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Saturday, January 29, 2022

The Birth of an Addiction







Addiction is an attempt to relive the past.

               Ken Porter


Some of the moments we experience in our lives are breathless in their reach.
  They satisfy a core longingmask a painful pictureor fill a pressing need and they can be intoxicating to the soul.  Often we see them as a pinnacle...an epic event in our lives and we refuse to emotionally separate ourselves from them.  We become attached to the feelings we have experienced and, because of that attachment, we consign ourselves to their remembrance. And our emotional memory of the event becomes a default during times of stress...and, eventually, births an addiction.


But it is impossible...and unwise...to continue to  try to re-experience events exactly as they occurred because we are NOT the same individuals who experienced those original moments.  We are constantly reinventing ourselves, reacting and responding to new stimuli, developing new perceptions and insights...and, hopefully, growing stronger and wiser.  We are encountering opportunity after opportunity...blocks building one upon the other…all available to us for our consideration.


If we persist in our attachment to past moments and become addicted to reliving their significance, we pass by magnificent opportunities appearing in our lives, offering us new adventures and experiences designed to help us grow even more.


What could becthe source of this addictive behavior?  What is it that might prevent us from experiencing each moment in our lives as an original scenario...one in which we are focused, alert, centered, willing and eager to address each new issue or question with clarity and compassion for ourselves and others? 


The ability to effectively deal with what is presenting itself to us in this moment depends upon whether we have steadily and consistently aspired to become the next, grandest version ofourselves and have matured through our encounters, eventually remembering the nature of Who We Truly Are.  Once we have reached that remembrance, we naturally move toward expressing our loving response within every circumstance we encounter.


This is a worthy and amazing challenge...to respond originally and authentically and lovingly to every "invitation" that crosses our path.  The spiritual growth we achieve would be amazing and exponential, contributing not only to our evolution but to the evolution of all earth dwellers for everything that we do adds to the collective unconscious and becomes accessible to all.


Are you in?  Are you content to constantly replay your back story, reliving that moment of comfort or contentment...or ARE YOU READY for the starring role you have been given to be a creator and light the way for others with your original thought, tenacious exploration and curious and loving heart?


                                                          Marie Helena


image from Pinterest
The history of Bohn S Printing Pictures

Sunday, January 23, 2022

Dreamcatcher





Crazy Horse dreamed and went into the world where there is nothing but the spirits of all things. That is the real world that is behind this one, and everything we see here is something like a shadow from that one.

~ Black Elk ~




In the dream of Crazy Horse the major players are the Spirits.   They dominate the scene, connecting and collaborating with warmth and passion, expressing themselves in rich, vibrant conversation.   
Love so clearly rules here, interlacing every encounter with resplendent interest and compassion and appreciation.  There is beautiful listening and heartfelt concern. And there is a sense of lightheartedness and joy.

I see these radiant beings inhabiting the terrain of our lives.  They are the backdrop, the guidance, the inspiration for our adventures.  Always present, always ready to support, always wishing us well.  Watching, witnessing and waiting.  Though not visible to the eye, their vibration is unmistakable, inspiring us to join their formation by infusing our experiences with our own special loving radiance.  

Though we are shadow figures in the dream, we need only move into the Light of Love to take our rightful place in the celestial cavalcade. That is how close we are to Home...merely walking through the earth dream we imagined for ourselves, already possessing a shared divinity waiting to be remembered.


What if the dream of Crazy Horse were the lens through which we viewed our lives?  What if we could discern our Guiding Spirits walking, laughing, dancing among us?  Would that make it easier to join their party?  Would that help us see with new eyes and a clarity of vision that we are all residing...or in the process of returning...to the Love that rocks the universe?


                                                       Marie Helena





image from Pinterest
atrapasueรฑos dibujo - Buscar con Google | imagenes vintage ...
Dreams

Friday, January 21, 2022

The "Honor" System





Every person has his own unique and individual way of being in the world as revealed by his personality, idiosyncrasies and habits.

Some of these approaches to life mesh easily with ours.  

Some...but not all. 

And when we find ourselves encountering the approaches that are less than compatible with ours (and, sometimes, produce an ANNOYING clash) we are challenged with the issue of how to proceed.


Do we swallow our annoyance, grit our teeth and pretend to be OK?

Should we routinely "give in" or "give way" with the feeling that we wouldn't win under any circumstances anyway?

Should we have an outright confrontation about the merits of how we see things vs. the other person's point of view?


All possible ways of dealing with what feels like a disturbance in the emotions of our worldview.

There's still another approach that could shine a different light on the situation.


I call it The "Honor" System because it HONORS ANOTHER'S PROCESS.  

And it does this even when someone else's approach doesn't make much sense to us or it's not what we prefer.  

