Tag Archives: Spiritual Journey

THE SPIRITUAL TREASURE OF MOVING ON

Posted on September 28, 2011 | 6 comments

“How do geese know when to fly to the sun?  Who tells them the seasons?  How do we humans know when it is time to move on?  With the migrant birds, so surely with us, there is a voice within if only we would listen to it, that tells us certainly when to go forth into the unknown.” Elisabeth Kubler Ross

Letting Go and Moving On

The first red and yellow leaves of autumn fall in my yard, and it begins: the dropping away of what is not needed, the extraneous, the extra weight of burdens, the sadness we kept hidden while the light of the summer sun lured us into denial.  Tears surface for no apparent reason, feeling like toxic waste that our cells and minds have finally released.  Autumn reminds us that in our own lives, it is the season to let go and move on.

The towering oaks shed their acorns, and the squirrels, filled with delight, fly from tree to tree like circus acrobats on speed and gorge on the nuts, becoming plump.  Some things will die, while others come alive, gathering the rich harvests before the first freeze like the bears preparing for their winter hibernation.  The Spirit in all of nature whispers guidance for this transition, where to find the best blueberries or the best migratory path to warmer lands.

Choosing Wise Paths

That voice whispers to us as well.  Walking in the forest after several days of rain, I turn my face to the patches of sunshine filtering through the trees, drinking it in as if it were water in a desert.  My friend and I start to take a different hiking path and have no idea where it will take us.  We have to be home at a certain time, but when the trail starts to curve away from the stream we know will lead us back to our car, a quiet voice inside whispers.  We reluctantly turn back, agreeing we will explore this path another time.

During autumn, here in the Appalachians, the variety of color and the length of time it lasts, gently and sensually eases us into the introversion of winter.  It gives us time to think about where we need to go in our migration through life.  It gives us time to explore what changes we need to make and what habits, thoughts, or attachments we need to release. We are gently reminded there are some things we cannot control.  Change is inevitable.  Parts of our lives will fall away. But deep inside there is a voice that will tell us when to let go.

Spiritual Gifts of Accepting Change

Now in the autumn of my days, I have learned to quiet my mind and listen to that voice.  I love the richness of this time.  Like autumn shedding her leaves, I must shed some attitudes.  If I expect my body to perform as it did twenty years ago, I will incur injury; yet, by scaling back the intensity of the activity, I can do almost everything I used to enjoy.  I can be the squirrel running up and around the tree if not the squirrel flying from branch to branch.

Just like the beauty of autumn leaves, being willing to transform and move into a new mind-set, relationship or job, even if they are not what we envisioned, can bring beauty and wisdom to our lives.  Without the change of seasons we live a boring existence.  We would become so attached to our limited ideas of what a life can be that we would never move on and venture into the unknown where treasures we cannot even imagine lay buried, waiting for us to unearth them and become transformed.

As the cool breezes blow and the brilliant autumn sun shines through the branches of the trees it is time for us to reevaluate our lives.  Where do we need to be in our own hearts and minds when winter arrives?  What path do we need to take on our journey to reach an abundant and warmer land?

As a reader, what topics would you like for me to write about?  What issues concern you?  I appreciate so much the comments you all share, so let me know how I can be more helpful to you.  You may leave your suggestions in the comment box.

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

Related Readings: How to Let Go of Negative Feelings – Abraham Hicks (video), Graceful Exits: Knowing When to Move On, Moving Through Change

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AWAKENING TO WHO YOU ARE

Posted on September 21, 2011 | 3 comments

“You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition.  What you’ll discover will be wonderful.  What you’ll discover is yourself.”  Alan Alda

How do you define yourself?  Do you think of yourself first as a man or woman, as a Christian or Buddhist, as an accountant or a teacher, as a cancer survivor or as disabled person?  Who are we  beneath the appearance or the definitions we and society give us?  We are so much more.  We are infinite possibilities.

