Do You See Me?

Oprah Winfrey's twenty-five year run on national TV was designed to give the television viewing audience the opportunity to learn what Oprah always called Living Your Best Life.

To this end she invited individuals of varied talents and skills to be guests on her show... encouraging the direct, honest sharing of what those individuals have learned in their life journeys.

She always demonstrated a very powerful interest when interviewing her guests in truly hearing and understanding what they had to say. She is a magnificent listener and learner and her guests always prized and savored her attention, entrusting many of the lessons learned on their spiritual journeys with Oprah and her devoted followers and fans.

Oprah's passion to listen and learn has made her not only a compelling TV personality but also a role model to all of us.

In her last broadcast of twenty-five years...when she spent the entire show talking about the most important things she had discovered through her work...Oprah shared this thought with the audience:

Everyone wants validating. Everybody wants to be heard. Every single person you will ever meet shares this common desire:

They want to know...

Do you see me?
Do you hear me?
Does what I say mean anything to you?


What a beautiful legacy and life lesson Oprah has gifted us with...and perhaps the secret to achieving a real CONNECTION with the individuals who populate our life.

It is not always easy to focus on another...when there is so much we want to say. But, when we are the only one doing the talking, we are not learning anything new and we are the only one starring in the production of our life.

And, really, the script is always essentially the same. It is our script....the script we have learned and written.

And when we only tell our stories we are depriving ourselves of the enriching experience of interacting and communicating and connecting. There is so much to be learned from being open to others...from listening to their responses...from sharing their adventures and challenges...and from hearing about the lessons they have learned.

There is such a beautiful variety of individuals in the world. No two alike. And why would we want them to be! When we interact with others it is very possible we will hear stories that don't match our experiences... stories that seem strange and foreign to us.
In those cases, we will probably not find common ground for agreement. But what we can do is learn about what is important to others.

We can honor their feelings and try to understand them. We can listen with sensitivity and caring and we can help them "see" us and know the substance of our hearts.

Just the giving of this one gift will make all the difference.
Just the generous desire to understand another's motivation, concerns, joy and pain and also to share our own story and feelings will produce an exquisite interaction.


Let's follow the wonderful inspiration of Oprah to live our best life by treasuring the gift of CONNECTING with others.

That connection will automatically happen when we make the effort to understand how others paint the picture of their lives and to share the landscape of our own.


                                                                                      Marie Helena

The Alto Horn, Multiple Moons and Other Secrets of the Universe

Owen Waters is a favorite author of mine. Any time his name appears in my email I stop to read the wisdom and insights he is sharing. Owen is the author of The Shift: The Revolution in Human Consciousness, Discover Your Purpose in Life and the creator of the website InfiniteBeing.com.

Today I read an offering from Owen’s newsletter Spiritual Metaphysics for the New Reality in which he talks about the unfolding of his spiritual quest.


Owen’s journey began at the age of thirteen when he was practicing the alto horn and noticed that a “long, deep note started to sound unusual”. Immediately after that he noticed that he was no longer looking straight at his music stand but was viewing it from above.
This out of body experience began for him a lifelong journey to understand the nature of life and our place in it. On this journey Owen feels he has received a great deal of inspiration (being in spirit) from guides and ascended masters.


Owen believes that every one of us can make this journey to what he calls “the profound depths of understanding” but we need to create the beautiful environment and support for this work…as artists phrase it, the ambiance for the reception of this wisdom.


Our days can be so easily filled with the noise of activity and projects…lists of things we wish to accomplish. So much of life feels like a hurrying to get somewhere and when we finally land there, we are exhausted…we recoup…and then start composing our next list of to-do’s for tomorrow.


Owen cautions us: "don't limit your potential by spending the entire day in conscious thought. Give yourself the time to go within, expand.”
In the restful state of “expanded awareness” we are much better able to find peace and balance..We are more receptive to guidance…more open to new insights.


Two days ago while on a late evening stroll, I stopped to gaze at the moon and became so fascinated I stayed there for several moments.. Within seconds I saw not one moon, but four. three distinct moons which were intertwining and one surrounding the three on two sides which seemed to be composed of etheric energy.

