Pathway to the Stars

The Process of Transformation

2011-04-25T07:31:00.000-07:00

I use to think that transformation was this glorious process where the end result – peace, love, healing – descended miraculously with no effort on my part beyond the asking. Even though I now know better, I still send out those prayers for transformation, naively thinking that I will arrive in the prayed for state unscathed by the process. About a month ago I offered a prayer for healing and the process of transformation unfolded.

My sinuses were still a little congested from a cold the month before so I thought I would ask that they be restored to vibrant health. It seemed like a simple request of my Divine Self, yet, within 12 hours, I was more congested than I had been in years. And it wasn’t just my sinuses that were congested, as I had developed a deep cough as well. So I continued to ask for healing and give thanks for the healing crisis that was developing.

As I continued to get sicker, fever and all, I tried every natural remedy that I could think of – steaming with Eucalyptus, Echinacea, cider vinegar, natural decongestants, the netti pot with colloidal silver, Elecampane, and the list goes on. As the fever broke and I thought I would be on the mend, I continued to cough with a great deal of congestion and I continued to ask and give thanks for the healing.

I think it was after three weeks of this nonsense (according to my mind) that I started getting a little impatient with the process- actually I could better describe it as an inner temper tantrum. Some part of me knew that we were now getting to the nitty-gritty issues underlying my initial congestion, but the other part was just plain frustrated with all the coughing and being tired.

While I could not seem to control the frustrated part, the rest of me moved into a state of surrender to whatever I needed to know or see, that I was not yet able to see. Answers came quickly and I became aware of the ways in which my energy was scattered and non-coherent. I realized that I needed to learn more about how to become more focused and coherent. The next level of lessons had appeared.

I am still coughing a little since my learning is not yet complete, but I am greatly improved. After my awareness, I was given a sign that I was on the right track, a confirmation of my new awareness. As I was driving in the early morning, a white dove hovered in front of my car, so close that I could not miss it. I have never seen a white dove except in my meditation very early in my spiritual journey of awakening. Here it was again but in the physical world now, letting me know that all is well and my prayers have been heard. I am just in the process of the very transformation that I asked for!

Having Custody of Your Choices

2011-03-28T07:58:00.000-07:00

When you have custody of something it implies that you not only have control over it but a responsibility for it. Having custody of your choices, then, means that we have control over our choices and that we have a responsibility for our choices. There is growing evidence from quantum physics that the choices that a person makes affect the physical level of reality that they experience. What kind of choices are we talking about?

You can make choices on different levels. One level that some of us are still attempting to master is the choice of what we physically do. It is easy to see the relationship between our actions and the outer world. If you buy lots of plastic junk, more plastic junk is made and the landfills expand. If you buy only sustainable needed things, more sustainable useful things are made and the landfills decrease. We have known that for some time.

You can also choose what you think. This is a bit harder to master than choosing actions because we are not always aware of our thoughts. It is possible for you to see how your thoughts affect things around you as well. When your thinking is negative, you generally have lots of things in your life to feel negative about. When your thinking is positive, you generally have lots of things to feel positive about. While this might be a bit of a stretch for some people (who think that their negative thoughts are simply a reaction to the negative things happening to them), there is a lot of evidence from science to show that the thought comes first.

Then you can choose what you feel. This seems to be the most difficult because your feelings are often deeply rooted in your unconscious beliefs and the precognitive commitments you made as an infant or child. The unconscious is laid down in images and, therefore, choice of feeling must be made on a level of imagery. You can choose how you feel by creating the image that brings about the feeling you desire.

Finally, you can choose how you are with anything, anytime. Choosing how to be with something requires all of the above choices - action, thought, and feeling - so that your response to what happens in your life is a conscious choice. Out of that conscious choice your experience in the physical world will arise.

We are now at a point in the history of humankind that having custody of your choices is critical to the outcome. Since we are all one, what you choose to do, think about, and feel affects me, and my choices affect your reality. While the chaos that seems to be around us is not something we appear to have control over, perhaps if we all make the most conscious choices that we can make in each moment to respond to life (all of it) with love, we will create a more beautiful world for everyone.

Warrior of the Heart

2011-03-21T07:19:00.000-07:00

The seven-year transit of the planet Uranus through Aries began on March 12th. It has been in Pisces for the last seven years, tearing down the structures of our lives, financial systems, political systems, and many other things with its transformational energy. Now in Aries, transformational Uranus takes on the Warrior archetype.

It is time for a new understanding of the warrior energy. Aries is a fire sign and, if our understanding of what it means to be a warrior does not change, it may destroy us all. Up until now the warrior turned its energy toward defending, and attacking as a means of defense or conquest – one wins and one loses. This definition of warrior does not fit with unity consciousness where if one loses, we all lose. So how can we conceive of the warrior in a way that this passionate fire energy will move us forward into unity?