Self-Judgment

How do you let your definitions of yourself limit your life?  Were you told as a child that you weren’t very intelligent?  Did you carry that belief about yourself into adulthood?  When confronted with challenging information, are you quick to say, “Oh, that’s way over my head.  I can’t understand that sort of thing.”

We make these self-judgments in many areas of our lives.  A man I knew years ago said, “I don’t know how to have a successful relationship.  I’ve failed at every one I’ve attempted.”  Like so many people, he was afraid to try one more time, unable to see that he had learned from every relationship he had.  He judged the end result of each experience rather than valuing the gifts of the journey.

We set these standards for ourselves and if the outcome of an experience doesn’t fit our vision of it, we choose to see that as failure.  At some point, we may give up, feeling we are simply inadequate, rather than choosing to explore new possibilities in relationships, job, or life styles.  We forget that we are always evolving, always capable of learning and changing.  The negative definitions, that we and others give us, distort who we think we are.

The Mistake of Choosing Ego Over Being

 Eckhart Tolle in A New Earth states, “…when you are so identified with the voice in your head and the emotions that accompany it that you lose yourself in every thought and emotion, then you are totally identified with form (things, body) and therefore in the grip of ego….Ego arises when your sense of Beingness of “I Am,” which is formless consciousness, gets mixed up with form.  This is the meaning of identification.  This is the forgetfulness of Being…the illusion of absolute separateness that turns reality into a nightmare. ” (p. 54)

Releasing Judgment, Accepting Gifts of the Spiritual Journey

We must not to lose touch with our sense of “Beingness.”  It is who we really are.  It is not in the outer form that we discover who we are.  It is the inner “I Am” that is the core of who we are, our spiritual center where all our richest treasures lie.  We must stop the swirling dance of inner thoughts reminding us of our inadequacies and failures and choose a gentle dance that calms the mind.  Then we can see who we are without any definitions.

When you leave “the city of your comfort” and “step into the wilderness of your intuition,” you go beyond all definitions.  The intuition is not rational.  It is not form or ego.  We step into a field where the labels of this physical existence have no meaning.  There, we can find the freedom to release from our lives whatever restrictive definitions limit our growth and listen for the wisdom of Spirit within.  Unattached to ego, we surrender to the natural “wildness” of spiritual life, to the acceptance that all that matters is that we know we are worthy and part of something deeper than the physical.  As we strip away our attachment to the thought forms that tell us we are not good enough, we accept our natural spiritual state, knowing that all experiences are lessons from which we may learn.  It is not about failing or succeeding in life.  The spiritual journey is about being open to learning, and Spirit is not keeping score.

How have you discovered who you really are?

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

Related Sites:  Eckhart Tolle:  Being Judgmental, You Are Not Your Mind

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THE SPIRITUAL QUILT OF LIFE

Posted on July 27, 2011 | 1 comment

Designing Our Life Quilts

When I look at the quilt my grandmother left me, I see a patchwork design.  Each piece represents a fragment of her life story and contributes to the overall pattern.  Like the pattern created on a quilt, the patterns of our lives and spiritual journeys may include remnants of varied experiences coming together to create unique designs.

Each of us, with our individual talents, ideas, and perspectives creates a patchwork that we call life.  Some people form designs and patterns that are static, others that are whimsical and constantly changing.  As we grow through the years, we incorporate the lessons we learn from experience, reworking and adapting the design of our lives to accommodate our new needs.

Creating Our Own Belief System

Some quilts are based on traditional designs passed down through generations, while others are designed as individual artistic expressions based on the quilter’s personal choices.  Much like traditional quilters, some of us choose the traditional spiritual path to follow the dogma of an organized religion, a pattern created long ago by others as a beneficial path.  Others of us choose to follow an eclectic journey, searching many spiritual disciplines for insight on how to live a better life, thereby creating a highly individual spiritual belief system.

