Intuition – Part 2


I used to think of intuition as that ah-ha moment, that gut feeling, that moment when I get a “supernatural” knowing, but I don’t think of intuition only in that context anymore.  When I talk now about intuition I’m not talking about that occasional “hit” or ah-ha moment, or that occasional gut feeling of knowing, I am talking about living moment by moment, or life-living-knowing. I’m talking about the flow of energy, knowing.  From an energy perspective, intuition is that flow of vibrational frequencies that are coming to us all the time, coming in, sourcing us with knowing.  We are connected through energy, frequencies, in a greater, universal way.  It is this continual connectedness to knowing, that we don’t trust or have cut off and have learned to not trust – feeling more in control or safer staying in our intellect.  Intuition, I think, is living, trusting, and believing that knowing – that constant knowing.

The concept of intuition has such varying perspectives and beliefs, some of which perhaps are so limiting at times, that I wanted to think-out-loud with you about them in this post.  One of those beliefs is that, intuition is an occasional thing, a hit, as I mentioned before.  I think intuition is more than that moment, I see it more as a flow. A second thing is that it comes to us, and I think it is always there for us, it is in us, we are always connected to a greater, more powerful knowing. I think we block it.

Recently, I talked to a cable/internet service electrician about my internet being so weak up in my bedroom.  He said the reason it is weak is that it is the farthest distance away from the modem, but more so, the cause is that I have recessed lighting in my kitchen (which is below my bedroom).  I thought that was kind of funny.  He continued to explain that the frequencies from the lighting in the ceiling and the types of lights that they are, are confounding the signals and frequencies from the modem/internet getting to my bedroom.  Hmmm.  We talked about the possibilities that a booster or an extender (evidently they are two different things) might strengthen the signals and help to intercede with the problem.

In thinking about his explanation of the frequency issues with the lights, I thought in a way, that really is what happens with intuition as well. Intuition is that universal frequency, God frequency, Holy Spirit, Divine energy coming in and always being there and always having connection, source, knowledge at our avail – and yet so many things have gotten in the way of that connection.

Recess lighting, in the analogy, might be our attachment styles.  How we learn to trust people.  How we learn to trust ourselves with people.  How we learn to trust our environment.  How we learn to trust God. Furthering the complexity of frequencies, are our defense mechanisms, coping styles, ego states – all ways we learned/developed through relationships, attachments or lack of, (t)raumas [i.e. a child skinning his knee], (T)raumas [i.e. auto accident].  All of these carry different frequencies of energy (protective, combative, based in emotions, etc.) and they stand in the way of our connectedness to our intuition, our soul knowing – that connectedness to our higher Frequency.

Additionally I think as I mentioned before, perhaps our belief systems become other recessed lights; our culture; the times; the circumstances of our times; the things we listen to, the things we buy into, our dogma, all of those things…the cultural perception of us;  our weight and height, our race, gender, beliefs, all of those things are the recessed lights that get in the way of our being receptive, not even being receptive, but having that frequency come in and be strong in us and through us, and in our being.

So when we start to realize there are all of these recessed lights; some we can change, some we can disconnect their power, some we can move or relocate, others we can put filters on so that they don’t directly affect the frequencies/flows that are coming in to us and through us.  The connectedness we have to knowing is our intuition.  It is not that intuition is a hit, but that given all of the interference, it comes to us as that ah-ha moment, like it is unique or supernatural, like it is something we have to wait for and capture with the chance of missing it.  I think it is always there, at our avail. Our beings have learned to block it or disregard it out of protection or learned management in the world, but it is there.

I agree at times we get surges, those blatant knowing experiences.  They are there, they, I think will always protectively be there for our good.  More so than the surges is our coming to honor or soul – honor our intuition.  How do we continue to recognize, normalize, validate, and learn to work with the recessed lights that are blocking us from the frequencies that are there for us?

Another way I described this concept of the avail of our intuition to someone one time was to say, we have all of these filters and we have to take and move as many filters as we can so that the frequencies can stay strong and pure.  Perhaps the filters would be better understood as shields.  And all of the things I talked about attachment styles, dogmas, emotions, relationships, experiences, trauma, all of those things are the shields that we use…and use is a good word, that we use to keep us from the purity of the frequency coming through.  Because if we all really tapped into that frequency that is there for us, that is scary, unknown, powerful.

