spirituality | Ascension Lifestyle

23 Nov 2019
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Why Losing Your Mind Is A Gift

“The human mind is kind of like… a pinata.

When it breaks open, there’s a lot of surprises inside.

Once you get the pinata perspective, you see that

losing your mind can be a peak experience.”

~ Jane Wagner, playwright, “The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe”

Though it may sound strange, “losing your mind” — living for a time empty, without a constantly chattering brain — can help you find yourself. When the brain takes a break, it’s easier to hear your heart, and to follow its guaranteed guidance.

But few of us go willingly. For me, the shift from a left-brain, Type A personality took the form of illness. “Losing my mind” catapulted me into my body and into present time in a way I’d never experienced. I couldn’t think, reason, or talk my way out of what was happening. With my brain on an extended vacation, I began to live by — and trust — my intuition.

The truth is, our heart and brain are in continuous dialogue. Rollin McCraty, PhD, co-founder of the Institute of HeartMath, says the heart has a special intelligence, and sends “far more signals to the brain than the brain is sending to the heart.”

Yet we idolize the brain and give the heart short shrift, except when it demands attention — via a heart attack, for example.

Hm.

The Longest Journey You’ll Ever Take

Americans come from diverse backgrounds and speak different languages, yet we can all become fluent in a common tongue: the language of the heart. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of The Little Prince, wrote, “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.”

Seeing with our hearts creates kindness. In Jewel’s song Hands, the bridge brings tears to my eyes: “In the end, only kindness matters…” It touches something primal in me. Similarly, TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres closes each broadcast with the invocation, “Be kind to one another.”

The greatest gift we can give each other and ourselves is moving from the brain to the heart. Traveling these 14 to 18 inches is both the shortest and the longest journey most of us will ever take. This nine-minute breath-heart-brain coherence meditation can help you get started.

Leaving Normal

A brain-break catapults you out of your comfort zone, notes feminist icon Gloria Steinem. It can be a conscious choice in lieu of a crisis. Profiled in Oprah Winfrey’s latest book, The Path Made Clear, Gloria maintains that a constant “on the road” mentality keeps her open to new experiences, because travel “brings people out of their heads and into their hearts.”

Living in the moment is the very definition of “flow,” agrees Oprah. This is how we enter what athletes call the zone: the place where it all comes together because you’re being your truth.

You can’t think your way into the zone. It’s a heart-centered space in which, says Gloria, you feel “boundaryless, spontaneous, at one with everything.”

So pry those mental fingers loose. In free-fall, trust that there’ll be an invisible cosmic trampoline beneath you — or you’ll grow wings in mid-flight.

What Competition Really Means

Kindness grows from this expansive feeling: knowing there is enough to go around, enough of whatever you feel you need: love, attention, money, etc. Yet our cultural paradigm fosters competition, and competition fuels an “either/or” mentality: either you win or I do; either I get what I want or you do.

It’s hard to live from your heart when you need to win — and when somebody else has to lose. It’s also intriguing to realize that “compete” actually means, “to seek together.” The prefix “com” means “with.” So when we compete, we’re really striving together towards a common goal.

We’re more likely to cooperate when we feel there is enough for everyone. Cooperation is about holding a “both/and” perspective. Holding the both/and, choosing collaboration rather than competition, is a refreshing way to dance with life — and the key to honor and respect.

A Politics of Love

Some people use the word “spirituality” to mean religion. But spirituality is not about religion. It’s broader than our 3D compartmentalizing. And the moment for an integrated spiritual perspective (heart and mind) has arrived.

Recognizing this beckoning opportunity, spiritual teacher and author Marianne Williamson threw her hat into the 2020 Democratic presidential race, courageously re-crafting her message to reach voters for whom a politics of inclusivity is a new concept. She speaks about the power of Love, with a capital L.

In the early days of her campaign, people laughed at her platform, even as the number of Google hits on her name soared. Then the New York Times Magazine ran a feature. Fewer people are laughing now.

Does Marianne stand a chance of securing the Democratic nomination? That’s beside the point. Her work is not about winning the White House, or even about government. She’s stirring the conversational cauldron, whetting the appetite of those stirring to consciousness with an amuse-bouche of pure essence.

Who we are at core (the etymology of heart!) matters so much more than what we think, so much more than any political party or ideology. Spiritual teachers such as Marianne know the mind must be in service to the heart in order to elevate humanity to our next level of evolution. The body politic is not separate from our bodies: as above, so below. As within, so without.

This is something our Founding Fathers understood. As our youthful country has grown, we’ve become lazy, relying on the government to solve the very problems it creates. Einstein said, “You cannot solve a problem with the same level of thinking that created it.”

Realizing heart and brain must not just co-exist, but co-create, is a giant step, and bringing this awareness to the world stage is a major mission. Marianne answered her own heart call to take the leap, as a gift to humanity’s unfolding.

Show Me the Money

A heart-centered culture will also radically alter how we exchange life energy, better known as money. In her pivotal book, Beyond Prophecies and Predictions: Everyone’s Guide to the Coming Changes (which I finished reading the night before 9-1-1), Moira Timms speaks of a “New Order of the Ages,” which many indigenous cultures had prophesied to begin between 2001 and 2012.

She writes, “The mind analyzes — the heart synthesizes. The turning point is where the heart is awakening. Historically speaking, we are at this juncture. America’s motto, inscribed on the banner in the beak of the eagle of the Great Seal [of the United States], reminds us that America was founded on the principle of ‘E Pluribus Unum’ — ‘Out of the Many, One.'”