The warrior of the heart is one who is attuned to the One Heart that beats within us all. While each of us has our own unique part of the puzzle, it is all of the pieces fitting together that make the picture complete. The warrior of the heart is passionate about perfecting the piece that is theirs. Letting their heart guide them, they pursue those things that they are passionate about and what brings a sense of joy and aliveness to their lives. They know that doing so serves the whole.

No more warring against each other, this, or that. The Warrior of the Heart is for something not against it. As a Warrior of the Heart I can be for peace, for love, for you, and for me. When the Heart Warriors call a council, everyone benefits. If you find yourself fighting with anything, step back and ask what am I for? How can my passion serve the whole?

Emotional GPS

2011-03-03T07:29:00.000-08:00

Most of us are familiar with a GPS (Global Positioning System) that is used in a car to give directions to a destination. The emotional GPS (God Presence Signal) works much the same way to help us get to our destination of higher awareness and enlightenment. This emotional steering system lets us know when we are moving in the right direction and when we are going off track.

Rather than listening to a woman’s synthesized voice saying, “Continue straight ahead for 20 miles,” or “Recalculating – make a U-turn as soon as possible,” we need to instead notice what emotion is arising within us. Comfortable emotions such as peacefulness, joy, love, and happiness tell us we are on the right road and to keep going. Uncomfortable emotions are saying that we are headed in the wrong direction for arriving at the destination of higher awareness.

The trick is to deciphering what to do when you are headed where you don’t want to go. For example, when you find yourself out of sorts, irritable, angry, or sad (definitely uncomfortable), it would be good to have a checklist that might go something like this:
• What story is going through my mind – is it one I want?
• Is there a judgment present?
• Am I in the past or future, and how can I get back to the present?
• Am I fighting with what is or can I be in acceptance?
• Am I seeing myself in the mirror of another person and not liking it?
• Am I being hard on myself instead of loving myself?
• Have I made an intention that I am not in alignment with?
• Is there something else that I need to be doing at the present time?
• Am I caught in the illusion of the outer world rather than looking inward for truth?

There are probably more things you could add to the checklist depending on what the most usual ways are that you go off course. The main thing is to stop dead in your tracks when these uncomfortable signals from your spirit begin to arise as they are letting you know that it will not be pretty if you continue to take that path. When your emotional GPS says to make a U turn, take the time to come back into alignment with your God-self and the destination you are seeking. It prevents a lot of suffering!

Healing Stories

2011-02-21T06:28:00.000-08:00

The master storyteller is the mind. It has stories about everything that happens to us, everyone we meet, and even ourselves. It takes the tiniest little thing and creates a story that links to the stories it has been telling since we were children. Even when there is no fact at all, such as when we hear something wrong or don’t see something correctly, it can spin the most engaging yarn!

Stories can be emotionally neutral, but most often they create either positive or negative emotions, since our emotions respond to the mind’s stories much the same as they would to watching a movie, reading a book, or listening to someone else tell a story. Emotionally negative stories are wounding stories while emotionally positive ones are healing. Our lives and the lives of those around us are greatly affected by the stories that our minds tell.

Wounding stories always create a wound for ourselves – or at least keep open a wound that was created by our childhood stories. For example, we may have told the story as a child that our parents did not love us because they did not act loving (story #1). That is a story, not a fact, because we have no way of knowing what our parents felt regardless of what they did. How does that story make us feel? Probably we would feel sad, abandoned, angry, hurt, or not good enough (because if we were good enough they would have treated us differently – story #2). So now in adult life we keep meeting people who abandon or hurt us (variation of story #1) or we feel not good enough (variation of story #2). When we meet someone and they seem to reject us, these are the stories that are told. We might also feel angry that people don’t treat us better (variation of story #1). That keeps the wound open and in addition directs negative energy toward that unknowing person who has no idea what our mind’s stories are.

Healing stories happen when we redirect the mind to stories that are either emotionally neutral or make us feel good. We can do this with old stories from our childhood as well as current stories. For example, we could tell the story that our parents did not know how to show us their love in ways that we could receive it and that allowed us to learn more about loving ourselves; OR – we chose our parents to play the bad guys in our play so we would learn how to help other children in similar situations; OR – we came to heal the family line that had been unable to love for so long and it is a miracle that we are loving adults. If you feel these stories you will see that there is a shift in feeling with the new story and that is healing.

Each day our minds are busy creating stories. Be aware of the stories that are playing and shift the ones that wound to healing stories. If we could all heal our stories, there would be a spontaneous shift into a new world. Shall we bring this new world into being, one story at a time?

