Ahh, That Monkey Mind

2 Remedies for a Chaotic Mind

January 9th, 2019

By Nick Polizzi

Guest writer for Wake Up World

We certainly live in unusual times, don’t we?

When the news headlines are filled with fear and uncertainty, it’s easy to be thrown off keel and get stuck in our heads. But the elders have taught for thousands of years that personal evolution doesn’t occur without a little ruckus, just like new seeds won’t sprout unless the soil is churned.

There are many real challenges in the world, and as we try to wrap our heads around them, it’s important that we remember to do so with mindfulness and compassion.

We’re all born into this world vulnerable and pure, completely reliant on the kindness of others. By remaining present, we begin to see this humanity in everyone, whether they are the perceived “good guys” or “bad guys”.

A great place to look for inspiration is our children. A child doesn’t recoil in the face of challenge. No, they are perpetually curious, resilient as warriors, and in a constant state of play. We grown-ups somehow lose that superpower as we get older and the perceived stakes of our actions get higher. But luckily for us all, there are a number of ways to shake off the illusion and get ourselves back into a harmonious state of life flow.

I’ve prescribed a couple of practices below that have really helped me quiet my mind and stay grounded, happy, and connected to purpose lately. I hope they help you too!

Sacred Prescription #1

This first one might seem downright crazy. You’ve probably never heard of it before, so get ready for your mind to be blown… Meditation!!!

Okay, maybe you’ve heard of it before… but do you actually make time for it, and incorporate it into your daily routine?

In our seemingly busy lives, there’s a compulsion to stay on the move, make every second count, burn the midnight oil, and then crash at the end of the day. Some might even say that this fire-drill consciousness is at the root of the imbalances we are seeing in the world, and also within our selves.

What happens if we carve out a little time each day to sit and experience the very moment we are in, instead of the road ahead or the rear-view past? In the digital age of speedy information and mini adrenaline rushes, we need something to bring us back into our bodies and help us see our reality for what it truly is.

A close friend and I are in the middle of a meditation challenge right now and it has been extremely helpful over the past month. It’s gotten to the point where I look forward to my 1PM meditation every day.

If you start with just ten minutes each day of quieting the mind in a wakeful state, I can almost guarantee that new openings and releases of tension will happen for you.

Sacred Prescription #2

When our reality gets a little hazy now and again, there are certain “medicine questions” we can ask ourselves that have the power to pull enlightened answers from somewhere within our psyche.

When you’re doing the work, these can be extremely helpful to have in your back pocket. Below are two of my go-to questions, but there are a number of them!

Medicine Question 1:

What is the one conversation that you’ve been putting off having with a friend or loved one?

It’s tempting to get caught up in all the flashy happenings on the world stage, but what about the people right in your own life? This is where you have the most influence and it’s often not a place of focus (ie. texting at the dinner table).

We humans are mirrors for one another and any relationships that are out of whack are often a useful reflection of inner imbalances that we have with ourselves. One of the fastest ways to heal your life is to reach out consciously and resolve any conflict, however subtle or obvious, that you might have with someone dear to you.

Just like a newborn baby cannot survive without the warm touch of another, we “grown-ups” tend to slip into imbalance when a connection to a member of our tribe is languishing.

Medicine Question 2:

When was the last time you put yourself outside your comfort zone?

Are you cozy in the life and role you’ve created for yourself? Is that coziness serving your highest ideals? We humans like predictability and pattern, but you would be surprised at how therapeutic a little shakeup can be.

Rituals like sweat lodge, temascal, vision quest, and the various sacred plant ceremonies are all aimed at bringing an individual to their limit, for what reason? To remind them they are limitless.

Limitlessness is a nice term, but to understand it fully you must be willing to go outside your comfort zone. If you’re looking for a powerful way to expand your limits while enhancing your relationships, refer to Medicine Question #1 ?

Have a wonderful week and remember, we’re all in this thing together.

Stay curious,

Nick Polizzi
Founder of The Sacred Science

from:    https://wakeup-world.com/2019/01/09/2-remedies-for-a-chaotic-mind/

Dealing with the Hard times


Posted

We have all been enchanted with getting high and having a free awareness, and so we have tried to repress or deny lows when our awareness once again gets caught in this or that.

We love the illusion of being high but we are afraid of coming down. As your journey proceeds, you realize that you can’t hold on to your highs and deny your lows. Your lows are created by the remaining attachments that blind your awareness. Facing your lows – your anger, loneliness, greed, fears, depressions, and conflicts – is the most productive fire of purification you can find.

As your connection with the spirit deepens, you might even choose to seek out those things that bring your attachments to the surface, so that you might confront them and free your awareness from them.

It’s a tricky business – playing with fire. You must feel your own way, unless you have a guide to say when to go and when to stop. If you don’t have a guide, trust your own judgment. For example, if anger still traps your awareness, you might put yourself in a situation which usually elicit anger and then attempt to maintain clear awareness.

If you confront your attachments out of guilt, out of “oughts” or “shoulds,” or through some externally imposed discipline, it won’t work. For these confrontations are difficult and your motives to confront them must come from deep within.

It takes the innermost resolve to resist your powerful temptations, or separate your awareness from your strong desires, be they lust, anger, or whatever.

Your gains through meditation give you the enthusiasm that can bring a breakthrough into another plane, or the heartfelt desire to go in deeper, or the hunger to change your life. But it still takes much courage and fortitude to face the deepest attachments head on.

When you feel that your life is committed to the spirit you can no longer avoid confronting these weaknesses. Your strategy changes, you seek to move faster, wishing to confront head-on the things that bring down your awareness. You can no longer let them have their way. So you ask for a hotter fire, a fiercer confrontation. Even though this is often painful rather than pleasurable, it’s all right, for you are reaching toward that freedom which lies beyond pleasure and pain.

When you want to burn away the grip of your ego on your awareness you’ll endure whatever is needed to clean up your life.

 

– Ram Dass, Journey of Awakening: A Meditator’s Guidebook

from:    https://www.ramdass.org/low-points-on-the-path/

Rethinking the Hope of Psychedelics

The Psychedelic Experience, 50 Years On

The name for The Doors occurred to Jim Morrison after a weekend experimenting with psychedelics. (Wikimedia Commons)

Editor’s note: John Densmore is the legendary drummer of  The Doors. To learn more about Densmore, listen to Truthdig Editor in Chief Robert Scheer’s interview with the musician here

All this to say—if you are up against that wall—in a place where it feels like there are no options—and your intuition says it’s right … go ask Alice.

I’m 73 years old and still feeling quite good about myself. Well, I know I’m on the descent, but it’s a nice ride … right now. I know it’s going to get more difficult, but if I can just hang on to what I experienced 50 years ago, I’ll make it to where I’m supposed to go.

So play the game “Existence” to the end … of the beginning, of the beginning

Fifty years ago, my friends and I were street scientists, experimenting with then-legal psychedelics. At Monday rehearsals, we would all share what happened on our weekend “trips.” On one of those Mondays, Jim suggested we call our new group The Doors, after the Aldous Huxley book, “The Doors of Perception.” It seemed the esteemed British scholar had written a little book about his mescaline experienceThe new name quickly became unanimous. All of us went through the gauntlet—tough moments that lasted for a few minutes, or quite a while. A few friends never came back fully to their former mental selves, and actually, all of us were in some way changed forever—mostly in quite positive ways.

Lifting the veil is dangerous, but if the environment is supportive, the outcome can be life-changing. I only took the trip a few times, but the opening is still with me. I realized these experiments were extremely rigorous on the nervous system, so I found myself heading toward a less shattering route: meditation. But the initial couple of liftoffs have definitely impacted my life permanently.