The moon has never looked like this to me before…but I am sure there was something in it for me to discover. If I had not stopped to be in that moment, I would have missed this exquisite demonstration of some important truth which is still to be revealed.


Does your day allow for this beautiful state of expansion so available to all of us?

Do you choose to open yourself to the messages of the universe?

Do you create the opportunity to be spiritually connected in this way?

Perhaps we should all follow the very wise advice of Owen Waters when he says: “Inspiration is there for the asking, if you just pause to reach upwards to where it exists.”

                                                                       Marie Helena

Shinrin-Yoku

Not long ago it might have been a rare and unusual experience to witness someone with his arms encircling a majestic tree, seemingly lost in profound contemplation of our spiritual connection to nature.  Today, however, there is a growing awareness of this healing modality.  Many individuals are seeking the wonders of what is now described as forest bathing.  Japan has sixty-two sites designated for just this reason celebrating the magic of Shinrin-Yoku.  

Scientists tell us that trees emit phytoncides to protect themselves from insects and plants such as lichen and moss.  These molecules are absorbed by humans through respiration and are considered beneficial in dealing with stress management, regulating blood pressure and boosting the immune system.

I was excited recently to discover this information in a YouTube video.  I have been hugging trees for many years without knowing the scientific validation.  I just do it because it feels good.  It connects me with the earth.  It makes me feel grounded, conjoined with the trees, our roots together extending deep into Gaia.

Shinrin-Yoku.  Perhaps this is a subtle invitation from the Divine Universe to our over stimulated psyches awash with so many concerns and tribulations.

I have come to believe there is so much more to discover about the gifts available to us from Mother Earth.  We already know of stories from our ancestors of the healing properties of many plants.  

Perhaps EVERY insect, flower, stone, blade of grass...every manifestation of nature...holds a secret we have yet to ascertain.  Perhaps ALL necessary healing modalities are already accessible to us residing in Gaia in stark contrast to the medications we take to ease our pain.


Perhaps that pain exists to alert us to whatever is blocking the corridor to our expansion...emotions not accessed, experienced or released.  And perhaps our environment....EVERYTHING in nature we see or feel or touch...is here to minister to our pain and soothe us on that journey.


Could Shinrin-Yoku be the key, the sacred entrance to the mystic messages awaiting our discovery?

    

                                                                                      Marie Helena


image from pinterest.com
Gleb Goloubetski

Whither Thou Goest

One of the most prevalent emotional conditions experienced by persons in our culture is the state of being Co-Dependent.

In CO-DEPENDENCE we link the state of our happiness to the state of someone else's...we are dependent on someone else' s reaction or feeling and we let that reaction or feeling from another dictate how we are.

The reason we do this is because we have experienced pain from confrontation or abandonment and we fear the repeat of this experience. We fear it so much that we are constantly watchful and attentive to the emotional state of those around us...we try to keep them happy and satisfied but we are always ready for (and even expect) pain at any second.

Unconscious childhood wounds make us vulnerable to whatever someone else is going through. We are witnesses to their displeasure and immediately proceed to claim it as our own, not recognizing or acknowledging that we are separate individuals.

We are DEPENDENT on others for our emotional well-being.


The dysfunction we experienced as a child prevents us from clearly asking for what we would like to have (we don't feel the freedom to do this and the confidence that our request will be well-received). And because we have not entered into a dialogue to explain how we feel and invited an explanation of how another feels, we instead set up our own expectations regarding how we would like someone to act (and this feels safer for we can do it in our own minds without taking the chance of involving someone else and having to deal with what might be said).Unfortunately, when we do not get the results we have expected (which occurs because we have not discussed the preferences of both parties), we then suffer.

And the fact is...we have brought that suffering on ourselves.


We have assumed that the things that have meaning and significance to us have the same meaning and significance to others. And when that meaning and significance are not similarly acknowledged, we draw the conclusion that we are not cared about.