Acceptance, Appreciation, and Agape

2011-02-14T06:38:00.000-08:00

Acceptance, Appreciation, and Agape

Acceptance, as a state of mind, is emotionally neutral. What is simply is. What has been has been. What will be will be. When we are caught up with fighting with what is, has been, or will be because we have judged it as bad, we don’t like it, or it is not what we wanted or expected, acceptance is a welcome refuge. Many people think that acceptance is giving up or it means that things will always be that way. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Acceptance frees things to change, while resistance holds them in place – what you resist will persist!

We can never move on to appreciation for all that shows up in our lives until we have attained the neutral state of acceptance. Appreciation begins to weave the web of mystery around the events of our lives. Curiosity is a nice way to move from acceptance to appreciation. Asking, “So now that I can accept what is, what is it doing in my life? Why did it show up for me? What is its message?” As we begin to question the purpose of what is (or has been or will be), the energy begins to move again and there is an excitement generated for the journey. There is also an assumption that whatever shows up has a purpose and, in a general sense, the purpose is to increase our awareness and consciousness. That is something to appreciate – that the universe is always helping us grow past our stuck places!

Once we can appreciate what shows up in our lives, we become aware of the love that permeates everything. It is the glue that holds the universe together and we are surrounded by love coming from everything. Our hearts and souls then open to feel that love in return for everything. Agape is the love we have for not just the things that are comfortable but especially for the uncomfortable things that cast us out of the closed “safe” places that our consciousness tends to hold onto, moving us into a more expanded awareness.

Before we reach the state of acceptance, our life force energy is funding what we do not want and keeping us stuck. Acceptance frees the energy to move in a new direction. As we move from acceptance to appreciation, the energy begins to fund our conscious evolution. When we reach agape, true healing is possible.

No Time

2011-01-30T16:06:00.000-08:00

According to the Mayan prophesy, 2012 will mark the end of time, as we know it. Some are concerned that this will bring the end of the world, but the end of time, as we know it, may be a very good thing. Most of us struggle with time – having enough time, running out of time, managing time – especially in our fast paced world that seems to be getting faster as we move closer to 2012. Letting go of time could be a solution.

What does it mean for time, as we know it, to end? To answer that we first need to look at how we know time. The way time seems to function now is that there is a past, present, and future, with the present becoming the past and the future becoming the present. If we examine our consciousness as we go throughout our day, much of our mind-time is spent in the past or the future. We are thinking about what has happened (memory) or what we want (or don’t want) to happen (expectations). Both of these activities take us out of the present.

In Mexican shamanic traditions, initiates focused on erasing personal history as a way of bringing their energy into present time. They believed that the more energy a person has in present time, the more power a person has to create reality. Erasing personal history does not mean that you have no memory, only that there is no emotional charge on memories. With no energy attached to memories, they cannot control your energy in the present.

The future is a similar energy drain if we have attachments to what will happen. We know we have an attachment when thoughts of the future bring judgment, worry, anger, sadness, or fear of loss. Again it does not mean that we cannot visualize a particular future, only that it does not take our energy from the present moment through these emotions.

So perhaps this shift in time that the Mayans predicted will free us from the past and future so that we can live in an eternal now. Or maybe the shift in time will occur because we have released the past and are unattached to the future. Lest you think that living in the now would be boring, just give it a try. If you are really in the now, with no resistance to it, boring is not a word that comes to mind! Instead a whole new level of possibilities opens into awareness.

2011-01-24T12:09:00.000-08:00

Reality

Over the years of working with people I have come to realize that everyone lives in a different “reality”. Each person’s “reality” consists of a series of stories based upon their unique life experiences, beliefs, and memories. In addition, each “reality” is influenced with what we bring into this life, such as past life memories and DNA settings. No two people on earth, even identical twins, have all of that in common.

I use the term “reality” in quotes because we have lots of evidence from science now that shows us that our memories of experiences do not conform to what actually happened. Instead, we have bits and pieces of information that form the basis of a constructed memory, or story, about the event.

We also have lots of evidence to show that our minds cannot distinguish between what is real and what is not. When we think something, it is often recorded as being real, such as having a conversation with someone in your head and then thinking the conversation already occurred. My favorite experiment was one where one group of people worked out on weights and the other group spend the same amount of time imagining themselves working out. Both groups had the same increase in strength after 30 days compared to a control group.

Likewise, the body and emotions respond to stimuli in the environment according to our stories, not according to what is real. An example would be a stress response to another person’s facial expression that is interpreted based on story as threatening when the other person is not at all threatening. So to the mind, the stories are real and they cloud our ability to determine what is true based on their lack of accuracy as well as the drama they create.

So how then do we know what is true? The only reliable way to know if something is true, is to quiet the mind for a moment and shift your focus to your heart chakra. There is a feeling that arises from that area that is different when something is true or false. Truth often feels light and open while false often feels heavy and closed. Each of these feelings is a vibrational awareness that is relatively neutral in the sense that it has no emotional charge. Only the heart can see what is real beyond our stories, beliefs, and dramas.