Now, 50 years later, I still can touch the feeling of wonder that I got from these initial excursions. It’s hard to describe any more than that; kind of like trying to describe God. My 90-year-old cousin, who is a diligent thinker, laments the loss of the framework of organized religion. I told him that the impact of a tab of acid made a much bigger impression on my spiritual life than the communion wafer at mass. And I can’t go back. Even though Pope Francis is challenging my renegade Catholicism because he is so wonderful, I still can’t go back. The great mythologist Joseph Campbell says that the new mythology might take 100 years or so to fully form. So I comfort myself with a patchwork cosmology: a little Hinduism here, a dash of Buddhism there, and a whole lot of indigenous wisdom.

Let me be clear—I am not advocating indiscriminate drug use. But recent studies have shown that used carefully, some psychedelics can actually help treat addiction to other drugs. Plus, carefully conducted scientific studies from nonprofit organizations and major universities are showing many physical and psychological benefits, including a powerful treatment for PTSD and anxiety in people with serious illness. Even the much-maligned weed is showing stunning evidence as an important medicine that fights diseases like epilepsy and cancer.

These are very exciting studies, but psychedelics still have a stigma: the old patriarchal, mistaken outlook that all drugs are the same. We now know that “Just Say No” is an extremely simplistic and misleading response to a very complex issue. As Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance said years ago, the appropriate phrase is “Just Say Know.” This is apparently lost on the new U.S. Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, who is trying to go back in time with tough policies that have failed. Sessions’ predecessor, Eric Holder, has called this “dumb on crime.”

Of course, there are those who will quickly judge this rant as a “hippie flashback.” If that’s what this is, then bring it on. I have raised a family, have grandkids, written three books, a significant amount of music, and many articles. No slacker’s or stoner’s rant is this. In fact, I’m very careful now about what I put into my system, and those early days of exploring my mind were key in forming my values and my spiritual path.

Now here’s the cosmic part (you saw it coming): when I stepped outside while under the influence of LSD, I saw God in every leaf. OK, now you expect me to say I started eating those botanicals since I was so loaded, but what I really came away with is a sense (which is still with me) that this moment in time is not the only moment happening at this moment! This might sound like double-speak, but there are other realities going on right now outside of our awareness.

But before I stepped outside, I had a few minutes of absolute terror. My friend, who was also “tripping,” pulled me out of it by laughing hysterically. You see, in those days, we didn’t have doctors like today at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore carefully monitoring our voyage. Due to our early experiments, and of course centuries-old shamanic cultures, researchers are now clear about the safe boundaries needed to make the excursions the most fruitful. Knowledge is often surrounded by danger. You have to get out on the edge to see the whole clearly.

Turn off your mind, relax and float down stream … It is not dying, it is not dying

Every night when we choose to go to bed, we are accepting a “little death,” giving up our conscious daily life. We know we need rest to reset our body for another day of sentient life. In effect, it’s a small rehearsal for the big “D” coming at the end of our time here on planet Earth. When that time arrives, going peacefully is what we all want. For thousands of years, Tibetan Buddhists have believed it is crucial to be calm in the moments before crossing, or you won’t get to where you’re supposed to go. Now we are seeing terminal cancer patients receiving effective help via psychedelics with the “little death” rehearsal.

Lay down all thoughts, surrender to the void … It is shining, it is shining

So once again, the U.S. government is very slow to get the message and continues to interfere with the availability of traditional indigenous medicine. Bipartisan support for criminal justice reform has been halted. Medicine that has helped people for centuries is once again under attack. It’s sad, because Vietnam vets that have been metaphorically stuck in the jungle have been finding their way out of years of mental and emotional torture thanks to medicinal plants.

Retired Sgt. Jonathan Lubecky, who served in Iraq, says about MDMA-assisted psychotherapy, “This treatment has made it possible for me to watch my son grow up. He will not be presented with a folded flag on behalf of a ‘grateful nation’ in recognition of a parent who took his own life.” So unfortunately, there are more roadblocks to the “good” drugs, but thank God for human enterprise. No wall can keep out the human spirit, which seeks healing.

All this to say—if you are up against that wall—in a place where it feels like there are no options—and your intuition says it’s right … go ask Alice. Make sure you have planned your excursion, have a guide, and this is really what you need to do. Then you will build a bridge or dig a tunnel into your soul and find yourself.

from:    https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-psychedelic-experience-50-years-on/

Words of Healing

11 Powerful Mantras for Healing

Everything in this Universe carries a vibration, including the words that you speak.

For centuries, people have used words for healing. Words can be used to share a story, they can be used to pray and they can be used to express a deeper truth.

Another way words can be used for healing is through mantras. Mantras are short, positively inspired phrases that carry a powerful healing vibration and can help to free your body, mind, and soul of any stresses.

The word mantra loosely translates to “instrument of the mind”. This is because mantras have the power to transform your thinking, and rewire thought patterns and belief systems that have been engrained deep within your subconscious.

In traditional practices, it was believed that you had to chant the mantra 125,000 times in order for it to really sink in to the deepest level of your soul. While this may sound daunting, even reciting a mantra a few times over the course of a week or month can have life changing effects.

In fact, mantras are so simple yet so effective for all sorts of healing, that I have shared 150 of my most favorite and powerful mantras in a new book – My Pocket Mantras.

Here are a few of my favorite mantras from the book:

1.) I know I am loved and supported as I move through the day

Recite this mantra three times either out loud or quietly to yourself first thing in the morning or whenever needed. As you recite the mantra, cross your arms and wrap them around your body like you are giving yourself a big, supportive hug.

2.) This too shall pass

Recite this mantra seven times out loud or quietly to yourself during challenging life periods and when you are working through painful emotions.

3.) I surrender my worries to the Universe

Recite this mantra three times either out loud or quietly to yourself as often as needed. Visualize yourself taking your heavy coat of burdens off and handing it over to the Universe to take care of as you recite the words.

4.) I choose to feel good about myself every day

Recite this mantra three times either out loud or quietly to yourself while looking in the mirror.

5.) I am exactly where I need to be

Recite this mantra three times either out loud or quietly to yourself.

6.) I release my past and forgive myself

Recite this mantra five times either out loud or quietly to yourself as you place your hands over your heart.

7.) Everything I need to heal is already within me

Recite this mantra five times either out loud or quietly to yourself while placing your hands over your heart.

8.) Things are always working out in my favor

Recite this mantra three times either out loud or quietly to yourself.

9.) I am effortlessly creating a life I love

Recite this mantra six times either out loud or quietly to yourself.

10.) The next perfect step is always being revealed to me

Recite this mantra three times either out loud or quietly to yourself with your hands in prayer position.

11.) I use love to make all the decisions in my life

This mantra is best recited after or during meditation. You can incorporate it into your own practice, or you can use the following instructions as your guide:

Take three to four deep breaths in and out while placing your hand over your heart. Chant the mantra in your mind eleven times. Once finished, end your meditation by taking three to four deep breaths.

from:    http://humansarefree.com/2018/04/11-powerful-mantras-for-healing.html

Influences of Light & Color on the Mind

How Color and Light Influence the Mind


The following article is excerpted fromLight Therapies: A Complete Guide to the Healing Power of Light by Anadi Martel, published by Inner Traditions.

Meditation is the inner sun,
The source of inner light.
Osho

Right from the very start of my interest in light in the 1980s what intrigued me most was to find out whether it could contribute to enhancing altered states of consciousness—specifically, the higher state of meditative consciousness. This propelled my interest in developing new techniques for the control of light based on its modulation. I started out by studying its effects directly on myself, and then I examined its effects on others. This process, which was of an empirical nature, showed clearly that certain types of light could indeed have profound effects on the mind and on the psyche.

At the same time it was obvious to me that no technical method could create a state of meditation. Meditation is being present to oneself, a conscious awareness of our experience in the moment. No machine, no technology, can give us this state of awareness. However, nothing prevents us from using technology to contribute to the creation of an interior space that is favorable to meditation, and in so doing helping it to occur—which is what we intended to do by means of visual stimulation. When we accomplished this we discerned that this sort of sensorial approach could have other applications as well. Ma Premo and I both realized that light could have considerable potential for psychotherapeutic applications. However, though we could clearly recognize its effects, we were still incapable of fully comprehending why they were taking place; it was very difficult to understand this correctly by simply relying on the scientific or psychological facts that were available to us at that time.

