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Protect Yourself – Richard’s Commentary
This week’s message from The Divine Feminine was powerful, practical and personal. They are very methodical in their prescription for self-protection. Their message coupled with my recent experience with Sri Karunamayi during this weekend celebration known as Guru Purnima offers a lot of material for my posts at the end of this week. And it is all coming from theGoddess!
The Divine Feminine listed specific areas of our lives in which we need to consider ways and tools to protect ourselves:
- Protect yourself from fear
- Protect yourself from apathy
- Protect yourself from the energies of other people
- Protect yourself from negative thoughts and limiting beliefs
- Protect yourself from misguided choices
This is quite a list! Each item here deserves a separate blog post but for today and tomorrow I am going to focus on two and the related tools to protect against these negative forces that can so easily derail our good intentions.
The first area I’d like to examine in some detail is apathy. I think this force is attacking many people in this country and even the world. I don’t want to get into politics or the economy or institutional stagnation here, but let’s face it: for the most part our governments, our elected officials and our own constituency is bogged down in a state of paralysis that I believe is born out of apathy. We are stuck in a spiral of petty politics and an uncaring economic system that seems to be in steady decline. And who is out there to raise the banner of protest against this apathetic state we’ve sunk to? “Where is the Outrage?” read one blog-post recently! The so-called “middle class” is the “poster-child” now. But does anyone really care about the real middle-class?
How do we protect against apathy? The answer lies in Purpose! The Divine Feminine say we each have a Soul Purpose. We are incarnated at this particular time in history with a distinct purpose to fulfill. We are each a unique part of the Divine Plan of Love and Light. And we have a “collective purpose” as we move deeper into the 21st Century so full of potential for Divine Transformation. We all must find our purpose, and we all must commit to that purpose and live lives of purposeful action. This is the way out of apathy. Whether we, as individuals, as a community or a powerful Nation, are to move beyond ourselves and into a New World transformed by the energies of change swirling around us, is a choice; it is our choice.
How do we know what our purpose is? There are many ways. For one it is written in our hands. The blueprints for our life are with us from before birth, stored in our fingerprints; and our hand-prints show us a map, not only of where we are going but where we have been. Find someone to read your hands and reveal your purpose. Then move firmly into that purpose and away from apathy!
The second area I’d like to address is misguided choices. The Divine Feminine advise trusting our intuition and accepting the choices we make and the lessons that come with them. The choices guided by intuition take us on the path of greatest growth. But for men this is not always the easiest thing. The old cliché is to trust “women’s intuition.” But what about we men? The key here is to learn to meditate and to practice meditation as a life-long commitment. Meditation helps us get deeper in touch with our own inner selves. This is where intuition lives, inside! And I have found that the more I practice going inside to look for answers the more I can trust the answers that come.
The Divine Feminine offered very practical ways to protect ourselves from those five negative forces arrayed against our expansion of consciousness and our contribution to the evolution of human consciousness. The main key is to do the inner work to develop the self and find the True Self in the process!
PS: If you are searching for someone to reveal your Soul Purpose and read your hands, Rosemary is both highly trained and exceptionally skilled through years of experience. For more information Click Here
PPS: I will be offering more detail on meditation and developing intuition in tomorrow’s post.
Change, the Brain, and Life Force Energy—Richard’s Commentary
Change has certainly been on my mind lately—can you tell from my posts? Some of this change energy, maybe most of it, is coming from outside sources, including the influences of the planets, stars, heavens, recalling the quotes I used from my astrologer friend, Chris Largent, last week.
It is important to be aware of these outside influences in order to react, reflect and respond appropriately. And this happens on the inside, the only source and cause of true change. We have to consciously step through that gateless gate!
I was still in the middle of all this rumination when I wrote my “morning pages” this past Monday. Here’s what I’d like to share:
Everybody seems to be on edge, maybe a threshold, balancing on that edge, uncertain, teetering forth and back, wondering, hesitant, angry at the hesitance, fearful of the advance. Yet, advance we must straight into April and lovely days ahead to celebrate wakefulness.
It is good to wake up. It is good to be alive. Yes, I have met with irritation today, my old friend. And he is as grumpy as ever, rasping about people in his way, people with attitudes, people not following the rules – his rules. I have met with him and asked him to leave. I have too much to do to deal with irritation. It is a pointless and wasteful feeling. He is gone and I welcome the clear, clean air of April.