Further, the inscription beneath the Great Pyramid (the centerpiece of the Great Seal on the back of a one dollar bill) says, “Novus Ordo Seclorum” — which translates, appropriately, as “A New Order of the Ages”! Isn’t this amusing? The answer is in money, but it’s not about who can become the richest at others’ expense.

If we insist on remaining on the fast track, consuming planetary resources and each other at the speed of greed, the money will not follow. True wealth/prosperity/abundance flows from alignment with purpose. It’s about tuning in to a higher frequency. The clues are everywhere. In my computer’s thesaurus, one synonym for prosperity is well being.

Our Highest Expression

I’ve long maintained that the Internet is our precursor to global telepathy. In recent times we’ve become seduced by technology, tethered to our phones, barely breathing life, let alone our fullness. Yet in a crisis, we respond from the heart.

California just experienced some of the worst wildfires and mass evacuations in the state’s history. As people flowed into safe locations, many businesses opened their doors to share desks and WiFi with displaced workers, fitness centers offered free showers (even supplying towels, soap, and shampoo), and grassroots organizers provided the essentials people would need after leaving home in a hurry.

I always marvel at this kind of outpouring, which typically ceases along with the emergency (“emerge and see”). If people and systems were as open and loving all the time as they are during a disaster, there would be no homelessness or hunger.

Reverence for the Real

When heart and mind align, it’s whole-brain change: we marry the dreamer and pragmatist within, and move ahead without selling out.

It’s radical. It’s possible. It’s the new world order, a different form of self-government we’re beginning to embrace as the planet awakens en masse. Idols may make useful teen heartthrobs, but in adulthood our hearts seek a deeper, lasting Love.

The heart calls. The brain responds. It’s incumbent on each of us to make the journey.

This is how everyone wins.

About the Author:

Amara Rose is Managing Editor of Ascension Lifestyle. Her work is widely published in health, business, lifestyle, and new thought magazines, both digital and print. Visit LiveYourLight.com, where you can also subscribe to her monthly e-newsletter, What Shines.

08 Sep 2019
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How to Live Forever

“You must go through the way in which you are not. 

And what you do not know is the only thing you know 

And what you own is what you do not own 

And where you are is where you are not.”

~ T.S. Eliot, excerpt from Four Quartets

When I began deleting my personal history, as Paulo Coehlo describes in The Zahir, it was the most joyous and bizarre experience of my life: I was simultaneously aware of who I was and who I was not, and 3D appeared both silly and sublime. It was expansive, akin to the seatbelt sign blinking off in flight as the Captain announces, “You’re now free to move about the cabin.”

Similarly: In college I listened to Woody Allen’s amusing audiobook Without Feathers. The title refers to the Emily Dickinson poem, “‘Hope’ Is the Thing With Feathers”.

Living Without “Hope”

The idea of “giving up hope” is as intriguing as stepping outside our conditioned responses. The day before the U.S. World Trade Center attacks in 2001, I’d finished reading Beyond Prophecies and Predictions: Everyone’s Guide to the Coming Changes by Moira Timms, and felt suffused with a calm knowing, a sense that something was about to happen. As 9-1-1 unfolded I sent out a global message contrary to popular reaction, and was castigated as well as thanked. (Email me if you’d like a copy of This IS A Test.)

In this era beyond prophecy, how do we transcend hope, transcend history, alter how we might once have responded, and simply observe our unfolding? How can we begin to live fully in the moment, as what one healer calls, “a constant stream of consciousness”?

We begin by enlarging the lens from microscope to kaleidoscope, as compassionate trickster Caroline Casey illustrates: “We are remembering our true selves, our destiny, our role in the Dynamic Mystery Play. You know how sometimes people ask that harumphitudinous question, ‘Who do you think you are?’ We reframe: ‘Hoo-Doo! You think! You Are!'”

This is how we morph into “forever beings” says thought leader Soleira Green. “Forever beings are not trapped by history, by past mistakes, learning, cultural influences, etc. Freedom isn’t a concept since there is nothing but complete and utter freedom on every level, available all the time… A forever being lives within limitless possibility, seeking change and creation constantly and always. This re-orients us to the ever streaming NEW and not to the static past.”

In her Quantum Awakening newsletter, Gillian Macbeth Louthan reminds, “It takes more molecules to create anger than it does a joy. It takes more molecules to hold disease than it does to hold love. All that is Holy is light and fluffy with no expiration date.”

Without “hope,” without history, we’re closer to our true nature than ever before. Think of it this way: if you “lose control,” you’re free. And you have everything.

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About the author:

Amara Rose is a metaphysical “midwife” for our global rebirth. She offers personal and business guidance, content creation, e-courses, and a CD/mp3 to accelerate your evolutionary journey. Learn more at LiveYourLight.com, where you can also subscribe to her inspirational e-newsletter, What Shines.

25 Oct 2017
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Welcome to Ascend Academy: A framework for understanding spirituality and our place in it

Ascend Academy.. The Introduction

Welcome Spirit Scientists! I’m so excited to introduce you all to an incredible series by Ryan Boyd that explores in depth the infinitely profound and often overwhelmingly complex realm of the spirit world and our place in it. This is an absolutely invaluable resource for those of us on the spiritual path who are seeking enlightenment and ascension.

This is an ongoing series that will be released in order. I encourage you to clear your head, grab a notebook, take a few moments to deep breathe and prepare to have your mind blown!

Index:

Introduction

Preface: Fundamental Principles of Reality

Part 1: Geometry

Part 2: Creative Energy

Part 3: The Three Great Planes

Part 4: The Four Fold Focus

Part 5: The Archetypal Elements

Of Two-Way Streets and Enriching Dichotomies

Our world of apparent duality offers a wealth of disguised enrichment opportunities. Consider:

A cyber buddy who currently lives creatively without residence wondered why a stranger would open her home and heart to her. She emailed, “I don’t understand why she’s being so amazingly generous. I keep telling her she just blows me away.”