I have chosen an eclectic journey, collecting spiritual remnants from a wide variety of disciplines and shaping them into the design for a spiritual quilt that reflects who I truly am.  As each new idea enters my life, I study it, practice it and observe the result.  Did it help me move toward peace or wholeness or joy?  Did it add to the fabric of my life a dynamic new element?  Did it expand my spiritual views?  Did it awaken and warm my soul?  If the answer is yes, the idea becomes a part of the design.

A Turning Point In My Spiritual Awakening

About twenty-five years ago, I reached a major turning point.  I had explored Buddhism and learned to meditate.  I had learned that the source of my negative thoughts and emotions was fear, and I learned a mental technique to release it, but something was still missing.  Being a very emotional person, I still needed to learn how to manage my emotions more effectively.

I joined a Unity Church of Practical Christianity and one day I heard, “Your thoughts create your emotions.”  I thought, “That can’t be right.  My emotions are what cause me to think positively or negatively.”  I’m sure I had been exposed to this idea before, but somehow I had never really heard the words.

For days, “Your thoughts create your emotions” echoed in my mind.  What if that were really true?  About the same time, I began to learn about affirmations as a way of manifesting positive people and experiences into my life.  Slowly, I began to put it all together.  I would have a negative thought and anger or sadness would immediately appear.  I would use the technique I knew to release the fear beneath the emotion, and a moment of peace would appear.

With time, I added another useful piece to this pattern.  I felt peaceful for a moment, and then I filled the space with a positive statement, such as “I am a peaceful person.  Only good comes to me and only good flows from me.”  As time went by, I used more specific affirmations and created positive feelings to support my positive words.  The channel Abraham would say I raised my vibration.

Adapting Our Spirituality to Life

By this time, the basic design of my spiritual quilt had taken form:  meditation, releasing fear, affirmations, and focusing on positive emotions.  Over the years, I’ve added more color and width to the design, adding intricate stitches that connect all the pieces or that give it a flair that is uniquely mine.  Although the design of my spiritual quilt will never be complete, I share it with friends and readers.  In case I find another spiritual truth to expand its design, I always keep some open space around the edges

There is no right or wrong design, no better or worse design for our spiritual quilt.  Whatever warms your soul and the souls around you is the blessed path.  Only you know what that is.

What are the pieces that create your spiritual quilt and how does it warm you?

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

Related Sources: Resources for Spiritual Journeys 

Oprah’s Best Week of Your Life: Finding Your Spiritual Path

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ENLIGHTENMENT: A GOAL OR A GIFT

Posted on May 18, 2011 | 4 comments

Awakening to the Journey

I recently read in Oneness by Rasha, “The process of awakening is not one in which a definitive threshold is crossed and one is then enlightened, transformed, or ascended.  There is much backsliding to be expected on this journey….Your own preoccupation with the concept of completion will keepthat state of attainment ever elusive.” (p. 92)

Over the years I have known people whose life goal was to reach enlightenment.  For a long time I assumed there was possibly a path mapped out in Eastern religion that would lead one to that goal.  I never explored Hinduism or its relatives, but when I began to experience Buddhism, I found meditation so challenging that I decided there was no point to set enlightenment as a goal because it was unattainable in my lifetime.  If it happened, it happened.  Setting enlightenment as a goal seemed self defeating.

 The Ego Loves Spiritual Goals

When I first read the Oneness passage above, it really resonated with me.  A friend and I had a conversation on this topic.  He wanted to attain enlightenment
in this lifetime.  I said that I felt making enlightenment a life goal was an ego response.  It was the ego that wanted to brag about being enlightened, but that true enlightenment just happens.  When we become attached to doing good so that we will become enlightened, we are not being authentic.  Again, we are not acting from the heart, but to fulfill a goal created by ego.

Living authentically from the heart will take us to a place beyond ego.  We will help others because we truly care about them, not because it impresses them.  We will release judgment toward ourselves and others, embrace our backsliding and learn from it how to live more consciously.  We will understand that the journey is endless.  What matters is not the imaginary end but how we experience the process.

