Choose Peace

Choose Peace

A friend confided in me that he was struggling to understand his responsibility in a world obsessed with war. I told him the answer is simple: choose peace.

While you cannot control the attitudes or actions of politicians or others, you have total control over the thoughts, feelings, and energy you are exuding. If you are steeped in fear, anger, or a sense of victimization, you are contributing to the darkness. If you hold a sense of peace, compassion, kindness, and the presence of love, you are contributing to healing. As Kipling nobly penned, "If you can hold your head when all about you are losing theirs...”

Mother Teresa was once asked to speak at an anti-war rally. She refused. "If it were a pro-peace rally, I would attend," she explained. "But fighting against war, like fighting against anything, is just another form of war."

A liberal spiritual teacher once recounted that on his altar he has pictures of Christ and many other spiritual masters. He recently added a photo of George W. Bush. Why? "Until I can find the same divinity in George W. Bush as I find in other holy beings, I am stuck. When I can see and honor his soul, then I am in a position to protest. Until then, I am ineffective."

The power of intention and prayer goes a long, long way. At any given moment the world situation is a precise expression of the consciousness of all the people who live here. As you shift your consciousness in the direction of peace, wholeness, and faith, you tip the balance in that direction. You literally become the tipping point for the world you would like to create.

Be less concerned with what you are doing and more concerned with how you are doing it. Actions that spring from fear or hatred, no matter how nobly clothed, create only more of the same. Actions that issue from faith and love, no matter how humbly clothed, create only more of the same.

A visionary thrives under all circumstances, for he or she sees beyond the obvious. At this time the world needs good visionaries. If you would save the world, begin with your own consciousness.


Author: Alan Cohen
Image: Unknown

The Ontologer's Pen

In these monthy articles I try to challenge you and me to look at what we believe and how our beliefs affect our day to day living. For instance, how you think of your God directly affects how you interact with people and how you live your life. A person whose God belief is one that says God is "up there in Heaven" and is angry and ready to get even for any small infraction of the rules is usually a person who is very righteous and afraid and quite often very judgmental and isolated from other people. A person whose God belief is that God is pure love expressing through all things treats people and the things of the world with reverence and respect and feels a oneness with all life. Being environmentally conscious is second nature to this person.

One goal I have is to challenge you and me to change our viewpoint and stop accepting violence in all of its forms just because we've been taught that's the way it has always been. I don't know about you, but I was never given equal opportunity to study a non violent way of life and its rewards and pitfalls. Instead I have been taught nothing but threats, war, violence, and veiled violence. But surely there must be a better way.

When I get lost in this kind of question I turn to my friend and teacher, Jesus. I read His words and listen to how they sound in my head and heart. His teachings that I can understand, and that reverberate through my body, I put into use. I am learning about defenselessness. Little by little I am practicing defenselessness more each day. When I find myself resisting anything, I stop and take a deep breath, let go, and stop resisting. Surprising things happen. Events take place very quickly that change the direction of the action or the event in question, usually in a direction I would never have imagined. And it works out for the good of all concerned.

Defenselessness leads to forgiveness. I read recently that forgiveness is your only path to your God. That's a pretty strong statement and one that bears investigation. My mind says, "Just a minute, prayer and meditation are the paths to God." Well, let's look at that.

If I am harboring a grievance or anger toward someone, what kind of prayer time will I have? Prayer and meditation are our connection time with our God. Our God does not come down to our level of upset and misery, we must raise our consciousness to meet our God. In my world, my God knows no anger, no fear, only love. If I come to my God full of anger and resentment, there will be no connection.

With my basket full of misery and upset I can't even get out of my own way let alone allow myself to love God enough to connect with Him. After all, I'm too busy being righteous and indignant and hurt and wanting to get even. Have you ever watched a friend or neighbor be upset and angry about something? They won't let it go and they keep getting more upset. You stand back and watch, amazed at the intensity of their anger and righteousness. You can see that they are just keeping themselves upset and unhappy. Have you ever watched yourself do that?

Imagine that you are the Creator, maker of all the galaxies, the stars, the moons and planets, all of life in all of its exquisite forms. There you are living in all the immense beauty of your creation and this human wants you to get involved in how offended she is because Aunt Sally didn't send a thank you note. All the Creator sees is the true beauty of you and Aunt Sally, and knows nothing of your temperamental demands.

Righteousness, indignation, hurt feelings, demands, anger, judgment, hatred, are all expressions of fear. But the Creator knows nothing of fear. What would the Creator fear? When you are the power and beauty of Creation there is no fear, only love.

