please submit it to our Managing Editor, Lisa McCormack, for possible publication in this space. Not all submissions can be published, due to the number of submissions and sometimes because of other content considerations, but all are encouraged. Send submissions to Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com. Please label the topic: “Guest Column.”)
“We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves” ~ Dalai Lama
What comes after peace?
Have you ever stopped to think about this?
We spend so much of our time and energy working to attain both inner and global peace, but have we ever stopped to think about what this really means?
What is on the other side of Peace?
Twice in my life, I have broken a board with my bare hand. There is one simple rule to this technique. You must not focus on breaking the board but rather on breaking through the board. This means placing your attention not on breaking the board but on seeing your hand on the other side of the broken board.
Perhaps we need to apply this technique to our quest for peace.
Several years ago, when my son was eight years old, we were discussing the possibility of creating a video game that did not include war and violence.
As the discussion moved into the possibility of world peace, my son in his infinite wisdom said,
“People are not ready for that. Without conflict there would be no plot. And without a plot, no one would know what to do.”
I was speechless.
My eight year old son had just summed up in one simple sentence why the world has continued this cycle of war and conflict since the beginning of time. I could not get this thought out of my head for weeks.
I realized that our children are being taught to live in the cycle of conflict. Not only through propaganda, video games and media. They are learning the importance of conflict in English class!
The foundation of every paper they write is that a plot must consist of an introduction, conflict, and resolution. In fact, every story that we read is based on this core principal. It is our collective story!
How do we write a new story?
I dedicated the last four years of my life to mastering a new story; not for the world, but for myself. In fully dropping a storyline that clings to conflict, I free myself to imagine a world beyond peace. As I dropped my attachment to conflict, I discovered that not only were my actions tied to the cycle of conflict and resolution, my desire for intimacy was woven into this same cycle.
Stop for a second and think about relationship. Most intimate moments come from joining together around conflict. We have a problem; reach out to a friend for comfort. The friend either commiserates by sharing her/his own similar problems or helps us find a resolution. We are comforted by these moments of intimate bonding.
So how do we create intimacy beyond conflict?
A few weeks ago, I had the honor of being present at the Common Grounds of Peace Forum, with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and several world peace advocates.
I smiled when the moderator, Ann Curry, read this question,
“We focus so much attention on attaining world peace. What comes after peace?”
After four years of contemplating this very question, I anxiously awaited the response from these notable peace leaders.
One by one, each person attempted to answer. Yet, each answer simply reiterating the need for peace. Not one of these renowned peace advocates actually answered the question. Even more significant is that not one of them even seemed to realize that they were not answering the question.
Then His Holiness, The Dalai Lama, with his brilliant smile and light-hearted nature spoke. He shared that when you have peace at your core, you will be happy and you will have more friends.
“And,” he said, “everyone likes more friends.”
Simple and true.
Yes, after peace comes joy. We must start by finding this joy within ourselves.
As we release our attachment to storylines of conflict, we will discover a whole new way of connecting to others. We will discover a new way of seeing this world.
Begin by imagining a new and vibrant world. See a world that is more vibrant and colorful than you have ever before imagined. This world has unlimited possibilities and its only plot is to explore and create beauty. In this world, everything moves naturally into its most perfect form.
Meditating on this “Vibrant New Earth” immediately brings life into harmony. More than that, meditating on this Vibrant New Earth is the greatest gift we can offer our world in its quest for peace.
We are co-creators of this Universe. We must be able to see a world of joy in order to move through peace and create the world we desire.
John Lennon understood this in the 70’s when he planted the seed of intent with his song Imagine.
We have all heard the song. We have felt the vibration of peace it carries: But have we actually taken the time to Imagine?
Take a moment to contemplate these lyrics. Really let the images of a joy filled world penetrate you. Let yourself feel the world you imagine.
“Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace
You, you may say
I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one”
John Lennon
Imagination is the gateway to creation. Let’s join together and imagine a world beyond peace. Let’s co-create in this moment a world filled with playful and creative joy.
