Warriors of the Rainbow

Source: Humanity Healing Network

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

Return To Innocence ~ Enigma

The Cracked Pot

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the masters house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his masters house.
Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.
After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you."
"Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?"
"I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your masters house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts." The pot said.
The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the masters house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path."
Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again the Pot apologized to the bearer for its failure.
The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pots side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my masters table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house."

Each of us has our own unique flaws. We are all cracked pots. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are, and look for the good in them. There is a lot of good out there. There is a lot of good in us!
Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.

Author: Unknown
Source: ovethissite.com
Images: Aquarius & Libra by Josephine Wall
"Aquarians" follow their own path, marching to the beat of their own drum. They are happy to have you along, but would never force their way on anyone. Their congenial attitude and habit of setting trends ensure they are seldom lacking for company. Logical and detached, they can seem aloof, but will work tirelessly to improve conditions for all humankind. New ideas pour freely from their fertile, far-reaching minds as they search for knowledge and truth. In Greek mythology, Aquarius was the Rain God who poured water onto a parched world below.
"Libra", the only inanimate sign of the Zodiac, is ruled by Venus. Modern-day astrologers often view Libra as the most generous of the Zodiac because it represents the "Zenith of the Year," when the harvest of the spring's hard work is reaped. Because Venus is the goddess of love and beauty, Librans admire beauty in many forms, such as art, music, and even people. Librans are very likeable due to their captivating charm. Being an air sign, Librans are intellectual and continuously seek out knowledge and new ideas. Born under the sign of the Scales, their spirits thrive on balance and harmony and are most at peace when the world around them is orderly and serene.

Looking Deeply

The Good In All

Sometimes we find it difficult to see the good in people, places, or situations that aren't to our liking. We focus on the things we don't like in our lives as a way of fueling our efforts to create change. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, and it is one way we make progress. However, if we get too caught up in this way of looking at the world, we lose touch with our ability to sit back and simply say yes to everything on our plates, which is the true starting point for all successful activity. Sometimes what we really need is to encourage ourselves to look deeply into all things in our lives to see the inherent goodness at the heart of everything.
At the core of this inquiry is the practice of unconditional acceptance, which can be scary because we feel as if we are being asked not to change the things we don't like. But when we think this way, we are still operating on the surface of our lives. In order to feel the beauty and warmth of full acceptance, we have to be willing to sink deeper into the stratum underlying the external manifestation of our lives. This deeper place of being is the origin of all lasting change, yet its paradox is that when we are in it, we often don't feel the need to change anything. From this place, we experience the pure beauty of the process of being alive, and we see that all things change in their own time. We don't need to force anything. If there are things that we do need to change, from this place of serenity we create the shift easily, our hands guided by an energy that resides at the very center of our hearts.
In our active, goal-oriented culture, we learn to distrust stillness and to engage in busywork on the surface of life. This tendency can blind us to the good that lies at the heart of all things. But all we have to do to see again is stop for a moment, let go of our preconceptions and our agendas, and settle into the very center of our hearts, remembering that it is only from here that we can truly see.

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

The Sacred Light

The Sacred Light surrounded me, held me, bought me down the Lightening flash; pausing at the Ancient Standing Stones of Wisdom, and then on to the Sea of Sorrows, where the tears rolled in understanding.
And from the Sapphire Temple of Vision came the Masters in their sand-sun hazed robes, greeting and surrounding me, before urging me across to the Karmic Fire where the Queen of Love held, softened, and understood the frustrations.
To the Hermit then, the Teacher with his light in the innermost central cave of my heart, and the crystals flashing the sunlight off their path. And from there I walked into the arms of Victory, which I knew so well - and moved on, past the crooked tower of misperception, to the clear blue sharpness and ice cold clarity of truth.
And I stood before the Foundations of Life, glimpsing into the underground, down those up and down steps - and then into The Kingdom, my feet descending down and down in their Light robes, and I felt the strength of it, as I rose again to reach for The Crown, through this vast Light body, linked to everyone - to Humanity.
In the Ultimate Light, more tears as I built the grey stone Temple of the Gates, cemented with the salt from the tears - vast pillars with no roof - the sun, the moon and all the stars of the night translated into the Light, the Bliss at the peak of the mountain.
And I curled up in the Breath of God and was raised in His hands - could see/know of all worlds, cosmos, universes - looking from outside in, now in the vastness of the levels that hold links and lattices in the Breath of God.
And I am held in Light and in Trust - put back down off the peak from the gold vastness, where I am kneeling amongst the stones and the pillars in the huge ruins of Ephesus, Carthage and the ancient places.
Then back into the Temple of Creation - not holding or binding, but where I can wander - where the Masters congregate as they hold their great courts, and look up through the skies to the Breath - through the Breath. They were, and are The Love - the Breath of God which comes back down the lightening flash with me.
I am clothed - I am the gold, the Being, a part of the lattice web - I know from the depths to the heights and back. The salt tears hold the stones clear and firm as they are built through and through on the Breath of God - this Light Being - this Being - The Ancient of Days.
And I drew the Sword of my Will, and I rang the wee bell - it calls across the hills and the mountains and it laughs through its cracked body - it knows!
And I quietly closed the gates as I returned earthwards.

Author: Rowena Nott
Source: Order of the White Lion
Image: "We Never Left Eden" by Montserrat

The Gal in the Glass

When you get what you want in your struggle for self
And the world makes you queen for a day
Just go to a mirror and look at yourself,
And see what THAT gal has to say.

For it isn’t your husband or family or friend
Whose judgment upon you must pass;
That gal whose verdict counts most in the end
Is the one staring back from the glass.

Some people may think you are a straight shootin' chum
And call you a person of place
But the gal in the glass says you’re only a bum
If you can’t look her straight in the face.

She’s the gal to please, never mind all the rest
For she’s with you clear up to the end,
And you’ve passed your most dangerous, difficult test
If the gal in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years
And get pats on the back as you pass,
But your final reward will be heartaches and tears
If you’ve cheated the gal in the glass.

Source: Hazelden Foundation
Image: myspace.com