Always love Leatrice Eiseman’s posts. Follow her to get them all!
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Always love Leatrice Eiseman’s posts. Follow her to get them all!
View original post 327 more words
I read a Casey Research article the other day about how the energy of laughing is so good for us.
You may have heard of laughing clubs and laughter yoga, which are based on the concept that laughter decreases stress and helps promote wellbeing physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Article author David Galland, Managing Director of Casey Research, describes his experience at a laughter event where the hosts demonstrated the importance of filling our thoughts and minds with good thoughts via the “garbage in, garbage out” concept.
Event organizers played clips of a comedy until everyone was rolling with laughter, then they played the first scene of Saving Private Ryan, which showed the devastation experienced by soldiers in the first wave of the invasion of Normandy. As attendees watched the brutal war scenes, the mood in the room shifted downward rapidly. Mr. Galland writes:
One minute, having just seen the comedic clip, I remember feeling light and happy, the world full of promise and posies and all that, and the next, feeling deeply sad, all the light sucked from the room, as well as one’s very soul.
The point was made, and made well, namely that we are what we think about – and what we think about is hugely influenced by the stimuli we expose ourselves to. Maybe depressed people don’t gravitate to depressing books and movies – but are actually depressed by their choice of media. … Just a thought.
That same day I read a similar message in Wayne Dyer’s book Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life. This book is based on his yearlong study of the Chinese classic text Tao Te Ching by philosopher Lao Tzu.
In Dyer’s exploration of the thirtieth verse of the Tao, which he titles “living without force,” he quotes the verse, shares his understanding of it, and closes with a paragraph titled “Do the Tao Now.”
In the thirtieth verse Lao Tzu writes that we must not battle but endeavor to prevent conflicts and war, and Dyer’s “Do the Tao Now” reads:
In line with altering the way you look at the world, today change every television channel and radio station that presents an image or audio of the use of force or violence. Then increase that “no tolerance” policy to include movies, videos, and games that have beating, homicides, and chase scenes.
I did this years ago because I cannot bear to watch anything with violence or anything scary. I always felt I was a coward, but now I am finding it was my spirit taking care of me. According to the Academy Awards I miss a lot of “great” movies, but what I don’t miss is the feeling I get from watching anything negative.
I don’t listen to loud, jarring music either. My ears and body are sensitive to harsh sounds; I cannot physically do it. I once saw pictures of what heavy metal music does to water molecules, and I was amazed how depressive that music is and how it disorganizes the energy field.
Since we are made up of about 60 percent water, and since our brains are made up of about 70 percent water, it only makes sense to bring into the body vibrations that support rather than hinder us. You can see for yourself by checking out the video on The Work of Masaru Emoto. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33IiYb8htHk
When I saw both of these messages in one day I thought it was time to write about the importance of being aware that what we put into our bodies through our mouths, ears and eyes has an immense impact on who we are and how we feel.
If this resonates with you, maybe you want to turn off the TV programs that celebrate our lesser natures and turn to something more edifying, like laughter.
I’m not asking you to deny the way things are, or to ignore what is going on, but I believe that if more of us turn to light and laughter, fewer of us are likely to turn to war, murder, mayhem and destruction. Wouldn’t that be awesome, to be part of building a world dedicated to peace and wellbeing!
It’s all our choice and within our power. Which path are you choosing?
Tomorrow is the winter solstice and also the new moon. For those of you who work with moon cycles, it is the time we can discard things that no longer serve us and state our intentions for what we want to create in our lives. This new moon is even more strong tomorrow and the portal is even wider because it falls exactly on the solstice.
So how will you celebrate and acknowledge this sacred and powerful portal? There are offerings out there from many teachers and leaders for meditations, sound healings, and celebrations. I personally will be making an energy essence of this time putting into it the things I wish to release. When it is complete, I will pour it into Mother Earth to be released and transformed into liquid light. I will make a second one at the same time, infusing into it all the intentions I have for my life for the future. This one will be preserved to be used to support me in manifesting these positive intentions.
The solstice time for my area, which is on Eastern Standard Time, is 6:03pm to 8:36pm EST on Dec. 21. I have the great fortune to be able to walk a labyrinth during this same time period so as I walk in, I will be thinking of all those things I want to release. Once in the center, I will consciously leave those things behind, and as I walk out, I will carry with me the energies of my new intentions.
How will you spend the solstice this year? What do you want to release? What do you want to bring in? This solstice period is such a wonderful gift we are being given. Use it wisely and fill your life with more light as we celebrate the return of the light to our lives.
Namaste.
My husband and I have made a decision to turn off the TV for the most part. We used to start and end our day with watching TV news, financial shows and so on. What we have discovered is that none of these sources are unbiased, nor are they giving us real news or information. In addition, they used to make us feel on edge and anxious.