It's an honoring of what is important to them in their life...given their experiences, concerns and fears.  

It honors the place in the evolution of their lives where they reside right now...in this present moment.


And when we honor (respect, support) someone's approach to life...we convey our caring for their sense of well-being. We remove the threat of conflict for them...the threat of having someone they may need to push against in order to defend or try to prove their point of view and, instead, by standing out of the way, we empower them to see how their approach serves them...or not.


Best of all, our generous understanding will be met with gratitude and appreciation and things progress forward smoothly with everyone freed up to evaluate their own way of doing things.

The world is full of the various COLORS of expression chosen by others. When we accept and embrace this variety, we participate in The Divine Matrix which ministers to and supports EVERYONE.

Best of all, honoring others is actually honoring ourselves...honoring our higher yearning to live in a beautiful peace and harmony with our fellow earth-dwellers.


                              Marie Helena


image from mycutegraphics.com

Sunday, January 16, 2022

Altering the Chemistry of the Moment

One of the major causes of disappointment we experience in our lives is the unrealized expectation we may hold about what we want to occur.  When we are feeling anxious about what is about to happen, it is so easy to, hopefully, imagine things playing out in a way that feels comfortable and even soothing to us. Just contemplating this possibility softens our anxiety so much that we become emotionally invested in the outcome we prefer and then we become attached to it occurring in reality. And, if life intervenes (as it inevitably does) and things do not occur in the way we imagined, we feel sad, bereft, abandoned, unworthy.


It feels like our life is collapsing around us.  Everything is going wrong. There appears to be no emotional support.  But it is only the illusion we are holding that has collapsed. 


This can feel like a major upset and, sadly, we have brought it upon ourselves.  


Why do we become so attached to these expectations regarding what we want to happen in our lives? Why do we rely so intensely on a "picture" we have painted by ourselves when that picture will always be created by everyone included in the encounter?


I believe we attach to our expectation because we do not feel safe or secure enough to reveal the longings of our heart for affirmation, acceptance, validation and that is because we have experienced the pain of not having those longings filled in the past.   And now we carry the baggage of this sadness and cannot bring ourselves to trust that these longings will ever be realized.  And, lacking that trust, we do not reveal our authentic emotions, consoling ourselves instead by imagining circumstances in our ideal world that would perfectly meet our needs.  As if everyone would automatically know what would bring us joy and peace and have the energy to bring them into our lives.


The problem here is that we become obsessed with the expectation from our imagining, holding fast to this "fix" we feel we so desperately need, crowding out any possible concern for others who are involved in the drama of the moment.  


In real life we are not the only ones with needs.  All of the players in our lives also have needs but the scenario we imagine in which our longings are realized does not take those needs into account.  We are entirely focused on our pain.  We walk into the theater of our imagining expecting to see the play we "bought a ticket for" and, lo and behold, another production is playing.


We miss the vital information of how each player is being affected in this moment because our hurt, our unmet need, has clearly overridden this important aspect of the encounter.  When we find ourselves becoming attached to an expectation, it is important to extend some beautiful compassion to ourselves.  We are carrying pain and it is pain"ful”.  As we relax into the love we are showing ourselves, a new sense of empowerment begins to grow within us and we begin to experience the energy we need to help ourselves heal from the emotional pain we are suffering.  We do this by sharing the longings of our heart.  


This is a wonderful and important opportunity for us to be BRAVE and COURAGEOUS and consciously vulnerable, to change the default pattern of how we respond to the sadness of not having our needs met. When others hear us authentically express what is in our heart, 

the chemistry of the moment alters in a profound way.


There is a beautiful gift embedded in this undertaking.  When we take responsibility for finding a way to meet the longings of our heart, we feel EMPOWERED and in control of our lives.  And, from that place of power, our heart is open to hearing the needs of others and then co-creating together with them the very best way to take care of all persons involved in this moment.


To do this is to walk out of the stance of victimhood and, simultaneously, to free ourselves from the suffering we have inadvertently brought upon ourselves because we had not yet found a way to move beyond our sadness. But the answer to relieving the sadness IS in our reach. And it will take a STRONG DESIRE to heal ourselves and the BELIEF that WE ARE WORTHY of love and that others want to love us in whatever way they can based on the energy that is available to them in that moment of their lives.


There is so much we can do to move beyond the painful default reactions we carry.  Our usual go-to places.  As Alberto Villoldo suggests in his book Courageous Dreaming, become the hero of your life, daring to speak from the depths of your heart revealing your human vulnerability. You will access a loving generosity, a power beyond measure that will alter the trajectory of your life and everyone who moves within it.