 Respect Each Person’s Spiritual Journey

Each journey is unique, and we create it by the choices we make each day.  Each of us awakens at our own pace. The reason I use the word “awakening” as part of the title in this blog is that the first step to any growth is to awaken or become aware. Whatever wisdom has awakened within me over the years has appeared when I least expect it.  Often as I search for an understanding of one mystery, the answer to another emerges. Just when I start feeling that I’ve reached a point of healing about an issue, the pain or grief may erupt more powerfully than ever.  What I know is that this is individual and unpredictable and that it is a gift, no matter how painful it may be.

However, who am I to say that it isn’t good for my friend to choose enlightenment for a goal?  Perhaps that is exactly what he needs to do in order to learn his karmic lessons.  But my goal is still not enlightenment.  I need to keep things simple and just live each day as consciously as I can. I want to treat myself and others with respect, to offer help when I can, and to create activities that stimulate the joy within me so that it will spill over to others.  A spiritual teacher of mine used to say our purpose on this earth is to expand our energy and to do that we need to experience love and joy.  When we are able to do that, we are enlightened.

How do you see enlightenment?  What do you think about Rasha’s comment on
enlightenment?  © 2011 Georganne Spruce

Related posts are “Diving Deeper” and my first experience with Chakra Balancing, “My First Time”

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BEING THE RIGHT ONE, Part 3, Meditation

Posted on April 27, 2011 | 2 comments

Using Meditation to Find Your Inner Self

In order to be “the right one”, rather than looking for completion outside ourselves, we must be in touch with our inner selves.  However, during most of the day, our focus is on the outer, the daily routine of our lives, and our minds are concerned with working, solving problems, shopping and running errands.  The chaos and noise of the outer world and our active minds distract us from being in touch with our inner selves. 

Over the years, I have learned to integrate my spiritual and material lives so that, for the most part, I am at least marginally in touch with my center most of the time.  As problems arise, I stop and turn inward for a moment, observe and evaluate my options.  It has taken many years to reach this point and the practice that has made this possible is meditation.  Years ago when most of my friends practiced Transcendental Meditation, I was drawn to Buddhism and began the sitting practice of zazen.  Now I’ve created my own version of a meditative practice.  It doesn’t matter what form of meditation we use.  Any form will put us more in touch with our spiritual selves.

Meditation Takes Us Beyond Ego

Perhaps the most valuable aspect of meditation is that it takes us beyond our egos.  When we are caught up in the turmoil or pressure of everyday life, our egos are often fully engaged.  We are concerned with how we do our jobs or who will get the promotion or be laid off.  Parents worry about their skills as parents.  Are they doing the right thing about their children’s problems?  Why is this friend or partner being distant?  Don’t they like us anymore?  Did we do something wrong?

As Eckhart Tolle points out in A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, “…almost everyone carries in his or her energy field an accumulation of old emotional pain, which I call ‘the pain-body.” (p. 140) He goes on to explain how negative emotions feed the pain-body and make the ego more powerful.  The only way to combat this is to be present so our egos don’t control us.  With regular meditative practice, we can be present, an observer in our own lives, operating from our peaceful center and unobstructed by the needs of the ego.

 Meditation Supports Spiritual Awakening

Meditation takes us to a place deeper than ego where we are able to release our attachments to the concerns of the day and our emotional pain.  This place is sweetly quiet, a place empty of conflict where we learn to observe our thoughts and emotions and release them without judging or attaching to them.  In this holy place within, we become an empty vessel and create a space where Spirit can visit and provide us with deeper insights.  In this peaceful place, all is well and joy flourishes.

Once we are able to find this peaceful center and commit to experiencing it on a regular basis, the inner balance this creates spills over into our daily lives.  We learn to identify those moments when we are about to turn an incident into a major drama and are able to choose not to.  We notice that we are being caught up in the fear that something negative might happen, and we choose instead to envision the event turning out positively.  Instead of panicking because we don’t know how to solve a problem, we are able to sit quietly and wait for the mind to clear.   

