Loving What Is

I have recently read a book that has made an impact on me and I wanted to share it. It's called Loving What Is by Byron Katie. It is pretty amazing. It fairly easily, with just 4 questions, helps you let go of what you THINK reality is. We make up stories about life every day to suit our own memories, perceptions, wishes. But Loving What Is helps you to ask yourself some questions to really see what is and isn't. We all want to mold people to be like we want them to be. To change situations to be accommodating to our needs. To recall past incidences, which then only allows them to rule our "now."

I used the technique recently while I was flying back from a trip. I am not been a great flyer. I am scared of heights and when the airplane hits turbulence, I imagine all kinds of awful scenarios. I just HATE it. But for the last 4 years or so I have been able to calm myself enough to get through it. And I really haven't had any terribly bumpy flights--until this last one.

We were in Atlanta and there were tornado watches. Planes were being rerouted and we were waiting on a plane to arrive so we could leave. I was hoping that we would not takeoff in this bad weather, but like the airlines tend to do, they sent us off. I was petrified before I even got on the plane. Then of course, once on, it was very turbulent air. My palms started to sweat, my heart was beating wildly, and my mind was racing. Then I remembered Byron's questions. Basically I asked myself, is it true what I am thinking? Can I know that we will crash? Can I really know that it is true that I won't make it home? NO! It isn't.

And also, she explains that wherever we are is right. It is what it is and no amount of fear, desire, wishing, whatever, will change it. And it must be right because of the very fact that it is happening. So I closed my eyes, tried to relax my muscles and said to myself, "This is what it is. I am calm. It is supposed to be happening. I am safe. I accept whatever happens because I believe it is for my greater good."

I also did my grounding exercise that grounds me and everyone on the plane. Which usually helps the bumpiness subside. So with grounding and acceptance of what is, I made it through that experience less stressed than I typically would have been. And I proved to myself that all those scared thoughts of crashing, were just that--my own fear and thinking.

How many times has your own thinking messed you up? Have you gotten yourself in a tizzy only to find out later you were wrong or that you wished you had been more calm? I suggest you get a copy of Byron's book and try what she calls, "The Work." It is a powerful thing when we can accept what is---and love it.

This also works for your expectations of other people. When you think or wish someone would act "better" or differently based on the rules you have in your mind. Should your husband not beat you? No, he shouldn't but, if he is, than that is what is. And no amount of you wanting him not to will change the situation, but you accepting it so you can be calm and centered enough to then find a way out, is right. It isn't for us to judge anyone else's behavior. There really isn't a right or wrong. There just is what is.

If you find this in the least fascinating or feel you could use this learning, I encourage you to move forward and try the book.

The power of asking before you go to sleep

I have heard that asking right before you go to sleep for guidance or answers to problems you face can reveal those answers in your dream state. I do this sometimes and I recall nearly all my dreams in vivid detail, but find that the answers I am getting are symbolic and are that odd stuff of dreams. So I wake up and do not understand the relevance. Frustrating.

But last night, I asked for all my helpers, guides, angels, whoever was looking out for me in the spirit world to give me guidance on feeling healthier, where I was headed in this life, etc. I pulled out all the stops. I have never asked for all hands on deck like that.

Well I got the help. And it WAS clear.

Stay with me here as it does have some of that weird, unreal dream quality about it.

I went to this black woman for help as I knew she was very psychic and "real" in her abilities to help people get answers. She began talking to me in this guttural noise which at first scared me. I asked her to not talk like that because I didn't understand it. And she and I both laughed because it sounded so weird to me. She agreed and began speaking "normally."

(At this point I have to explain that my friend Linda told me that the noise was actually my guide communicating to me vibrationally. Isn't that cool??)

So I asked the woman if she would wash my hair because I wanted to feel clean. She began washing my hair and it felt good. She also started cutting it and I was thinking oh no, she isn't going to know how to cut a white woman's hair! Anyway, I asked her if I was in any way physically sick. She said no and that I had been looking for it to be physical, but that I was not ill. She went to my feet and did something like reflexology on them and put these patches on the middle bottom of each foot. I had the thought that these were detoxing me. I felt safe and cared for. I went with it.

I asked her if I could give her a ride home and she said yes. She also said she wanted to keep in touch and gave me what looked like a business card. I put it in my wallet. Which was the very wallet I use in "real" life.

More happened but I'll stop the story here. And I know at this point you are thinking this is just way too bizzar-o. It is. I agree. But it feels important and real so I have to drop the side of me that says otherwise.