We discovered in our early experiments that the light we were using seemed to intervene in an intermediate zone between the physiological influence of color in its most concrete biophysical aspect and its purely cognitive impact through its capacity to evoke a rich interior universe. The conventional scientific references at the time took into account only one of these two influences, and this seemed inadequate to us. In fact, it was only gradually, over the course of about twenty years, that we developed a model to better understand the nature of this intermediary domain, and as a result we were able to identify the scope of therapeutic applications of this type of light.

The Power of Color on the Mind

One of our early inspirations came as a result of the first studies about the way the brain reacts to the perception of color. Generations of researchers had already explored the cerebral structures connected to vision, the most important of all our senses. They had started to identify a complex organization capable of decoding information coming from the retina by means of a successive sequence of cerebral centers, each one processing a particular aspect of the visual field, with the major part of the visual cortex found at the back of the brain, where the optic nerve extends to the occipital lobe.

But it was only in 1989 that Lueck et al. identified the anatomical center that specifically processes information about color. This study was accomplished with positron emission tomography (PET), which enabled scientists to see the metabolic activity in the brain in a very direct way. The technique consisted of having subjects view two analogous images, one a set of rectangles in multiple colors (known as “Mondrians” because they evoke similar-looking images made by painter Piet Mondrian) and the other the same set of rectangles in achromatic shades of gray (see fig. 11.1). They took care to preserve equal luminosity in both types of images in order to create the same level of nervous stimulation in the brains of the test subjects. Then they tested to see which cortical zones reacted differently. In this seminal study, which was later published in the journal Nature, they demonstrated that they were able to isolate the brain’s color center* in a region of the visual cortex called the V4 area (Lueck et al. 1989).

*The color center located in the V4 area of the visual cortex includes the lingual gyrus and the fusiform gyrus.

A particular detail that stood out when I read this study was a graph that depicted the levels of activity in the different cerebral areas when subjects viewed the color images and the achromatic images. Naturally, the color center in the brain reacted more actively to the colored version of the image, while another area, called the frontal eye fields, showed a clear suppression of activity with the colored image (see fig. 11.2). This area is to be found in the frontal cortex, the cerebral lobe generally associated with evolved mental activity, such as language, motivation, and planning.

The logical implication is that color appears to reduce mental activity while simultaneously stimulating the visual cortex. It is as though pure color consisted of complete information in itself, in such a way that the brain is not obliged to pursue any further mental analysis. This was in stark contrast to the same image in black and white, in which the frontal eye fields—i.e., higher cortical functions—are stimulated by the absence of color. Could color be a stimulus permitting the increase of global cerebral energy, yet calming the mind at the same time? This was a seductive possibility, because such a function is precisely what meditation does.

This close relationship between color and the mind was again emphasized in an astonishing study carried out by Kosslyn et al. (2000). He applied the same technique as Lueck (PET measurements resulting from viewing the Mondrian images); however, Kosslyn used subjects who were highly suggestible and placed them under hypnosis.* He discovered that in this case the color center reacts less to the actual coloring of the test image than to the suggestion under hypnosis that the image is colored (or not). Not only does color perception influence the mind, as Lueck had shown, but mind influences color perception: the two are intimately linked.

*According to Kosslyn’s study about 8 percent of the general population is highly suggestible to hypnosis.

The Domains of Influence of Light

Let’s examine more closely two important areas where color exerts its influence: the objective domain (working through the physiological and biophysical channels) and the cognitive domain (animating our thoughts and our consciousness).

We have explored a number of influences coming from the objective domain, which are influences mediated by the purely physical properties of light. This includes all those influences to be found in the new light medicine. So we have photobiomodulation, through which light acts directly at the cellular level, stimulating the mitochondrial respiratory chain and modulating the production of ATP, our metabolic energy source. Also influenced is the nonvisual optical pathway, through which light governs the endocrine system by means of the retinohypothalamic tract. Notably, this includes a profound influence on our central internal clock and consequently on circadian rhythm. Another objective effect of light is that of photic entrainment. Here, pulsating light interacts with brain waves to directly induce different mental states.

Many modalities of alternative light medicine come from the objective domain as well. For example, in syntonic optometry the visual field of the subject is exposed to precise colors in order to obtain specific autonomic effects. In Colorpuncture, the colors are chosen and applied according to the stimulated reflex points. The common characteristic of all of these objective influences is the systematic manner in which their action takes place, independent of the will or of any cognitive involvement of the subject.

The cognitive domain of light is that which passes through the sense of vision; this influence is one of the most profound we can have in life. Through vision, we build an interior representation of our entire world. Vision informs our superior cognitive faculties; it can evoke all the emotions, sensations, and thoughts that define us.

We’ve all heard that old truism, “An image is worth a thousand words.” The arts of painting and photography, television, and cinema are visual forms that can give meaning to our existence. In their most exalted manifestations such as sacred geometry or mandalas, images are capable of exerting influence of a higher spiritual nature. When light interacts in such a way with our mental universe, it is not only acting through its physical properties; it becomes a vehicle for the transfer of information through images that are formed by our visual system. The influence of light in this cognitive domain is characterized by the complexity of its form and by its rich informational content.

The Subjective Domain, the Third Area of Influence

So we possess many ways of using light, which can act on either one or the other of these two domains, the objective and the cognitive. But what happens at the boundary between these two? Essentially, in this intermediate domain we try to induce perceptions of a superior cognitive order by using the objective properties of light. For this reason I call this third domain of influence the subjective domainbecause it intervenes at the level of our interior perception, which is subjective. We will see that it concerns one of the most fertile of regions, and this has profound implications for the therapeutic application of color.

What do we mean when we say “perceptions of a superior cognitive order”? This has to do with all cognitive activity capable of inducing within us a harmonious and positive state of being. Such activity can take several forms: any emotion that evokes beauty or pleasure; the sensation of unity with the flow of life; deep relaxation; or, again, an impression of immense peace and security. Why would such perceptions be of particular therapeutic interest? Most of us understand this intuitively: they permit us to rediscover our natural equilibrium, and they open the door to an intrinsic mechanism of healing always ready to move into action when we give it the opportunity.

from:  http://realitysandwich.com

Latest Message fr/The Hathors via Tom Kenyon

A Stream from the Higher Worlds

A Hathor Planetary Message through Tom Kenyon

In our last planetary message called the Aetherium, we shared a sound meditation to help you transit through intensifying levels of world chaos by decreasing stress and by increasing coherency in your body and mind.

In this message we are giving you another sound meditation called “A Stream from the Higher Worlds.” The purpose of this sonic ally is to assist you to purify deeply held psycho-spiritual as well as emotional negativity and toxicity.

As your world enters an ever-larger Chaotic Node there is a corresponding increase in hostility and antagonism. Indeed, this emotional toxicity is so pervasive it can affect even the most spiritually advanced among you.

Before we get to the instructions on how to use this meditation, we would like to address a very important but complex concept. For the sake of brevity, we will do so in as short a space as possible.

Dimensional Tendencies

Whenever you enter a strong emotional response and its corresponding thought forms you have entered a specific dimension of consciousness. This is a vibratory field of energy that exists independently of you and is co-created by all sentient beings who are experiencing the same emotions and thought forms—including yourself.

Let us take two emotions as an example: anger and hatred. From our perspective your collective is experiencing an extreme polarization. If you experience anger at something that has occurred (as you perceive it), the neurochemical reality of your body changes. If this anger response escalates into hatred then you have entered a very toxic dimensional reality, and due to the nature of the interconnectedness of dimensional realities you will be sharing the same energetic with all beings who are in the same energetic and emotion.

We want to be very precise in how we address this. There is nothing wrong with anger. Indeed, at times anger is the correct response to a situation. It sets a needed boundary. When, however, anger escalates into hatred it becomes a toxic poison to your psycho-spiritual nature.

