One of the most important things that you can do is learn to love and accept yourself in every moment. No one is perfect; see yourself as an imperfect human being who is wanting to live a conscious life. It is not easy to live a conscious life. We are all flawed in some way (but only according to our preconceived notions, our conditioning, our own personal judgements that really hold no weight in the spiritual realms) … we are all also exquisitely beautiful in that same perceived state of imperfection. When you are challenged to see the beauty in yourself, in your life, ask to see a reflection of your beauty because it is there. Ask someone else that you trust what they like about you…then your beauty will be reflected back to you. Taking the focus off of yourself can also help. If you are in the company of others and are feeling insecure or small in any way, ask yourself, ‘How can I best express my beauty in this present moment?’ Set the intention to connect with the inner radiance that is truly you. Then watch what happens… your demeanor starts to soften and you become a light in the world…you become a sparkly light and begin to radiate something that is deep within you… your connection to consciousness. That connection to consciousness is always available to you but sometimes your mind/ego will keep you locked on to a particular problem you are experiencing in your daily life or maybe you are feeling insecure about yourself in some way… not realizing that spirit is so much more powerful than any problem you could ever have. Just bring yourself back to ‘How can I be light in this moment? How can I connect to conciousness in this moment? Take the focus off of you and your ego and put it onto being a light in the world. The world can definitely use more light. This is being mindful to the moment and this mindfulness is available to everyone…stop, pause, bring your attention inward, feel the connection to a greater power inside of you…it is there, it has always been there, you just needed to pause power,and be aware of it…you can be a light in the world…see that as more important than any job you could do, any position that you could be appointed to, any financial status that would separate you from others…light knows no boundaries, no comparisons, no sense of being separate, no shame and light attracts light…more reason to be your sparkly self…
The Spiritual Side of Healing
So when you have this ego shattering experience and feel like you have hit rock bottom, what do you do? You don’t really do anything. Rather you remain open…open to spirit…open to whatever information wants to come forward to you… I spent two years after I was diagnosed with MS in contemplation. This meant I did not do anything. I got quiet within myself. I walked a lot without any companions. I spent time in reflection. I spent time alone with my spirit trying to make sense of my circumstances…That is all I did… I wanted help and I asked for help from the spiritual realms… I probed the interior of my being; I wanted to make sense of the diagnosis and know why it had shown up in my life. I looked over my life and pondered the path I had taken in depth… I evaluated my level of happiness and how it had varied at different points all along my life path and wondered why that was… I looked at key decisions that I had made along the way. I then probed a little deeper… looking for the reasons behind the decisions that I had made. I looked at forks in the road, relationships I had entered into, matters of significance, triumphs, failures, choices I had made, errors in judgement, personal setbacks, regrets, blessings, opportunities, loves lost and loves gained. I looked at the simple tableau that I had written now seemingly enshrouded in darkness…
By the end of the two year span, I began to see little pockets of light illuminating small pieces of the tableau. I began to have some small insights as to why this illness had made its presence known in my life. It was a gift and it was meant to wake me up. These ego shattering experiences are always a gift even though you may not see it that way for quite some time…First you have to deal with the shattered pieces and there is often a significant amount of grief involved regarding these pieces. You are like a plate that has been shattered and your objective is to now painstakingly piece the plate back together. However it takes time to reassemble the plate and now that you have been shattered you will never be the same plate from this day forward…Any ego shattering experience that shows up is without a doubt meant to connect you with your awareness – nothing more, nothing less – but connecting you to your awareness is the first step needed before you begin to reassemble the plate that now represents your life in this very moment…you need time to process this event thus the need for reflection and contemplation…
The Emotional Side of Healing
We are privy to a wide range of emotions on any given day. It is not realistic to only feel emotions such as joy, happiness, and optimism because emotions exist on a spectrum. At one end of the spectrum exist the more uplifting or lighter emotions that we love feeling and on the other end of the spectrum lie the heavy or darker emotions you might rather want to sweep under a rug. We can’t avoid the darker emotions any more than we can stay on the happy train all the time. Don’t get attached to the cycle you are currently in. Know that this too shall pass and in the meantime, the key is to feel these emotions, no matter what they are, but with the intention of releasing them and moving forward. The thoughts that you think, accompanying the release of the emotions, are equally important. If I am feeling sorry for myself and cry while thinking the thought, ‘this person caused me to feel poorly about myself; they hurt me and that is not fair’, feeling the emotion in this situation is not going to make me feel better, more empowered or hopeful that I will have a better feeling state soon. Coming from the standpoint that you are a victim holds you in a lower vibrational state that does not make you feel good. Conversely, if I express sadness and the thought is, ‘I am unhappy that I have chosen to have a perspective that limits me and causes me to feel sorrow. I want to view things from a different perspective next time so I don’t feel like a victim in my life.’ This is a much more empowered state for you to come from and you will feel better from releasing those negative emotions in the moment. Anytime you feel negative emotion it is safe to feel it; you want to feel it and release it in that moment versus holding on to it and storing it in your body. That way it will not do damage to you. Negative emotions held chronically in the body can promote a more inflammatory state in your body. So, what do you do if you are feeling negative emotions chronically? There are a few things you can do. Firstly, ask yourself if you can view the situation from a different perspective. One thing I always ask myself is, ‘what is this situation in my life trying to teach me?’ ‘How is it benefiting me?’ If you see that there is a positive benefit to you then you will feel better about the situation. When you can see that there is always two sides to any situation then that can offer you a new and different perspective. You see that things are not so black and white and choose to view things from a different perspective. This will shift your energy so you feel better. I also ask myself, ‘how am I like the person that is currently pushing my buttons?’ Generally, you will not react to something unless you disown it in yourself. John Demartini wrote the Breakthrough Experience which elaborates more on this process.
Healing at the emotional level takes courage because often when you have some insight with regards to situations or interpersonal relationships that you find challenging in your life, you may see that you might need to change some things about the way you behave as well. Healing requires you to look at your stuff that may be clouding your vision and preventing you from viewing things from a different perspective. It is never easy to look at yourself with unglaring honesty. But that is what healing requires. Look at yourself in the light. Take responsibility for yourself, your emotions, your shadow but look with a compassionate and somewhat detached eye. View your life from a spiritual perspective; a higher vantage point. Healing is challenging work but if you look at yourself with love and self acceptance, the path gets easier as you move along… We are all imperfect, trying to live a human life with the ultimate goal of becoming more whole. Healing at the emotional level will help you do that more consistently. It will help you move up the vibrational scale to more positive states of emotion. More on the emotional side of healing next time…