So when I woke up I literally felt healthier. I felt cleansed. I had gone to bed feeling yucky. Not "right." And to wake up feeling "changed" was amazing.

Linda says she thinks I had a healing session with this guide. And the very fact that she said she wanted to keep in touch tells me she is there for me when I need guidance and I can call on her.

It's a powerful and wondrous thing that we ALL have at our disposal-- to ask for help and receive it. So tonight, why not try it? And don't get frustrated if, like me, it takes time to understand the answers. I have been doing this for years now and this is the most clear, real experience I have had. WHhich isn't to say that you won't have a similar experience immediately. You might.

If your intention is pure and for your greater good, and you ask in a clear, specific manner, it will come. A hint: Do not ask if you should or shouldn't do something or be something. That won't get it. There are no shoulds or shouldn'ts. Ask "am I ____" or "Is it for my greater good if _____"

I asked simply for guidance on my health and where was I headed and how to get there. (I got that answer, too, but again, it's for me only and so I won't reveal it on the blog since really, the answer doesn't help you.)

What helps you is to know there is a universe and unseen forces at work for each of us. Guides, helpers. More to it all than what our human eyes can see. Accept it and ask for the help that is available.

Whoa. Weird Shamanic session.

I went to see Steve Rogat yesterday for some Shamanic healing. I have been having such a knotted up back. Wasn't sure what that was all about, so he told me to come in. Now Steve never does body work on me, but this day he decided that was called for. I hopped up on the table and he bagen what felt like a normal hands on session. He did some poking around on the bottom of my feet and I almost came off the table. What the?!? I screamed at him. Stop. It hurts and I mean it. He explained that he was going up my arch and that those nerve endings corresponded to my spine. Well, that explains what I already knew. My back was messed up. Then he pushed on some spots on my legs and around the ankle area and then the back of my heel. OUCH. Hormonal issues he replied. Great. I'm old. Please, tell me more.

I could feel he was getting my muscles to let go because I started shaking or trembling a bit. That's what happens to me when I get energy and healing work. My muscles writhe as they release energy/emotion. But then something weird happened.

I started bawling. Blubbering is more exact. What did you do?! I cried. Why am I so sad all of a sudden? You're releasing old stuff, he said. This kind of went on for an hour. Me releasing.

I won't go into deeper detail 'cause you don't care and I don't wanna share all that mess. But suffice it to say, it was CRAZY. At one point I was shaking so violently I was actually scared. Never have I experienced anything like it. He also had me doing very fast and shallow breathing. He, being psychic, was channeling my feelings and my past emotions/thoughts from childhood. Things like, I am a burden. I should try to stay out of people's way. Stuff like that. Stuff I didn't recall, but that sure hit a chord once he spoke them. And he was moving energy down my body and doing that massage like body work the whole time. I could even hear him flicking off stuff, like he was clearing bad energy off me.

I was exhausted when it was over. But my back felt better and I knew I had some kind of important break through.

I think we could all use this work. We all have dramas and thoughts we went through or created as children and it's stuck in there if we didn't deal with it when it happened. Our bodies are energy and everything we go through stays with us if we don't let it go. All emotion is is energy. It gets imprinted on our energy field.

I think I have a few more sessions to get all my crap out, but at least now I know what seems to work for me.

I came home after the session and slept for 2 hours like a baby. Like I had been re-born. And in fact, while in session, I saw myself in the womb. (I know what you are thinking. She's nuts.) And I also saw myself as a light being before I chose to come into this world. Yeah, heavy stuff for sure. Real? Well, if you picture it, your brain doesn't know it isn't real. So yeah, I'd say it was real.

Want to have your own session with Steve? If you are in NC, I highly recommend you see him. His website is listed on the blog or you can click here. At the very least, it'll be an experience to tell your grandkids about, right?

A healing meditation

This is a straight lift from Kathy Freston, a wellness and spiritual counselor who has been on Oprah, etc. See her site here.

I find this is an amazingly energizing and mood shifting meditation. Got off your path? (See previous blog entry) Need a boost? Need to "remember" who you truly are? Try this meditation.

She mentions God in this meditation. If that messes you up, just change it to suit your beliefs. Universe, All that Is, whatever you need it to be is fine. I use "All that Is", personally.

Close your eyes and relax. Breathe deeply and fully, as if you are being breathed by a great benevolent force. Let the energy of God move through you now and allow yourself to be a clear vessel through which this power flows.