Knowing we can choose to experience our challenges with a positive or neutral attitude gives us more power over our lives.  Knowing we have a center that is peaceful and connects us with the Infinite Mind gives us a beautiful security.  In this place of inner joy, we are healthy, whole, and complete.  Having access to our inner selves, we know we will always have the capacity to be “the right one” in our own lives.         © 2011 Georganne Spruce

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BEING THE RIGHT ONE

Posted on April 14, 2011 | 4 comments

“As we grow in consciousness, we discover it is more important to be the right person than to find the right person.” Ken Keyes, Jr.

How many times have you said, “If only I had the right___.”  We can fill in the blank with any of the following:  the right partner, the right dress, the right friend, the right job, the right house or the right degree.  Actually the list is endless.  What we are really saying is that we believe something outside of us is magical enough to fix what is not right within us.  If we are not at peace with the interior, the exterior will never be acceptable.

When I found the house where I now live, I chose it for many reasons.  It has beautiful hardwood floors, it’s one level, it has lots of trees around it, and it’s in a quiet neighborhood.  But the main reason I chose it was that when I walked in the front door, it felt like my center.  The energy felt like my peaceful energy when I’m meditating.  A feeling of happiness and thankfulness filled my heart.  The energy of the house’s interior matched the energy of my interior at its best.  I wanted a house where I could come home from the trials of the world and find life there – a place of healing, regeneration, and celebration that matched the best part of me.

Too often we focus on what is out there, and time after time we are disappointed.  Husbands, parents, bosses, friends just don’t live up to our expectations.  The problem isn’t with others; the problem is within.  When we are the right persons, we fill up our own emptiness.  We find the courage to make the decisions that will make us happy. 

One time when I lived in New Mexico, I was complaining about everything that was going wrong in my life.  I said to a friend, “If I could just put together the life I want, I would be happy.”  Without missing a beat, she smiled and said, “When you’re happy, Georganne, you’ll have the life you want.”  She was right of course.  When we generate that joy within, take responsibility for being the right person in our lives, our expanded consciousness becomes a magnet for all good things.  The people we meet and the experiences we have are matches for our joy within.

This week let’s make a list of all the things we can do daily to generate joy within ourselves.  Each time a wave of joy springs up inside, notice what you’re doing or thinking that has generated this.  Please share at least one thing under comments and I’ll use your ideas in my next few posts.  Blessings!

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

 

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DANCE THE TRANSFORMATION

Posted on March 24, 2011 | 1 comment

I know transformation is a good thing.  It may not always be easy, but it always leads to something better.  However, right now, I’d like to ask the Universe to slow it down a bit.  There’s the consciousness transformation, my technological transformation, my yard’s transformation (I really need to say some affirmations about this one), and the recent transformation of my washing machine which left a puddle of water in the floor after I used it.  At least if the dog leaves a puddle, you can talk to him about it.  My washing machine has nothing to say except, “Gurgle.”

What the washer didn’t tell me was that it wasn’t spewing water out of the little hole in the back as I thought, but that the drain was stopped up. The washing machine guy couldn’t fix it so I had to call a plumber.  Unlike cosmic transformations, at least this one will stop.  When the plumber arrives, he will fix the problem.  There will be a defined moment when the machine will be usable again today or tomorrow.  I hope.

 But in the midst of the unexpected shifts that occur in cosmic and personal transformation, it’s a good idea to remember that life is a dance – usually an improvisational one.  Sometimes we travel long paths that never seem to end.  Sometimes we travel short paths that constantly loop back upon themselves and trip us up.  We may dance solo or with a partner who smoothly waltzes around the dance floor or one who, like a tango dancer without a sense of rhythm, keeps tripping over our feet. 