And so we suffer. And needlessly...for every individual develops his own preferences and attaches his own meanings to objects and experiences. Just because someone has not acted in the way we would does not mean that the person does not care for us. What it does mean is that we have not bravely asked for what we would prefer and invited another to tell us his requests.


It is sometimes very frightening for co-dependent persons to have a direct conversation regarding their preferences but it is THE WAY to ensure that a decision can be negotiated...and agreed upon in a manner that will satisfy all parties involved.


When we do recognize that WE are the cause of our suffering because of experiences we have endured...we can clearly see that WE also have the power to change it. Though it can be a challenging and unfamiliar road to follow, it is the formula for self-approval, satisfaction and inner peace.


Obviously, our soul contract has been designed by us to include this very important work. We can transcend the sense of feeling helpless and vulnerable by speaking our truth and listening to others' truth, thereby emerging into independent, self-accepting and self-approving individuals who have come to terms with a limitation and turned it into a confident and self-caring lifestyle.


                                                                                     Marie Helena

I speak my truth
so that I can keep my Heart FREE TO FLY.
I listen to your truth so that you Can Join Me. 


Mystic Marks: Bookmarks for the Soul

Everyman: Best Actor in a Dramatic Role

As simple as a summer breeze,as easy as a nibble on a frosted cookie, as delightful as gentle raindrops landing on your shoulders on a hot summer day.  THAT is the fun and adventure we are meant to have in this cosmic playground we call earth.  THAT is what we signed up for.  But we often don’t see the immense simplicity of what we have undertaken.  The fine print in our cosmic contract (which we ourselves have insisted on) includes a passing reference to the requirement of “forgetfulness” and that one word has landed us in all kinds of trouble.

Somehow we manage to continually forget that we are here on a splashy, extravagant, magical experiment to TRY THINGS ON, see what they feel like and then decide what to do about them.  And if we decide to make a change, then we see how Plan B feels...and so on.  It’s all about the role we choose to play and we are so brilliant at this imaginative exercise that we do not even have to audition for the part.  Because we are such Divine spiritual creatures unlimited possibilities are open to us and, with our own unique preferences, we select the characterizations we wish to embrace.  And we do it for the FUN, for the sheer JOY of seeing what it feels like.  Of course, we FORGET what we are doing and it makes the adventure so much more real.  We like to be consumed by the details:  the setting, the circumstances, the other players, complicating issues…the DRAMA!!!


Foundationally, we are SPIRITUAL beings who reside in unconditional bliss.  This is our home base   But we have a powerful desire to experience and, therefore, appreciate what it is like to be subject to conditions and limitations.  And so we choose to incarnate.  And we do this because it is an exciting, vibrant, passionate voyage.  We adore the tumultuous ups and downs of navigating these conditions and  limitations.  We love trying on various ways of dealing with these limitations and seeing what responses they evoke in us.

Our end game is to find the choice of action that returns us to peace.  And it’s a long and winding road and sometimes a difficult and challenging one. 

Most of the time, we take it MEGAseriously, forgetting that we have placed ourselves in a magical playground where we can experiment with our course of action to see what truly brings us back to JOY.

When we are experiencing some difficulty, if the first thing we try doing to help ourselves does not work, it is not a tragedy. It is an opportunity to see what that choice feels like and how it plays out in our life.  Now, we can use our creativity and imagination to conceive of the next best plan to try and then discern how that option is working.  We are literally trying on moments of experience and seeing what they feel like. We are on a metaphysical shopping trip, trying to find what brings us to delight, satisfaction and joy.

That is what Earth school is about...having the  glorious, engaging, sometimes exasperating experiences.  Underneath all of the disguises we sometimes assume as persons in pain, as victims of circumstance, we are always perfect, spiritual beings engaged in the fascinating role of living in an imperfect world and doing our best to find our way back to perfection. 

It’s all an exquisite, ethereal exercise.  Perhaps occasionally remembering this might gift us with a  perspective that will help us reside more comfortably in this earth reality and remember that we are in this world but not of it. 


                                                                                     Marie Helena




image from www.alamy.com

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