(Sheila Applegate, MSW, is a clinical therapist, motivational presenter, author and teacher. Sheila’s passion is to provide a forum for people to process emotion and integrate spiritual understanding into their daily lives. For over 20 years, Sheila has combined her broad formal training with her continual personal awakening to bring forth the message of Oneness through Divine Love. Sheila’s first book “Enchanted One: The Portal to Love,” released in December 2012, is a work of love that weaves together messages from the Divine Feminine and highlights her personal experiences in embracing the full spectrum of human emotion as a gateway to living in Oneness. www.sheilaapplegate.com)
(If you would like to contribute an article you have authored to the Guest Column, please submit it to our Managing Editor, Lisa McCormack, for possible publication in this space. Not all submissions can be published, due to the number of submissions and sometimes because of other content considerations, but all are encouraged. Send submissions to Lisa@TheGlobalConversation.com. Please label the topic: “Guest Column.”)
Most people think that to meditate, you have to sit quietly in a lotus position (legs crossed, the right foot resting on the left thigh) chanting a mantra. When I learned Transcendental Meditation in the 80’s, that’s exactly what I did, 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the evening.
Sitting like that gave me the feeling that I was in a meditation pose meant exclusively for meditating, and if anyone were to come into the room and see me, it would be rather obvious what I was doing. But what I was doing had more to do with what was going on in my mind, than the position I was sitting in, and that, I’ve come to realize, is something you can do in any position, including sitting down drinking your morning cup of tea or coffee.
Meditation is designed to quiet your mind and put you in a state of relaxation and peace. By focusing on your breathe, your thoughts can come in and out of your mind more easily without attachment to them. This focus and concentration allows for inner transformation to take place, which can take us to a higher level of awareness.
The discipline of sitting quietly to achieve this kind of relaxation, peace, and awareness has wonderful benefits like reducing stress or anxiety, but not everyone has or makes time to sit on the floor with their legs crossed and eyes closed, but would like to realize the advantages of meditating. So, can you, if you don’t sit in a traditional meditation pose like a Buddhist monk? I think you can, and here’s how:
1. When you wake up in the morning be aware of your thoughts. Allow them to come in and out of your mind by observing them.
2. Continue being aware of your thoughts when you do your morning ritual like brushing your teeth, showering and getting dressed.
3. Make a cup of tea or coffee.
4. Find a quiet place to sit.
5. Focus your attention on drinking your tea or coffee.
6. Feel the warmth of your drink on your lips, and going down your throat.
7. Be aware of how it tastes.
8. Feel the pleasure it gives you as you drink.
9. If a thought distracts you from enjoying your tea or coffee, put your focus back on the pleasure it gives you by the taste and feel of it.
10. Be aware of not rushing to finish your tea or coffee.
11. Stay present as you drink what is left of it.
12. Take a moment to hold your finished cup of tea or coffee, feeling the appreciation and gratitude of it as a gift to being alive.
13. Get up from your chair slowly.
14. Put your cup down and begin your day with the mindfulness you feel being in the present.
Meditating is something everyone can do. Whether you’re sitting in a lotus position chanting or drinking a cup of tea or coffee, you can put your focus on the here and now by concentrating on what you’re dong with awareness. Practicing a form of meditation will help you go through the day staying in the present and remaining mindful of everything around you.
Even if having your morning tea or coffee is at your local Starbucks or Coffee Bean, you can sit there, although it may not be quiet, using this meditation technique to transcend the noise or talking around you by focusing and concentrating on mindful drinking. There’s a great story about a Taoist master teaching his sons how to meditate at a busy, crowded park. When they questioned their father as to why he was teaching them how to meditate in such a noisy place, he replied “If you can learn how to meditate here, you can meditate anywhere.”
Everything we do is an opportunity to turn it into a meditation by allowing ourselves to be in the present, and focusing on whatever we’re doing with awareness. If you’re someone who would like to meditate, but don’t feel you have time to do it, you can experience it while you’re doing something like drinking tea or coffee, and it will become more than just drinking. It becomes mindful drinking, which takes it to a whole other level. You become aware of yourself drinking your tea or coffee with clarity of mind and a feeling of inner peace.