And maybe I’m a fool to seek happiness and joy in all things. There is often good reason to be in irritation’s field. But reason doesn’t make it right. The foolishness of joy is not wrong. Maybe it is unreasonable but never wrong.
I will seek out joy today. I would much rather be in his company. Some days I would rather be happy and irrational, living with Pi and Phi, than living in my left brain with the thinker, too often stinker.
Flow, goodness, grace, Tao. These are the way. This is The Way, the Immortal Way. How can an irritable man ever be good company, live as an Immortal? This is not the way!
And so I write, I look for the change. The door to Immortality stands wide open. The threshold of that door is joy. Happiness lives beyond. The simple act of crossing that threshold concludes the Pursuit of Happiness. It is right there, a fool’s paradise, so easy to reach out to, beyond. Just beyond.
Is this an April Fool’s joke I’m playing on myself? Can it really be so easy? And what if it is? Isn’t everything I write about choice? I believe it is. Stepping across the threshold is a choice. And this door of the threshold? It is that gateless gate of Zen. It swings both ways. There is always the “anti-choice” of reversion to old ways, meeting up with irritation again! Why I would want to do that is a mystery but it does happen. But maybe with the support of Heaven it doesn’t have to be that way. Maybe I can stay on the grace and happiness side of the gate. Maybe the world over there is perfect, just as it is. There is nothing wrong on that side of the gate that needs my attention. It is all good, just as it is. All I have to do is see it that way. And maybe some would say this is looking through “rose-colored glasses”. So what? Those who say that covet the glasses!
Is there sickness, old-age and death on that side of the gate? Of course there is! All the people caught up in all their desires are still there. Those still pursuing happiness are still there. It is a gateless gate—there is nothing that gate separates! In this sense nothing has changed. They have not crossed the threshold. It is I who have changed. It all only bubbles up from the inside. The gate that is not a barrier is inside. The threshold of joy is inside. The choice to cross the threshold is made in silence, promised to no one, confessed only in the stillness of every moment.
Change is that simple. And this may be the most difficult vow I can take and keep. Is there any way that I can say goodbye to irritation, dismiss him forever? This is only one step to take beyond the threshold. And from that new place I can hope to say, yes to this promise. One step into the new current is all it takes. And the flow will take me in a whole new direction…I am willing to let that current take me.
This is the water of my life. It is moving now, spinning beyond the stagnant backwater I have been stuck in for too long. This pretty April day with Sun, high sky, light breeze ringing bells is a brand new day for this fool to let go of old companions of irritation and rules and head into the unknown space of happiness flowing with whatever currents will come to jostle, cajole, and rejoin me onward beyond joy!
…so it all came tumbling out! And in tomorrow’s post I’ll offer a sequel to this flow toward change, toward happiness I stepped into this week…
ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: Change, the Brain, and Life Force Energy
Breathe into the base of your spine and allow the breath to move all the way up your spine into your brain. If there is any constriction along the spine the breath cannot move energy all the way into the brain and thoughts die.
All thoughts in the brain need the energy of Life Force to be maintained but this energy does not just come from conscious thought. The unconscious mind can also energize thought by repeatedly visiting that thought and giving it power. This is how ‘old tapes’ can remain powerful in one’s life, even at the unconscious level.
What thoughts are gaining power by being revisited at the unconscious level? What do you believe about yourself that you are not changing because you keep reinforcing the old belief?
The only way to change is to change. Change the thought pattern that generated the behavior that resulted in an action. Trying to change without addressing underlying beliefs and thoughts is doomed to failure. ‘Trying’ to change is just that – ‘trying.’ Changing takes real change. Anyone who wishes to change must start by changing something, even one little thing, to signal the brain to embrace the coming change.
If you wish to change your eating patterns and diet, then change something about how you eat. Don’t sit in the same chair, eat at the same time or table, buy at the same grocery store.
If you wish to change how you exercise or move, change the clothes or shoes you wear. Choose a different location, partner or time of day.
If you wish to change work habits then rearrange your work space.
If you want to change the energy at home then redecorate, change lighting, play different music, open different windows, use different doors.
Change something first, then change the brain. Change the brain and you can change everything else.
Your Life Force Energy is within you as a fire burning brightly but sometimes your perception of it is dimmed by the blinders of your thoughts. Ramp up the fire, the flames of Life Force Energy, and burn away the blinders. Shine that Light upon the world around you.
All of this energy relies on an open spinal column through which the energy can flow, from root to crown through the brain. You have the power to open this energy channel through a combination of visualization, physical exercise and energy work with light and color.
