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ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: What’s New with You?
Where is the newness in your life? Are you in a rut? In a routine that doesn’t allow you time and/or space to grow?
Now is the time to explore the ways in which you have gotten stuck and are holding yourself back from your expansive greatness. Sometimes it seems easier to stay put, to stay where things are simple, uncomplicated, the same. But are you growing?
If you are alive in a human body then there is something more for you to learn. That’s what the human life is all about. We are learning machines, from the moment we’re born and we have to figure out how to get around in this physical world.
Babies are growing and exploring and trying new things all the time. All those ‘No!’ messages are helping the baby to learn what can and can’t be done, what’s safe and what’s not, what’s accepted and what’s not. As we get older we start giving ourselves those ‘No!’ messages for very different reasons.
What would you like to learn or explore that you are telling yourself ‘No!’ so you will stop exploring? What learning experience are you denying yourself because of a list of reasons that might, possibly, be excuses for maintaining the status quo? How are you holding yourself back?
Brain science is discovering fascinating things about how we think and how we can change our thoughts. Every thought either reinforces a previous thought or creates its new pattern in our brain. The thoughts we repeat deepen the groove of that thought and make it easier to revisit. New thoughts must be repeated to create a deeper pattern and, if left unvisited, will wither away.
What are your patterns of thinking and what would you like to change? There are techniques for making those changes, and to change your mind you have to be conscious of your old patterns and the new patterns that you want to reinforce. You can do this!
And what new stimulus is there in your environment to keep you growing? Or are you content with the status quo and resisting forward motion?
Living a Conscious Life requires that you accept yourself on a path of growth and that you are proactive about seeking to expand your awareness and advance your understanding. You are not the kind of human being who believes you are done learning new things and are content to sit around without exploring any new ideas. You challenge yourself to grow and to explore.
This task is not as easy in a vacuum as it is with a like-minded tribe. Who is your Consciousness Tribe? With whom can you explore ideas, share thoughts without concern about judgment or condemnation? Where are the people who will challenge you to consider a viewpoint that you haven’t considered before? Do you have these folks in your sphere?
Or are you content to hang out with people who represent the ‘you’ of decades ago, who will not challenge you to think outside the box of your old ideas?
Your tribe is yours to find. Sometimes we need a new tribe. Sometimes our tribe grows with us and we can stay with the same explorers while we all expand our consciousness.
Are you being challenged to find something new in your life? Ponder this thought today and then look around you and your day-to-day life. Maybe it’s time to try on something new and see how it fits.
What’s new with you today?
PS: New! Spring Book Special: Get Your Woman On! Embracing Beauty, Grace and the Power of Women – The Amazon Best Selling book that Rosemary co-authored with some amazing women – is available this month at a very special price – $12 with free shipping in the US and some great bonuses! This would be an inspirational gift for Mother’s Day for a woman who would like to read 39 stories of transformation. Here’s how to get your copy: Book Sale
Consciousness Building Tools and Monday’s Poem: Light of the World
Last Friday I posted some thoughts on our ability as humans to change. I suggested that change is not easy; old habits are difficult to modify; new thought-patterns require repetition, practice. And I suggested that there are many “consciousness building tools” we can employ to help us with our practice, our changes. As I write these high-sounding words of confidence and positive thought about evolutionary change I too need these tools, cling to them for help. And one such tool I use is visualization. I have written before about the Merkaba and visualizing the power that inner energy center can generate. I begin with a chakra balancing meditation that leads to visualizing the interlocking, spinning tetrahedrons. I use this visualization to empower my day, especially when I know I need to reinforce new behaviors and overrule old patterns. Today’s poem came out of one such visualization meditation:
Light of the World
Whirling centers,
Gravitational holes
Open and balance
To steady vibration.
Colors radiant
In brilliant hues
Beam up and out
From deep to high.
Around the core
The dynamos turn
Eight points spark
To life and arc.
The image appears
At the nexus of power
Still and calm
With steady gaze.
And the energy builds
To dazzling bursts.
The heart of Man blazes,
The Light of the World.
©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
Gates, Thresholds, Departures and Arrivals!
Yesterday I posted a long sequence from my “Morning Pages” (The Artist’s Way) about change. I woke up that morning a bit on the irritable side and my mood was exacerbated by a series of innocuous events that sent me immediately to my pages, often a respite from the world of other people!
I took time to breathe, to reflect and to move into a whole new frame of mind. It was then that I decided to dismiss Mr. Irritation from my life. And one of the triggers that ushers irritation into my life is a violation of the rules, my rules. So, I decided that Mr. Rules needed to be dismissed right along with irritation, since they so often seem to enter my life hand-in-hand.
