soul
The Truth About ‘Twin Flames’
If you are confused about the spiritual concept of ‘twin flames’ and ‘soulmates,’ you’re not alone. Perhaps, I can shed some light on this very misunderstood subject.
I could never have understood or imagined it myself either, until I found myself going through the ‘madness’ myself, over 20 years ago. If you have never gone through a so-called twin flame experience, you won’t understand it. It’s a romantic connection like no other! But the biggest lesson I learned for it is that it is also no reason to stay in a toxic relationship.
My twin flame relationship was highly important to me, regardless of it being a one-way street. I meant so much to me that I ended up travelling to Mumbai, India, to obtain advice and assistance from a highly skilled gurugi (spiritual teacher). I was convinced that she could fix things for me, since my relationship was surely ‘meant to be.’
The feelings were so intense, for me, anyway. And, I was convinced that my beloved’s feelings for me were of the same exquisite level. In fact, I had no idea or any way of gauging otherwise. The ultimate fantasy, right!
Further, I thought that it was up to me to heal this person that had captured my heart. It seemed to me the more painful the relationship was, the more healing I had to do for him. As a result, I carried the entire relationship energetically, and emotionally.
For example, although I had always been a passionate ‘foodie,’ I began to look anorexic, as I continued on this healing mission for him. I was eating plenty of good food all the time, but I realize now that I was so drained, as a result of giving him so much of my energy, that it wouldn’t have mattered what, or how much I ate.
Finding The Calm Within
Be afraid. Yes, be afraid. Be so very afraid! We are currently being bombarded with this message, not only daily, but hourly. People are very worried, anxious and fearful for a variety of valid reasons. To be honest, I believe our greatest source of anxiety is that we no longer seem to have much control over our lives.
In the modern world we have become so conditioned to mindless purchasing, consuming, and discarding, that we hardly give much thought anymore to our daily habits and lifestyle choices, whether useful or not. We also expect and demand certain privileges and freedoms, and it is shocking to have our normal, everyday routines disrupted, especially when we have no idea when things will return to normal.
I feel this is actually the most frightening aspect of the current circumstances for most people. We feel that we have lost control over our lives. And every morning, we tune back into our daily update of doom, gloom and negative dialogue, which of course only resets our fright buttons!
A better way to start your day would be to take a few minutes to reconnect to the safe and secure part of yourself, namely the inner spirit. Here, all is well, all is serene, and all is safe. Become mindful of your breathing and calm your mind. Then do a visualization that creates a sense of joy, peace and serenity.
The Alcohol Demon
The physical damage caused by alcohol abuse is common knowledge. The long-term effects of alcohol consumption on the liver, pancreas, kidneys, heart, esophagus, and the lining of the stomach can be devastating. And those of us who have shared our lives with alcoholics, know of the damage it can do to relationships, children, families and careers.
But how often do we consider the spiritual implications of alcohol abuse? What really happens to the soul or spirit when we consume alcohol?
Some alcohol-related statistics are quite alarming. For example, it is said that some 700,000 people are in treatment for alcohol abuse every day. And did you know that about 40% of all auto accidents are alcohol-related? It is also estimated that 18 million Americans deal with alcohol-related health problems, and there are an estimated 10 million alcoholics just in this country.
Doing some research, I found an article in the The Costa Rica News titled, The Spiritual Consequences of Alcohol Consumption. The article explains that the English word alcohol originates from the Arabic al-kuhl, which means “body eating spirit.” It is also the origin for the English word ghoul. According to Middle Eastern folklore, a ghoul is an evil demon believed to eat human bodies.
In his book, The Mystery of the Golden Flower, the Gnostic author, Samael Aun Weor writes that alcohol “is in fact a demon or a malefic spirit when it possesses a human being; it is clear and easily demonstrable in its effects from drunkenness, to delirium tremors and madness with forms of paralysis and other hereditary defects passed down through descendants.”
My Lives Between Lives
Recently, I had the privilege of being a ‘case history’ client for a friend of mine, who had recently returned from completing a past life regression on life-between-lives. I have been fortunate enough to have had wonderful experiences with past life regression in the past, but the ‘in-between lives’ experience was something new for me, and I felt honored that she asked me to partake as one of her case studies for her course assignment.
During our session I was taken back into the past, and received imagery of previous lives. Glimpsing previous lifetimes was to help me see more clearly lessons learned, or not learned. My friend was a wonderful facilitator, as was the help received from my own master spirit guide.
