Easter Morning Journey

originally printed April 2012

 

It's Easter Sunday and the most beautiful occasion to experience a connection with the earth and its countless earth-dwellers.  

This morning I awakened to a wonderful impulse streaming into my consciousness.  

The impulse was to spend the day in the state of EXPANSION except, of course, for the moments when I was directly engaged in a specific activity.

 First, let me give you a little background on this concept of expansion

Shortly before Christmas I was involved in a car accident and, after the physical healing was well underway, my body began to experience multiple episodes of post-traumatic stress. 

These proved to be a huge challenge and I had to learn how to embrace and work with these experiences so that my body could RELEASE the trauma it was carrying.

I did this work by  practicing sitting quietly and observing my body  

as the physical symptoms moved through it...observing them objectively, with no judgment...tracking their movement and how they changed their expression over time.  

This I was very willing to do and, after practicing this for awhile,  I found that when the symptoms finally abated, i naturally moved into a state of expansion (openness, airiness, weightlessness, pure peace and harmony).  

This state felt WONDERFUL...so wonderful that sometimes I didn't want to leave it.

 

As time went on, I found myself often choosing to engage this process leading me to expansion whenever I became physically or emotionally distressed. 

 
.
But this morning things were different.  

I felt a very strong impulse and yearning to engage in EXPANSION FOR ITS OWN SAKE (and not because of any problem I was experiencing).  And I wanted to enter into this state immediately.

It was soon after the recognition of this feeling that I discovered how the Divine Matrix was working to bring me to this place of peace.

And here we get into more back story.
 
Blogger statistics which are available to individual writers reveal the location of countries which are reading their blog.  I already knew from my statistics that people in ninety-four countries had read my blog but it had been a long, long time since a new country had shown up on that list.

This morning when I went to check the stats I saw that a new country was reading me right at that moment and it was one I had never heard of before.


It was the Maldives, a group of about 1,200 islands, separated into a series of coral atolls, located just north of the Equator in the Indian Ocean. (Only 200 of these islands are inhabited.)

And here is the astounding thing about the Maldives showing up in my blog statistics. 

 
As I researched this country I  learned that many of the the tropical atolls and islands In the Maldives are simply gorgeous, with swaying palms, white sandy beaches and deep-blue lagoons.
 
Now, if I had to come up with a physical, earth-bound description of what EXPANSION might look like, I would say the Maldives are it.

 

Here is the exciting discovery I made:  

I felt the peacefulness of the Maldives (where someone was reading my blog) coming into me through my waking impulse to enter into expansion.
 

Wow!

What a fantastic connection...and how wondrously beautiful...the Divine Matrix showing us yet again that we are ONE... all of us living facets of the same experience...all of us coexisting in a lovely harmony of the heart...separated by distance but ministering to each other and sharing our journey by reaching out and through time and space, expressing the Oneness of Everyman.

 
image from naples-marco-island-florida.com





                                                                                        Marie Helena

Today, Creator...help me to recover my awareness so that I can see you in everything I perceive with my eyes, with my ears, with all my senses.  Let me perceive with eyes of love so that I find you wherever I go and see you in everything you create.  Help me to see you in every cell of my body, in every emotion of my mind, in every person I meet.
        
                                                                                          Don Miguel Ruiz






                                                                                                                             

Feathers

 Imagine...
A beautiful, soft, delicate feather falls gently near you or lands perhaps on your shoulder. You notice it from the corner of your eye.  A sweet curiosity.  Within seconds, you brush it away and move on to the events of your day. But...have you missed an important message?


Perhaps that simple, sweet feather (metaphorically speaking) has been sent to catch your attention and bring your awareness to a message meant to Light Your Way.  But, because you are so attached to your list of things you feel you should attend to, you fail to recognize its significance.


This "feather" may be the lyrics of a song you are listening to, a remark you happen to overhear while you are shopping, an inspiration which suddenly springs into your heart.  The "feather" could be any number of seemingly insignificant moments, but, if you ignore or override the message or inspiring impulse because you are preoccupied with lists which have been assembled for you by the expectations of society or through your enculturation, you will miss the MESSAGE of this moment.  But you will not be abandoned by the loving Divine Universe.  It will persist in helping you become aware of the guidance so readily available from your Higher Self.  Feathers will continue to drift into your life.


Esther Hicks, American inspirational speaker and author, tells us that our lives are teeming with these gentle and often subtle hints and nudges but that we often fail to recognize them.  Indeed, their  very existence is a glorious mystery. 


What could source such a delicate, ethereal, gossamer labyrinth connecting each of us with the exact messages we need to hear and interlacing them with the events going on in our lives and the people we are encountering?
Love.

