personal growth – Page 3 – Laughing Medicine Woman

June 20, 2012June 21, 2012

Surrender Into Awakening – Change is the Catalyst

How many times have I thought: this isn’t the way I planned for this happen? More times than I can count. How many times did I resist an event or situation because it wasn’t going the way I wanted it to go? More times than I can calculate. Call it a confession if you will, but the truth is I am a rebel when it comes to change: I only like the changes I like, and the rest I refuse and refute as adamantly as a toddler balks at soggy spinach.

Of course, that doesn’t stop change. Change happens. Like the movement of water, always flowing to fill space, change is irrepressible. It may be possible to hold change at bay for awhile, but the pressure will build until the dam bursts and change breaks through… to evoke new, a different configurations to explore.

That’s what change is. It doesn’t care if it’s what we expect or if it’s what we desire. Continue reading “Surrender Into Awakening – Change is the Catalyst”

April 17, 2012April 17, 2012

Letting Go With Love – Awakening

My new mantra – letting go with love. Awakening through letting go.

Letting go isn’t new. One way or another, we are in the process of letting go of something all the time, I think. Whether it is a physical transition through age or an emotional release associated to a change or finding a way to evolve a belief toward more fulfillment, letting go of “what was” has been a precursor to the new state of Being from the moment we left the womb. I’ve known that for a long time.

What I didn’t know… what is new to me in realizing how letting go supports awakening consciousness… is that releasing 100% is the key to allowing the new paradigm to shift into being. Continue reading “Letting Go With Love – Awakening”

February 13, 2012February 15, 2012

When Creative Process Becomes Habit Magic Happens

Many of us think of creativity as that inspired moment when the idea is born…or the shift in understanding that opens a whole new paradigm of thought. We tend to describe the creative process as a process that bursts into intriguing possibilities, over and over again. Many of us who value creativity reach continually for that excited buzz that comes with the feeling of touching an expanded viewpoint.

For me, the inspired concepts and exciting new configurations do happen…but they are part of the creative process – not the entirety of it. In truth, if the new idea was the only goal of the creative process, nothing would be brought to fruition. This is where our creative habits come into play. The behaviors we take on as a result of following through on inspired ideas become the invocations, if you will, that define the characters we play in the movie called “Life” (see: Stars In Our Own Movie.) Continue reading “When Creative Process Becomes Habit Magic Happens”

February 3, 2012February 4, 2012

Creative Process – Recipes for Life

Forest Gump said, “Life is like a box of chocolates.” He meant, I think, you can never know what you’ll get until you take a bite of it. For me, Life is more like a cookbook. And the key is to find the recipe that uses the ingredients we have to create the result we desire to eat.

Some people treat recipes like chemistry projects. They measure carefully and follow procedures methodically, looking for a precision that can be reproduced reliably. Some people read cookbooks for ideas and then create spontaneously from the the inspiration they got. Some are interested in food creation only to the extent that they can open a can or a box and add water. All of us have our own unique relationship with cookbooks and the recipes within. For me, recipes are a side-bar, a reference point, to ground my creative exploration. Because – as with life – I only believe what I experience first hand.

Such is the power of the creative process – it is always a first hand experience. Continue reading “Creative Process – Recipes for Life”

January 27, 2012January 28, 2012

Creative Process and Perfection?

In the creative process, I think, there is no such thing as perfection. There are only perfect bridges.

Think about it. Have you ever had an idea – something that excited your interest and passion – only to discover that, when it came to execute, you couldn’t quite get a handle on how to do it? And the uncertainty resulted in non-action as well as a small sense of failure before you got well into it?

It’s happened to me plenty of times – that’s why I can describe it so easily. At a certain point, I began to ask myself, “Why? What was the internal pattern within myself that continually halted my creative process in its early stages?” And this I discovered: Continue reading “Creative Process and Perfection?”

January 19, 2012January 19, 2012

40 Days Done – John of God

According to the protocols at Casa Dom Ignacio, today marks the end of the 40 day post-spiritual surgery phase. Now, it is time to take stock and assess my John of God experience.