Begin to feel this light within you grow and expand, reaching from the depths of your personal soul, out through your body so that it begins to fuse with the light of every other human being. Take a moment to fully integrate this feeling of connection.

Surrender your smaller self to the highest and holiest potential that is within. In this moment let go of the negative thoughts and judgments that grab at you and weigh you down.

In every area of your life, see where you have been functioning out of fear rather than choosing love. In every area of your life, forgive who and what has hurt you. Breathe... And now forgive yourself for the times you have missed the mark.

Feel the breath move though you - clearing, energizing, and renewing. From this internal space, begin to imagine in small circumstances and situations, little miracles manifesting. Disputes are settled with ease, you experience more random acts of kindness, and the things you worried about seemed to have disappeared entirely.

Now imagine that that very sense of lifting and healing move to bigger and more profound areas of your life. With all your senses, with all this power moving through you, bring to mind the best and most perfect scenario of a world that is healed.

Imagine a series of gentle breakthroughs: of leaders and politicians finding peaceful solutions. Of hostility that is replaced with compassion. Of an abundance of food and resources for every last being on earth. Imagine our planet being lifted out of pain and into blissful peace. Be very specific: in your minds' eye, apply the force of this collective love to every place of discord and see it heal and become light.

And as you visualize, so you will begin to perceive the world around you differently. And so the world transforms. At this very moment, you are co-creating with God the unfolding miracle of peace. May you know comfort, peace, abundance, and love. May we all know it. And so it is ......

How to change your emotional state

I am a big believer that our emotions are energy that draws to us what we put out. So if we are angry, negative, unhappy, we get more of the same. And if we are grateful, happy, positive, good things of the like will come. We're like magnets. And our emotions and feelings the charge.

With that said, I wanted to share something with you that helps me anytime I feel negative emotions. Or even apathy. Or if I need a boost to get my heart pumping out happiness.

Someone sent me these pictures of a baby deer named Rupert by the photographer who found him. Rupert's mother was killed by a car and he barely made it. He was only 6 inches tall. But with love and medical attention, they think baby Rupe will pull through. The last shot is him celebrating his 5th birthday taking a nap in the safety of his new dad's hands.

I smile every time I see these photos. And that means I am in a state of allowing. Allowing what, you ask? Well-being.
Try it and see if you don't feel better instantly.

About being off your path

So I wanted to blog about what happens when you wander off the path. I have been wandering lately. A little deeper into the woods each day as I go straight for my computer every morning. Skip journaling. Put off my walk. Lock myself up in a square room and forget that living and experiencing is why I am here.

And I feel the affects of that wandering. Yuck. I'm not as energetic. Not as happy. Just kind of back in the rut that my egoic self falls into when I allow it to take the wheel. If you find yourself getting back into old habits, old mindsets, be gentle with yourself, but do steer back onto the path.

Now that I am more aware, I "feel" subtle changes in myself more. But it's amazing how different you can feel when you aren't honoring your spirit and your purpose. Not that I have figured out my passion or purpose yet, but suffice it to say, I'm further along than I was.

I just started reading Vein of Gold by Julie Cameron. She wrote The Artist's Way. And one of the things she says that resonated with me was to walk every day. To take 20 minutes and free up your creative soul. Walking can be meditative. Plenty of spiritual practices that involve walking over the centuries. It re-connects us to nature, to our sense of sight, touch, smell...and it can actually unstick you from mind blocks or indecision.

So here I go, trying to get back on my path. Taking my 20 minute walk each day. No excuses. And pushing back from the computer for breaks. Breathing. Do not forget your breathing. Are you taking short, shallow breaths? Then relax. Sit back for just a few seconds and take some deep breaths. Re-oxygenate. And then appreciate. Appreciate your home. Your cat that sits in your lap and whose purring is like meditative chanting for the soul. Being thankful, as my friend Mamie reminded me the other day, is a sure way back onto the path.

See how different you begin to feel again. You'd think we would not stray so much when we feel so much better on our path. "We're only human, Laura," I remind myself. "We're only human."

Why Laura is the only blogger here

So this blog was originally created to share my and Susanne's different experiences during a class she and I were taking on Intuitive Healing. However, as it happens, Susanne made a few entries early on but found herself not as drawn to the blog. Who knows why, but it is the way it is. I on the other hand found myself very drawn to journaling in it. Which is ironic since we originally figured she would do more blogging then I, being that I write for a living and really wasn't interested in more writing after hours.

But this is why you only see my entries these days. She still reads the blog, but unless you see otherwise, assume it's me, Laura.