I responded, “You never know what her own journey is…she may have needed to serve someone in exactly this way, and you are providing a golden opportunity, so it is a mutuality.”

This is the way energy works. When my lifelong friend Ellie fell and broke her hip at 96, requiring a lengthy convalescence in a rehabilitation center and later at home, I initially despaired about why Spirit didn’t simply call her Home.

Then I had a flash of insight: the enforced passivity enabled my fiercely independent friend to learn to receive, and blessed those who assisted her with the joy of service. I told her, “You would never have allowed it otherwise.” With wonder and her trademark humility, Ellie exclaimed, “Amara, you’re right!”

The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful

What appears adverse can be advantageous. I needed to park my car on a different street due to an upcoming festival, and planned to be out of town the following week. I gave the young man who acts as my “car surrogate” the spare key, and asked him to please move the car back once the festival was over.

Unbeknownst to me, a road crew was about to repave the street; tow-away signs went up the day after I left. If the festival hadn’t been scheduled (and, therefore, if I hadn’t given Danny my spare key) my car would have been parked in its normal spot — and towed during the week I was away!

More profoundly: A dear friend was in a near-fatal motorcycle crash earlier this year. After a month in the ICU, he learned he’d need a walker once out of bed, and would have only minimal use of his right hand for the rest of his life (he’s a southpaw, but still…). Eight months later, Rick says, “The accident was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

During his convalescence he lost seventy pounds and began exercising daily as part of his physical therapy program; the combination reversed his adult-onset diabetes. He’s grateful every day for the gift of life, and more open than he’s ever been. He says, “I cry if I’m happy, I cry if I’m sad.

“And you know what? It feels amazing. I have nothing to hide now; what others think of me is no longer my concern. I can be emotionally honest. I feel like this is another piece of the silver lining surrounding that terrible trauma.”

Sustained by his new outlook and the outpouring of love and support from friends and family, Rick’s regained almost full use of his right hand, and returned to work — as a practicing physician. Practice makes perfect.

Once you’ve been through the fire, you’re recast as pure essence; the superficial no longer holds sway in your life.

How Your Light Is Spent

Milton’s sonnet, When I Consider How My Light is Spent, exemplifies the nature of life’s dichotomies, and how we choose to interpret our time here. The full text reads:

When I consider how my light is spent

Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,

And that one talent which is death to hide

Lodg’d with me useless, though my soul more bent

To serve therewith my Maker, and present

My true account, lest he returning chide;

“Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”

I fondly ask. But Patience to prevent

That murmur, soon replies: “God doth not need

Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best

Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state

Is kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed

And post o’er land and ocean without rest:

They also serve who only stand and wait.

“Apprehension” means both anxiety and understanding. If you apprehend the meaning behind Milton’s final line, you will understand that simply being is what matters most.

Whoever or whatever your messenger is, listen deeply. Once you apprehend the message, invite yourself to let go, so that you may embrace this wisdom farther along life’s spiral. Allow yourself to be amused by the alchemical nature of any apparent dichotomy that shows up in your life. And know there’s an invisible cosmic trampoline beneath you, so you can rebound from pain’s mirage, spread your wings, and fly.

About the Author:

Amara Rose is a metaphysical “midwife” for our global rebirth. She offers spiritual mentoring, e-courses, a CD/mp3 of the journey to awakening, and an inspirational monthly newsletter.

Learn more at LiveYourLight.com. Connect with Amara on Twitter and Facebook.

10 Aug 2017
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The Most Beautiful Question

“Hope and Memory have one daughter,

and her name is Art.”

~ William Butler Yeats

One day a cashier at my local organic foods co-op asked if I’d like to enter a contest to determine “The Most Beautiful Question.” The way he described it captured my attention, so I asked for the website.

He responded, “Oh, it’s not on the Internet. Just ask a question, and you may be a winner! Will you open that door?”

Intrigued, I asked, “You mean, what’s the most beautiful question I can ask someone else?” He agreed, “That could be a question!” The one he’d choose to ask is, “Why are you suffering?” Mine might be, “Who are you?”

This definition enlarges the scope of beauty by embracing awareness.

Holding the Both/And

All forms of beauty and art expand our perception, enabling us to more fully hold the “both/and”. Visionary activist astrologer Caroline Casey recounted a meeting she attended of scientists who also aspire to be mystics, observing, “If physics and metaphysics get married they can have a child: reverent science.”

This is where we are growing globally: towards a unity of former opposites, in every realm. We’re shedding our old skin, emerging from the chrysalis, morphing into wholly new beings. It’s arduous and joyful, scary and anticipatory all at once, as birth is.

And while our evolutionary symptoms can range from exhaustion to panic, the tools we can use to ground and comfort ourselves are surprisingly simple: Nature. Cuddling. Fasting from both “real” and “fake” news. Bonding with children and animals. Deep rest. And allowing art, beauty and creativity free reign.

Living as a Masterpiece

Creativity carries a high vibe. To begin to live as the masterpiece you already are, first consider how you learn best: are you predominantly visual, auditory, kinesthetic? Then choose an activity below and begin to integrate it into your life as “art school”:

Keep a journal — and try writing in it with your non-dominant hand.
Draw, paint, or sculpt your ideal work expression.
Sit by moving water. Sit in moving water. Sing while sitting in a stream!
Dance your dream. What does it feel like as flowing movement?
Walk the labyrinth, an ancient meditative art form. Visit the Worldwide Labyrinth Locator to find one near you
Enjoy on a device-free weekend. During this period, pay attention to your dream life; see if you have better dream recall and more vivid dreams.
Prepare a meal that is as aesthetic as it is nutritious. As you combine ingredients, imagine that you are cooking up your “work” of art.
Spend a day, alone or with others, in total silence.