The focus is on the column of Light that is YOU, the individual. Use color and light to set the vibratory frequency level that opens you to your own greatness.
Then Be that Unique Greatness – YOU!!!
PS: Do you want some help with the changes you are inviting into your life? Apply for a Discovery Session with Rosemary; it’s easy! Do it here
INSPIRATION FROM ROSEMARY: Winds of Change
Rosemary’s video for the week: Winds of Change
PS: Are you resisting change? Are you holding on to old forms that may no longer serve? It may be time to speak with someone about how the winds of change are blowing in your life! Rosemary offers everyone a FREE introductory Discovery Session where you can meet her and explore ways to work with A Medium, A Muse, A Mystic! Apply Here (it’s easy!)
The Door to All Beginnings
Yesterday I posted my commentary on Rosemary’s post about surprises. We seem to be in the midst of many surprises as we move well into 2013. Whether the subject is politics, global affairs, earth changes, violence, economics, and the rest of the lengthy list, every area of life seems to be popping with surprises.
And then there is the astrology and my friend, Chris Largent’s musing about the dissolution of “consensus reality”!
Holding all of this in mind I turn easily to the Master, Lao-Tzu, and the First Chapter of the Taoteching:
The way that becomes a way
is not the Immortal Way
the name that becomes a name
is not the Immortal Name
the maiden of Heaven and Earth has no name
the mother of all things has a name
thus in innocence we see the beginning
in passion we see the end
two different names
for one and the same
the one we call dark
the dark beyond dark
the door to all beginnings
from the translation by Red Pine
Every surprise is a door to a new beginning. Every shift is an opportunity for transformation. And this is the story we are now writing for ourselves. This is the reformation of reality we are all forming from the dissolution of the old consensus reality.
It’s an open door; a dark door. There are unknowns and unknowables on the other side. It will take courage to walk through into that darkness. And many of us are ready and willing. We are the light-workers. We carry our inner light through and into that dark, unknowable territory to create the new reality. This is our mission; this is our time.
Where is this door? It’s on the inside. The opening is right in the center of our hearts. Each and every light-worker knows this; has known this from the beginning. And we all have a sense that we are moving into this time to step through the opening door.
Imagine if our new reality is formed by the consensus of light-workers! Can you see the vision; can you hear the music; can you smell the flowers; can you taste the delights; can you feel the soft breeze of the freshest of air sooth your delicate body; can you imagine such a new reality? This is the Tao. It is there, just beyond the door. Yes, it’s “dark beyond dark” through that door. But it’s the door to “all beginnings”! Let’s walk through it, hand-in-hand with courage and a true vision for the New Reality!
It’s a Sign!!! – Richard’s Commentary
Inside-outside; optimism-pessimism; half-full-half-empty. There’s a spiral of thoughts here in Rosemary’s Exploration to digest. And somehow the article this week points directly at me!
I’ve been an optimist all my life. And I live a reasonably healthy internal life and do look for confirming signs all around me. And then I went to the doctor last week.
It’s funny Rosemary should use the example: “You might have been given a medical diagnosis that you don’t like.” My doctor visit, the first in several years, was just routine; I thought I should get a new base-line of all the numbers western medicine is so fond of analyzing. I feel in excellent health, eating well on a pretty strict regimen of raw nut, seed, fruit and vegetable smoothies for breakfast and lunch, exercising with yoga and qigong, meditating, working for myself and a pretty gentle boss (Rosemary); all good things right? So, the nurse took my blood pressure and seemed pretty alarmed; “all the celery in your smoothies doesn’t seem to be working” she remarked.
OK, I’ve had an issue with high blood pressure before; it’s a genetic condition. I have taken medication in the past but then controlled it reasonably well with Chinese herbs, acupuncture, etc. I thought I was good to go for life! Not so! The external sign here is a warning that things need to change even more.
And I am resisting this change; my resistance is not improving my blood pressure a bit! I am ignoring the external signs, but struggling to change the internal perspective in order to see the external signs change. While I remain an optimist my glass seems to be closer to empty than full! Am I fooling myself?
Since my experience at Qi Revolution with Jeff Primack I have been practicing his Level 1 Qigong Form every day. I am getting prepared for Level 1 training this Saturday. And I am planning to go for certification to teach Level 1 a week later on March 9th. I am optimistic that I can achieve this goal. I am changing my diet to include many of Jeff’s recommendations in his Conquering Any Disease book, following many of his suggestions for reducing high blood pressure (yep, more celery!) and curing heart disease. More internal changes.