We live in a universe of love and it is enveloping each of us in every moment whether we are aware of this or not. 


We are free to act however we choose, noticing these moments of Grace...or not.  

But...when we do become aware of the awesome devotion of the Divine Universe to enhance our well being and we become attentive to the guidance streaming so creatively into our lives, our journey becomes a joyful "listening" to the messages circling so fervently around and within our hearts.    

                                                                Marie Helena






image from kristaclement@prosite.com

The Creative Spirit

It is my belief that the creative spirit within each of us is the medicine necessary for our own healing.
 
    Julia Cameron


When all of our chakras or energy centers are open and flowing freely, we experience the gift of gloriously radiant health.  When those energy centers are blocked, however, this beautiful body of ours cannot complete its life circuit through the chakras with ease and grace. 

Fortunately, we do have the ability to achieve this state and heal ourselves and we do this by opening these very powerful passageways in our body.  Julia Cameron tells us that the most important part of keeping ourselves in this space of openness comes through accessing, recognizing, enjoying and delighting in our creativity.   Underlying her belief is the premise that we are made to create, we are designed to do this.  Our souls cry out for this opportunity to dream and do and are joyless and bereft without it.

It's the difference between mechanically walking through the motions, sitting in the back seat and letting others drive you around or blazing your own path and feeling totally alive and vibrant and it comes from the spark of your brilliantly loving soul.

Your soul has a mission:  to sing its "song" and it will not be happy nor will it be satisfied until it steps up to unselfconsciously delight in expressing that awesome "melody".
 
Each of us is here because we have a unique interpretation of life and we are called to grace the universal consciousness with that melody.  We do this by speaking our truth and caring enough to hear the truth of others.  We do this by the way we express our love language through words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, acts of service and touch.

We do this when we sigh or hum or whistle or bravely give voice (and, therefore, life) to a beautiful song.  We do this when we tap our feet, clap or get right out there on the dance floor.  We do this when we pick up a brush and paint a picture or play a musical instrument or write a wonderful story or poem.  It's all about the way we choose to connect with the world, the way we are engaged and present to what is going on and the way we receive and respond to the messages coming to us.

It is our spiritually courageous choice to be fully and authentically who we are that animates us and gives strength and vitality to the body, that heals it from its imperfections and vulnerability. 

The decision to express ourselves authentically (and, therefore, creatively) is really an imperative to our soul.  As Julia Cameron says, it's the medicine needed for our own healing.

                                                                                         
                                                                                              Marie Helena

 
image from www.ikedaquotes.

This is SHOW BUSINESS, folks!

Do you suffer from a distressing reaction when someone around you is upset and even though it's not about you, it still FEELS like it is. 

ouch...Ouch...OUCH!  That is no fun place to be, carrying all that gloom.

I've got an idea about how to get OUT from UNDER that web of co-dependency on someone else's emotions.  And it's frivolous and silly and no one else will even get the humor of what you are doing but YOU will be laughing inside (and tickling your funny bone).

Here's my thought.  Become Alice...you know, Alice in Wonderland but this wonderland doesn't belong to the original Alice.  It's YOUR "wonder"land.  And here's what you're wondering about.



You're wondering how these strange characters (your family, your friends, everyone you run into) got into YOUR story...that's YOUR life, YOUR Wonderland.  And, you're wondering about the curious, quaint and sometimes mystifying ways they think and do things.  And so you're enjoying watching them as they go through their individual routines (that's right...I said routines...this is show business, folks).


I wonder if they are there to entertain you with their perplexing and sometimes offbeat moves.  Each one is an original character with a back story and adventures to take on.  How DID they land at your tea party!

Of course.  I forgot you're Alice and you've gone down the rabbit hole they call earth school and now you get to meet these characters, watch their antics, interact (play) with them.  Remember, this is a fantasy drama, a PLAY for goodness sakes.   

                                                                                                                
NOW...what does your story look like?
                                                             

                                                                                               Marie Helena


 

top image from johoffberg.com
bottom image from movies-wallpaper.net

Irish Taxi Drivers

“Hello, luv…good morning to you…and are you here on holiday?” This is the beautiful way I was greeted nearly every time I stepped into a taxi in Galway, Ireland.

I had just returned from a trip abroad to visit my daughter Rachel on sabbatical there and I truly must say that the taxi drivers in Ireland so warmed my heart. I was able to sit up front with them in what we would call the driver’s seat here in the U.S. as the steering wheels there are placed on the right side of the car and so I got the wonderful opportunity to ask a few questions and learn so much about their lives.