I think we do have those capabilities of being powerful, not in an authoritative way, not in a powerful way we know, but in a knowing way, powerful in our intuition in combination with our intellect, powerful in our energetic being, powerful in our really comprehending the circumstances of our universe, our community, our relationships, knowing what it feels like when I have judgment on others, knowing what that judgment feels like as the recipient, knowing what it feels like when I have anger or war feelings, knowing – knowing from a heart knowing, an intuitive knowing, that what  I do unto others, I know what it feels like.  That is the intuition about which I am talking.

That is the analogy perhaps that I wanted to share.  I know that there are some who really say “yes” that is intuition, and there are some others that are in that wonderment stage.  I think we can all grapple with this.  I love the dialogue that has come forth in the comments from my previous blog and I continue to invite those comments, thoughts, contemplations, and grapplings, because it is in that, that we are all moving towards either moving the shields or relocating the recessed lights or taking the power out of them so that we don’t have the confounding frequencies.  We have the avail of the Highest Frequencies all of the time, it is that which I think is intuition.  Thought to integrate: perhaps if you are experiencing low signals, you might want to check your recessed lighting – smile.

Intuition


Intuition.  Admittedly for a very long time I was afraid of this word or concept.  Perhaps I was taught to not give it regard because it was considered “supernatural”.  Perhaps you are snickering because I am even admitting this truth.  I am doing so, though, because I think there are many who are still afraid of giving authority or respect in our inner beings to the role of our intuition.  For those of you who have always lived knowing, following, and trusting your intuition, this post might not be a post for you, but for others of you, who perhaps have had an experience like mine, you might find it thought-provoking.  Enough preface.

According to Wikipedia, intuition is derived from the Latin word, intueri, and is translated as “to look inside” or “to contemplate”.  Many know the term intuition as “to follow your gut”.  In the last several centuries, I think there has been a significant chasm between those who live and take for granted, following intuition, and those who have been cautioned away from “following your gut” to follow their obtained knowing, their intellect, or a particular dogma.  Research however, continues to bring validity to the fact that it is in our gut where the bed of our emotions lie.  It is in our gut where our knowing lies.  It is in our gut where our intellect is governed.  This concept is not new, but perhaps cautioned away from as a sense of control and/or fear in some cultures.  In our culture, for many of us, the development of intuition, is something that has to be “re-evolved”  – it is and has always been there, but it is a training or re-training to allow the freedom of knowing, and living in trust of that knowing.

You may remember in the past I have written about “the three questions” – What do I want?  What do I need?  What feels good for me?  Asking those questions invites us back to honoring our intuition and integrating our intuition with our intellect for the care of our soul.  These questions open the door to respecting our soul.  As we listen and follow these “knowings”, then we are able to have boundaries, invite in truths about ourselves, hear them/believe them, and at the same time, we invite others to respect us as we respect ourselves.   We really can’t have honor for others, if we don’t allow the honor for ourselves first.  If we don’t have honor for ourselves first, we don’t know how to truly honor others.  Honor to others then becomes a game of “What is in it for me?”  Subtly and subconsciously so often we ask, “How is helping, or being kind, or loving that person going to really help me?”  Let’s face it so many of us long for that “good job”, “at-a-girl/boy”, “you are wonderful”.  Please don’t hear me say these are wrong desires.  I think where we err though, out of fear of believing who we truly are, is in putting all of our hope eggs in the basket of how we think others or the world sees us.  Sometimes we get caught in the trap of thinking that our value comes from others’ beliefs about us and their interactions with us, setting ourselves up for hurt, shame, less power, less self-worth.  Ultimately then we end up trying to master our self-worth in our head, our intellect – “our self talk”.  We then try to “speak” into our value – make ourselves “feel good” at the same time we ambivalently tell ourselves we shouldn’t want to feel good.  In other words, our protectiveness of our defense mechanisms or ego states function in protection of our own fear – not being able to trust and believe who we truly are.

More thoughts to follow, but for now, I hope you continue to ask those questions of yourself, honor them, . . . and begin to invite your intuition into the equation called your life.

Enjoy = In-Joy


Are you enjoying you?  Are you enjoying what you are doing?  Are you enjoying life?  The word enjoy means to give joy to; to find pleasure in, and to have use or benefit from/of.  So many of us do things because we think it is expected of us, because “we have to”, because we think it is “all that we know to do” rather than because of enjoyment.

If we are energetic beings, and all our physical, emotional, mental, and interactive energies are always about seeking homeostasis or balance, then when we are doing things out of habit, obligation, duty, fear of change, or because we think it is going to make others happy, than we throw our energies out of balance – causing our system to create counter-balances.  Let me explain with an example.