If you read yesterday’s post you may believe that I finished my pages and skipped across that threshold I describe and swept into Happiness! Well, I don’t know how things go for you, but as soon as I let the Universe know I am moving into a new space, a whole new pattern of being, I am immediately tested!
I re-entered the world of other people, opened the refrigerator to make my morning smoothie and out flew an open box of Yoohoo leaking a chocolate flavored concoction all over the bottom of the refrigerator and the kitchen floor. After a few choice words I tossed the container into the sink, thereby splattering more brown liquid everywhere (OK, my toss was not gentle!).
I took a breath, muttered a bit more about rules and open containers and finally caught myself (and the Universe) in the test of my commitment to a new behavior pattern. Yes, Mr. Irritation and Mr. Rules had not gone far at all and came knocking at their first opportunity. And I was right there at the door to let them in!
Change is not easy! It’s easy enough to write about Gateless Gates, Thresholds of Joy, Departures from irritability and a world of rules and Arrival into a new world of Happiness. I can picture myself in this new world; I can hold the image for long moments, especially while sitting on a cushion or writing or practicing qigong. But remaining there in that new world is a completely different exercise. It takes practice, lots of practice. The old habits influenced so heavily by Mr. Irritation and Mr. Rules are deeply etched pathways in my brain. New habits influenced by those fleeting feelings of joy and happiness barely scratch the surface of the neocortex and evaporate all too easily if not reinforced with awareness, repetition and practice.
Over the last few days I have been practicing often; in other words the tests keep on coming and giving me the opportunities to practice. And this is a good thing! How else will those mere scratches become indelible ruts of good, new habits? And as always it’s all about awareness, catching the old behavior and making the conscious choice to modify it as quickly as possible so the old ruts begin to fade as the new behavior “sinks in.”
Fortunately there are tools to help with this. All “consciousness building” tools can be put to good use: meditation, yoga, qigong, tai chi, journaling, prayer, contemplation, etc. are all methods to help build our conscious minds to come to our aid with awareness of every moment, every breath, to fill that awareness with realization of our True Nature and how to align our everyday behavior with that Nature.
How do you build your Consciousness? What methods do you employ to effect change in your life?
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!)
MONDAY’S POEM: Open
Last week I wrote about the astrology of the time and opening doors to new beginnings, a new “consensus reality.” Open doors motivated today’s poem:
Open
The gateless gate
Stands open.
Walk through to
Limitlessness.
It will not close;
It is a gateless gate.
The dark beyond dark
Is light filled.
Peer through to
Formlessness.
Out of Oneness
The ten-thousand things.
The best are like
Water.
Flow through to
The River wide.
Many currents
Create the Ocean deep.
©2013 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
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!
Surprise!!! – Richard’s Commentary
While thinking about my response to Rosemary’s article on this subject I received an email from a mentor/teacher/friend, a deep scholar and also a gifted astrologer, about the energies of the times we are experiencing. I’m quoting a bit of his latest offering to set the stage for my thoughts about surprises.
More on the BIG astrology now – it IS that important – from Chris
“The aspects of the end of this week represent a rupture in consensus reality. In other words, what we take to be true about ourselves, our community, our nation, and our planet could be challenged or expanded (or both). My best advice is that if we see an opening in the “medieval fort” of everyday, programmed awareness, we should run through that opening.
“The possibilities for expanding consciousness are huge. But we have to choose to engage with those possibilities. We have to step outside the fort and challenge things we take for granted.”
Chris Largent
Surprise!!! A “rupture in consensus reality” certainly has the element of surprise embedded in it! Wow! But what does this really mean?
We have been anticipating big shifts with all the thought-energy, the expectations generated around 2012. While much of the hype is gone, many understand that the Winter Solstice, 2012, was a turning point, not THE EVENT itself. We are now in the midst of that long turn. Some are suggesting that we may see big shifts with the Summer Solstice as the transformation to a new era begins to unfold in earnest. And many astrologers are aligning events in the Heavens with the correspondences of ancient calendars to conclude big things are happening.
Beliefs are certainly shifting and rapidly. Just look at one example around the issue of same-sex marriage rights. No matter what side of this issue you might support there has been an incredible, rapid shift in American acceptance of the LGBT Community and their rights to equal treatment under the law! Consensus reality is reforming here in a surprisingly positive direction. Chris goes on to say:
“The consciousness doors that open now will allow for big inner and outer shifts through the summer of 2014 – but the opening is NOW.”
