Morning PRAYER

  
Today I will become the Next, Grandest Version of Myself.



Just as a sapphire pond smiles gratefully at the sun's embrace, 
I will flow my energy to every person I encounter, warming their day with my curiosity and caring.



Just as the wind weaves its spell amidst the flora of the forest,  
I will weave my wonder at this glorious body I inhabit.



Just as the night covers the earth with its blanket of protection, 
I will still my efforts to complete the mighty list I have imagined for myself.  I will honor my weariness and comfort myself with peace.


Just as the stars glisten in the evening sky, 
my soul will shimmer with gratitude for the bouquet of gifts that have found their way into my heart.
 


I will watch the earth for its whispers of guidance and let it lead me into my grace filled day. 

                                Marie Helena

image from meta-gaia.angelfire.com.  

The Boulevard

Everything in our amazing world is composed of the beautiful, mysterious gift of ENERGY...the life force that keeps everything moving.  This powerful force directs and animates all that is.  And the way that energy sweeps and splashes through our bodies is by the expression of our emotions.  

In order to move with clarity and power in our miraculous bodies energy requires that our emotions have a clear, direct passageway for expression, THE BOULEVARD.

As we encounter our earth challenges and feel a reaction/response to them, our emotions give us a vehicle for our bodies to do the work of processing what we are experiencing and learning. Their design is truly beautiful.  If we keep that BOULEVARD of emotions open and accessible and let this beautiful architecture perform its function, all is well.

 But, when we block this path, we invite layer upon layer of complication into our lives.

If we have not yet had the opportunity to witness or learn the beautiful process of freely expressing our emotions, we may feel uncomfortable  and choose on some level to push them aside and even deny their existence.  And, sometimes, we may unconsciously sabotage this incredible body mechanism by shifting our body egregiously out of balance because of stress or overwork.  

It is precisely at this point of focus that we begin to experience the physical symptoms of stress or dis-ease, fortuitously calling this condition to our attention.   Now our body is summoning us to action.  There is a blockage on the Boulevard  and it is threatening to compromise our state of health and well-being.   

We have a choice regarding how we respond to this call.

We have the opportunity to fully embrace our body’s magnificent process and welcome the wave of emotion being birthed in us.  To let ourselves ride this amazing ENERGY wave through the Boulevard, embracing its various patterns and manifestations until it reaches the metaphorical shore.  Once we arrive, we feel a sense of peace and transparency, poised on a clear path to move forward, free from the uncomfortable residue of emotion which is left when our feelings are not honored, acknowledged, nor embraced.

This beautiful gift of emotion… Energy in motion… is the perfect instrument to help us reveal what is tugging at our hearts. Our longing, our need for connection, for comfort and compassion.  And our awareness that others also need these gifts and that we are all called to minister to each other. 

Because we live in a vibrational world the emotions we express attract similar vibrations to us.  Whatever we choose to telegraph to the world, will, undoubtedly, be returned in kind.

We not only have a beautiful process to keep ourselves in the state of flow, we have the choice to decide what we want returned to us and what we want to contribute to our global community for every feeling we experience flows out of us and vibrationally touches the world in some profound way.

What a magnificent instrument the BOULEVARD of emotions is!  What a powerful testimony to Divine Intelligence.  We are invited to welcome, accept, and express our feelings keeping us strong and supple, ready to grow and learn, and to extend that beautiful flowering to everyone with whom we inhabit this earth.

Open your heart to this unpredictable, stunning, vibrant journey.  Deep dive into this brilliant odyssey that has the power to completely transform you.

Every day is the right day to embrace and revel in this beautiful and challenging journey called LIFE.

                                   Marie Helena

Forgiveness: A Return to Love

One of the spiritual messages we often hear talked about is the importance of Forgiveness. 

 And, although we are all (at least theoretically) aware of the importance of opening our hearts in this way, it is often very difficult to do this.

When we feel hurt or attacked by another it is so very human to pull into ourselves and view the person involved in this interaction as the enemy.

To break out of the grip of this fortress we have built around ourselves we need a very compelling reason which can connect strongly with the life view we hold.

To find that reason, let’s look backwards at the situation and stop focusing on the person who has “offended” us and look instead at ourselves and what is happening inside us.