In The Creative Connection: Expressive Arts as Healing, Natalie Rogers writes: “The creative process is a path to finding the divine self. Discovering the capacity to love is profound. Discovering the ability to receive love, whether it is from a particular individual or a universal source, can be so awesome as to be frightening to some people. However, tapping into that ability or consciousness is both healing and revolutionary in that it changes the lenses from which we view the world.”

Some questions for meditation and co-creation:

What would the world look like if we created it together to reflect our strength and vision as Spirit?
Who would we be if we looked within ourselves to find the answers?
Will you allow yourself to walk the beauty way?

About the Author:

Amara Rose is a metaphysical “midwife” for our global rebirth. She offers spiritual mentoring, e-courses, a CD/mp3 of the journey to awakening, and an inspirational monthly newsletter.

Learn more at LiveYourLight.com. Connect with Amara on Twitter and Facebook.

06 Jan 2017
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Inner Space, the Final Frontier

“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family.

Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.”

~ Jane Howard

In the 3^rd millennium, we’re designing ways to travel that weave us more deeply into life’s web. People are opening their hearts and homes to intrepid travelers from around the world. Airbnb is in nearly 200 countries and expanding by the micro-minute. FriendsinRoute.com caters to travelers over forty, with the same basic concept: stay in a homey environment instead of a sterile hotel, and learn about your destination from the inside out.

This Earth Trek might be the ultimate social network. Because we’re searching for something beyond simple travel comfort.

We’re all driven by a fundamental need to be heard, acknowledged and loved. One of the greatest challenges is remaining present, open and loving when the other party — often a family member — can rapidly reduce us to a needy, sensitive child. When another’s reality clashes with ours, we must find a way to bridge the chasm. And sometimes the people who share our DNA are harder to reach than strangers.

Photo By Alessio Lin

Awakening guide Gillian Macbeth-Louthan writes, “You are asked to become the healer, you are asked to become the scholar. You are asked to become all that you shirk. You are asked to redesign yourself in a collage of life imitating art. You are asked to step up to the plate and sup upon what is needed to be done, let it fuel your life force. Instead of allowing life and her daily deeds to suck all of your energy, allow it to give you increased energy from all circumstances that surround you. Stop whining about what has befallen you and see it as a heavenly helping hand, a piece of the soul puzzle you seek to fit the picture in your heart.”

That’s the ultimate cosmic kick in the root chakra!

Getting here calls for a subtle shift in perception and behavior: from require to inquire, from escalate to elevate, from accumulate to appreciate. As we cease consuming planetary resources and each other at the speed of greed, let go of buying more in favor of being more, we reclaim our true heritage as Earth stewards, heart stewards (Earth and heart are the same word; only the “h”, for Home, relocates). Then barrenness transmutes into bounty. Separation into synergy. Fear into faith. Longing into Love.

During this season of transmutation, as we reach out to build connections with our brothers and sisters in diverse communities
and circumstances, let’s remember to fill our own wells first, so we have enough overflow to pour ourselves into another’s outstretched cup.

We become self-renewing by gathering knowledge from our experience, forging it into wisdom in the alchemical fire, and serving as vessels to share the gift. Conscious evolution favors the curious and kind mind. Truth nourishes us in ways we might never have imagined. Synchronicity takes us by the hand and we laugh in child-like wonder as we witness Spirit-in-action, again and again and again.

This is how we “win” the space race: by boldly going where no one has gone before, deep into one another’s hearts. May you journey well.

About the Author:

Amara Rose is a metaphysical “midwife” for our global rebirth. She offers spiritual mentoring, e-courses, a CD/mp3 of the journey to awakening, and an inspirational monthly newsletter.

Learn more at LiveYourLight.com. Connect with Amara on Twitter and Facebook.

01 Aug 2016
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Becoming Whys

“If we have our own ‘why’ of life, we shall get along with almost any ‘how.'”

~ Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher

Becoming “whys” — owning our raison d’être, or reason for being — is the core question of our lives. Why am I here? What is my purpose?

We were taught to put our attention on form rather than function. The popular childhood question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” was reinforced by aptitude tests and guidance counselors who helped us select possible careers. We’ve identified with these labels ever since. So I’m hearing clients, colleagues and friends asking, Should I do my art? Teach? Get a real estate license? Go into sales?

Are You Looking In the Right Place?

My suggestion is, allow form to emerge from focus. Begin by becoming your whys: why are you here now? What are you passionate about? What is your heart calling you to communicate? Once you know your essence Self, how you express it can take many forms.

One client reported, “The most significant moment was when you asked me, ‘What is your work?’ The irony was tremendous… I had been looking for a job for over two years, interviewing with companies all over the country, and your question totally stumped me. What was my work? The question came as a breath of fresh air in my already congested life.”

Molly told me her purpose is “to stand for peace.” But she’s not an activist, organizing marches or chaining herself to fences in protest. While these are certainly viable avenues for expressing one’s truth, her path to peace takes the form of bringing new color and clarity to the magazine where she’s a graphic designer, to the people whose lives she touches. By embodying peace, she stands for it every day in a quiet fullness.

Your Awareness Inspires Others

And irony has transmuted to inspiration. Coworkers at her previous and current jobs have said the identical words to her: “You’re a breath of fresh air.” This is what Gandhi meant by, “My life is my message.”