Rosemary has this to say about consensus reality:
“As a human being, it is easy to fall into the trap of always wanting to be in control of your life. That would be nice. But the Earth is inhabited by other human beings who also want to be in control of their lives. What happens when these two desires collide?”
What happens is, willing or not, consensus reality is reformed around that collision. Of course it doesn’t have to be a collision! Chris says:
“…we are like currents in a river. In other words, we look at the world in terms of fluid processes (and whole systems). If we look closely at our lives, that’s what we see: we flow within larger patterns, and we create patterns as our life-processes flow with other life processes.”
I love this analogy of lives that flow together, but there’s no doubt that there is colliding yet to come as we bump through the next months of transformation! As consensus reality dissolves around us we need to be prepared for the reformation of our reality. These are exciting times! And while I don’t always like surprises (I’m one of those people who likes to be in control) I am now at a stage of life where anticipation of big changes and moving forward on the evolutionary path of consciousness is very appealing.
What other cultural surprises might we anticipate? Well, they wouldn’t be surprises if we knew about them in advance! Are you prepared for the long predicted and anticipated shifts? Are you ready for the BIG SURPRISE?
ROSEMARY’S EXPLORATION: Surprise!!!
What is your attitude toward surprises? Many people say they don’t like to be surprised. They want to know if there is a surprise party for them about to happen. They don’t like change. They don’t like the feeling of ‘not knowing.’ They don’t like to feel that they are not in control.
But what about loving surprises? Loving that surprise party that a loved one engineered just for you. Being thrilled when someone does something nice for you or gives you an unexpected gift. How do you feel when that happens?
Life on the Earthly Plane is full of surprises. Some of these surprises are as thrilling as that unexpected gift. Some, however, are not so much fun. Are you willing to accept the ‘not knowing’ as an essential part of life on Earth?
As a human being, it is easy to fall into the trap of always wanting to be in control of your life. That would be nice. But the Earth is inhabited by other human beings who also want to be in control of their lives. What happens when these two desires collide?
Life can become chaotic through no fault of yours. Or you can thrive on the drama that chaos creates. Things can go smoothly for about a minute and then some new wrinkle is thrown into your day. How do you react?
The important part of growing in your level of consciousness is to make peace with the understanding that you will never be in 100% control of your environment and the circumstances of your time on Earth. Other people around you have free will and will sometimes make choices that will conflict with your desires, especially if one of your desires is for total peace and control over everything.
And sometimes Mother Nature decides to let you know that she is in control of her biosphere – that you are allowed to inhabit HER domain but she is ultimately in charge. Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, winter storms, lightning – these are not under your control and yet they happen. What is your response?
Are you reading these words and thinking that they conflict with the concept of ‘your thoughts create your reality’? There really is no conflict, if you think about it deeply.
The point is not that people don’t sit around wishing for a huge storm to come and destroy their house. But there are a lot of people who are worrying about that eventuality. Worry sets up the same magnet of attraction as desire does – did you know that? Thinking about what you don’t want does attract that very energy.
And thinking about what you do want has to have some caveats attached to it. Not the usual, ‘is it realistic?’ caveat, which really means, ‘can you see the way to make that happen?’ But are you wishing for something that takes away the power of others to have free will?
I’ve heard people say that they are trying to work with the Law of Attraction but that other person still hasn’t changed into what they want them to be. Hmmmmm…… What’s wrong with this picture?
How about understanding that not knowing HOW you will receive that which you are desiring allows the Universe to bring it to you in unexpected, surprising ways? And if you are working with the Law of Attraction you must be honoring other Laws of the Universe, including the Law of Free Will of all individuals. You do not have permission to try to make others change.
When you demand control of your environment, you limit the ways in which the Universe answers your requests. Your thoughts are projecting an often unconscious request to keep things just the way they are. And, yet, there are laws of the Universe about change being ever present.
Your thoughts are sending out energy that does create those storms and that chaos and we’ll talk about that later. For today, remember this equation:
EVENT leads to your REACTION and then you choose a RESPONSE.
While you might not control all the events that happen [Surprise!] and your reaction is your immediate ‘knee jerk’ feeling, you DO control how you respond. Put your energies into practicing Conscious Response – choosing the response that demonstrates your personal growth. Then you can relax into making peace with the ‘not knowing’ and enjoy the ‘Surprise!’
PS: Why not surprise yourself this week with a Discovery Session with Rosemary? They are FREE! Go here to apply
Men and The Goddess 