                              Marie Helena


image from pinterest

Tuesday, January 11, 2022

The Lotus


“If you can see yourself as an artist, and you can see your life as your own creation, then why not create the most beautiful story for yourself?”

don Miguel Ruiz



Take a quiet journey back in time and ponder the artist palette of your childhood.  In those moments you painted the picture of your life with bold, splashy colors and magical dreams.  Everything seemed possible, just awaiting your attention.  Even though the constraints of time have moved you into more grown up circumstances, the vibrancy and joy of your innocence still see so clearly the beautiful spirit you are.


Perhaps your image has been dusted with weariness or tarnished with unresolved pain.  But the child/spirit/artist in you knows your beauty and worth. 


So bring that sense of adventure and vibrancy into your story.  Make something beautiful in your imagination.  Visualize the exquisite LOTUS, a symbol of rebirth and transformation which blooms perfectly pristine even from the murkiest of waters.


YOU are the radiant lotus emerging so brilliantly from the complications and adversity of the world.  


                                     Marie Helena



“Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.”

                           Henry Ward Beecher



Lotus image from pinterest

Friday, January 7, 2022

Dolce Far Niente


In the midst of the holiday season when so many preparations are being made…Christmas trees bedazzled with shimmering lights, ingredients assembled for an array of culinary pleasures, on-line shopping planned to catch the latest sales, spotlighting of porches and roofs with illusionary reindeer…

In the midst of all of this, does it seem strange that I would wish you Dolce Far Niente... 

The Sweetness of Doing Absolutely Nothing!

And yet, what more perfect time to just BE in the midst of all of these treasures?

Time moves so quickly now as we hasten to finish our self-appointed tasks for the holidays and, if we don’t pause to take in the ambiance and flavor and spirit of these moments, they will be gone before we know it. We will be left with crumbled Christmas wrappings to clean up, dishes to wash from the fabulous dinner we have prepared and an exhausted body for our reward. 

So let’s imagine another dimension to our celebration.


I invite you (and myself as a reminder as I write this), to not miss a single breath of this breathtaking season. To allow the brilliant red poinsettias to nourish and sustain us with their glorious color and powerful presence. To honor the trees populating our landscape outside as they abide winter’s passing and keep their spring secrets warm inside their roots for us. To enjoy the delicately flavored herbal tea and gingerbread one sip and one small and succulent bite at a time as delicate snowflakes descend outside our windows. To watch the faces of the young and young-at-heart as they embrace the magic of families gathering and the waves of joy layering the room as gifts expected (and surprised) are revealed.

Let us all fully embrace the beauty of this season, honor its festive and joyous rhythm and reverence the  MAGNIFICENT MOMENTS  being given to us!


                                Marie Helena                                                                                             


For our experience to feel whole, our body must be allowed to permeate our experience, BE our experience, entirely. And our awareness must be released from living in our heads and allowed to flow into EVERYTHING.

Meredith Murphy

EXPECT WONDERFUL

Wednesday, January 5, 2022

Attraversiamo




The Italians have a beautiful word which translates as "crossing over"

...Attraversiamo.  




To me it means moving through 
and moving on.

As I looked through some interesting comments I have saved from my readings, I came across some lovely impressions of how this process happens.
 
Lauren Gorgo tells us that 
"we are not here to own or hold experiences but to fluidly move thru them so as to continually embrace the next experience...and the next, and the next."
 
When I attempt to visualize the  process  Lauren describes the scene I see is filled with gently moving images that are translucent...they are effortlessly transforming into new images (read experiences).  The feeling is one of lightness and the most beautiful energy vibrating joyfully.

According to Lauren Gorgo this is Conscious Co-Creation and it means to live in the moment and create the next moment from the moment that preceded it.
 

As I reflect on this picture I see that  LIFE looks very purposeful.  Every experience we have holds the gift of a sacred lesson which anchors the next step in our spiritual evolution.
 

Does this image of moving pictures seem difficult to engage...to stop fixating on or obsessing over our experiences...especially the ones that feel difficult, uncomfortable or painful and move instead into the on-going  grace of transformation?
 
 
Here are some words of encouragement I feel are especially inspiring to help us develop this approach to life.  They describe a gentle process, a habit we can cultivate that will facilitate this spiritual exercise. 

I do not have the author's name recorded in my notes but the tone of the message sounds a lot like the words I read from Meredith Murphy's Expect Wonderful and I share it with you in the hopes that it will spark your motivation and, oh, so gently touch your heart:
 
Continually allowing myself to let go of things without resistance just opens up ease and makes life so happy.

I let things come into my life.  I let them go.  I stop trying to control this or take it personally.  I just am.  Amazing.  So simple, isn't it?

 Can you SIMPLIFY the moments of your life?



                                                                                     Marie Helena

image from art-saloon.run