It takes some practice to learn to listen to your heart but the reality that emerges is well worth the effort.

2010-01-29T08:11:00.000-08:00

Levels of Consciousness – Who’s Driving the Car?

The other day I was sitting with a client and she asked me a question that I often hear. She had been telling a friend that she had been listening to The Secret and working on manifesting what she wanted in life. The friend who had been studying Zen said that he thought the object was to let go of your wants. “So,” she said, “which is it? Am I suppose to manifest what I want or to want nothing?”

I love that kind of question because spirituality is so full of apparent paradoxes! I became very quiet and focused to allow the answer to emerge and this is the “download” that I received.

It depends on what level of consciousness you are working on as to whether you need to be actively manifesting or letting go. Here are the levels I was given with a great metaphor for understanding them.

Level 1 – Physical Consciousness
In this level it is like riding in the passenger seat of a car, not knowing who is driving, and not knowing where you are going – very scary. You might have a fake steering wheel or brake but they, of course, don’t work. Sometimes this is called Victim Consciousness. You have no control of what happens or how you respond to what happens. At some point you realize that you need to learn to drive and control the car.

Level 2 – Mind Consciousness
Here you slip into the driver’s seat and begin to drive with a real steering wheel, brake and accelerator. You have control of the car and the task becomes one of deciding where to go. Should your turn right or left, go fast or slow, or perhaps stop? Unfortunately you have very limited information and no map, so you decide based upon what things look like in the outer world. This could be thought of as an empowered level of consciousness that is associated with the ego’s desire to minimize pain and maximize pleasure. At some point you realize that you really don’t know how to get where you want to go as what things look like is not often what they are really like when you get there.

Level 3 – Heart Consciousness
So you move back into the passenger seat but this time you understand that your Higher Self is driving and you trust that the Higher Self has the map and will take you where you need to go. Your job as the passenger is to trust, and what you have control over is how you are with what comes up. You do not control where you are going but you need to learn to control how you respond to what shows up in your life on a day-to-day basis. The object is to hold the highest vibration with whatever is there, since that is what your Higher Self brought you to. Because you trust your Higher Self, you hold an attitude of loving acceptance or at least wonder and curiosity, regardless of what shows up. We could call this heart mastery.

Level 4 – Soul Consciousness
Once the heart consciousness is mastered and you have some control over your inner world, you slip back into the driver’s seat and, with no thought at all, you drive wherever you need to go in the moment to fulfill your soul’s mission on Earth. This is the level of true ability to manifest.

All of us have experienced all of these levels of consciousness although we might function more predominately from one or two of them. We may be at different levels of consciousness in different areas of our life, such as work, finances, relationships, or family. What the model shows us is that when we are having difficulty in a particular area of life, we need to ask what level of consciousness we are on in that area and then try to move up to the next level. You cannot jump from Level 1 to Level 3 without going through Level 2. For example, if you fell stuck in an area where it seems you have no control over anything in your life, you are probably in Level 1 and need to learn to drive the car. On the other hand, if you have control of the car but don’t know which way to turn, you would need to move over to the passenger seat and let go of the controls to allow your Higher Self to drive while you learn to control your inner response to what shows up.

Addressing the original question, it seems to me that Zen is a more masculine form of spirituality. In our culture, more men that women seem to have a sense of how to drive the car or make their way in the world because it is emphasized more for them, or at least it has been. Their task then is to give up ego and control. More women struggle with the victim consciousness and first need to learn to control the car before they can let go. In other words, they have to have an ego before they can let it go. I realize that this is a broad generalization but it does reflect the general differences in issues for many of the men and women I see.

The important thing is to be able to identify what level of consciousness a problem exists on and move it to the next level for solution. Overall, the more areas of our life we move to a higher level, the easier life will be, not in what shows up, but in how you navigate it.

What is the Pathway to the Stars?

2010-01-18T11:23:00.000-08:00

As we approach 2012 and the alignment with the center of the Milky Way galaxy, there is a spiral path of consciousness evolving that lies before us. Humans are moving from Earth consciousness, to Solar consciousness, to Galactic consciousness, as our awareness moves beyond the physical to embrace the divine within. This blog will address the ways in which we are bringing the divine through us into our daily lives. While the concept of unity and oneness has firmly anchored into our minds over the last few years, it is like a download that has yet to be unzipped and opened into full consciousness that can direct our every word and action. We are fast moving toward a New Earth, as Eckhart Tolle has described, and we need to be the new humans that know how to live on the New Earth.

Each week I will post some practical information that will help us bring our wise knowing into our actions and ways of being on Earth. Welcome to the journey!