By the term Dimensional Tendencies, we mean that all human beings (and many animals as well) have perceptual and emotional habits that are deeply ingrained—thus the term Tendency.
These tendencies can lead you into habitual emotional responses such as depression, hostility or hatred—just to name three “negative” emotional dimensions from the cornucopia of human experience.

The challenge with Dimensional Tendencies is that they can color your life with thought forms and emotional responses that are not of your conscious creation, but rather they are driven by forces (i.e., habits) in your unconscious mind.

Some Dimensional Tendencies—such as the tendency to loving kindness, compassion and self-love—are positive in their effects. We will have more to say about this in future messages, but we wish to focus, now, on the negative impact of Dimensional Tendencies so that you can be aware of these in yourself.

Dimensional Tendencies are also meme-like and in that sense they can be contagious. If someone is caught up in hatred, for example, anyone with a Dimensional Tendency to hatred—whatever the reason might be—will be prone to be stirred by hatred as well.

From our perspective your world has become venomous and is overflowing with emotional and spiritual toxicity. The purpose of this sound meditation, A Stream from the Higher Worlds, is to assist you in a most vital task as we view it, which is to purify yourself of your own deeply held emotional and spiritual toxicity.

These impressions come to you from every negative experience of your life (as well as all other lifetimes). The culminated history of your life/lives is encoded into the cellular memory of your body and mind and/or your energy field. This sound meditation utilizes the sound of a stream as well as sound codes that we (the Hathors) generated from the realms of light and the voice of Mary Magdalen, who also brings forth sound codes she has created from the realms of light. This orchestration of these elements to gently and profoundly release deeply held psycho-spiritual and emotional toxicity was created to assist you.

This meditation has two aspects, the personal and the collective. We wish to address the personal use first.

How to Work with This Sound Meditation

There are two ways of working with this sound meditation: passively or actively.

The passive method is for when you are too exhausted to focus your attention. In this instance you simply listen to the sounds and the music, letting it take you wherever.

The active form of listening is the most powerful way to work with this meditation.

Imagine that there is a diamond at your crown, at the top of your head. You do not have to see this; just imagine it in whatever ways seem natural to you.

As you hear the sound of the stream, sense, feel and imagine a crystal clear stream of liquid white light entering your body from the diamond at the crown of your head. Allow this stream of light to flow downward from your head through your entire body, allowing the stream to exit from the palms of your hands and the soles of your feet.

Imagine that this stream of light is flowing through every organ of your body, every cell and tissue, even through the very atoms that comprise your body. You may find it helpful to relax into your exhales, letting each exhale be more relaxed than the one before it. The central idea is to relax into the stream and the sound codes. They will do the work. You just relax and give the stream and sounds permission to move through ever-deeper levels of your being.

The meditation itself is 8 minutes 44 seconds in length. If you have the space and time to do so, you could listen to it multiple times, back-to-back for deeper purification, release and healing. Working with this sound meditation on a regular basis will assist you, especially if you alternate it with the Aetherium that we gave earlier.

Using this Meditation to Benefit the Collective

For those of you who feel aligned with imparting to the collective a calming purifying energy field, we invite you to use this meditation not only for yourself but also for the elevation of all humanity and for the benefit of all sentient beings—since all sentient beings experience benefit or harm from human emotions and thought forms.

The use of this meditation for the collective is not a substitute for working with it for yourself. This is because you cannot give what you do not have. You must maintain some level of calmness and clarity without toxic elements if you are to serve the collective this way.

Having said that here are the instructions for the use of this meditation for the benefit of the collective consciousness.

Imagine the Earth in front of you in whatever ways feel natural. The perspective may be that you are close or at a great distance. It does not matter. Imagine that a large diamond sits at the North Pole. As the sound of the stream begins, allow a stream of clear white light to descend from the diamond through the central axis of the Earth, flowing through and out the South Pole. Allow the stream and the sound codes to move outward throughout the entire planet imparting a calming and purifying effect.

After you have completed the meditation, either for yourself or for the world, we suggest you rest for a few minutes, if possible, in order to let the subtle energetics settle into your body and mind. This will have very beneficial effects. So our suggestion is not to rush out of the meditation too quickly.

The World Sound Meditation

We are calling for a world sound meditation using A Stream from the Higher Worlds as a means to introduce into the collective a calming and purifying effect as a direct antidote to the venomous psycho-spiritual toxicity that is moving like a plague on your planet.

The nexus point of this mediation will be in New York on October 2 at an event called The Inner Streams: Worlds of Healing. The group that will have gathered for this one-day event will spend the last thirty minutes in the World Meditation we described above.

During this sound meditation an extended version of A Stream from the Higher Worlds will be played, and we (the Hathors) will alternate with Mary Magdalen to sing on top of these sound codes. This triad of sonic and psychic forces will strike the energetic of calm planetary purification and healing.

The reason Mary Magdalen has joined us in this is due to a simple and compelling fact. The domination and subservience of women must come to an end. The feminine must be raised in balance to the masculine. The alchemical iconographic symbolism of the full Moon must be in balance to the Sun. This refers to the internal symbolism of the psyche and not to astronomical objects.

The energetic of this first striking will last for twenty-four hours. This means you can fully participate in the first energetic anytime within the first twenty-four-hour period from wherever you are.

The second harmonic will last for forty days. If you feel the deep calling to serve the higher good in this way (and have the fortitude to do so) we would ask that you engage the world meditation, whenever possible within your schedule, in that forty-day period.

Do not forget, however, in this forty-day period to engage this meditation for yourself first. In other words, clear yourself before you engage this meditation for the world.

The third striking is for those of you who are Adepts and Initiates or for those of you who are on the threshold of becoming one. You will know and sense through the power of gnosis (direct knowing) when it would be advantageous for you to engage the World Meditation.

For some of you this action will continue for many months or years. More details about the timing of the World Meditation are given below, including a link to the sound meditation itself.

We hold within the highest realms of our being, which includes the Aethos—the non-dual realms of our collective realization—and within the realms of our deepest hearts that this action will benefit you and all living beings upon your planet.

We bow to you, the co-creators of your destiny.

May the light of your own higher realizations illuminate your way.
The Hathors
August 15, 2016

 

Tom’s Thoughts and Observations

I think the Hathors’ instructions on how to work with this unusual sound meditation are clear and straightforward. Having listened to it multiple times now, I think it is more effective if you make it the sole focus of your attention. Avoid the temptation to multitask on this one!

I have also found that listening to this sonic piece multiple times, in one listening session, takes it to much deeper levels of cleansing and purification. One of the paradoxes of this sound mediation is that although its purification can be quite deep, it does so in a deeply relaxing and nurturing manner.

When I was first approached by the Hathors to bring forward this sound meditation so close to their release of The Aetherium, I balked a bit. But then they informed me that it would be a synergetic co-creation between them and Mary Magdalen. Intrigued, I asked for more details and was told that the purpose of A Stream from the Higher Worlds was to gently cleanse and purify the body/mind from deeply held toxicity and emotional negativity by imparting unique energetics from the “higher realms of light.” They also told me that Magdalen would direct the recording process.

As far as the recording itself is concerned…the stream in the background was recorded at a remote location on Orcas Island where I often experience nature spirits. The main voice you hear is that of Magdalen, while the surrounding voices are those of the Hathors. The core of this evolutionary catalyst is actually from a short sound meditation that was recorded during The Spiral of Ascension workshop in 2015. For me this fascinating weaving of sound creates openings in my energy field for higher dimensional energies that are both purifying and healing.

While I found the meditation to be truly profound, I was stupefied by the Hathors’ and Magdalen’s request to call for a World Sound Meditation during the one-day event on October 2nd at Symphony Space in New York City titled Inner Streams: Worlds of Healing.

When I chose to create this event—many months ago—I felt there would be some very potent and healing energies released for the benefit of those who attended the New York workshop. But I never ever imagined that the Hathors would ask to add their energy to this event, much less M (as I refer to Magdalen), or for their combined energetic to be extended to the world.