 What we must remember is that with an improvisation there is no intention to set choreography.  As we improvise, we are in the flow, allowing an authentic movement to carry us spontaneously through space.  At first, there may be awkward moments while we search for a movement theme that entices us to keep moving.  Then, mysteriously, we make one beautiful movement that leads so perfectly to another, and we are joyously engaged with the dance.

 I’m not opposed to planning life or dances; in fact, I accomplish much more when I plan and organize, but transformation is an improvisation I want to leave room for in my life.  No matter how stressful change can be, stagnation is not life.  Snoopy had it right.  “To live is to dance. To dance is to live.”       

So when the washer breaks down on the day our blogs or major work are due, or the dog pees on the new carpet five minutes before company arrives, remember it’s all part of the dance.  It may not be our favorite part, but who knows, after we take the deep breath we desperately need, our next step may be the beginning of a beautiful theme.  Or we may suddenly find puddles amusing. 

 What transformation are you experiencing? Please share your comments.

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

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EMBRACING THE DUALITY

Posted on March 10, 2011 | Leave a comment

I love the way mind and Spirit work together when I’m asleep to solve problems and create new insights.  How to configure a blog is a new experience for me, and although I’m pretty happy with the way my blog works, I began to think yesterday I’d like to revise some elements of the design.  When I awoke this morning earlier than usual, the new layout flashed through my mind.  As I inspected it, I realized the picture I saw was exactly what I wanted.  “Wow,” I thought, “that was fast.”  It’s not the first time I’ve noticed what seems like instant manifestation.  In fact, I’ve learned to be very careful about what I say because sometimes my wishes manifest before I’ve had the opportunity to wisely revise them.

 The rapidity with which we are able to manifest is related to the process of ascension that we are all experiencing whether we realize it or not.  In Oneness by Rasha, Oneness or God explains that “the vibrational momentum driving all Creation toward unity is the same momentum that people everywhere are experiencing in their daily lives.” (p. 15) It isn’t just our imagination that time is speeding up; it actually is because the vibration of the Universe is speeding up.  As a result, our level of consciousness is rising, for we are All One.

 Then why is life so difficult?  To help me deal with the times when my desires don’t manifest, I often turn for guidance to Oneness and randomly select a reading.  Amazingly, it is always what I need to hear. Today the words that resonated with me were “Be not so quick to judge yourself or others who stumble beside you on your sacred journey.  It is naïve to assume that a simple, obstacle-free path is a symptom of spiritual advancement.”

 It is so easy to think that we have failed in some way when life becomes difficult.  Although we love those smooth and lovely, almost instant manifestations, they are only part of the story.  The challenges we encounter are the very opportunities we most need to accept as part of our ascension. They can take us deeper into this incredible growth process to a place where the really significant experiences lie.  This is what gives color to our lives, stretching us to deeper levels of understanding.  Oneness goes on to say, “The exquisite state of balance toward which you strive is the culmination of the full spectrum of life experience, both positive and negative.” (p. 234)  The more we can accept this duality as reality, the more we are able to maintain the positive attitude that in the end, it’s all good and another important step on our spiritual journey.  Let’s all remember to have compassion for ourselves as well as for each other.

© 2011 Georganne Spruce

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TOSS AWAY THE OLD MAP

Posted on March 3, 2011 | 4 comments

Last weekend, I spent a wonderful day at a spiritual retreat on reconciliation, facilitated by Laura Collins, www.livingrituals.com. We began with a meditation, and slowly, peace descended, caressing and embracing me. I began to let go of the tension and squirming in my chair to find just the right balance so I wouldn’t put pressure on the nerve that had been creating some pain. As I relaxed, I became excited about having a whole day to look inward – a kind of date with Spirit.

One room was designed with tables as stations for different areas of reconciliation: Self, Spirit, Community, Family and Earth. At the first table, I read a poem by Joyce Rupp, and one line resonated as a theme throughout the day: “Toss away the old map.” I slowly and repeatedly allowed that thought to move through my consciousness.