It sure beats drinking a cup of tea or coffee in your car, rushing in traffic, trying to get to where you need to be, your mind racing everywhere other than being in the present. I call that drinking on the go, not drinking in the now.
(Posted on Huffington Post 11/14/2012)
(Ora Nadrich is a certified Life Coach with a private practice in Los Angeles, CA. Her unique, practical method helps her clients attain happiness and fulfillment by teaching them to look inward and connect to their authentic selves in order to reach their goals. Ora is also a writer, speaker and facilitator of a popular women’s group focusing on inner awareness and a constructive, alternative approach to dealing with life’s challenges. A book detailing her method will be available in 2013. In the meantime, to learn more about Ora and read her previous blogs, visit www.oralifecoach.com. Email: ora@oralifecoach.com)
We may as well face some facts. Back in the old days people would be born, live and die in the same village. Everyone they knew was of the same nationality, ate the same kinds of food, wore similar clothes and, most likely, was of the same religion. Some may have been vaguely aware that other cultures exist, but lacking any real contact with them, it was almost as if people from those other cultures were not really real. Back then it was common and acceptable to perceive one’s own culture and religion as central — and to see all others as somehow not “counting” quite as much. Few people had reason to think any more widely than this: provincial worldviews were the norm.
But as transportation options improved, people began to move from place to place. Then suddenly they were exposed to people who were different. Some wound up with neighbors from a different country. Some might have had coworkers, or even supervisors, from a different religion.
This brushing up against different world cultures would have caused people to compare their own customs and beliefs against those of these strangers. Generally speaking, two types of reaction were possible: 1) people could retreat into their comfortable and familiar worldviews, resisting and resenting the influx of these strangers into their awareness. They could dig in their heels and insist their own ways were more real, more right, and more valid than all the others. Or 2) They could forge relationships with the strangers and seek to understand the differences. They could try the strangers’ foods, listen to their music, even engage in conversations about their contrasting religious beliefs. People choosing this more transformative response would find themselves seeing commonalities with these strangers. They would likely come to see that there is good and bad, truth and falseness in all cultures — and all religions. This most likely would loosen the stronghold of religious exclusivity, and weaken the fences between people with different beliefs.
People choosing the first option above would be refusing to allow themselves the opportunity to learn about others. They would be excluding a part of the truth from their awareness. They would be reinforcing their own provincialism and limiting their own growth. Conversely, those choosing the second option would be allowing more of the truth about our existence into their awareness, expanding their own horizons, growing.
Now, these days with global communications as they are, people don’t even need to move to be exposed to other cultures and religious views. We need only turn on a computer or TV to be immediately thrown up against huge numbers of issues, people and cultures from all over the world. Their religious beliefs and practices will conflict with ours. This leaves us the same choices as listed above. We can choose to see only the differences, and retreat in fear from these others. Or we can broaden our worldview to include them in our common humanity.
But how to include these others on the religious front when their beliefs and practices seem so different? How to move forward when some of our religious leaders are still insisting their own particular belief system has the only right answers? Admittedly it can be hard to rise above the divisiveness and triumphalism — and the attempts to convert everyone — when certain factions are blowing up our buildings with thousands of people in them.
But there is another way to view this.
Every religion has a literal level where all the beliefs and practices are specific to that faith. From within the literal level, one’s own creed appears very different from — and superior to — all the others. This can lead a person to conclude that his religion is the only right one, or at least the best one. Seeing only the literal level leaves us mired in discord, trying to assert the primacy of our beliefs over those of others.
But another way of looking at this issue is emerging to the forefront in several camps. Thanks in part to global communications, some people are beginning to see beyond the literal level of religion. They are beginning to see through the specific symbols of their religion, to emerge with a far more general metaphorical understanding. They come to realize the allegorical nature of the stories in their religious texts. Then when they are faced with comparing those stories from other faiths, they can see that the religions are not so very different in intent.