It was a slow, gradual thing that happened. First my husband tuned out. Then I saw his wisdom and decided to join him. We do watch TV but it is very selective. He watches sports, I watch home oriented shows or the food network. He watches financial shows with the sound off, I watch Masterpiece on PBS. But that is it. There are days and days that can go by with no sound of the TV blaring for either one of us.
It’s not like we don’t know what is going on as it is hard to totally disconnect from the world. Indeed, every time I log into my email account headlines reach out to titillate, to entice, to pull me into their stories and tales of woe.
What has changed is we are no longer news junkies, nor are we so wrapped up in the news that we forget to slow down, meditate, be present to each other. We are by no means the standard for no TV because as I stated, we DO watch….just much more conscientiously.
We have more peace in our lives, we go to sleep with sweetness on our minds, not violence, injustices, and world problems. We live with possibilities, not with the frustration of not being able to do anything about what is happening. We pray, we send out good energy, we yearn for a better world but we don’t wallow in the darkness.
I highly suggest you try to turn off the news to the best of your ability. I promise you your world will relax and you will feel better. If you choose to do this, let me know how it works for you and if it has made a difference for you. Good luck. And good bye, junk food for the mind!
I’ve been having a lot of memories pop up recently. They seem to arise from many sources: a familiar aroma, something seen on TV or in a magazine or on the internet, a familiar word, a book I might come across….these memories just spring out of seemingly no where.
I know that when my parents got “old”, they would often tell me stories from their past. I loved hearing those stories and the more I heard of them, the more I encouraged them to write them down for perpetuity and to share with their grandchildren.
They did not write them down and now I see that their memories were to them, just stories from the past. Nothing particularly special to write down, just memories that were dear to them in some way.
I guess I am “old” now and wonder what to do with these memories that float up. Bits and pieces of my past appear for review and I either laugh or wince at them. Most of them are good, in a soothing sort of way. I’m wondering if they help pave the way to our exit from this life.
I love remembering little snippets of my life that made me happy: my first view of the Rocky Mountains and the amazement I felt. How my Dad would pick me up at day camp all dirty and sweaty and take me to get an ice cream, mostly for HIS sweet tooth but I did not resist in the least! How I loved walking to and from school twice a day and played endless games with myself going and coming. Creating great snow caves to play house in with my dog. Running through the woods on a summer’s day to get to the meadow to lie on my back and watch the clouds, making stories up as I watched them move across the sky. Going to the movies for 25 cents on a cold Saturday afternoon and watching the cartoons and newsreels before the main show. Seeing the nuns emerge from our Catholic Church and wishing I were Catholic so I could be one of them. Observing the girls from our local University and imagining what I would do and be when I became one of them. Our pink bathroom that I shared with my two sisters and how I used to love to go through my older sister’s makeup to see all the gorgeous colors of nail polish and lipsticks. Even better was looking at my Mom’s Makeup and imagining how fun it would be to play with it. Roller skating, climbing the apple trees, playing kick the can with neighbor kids until it was almost too dark to see.
You see, I have been busy remembering. I really am wondering why all these memories are all of a sudden appearing. There are tons more. Just snippets of a life that I barely relate to any more. That young girl is long gone but still some where within. I want to tell her things and share things with her. I want to tell her that no matter what, she mustn’t loose herself in the whirlwind of life. I want to tell her that if she has patience and perseverance, that things will work out. I want to tell her to focus more on her heart and less on the comments that others make about her. And so much more.
I’m wondering why the memories? Is this like my life flashing before me before I die? Or is it my life in review TO review. To take stock of what I’ve done well, and what I could have done better at? To see how far I’ve come and how far I have to go?
Whatever the reason, I am enjoying these snippets as they appear. And I’ll take them as gifts from a past long gone but one that affects me to this very minute. I am after all the sum total of that life. Mistakes, triumphs, secrets, friends, teachers, activities, and all else. A quiet rather mundane life, but my life. Memories and all.
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Great article by Lisa Erickson on determining where we are on our spiritual journey…..enjoy!
“Your spiritual path isn’t always just something you find, you started it the moment you took your first breath…” – Martin R. Lemieux
Solstices are powerful times for spiritual practice and reflection. Their energy peaks provide doorways, an opportunity to stop and shift into new levels of awareness. Their cyclical nature reminds us of the passage of time, offering us a chance to take stock, gain perspective, reset, and reprioritize. Often it’s best to just travel our path without analyzing it too much – we are on it all of the time anyway – but I think Solstices are a great time to contemplate where we are in our journey.
Mystics across the traditions have come up with many different ways of depicting the spiritual journey, and many different metaphors for representing its phases. For this Solstice, I offer up some of these symbols, in the hopes that it may…
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