Suppose your whys are about the next generation: you feel inspired to assist children’s spiritual development. Once you know this purpose in your soul, it might take the form of lobbying for changes in public education, writing a book, or becoming a teacher in an alternative educational system such as Waldorf or Montessori. You might decide to home-school your kids, start a neighborhood discussion group, give workshops for parents, or speak at new-thought churches such as Science of Mind and Unity.

The possibilities are limitless. And it all begins with becoming —embracing and embodying — your why.

9 Ways to Clarify Your Why:

Relax. We don’t find what we seek through endless searching.
Stop. Give yourself permission to stop doing, stop running, stop hurrying. Stop thinking you already know. Relax.
Ask. Ask anything you want, but make sure it’s about your own development. Then wait. The answer will come.
Listen. Listen with your whole being. You can listen while you work. You can listen while you sleep.
Be neutral. Nothing is inherently good or bad in and of itself.
Allow. “Trying” builds a wall between wanting and having. In the relaxed space of allowing you begin to receive.
Learn. We learn by opening. Begin to balance the energy of opposites within yourself.
Stand in it. You’ve learned who you are. Now stand in it. Be it.
Give it. You learned it. You’re standing in it. Now give it. Take a chance. Be honest. Be humble. Give as you were given. It returns a thousand-fold.

About the author:

Amara Rose is a “midwife” for our global rebirth. Her services include transformational guidance, talks, e-courses, a digital download CD, and an inspirational monthly newsletter. She is widely published in health, business and new thought magazines, both digital and print. Learn more: http://www.liveyourlight.com

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19 Jan 2016
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Fire and Water: The Deeper Meaning Of What We Unleash

When I was deep into my spiritual awakening, I had startlingly prescient dreams; in one, the words, “violent emergency” reverberated through my mind. It was a violent emergence; birth is fierce. There is an ocean of difference, however, between Nature’s ferocity and that which is deliberately inflicted by human beings with their own agendas.

Theologian and author Thomas Moore writes, “Deep in the etymology of ‘violence’ is a strong Latin word, vis. It is the power in nature that we sense in the surging sea and the growth of grass. In our experiences of violence we witness the vain attempt of life to push itself into existence and visibility. This is a sexual power. Sex is not just about making bodies but making souls as well. The people of the world need every opportunity to be creative and visible. They need to enjoy life, not just survive. Without that opportunity, they will turn to violence, in spite of themselves.”

Life’s Novocaine

We tend to go through life anesthetized against our own yearning. The call to claim our power can be terrifying, because it means accepting our invitation to the Dance — and most of us have forgotten how to dance, if indeed we ever knew. We find it easier to lash out in anger: rage, the undiscovered country. If being “outrageous” means getting the rage out, Americans are black belts. Having lost touch with the wilderness within, we savage the Earth and each other in an effort to combat our loneliness.

War is the grand expression of this misdirected energy. It’s akin to our ability, or lack of it, to harness the power of the sun. Yoked to our solar egg, we could shine on in all our ecological radiance for millennia. Yoking means union, but we’re used to living the more limiting definition of bondage. Trussed to our desperation, we sigh, “That’s life!” Since interdependence — becoming what Kenny Ausubel christened “Bioneers,” or biological pioneers, co-creating with Nature — feels so foreign, we stay (un)comfortably in the familiar, pump up the volume, and wearily watch as the world turns.

There is a way out: it’s through. The trees are gods and goddesses who in their stillness keep the Earth’s counsel; the animals are our allies. We can commune with a snake or a sea lion as easily as with the people we call kin. The key lies in reclaiming our wildness — not as violence, but as an abiding, sensuous connection with Nature. Instead of experiencing everything at one remove, we can allow it to enter us.

My Inannic odyssey delivered me deeply into this truth. In illness and vulnerability, I threw my arms around trees and sobbed out my grief, feeling their loving embrace. I began talking to crows, paying tribute to their visceral wisdom in a poem that concluded, “A coded conversation/In guttural cries/Opens my eyes/And lifts me higher.” Stunned from exhaustion, I’d never lived in such clarity. With my brain on an extended vacation, I was forced to access a more primitive part of my being, to participate organically in the instinctual world, not merely watch.

How Peace Begins

This is how peace begins: by singing the wild symphony of Nature back into our cells, feeling the music of the spheres in our marrow, embodying the feminine creative principle. By raising our resonance, we become “the vessel which can contain all blessing,” as one ancient text describes peace. This is also how we heal our bodies, and the body of Gaia: “immune” means sacrosanct, inviolate, whole. In celebrating all life, we pulse a radiating joy that resurrects our daily dance. And you can’t wage war while dancing.

We’ve entered a new era. It is only in recent memory that strong antiwar sentiment (Iraq, Vietnam) has held sway. For much of human history, war has been an acceptable means of “protecting our interests,” “keeping the world safe for democracy,” or any number of other platitudes. If thousands, perhaps millions, of innocents had to die in the process, well, they were war heroes. And the villagers in other countries, slaughtered in the name of whatever deity one invoked, deserved death because they were “the enemy.”

Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to the US House of Representatives and the only member of Congress to vote against US entry into both World Wars, once declared, “You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.”

She makes an enduring point. Did anyone “win” the Indian or Chilean ‘quakes? Are we “winning” the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan?

What’s really going on here? What is the higher purpose of the impulse to violence we all harbor within, to a greater or lesser degree?

Fire and water are complements; harmonized, they elevate consciousness and catalyze healing. I sang these words often during my own dark night of the soul. Instead of the old, tired dominator matrix, using firepower in an “us” vs. “them” scenario, we can embrace the true fire within us, and discover the myriad ways to channel this potent energy for good.