All religions contain a common core of values. Opening our minds and hearts to this truth allows us to realize that all religions arose from a common human search for connection with something greater than ourselves.
All the elaborate rites, rituals and beliefs that make up each individual religion were created by humans according to their own local culture, but arose from a common universal quest shared by everyone. In this sense we must admit that all religions are but different localized ways to express a basic human need. Seen this way, insisting our religion is the only correct one begins to sound downright limited, parochial and immature; imposing specific rules from our particular holy book on others who have not chosen to follow it begins to sound ridiculous. When we can expand our worldview to include people of all religions, and those of no religion, into our human family, we become more mature in a spiritual sense. We move toward a position of seeing all people as cut from the same cloth. This is one little step on the road to unity — or the Oneness expressed as a goal of some religions like Buddhism.
Some proponents claim that a general spiritual transformation is afoot where people are moving more and more quickly toward this realization. As more and more people are exposed to other belief systems, they are coming to appreciate that each religion contains some truth, but none has the whole and entire truth. They are coming to see that there is no chosen people, no one religion that is right over all the others. This transformation is being helped along by global communications, which increasingly exposes us to all different religions. Many people are confused, overwhelmed or turned off by competing religions all claiming superiority. But still recognizing their own search for connection with something greater than themselves, they adopt the “spiritual but not religious” label.
Religious leaders interested in maintaining a vibrant flock would do well to adapt their message to this snowballing trend of globalization, which they cannot fight. Traditional religion will soon render itself irrelevant if fails to adopt more universal, more unitive themes into its teachings.
(As a practicing optometrist, Margaret Placentra Johnston has been helping people see better in the physical world for the last thirty years. Now she writes to help people see more clearly in other ways. Captivated by the depth and beauty of the universal worldview described by various spiritual development theorists, Margaret used ten real life stories from real people to illustrate steps on the way to that worldview. Her book, Faith Beyond Belief: Stories of Good People Who Left Their Church Behind (Quest Books, October, 2012,) is the result of that search. Available wherever books are sold.* Visit FaithBeyondBelief-book.com for more information. *(Ebook format available at http://questbooks-ebookstore.net/Books/9780835640589?FromPage=search)
There is more love around. I can feel it. Or is there more love in myself?
Love and joy have no upper limit. You can carry only a certain amount of hatred, sadness and grief inside you, because at some point they will all change into love. This will happen either during this life or the next one. Universal love is infinite freedom. It is freedom to choose and to learn from one’s own choices.
You are never alone. You are always accompanied by love which manifests itself in different energies and forms of life. What you feel and perceive is different from what reality is. Your feelings and perceptions are but partial truths. The more you manifest love, the more you will feel and perceive yourself to be part of a whole, which is a good deal greater than the world you are living in.
There is much more love in the world than what is usually thought. People would be able to live in a much greater love for themselves, each other, nature and the whole planet if the distorted structures in our societies all over the world did not limit and suppress the expression of love.
Someone says that we are living in a loveless world. I say that we are living in abundant love. It is a different thing than whether we are able to discover and recognize the abundant love in ourselves. We are living in a world of illusions. The value system around us may rather be more destructive than loving. We are being sold self-esteem without love. Our yearning for love is appealed through our self-esteem.
Commercials and advertisements make us feel unhappy unless we acquire this and that. Those that we call charity organizations may say, ”Buy yourself a good feeling, donate for charity.” Love has been turned into merchandise. Yet love is free of cost. We can show love and radiate love around us all the time, and totally free of charge. If you saw the impact of love energies, you would understand their power. The spirit is stronger than matter.
Joy is free.
Joy is love.
Joy is in your attitude.
The more you feed joy and love, the more you will be them. This must happen unselfishly, without compulsion or artificiality. The world is full of pretension, smiles and promises which are not real. The world is also full of honesty, smiles and being which are real. You must recognize them in you and in others. You must recognize yourself. Do you know yourself? Many think that they recognize themselves, their expectations and needs although they only recognize the needs and expectations that the environment has
created for them.
