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Wednesday, January 29, 2014

The Music of the Soul




Always do what makes your heart sing, what makes you feel good. That RESONANCE spreads to everyone around you.

         Suni Pele Nelson






What is the most commanding thing you can do to make the world a more peaceful, generous and loving place for its inhabitants?
 
Add to the Joy by joining the chorus of those who have found the music of meaning in their life and unselfconsciously delight in expressing that melody!



Whatever it is that makes your heart sing...


the moment when you are lost in time and place...
where you have found the voice of your soul,
YOUR signature contribution to the collective consciousness,


Take that GIFT and GIVE it to the world...

By CHOOSING what gives you pleasure
      and
ALLOWING yourself the time to cultivate your art.




SING your SONG...for the crickets, the birds, the squirrels, the sun
                          ...for everyone around you

And you will gift them with the beautiful lyric of a happy heart
Which is LOVING the moment
              TRILLING its pleasure
              SCAMPERING through an isle of delight
                          and
              FLOWING its LOVE to the Universe!

 


THIS is the RESONANCE of world transformation! 


 THIS is the sunshine which melts the pain.  
THIS is the music which rewrites the narrative of the heart.
 
Not the judgment...not the cries of the critics...not the anger nor the horror.
They intensify the suffering.


 
It is LOVE joyfully expressing itself that RESONATES, bringing Light to the Darkness.

 
It is the simplicity and beauty of a singing heart that makes the difference.



Where is your song?  Have you sung it today?




Marie Helena



image from christinecrook.squarespace.com

Friday, January 24, 2014

The Performance of Our Life

 












The more love we feel for ourselves, the more we allow the creative energy of the Universe to flow through us.  

Since how we see and feel about ourselves is how we see and feel about other people, feeling more love for ourselves is the most mutually 
supportive focus we can have.
                                                                                     Arnold Patent                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         


This very interesting quote reminds me of a favorite saying of mine... 

You can't give what you ain't got.
 
And it's a physical reality.

Even if we aspire to be loving toward others, we won't be able to give that loving, generous, thoughtful attention and energy  to others if we don't feel that way about ourselves.

 

And here's a big part of the reason why this is so.


There's a very popular character who tends to show up quite often in our life, perch on our shoulder and stream into our consciousness.  That character's name is the VOICE OF JUDGMENT.  

And he is a very busy fellow indeed.  He waits for us to make a misstep and then jumps right into that opening with a litany of how we have screwed up once again. 


Now the next thing I am going to say might sound strange to you. 

This character needs to be paid attention to...

but not in the way we usually do this.

Not by shrinking our self-esteem and cowering under his words.   Not that way. 

We need a DIFFERENT approach. 

We need to give this annoying voice ALL of the air time and space he needs.  Let him get it all out.  
Embrace the message.  
Literally BECOME the character...as if we are on stage and this is  
The Performance of Our Life.



When we really commit to this, an interesting thing happens.  Some PERSPECTIVE begins to enter the picture. 

While we are being "the voice of judgment" with primal passion and conviction and and living it to the nines, there is a part of us that can clearly see this character is over-the-top with his lengthy list of our wrongdoings and failures. 

And we begin to feel some compassion for this character who has lost touch with the big picture...the truly authentic picture that embraces our humanity, our occasional missteps and less than beneficial choices and that encourages us and supports us on our journey and knows us to be the beautiful, loving spirit we are.

And when we begin to see the theatrical intensity of this diva voice...it is not long before we are sending love and compassion to this character who has lost his way and is tripping over some very heavy expectations that are sourced in the opinions of others who have influenced our life.
 

But now it is WE who are making the call and We Can See far beyond the limitations and restrictions of experiencing the blame game.


And by loving this voice, embracing its expression and extending it compassion, we are truly loving ourself, filling up the bounty of our soul so that this same loving view can spill over onto others,  empowering "the creative energy of the universe to flow through us."





Marie Helena





image from digital-polyphony.com

quote by Arnold Patent courtesy of Houston Vetter, balancedlivingmagazine.com
originally published June 29, 2012

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Whoosh!

.

Balloon Blowers of the World:
(and that would be all of us at one time or another)



It seems we all have our own supply of pulsating old air circling in our emotional aura ready to help inflate an issue that's been triggered by a comment or circumstance which landed in our emotional gunnysack.


That heavy gust of emotion can make a problem look very big very fast. Once we add our emotional baggage to the issue that has just occurred (and it happens automatically), we've cooked up quite a concoction ready to explode at a second's notice.