I heard about pride in their families, about their wives and children (names, ages and personalities), about how the college aged kids were driving them to the “poor house” and how they had learned to step out of the fray and, thankfully, let their brilliant wives negotiate with their teen aged daughters. I heard about last night’s christening celebration that threatened to turn into a brawl until the taxi driver stepped in and told the offending party to get his priorities straightened out. I heard many comments about the recession and how it had dampened somewhat the spirits of the Irish. (I can hardly imagine what they were like before!) And, when I mentioned that I was visiting my daughter but leaving soon, I heard the comment, “Not to worry for we’ll be keeping an eye on her.”

The sense of living life in the Present Moment and embracing it with such passion are so strong in Ireland it is truly amazing. If I had known what I could find there in the open hearts of the Irish, I would have gotten myself to the Emerald Isle long before this.

Whenever I left the taxi, I always commented to the driver my wish that he have a beautiful day. And I always received a beautiful smile and blessing in return.

Irish eyes sparkle with fun and mischief…and delight in what the day will bring. What a lovely inspiration!

I am now determined to find the “Irish” in everyone I encounter and am set on uncovering this beautiful gift embedded in every human heart!


                                                                                             Marie Helena

Stuck in Your OwnTraffic Jam!

  

It's 5:03 p.m. and you have just left work with high hopes of scooting into traffic before the usual dinnertime craziness strikes...but, unfortunately, it's forming ahead of you. 


 One block up and there you are...stuck in a  traffic jam.
 
We ALL know what this is like.  

The frustration of being frozen in place when every cell in our body wants to move.  But we are constrained by the circumstances of the moment.  We are wedged in on every side.  Our annoyance and irritation are growing  because we are stuck.  There is no motion or movement and it's making everything worse.  : (


You have just read my metaphor describing what happens in our body when a pain occurs and we choose to contract.


Here are some examples of what "contract"ion looks like:

You think,
                      "Oh no, what's happening to me now?"
                     "What's wrong?"
                      "I hate when this happens.  I thought I was over this."
                      "What next?"
                       "I have to fix this...where is the aspirin?"
                      " This is __________'s fault for talking to me like that."

and your body records the frustration with increased stress and tension.


All of these thoughts tend to make us contract...from anxiety or distress.  They either express our exasperation, our attempt to "fix" something or our tendency to find someone else to take the blame...in effect, causing the "traffic jam" in our body to Intensify and the pain to worsen.

And by choosing the route of contraction we miss the traffic "signal" of our body (the pain) which is there to help us navigate our way through the impasse.  We fail to recognize...to hear the body's message and honor it...and that message is..."Something is STUCK and we need to help it move."

 
AND HOW DO WE ACCOMPLISH THIS?
 
We accomplish this by sitting quietly and observing the pain...experiencing  how it is expressing itself.  

We watch it softly...non- judgmentally...for however long it is present and we patiently track its movement,  paying close attention to what it feels like.   

Over time, with our acceptance and patience, in my experience the pain WILL move and change its expression several times and...eventually... it will release its hold on the body.


This journey of release is the path energy takes when it is allowed to move.  When it is kept hostage by contraction (just like when we are caught in the unyielding traffic jam),  it grows more intense and more upsetting and, yes, more painful.


The ancient Hopi tribe was very aware of the powerful effect of moving energy and used this principle in its healing rituals.  Unfortunately, in contemporary life, we often choose outside sources to help us when the body itself is its OWN healing agent if we but listen to its message and get out of our own way.


By allowing our energy to disengage from the point of pain and move of its own volition we can honor the exquisite wisdom of our body when it is stuck in its own traffic jam and begin the beautiful journey of release.

                                                                                          Marie Helena

image from science roll.com.  

A Plum in the Pudding

 
Souls are tempered in the depth of experience, growing in inner strength and unyielding courage.

        Chinese saying




Codependency is the inability to maintain one's boundaries, choosing instead to take on and feel responsible for the problems and concerns of others. 

And it is a wild ride. 
 
Codependency is annoying,  irritating, frustrating...a maelstrom of upsetting emotions.  It is completely exhausting being affected by things that have nothing to do with you.  But, for the codependent, that's how things go down.  


But this "pudding" of ever emerging irritation has a plum in it (and the plum blossom is a symbol of STRENGTH). 

The irritation experienced by the codependent person is so blatant it's difficult to ignore.  No easy sweeping it under the rug.  It's so big, so there, so very THERE.

Depending on others for our well-being IS a tumultuous undertaking in which we relinquish our power to create and control our lives.  And it's not an easy position to abandon, having been led to it by unhealed pain resting so heavily in our heart.