I realized that the present chaos in my life exists because I have stopped following the old map for my journey, and I have realized that part of the map no longer describes the existing terrain of my life. I am in the process of creating the life I’ve always desired, being a writer, but in the last few years, the world of publishing has changed. In order to succeed in it, I must dive into technology in a way I would prefer not to do. The old map of paper books, paper letters, paper queries is rapidly becoming extinct and I grieve the lost. But as I explore the new possibilities, I can see more opportunities for writers because of the expansive nature of the Internet and the networks created through social media. It is just that, for a non-technological person, the learning curve seems enormous.

So, as I moved through this day of meditation, reflection and quiet, I released more anxiety and let the layers of protection drop away. As each layer opened to the next, I began to ask “Am I being the person I want to be?” As I thought of my personal life, tears of sadness, assured me I was not. Where was the core of peace and love I valued? The emotional turmoil of the last few months flashed across my mind. Although I have been following a new map to develop my writing and to promote it, I have been plodding down a worn muddy path in my personal life, hanging onto anger and disappointment about a loss there, weighing down the joy that often tries to surface.

During the retreat, I wrote in my journal, felt the sun pour through the window and sank deeper into the silence, reminding myself that I did not have to do anything. I wandered to a table and began leafing through a tiny book written by Pema Chodron. Stopping on one page, I read, “What we call obstacles are really the way the world and our entire experience teach us we’re stuck.” Ah ha! The mountain of sadness and hurt I have been unable to conquer in the last few months is showing me the rocky terrain where I’m stuck. I cannot reach the summit with this old map. I have to let it go and design a new map for my journey, one that traces another path to the summit that is smooth and sweet with honeysuckle.

As the vision of this new map formed in my mind, I was filled with the loving warmth and peace of the Divine Mother and assured that the new map for my soul’s journey, as well as for my work, was unfolding before me. I sat in the silence, hands open to receive it.        © 2011 Georganne Spruce

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MY FIRST TIME: FINDING THE BALANCE

Posted on February 3, 2011 | 2 comments
Seven Chakras

Image via Wikipedia

The first person I ever knew who balanced her chakras was a farmer in central Nebraska.  She was my friend, but when she excitedly shared her good news, I’m ashamed to say I chuckled behind her back.

A few years ago, after twenty years of being on a spiritual journey, I participated in a chakra awakening ceremony led by Vani, an English energy healer.  It was a powerful experience that opened me to a higher level of self-esteem and compassion but also challenged me to face deeply buried fears.  After the ceremony, these fears periodically rose to the surface, emotionally upsetting me to the point that it was difficult to function.

When meditation failed to balance my energy, I remembered Vani had given us instructions on balancing the chakras.  I began the exercise, chanting a specific sound for each chakra five times, touching its location, and visualizing the color associated with it.  Although I easily created a long exhale, the sound I produced was unsteady.  It wasn’t the smooth, melodious tone I had envisioned.  Letting go of that expectation, I felt the vibration of the sound echo through my body as I moved from charka to chakra.  After chanting for the crown chakra, I needed to integrate the work and intuitively started breathing up the back of the spine and exhaling down the front.  I did this twice and sat quietly to assess the result.

In every part of my being, body, soul, and mind, I felt centered and grounded without the spaciness I experienced with meditation.  I couldn’t remember ever having felt like this.  Even my thoughts were perfectly calm, and I’ll venture to say I was without thoughts for a moment, a condition I rarely experience.  I stood up, walked around and sat down again in amazement.

This balance continued into a second week with days free of the overwhelming sadness or anger that frequently destroyed my peace.  I began to accept the idea that this state could be permanent. A couple of days later, I began feeling out of balance and repeated the exercise.  The balance returned, and in this state I was able to live with more happiness and productivity than I ever imagined.  I remembered the peaceful look on my friend’s face years ago, but this time you can bet I was only laughing at the irony, not at her.

What do you do to find balance?

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