Upon further dialogue, it became clear that both the Hathors and M are of the opinion that our world is so wracked with negativity and hostility, we are on the verge of self-destruction. They are thus joining forces—so to speak—to introduce a purifying and healing energetic into the human collective. This is being done for the benefit of all sentient beings on Earth, not just human. It is not an energy that is to be imposed upon humanity, rather it is an energetic of purification, release and healing that all persons can draw upon. I consider this to be a very important aspect of the World Sound Meditation. As in past global meditations directed by the Hathors, nothing is being imposed on the collective or on any individual. Rather a field of purifying and healing energy is being emanated throughout the world. All beings are free to draw this beneficial energetic into themselves or not.

In their message the Hathors addressed M’s participation in this highly unusual sound meditation, but I would like to add a few things to the mix. Many of the problems our world is facing are a direct result of the patriarchy and its domination of the feminine in all levels of existence—from the economic and social treatment of women to their perceived inferiority in many (if not most) of the world’s major religions and spiritual traditions.

At a symbolic level the Earth is our Mother, and as a collective, humanity is raping her.

Our oceans are increasingly toxic and the very fabric of our ecosystem is on the verge of collapse as reported by a growing number of the world’s ecological scientists. While many of the physical challenges to the continuation of life upon our planet are driven by physical processes created by mankind, there is a subtler force at work here. I would call it the philosophical/religious and symbolic devaluing of the feminine principle in all its many forms.

It is not, however, just the biological expression of the feminine that is so devalued and in some cases outwardly attacked. The internal and psychological expressions of the feminine are also suspect in our current patriarchal worldview. By this I am referring to the feminine part of our human psychology, which Carl Jung referred to as the anima. The anima (internal feminine) dwells in both women and men, just as the internal male, or animus, also lives in every man and woman. These are dynamic forces that affect our choice-making as humans in very real ways.

In my opinion, until the internal anima and animus are brought into balance within our human psychology we will continue to make unbalanced choices that disregard or denigrate the feminine aspect. This antagonism against both the outer and inner feminine affects us as well as other life forms in perilous ways.

Both women and the planet are suffering from our cultural over-emphasis of the animus (male principle), which is firmly rooted in our dominant philosophies, religions and socio-economic systems. But it is not just women who suffer from this imbalance. Men also suffer because we are denied a whole range of human potentials such as depth of feelings and intuitive knowledge.

For those readers unfamiliar with “the” Mary Magdalen that will be adding her spiritual weight to the upcoming World Sound Meditation, I suggest you take a look at the Mary Magdalen Section of our website to get a feel for who this powerful feminine presence is. This Magdalen is not the prostitute of the New Testament that many Christians believe her to be.

If you are interested in more details about the ecological crisis facing our planet as well as some fascinating information about the ascension process in relation to what are called “operations of increasing order” go to the Articles section and click on The Spiral of Ascension—Class Handouts.

Returning to the sound meditation, A Stream from the Higher Worlds is a subtle weaving of potent energetics for personal purification and healing, but it is also for the human collective when engaged with that purpose in mind.

Instructions for The World Sound Meditation on October 2nd 2016

The World Sound Mediation will begin on October 2nd 2016 at 8:00PM EDST or at Midnight between October 2nd and 3rd GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). (Check the World Time Clock to determine the exact time in your area.) The group in New York will be in meditation for 30 minutes. During this period, an extended version of A Stream from the Higher Worlds will be played as I channel sounds from the Hathors and Magdalen. The energetic from New York will move quickly throughout the planet, and it will last for twenty-four hours, which means you do not have to meditate with the gathering in New York when we engage the global mediation. You can do it anytime within this twenty-four-hour period and still fully participate in its intended outcome, which is to introduce a gentle, purifying and healing energetic into the human collective.

If you choose to join the World Sound Meditation during this twenty-four-hour window, I suggest you listen to it twice for yourself according to the instructions given by the Hathors under the section sub-titled How to Work with this Meditation. Then listen to it two times for the collective—as directed by the Hathors above, in the section titled Using this Meditation to Benefit the Collective. After you have gone through the meditation four times—two for yourself and two for the world—rest for a few minutes (or longer if you have the time) to let the subtle energetics settle into your body/mind. Please do not listen to the meditation from our website but download it onto your computer.

At the level of consciousness where the World Sound Meditation unfolds, there is no separation between us in time or space, so you can fully participate wherever you live or whatever your individual circumstances may be. As you engage the sound mediation, you will enter a sphere of being that transcends the limitations of our embodied existence. For those of you who will be joining us in this World Sound Meditation from afar, I extend to you my deepest appreciation and acknowledgement.

Finally, I think I should mention an important aspect of this rare occurrence.  As some of you who have worked with me know, I often get a sense of the energetic before an event takes place. Based upon my psychic perceptions of this gathering in New York on October 2, I feel that when the Hathors and Magdalen conjoin their energies, both during the event and the World Sound Meditation, they will release a potent energy-field that will be a profound and life-changing experience for those who are physically in the room.

In other words, if you have the space and resources to get to this event in New York, I would seriously consider it.

For more information about the event, click here or go to the Calendar at www.tomkenyon.com

Click here to listen to and/or download A Stream from the Higher Worlds. You will then be taken to the Listening Agreement page. After agreeing to the terms of usage, you will have complete access to all of the audio files in the Listening section for your personal use only.

©2016 Tom Kenyon All Rights Reserved www.tomkenyon.com
You may make copies of this message and share it in any media you wish so long as you do not alter its content in any manner, do not charge for it, credit the author and include this entire copyright notice. Do note that the sound meditation, A Stream from the Higher Worlds, as well as all audio files in the Listening section may not be replicated or posted on any Internet website as it is copyrighted intellectual property.

from:    http://tomkenyon.com/a-stream-from-the-higher-worlds-hathor

Finding Peace Within

How To Master Inner Peace

July 30, 2016

How To Master Inner Peace

by Melind

I have learned in the past couple of years that nothing ever stays the same. Even after we start practicing mindfulness, we have our good and bad days.

People often tell me that sometimes they are still anxious, even after practicing peace for such a long time. They feel bad for it and want to eliminate it completely. But the truth is that anxiety, just like any other human feeling, cannot be eliminated completely. Because it is natural. And there’s nothing wrong with it, just like there’s nothing wrong with any other human feeling.

I have my own set of fears, just like everybody else does. Sometime I feel like my mind just picks a random worry off its big shelf of worries to bother me with. The shelf is never empty, it always has something to throw at me. I don’t think it will ever be empty. And that’s okay.

What I realized is that it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter that the shelf is full. It doesn’t matter what the mind throws at you. And I’m going one step further: It doesn’t even matter what life itself throws at you. Because there is only one thing that matters, one thing that determines life.

And that is how we react to it.

This was one of the very first reminders I’ve written in my meditation diary: “Life is determined by our reactions to it.” Because many things are out of our control, even our thoughts sometimes. But what will always remain in our control is our reactions. And through our reactions, we make life.

Let’s look at an example. Imagine a person who is scared of public speaking because of what people might think about her. That’s a very common fear. Now imagine that person going up to speak and messing up in the worst possible way. This is our main situation. There are two ways to go from there.

She either collapses mentally and scolds herself for being so stupid, never really getting over it, making it into one of her most horrible memories. Or she can shrug it off, accept with peace that it happened and move on. Will anyone in the audience care? No, everyone will forget after a short time. Of course they will, because it’s not a big deal. It’s nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Nothing is nearly as big of a deal as our minds make it out to be. It’s good to remember that, so when the time comes, we can choose to react with peace. What happens doesn’t matter as long as we choose to react to it with peace. Because whatever we react to in such a way will become a peaceful experience.

This is one of the most important things I’ve learned and I still remember what a freeing experience it has been to realize it. I don’t have to suffer. I don’t have to panic. I don’t have to worry. I can choose to react with peace. To anything. Inside and outside of me.

“Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional,” is one of my favorite quotes. Because it’s so true. Things will happen, everyone goes through pain, hardship, bad thoughts, uncomfortable feelings. But those don’t determine a life. What determines a life is how we react to all these things. Because that makes all the difference in the world.

(A guided meditation on the same topic can be found here:

“Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you respond to it.” – Lou Holtz

from:    http://in5d.com/how-to-master-inner-peace/

You Are What You Eat on All Levels

The Content You Consume Becomes Your Reality
Steven Maxwell

July 10, 2016

By Steven Maxwell

“A man’s mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind.” — James Allen in As A Man Thinketh.

I’m a ravenous consumer of content. I bet you are, too. If we are what we eat, for better or worse, the content we consume becomes our reality. It becomes the story we tell ourselves, the principles we believe in, and it may even determine our health. Some content is detrimental and some is beneficial. Because we’re bombarded with information from every direction, it’s never been more important to carefully curate what we consume.

Practically everything we observe and experience now seems to be “content.” From music, movies, books, news, politics, gossip, work, friend feeds and texts, even to our immediate surroundings like how our homes are decorated. Sometimes the noise and choices can get overwhelming. This overload is like decision fatigue.

Steve Jobs popularized the idea of “decision fatigue” when he chose to wear the same outfit of clothing every day to eliminate wardrobe decisions from his daily decision bank. Decision fatigue describes when we make too many decisions in too short a time, we significantly reduce our decision-making ability.

The video below is an excellent explanation of decision fatigue and its potential effects:

Some common effects from decision fatigue are losing self-control over things you normally refrain from doing, decision paralysis, or beginning to avoid making decisions altogether. Significantly, life starts happening to you instead of for you. High performers like Steve Jobs require life to happen for them, not to them.

Often we’re tempted by the emotional clickbait headlines without considering the consequences on our psyche. There are some things we cannot unsee or unhear. Words and images affect us. They mold our reality. We have to ask ourselves if we really want to manufacture more rage in our lives. Rarely do we stop to deliberately protect ourselves from the content we consume.

But like the James Allen quote above says, the mind will grow harmful weeds if not deliberately cultivated. These weeds can be damaging. They seem to manifest as stress or anxiety which can lead to a host of mental and physical ailments. And much like decision fatigue, we seem to lose room for critical thought and productive ideas to blossom.

For me the flood of content I was consuming caused me anxiety. I was in my mad-as-hell stage of awakening and I was rabidly rage-clicking on endless reels of content that confirmed my rage. I thought being awake meant “if you aren’t angry, you aren’t paying attention.” But I was wrong.

Then I had a simple epiphany: the best way to better the world around me is to better myself. I was responsible for the content I consumed and how it made me feel. I realized that I was planting the wrong seeds in my mind and they were producing choking weeds. The rage I felt toward the machine dramatically subsided.

As a Man Thinketh was instrumental in shaping this epiphany. Listen to it for free below.

Upon focusing my thoughts to more fruitful purposes, my life started getting better. Suddenly it made sense that this strategy, individually, would be far more effective activism than merely raging against the machine.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s healthy to be angry at the right things. But when we’re experiencing information overload, it’s all too easy to become angry over trivial differences in tribalism, for example.

So the next time you catch yourself tempted to click on “rage clickbait,” ask yourself if that’s the type of garden you want to cultivate in your mind. Does rage make your life better? What will?

Now you’re awake.

from:    http://www.activistpost.com/2016/07/why-its-important-to-carefully-cultivate-your-mind-and-thoughts.html

A Crystal Primer

Now That I Have My Crystals, What Do I Do With Them?

July 5, 2016 

Now That I Have My Crystals, What Do I Do With Them?

HOW DO I CHOOSE A CRYSTAL

There will be times when you need to purchase a crystal, and given the great abundance of healing stones now available, it can be useful to have a system for choosing your crystals. You do not need to know the exact properties of every stone in order to buy one, although this may help.

Below is a list of possible ways you could go about choosing a crystal. Remember, just because a crystal is beautiful, and the nicest one of a bunch, doesn’t mean that it is the best crystal for you. It is more important to be receptive and allow yourself to be drawn to a stone that will have meaning for you.

CHOOSING BY “FIRST SIGHT”

Often when you first see a range of crystals, one stone will catch your eye, and continue to draw your attention. This is likely to be a stone that will be beneficial to you. At this point you may like to trust your intuition and purchase the crystal.

However, if you are overwhelmed by choice, or are unsure of what crystal it was that first grabbed you, try standing quietly for a few moments with your eyes closed, and remember the reason that you needed to purchase a crystal. When you open your eyes choose the crystal you feel most drawn to. This will be the stone for you.

quartz crystal chakra 1111

SENSING CRYSTALS

One of the suggested methods of buying a crystal requires that you look at a crystal and see if it “vibrates” with you. All crystals vibrate at their own frequency and some people are sensitive enough to feel these vibrations. Holding or placing your hand on a large piece of clear quartz crystal is a good way to develop your sensitivity to these vibrations. Sometimes a quartz may give off a regular pulse of energy; you may feel others as being very cold in your hand, or even warm. Some crystals may produce a tingling sensation on your skin. Generally a crystal that will be beneficial to you will feel right to you even though you may not be able to describe the sensations it creates. Look through a large number of them until you find just the right one. This works fine as long as you wide variety to select from.

USING A PENDULUM

This is a simple way to seek answers from your subconscious mind. You can hold a pendulum over the top of a crystal and ask “will this crystal be beneficial to me?”. Another way to use the pendulum, if you are considering a large choice of crystals, is to pass it over the top, and look for any circular motion in the pendulum above a particular crystal. If you do find the pendulum reacting over a particular stone, hold it over the stone directly, and ask a question.

RECEIVING A CRYSTAL

Crystals given as a gift are a precious experience, and as you start to use crystals more, you may begin to find crystals, or rather, they find you! It is not uncommon for these crystals to be just what you need at that given moment. It is also not uncommon to lose crystals, and although this can be upsetting when your favourite goes missing, it is usually an indication that the crystal has served its purpose in that situation and is no longer required. This is particularly so with “Record Keepers” and “Window” crystals.

BUYING WHAT’S AVAILABLE TO YOU

Another method to purchase a crystal is buying whatever crystal that is available to you. You may also get one as a gift. In either of these cases, you will be “bonding” with the crystal and that provides the “tuning” of the crystal to your “vibration“. So it isn’t all that critical that you find the “perfect” crystal when buying one.

INTERNET BUYING

When choosing a crystal from an internet site it is not possible to touch the crystal, so you need to take your intuition one stage further. Browse through the pictures and note which most appeals to you. You may find yourself excited by the picture of a particular crystal, with a powerful urge to touch and feel it and a sense of frustration that you cannot. If you feel that you very much want that crystal to be a part of your life, it is likely that on some level it has something to offer you.

WHAT IF I’M NOT DRAWN TO A CRYSTAL

Don’t worry. As with all purchases relating to spiritual growth intent is crucial, and you may need to acknowledge that the time isn’t right. If nothing strongly appeals to you, accept that the time is not right and come back on another day when perhaps a crystal will plead with you to take it home. Beware of buying crystals purely because that is what you set out to do as this could result in a collection of crystals unsuited to your needs and lacking meaning.

A FINAL WORD

Expect the Unexpected – I often set out to buy a specific crystal and end up purchasing something completely different. Be prepared to have your unconscious lead you to a different crystal. The unconscious or higher self doesn’t get involved with life’s day-to-day clutter and thus can get straight down to the business of selecting the most appropriate crystal for you. This is why the best approach to choosing a crystal is to quieten your mind and simply do what feels right.

Clearing Your Crystals

Crystals can collect various forms of energy from emotions, thought, touch, and many other sources. When other people handle your crystal, they leave their energy imprint on the crystal. This isn’t “bad” however, in order to make your crystal truly yours, we suggest that you remove the stored vibration. This is known as clearing the crystal.