If I want to approach my God, the Creator, I want to go with a gift in my hands, the gift of love, the gift of gratitude for each day of being alive. It is a gift of wonder and awe. When I am full of resentment, irritation, and anger, I find it very difficult to be grateful, full of wonder and awe, to give thanks for being alive. That's where forgiveness comes in. I can choose to be offended, resentful, or angry or I can just let it go. I can forgive, I can look past the perceived offense and let it be. Who is affected by my decisions? I am.

All prosperity comes from the Creator and it is filtered into my life through my consciousness, my thoughts, emotions, feelings, and beliefs. What kind of prosperity do I have when I am filled with resentment and anger? Do I see things and people to appreciate and love, or is my attention focused on what is wrong? Do I see all of the wonderful opportunities placed before me to increase my richness of life?

If you are looking to expand your financial prosperity in the new year, wonderful ways to do just that are passing through your life daily. Because of your unforgiveness of the past, your present perceptions are distorted and cloudy and you miss your opportunities. Can you see how defenselessness and non resistance enter in here? If I am busy fighting, defending and resisting anything, I am giving my attention to what I am resisting. When will I have the opportunity to see the wonderful gifts that are being given me moment to moment?

It may be that you are so caught up in your righteousness that you cannot fathom what I am talking about. Your anger, fear, resentment, vengefulness, are totally blocking you from hearing your own inner self trying to get you to forgive and let it all go.

What is the cost of anger, resentment, getting even? Your health, dollars, relationships, peace of mind and heart, your creativity, joy. Need I go on?
I cannot make your decision for you, I can only look at myself and ask myself this question when I want to be right instead of happy. "Bob, is this upset really worth giving up your health, happiness, dollars, and joy?"

Author: Reverend Robert K. Eagan
Publication: Unity Center Gazette ~ January 2008   [Article posted w/permission]

The Real Thing

Love Should Feel Good

Often in our lives, we fall prey to the idea of a thing rather than actually experiencing the thing itself. We see this at play in our love lives and in the love lives of our friends, our family, and even fictional characters. The conceptualizing, depiction, and pursuit of true love are multimillion-dollar industries in the modern world. However, very little of what is offered actually leads us to an authentic experience of love. Moreover, as we grasp for what we think we want and fail to find it, we may suffer and bring suffering to others. When this is the case, when we suffer more than we feel healed, we can be fairly certain that what we have found is not love but something else.
When we feel anxious, excited, nervous, and thrilled, we are probably experiencing romance, not love. Romance can be a lot of fun as long as we do not try to make too much of it. If we try to make more of it than it is, the romance then becomes painful. Romance may lead to love, but it may also fade without blossoming into anything more than a flirtation. If we cling to it and try to make it more, we might find ourselves pining for a fantasy, or worse, stuck in a relationship that was never meant to last.
Real love is identifiable by the way it makes us feel. Love should feel good. There is a peaceful quality to an authentic experience of love that penetrates to our core, touching a part of ourselves that has always been there. True love activates this inner being, filling us with warmth and light. An authentic experience of love does not ask us to look a certain way, drive a certain car, or have a certain job. It takes us as we are, no changes required. When people truly love us, their love for us awakens our love for ourselves. They remind us that what we seek outside of ourselves is a mirror image of the lover within. In this way, true love never makes us feel needy or lacking or anxious. Instead, true love empowers us with its implicit message that we are, always have been, and always will be, made of love.