The first question I asked myself: Have I ever witnessed anyone having a “miraculous” physical healing experience in Abadiania? (I pondered this question because, for me, the process has proven incremental and more like the peeling away of layers than anything that could be considered instantaneous). I asked myself this question, expecting the answer to be no. But I surprised myself – I did witness one on this last trip in December. My partner, Alan, was prescribed the energetically charged herbs the one time he went before Medium Joao at the beginning of our experience. He spent the rest of his Casa days meditating in the Current room – no spiritual surgery for him at all. After the first day of meditation, he mentioned that he felt a lot of pain in his neck through the experience. He pointed to where the pain had been and I immediately noted that a bump (fairly large) he’d had in his spinal column at the base of his neck for as long as I’d known him – and probably since he’d had spinal meningitis as a young child – was gone. His spine was totally smooth and aligned… and has been that way since.

I think that qualifies as an instantaneous (aka miraculous) result.

But, like I said, for me it’s been different. Perhaps because in the almost 59 years I’ve been blessed with this body, I’ve adventured mightily and let Life take its toll – Hepatitus C found me while I was a street-kid, type 1 Diabetes in the aftermath of a high speed head-on automobile accident, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis came on the heels of a diabetic coma, two fractured vertebrae in a horse riding accident, and the multiple physical complications from all of the above just to mention the highlights. Some might say I’ve managed to stay alive this long on will and spiritual intervention (see: When I Died – A Story of Awakening).

And, as they say at Casa Dom Ignacio, the physical conditions are the “low hanging fruits”. The emotional traumas of childhood and an adolescence lived on the streets left their markers as well. Continue reading “40 Days Done – John of God”

November 4, 2011November 4, 2011

Memories – Law of Attraction in Action

Think about it. How much of our lives do we spend in the realm of memories? Chatting with friends or ruminating privately. Exploring with therapists the painful memories that stop us in our tracks when they surface or floating gently in recollections of laughter and love. If we are truly forthright with ourselves, I bet we’d discover the vast majority of thoughts and feelings we have are either about the past or referencing/comparing to the past.

Interestingly, the part of the mind that visualizes and ruminates can’t distinguish between the timeline of past, present, and future. It’s been proven through study after study. Continue reading “Memories – Law of Attraction in Action”

October 24, 2011November 1, 2011

A Fluid Mind and an Open Heart – Awakening

I wrote recently that remembering and awakening are the same. By this, I meant that the process of expanding consciousness, awakening, is as much — if not more — remembering who we are than becoming more than we were.

For me, this begs the question: what and when did I forget? In other words, are there clues as to what is relevant to remember? I asked this question in meditation, and the answer I got was: yes, remember a fluid mind and an open heart.

A fluid mind. I pondered the qualities of mind that moves like water, and I came up with this list: Continue reading “A Fluid Mind and an Open Heart – Awakening”

October 7, 2011October 7, 2011

Secrets And Conscious Awareness – How Life Works

Most of us keep a few. We call it our right to privacy or nobody else’s business. We tell ourselves it’s too complex for other’s to understand; perhaps we fear the judgement that accompanies the lack of understanding. Most of us believe we are successful at keeping some aspect of our experience a secret. It’s the nature of the belief that we are all separate, distinct and engaged only through the five senses of our physicality, that lends power to the idea that we can keep secrets.

The good news is: this belief is as accurate as the belief that the world is flat is accurate. The bad news is for the secret-keepers: in the subtle realms of emotion and thought, we are all connected; secrets are impossible. Continue reading “Secrets And Conscious Awareness – How Life Works”

August 30, 2011August 30, 2011

Commune Through Community – How Life Works

The process is personal; do doubt. The path to inner harmony and well-being is an internal journey. To claim full responsibility for one’s behaviors and attitudes and feelings requires reflection inward. The call to learn and evolve and align within a Greater Design is often an inner communion.

To commune is to join in a harmonious blending. And isn’t it interesting that the art of engaging outward and joining with other individuals comes from the word commune. Community.

Ram Dass said, “The cure for every psychological ailment is to get involved with a greater cause.” Continue reading “Commune Through Community – How Life Works”