It is very clear that when we harbor anger or resentment there is a massive toll exacted upon our bodies. Depression, anger, heart issues are only some of the physiological price tags for holding these emotions in our body.

The critical question to be asked here is: Why is anger so damaging to the body?

The answer to this question, I think, is this:

The state of anger and resentment is not our natural state…not where we are meant to be. This state is an interruption in the harmony of the innate stature of the soul. It is a disturbance, an impediment to the very simple and authentic state of LOVE which is meant to govern and direct all of our actions.

That is exactly why the body rebels when this beautiful state is disrupted…when we are disconnected from our true nature.

How do we then find our way out of the resentment, anger and hurt we are feeling?

From the time we are born…whenever we are affected by frightening or jolting situations, the memory of these moments is housed in the amygdala, a part of the limbic system of the brain involved in processing these difficult emotions. 

Whenever something upsetting triggers a memory from the amygdala we go immediately into a state of fear or aggression. 

The hippocampus, another portion of the cerebral hemisphere, can help us modulate the emotions coming up by helping us gain perspective and view the big picture of what is going on in the situation.

It seems to me that our INTENTION is a very important part of helping us do this work. And that intention must come from our realization that life…what is happening in front of us, around us, and in us…is much bigger than what we first perceive.

There is truly a soul view involved in every experience and we must desire to grasp and understand what that picture is.

Elements of that picture include the following:

Negative behavior comes from pain.

Everyone is on a unique path of unfolding and discovery which includes moments of failure, doubt, and hurt.

Everyone is doing the best he is capable of at any given moment.

Messages delivered to us may not be the messages we receive because of our own experiences and conditioning.

Our greatest joy comes from reaching out with understanding and compassion.

We must first give that understanding and compassion to ourselves and then we can extend it to others.

When we aspire to becoming aware of the big picture (soul view) of life experiences we are poised, I think, to override the jolting effects of the amygdala and set in motion a new default for dealing with upsetting and distressing situations.

Our soul view is based in LOVE and when we consciously aspire to come home to that LOVE our bodies feel the harmony of this intention and express this with a sense of peace and contentment. We approve of our choice of how to navigate the difficult moments.

Forgiveness. A return to vibrant health and the LOVE which graces and informs our souls.

                                          Marie Helena  

What Would Love Do?

Whenever we are experiencing fear or anxiety…frustration or anger…and someone else is involved in the situation, we are often tempted to express our distress by accusing that someone else of causing the problem.  

An array of disturbing emotions washes over us…and, if we don’t consciously process what is happening…we can easily become the self-involved, suffering victim.  

It is so easy to feel STUCK in this turbulence…helpless…and, consequently, we often choose to REACT instead of respond…letting loose a litany of accusations about someone else's behavior. 

When these moments strike, a conscious intention to ask one simple question about how best to proceed can save us from behavior we will later regret.

And that question is…What would love do?

If we aspire to having love inform and define all of the actions of our lives…then love is what we need to lead us through this storm.

Love, if summoned consciously, would inspire us to give ourselves understanding and compassion (for we are obviously experiencing some unhealed hurt which has been triggered and wants some attention).  

Love would also inspire us to give the other individual involved understanding and compassion (for, like us, he, too, has been triggered and his pain has been activated).

I believe that under the best of circumstances...when we are fully conscious and present and in good energy, we will act with this compassion and understanding. 

 If we are not able to do this, it is because stress or exhaustion or some old, unhealed pain has appeared in our lives.

Acknowledging this and then taking steps to restore ourselves (and that is restoration for ALL parties concerned) to a place of beautiful energy and consciousness will empower us to come together at that point and navigate the distressful waters with sensitivity for everyone's situation and circumstance.

Consciously asking ourselves this question will help make this happen:

What would love do?

The answer to everything.

                                         Marie Helena 

The Grace of Mikhail Baryshnikov

A few days ago I watched a rerun of The Turning Point, a 1977 film about the world of ballet in New York City.  The film's story focuses on the rivalries and regrets of two generations of ballet dancers...and it features an icy confrontation between two of the female stars, Anne Bancroft and Shirley Maclaine. 

I sat, entranced by the stark intensity of this moment which included a physical confrontation between the two stars, and, as engaged as I was by the depth of the unfolding, I was ultimately stirred by something in the film even more compelling than the unexpected elegance of the women's duel...a scene that both startled and uplifted my soul...the magnificent performance of the incomparable Russian ballet dancer, MIKHAIL BARYSHNIKOV.   