Can you distinguish real love from market values? You can if you only want to. Can you distinguish between desire and love? For love is much more of the attitude “how I love” rather than “how I am loved.” The need to be loved has prevailed for too long over expression of real love in humanity. All kinds of means for being loved have been and are being used. People do things, buy products, and choose attitudes in order to be loved.
In the course of history many distorted attitudes have become generally accepted laws and patterns of behavior. The world is so full of these norms restricting love and freedom, rites and attitudes that an individual who expresses love may seem as unfit for the society…because love and freedom are one.
When we express love, we are free. There is no wrong in love. Real freedom is absolute love. The notion of freedom as well as that of love is distorted in our world. There are attempts to buy and attain both of them in ways that are nothing but delusion when compared with real love and freedom. In the most extreme case, nations think that they can buy freedom by reinforcing their armed forces. In doing so, are they imagining that they are buying love, too? For freedom is love. Freedom attained through life-destroying methods is dependency and fear. Fear is a challenge for reaching real love. Love has no fear. How could love have fear because love is eternal, infinite power and wisdom? Infinite love, infinite wisdom, and infinite power are in you. So why would you be afraid?
Fear is not in you. It is in the societal, social and economic structures. Fear is energy which maintains these structures. These structures are so distorted that they are sustained by life-destroying energies. They are antiquated energies which are having their death struggle, when at the same time life-constructing energies of love are manifesting themselves ever more widely.
(Timo Teide is an artist, author, and spiritual guide who lives in Finland. He has had dozens of art exhibitions and he has done meditative music and books about love. The healing power of art and the multidimensional impact of colors, forms and sounds are the most important elements of his art. Visit: www.teidegallery.com. Contact Timo: timo.teide@gmail.com.)
We are not a Godless society–that would be impossible. God, as we call the source of which we come, is All, Everything. Nothing would exist if there were not God/Source (whatever you call your personal belief system of our Creator). Now, being given Free Will and CHOOSING to forget that we are complete Love because God/Source exists is quite another thing altogether.
“If a madman wants to kill innocent people, he will find a way.
Killers don’t need guns to kill people.
Timothy McVeigh used fertilizer.
9/11 terrorists used box cutters and planes.
Nazis used cyanide gas.
Taking guns from innocent people will not protect innocent people.
The problem is NOT guns, it’s the Godless in a society.”
This quote comes from Facebook. I’ve noticed a number of people posting this since the massacre this last week. What is surprising to me is a lot of people are acting as if this massacre is the surprise. We have had so many senseless public murders that I’m losing track of them all. I know you are, too. Yet each time one happens, we pretend it’s the first time and are shocked it’s happened.
We are not living in a world that is Godless, without God. No, my friends, we are not. It just appears that way because WE ARE THE ONES WHO HAVE FORGOTTEN WHO AND WHAT WE ARE. Events like this are our opportunities to show ourselves who we really are. This is where we get to show that we can love EVERYONE, including the shooter because we hold so much compassion in our hearts.
God created us with a veil so that we have forgotten what we really are, LOVE AND LIGHT. We are here experiencing our pure spirituality as humans. We are not humans having an occasional spiritual experience. No, it’s the opposite. We are spiritual beings having a human experience; to feel what duality feels like. Love/hate, clarity/confusion, black/white, etc. Without this duality, we don’t know what we are. If you don’t have a room with objects in it, you have nothing to show you what you are in relationship to anything.
I know you’re thinking, crap, she’s off on her “love and light” and “God” baloney again. But keep your mind open, because it’s things like this last week and the multiple other shootings and murders that we think are the problem. The problem is us, our way of believing and thinking.