Source: DailyOM - Nuturing Mind Body & Spirit
Image: myspace.com

Healing Childhood Hurts

We live in times when mainstream psychotherapy is focusing exclusively on short-term interventions and medical treatment for the symptoms of mental disorders. Managed healthcare plans are supporting "quick fix" approaches and pharmaceutical giants are offering a handful of "magic pills". Psychotherapy is losing its true meaning and turning into a type of "drive through" culture.
Meanwhile, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, major depressive disorder is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. for people aged 15-44. The depression diagnosis rate among US children increased 2.4 times from 1990 to 2001, from 12.9 per 1,000 to 31.1 per 1,000. However, since childhood depression often goes undiagnosed, we have no idea what the real figures are.
In the light of this development, it seems very important to tell people about the alternatives that are available, and where they can get help. Painful feelings that been accumulated over a lifetime cannot be changed in a few days or a few weeks. We cannot heal the roots of our problems by trimming the leaves. Our bodies needs time to release suppressed emotions and to reintegrate the insights that follow. Deep Feeling / Primal-oriented therapy enables us to go back to these repressed experiences, feel them, liberate the locked-in energy and thus heal ourselves.
If we are unhappy or dysfunctional, it is primarily because we have been hurt. Simply talking about our hurts, or thinking positive thoughts, cannot fully change our feelings. It is widely known that there are different parts of the brain that are responsible for thinking and feeling - the mid brain (limbic system, amygdala and other structures) is where our feelings are stored and the cortex, or top part of our brain, holds most of the cognitive functions - thinking, reasoning, speech etc. Therapies that address only the top part of our brains can influence our feelings in only very limited ways. We need a different approach in order to heal deep traumas that have affected our feeling brain.
We are born into this world with the ability and the need to fully express our emotions: joy, pain, rage, terror, deep need, grief, loneliness, etc. But we often grow up learning that it's not OK to show our feelings because we get reprimanded for expressing them. "Don't cry, boys don't cry", or "Be quiet, don't be angry, be a big girl". Frequently kids are also told, "Don't be stupid", when they say how they feel. So they quickly learn to hide those parts of themselves in order to please their parents.
When we are told that it is wrong to express what we feel, we internalize the message that feeling is wrong. As a result we lose touch with a very important part of ourselves. The truth of the matter is that our feelings are the most real expressions of our being in the world. Unfortunately, when we block and store feelings we become tense, unhappy, constantly tired or sick. Eventually we become "split". Needs and hurts that cannot be expressed leave us carrying a heavy load of unresolved issues that exhausts our original energy and deprives us of a creative and enjoyable life.
When we are little we get hurt in two different ways. First, parents are often not able to meet our needs for nurturing, attention, contact and caring. We begin to starve emotionally and split from feeling the pain of unmet needs. Many parents are not ready for conscious parenting. They don't know what children needs are, or they can't meet these needs because they are depressed, unhappy or emotionally damaged themselves. In other words, they can't give us what they don't have... -continued-

Source: Healing Childhood Hurts With Deep Feeling/Primal-Oriented Therapy by Esta Powell
Image: worth1000.com

Live Now

Live in This Moment Now

Unhappiness lives in the past and the future, there is no unhappiness in the present. What are you unhappy about? Is it about something that might happen in the future or something that happened in the past? When we spend time regretting the past, or worrying about the future, there isn’t room for happiness in the present.
What amazed me was the amount of time I was not fully in the present. It seemed like I was always thinking about what was next, or thinking about some event in my past.
Even while engaging in a conversation with someone, I would either be thinking about what they had said, or anticipating how I was going to respond to what they were saying. How many times do we miss vital information from those we love because our minds are elsewhere? Test this for yourself. Become a monitor of your own thoughts. I think you’ll be amazed at how often you “aren’t really there” with what is happening around you.
“The secret of health for both the mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, not to anticipate troubles, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.” —Buddha
Many times when we have insecurities and doubts, we have difficulty focusing on what is happening right in front of us. We’re thinking about what we said to so-and-so, how we could have handled this situation differently, thinking about what we’re going to do if this or that happens, all the while, missing what is happening now.
When you bring your awareness into the moment of now, all worries of the past and all imagined fears of the future gently fade away until all that's left is the vivid experience of the present. It is in this state that you actually start to see life. You'll see colors you never saw before. It is in this awareness where appreciation grows.
Happiness is not experienced in the past or in the future. Happiness is always experienced in the moment. If you are waiting to be happy sometime in the future, you might be waiting a very, very, very long time.

Excerpts: "8 Ways to Happiness" by SelfCreation.com
Image: "Now is the Moment to Live" by Jody Bergsma

Shadow Beliefs

What Do You Believe?

Uncovering Your Shadow Beliefs
A "Shadow Belief" is an unconscious belief that influences our entire lives, tells us what we can and can not do, and drives our behaviors. Life coaches Debbie Ford and Cheryl Richardson have helped thousands of people uncover their shadow beliefs...including Oprah!

More About Shadow Beliefs
According to Cheryl Richardson, some of your shadow beliefs are preventing you from getting what you want in life. Most people know they have these beliefs, but are taught to hide them because we are ashamed and embarrassed. But you can overcome them and live your best life! There's nobody in the world smarter about you than you!
Do you believe any of the following statements? — There is something wrong with me. I cannot trust anyone. I'm not lovable. I don't deserve to have what I want. Love does not last. I am worthless. I am never going to be successful. — If you've checked off any of the previous statements, you have shadow beliefs that need your attention.