We get up every day and go to a job that we are burned out in and we dread.  We feel trapped in our circumstances.  We don’t like our boss or we have a co-worker who bothers us.  Our circumstances set off many different “systems” inside: stress increases – hormones imbalance; adrenals, liver, and thyroid overload or shut down; acidity/alkalinity levels imbalance affecting digestion, absorption of nutrients, and elimination; quality nourishment changes because we grab on-the-go foods with little nutritional value; sleep habits get interrupted, emotions vacillate between depression, anger, jealousy, shame, despair; mentally we dull because our efforts are put towards balancing stress through “survival”.  Because we seek homeostasis, we will ourselves to over-ride all of the just-mentioned, adding to the stress, and self-deprecation trying to re-balance the system, but stress doesn’t balance stress, so eventually our body responds with dis-ease.  Disease is a way of our body saying “it is too much”, it is a forced attempt at homeostasis, a wake-up call – a shout out to your system to restore enjoyment.

Thank goodness for us being homeostatic beings.  One of my mentors always says enjoyment means being in joy, and if we are not in joy, then we need to stop what we are doing and get back to being in-joy.  Joy is balance.  Joy is what creates an environment of healthier homeostasis in our beings.

One last integrative thought: when we are interacting, serving, giving, or ministering to others through efforts, obligation, duty, than what we are giving them is more stress and our efforts – efforts which are usually tainted with either strong or subtle imposing emotions (shame guilt, frustration, disappointment, resentment), and negative energy.  We know when others feel those emotions or energies from us being imposed on them, than their “homeostatic desiring systems” usually respond with defensiveness, walled-off-boundaries, lack of appreciation, and hurt . . . and we think we are acting in love and we are hiding our feelings from others (fooling them).  We aren’t fooled, why would we think others are.  Bottom line: if we are not enjoying life than others around us are not going to find joy either.

Spirituality


Christine Page
Christine Page (Photo credit: Earthworm)

It has been some time since I have written a blog, here.  There have been so many places where energies have needed to be expended, so I have not been able to write, but I will return.  Before I share this post from Christine Page, MD, through NICABM (National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine), I wanted to send a shout out and thank you to a fellow blogger, thoughtof VG, who nominated me for a Very Inspiring Blogger Award.  I encourage you to check out his blog at http://thoughtofVG.wordpress.com  He writes thoughtful and contemplative poems, is a man of many languages, and is wonderfully encouraging in his transparency.

Christine Page, MD is someone I admire, I study with as often as I can, and who through her teachings has helped me on my journey.  I first studied with Christine at a NICABM conference probably almost 10 yrs ago.  NICABM no longer has conferences per se, but continues to provide quality teleconferences, which I highly recommend.  Hope you find Christine’s “report” helpful.  Click on the link below, give them your e-mail address, and they will send her report.

Spirituality.

 

 

Love: Let It Begin In Me


Yesterday I shared a post titled Three Covenants by Mark Nepo on an excerpt from his forthcoming book noting that I would post today my integration of thoughts (my rabbit trail)…

Mark’s first covenant, regarding the work of love with others, states that we cannot desire to change or force others to grow in our direction, and we can in love create conditions for truth and beauty to grow for them, is true for ourselves as well.  You may remember from reading other posts that I view each of us as a system of modes of operandi, or management skills, ego states, or coping skills.  In our systems we develop ways of handling patterns of interactions with others, as well as ways of handling patterns of interactions between feelings inside us.  For instance, we feel lonely or scared, and in order to deal, many of us develop skills to shame ourselves out of the feeling of being lonely or scared.  Then, perhaps, we handle that shame with getting mad at others and lashing out with our feelings.  Then we feel more shame and shove the (original) lonely or scared feeling deeper, we fight outwardly more, and we shame ourselves and others more.  In a way we have our own little management community inside and most people don’t have a clue that is going on in us (because part of the shame is telling ourselves we are unique and no one else struggles with this issue [smile]).  I describe the above as being in a hamster wheel, and going around and around.  Some of us experience this conundrum 24/7 while others perhaps only periodically.

The way to find healing and growth in this cycle for ourselves is the same that Mark speaks about with others – love and acceptance, validation, and creating an environment of ok-ness (not “reactionary cover-up for the outside world behaviors”).  If we can see in ourselves that we are sad, or afraid, or lonely, and honor that, validate, and accept that, then we are creating a condition by which that which is true, can be ok.  When it is ok, we can meet that need – change the energy, call someone, write about it, etc.  When we are able to honor the feeling, we can grow and blossom.  These deep, real feelings that we try to: repress, avoid, deny, compartmentalize, project, or shame are as honorable as those feelings that we want others to see, or the world to approve, or which we want to hide behind.  When we hide them then we never can get to our deepest nature.  (And,) when we don’t allow ourselves to live in our own beauty and deepest nature, we can never really see others (or let others see us) through the covenants of love about which Mark speaks.