We watch the news over and over and wonder why we feel so exhausted. We build brick walls around our heart and create grievances against the shooter. Grieve, for sure, but then what are you going to do about your feelings? Are you going to volunteer to help the mentally ill? Are you going to volunteer at schools so those who feel ostracized are given attention? Are you going to keep your stories that people who are bullies should be bullied by you? Are you going to keep your stories that you don’t have time? What about the story it’s someone else’s problem to solve for you? Then you can create even more stories that those people are letting you down, too. Do you choose to NOT hear the cries for help BEFORE it becomes a national crisis? Do some soul searching and find out why you keep burying your head in the sand instead of stepping forward and doing something, anything. Anything but complaining and creating more stories of why you can’t. Why can’t you? What is holding you back? I know who: you. You are holding YOU back from saving the world. It takes all of us. We all helped in this mess and we all need to stand up and do whatever it takes to make it better.
We are sitting around waiting for our creator to come save us, yet we NEVER LISTEN to the messages that are giving to us continually on how to solve the plight WE CREATED for OURSELVES.
We either don’t believe in God because of all the negativity we believe is around us or we lament that God is not saving us. Well, you can’t be given free will and then say, “Nope, not this time, I don’t want free will, I want you to take care of me. However, when I think it’s convenient, I want the free will back.” This is just another way of humans creating some bizarre story around God so they can say God is letting them down. We are nuts.
Soon as you take that first breath of life, my dear ones, you got free will. What you CHOOSE to do with that free will is how you either consciously or UN-consciously choose to live your life and show yourself and all others who you really, truly are.
Are you one who thinks someone else should protect you and take care of you? Are you the one who offers to assist others without a story attached? Can you actually really truly do something for another and NOT SAY “except” this or that?
No, we don’t live in a world that is Godless or where God doesn’t not listen to us. In fact, there are many beings who we are not aware of, other beings that are watching over us with much compassion, love and concern for us and our choices. We can believe in the devil, but let’s not believe there are beings concerned with our well-being. That would be totally absurd. Only our old cultural stories are true, there is nothing we are missing or don’t know. Right.
Where we are stuck is in our fear. I read and hear all this talk of how the shooter should still be alive so we can torture that person even more than they were tortured living in their own mind while there were here on earth. Where is the compassion for how horrible his life must have been? And where is the compassion for all you who would hate someone in so much more pain than you? Can you not reach inside and if you feel this much pain? Imagine how another would hurt so deeply to do something so horrendous. Yes, this is the story that I’m telling myself because I feel so deeply in my heart that as horrific as this is, this is the spot where you, personally, begin your path to open up your heart instead of building a thicker wall from your fear.
Can you honestly believe that God would not love this person who has done this terrible thing? Do you really think God would not have compassion knowing the complete story that we don’t know? Why do you suppose you believe you can build that armor around your heart and then believe you could possibly understand the reasons why this occurred? How do you come to your conclusions you understand a loving Creator when you identify with your hate and anger so much? How can you open you heart to feel God’s messages when you have this wall around your heart?
Do you really think the hell this person was living here on earth should be punishable by even more hell from God? No. I think the God I desire would have so much love for this person because the source of our creation knows all and understands much more than we do, the whys of all this, that there is redemption. Our Creator has total understanding, love and compassion for this person. This person does not deserve more anguish, and neither do you.
We are living behind a veil of forgetfulness of who we are. And until you stop and face your fears and anger, you won’t be conscious enough to be choosing to love. You’ll continue in your stories, justifications and grievances that you are right and everyone else who doesn’t say they believe like you are wrong. The evil is your ego. Let go of that ego. Open up to the possibility that our cultural story is wrong. What you believe and how you justify your negative beliefs isn’t really happening at all. You are choosing hell on earth, my friends…you.
This is not for us to lament God is not saving us. This is not about gun laws. This is about YOUR CHOICES. You want a better world? Stop bringing all these negative thoughts with their stories to us. Change your words to positive outcomes. Believe there is love, because once you start looking, it starts growing. . .
I know these murders are horrific. My heart just aches for us all. But on the other hand, I see this as such an opportunity for us to open our hearts with love and change our story. Change our story in such a way that it isn’t about just the families of the children or the families of the shooter, but to include the shooter and include you, too, for all the pain and walls around your heart.