Three Steps to Uncover Your Shadow Beliefs
Life coach Debbie Ford [The Dark Side of the Light Chasers] says that we can all find what is holding us back in life. Start with these three steps and simple exercises. Debbie says, "To go deeper, you have to be radically honest with yourself. All of your emotions are there to guide you."
Step One: Get in touch with your pain and emotions. "You can't heal if you can't feel," says Debbie.
Step Two: Once you're feeling that pain or emotion, try and connect it to your past to uncover where that pattern of pain began.
Step Three: Embark on a healing ritual that will help you surrender that pain and anger once and for all.

Exercises to Uncover Your Shadow Beliefs
Shadow beliefs cause us to make the same mistakes over and over again. Try these simple exercises for uncovering these beliefs.
Exercise One: For one week, whenever you find yourself overreacting to another person's behavior, ask yourself: What traits in that person are you trying to disown in yourself?
Exercise Two: Also, make a list of the advice you give others and ask yourself if the advice is appropriate for your life. Cheryl Richardson often says, "We often teach what we need to learn."

Family Shadow Beliefs — Shadow beliefs often resurface during the holidays or other times when you are around family—home is the birthplace of shadow beliefs. Uncover why family and the holidays stir up these beliefs, and how you can turn a stressful experience into a journey of self-discovery. -continue here-
Transform Your Family Shadow Beliefs — Five steps. -continue here-
Uncover Shadow Beliefs — Four steps. -continue here-

Image w/parable: The Black Pearl - Crystalinks

Vision of Windwalker

Windwalker Listens
These are the words that Grandfather gave to Windwalker while on vision quest, in the Moon of Harvest, as he was sitting and listening for Grandfather's voice as the sun rose in the East, while watching from the top of the knoll in the center of the old ranch where Windwalker grew up....

"There is nothing to fear, absolutely nothing to fear."

As Windwalker continued to watch the sun rise to its highest, facing South....
"You must find a new focus, a new vision, for this is the day of life for all, a new beginning, a new paradigm, that none has seen before. It has its own problems and its own solutions."
Windwalker watched the sun through the afternoon and evening as it approached the horizon, setting behind the mountain to the West....
"You cannot go back, you must go forward. You can use the wisdom of the past as it applies to this day which I have given you. The wisdom that you have gained today from the use of past wisdom will give new wisdom to be used tomorrow."
With the setting of the sun in the West, the wind chilled and shifted from the North. Windwalker turned to face it. These are the words of Grandfather, spoken loudest of all, that all the world could hear....
"You have listened to the coyotes, the greed of the priests, the shamans, the politicians, the bankers and the merchants, instead of listening to my Voice, to Me, the ONLY ONE who always speaks the Truth. They, the coyotes, have made myths and fables and lies to frighten, to tempt and to control you."
'You must rid yourself of ALL these old untruths, for they have kept you captive, fragmented and separated from Me and from Yourselves."... -continue here-


Windwalker Speaks
We humans sometimes get so confused by the restrictive domination based 'social sciences' and 'social architects' that would attempt to control us, that we think our planet is in danger of destruction.
In a world that is run in cyclic perfection by a Creator of Infinite Wisdom, such thinking doesn't really equate. The universe would have been a giant junkpile billions of years ago if one atom could stray outside of law. Who do we think we are that we would be allowed to endanger other nearby worlds and life forms with our petty stupidity and ill directed sciences? Having choice, we humans will be allowed to wreck our own small 'universes' and civilizations, but hardly our home planet Earth. What we have is a world full of struggling souls who still think that they are their bodies and the world around them is the whole of reality. Our egos often run our thinking to the exclusion of our higher awareness and intelligence.
Shakespeare probably put the situation in perspective as well as anyone, when he pointed out that life is only a play and we are all simply playing out continual roles. Since the time we lost our 'instinct' in the allegorical 'Garden of Eden' we have been cursed with an imperfect intelligence and constant CHOICE. Through continual trial and error our higher components learn the outcome of our choices. When we destroy and take the choice from others, we suffer what the ancients called 'karma'. We get a taste of what we dished out so that we can later inwardly know what is 'right' and 'wrong'. This 'law of karma' comes automatically when the higher level 'choice' laws are broken. Karma is the one inviolate law of our Universe and Creator. Higher Level CHOICE is the exact opposite to the system of domination that has remained in place for thousands of years over Earth's people. We must learn to make Fully Responsible Higher Level Choices for the loving benefit and Freedom of Choice for All Mankind... -continue here-

*Check out this postcard and tons of other great stuff at Barefoot's World site...