Now, I realize this is a life-change and not an over-night change that I’m working on here. It’s only been a week since that doctor visit. But the optimist in me is looking for the external signs to support my internal changes. And my blood pressure remains high; that half-full glass is looking even more empty!
And the spiral continues, but in a downward spin. What is this about? All signs, whether they are inward or outward, point to lessons. There’s something karmic here; something much deeper than qigong practice and meditation. And I need to dig down where that spiral is drilling to wedge out this darkness that is shadowing my optimism. And no matter how deeply we dig for the lead or the gold, there is always another layer to dredge up, examine and alchemically transform. The signs point the way; they are critical signs to follow.
I am reading those signs carefully; I am taking my blood pressure multiple times a day. I am asking many questions and looking deeply in the dark mirror, working to clear it of dust. I am watching but not expecting new external signs any time soon. And that’s OK; I have time.
And I’m taking a newly prescribed drug (two, actually, in one pill). Yes, I have at least temporarily resorted to western medicine’s approach to my condition. I am hopeful this will improve my pressure and give me more time for the natural approach to kick in.
Yes, I read the sign, and while I didn’t like the direction it pointed, I realize there are many more lessons for this western man to learn, many more internal adjustments to make and many more years to practice!
ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: It’s a Sign!!!
Spring is busting out all over!
Ha! Ha! Fooled you! It’s still winter here and we experienced a wintery mix just yesterday.
BUT I did see some flowers popping up through the frozen ground this week. That gives me hope.
If you look for signs, you will find them. If you keep your eyes focused on the little bits of snow or the frozen, leafless trees or bushes, that is what you will see. What are you looking for?
In life we are given many opportunities to declare ourselves optimists or pessimists. The glass is half-full or half-empty. The fact is that the 8 ounce glass has 4 ounces in it, but the way we perceive that fact colors how we think about it, talk about it, feel about it.
How are you feeling about yourself, your life, your relationsips, your work right now? Could that feeling be based on how you talk about something, which is based on what you think about it and how you perceive something that can be reduced to a fact, like the glass holding 4 ounces of liquid?
What signs are you looking for, or are you waiting for something to happen (externally) to change how you feel (internally)? This, I think, is the crux of the ‘feeling stuck syndrome.’ We keep ourselves focused on that ‘something’ that we expect to change and then we wait for the external to shift so we can shift how we feel internally. This is bass-ackwards!
Shift inside FIRST and watch the external situation change! Reach inside yourself for the truth and act upon that, not your perceptions of the so-called reality you see outside yourself. Where does your hope come from? Are there signs that you are ignoring because you are looking for something to back up how you are feeling instead of shifting your interior state so that you can see the signs that help you to move forward with great hope?
This game of ‘inside-outside’ can trap us in every area of our lives. We dislike a person, often projecting unconsciously our own insecurities and faults onto them, then they react to that negative energy. We are so sure something isn’t going to work out that we talk about that expectation, reinforcing that thought, speaking it over and over again, and then we are so cocky when we say, ‘See! I told you it wouldn’t work out!’ Often we never even looked for a way to make it work out because we were so sure that it wouldn’t.
And that is what happens to us – we don’t even seek solutions or improvements because we’re so convinced that there are none.
Reach out beyond what you can see to the possibilities that are there. Keep your mind open to optimism. Maybe things aren’t as bleak as they seem. Maybe the glass really is half-full and not half-empty. Take charge of how you think, speak, feel about something and it just might change around you.
You have the ability to shift your thinking, speaking and feeling. Sure, there might be some circumstances that aren’t exactly the way you’d like them to be. You might have been given a medical diagnosis that you don’t like. You might be in a complicated relationship. You might have financial issues, or a job you don’t like. There are lots of things that could be happening around you.
BUT, and this is huge, you have the power to change how you interact with circumstances. You can get angry, at yourself or someone else. You can get depressed and close yourself off from others. You can choose to do something about your situation, such as see a counselor or coach, change your eating program, get another job, move on to a different relationship. And you can always choose to examine your own thoughts and feelings to decide if this is the level at which you wish to change.
Watch for signs that bring you hope. If you see something that reinforces a thought that seems pessimistic, take the time to look around for what an optimist would see. Play the game for yourself, by yourself.
After all, Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow on Groundhog Day so we’re sure to have an early Spring, whether you see the flowers yet or not! It’s a sign!!!