There will be many more senseless deaths in the years ahead unless we consciously change our story. . .and we can, person by person, sending love and light and prayers to all:
Prayer by St. Francis of Assisi:
Lord, Make me an instrument of they peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury; pardoned;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love,
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.
(Trisha lives in Tooele, Utah. She is an avid reader, enjoys meditation and enjoys the walking on the desert trails in her area. She writes several blogs. She gets a kick out of sharing what she is learning about why we are here and what and how we are creating together.)
As I sought guidance to write my first article for Global Conversation, the answer came: Write about 2012.
Yes, 2012! Movies have been made, Prophecies written, YouTube videos recorded, and Facebook statuses consistently updated for 2012, a year that seems to have baffled, engaged, and intrigued most of the world in one way or the other.
Beside those who are on a conscious spiritual journey and are somehow sensitive to the energetic shifts that seem to be occurring almost in every part of the world in a subtle or not such a subtle manner, 2012 has grabbed attention of even those who are not on a spiritual journey per se, as if there was ever such a thing. And we know there isn’t, whether our egos allow us to admit this or not. We are all on a spiritual journey, living this dream, wanting to believe it is real, or make-believing it to be real, so that we are able to experience it as fully as possible and engage in it with all our resources and faculties.
2012, however, for most of us has been a sudden waking up from that dream and almost rising above it a little to observe and witness the dream as one would a valley from a cliff top.
So what is this hype about?
What is happening here, right now?
What are we experiencing?
Why are we all feeling this strange-weird feeling that we are not in our bodies, as if we are walking a few inches above the ground?
Why is it that some people have managed to attain remarkable breakthroughs with their new ventures, and some other equally spiritually minded people (or more) with great intentions have stumbled upon roadblocks?
Why are we feeling fearful or angry as we have never felt before?
Why are we feeling this disdain for putting up with old systems and old mindsets?
Why do we, more than any other time, want people to hear us out, really hear us out?
Why do we really feel like expressing ourselves in ways we have never done before, and as truthfully as ever?
Why do some of us feel like leaving — for those who haven’t already done so — our old jobs and do something we never thought we could? For example, setting up a rainwater harvesting plant?
Why have some of us released old relationships, partnerships, or even switched friends to a whole new set?
Why are some of us suddenly being drawn towards spiritual texts and mentors?
Why are we suddenly feeling as if we know more than we would like to admit to others or ourselves?
Why have some of us begun having visions of spiritual figures or feel spiritual presence around us, even if we have never meditated before?
Why do some of us suddenly feel our life work has not even begun, even though we haven’t quite figured out what it is?
Why have some of us suddenly become conscious of human rights, animal rights, and even rights of nature as if it was a living, breathing entity — which it is — something we previously paid little attention to?
Why do some of us feel drawn towards contributing more and more towards betterment of environment and children?
Why are we becoming more aware of the futility of the goods money can buy?
Why are we suddenly moving away from traditional religious concepts as if it is not enough and there is more to it, as if some information has been withheld and as if we are the holders of the very information that has been withheld from us?
Why do some people have dreams of flying?
Why are we finding ourselves unable to put up with other people’s deceit or why are we able to see clearly through other people’s intentions and their thought process?
Why are some of us more sensitized to crowds or certain kinds of media or even a lifestyle that we previously enjoyed?
Why are we feeling this urge to change our diet or for some people to go fully vegetarian or vegan?
Why are some of us feeling as if we have some special powers, something indefinable that we can’t yet place a finger upon?
Why do some of us feel as if we want our rightful place under the sun?
Why do some of us have this urge to enter politics or be a social activist?
Why have some of us initiated our spiritual meeting groups without much formal training?
Why have some of us begun to see some colors at times, colors that are mostly invisible to the physical eye, but we are still able to see them?
Why do some of us have heightened extrasensory perceptions?