The fact is it is nearly impossible for the codependent who has been TRIGGERED to ignore the emotional chaos and clamor he is experiencing.  And therein lies the plum in this pudding. 


When the pain of codependency becomes so very intense, there is an overwhelming urge to find a solution to the suffering. And the solution begins with acknowledging that the pain is there.

Recognizing, acknowledging and owning our pain is the beginning of a direct path to healing and resolution as there is something very POWERFUL about finally naming our angst.

It occurs to me that this very naming…this "owning" of our discordant emotions...may be the externalizing of a subconscious impulse.  Perhaps it is the impulse…the irresistible impulse… of a highly sensitive person who senses that what is transpiring between himself and another is off kilter on one side or the other or on both sides of the equation.

And, on some level, this highly sensitive person wants to put things right but is not sure how to go about this and, therefore, what emerges, instead, is unease..,anxiety...irritation... or fear. 


Our emotions are the barometer which gives us the reading on our inner weather, indicating when we are off course.  Esther Hicks (channeling Abraham) tells us that when we are upset or distraught or are experiencing anything that feels negative, it is because our actions are not in harmony with Who We Truly Are.  We are not in resonance with our beautiful Source energy.  And it doesn't feel good.


The question is:  What do we do about this upsetting feeling?  Where do we go next to put this anxiety to rest?


It is usually the "codependent" person who is experiencing the most upset in a situation such as this.  That is not to say that the other person is not distraught.  However, his level of anxiety may be less and he may have pushed that anxiety below the surface and is not actively addressing the issue. 
 

Because the highly sensitive codependent person cannot easily ignore his emotional and physical symptoms, this is a perfect time for him to find some relief by taking the lead in solving the problem and, at the same time, introducing an element of healing into the encounter.


In a time of conflict or unease, it is important for both individuals to honor themselves by relating to the other what it is that would be helpful and supportive to them in this circumstance.  The codependent person can begin this process and encourage the other person to join him.  When both individuals do this in a gentle manner without any expectation or attachment to how the other will respond, a beautiful ease is infused into the moment.  Each person assesses his own energy level, communicates that to the other and suggests what he is able and willing to do to help both individuals to get their needs met and find a resolution to the problem.
 

The decision to be present in THIS moment rather than stuck in old patterns of reaction coming from unhealed hurt can propel the codependent person into a new way of response, diffusing old subconscious vestiges of pain that have chosen to show themselves and which now see there is no need for them to be replayed. 

What a BLESSING when the codependent individual can courageously recognize and embrace his discord and use that energy to lead himself and another to a loving and peaceful resolution to a problem which has caused him so much concern.


The sensitivity of the "codependent" person can be a wonderful blessing not only to himself but to everyone he encounters, inspiring creative and loving responses to moments of chaos and unrest, 


And I wonder...
Is it the nature of the Divine Universe to tuck the mysteriously important plums into all of our puddings?


                                                                 Marie Helena

 

image from etsy.com

The Cutting Edge: Curiosity

Many people carry the perception that it is difficult to cultivate spiritual practices...that a great deal of restraint and discipline are required to accomplish this goal.   We are often encouraged by inspirational leaders throughout the world to practice love and compassion in our every interaction and, sometimes, this may feel very challenging given the intensity of our own triggers and the pain we may have been holding as a result of them.

  

But, introducing the actual practice of COMPASSION may be as simple as expressing interest and curiosity about how an event that has just transpired has affected another.   Most likely, this would occur after we have expressed our own reaction or response to what has just happened. Admittedly, it is very easy to carry on for a while about how things feel to us but   what if we turned to another after we have spoken our thoughts and simply asked, "How did you experience this?"

With just these few words we have moved beyond the narrow and very specific subject of OUR reaction and generously expressed our curiosity and concern about how another has been affected.  Whether we have been an agent in the action or whether the action has been graced, supported, imposed or inflicted on ourselves and others, the very act of asking someone how this felt to them would naturally influence the way we might choose to respond.  

Now, with this interaction...the knowledge and awareness of how both parties are experiencing the moment...we naturally begin to consider how the emotional needs of both persons are presenting themselves and can be addressed.  And, when both persons feel heard and cared about, things move forward with mutual support and consideration…and, ultimately, with COMPASSION for each other.

Though amazingly powerful, Love  directed responses are innately and profoundly simple.  They emanate from the heart and feel generous and joyful and soothing to our spirit.  If mindfully cultivated, just a very slight change in the pattern of our reaction to distressing moments can redirect us into the flowering of a beautiful spiritual practice:  

How did you experience this?

                                                                                  
                                                               Marie Helena

image from arocordis.com

Two Flowers Floating, Watercolor.