PS: If you are in the Annapolis, MD area check out Rosemary’s Rainbow Balance Color Therapy class coming on four successive Thursday evenings in March, the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th. Special pricing for this class expires March 1. If you are not in the area you’ll be able to take the class online soon. Stay tuned for the details.
If you can make it Click Here for Details
INSPIRATION FROM ROSEMARY: Decide on the Signs to See
Rosemary’s video for the week: Decide on the Signs to See
PS: If you are in the Annapolis, MD area you are in for a treat! Rosemary is offering her Rainbow Balance Color Therapy class on four successive Thursday evenings in March, the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th. Special pricing for this class expires March 1. Act soon! If you are not in the area you’ll be able to take the class online very soon. Stay tuned for the details.
If you can make it Click Here for Details
INSPIRATION FROM ROSEMARY: Where Are You Headed?
Rosemary’s video for the week: Where Are You Headed?
PS: Rosemary has had such a good time with her “15 for 50″ calls she’s extended the offer for a few more days. So, if your plans are not shaping up as easily or quickly as you’d like, consider a special Compass Call: that’s a quick dive with Rosemary into Dimensional Exploration to confirm your direction or choose your next step. But hurry, this offer expires soon!
Buy it here:
ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: Be Bold. Step Out. Take Action.
Be Brave, Daring, Intrepid, Audacious, Unflinching. Pick one of these synonyms for ‘bold’ and use it as your mantra. (I like ‘Audacious’!)
How can you show up in your life, your work, your relationships as ‘bold’? Have you ever thought about using that word to describe yourself? What would you do today if you were really bold? What would you dare to do, who would you dare to be if there were no end to your courage? What if you knew you could not fail? Would you make a different choice?
It might be a conversation that needs to take place. You might have an idea that has been teasing at the edges of your consciousness but you haven’t given it energy because you’re waiting for the perfect time or circumstances. Do you have a project that is half finished because you’re afraid of what others might think or say when they see it? Is there someone’s approval that you are hoping for and the lack of that approval is keeping you stuck?
These are the situations in which we find ourselves when we forget to be bold. And it is about ‘forgetting.’ You ARE bold! You have taken many courageous steps in your life. Do you disagree with me? I’ll be you can think of at least one time in which you were bold. Take a moment to remind yourself of how it felt. Run that feeling in your body for awhile. Look at the effort it took to be bold in that moment and then reassure yourself that you survived, you’re here today. Sometimes our stress mechanisms go a little haywire and try to convince us that being bold will get us hurt but, I assure you, there are no sabre-toothed tigers waiting to jump on you! Your stress mechanisms might not believe me, though, so you must act despite their illusions.
Step Out.
Once you have decided to Be Bold, it’s time to move forward, step out of the box of your own beliefs and limiting thinking. What is holding you in place? Who is telling you what the limits are?
Sometimes the voice in your head can be from the distance past, like a first-grade teacher or a parent, and sometimes it comes from a belief structure that you developed later in your life, all on your own. Determining where the limits live is the first step in expanding your horizon.
You must be brutally honest with yourself here. The field of all possibilities is right in front of you but you can talk yourself into believing that there is only a narrow path available to you to pursue. Step outside the box of this thinking. Step outside your comfort zone and stretch yourself into the greater space of possibilities. It’s okay. There are no sabre-toothed tigers here, either!
Take Action.
Choose a path and step onto it. Move yourself forward with confidence. When you ask the Universe to support your efforts and you visualize your dreams you must also put some energy into the forward motion toward those dreams. Raise your consciousness and move your feet.
If you feel you aren’t sure which action to take, then do some inner work. Get in touch with your inner guidance. Ask your coach or mentor or counselor to help you work through the blocks. Choose one step you can take and do it. Very few choices are irrevocable. If you get feedback that this choice isn’t taking you in the direction you desire then take another action in a different direction. There’s nothing wrong with trying something. Ask Edison about all the tries before he got the light bulb working. Ask anyone in a research lab and they will tell you that there is good information in the paths that don’t work. Look at the story of Post-It Notes that came about because the glue wasn’t perfect. Just take action.
Be Bold. Step Out. Take Action. You are ready!
PS: It ‘s not too late to get that special gift for your Valentine! Here’s one action you can take: get them a Compass Call with Rosemary; that’s 15 for 50, her special offer available only through February 14. Act Now Here
Men and The Goddess 