Why do some of us feel a sense of despair, a feeling of fatigue, back pain, fever, as if our whole emotional, energetic, and physical system is undergoing a long overdue renewal?
Why are some of us getting more emotional or are able to feel other people’s emotions?
Why are some of us going through relationship challenges, professional and personal challenges, and are being forced to make life changes we never imagined we would have to prior to this?
Why are some of us feeling an urge to reconnect with estranged family members or rekindle old forgotten friendships?
So many things seem to be happening all at once. For some it is releasing old wounds of pain and fear. For some it’s a walk of courage and realizing the power of love. But changes seem to be occurring. Almost everywhere we look, there appears to be a swift or a subtle change underway. This change is of the consciousness, of subtle knowingness inside of us, something deep within us is shifting right now, or already has, and it is reformulating our world at cellular and global structural level. Nature is making her voice heard, too.
And where this change is being resisted, there is a breakdown that will eventually forcefully usher in the change nevertheless, sooner or later. Despondency is in the air right now, but there is also a sense of excitement, exuberance, rejuvenation, warding off old and nihilism, even if it underscored by a sense of fear, chaos, and confusion.
Fear and struggle often precedes big change and BIG LOVE. Fear is always present when we are moving forward and upward. It is scary, far too scary, when we are trying to move and rise against the gravitational forces and inertia that is constantly striving to pull us down and backward, with our ego often whispering to us, we do not need to take the plunge as there is lot of hard work involved.
It is even scarier when the inertia is caused by old systems and prevalent ways of thinking – the comfort zone. And there comes a time when comfort zone is comfortable no more, and this is when we are forced to embrace the impending change.
However, the heart always knows. It knows that it is in the embracing of what it is fearful of will it ever only truly live. And this is what 2012 is all about: Big Change and Big Love.
2012 marks the beginning of a new era in the history of the world. It marks the beginning of a new consciousness to emerge on the planet. Old systems will slowly begin to give way to new systems. And old ideologies will be replaced with new and refreshing thought leadership, be it in politics, economics, society or philosophy. An age of ascension it is being called. And this would be an ascension of consciousness, of spiritual awareness, intentions, of actions, of ideas, of ways of living, and eventually creating a New World, a world that would be inclusive, kind, compassionate, loving and finally peaceful. But this would not occur overnight or in a blink of an eye. It will take some work. And most of this work is being done right now. A lot of spiritual energy is pouring into Earth right now.
Transformation is underway. Churning has begun at individual and, more importantly, at a collective level. Some of it might be difficult and some of it will flow naturally and seamlessly. It will involve fear and chaos, and finally, it will require courage to mitigate that fear.
Chaos will eventually give way to clarity. It will take love, a LOT OF LOVE, and finally, it will take the POWER OF LOVE to conquer and pervade all.
And most importantly, it will take a tacit realization on part of humanity that at end of that day we are all but a miniscule part of the same divinity. The essence of the experience is the same, while its expression might be different. No one is more privileged than the other. Karma (of intention, action or inaction) is the only thing that matters. Destiny is a variable. Love is everything. Nothingness is the only truth.
2012 is the beginning of this new world.
Hold on to your seats and grab a seat belt. We might be passing through some areas of turbulence.
(Mani Goel is an author, healer, artist, teacher and filmmaker who resides in India and Hong Kong. Her first book is titled “Angel’s Wisdom For Your Life- Part 1.” A former flight attendant, Mani embarked on a conscious spiritual journey after a severe back injury and a chance and serendipitous encounter with a revered Buddhist Rinpoche. She went to set up two companies- Mani Healing and Maaya Productions, and published her first book, with many more works in progress, including the autobiography of her Buddhist Guru through his several reincarnations – to be published in Hindi. Mani Healing is a spiritual enterprise that aims to bring and present spiritual and healing wisdom to people in a non-dogmatic and non-ritualistic manner. She regularly teaches and holds workshops and talks. As a natural healer she specializes in intuitive readings and spiritual healings for serious ailments.)