We all carry these gunnysacks around...eve
n if they are not visible to the naked eye. They're probably the cause of all the physical backaches we have and, for sure, they're the cause of the emotional ones.

These are our unhealed hurts...the things we just sucked up...or decided to take care of "tomorrow".

Those tomorrow's and the sucking up over the years add up to a burdensome load and, unfortunately, we get more and more used to carrying them around and don't even notice they are there anymore... except for the fact that
they drain our energy and lessen our life force and erode the joy from our lives.


So here's the question I'm thinking about.

What would it take for the
emoto-balloon to go "Whoosh" and lighten those gunnysacks we are dragging around?


Here are some of my observations.


One thing I've noticed about my gunnysack is that in one particular case I had taken a very simple issue and had made it very complicated. That did it. Into the gunnysack it went and I'm not sure why. I recall at one point having a conscious intention to deal with the problem and one day the resolution suddenly seemed so simple. Guess I have to credit my celestial helpers for responding (and probably with great relief) to my determination to finally get the work done.


Another time the answer was equally simple...a shift in perspective. However, I first experienced several days of assuming the worst (truly delaying the resolution) before the shift occurred. I wonder now why I hadn't assumed the best instead.

One other practice that is totally non-productive is reliving old hurts instead of dealing with the present moment . Dwelling on “old stuff" ups the ante on distress. If there is something for us to learn from the past and I mean the role we played in the issue (for that is the only thing we are responsible for)...then we need to learn it…and move on.

One last observation. The pain WILL go away and our hurt along with it IF we first listen to the body and fully consent to experiencing the message it is physically giving us...if we don't run away but let ourselves completely feel the distress that was backlogged long ago when the initial problem first occurred and we didn't address it. At that time we were lacking the tools to deal with the issue. (The body and spirit deserve a boatload of love and gratitude for protecting us until we could do the work.)


Now, however...Look how SMART we're getting!



So, let's recap what's worked for me:


Have a conscious intention to deal
Assume the best

Learn from the past and release

Honor the body's physical messages.



Are you wishing for a "Whoosh" to lighten the load?
Go get it. It's on your radar now just waiting for you to put the pedal to the metal.


Wow! Are you getting lighter or what!





originally published May 21, 2011

Friday, January 17, 2014

When We Are Ready




The creator gathered all of creation and said,
“I want to hide something from the humans until  they are ready  for it. 
It is the realization that they create their own reality.”




The Eagle said, "Give it to me, i will take it to the moon."
The creator said, "No, one day they will go there and find it."
The salmon said, "I will bury it at the bottom of the ocean."
The creator said, "No, they will go there, too."
The buffalo said, "I will bury it on the great plains."
The creator said, "No, they will cut the skin of the Earth and find it even there.”
Grandmother mole, who lives in the breast of Mother earth and who has no physical eyes but sees with spiritual eyes, said, “Put it inside of them.
And the creator said, “It is done!”



Sioux Creation Story
by Metta




I am so excited to share this story with you.  I found it this morning in my email posted by a friend and it touched my heart so deeply.

These few, brief words give us a significant lesson about life:


The  purpose of our earth journey is to discover that we are magnificent beings with the ability to CREATE our own adventures and experiences.

We
CHOOSE what we want to believe and those beliefs affect our feelings and emotions.  Those same feelings and emotions are then reflected back to us in the people and circumstances which populate our lives.


The realization of this comes when we are ready...when we have asked ourselves important questions...when we are able to view our lives as observers full of curiosity and wonder...when we look into our own hearts for answers. 


At the end of this pilgrimage lies this
DISCOVERY

And this discovery empowers us to experience life not as victims...but as creators.  

We share this Divine gift which waits for our perception.  It is a beautiful flower, waiting to open and bring us joy.

Cultivate your "garden"...
water your curiosity...
listen to your heart...
feel the rhythm of the universe...

and you will find yourself right in the midst of  this breathtaking bequest.




Marie Helena






originally published August 14, 2011

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

The Lamplighter




A chassid is a LAMPLIGHTER. The lamplighter walks the streets carrying a flame at the end of a pole. He knows that the flame is not his. And he goes from lamp to lamp to set them alight.

Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak



The chassid or Lamplighter is the image of a historical figure which tells the story of our path to spirituality.  What would inspire someone to metaphorically "walk the streets" in search of lamps to light?

The answer to this lies in our own awareness of Who We Truly Are.  

When we recognize that it is Divine LOVE which defines us, the LOVE that patiently sustains us through the many experiences of duality in earth school...

when we come to see and know this in ourselves, 

we begin to sense and see it EVERYWHERE...in EVERYONEWe are fascinated with the incandescent beauty of this truth and moved to help everyone recognize the radiance of their soul.