It is a good idea to clear your crystal when you first get it, after you use it for any healing work, or whenever you feel that the crystal lacks light, luster, and energy.

Sea Salt Method

(Please note: many feel this method is too harsh. They prefer some of the other, more gentle methods listed below.)

Bury the crystal in sea salt overnight, preferably in a ceramic or glass container. You can purchase sea salt in most health food stores and in some supermarkets. You may also put your crystal in a container of water and sea salt. Use your intuition to determine how much salt you need and how long you want to leave the crystal in the solution (usually one to three days). Wash all salt off the crystals after clearing them. (We recommend filtered water for this.)

Smudging

Smudging 1111

A wonderful Native American method of clearing is to burn cedar and sage leaves and pass your crystal through the smoke. Cedar and sage may be purchased in most shops that specialize in herbs. You can also use a smudge stick, which combines cedar, sage, and often other herbs. This method is excellent for clearing your crystal as well as yourself and your environment. We prefer it for clearing jewelry.

Breath

Hold the crystal in your dominant hand, or if it is large, in both your hands. Focus your thoughts on the crystal with the intention that it will become free of all negative energy. As you hold this thought, inhale through your nose and exhale forcefully through your mouth. Your breath carries your intention to clear your crystal.

Remember to use your intuition to determine when your crystal needs clearing. Whenever you sense a decrease in its energy, a cloudiness or stickiness, it’s time to clear.

Charging

To charge a crystal is to revitalize it. Think of what kind of energy you want to store in your crystal. We have tried charging our crystals with many different energies.

Use your imagination and experiment by putting your crystal in direct sunlight or moonlight, on a large crystal cluster, under a pyramid, buried in the snow, or in the earth.

Type of Energy Where (or When) to Place

  • Cleansing, purifying stream
  • Vitality, energy sea at high tide
  • Restful, relaxing sea at low tide
  • Optimism, hope new moon
  • Abundance, love full moon
  • Introspection dark of moon
  • Harvesting dreams fall equinox
  • Rebirth, renewal winter solstice
  • Growth spring equinox
  • Passion, joy summer solstice

Working With Crystals: Passive Use of Crystal

Even if all you do with your crystal is keep it near you, you will begin to notice subtle changes in yourself. Crystals amplify and balance even the most subtle mental energy. Just having crystals in your environment can improve the quality of your life.

Active Use of Crystal

When we consciously work with crystal we can accomplish anything that the mind can imagine. Crystals have been helpful in improving memory, helping plants to grow, healing animals, contacting spirit guides, and in communicating with the animal, plant and mineral kingdoms.

One particularly powerful way to work with crystals is through the use of affirmations.

Affirmations

Affirmations are one of the most powerful methods we can use to change the quality of our lives and to create the things we want. An affirmation is a declaration or a thought which creates a desired result. To affirm means to make firm.” What we think or believe about ourselves and the world becomes our reality.

Pay attention to your affirmations, not only to avoid rote-like repetitions, but to actually hear what you’re saying. Joyce once realized that her affirmation, “I have an unlimited number of valuable ideas” had turned into “I have an unlimited number of limiting ideas.” This was a valuable, if depressing, discovery.

We have been giving ourselves affirmations all our lives – only we weren’t aware of it. Anything we say or think to ourselves is an affirmation. Anything anyone else says to us is an affirmation if we accept it and believe it. When we’re not aware of the process and the power of that which we think and believe about ourselves and our world we affirm a lot of things which don’t serve us well.

We are all carrying around basic core beliefs. Some of them are non-supportive things that we learned early in childhood from parents, teachers and friends.

Some unconscious affirmations:

  • If I look at food I gain weight
  • Life is nothing but suffering
  • The universe is against me
  • I am doomed to die without ever having been appreciated
  • Metaphysics works for everyone but me

Discovering Negative Beliefs

Becoming aware of these unconscious affirmations is the first step to dissolving them. Be conscious of your negative thoughts. One way to do this is to create a positive affirmations for example, “Abundance comes to me easily.” Your helpful mind will quickly come up with a list of reasons why this isn’t going to happen.

  • It never did before.
  • Some people aren’t meant to have money.
  • Why should I get my hopes up?

Another way is take the situation you want to change, and list the benefits of the negative situation. The benefits of not being prosperous might be:

  • No one will ever ask you for money.
  • You’ll never have to worry about suddenly losing your fortune.
  • You won’t have to feel guilty that others have less.

Whatever your issue is find out what its benefits are. Be careful not to censor yourself in the process, i.e., don’t tell yourself, “If I had a lot of money and someone needed help I’d be a terrible person not to give it to them.” Self-condemnation will not encourage your beliefs to surface; honesty will.

Work on each belief, identifying the emotion connected to it. Would you give money to people who needed it? Do you feel ungenerous? Are you afraid of acquiring money, only to lose it? Is this fear part of your life? Does guilt have a lot to do with how you relate to other people?

We strongly recommend the use of flower essences for deeply-held emotions.

The Three Aspects of Affirmations

When we consciously create affirmations we choose words which exactly express the reality we desire to create.

Another important aspect is the visual image we create to accompany the words. If we want to create a vacation in Hawaii we visualize palm trees, beaches, blue skies, warmth, etc. (It can be very helpful to look at the pictures in a travel brochure, and some people like to make a “wishboard” with an arrangement of photographs which represent whatever they’re creating).

A third (and perhaps most important) aspect is to create the way we feel when our special dream comes true. For a Hawaiian vacation you may feel relaxed or excited and stimulated to be in a new place. If you’re with someone you love you may feel increased closeness or a heightened sense of romance. If you have difficulty in visualizing or feeling the reality of your affirmation go back to the section on discovering negative beliefs.

Programming Your Crystal

Your thoughts, visualizations, and feelings have an energetic charge; when you program a crystal to assist you in manifesting your desires and dreams you put that energetic charge into your crystal.

Although quartz crystals are usually the preferred crystals for programming, we’ve used many others: citrine for abundance, rose quartz for a situation which calls for love, aquamarine or turquoise for creativity, aventurine for physical health.

Below is one method of programming.

Exercise

  1. Hold the crystal in both hands and gaze into it, making contact with the crystal.
  2. Start breathing with deep long breaths, inhaling through your nose and exhaling forcefully through your mouth.
  3. Concentrate on what you want to program into the crystal„ a new job, good health, a better relationship, etc. As you inhale, see a visual image of what you want; imagine how it feels to have it, and repeat an affirmation to yourself.
  4. With each exhale send your desire into the crystal.
  5. Your intention has now been programmed into the crystal. This vibration is stored in the crystal until you clear it and replace it with a new intention.

Written Affirmations

One of the most powerful methods of programming that we’ve discovered is to write your intention on a piece of paper and, after using the above method, place your crystal on the written note and leave it there. We did this when we were searching for the perfect spot for Crystal Gardens. We placed a programmed quartz cluster on a map of Greenwich Village along with a note requesting the size and rent we wanted. It worked!

Basic Meditation

We prefer to meditate with crystals and describe this further along in the article. For those who are unfamiliar with principles and practices of meditation, though, we provide a basic introduction.

Meditation gives us a chance to relax, and to heal our bodies. It provides periods of mental stillness, an opportunity to silence the mundane chatter which so often fills our minds, time and space for us to focus our thoughts, to concentrate on the solving of a problem, to visualize the accomplishment of a particular goal.

As we become more skilled at quieting our busy minds, we discover that meditation helps to focus our attention on the here and now. When we give ourselves the gift of time in which we are neither regretting the past nor worrying about the future, we are able to appreciate the present.

Seth, the entity channeled by the late Jane Roberts, often said that he had only one rule for changing one’s life. That was: The point of power is in the present. When we concentrate on the present, we experience our aliveness, the strength of the energy which flows through us. We learn to recognize that energy as power, the raw material with which we create ourselves and our worlds.