Image: "The Vision Seeker" by Josephine Wall
Image: "Return of the White Eagle" by Jody Bergsma

Approval Addiction

The Halo Effect

Are you the kind of person who thinks she's being good (self-sacrificing! angelic!) by cooing over things you hate and sucking up to strangers for tiny morsels of approval? Martha Beck encourages you to hang up your wings.
Causes and Consequences of Approval Prostitution — We approval whores are people who will do anything to get affirmation and acceptance from others. Approval whores like me tend to think that we're being good (saintly! angelic!) when we let others have their way with us in exchange for a hit of praise. The people in our lives are likely to reinforce our sickness, because we'll do pretty much anything to please them, and what's not to love about that?
Here's what: Being dependent on approval—so dependent that we barter away all our time, energy, and personal preferences to get it—ruins lives... -continue here-

Curbing Your Approval Addiction

Clarify Your Own Morality — In our world of commingled cultures and traditions, we may confront innumerable moral codes, all different from one another. There is simply no way to gain approval from each of these disparate sources; trying to do so will make you feel even worse. Instead, clearly define your own moral code and then stick to it whether or not others approve. Right now think of something you plan to do during this holiday that you don't want to do: host a boorish guest, send greeting cards to folks you barely know, overspend to the point of serious financial strain. Then pretend that your best friend, rather than you, is the one contemplating this action. What would you say is her moral obligation? Don't think manners; think ethics. Would it be truly immoral for your friend to invite only guests she likes, or send no greeting cards, or buy fewer presents? Take some time figuring out your real beliefs... -continue here-
Getting Approval for Getting Disapproval — One of the best ways to break your dependency on approval is to set up a situation in which the only way to get approval is to get disapproval. When I taught college-level sociology, I used to assign students to choose a social norm they thought was wrong or just plain silly, then deliberately violate it. The more disapproval they got, the higher their grade... -continue here-
Agree to Disagree — When approval whores disagree with others, we react by not reacting. Instead of voicing our real position, we smile, nod, make cheerful mumbling sounds. As a result, everyone from the John Birch Society to the Hells Angels may think we agree with them. Some of us fear that if we begin voicing disagreement, we'll lose our friends and family. If this is true for you—if these people accept you only because you agree with everything they say—they're not friends or family, they're just customers from whom you regularly obtain your favorite drug. This is a thoroughly unhealthy situation... -continue here-

Image: "Eagle Vision / Eagle Woman" by Susan Seddon Boulet

Bears, Eagles & Life

The Brightest Bear
Like many parents I like to encourage my children artistically. In my home office, there’s a cork board on the wall across from my desk where I proudly post their latest creations.
A few days ago, my daughter Emily (age 6) told me she wanted to draw me a bear to add to my collection. Previously she had traced and colored about 10 bear drawings from an original version I made for her... -continue here-

Are You a Bear or an Eagle?
Sometimes when my wife and I have conversations in public, it looks like the scene from the movie Dogma where Loki and Bartleby walk through the airport talking about their previous exploits as angels. We often look around at all the sleeping people in the world, noting that they barely register as conscious beings. They go through their lives working meaningless jobs, enduring unfulfilling relationships, and drugging themselves to avoid facing their unfaceable fears. Their conversations are nothing but trivialities in the grand scheme of things.
Whenever we meet someone new, one of the first questions that goes through our minds is, “Is this person awake yet?” The vast majority of people are still asleep, meaning that they aren’t really conscious and aware of what their lives are all about, why they’re here, or what their purpose is... -continue here-
Comments on article here: Doc Ott's Apologia Blog

Deciding What to Do With Your Life
Deciding what to do with your life isn’t remotely easy. Most people never make this decision at all. But since we all end up doing something, if we don’t make this decision consciously, then a decision will still be made, but it will be an unconscious one.
If you don’t decide how you’re going to live, then someone or something else will decide for you. Most likely you’ll yield your life to a combination of unconscious influences, including your genetic predispositions, your upbringing, your social conditioning, your environment, the other people in your life, and perhaps pure chance... -continue here-

Excerpts: "Personal Development for Smart People" by Steve Pavlina.com
Image: "In the Company of Eagles" by Jody Bergsma