In our session, I learned where my fear of fire originated from. To date, no past life reading I have received has ever touched on the origin of this fear. I have now discovered that my fear of fire relates to a more recent life, in what appeared to be approximately a century ago.
I was a male soldier in the Navy. My uniform was white, and my father, like in so many of my other past life regression experiences, played a significant role in this life also. He was a senior staff member on that ship. I also saw the Star of David during the regression, which suggests I was of Jewish faith in that life.
That particular life experience ended for my father and I when our ship caught fire. My uniform also caught fire! I recalled the flames, and then drowning.
The Universal Law Of Karma
Karma is a universal spiritual law, the same way that gravity is a law of nature or physics. The Law of Karma basically states that ‘as you sow, shall you reap.’ Karma is therefore the spiritual principle of ‘cause and effect.’ For every action there is an equal reaction, or ripple effect.
Karma is also what keeps everything in the Universe in balance. The Chinese symbol of Yin and Yang perfectly illustrates this process of ‘karmic balancing.’ It shows how all the positive and negative forces in the universe balance each other out, because karma equalizes the energy that flows through everything.
Every single action that we take in life is therefore like a spiritual seed we plant. Some of the seeds will sprout quickly, while others may take lifetimes to come to fruition. However long it may take, one thing is for sure, in time every seed we sow will germinate… and we will eventually have to face the result of all our actions and choices.
Karma is therefore an endless chain of actions and reactions, which binds every soul to their good and bad deeds. The soul, born into a physical body, is constantly acting to bring about the results of activity from one life to the next. We choose to act in a certain way, and then become involved with the reactions or consequences of each chosen action.
After giving up one physical body, we eventually enter into another, and we mostly forget everything about that previous life. In this way the soul reaps the results of his actions, from lifetime to lifetime. Everything that happens in our lives is nothing but the reaction of past activities.
Guidelines For Spiritual Growth
Spirituality is a wide-ranging concept with many diverse perspectives. In essence it is the process through which our inner being seeks to relate to something bigger than ourselves. It is the search for the meaning and purpose of our human existence. Spirituality is about our soul or spirit, and the unseen realms, as opposed to material things and physical life. It is also the life-long pursuit of inner peace, unconditional love, and existential wisdom and understanding.
Many people believe that the secret to spiritual growth and development can only be found in a book, a lecture, dogmatic belief system, or some other product or service that will magically unlock the doors to spiritual insight, happiness, joy and fulfillment. However, spirituality is a unique, personal path that each of us can explore on our own, from within. The following guidelines may be helpful on your journey towards spiritual fulfillment.
Reflection
The first step in personal spiritual growth is reflecting on your life journey. To be spiritual is to be questioning and inquisitive. Spiritual growth is a process of constantly learning and improving. One must be willing to open yourself to personal and spiritual growth, and by doing this your world opens up and things become less scary.
Holding on to past events keeps us from experiencing new adventures, and the emotional baggage will only weigh you down. Accept your past mistakes and learn from them. Reflect on what changes need to happen for you to move forward.
We are all teachers. We are either teaching someone, or they are teaching us – both good and bad. Learn from your experiences and move on with life.
Spiritual Courage
When most of us hear the word courage, certain ideas come to mind of going beyond our normal range of responses to life, or beyond our perceived comfort zone. We may think of courage as standing up to a bully, or taking a risk in life, or leaping forward in blind faith.
Not only are we treading into new territory when we engage courage, but we are leaving behind an old pattern or belief system that has prevented us from stepping beyond what we have feared most. To be courageous and to step beyond our fears, we need to be willing to succeed, or fail.
Failure to most people means not meeting a goal. But what if failure also means to remain stagnant? When we look at courage to help us break free of limiting circumstances or beliefs, it becomes easier to be courageous, because we see that not being courageous has only kept us trapped in repeat cycles. Furthermore, to varying degrees, it often causes unhappiness in an area of our life.
I had a male friend who looked much younger than his age, and always looked happy. When I asked him what his secret was, he simply replied, “Courage.” He said he would do something to scare the pants off himself at least once a month! I laughed, but saw the point he was making.
He loved being in nature. He would ski off huge cliffs, go skydiving, and participated in many other activities that take guts to do. My friend is on the Other Side now, but he visits me often with his message of courage.