Embracing the True Fire Within

Becoming a spiritual warrior is a profile in courage (which means heart.) Spirit asks, “Have you the conviction to stand by your heart? Are you willing to transmute war in the alchemical fire?” The fire within is the perfect peace of God/Goddess/Creator/Innate Intelligence, which expresses outwardly as enthusiasm (from the Greek, “possessed by God”), inwardly as a calm awareness.

We’ve mastered communicating from our wounds. Now we’re in a pivotal age, creating a context in which it’s safe to share who we are in love, in truth, in well-being. Our collective task is to marry scared and scarred with sacred, density with destiny, jaded with jubilant; to become inclusive not exclusive. Because none of us is truly free until all of us are.

This is one of the meta gifts of these disasters (which means, “against the stars”): they bring us face to face with The Other, in our psyches and out in the world, so we can see how they’re one and the same. All anyone can do is introduce you to yourself. So as you look in the mirror of your brother’s or sister’s face, be kind to your own confusion, criticism, sadness, or fear. Acknowledging your strand in the evolutionary web is, in itself, a giant step on the path to peace.

It’s time for each of us to create a personal crucible: a safe container for our energies. Envision your inner chalice. Then place this cup, brimming with fiery potential and the waters of life, into your heart, where it will become a perpetual font of inspiration and renewal — and, in time, of unconditional love.

As the Maya say, In Lakéch: I am another yourself.

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About the author:

Ascension Lifestyle author Amara Rose is a “midwife” for our global rebirth. Her services include transformational guidance, talks, e-courses, a digital download CD, and an inspirational monthly newsletter. She is widely published in health, business and new thought magazines, both digital and print. Learn more: http://www.liveyourlight.com

30 Oct 2015
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The God Particle and Wisdom of the Ancients

Before Galileo Galilei and Sir Isaac Newton, the Lakota studied astronomy. Many indigenous peoples did. They were natural scientists. What sets indigenous “ethnoastronomy” apart from mainstream western astronomy is native peoples didn’t feel the need to separate their spiritual beliefs from other areas of their lives. The Lakota truly believed everything was interconnected. As a result, hard science observations and discoveries deciphered by Lakota over millennia are always intermingled with their spiritual beliefs, practices and ceremonies. In spite of frequent attempts by the western establishment to destroy such traditional knowledge, some has survived. Read more!

01 Sep 2015
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Spiritual Practices of Awakening

Awakening

We live in a time of accelerated change and transformation. There are many names for this time period. Some call it, The Great Awakening, The Rebirth, New Earth, The Second Coming, The Golden Age, The End Times, The New Millennium, The Age of Aquarius, The Return of Christ, The Rapture, The Apocalypse, Armageddon, The Quickening or Planetary Ascension. Regardless of what you call it we are entering the most intensified purification process the Earth and humanity has ever experienced.

In every choice in life we must be mindfully aware of the ebb and flow of energy. Is it time to absorb energy, to dispense it or to conserve it? Your feelings will soon become your primary guidance system for navigating through our experiences. In order to tap into the the highest potential of all life has to offer, energy needs to be maintained in a balance of external energy and internal energy production. We need a certain level of energy for our very survival. If your timing is not in alignment with the natural rhythms, you may be losing valuable resources. These resources can be in the form of energy, as well as time, money, or other valuable tools. Our sources of internal energy come from producing vibration. This vibration is that of purity, lightness, happiness, truth, understanding, and most of all love. We are increasing our vibration to higher frequencies that absorb energy at the DNA level.

Absorbing the wrong energy around us can often deplete our ability to produce internal energy. It is often necessary to clear out these energies before we can begin to truly tap into our own power. This may mean removing yourself from certain energy entirely or learning how to shield yourself properly. It is imperative to learn practices for how you want to manage yourself around energies that vibrate at a lower frequency. High vibration comes from a pure source that rejuvenates and creates energy without depletion. It is renewable and endless. It has the ability to heal and expand in ways that can transform all that comes in contact with it. We may see a glimpse of this energy in times of great joy, however unless we are able to change our vibration at the DNA level, it is most difficult to maintain. We will not see permanent changes in your lives nor the world around you that reflect your state of being.

Changing the frequency of our DNA is the process of clearing out dense energy that no longer serve us. It is the process of infusing our body with light. This can transform our physical bodies and elevate our consciousness. By reaching for the light and transforming our being we can begin to understand the realms of the beyond and step into our infinite potential. What I am speaking to is indeed a lifestyle change. It requires mindfulness with every aspect of our being including what we eat, who we spend time with, what we expose our senses to, how we spend our time, what we think, what we speak into creation and most certainly healing our emotions and forgiving our past.

When you make a commitment to this process of raising your vibration expect to see dramatic changes. You may see all of your relationships transform. You may be surrounded by people who do not understand this process, whom you may need to take space from or even eventually let go of. You may feel compelled to move out of the environment that you are living in. It all depends on your own soul’s personal journey. For me this has been a five year process that required me learning to trust the urges inside of me that were calling me deeply into the unknown. For the most part, my primary support was all in the unseen realms. There were many times that I questioned and doubted myself as it would feel I had stepped into an entirely new world alone. However it was my purpose to serve as a teacher of alignment, ascension and ultimately everything happened exactly as it needed. Only now in hindsight I can say that with confidence. I can truly say there is nothing more beautiful than being alive and awake right now with this level of awareness. I have guided many people to transform their state of consciousness and their life circumstances from all walks of life because this is my highest passion. Please enjoy the following which are many of my favorite practices for raising your vibration.