(Very) Active Meditation

Some forms of exercise, such as hatha yoga and tai chi ch’uan, which consist of particular patterns of movement, are recognized as forms of meditation. We believe that any form of physical activity can be meditational. The key is to be totally focused on what you’re doing.

When you’re exercising concentrate on the smooth, easy movement of your muscles, your breathing. If you swim, be aware of the feeling of the water. In hiking or walking, focus on the ground beneath your feet.

Sometimes, while swimming or walking, we silently repeat affirmations. To do this, repeat each affirmation three or more times, focusing on the instructions you’re giving your mind, visualizing that you are prosperous, or thin, or loved. We recommend physical exercise not only for its own meditative values, but because it discharges excess energy, the kind that creates worries and anxieties which can prevent us from being relaxed and at peace when we want to practice passive meditation.

(Not Very) Passive Meditation

Passive meditation generally involves sitting or lying down. Create a time during which you’ll be undisturbed. Take the phone off the hook. Go into a room where you’ll be alone. Create this as a special time for yourself.

You may want to start off with a guided meditation tape. This will help direct your mind into appropriate channels. You can also direct passive meditation by silently repeating affirmations. When you feel comfortable with these forms of meditation you can begin to guide your meditations.

We like to listen to meditation music (which can be any kind of music which makes you feel relaxed and calm) on a mp3-type device. This is especially helpful when garbage is being collected, fire engines are blaring, or strangers have entered your life by having a fight outside your window.

Concentrate on your breathing, following each inhale and exhale, feeling energy flowing from your feet to your head and back. Do this for as long as you can. If you find yourself wondering whether you’ve paid the rent, or thinking about what you’ll have to eat when you’re finished meditating, let those thoughts drift away.

It may help for you to imagine that you have a feather duster with which to brush them out of your mind. You’ll find that your ability to meditate improves with practice. In passive meditation, you’re developing psychic and mental muscles. As you learn to silence distracting thoughts, you’ll begin to receive messages from your intuitive mind: new ideas, creative solutions to problems.

You may want to ask specific questions of your intuitive mind. Don’t worry if the answer doesn’t come right away. It may occur to you a few minutes or a few days later.

Crystal Concentration

We have noticed that the quality of our meditations improved immeasurably when we started making crystals part of our meditation. Crystals help to focus our energy, and thus our thoughts. They raise our vibrations and energy level and help to turn our attention from everyday concerns to our greater purposes in being alive.

The simplest way to introduce crystals into your meditation is to hold a clear quartz in one or both of your hands. To receive light and energy, hold the quartz with point facing you. To project your wishes into the universe (as when you’re repeating affirmations), face the points away from you.

Chakra Balancing

For stress reduction and overall energizing, place quartz points (they may be very small) at the base of the spine, just above the pubic bone, on the navel, heart, throat, 3rd eye (between the eyebrows), and at the top of your head.

These seven chakra points can be further activated by slowly rotating a quartz point over them. If you find that, despite your best efforts, you’re still worrying when you want to be meditating, place an amethyst on the third eye. If you’re feeling extremely depressed or spaced out, hold a smoky quartz. Before long you’ll discover that you intuitively know what stones you want to be with on a particular day.

We believe that your intuition will generally be opened if you begin the practice of daily meditation. It is a discipline, and there will be times when you’d rather read the newspaper or call a friend, or do anything in the world except meditate. Persevere. You’ll be glad you did.

Chakras, Color & Gemstones

There is no homogeneous system for classification of the chakras, either by body location or by color. We have found that the system used by Katrina Raphaell, author of Crystal Enlightenment, Crystal Healing, and The Crystalline Transmission gives us the best results.

After working with crystals and the ideas presented in this article, you may notice that you are developing a new consciousness, a new belief system which stretches the limits in which you were living before. There is a new inner freedom in which anything becomes possible as long it is in harmony with your deep heart’s core. This is the gift crystals give us.

from:    http://in5d.com/now-that-i-have-my-crystals-what-do-i-do-with-them/

Perils of Empathy

5 Ways to Stop Absorbing Negative Energy from Others

EnergyAnna Hunt, Staff Writer
Waking Times

With empathy, the ability to recognize and feel other people’s emotions, comes the disadvantage of also absorbing the suffering and negativity of the others around you. When this occurs, your ability to function at your best can be significantly impacted. Even a person who is not so empathic can be affected energetically when around negative or dramatic people.

Absorbing other people’s negative energy can be just as toxic on a person as ingesting unhealthy food, and perhaps even more noticeably draining. Thus, learning how to stop this from happening can be a valuable skill. Here are five methods that you can use so you absorb less negative energy from others around you.

1) Be Selective About the People You Allow into Your Life

You have to come to terms that not everyone will like you, and you don’t have to become friends with everyone that you meet. You do not need to pressure yourself into befriending everyone you meet, either at work, though existing friends, or via your kids. Of course you want to be polite, but trust your intuition when meeting new people and don’t ever feel like you need to spend time with people just because you’ve come to know them by association.

Furthermore, if you find yourself often needing to vent about a person, have a friend that is consistently negative about life, or feel like someone in your life is regularly taking advantage of you or is unkind to you, then perhaps it is time to create some distance. Some friendships or relationships are just not good for you, and you have to be able to accept that. Once you do, you can let go of the friends and acquaintances who dump their negativity on you.

Learning to let go and saying “no” to people who do not deserve your time and attention allows you more time for the ones that do, including your family and YOURSELF.

2) Don’t Try Please Everyone

We all have only so many hours in one day, so be selective about who receives your time. Don’t waste it on people who don’t seem to care about you, give you a hard time, or are overly critical of you. Just as you won’t like certain individuals, there will be some that don’t like you or do not treat you kindly.

Focus on developing relationships that seem to thrive naturally, versus working on getting people to like you who naturally don’t gravitate to you. The latter will not only leave you drained, they will probably affect how you perceive yourself.

3) Beware of Energy Vampires

As already mentioned, you may have existing friends that are always negative about life, but consider that some people are can be even more toxic. These types could be dubbed energy vampires because they suck you dry of all positive energy and leave you with all their negativity. That is what keeps them going.

Beware of energy vampires who always use negative words and dump negative emotions onto you. Notice which “friends” use pessimistic language or treat you like a soundboard for their negative feelings. You are likely absorbing all of their negativity every time you see them.

This doesn’t mean stop being there for a friend in need, but pay attention to the ones that take advantage of a kind ear or are inclined to always use negative language. Let them know how you feel about all the pessimism. If these “friends” don’t understand that they are draining you, then perhaps they are not really your friends.

4) Be Responsible for Yourself

You are the only person that has control over how you feel. In any situation, you have the choice of how you react and what you do. Some say it takes years of training to control your feelings, but it all starts with awareness, which you can practice right now.

Taking responsibility for yourself means that you have to start becoming aware of how you feel when certain people are around you. And then are not afraid to take action. If you spend time with someone who makes you feel bad or leaves you drained, it is time to create some distance between you and that person.

Don’t be a victim, because you have the power of how you experience life. You will absorb more goodness and less negativity if you really reflect on how people, places and situations make you feel, and then take action to change what does not serve you.

5) Spend Time Alone

For some reason the Western society has come to denigrate personal characteristics such as introversion, shyness, timidity, etc. However, time alone, and the personal discovery that happens during this time, can be quite healing and regenerating.

For some, solitude is quite difficult as it is a time when a person starts to really look at what’s happening with their own self. Yet it is necessary if you are to cultivate the awareness you need to identify when you absorb negative energy and who in your life is an energy vampire.

Remember simple tools such as breathing slowly, quiet meditation, reading a good book, and spending time in nature. They are all available to you so you can enjoy solitude. Use these tools when you are ready to take action to rid yourself of unwanted energetic toxicity and reinforce yourself for yet another day.

from:    http://www.wakingtimes.com/2016/07/02/5-ways-to-stop-absorbing-negative-energy-from-others/