beliefs
The Gossip Jury
In letting something into your life you have to understand its value. This is the same with advice, or with people you get involved with. This also means when you have the ability to listen into someone’s life, you have an opinion, but it does not necessarily equate the truth.
In turning people on or off, you can count on one thing: hurt feelings… no matter how much harm they have done to you, or how much harm you have done to them. In a world where technology has empowered us to feel that have the ability to listen into others thoughts, let’s take a moment to truly listen to their feelings, or feel with them.
We do not need to be sociopaths through the ability to listen in and gossip. The power may be intoxicating for those that do so, but the control is false, and their needs exaggerated and self-centered. After all, they regurgitate just one point of view. And these poor listeners never tell you how they are doing… they only regurgitate what they think you are doing, as a form of entertainment, because they are feeling out of control.
The Chakras – Our Windows To The World
‘Chakra’ is an ancient Sanskrit word meaning wheel, cycle and circle. Sanskrit is said to be a language of universal sound, meaning that each word has an intentional vibration that connects us to the Universe and the wisdom it holds.
The Chakras are spinning vortices (wheels or circles) of energy located on either side of the spine and positioned in different locations, from the tailbone up to the crown of the head. They are each associated with certain glands in the endocrine system, as well as other aspects of our physical body. They are not of the physical body, but are an integral part of our physical experience. It is through these energy centers that the life energy of our physical body is sustained.
Why are the Chakras important to us? They are a map of our inner being, our relationship to ourselves and how we experience life and the world around us. Life is energy. The same energy that flows through all of Creation, also flows through us. The Chakras interact with this Universal Life Force and animate the various aspects of our life, from the universal, through the individual and into the earth, then back again. Continue reading
Healing Through Radical Self-Forgiveness
There’s no getting around the fact that we’re our own worst critics. There has been much written on the subject of forgiving others, but what about forgiving ourselves? This is the first and most crucial step to real, lasting, healthy self-love.
The roots of the pain many of us feel are guilt and shame – the knowledge that we have wronged or hurt someone else, and the lasting fallout resulting in self-harm. Guilt is sometimes a catalyst to change behavior, but shame often comes with long-term effects, such as negative thinking patterns, self-harming behavior such as addiction, depression or anxiety, and self-sabotage.
Over long periods shame is like a poison in our bloodstream which touches every aspect of our lives. But it doesn’t have to last! There is a healthy way to overcome the legacies of shame and guilt, and it all starts with compassion.
Needing The Love Of A Spiritual Teacher
The love of a spiritual teacher is not human love and this is often misunderstood in our Western culture. Many people are drawn to spirituality because they are profoundly lonely. For those looking for the love of a teacher, you can count on that loneliness to be a profoundly unconscious desire to be connected to the Self and to Spirit.
On a dangerous note, this is how cult leaders thrive, by preying on those who don’t realize they are seeking spiritual love, and by offering a manipulative human love. Human love can never fill the gaping hole, and because cult leaders tend to be sociopaths, it can take years for cult followers to wake up. By then there will be a great deal of damage control needed in order to heal.
Meditation Is For Everyone
Meditation is a wonderful technique to reduce stress. It is commonly used with the aim of reducing anxiety, stress and depression. Reducing stress has the potential to improve your quality of life. It’s believed to improve health and that reduces healthcare costs.
Meditation is basically a spiritual practice to focus the mind on a object, activity or thought. The goal is to achieve a clear, calm and relaxed state. Meditation involves a state of awareness in which the stress activity of the mind is neutralized.
Meditation has been practiced for thousands of years in religious traditions and spiritual belief systems. Since the 19th century, it has spread from its mostly Eastern origins to other cultures, where it is practiced today in both personal and professional settings. Meditation is not a form or prayer. Meditation is awareness. Awareness is meditation.
A Sense of Calm – A Message From My Guides
Sometimes the emotional charge of something as simple as a misunderstood comment, or a statement taken out of context, can throw even the most level-headed person into a tailspin. Developing a general demeanor of good humor can assist you in dealing with some of these most difficult, embarrassing or awkward situations encountered in life.
Everyone handles things differently, doing the best they can with the information they have at the time. Although, generally, the goal is to come to a better understanding and reach common ground, sometimes this takes much more time, effort and compromise than expected.
Although it is important to resolve an issue and clear the air, if possible, it is equally important to put each issue into context. Years from the date of the affront, will the issue be remembered at all and, if so, will it have anywhere near the importance that it did at the time? Certain issues will never be forgotten, however, they can often be forgiven for the sake of all parties involved.
We Are All Equally Spiritual
There is so much terminology and discussion about what it means to be ‘spiritual.’ There are both religious and other esoteric practices that people use, and entire languages developed around spirituality. While I personally believe that much of this is good, it can also often lead to things like elitism and greater polarization of people and groups.
So, the question today is: what does it mean to be spiritual? The answer is far simpler than some might believe, simply because of the original meaning of the term ‘spirit.’
In the Western world much of our religious tradition comes from Greek or Hebrew esoteric writings. In Greek the term for spirit is pneuma, and in Hebrew it is ruach. These are transliterations of the original words.