The Way

Learning to find ease in every situation becomes a major tool in managing energy. We refer to this as the path of least resistance. This is a path of being true to yourself, listening to the heart and living in the here and now fully. Trust the divine plan. Master the art of Allowing. Surrender to the flow and know that All That Is truly is working to support your wellbeing at all times. Recognize the importance of divine timing and understand that sometimes there are certain pieces that must line up before life can play out the way that it is destined to.

Sunlight
Currently, we are in the photon belt, entering a 2,000- year cycle of en-lighten-ment receiving the transformational and transmutational energies of Christ consciousness. Encodings that activate our memory and DNA are sent through the rays of the sunlight and solar flares that are encouraging us to spiritually evolve beyond our current state of consciousness to a more enlightened state of being.

High vibrational food
A much as possible try to nourish your body with highly energized alive alkaline food and beverages. This means more plants that have an abundance of life force energy. Equally importantly as what you eat however from my experiences is the intention and energy that you infuse into your food and water. Speaking prayer and blessings into your food can raise the vibration to nourish your body, mind, spirit. Bless not only the food but also the hands that prepare it. Drink as much charged water is humanly possible.

Cosmic and Natural cycles
All biological processes are a function of electromagnetic field interactions, which are the connecting link between the world of form and resonant patterns. When we align our energy with the nature that surrounds us, we are replenished in myriad ways. Like a wise teacher, the earth uses her seasons to model when to rest and reflect, when to cleanse and activate, when to create and when to return back to self. Ancient cultures lived in accord with the movements of all of the celestial bodies. They knew that tapping into these forces gave them access to supernatural power. They used the movements of the Sun, Moon, the stars and planets to gain insight into the higher dimensional realms. Spending time in nature restores our own biorhythms and brings us deeply into balance. Living in harmony with the cycles of nature we can find the gifts and opportunities that each season offers for deepening our spiritual practices.

Sound healing
A variety of sources throughout history have insisted that vibration is primary to form. The Bible, for example, tells us, “In the beginning, there was the word… and the Word was God. All things came into being through Him.” [John 1:1-3] Long before the written word, music, sound and healing were inseparable in the practices of ancient civilizations. Mantra was considered a musical prayer for healing. The creative and transformative potential of sound has been scientifically verified although these sounds are found in nature and are nothing new. Sound vibration actually changes the structure of matter. Ancient civilizations constructed sacred temples based on the perfect mathematical proportions of sound. Cave paintings were found to have been created in places that had natural sound resonance, supporting the theory that decorated caves were backdrops for religious and magical rituals. These findings indicate that the acoustics of these spaces played a major role in their ability to invoke spirits and other higher vibrational energies.You can tune yourself to the perfect rhythm with specific harmonic tones. But as we learn that everything is vibration we learn that our entire life can become a practice a tuning into the frequencies around us that create harmonic resonance. Cymatics from the Greek word for waves, is the study of wave phenomena and vibration. This science visibly demonstrates the power of sound to “shape, transform and destroy the seemingly solid structures that we see all about us.” Some examples are Tibetan singing bowls, crystal singing bowls, Didgeridoo sounds, gongs, flute, drums, tuning forks, Solfeggio frequencies and Binaural beats.“Divine sound is the cause of all manifestation. The knower of the mystery of sound knows the mystery of the whole universe.” – Hazrat Inayat KhanEarth Medicine
I created Resonance Apothecary based on the principal of divine attunement. Like any instrument, our bodies require regular tuning in order to play in harmony with the delicate orchestra of existence. Keeping ourselves finely tuned is our most fundamental tool for health and well-being. These tools come directly from Mother Earth herself. As mentioned previously the basis of all wellbeing is vibration (sound) the primary building blocks of creation. Given that sound vibration is said to be the primary mover underpinning all of creation, it seems only sensible to appeal directly to that source if we seek the deepest healing available. The tools that I create are based on the vibration of plants, flowers, crystals and stones. Creating harmony involves recipes that include not only high vibrational plants and oils but also raising the vibration with sound, intention, ritual, and prayer. These become allies that we can bring with us throughout the day us that can bring us into alignment at any time. Wherever you are these tools can help you find your rhythm and surrender to the sonic flow.

Brain Entrainment/Hypnosis

These are powerful tools for helping to let go of limiting beliefs and healing mental diseases. Many of the deeper layers of beliefs that we hold true have been programmed or conditioned into our subconscious early during childhood in the formative years, when people of influence around us imprinted their understanding of reality deep into our minds. These imprints evolved into our subjective reality long before we had access to tools such as discernment and have stayed with us as our default “program”. These programs are projected out into the hologram that we refer to as our reality without most of us being aware. Ultimately many of these beliefs have a profound impact on our lives yet they truly do not serve us nor match the true nature of our infinite selves. This is part of the game of this earth realm. Working to remove these beliefs is one of the most important healing practices on the path of nurturing spiritual wholeness.

Movement.

It is no secret that regular exercise helps to maintain a higher vibration and healthy lifestyle. During and after a workout you enjoy a buzz of endorphins that your brain releases. Take a moment every day to stretch, build your endurance and strength, and feel your heart becoming stronger. Practices such as somatic therapies and trauma release exercises are amazing tools for helping to move old stagnant energy from the body. Along with movement incorporating appropriate breathing techniques and breath work into your daily practice can completely transform your health.

Emotional Healing.

I will be covering this topic next month in detail as we move into a new chapter on learning how to heal the heart and tap into our emotional guidance system. I will be teaching Taoist practices for how to transform negative emotions with inner alchemy and how our organs are connected to our emotional essence. Stay tuned for more on that topic.

Fortifying the Aura.