There is something so ethereal about watching a ballet.....the beauty and symmetry of the dancers moving in perfect harmony with the music, the dancers' engagement with the unfolding of the ballet's story, their interpretation of the emotions it evokes.  The heart cannot help but be swept into the rhapsody of this moment.  

Every ballet I have ever seen has elicited this response in me, but, on this day, I was unprepared for the breathtaking denouement I felt with Baryshnikov's performance.


Where ballet dancers naturally leap through the air, Baryshnikov soared to a height which seemed unimaginable to attain.  Where the dancers delicately reach for the unseen treasure they seem to be pursuing, Baryshnikov's passionate longing was completely palpable.  Where ballet dancers are poised to perfectly present a graceful stance, Baryshnikov was GRACE itself.


I was so entranced with the enthralling beauty and strength of Baryshnikov's performance, I asked myself...is it only in the ballet that such exquisite grace can be found?


Moments later, an answer to this question occurred to me.  The grace of Mikhail Baryshnikov can be found in every moment we encounter.   This grace may very well be the touchstone of how we choose to live our lives.


It can be found... 

in the loving way we honor ourselves and speak our truth in the best way we know how;  

in the way we honor others' truth; 

in the decision we make to listen to each other, truly trying to understand the emotions being expressed;

 in the stirrings of our heart for something exquisite we have encountered;  

 in the compassion we give to ourselves and others as we wend our way through our challenges, often amid distress and difficulties; 

in our appreciation for beauty and joy...the first rose of spring, the gorgeous symmetry of a snowflake, the fun of watching a toad hop through a puddle;

in the longing we feel to understand our place in the universe. 


A life full of GRACE is a life teeming with generosity, curiosity and anticipation...and wonder.  As close as the next breath we take.  Cast yourself in a starring role in the "ballet" of your life with a full and passionate heart and soar with the GRACE of Baryshnikov!



                                                                                                 Marie Helena


www.youtube.com
scenes from The Turning Point

The Storyteller

Don't be distracted by your stories.

                       don Miguel Ruiz

Everyone loves a good story... and we especially love OUR OWN stories.  And that is because we get to cast ourselves in the roles we are attracted to for subconscious reasons.  We can be the brilliant hero or the preyed upon victim.  We can be the perpetrator if we tend to judge ourselves mercilessly...or a bit player if we feel invisible and that nobody “sees” us.

We all have stories that “explain” our lives...a popular practice that makes sense of what is happening to us.  The problem is that once we decide on what our”role” is, we typecast ourselves in it and find it exceedingly difficult to look more deeply into and revise the story that we have become comfortable with and that now comprises the identity we assign ourselves.

don Miguel Ruiz, Toltec spiritualist, counsels us not to be distracted by our stories for they are only the illusions that represent what we are able to see so far.  And he wants us to grow.

Jean Atman, Ascension and Energy Medicine Specialist, offers us a deeper view:

What many people don't realize is that the people we engage with will always mirror who we are on the inside. 

While  these individuals with whom we engage may look completely different and separate from us, they are really only a cogent reflection of who we are for WE create our world and WE populate it with fascinating characters who have much to tell us.  We create them so that we can see ourselves.  And we have not done this on a conscious level. This creation is a spiritual exercise that may on a superficial level confuse and confound us.  In fact, we may not feel ANY connection with some of their behavior.  But there is SOMETHING they are doing that holds the potential to help us discover what we may have never recognized nor suspected about ourselves.

Fortunately, the characters we create also exist to illustrate the beautiful accomplishments of our lives.  These generous, compassionate Individuals mirror our same attributes just as the dysfunctional, fragmented individuals hold the clues to issues buried deep in our psyche.

There is something fascinating and powerful about these scenarios.  Each of us has the earth assignment of returning to our essential self as a creature of Love, recognizing, acknowledging, owning and releasing our fear based behaviors.  And the assorted characters who populate the landscape of our lives give us important checkpoints about our progress and the problems with which we still struggle.

What an intriguing (and challenging) way to become aware of where we reside in our personal journeys.  In every case, a masterpiece of soul projection.  Don’t be distracted from discovering their powerful revelations.

                            Marie Helena

image: 

Carmen Cicero on View at June Kelly

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