That’s right. It’s time. This is the moment we have been waiting for; there are no more warm-ups. Practice is over. It is time to suit up and get in the game. Our souls have been preparing for this moment for lifetimes. We have arrived at the tipping point of evolutionary consciousness. We have ...That’s right. It’s time. This is the moment we have been waiting for; there are no more warm-ups. Practice is over. It is time to suit up and get in the game. Our souls have been preparing for this moment for lifetimes. We have arrived at the tipping point of evolutionary consciousness. We have all raised our little soul hands to be here now, during these more than interesting times, to aid and abet the shift.
I know the world feels rocky and uncertain; it’s as if we were all tossing about on storm-swelled seas. In response, we can feel fragile, vulnerable, angry and fearful. The personality part of us wants things to go back to “normal,” whatever normal used to be. And the soul part is straining at the bit; the soul wants to be of service.
Many of us have been hiking the self-development path, working hard to discern our deeper selves. We have steeped ourselves in personal growth, psychology and higher consciousness studies. We have read mountains of books, listened to countless tapes and CD’s, attended workshops and lectures and talked and talked. Now, it is time to vote with our feet, and walk the walk.
There is work to be done. We are called forward as spiritual warriors and light workers. Are you ready to walk the walk?
If so, here are four steps to up the energetics, increase coherence, strengthen connections support authenticity and encourage you to shine:
1. Practice mindful heart service.
Every spiritual tradition speaks of the power of love and compassion. This is not a new concept. We all are familiar with this, but where we tend to fall short is to forget the power that our individual hearts can generate.
When we send out positive attitudes, beams of light, waves of gratitude and appreciation, change happens. And this change is catalyzed by the power of our hearts. The positive emotions create a resonance that on a chart looks likes even, looping waves; whereas, negative emotions are reflected by spiky, uneven patterns. Our resonance and, equally, our non-resonance impact one another.
Happily, the good folks at HeartMath, www.heartmath.org, have identified, explored and researched these concepts. In fact, they are currently initiating a new project called the Global Coherence Initiative, www.glcoherence.org.
One of HeartMath’s techniques is called the Quick Coherence Technique. It has three steps: heart focus, heart breathing and heart feeling. You focus your attention on your heart. You, then, imagine yourself breathing in and out through your heart. And as you do this, you tap into a memory of a positive emotion of appreciation or gratitude.
My personal favorite is a memory of a morning on a porch in Costa Rica seeing the sun on the Pacific Ocean and listening to the surf with my tea and journal at hand. I also have another memory of hugging a sweet, goofy dog named Freddie while sitting on a stairwell. Both fill with me peace, joy and appreciation.
HeartMath recommends that you practice this Quick Coherence Technique for a few minutes every day, several times a day, such as in the morning and before bedtime. It takes about six weeks of practice to entrain your heart for coherence. Pretty sweet, wouldn’t you agree?
Heart service is practical, do-it-yourself transformation that serves us both personally and globally.
2. Work towards morphogenic resonance.
What do I mean by these words? I am talking about taking the heart coherence and applying it to all aspects of self (mind, body, spirit). I am talking about pooling our collective energy fields and having us all swim in one, high vibratory pond.
Imagine that you turn on the lights in your darkened home on your darkened street. Imagine that the neighbor across the street and, then, another neighbor, two streets over, turn on their house lights. And so it goes. The idea is that as you turn on your Light (read: higher consciousness), you help others and lay down the tracks to create new energy grids and foundations for higher vibrations.
There are five ways that you can move towards this wholeness:
1) Become responsible for ourselves, our thoughts and our actions. Do not give your precious power and energy to anyone.
2) Override the energetic imprint of fear. Fear eats away at your energy and strength; it makes you a victim. You and you alone are responsible for the part your fear or lack of fear weighs in on mass consciousness. And fear is a learned trait that is based on the past.
3) Choose light over dark. Everything counts, so act with integrity and shepherd your light carefully. It makes a huge difference.
4) Move beyond duality. It is time to think “and and” as opposed to either/or. There is room at the table for everyone. (Interested in more? See “The case for wiggle room” at http://www.religionandspirituality.com/view/post/11969186780000/)
5) Celebrate community. We humans are interdependent on one another. Time to bring down walls and work together for the planet, our children and our future.
3. Become mystical: pray regularly.
When we pray, we directly communicate with the divine, and that direct contact and oneness with the godhead is the essence of mysticism.
Prayer is potent energy. It is also an act of grace.
Higher consciousness teacher, Caroline Myss reminds us that to hold someone in prayer is a profound commitment. It is not to be taken lightly. If we tell someone that we are going to pray for them, then it behooves us to honor our word. And when we pray, Myss tells us to do so consciously by entering the space, going within and pulling our cloak of intention around us.
Here is a touching story that was written by a doctor who worked in Central Africa. This came to me via the Internet. Perhaps, you have read it before, but it’s a keeper and worth another play over the e-waves. I think it says it all.
One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all we could do, she died, leaving us with a tiny, premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive; as we had no incubator (we had no electricity to run an incubator). We also had no special feeding facilities.
Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts. One student midwife went for the box we had for such babies and the cotton wool that the baby would be wrapped in. Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst (rubber perishes easily in tropical climates).
“And it is our last hot water bottle!” she exclaimed. As in the West, it is no good crying over spilled milk, so in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles. They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways.
“All right,” I said, “put the baby as near the fire as you safely can, and sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. Your job is to keep the baby warm.”
The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle, and that the baby could so easily die if it got chills. I also told them of the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died.
During prayer time, one ten-year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt conciseness of our African children. “Please, God” she prayed, “Send us a hot water bottle today. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so please send it this afternoon.”
While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added, “And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she'll know You really love her?”
As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say “Amen”? I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything; the Bible says so. But there are limits, aren't there? The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from the homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever, received a parcel from home.
Anyway, if anyone did send me a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator!
Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses' training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door. By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there on the porch was a large 22-pound parcel. I felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage children. Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot. We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly... Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box.
From the top, I lifted out brightly-colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children looked a little bored. Then came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas - that would make a batch of buns for the weekend.
Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the..... could it really be?
I grasped it and pulled it out. Yes, a brand new, rubber hot water bottle. I cried. I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could.
Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, “If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!”
Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully-dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never doubted! Looking up at me, she asked, “Can I go over with you and give this dolly to that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really loves her?”
“Of course!” I replied.
That parcel had been on the way for five whole months, packed up by my former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator. And one of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child - five months before, in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it “that afternoon.”
4. Be outrageous.
Shine your light and sparkle, sparkle, sparkle. Show your beauty and allow your authentic self to be seen.
It is time to step out of the fear box, no more hiding on any level.
And hang up the martyr smock. There is no room for martyrs anymore. It is time to be way-showers. I know a number of you have taken a number of hits for the team, but now you need to stop stepping into other people’s karma.
This is no time for handmaidens and shrinking violets. It is time to walk into your magnificence.
Be creative. Be passionate. Be alive and take your soul out for a spin.
Copyright 2008 Adele Ryan McDowell.
Adele Ryan McDowell, Ph.D., is a transpersonal psychologist, empath, shaman and guide. Her web site is Channeled Grace and you may contact her at channeledgrace@aol.com.