So, in many ways, the work of love that we desire to grow in having with others begins with that same care for ourselves.  May it be said, “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin (in) me.”…smile.

If you need a reminder of his post, it is included here:

Three Covenants

Our love needs to be bigger than our insanity.
—Henk Brandt

There are three covenants that keep us engaged in the work of love. To begin with, when we see something true and beautiful in someone, it is not the work of love to change them or force their growth in our direction. It is the work of love to create conditions by which what is true and beautiful in all we behold can grow and blossom, bringing forth its deepest nature. At the same time, the work of love depends on giving others, especially young people, a sense of safety in the world, nurturing their confidence to lean into life and the unknown—not away from these eternal resources. Still, being human, we constantly slip from integrating our experience to being consumed by our experience. We move, almost daily, from having our fear, pain, and worry live in us to living within our fear, pain, and worry. So the third covenant of love is to keep each other company when we’re drowning in our experience and awash in our feelings, until it all can right-size, until our experience and feelings can once again live in us. These covenants exercise the muscle of compassion we call the heart.

—excerpt from Seven Thousand Ways to Listen, forthcoming from Simon & Schuster, October 2012

The Work of Love


I receive the weekly e-mail from Mark Nepo and his peers at Three Intentions (www.threeintention.com) and find his writing  inspirational and challenging. It integrates well into my way of seeing the world. I am including his weekly intention here, because it is a good thought to integrate. Tomorrow I will post a “rabbit trail” of my thoughts about his three covenants. Until then, I hope you take time to read and ponder.

Three Covenants

Our love needs to be bigger than our insanity. —Henk Brandt

There are three covenants that keep us engaged in the work of love. To begin with, when we see something true and beautiful in someone, it is not the work of love to change them or force their growth in our direction. It is the work of love to create conditions by which what is true and beautiful in all we behold can grow and blossom, bringing forth its deepest nature.  At the same time, the work of love depends on giving others, especially young people, a sense of safety in the world, nurturing their confidence to lean into life and the unknown—not away from these eternal resources. Still, being human, we constantly slip from integrating our experience to being consumed by our experience. We move, almost daily, from having our fear, pain, and worry live in us to living within our fear, pain, and worry. So the third covenant of love is to keep each other company when we’re drowning in our experience and awash in our feelings, until it all can right-size, until our experience and feelings can once again live in us. These covenants exercise the muscle of compassion we call the heart.

—excerpt from Seven Thousand Ways to Listen, forthcoming from Simon & Schuster, October 2012

100-Word, Friday Fictioneer Time


I got a chance this week to write with the Friday Fictioneers.  If you want to have a little fun, join in…Madison Woods puts out a photo prompt on a Wednesday and on Fridays everyone shares their 100-word fiction pieces.  Below is the photo prompt for this week, followed by my writing.  Have a great weekend.

I walked into the old dining room, the guys were gutting the whole house.  They were down to the floral wallpaper.

“Stop, wait, please, give me a moment.”  I pleaded, against no opposition.

In that moment the room was transformed.  I sat at the claw-footed table with the worn, cream, plastic tablecloth with blue and red florets. Little Joe was in his high chair, Claire next to me, and Gran and Gramps were in their own world, waltzing to Les Paul and Mary Ford’s, Vaya Con Dios playing on the old console record player.  We loved to watch them dance.  Saturday nights were wonderful.

I turned before they saw my eyes, “Go ahead, tear down the wall.”

 

Light Beyond the Clouds


I was speaking with someone the other day and she was describing her life as if in total darkness.  I understood her pain.  I sat with her in that pain, and then began to talk about the truth of the sun.  Even in darkness, the sun is still shining, it is always shining.  Depending on our geographical location or the time of day, we might be experiencing some darkness, but the sun is always shining.  We also talked about even in the darkness of clouds, behind that darkness, there is light.  We explored light and darkness together, and understood the pain of darkness together.  When she left, I was reminded of this poem I wrote a few months ago.  I thought I would share it with you. 