Your aura is an extension of you. Or rather it is the electromagnetic field that surrounds you, in other words it is you as energy. When strong it acts as a protective shield.When fragile or damaged it can leave you drained, unwell and feeling disconnected from yourself. Cleansing and nurturing the aura for the overall integrity of our health and wellbeing is an essential practice. Many ancient cultures believed that illness first starts with a weakness in our auric field. Many of the practices mentioned have a deep impact of the aura. In addition, cold showers have the ability to clear away negativity in your auric field, remove toxins, improve circulation and draw out tension from your body.

A powerful exercise that follows can be used in any challenging interactions

Put your tongue on the roof of your mouth.
Invoke.
Create an intent to close your aura to all negative thoughts, emotions, and words.
Cross your arms. (This closes the upper half of your aura.)
Cross your legs. (This closes the lower half of your aura.)
This posture automatically closes your aura to negativity. It also makes you more naturally resistant to people trying to influence you.

Meditation and Prayer.

The Practice of tuning into the Source within is my most fundamental spiritual practice. The frequency of Source is a guiding light. When we shift into the receptive mode we come into communion with the God(dess) within and invoke Spirit. This allows us to receive guidance and strength to further us along each step of the path. The Omnipresence of God(dess) means that there is a presence in the midst of every time and every point in space. Begin to realize that this divine Presence is in you and that everything is an expression of this power. Worry is due to a lack of faith and this can debilitate our entire system. Every morning when you wake turn to prayer and meditation and remember that you are a channel for Love and the Divine.

Setting Intention and Visualization.

Recent studies have shown that sending a directed thought generates palpable energy that is measurable. Attention, belief, focus, motivation, and mental state intensify effect. A big reason why people fail to manifest the things they want is because they never actually intend for their dreams to come true.They believe their desires are inconceivable or impossible, or that they are unworthy of happiness, so they simply never ask for what they truly desire. Many are so out of touch with manifesting their desires and their true feelings that they actually do not even know what they truly want. Learning to properly set intentions is key to tuning into the divine principal that creates worlds. Here are a few techniques.Set your intention first thing in the morning.
Write your intentions down on paper. There is something quite powerful and magical about the focus required to actually write something.
VISUALIZE. Use your imagination to actually see yourself experiencing how it would feel to have what you truly want.
Bring in as much emotion and feelings as you can possibly create.
Tell people about your intention
Act and speak as if what you wish is already on the way to you.
Spend time in the evening expressing gratitude for all of your life’s blessings.

Ritual and Ceremony.

Throughout history there has existed an ancient and ongoing tradition of sacred action performed with the aim of improving not only our lives but the condition of the universe itself. Any action that is repeatedly energized with thought and intention gains power, thereby becoming a ritual of sorts. In fact, all our actions have a ritualistic orientation, because action tends toward repetition and reinforcement, thereby gathering specific energies that connect us with certain forces in the world. The power of using magical ritual or ceremony does not rely on the props used however. It depends on how well you use the props to create a psychodynamic change to occur in your own consciousness that then leads to you being able to influence physical reality.

Positive Affirmation..
Last week’s article listed the many amazing affirmations that you can work with daily. If you missed it you can review it here.

Soul mate relationships.
A Soulmate can enter in our lives at any time in different types of relationships from our family, friends to love relationships, even people we refer to as enemies. Many soul mates remain in our lives, others will pass through and then leave once the energy upgrade is complete. Soulmate connections are more than a physical relationship.Of course there is a deep attraction between Soulmates but this connection is much more than just sex. A soul mate can actually be represented through a strong repulsion to someone as well. Again this is about the energy between them two souls. The key to finding true love, the version of soul mates that we often dream of, is to keep your vibration high. This allows you to attract high soul mates rather than the type that are based on karmic debt and soul contracts. When you maintain a high vibrational state you are a magnet for love because you radiate peace, love and joy. Examples of affirmations for attracting a soul mate include: Love is my divine birthright, and I claim it now. I give and receive love fully and I release the past and let love flow into my life.

Radical Forgiveness
This article would be incomplete if I did not include a process for how to learn to let go of anything from our past that is keeping us vibrating in dense emotions such fear, shame, guilt, disappointment, victimhood, or lack of self worth. It is possible to recognize the purpose of events that have caused us pain in our life and to forgive the person we believe has wronged us. The following is a process that can be used in order to call back all of the rejected, suppressed and abandoned parts of our unconscious shadow in order to become whole once and for all.

Describe the situation and allow all of the feelings to come to the surface. You want to let the feelings come up so that they can be expressed. Just let them be exactly what they are. Do not try to judge or suppress them.
As you get in touch with your feelings you might become aware where the emotions are located in your body.
Ask yourself are you willing to be open to the possibility that your higher self created this situation for your ultimate growth?
Are you willing to accept that your feelings are a direct result of something that needs to be healed, even if you cannot see it?
Are you willing to release your judgement of the situation as right/wrong, good/bad?
Are you willing to accept that what upsets you about the other person is that there is a part of you that is crying out to be recognized that they are mirroring?
Are you willing to unconditionally love that part of you that you have rejected? If so welcome it back and love it unconditionally right now.
Are you willing to accept that you unconsciously attracted this person in order to see a part of yourself that is longing to be accepted?
Do you recognize that in forgiving them you are forgiving yourself?
Are you willing to connect to the divine love behind the situation and let go of the story that was attached to this situation?
Your power within is activated when you are willing to let go of the power that the story has over you. Notice any sensation in your body that indicated this has occurred.
You can repeat this practice for as many situations as you feel are holding you back.
I recommend connecting with this practice of radical forgiveness during the full moon which is a powerful time of release, purification and letting go.

By: Ascension Lifestyle Guest Contributor Hasnaa

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