The lamplighter's flame is the AWARENESS of the ENERGY of the LOVE of the 
Divine UniverseAnd his mission is to help each person he interacts with recognize the evidence of this beauty in himself.


                                                                                                                 

Marie Helena



 image from aggieballer.com




Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Mosaic



If you can keep yourself sensitive and fragile, intuitive and connected...if you can live in this beautiful state of GIFT, the Universe will no longer need to reharmonize your life.

Helena Sanches da Silva





Although our life in earth school is filled with countless challenges and "adventures" that test our courage and tenacity. we are meant to ultimately find our way to the profound simplicity of CONNECTION.

CONNECTION with our hearts that brings us a truly authentic life in which we honor ourselves and bravely speak our truth... 
 

CONNECTION with the hearts of others, even though they may be blocking these messages because of unresolved hurt and pain...

CONNECTION with the mystery and messages of nature, her verdant offerings and her noble and resplendent creatures...
 

CONNECTION with the Divine Universe of LOVE which authors all things and creates for us whatever we can imagine and desire.
                                                             
  When we succeed in aligning ourselves with this magnificent MOSAIC...when we know that EVERYTHING exists to help us become stronger, happier and more loving...life becomes for us

  
a continual unfolding of grace informing and guiding every moment of our lives.
                                                                                                                                                                                                         

                                                           Marie Helena

top image from Fantastic-Fractals.com.                                                                       

bird image from weheartit.com



        

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Aikido: Dancing with the Universe!

    

Morihei Ueshiba (植芝 盛平, December 14, 1883 – April 26, 1969) was a famous martial artist and founder of the Japanese martial art of aikido.


Aikido is the way of love and harmony.  Its philosophy is that It is better to defuse a tense situation and to avoid combat than to enter combat and win.


The amazing, intuitive art of Aikido has many spiritual applications.   


Dancing with an oncoming energy...blending with it...is a most beautiful and powerful path to achieving peace and resolution.  

As Eri Azawa says, "Someone aligned with the will of the Universe/God has no weaknesses."

Whatever enters your life...any difficulty, pain or distress... know that it is a force for your upliftment.  Recognize its beauty...its unfolding grace...and embrace the Gift 



Azawa says:

Relax completely. Relax vibrantly, such that you are filled with energy but yet have no tense muscles.

Have a relaxed yet alert attitude and mind and a relaxed yet alert body.


Relaxation allows energy to flow freely through the body.   If you relax vibrantly, you are automatically refilled with energy.

Move WITH and WITHIN  the energy; do not try to control the energy.
This focus makes a person invincible.


True spirituality is the way of  LOVE.  Let love lead you through your difficulties.  Meet them with joy and confidence and this effort will break you out of difficult holds. 


According to Azawa, the formula is profoundly simple...

Unify mind and body. Mind sets the tone; the body responds.  Energy links all the parts together.  Unify spirituality with all aspects of your life as a cohesive, unified whole:  mind, body, actions, thoughts.  Together they can do amazing things.


 
We have been given all that we need to navigate what life presents to us.
The path is clear.  



Embrace the darkness when it appears 

and you will find the Light.
 
Dance with the Universe!




 Marie Helena




image from forums.penny-arcade.com


Friday, January 3, 2014

I Got You, Babe




In 1965 the #1 single by the American pop music duo Sonny and Cher was  
"I Got You, Babe" 



Sonny Bono, songwriter and record producer, wrote the lyrics and composed the music for the hit.   

As I run the melody of the song through my memory, there is something about the title that carries a special impact...the words..."I got you".    



And here's why.

If we take the meaning of "I got you" to be:  
  
I hear you,
I understand you,
I know how you feel,                                                                           
      (and this is MOST important)
I HONOR you with all the energy I have IN THIS MOMENT...


Then,

We have given someone a most beautiful and elegant soul embrace.


In effect, we are saying...

I know who you are...
I see how you feel...
I "get" what you need to feel safe and loved...

AND I AM HERE FOR YOU.



If we can stay centered in our own truth and journey of growth...
If we can see past the details of our own existence...

We can turn our attention and awareness to what is going on around us...   
        to the joy and pain, the adventures and struggles of others.


And when we really SEE their souls and appreciate them, the experiences that have shaped them...the ways they have chosen to express themselves...


Then, we, llike Sonny Bono, compose the music with our hearts
in a simple but very loving refrain...I Got You, Babe.    

                                                                  


                                                                       Marie Helena





top image from www.bluelightlady.com