Light Beyond The Clouds

 

Beyond the clouds is another cloud

Piling in height and depths

Darkness lingers

Layered with lingering darkness

Clouds beyond with streaming lines

Like those of a musical staff

Behind that, light fluffy clouds

Tainting the purity of pure blue sky

And beyond that there is light

There is always light

Even in the depths and the layers

There is always light

Light may not shine through, but it is known

It is known in the intricate darkness and contained fluids of the puffy dark clouds

It is known in the wispy layers

Light shines through

When the clouds have reached the peak of fullness and they empty

Flowing rain upon the land

Newness nurtured

Clouds become lighter

Restoring softness

Shape changing and movement their journey

Disappearing at times to see pure light

And the blue of reflections

There is always light

Light shines through

Light is known

Even in the darkest of clouds

100-Word Flash Friday Fictioneers


Another wonderful Friday morning…hope where you are, it is the same.  If you are a reader of this blog and normally like to read my thoughts, then don’t feel obligated to read this post, just delete…I won’t in any way be offended.  If you want to read a little fiction I wrote, then read on.

This weeks prompt was a beautiful picture of moss and a drip…and this is what I wrote:

Spelunking

“What the hell?  Were you trying to kill me?  My clothes are goners, I’m never going to get this dirt out.  Look at my knees, my arms, they’re all ripped open.  What the hell was the purpose of that?  I hate you.  I hate this place.”

I sat with Joe, quietly.  We just emerged from the cave, pretty cut up, our clothes pretty nasty, but it was good.  I knew the cave, done this for almost eight years now, taken kids into this cave to push them, it works so often.  Joe’s pretty “pushed” right now.  Just going to hang out with him before we head back to the juvi.

We hung on the rocks for a while. “Hey, Steve, check out that mini-waterfall…it’s kinda cool to watch that drip.”

“Yeah, Joe, it is pretty cool, isn’t it.”

Nature has a way of breaking through.

My Favorite Things


Every once in a while I am asked about “my favorite things”.  At one point a year or so ago, I did a blog on some of “my favorite things” and I was asked to do it again…so…why not?

I received an iPad as a gift several months ago and although I have not been a MAC user, I love my iPad.  I take it everywhere.  I can write and do re-writes of manuscripts, send it through iCloud and work on the same document a few minutes later on my PC.  When thinking about “favorite things”, I thought I would share a few of my favorite apps, because right now, they are a few of my favorite things.  Here goes:

Ustream is a free app that streams events all over the world in over 10 different categories: news, pets & animals, entertainment, sports, music, gaming, education, events, 24/7, and technology.  My favorite streams to watch are the live cams (live cameras) on animals – most of them of birds with their eggs and hatchlings.  You may remember that I recently blogged about the Great Blue Herons in Ithaca, NY through Cornell University.  It is mesmerizing, you could watch the live cams all day long…  There is something awesome to think that you are sharing in the occasion of birth, life, struggles, etc. energetically, and visually.  Check out the live cames of eagles, owls, hummingbirds, falcons, heron, whales, bears, even cats and dogs.

livestream is a similar app that hosts the Cornell hawks and herons.  On livestream there is also a live cam of a hawk in NYC.  It is so amazing to see the differences in the hawks energies between the one in NYC and the one in Ithaca, NY.  Sometimes it is hard to watch, actually.  The other day the hawk in Central Park brought in two mice, live, and fed them to the hatchlings as I watched…hmmm…hard to watch, and yet reality…certainly a different perspective on life.

TED is an app or a site with “riveting talks, by remarkable people, free to the world”.  Their byline is: Ideas Worth Spreading.  I also recently shared a TED Talk featuring Billy Collins, 2-time, US Poet Laureate with his poetry brought to visual life through animation and the Sundance Channel.  There is a really neat feature about TED Talks that I want to share with you – you can fill out this quick little survey, such as category, amount of time available to watch and it will bring forth TED Talks just for you.

THF Haiku (The Haiku Foundation) – I love this app.  Throughout the day, when I have a moment, or need some inspiration I view this app.  There is a random button that allows you to view one haiku at a time…so much fun to ponder, learn from, and find stimulation through – you have to check out this app.

Pottery HD – virtual pottery, how fun is that?  In this app you are the potter with a virtual wheel, at the completion of your piece, you fire, paint, decorate, photograph, and sell it at an auction.  Virtual people place orders for your pieces giving you the challenge of specific designs.  I understand there is an entire online community with competitions, galleries, and such.

Virtual Active – is one of my favorite apps.  I ride my exercise bike and travel through northern Italy, through the mountains, along canals, on the beach, and through small towns all across the countryThis app is so cool because the video only runs when it feels the vibration of the bike, and proceeds according to my speed.  There are 10-60 minute trips for each portal.  I think there are about 6-8 other ports of regions of the US, and Switzerland.  Travelling throughout Italy certainly makes exercising fun.

…and these are a few of my favorite things…