4.17.2009

Why Do We Lie? The Potential of Indigos and Crystals

Why do we lie?

It’s a fascinating question, and far easier to answer than we might think. The answer is really simple: We lie because we did something, generally something that made us happy in the moment, and that something doesn’t meet the approval of whomever we are lying to.

That would indicate that we lie for approval, or to stay whatever it is we fear would come from disapproval. It begs the question: if we didn’t need each other’s approval, would there be any need—any desire—to lie?

Think about it: Aren’t you the most honest when you aren’t looking for approval, and/or not fending off disapproval?

It seems as if lying comes in many forms, not limited to wanting acceptance. Sometimes it comes from a desire to protect, to not hurt someone.

I would posit that it’s all approval based. We don’t want to hurt someone (out of the mistaken belief that we can do anything to another without them choosing it) because they won’t like it, which means they won’t like us. When you get right down to the core of it, any time we aren’t speaking from the heart we’re doing so for some other’s—or many others’—approval.

Indigos

This is what allows Indigos to appear to be so arrogant. They don’t have that need for approval, at least not to the degree that most humans do, or have. That gives them enormous freedom to be who they are and do what they do, in ways that society isn’t accustomed to. Ergo, that society thinks is wrong.

Indigos are modeling a change that we have all agreed on—at other levels of being—that we want to see in the world, and that is a change from needing others’ approval to not needing it.

It’s a bit of a sticky wicket because Indigos live on earth too, and are subject to mass consciousness as we all are. They are taught, and accept to whatever degree they each do, that in a civilized society we have to obey the rules, do what’s expected of us, behave in ways that are approved of.

Indigos are the rule breakers. They were born with very strong inclinations toward not needing approval, so it must be really torturous to them when they start buying into society’s demands that they behave in a manner that is approved of. Imagine the internal struggles that they go through! Their Inner Being is calling them to live in their joy despite the approval or disapproval of others, while society is calling them to ‘behave’, which means: do that which society (parents, teachers, authorities, anyone) approves of. Indigos will not. They were born to not. That’s their role. They are us. We asked them to do that, to be that. We asked them to model that for us, so that we could begin to change.

“Don’t tell me what to do!” or even better “You can’t tell me what to do!” is Indigo energy.

How aberrant their behavior is—or becomes—will depend upon how strong their natural inclinations are and how much they’ve been molded by society to go against those inclinations.

They are here to teach, through their own behavior and ways of being, that which we, as humanity, have asked them to teach us. How hard do you want the lesson to be? Do you want to see what they are here teaching, or do you want to continue to try to mold them into who, and what, society thinks they should be?

Crystals

What, then, is crystal energy?

Crystal energy is more quiet and reserved. Crystals are no less equipped to be who they are than Indigos, but they do so in a different way. You might say that each energy represents a different end of the same scale.

Crystals are peacemakers. They dislike confrontation. Crystal energy won’t argue with you, but it won’t bend to you either. In that way, it is the same force as Indigo energy.

In other words, whether you are dealing with Indigo energy or Crystal energy, the result is the same. Both will do exactly as they please, but one will do it openly, almost tauntingly, whereas the other will do it quietly, within themselves.

To the degree that we, as existing society, succeed in bending children to our will, is the degree to which they will be internally tormented. Their Inner Being will continue to call them to be who they really are, to be who they know they can become. If we ask them to go against that calling, and they agree, they will suffer. Just as we suffer when we do the same thing.

What’s different is the times we were each born into. Most of us were born in times where following what was socially acceptable—conforming—was emotionally, physically, and spiritually easier to do. The energy of the world was different, there was a different vibration of consciousness.

Even those of us born with a degree of Indigo or Crystal energy, which many of us were, we were born into a time when consciousness as a whole was different. It was easier for us to fit in, because the world energy wasn’t ripe to support more than a small degree of Indigo or Crystal energy. If we didn't fit in, no one much cared because there weren't enough of us that society as a whole had to worry about us.

Now that we are into the new energy, all children being born have these new patternings, new ways of being. At either side of the spectrum they will show up as either strong-willed (Indigo) or quietly accepting (Crystal). Most children will be some combination or melding of the two. In neither case are they created to give in to the demands of society—us. Both energetic types are programmed to get their way, and will stop at nothing to do so. Though they will each go about it in different ways.

Our job as parents, teachers, guardians, mentors, is not to change our children. Our job is to see who they really are, in all their godliness, and to help them see themselves the same way. Or perhaps better said, to not try to take that from them.

It’s our job to help them display and use the skills and talents that they bring to earth, while helping them live in a world that does not yet understand what they have to offer. Only by allowing them to give us what they came here to give us will we all get to where we want to be.

Where do we want to be? Ultimately, where we want to be is in a world where each individual lives as the god-self that they truly are, while incarnate in a human body. As a society, we have never done that before. That’s the game that’s afoot, even though often it doesn’t look like it is. That is what’s going on in our world, and will be until we determine to end that game and create a new one, either here on earth or elsewhere.

In other words, the possibilities for humanity have never been so open, so available. Do you want to live in that world, the one of unbounded possibility, or do you want to continue to live in the world as it’s always been, where we try to make each other fit into molds that we no longer fit into, just because that’s how we’ve always done it?

If you want to live in the new world, the one ripe with possibility, dare to dream and dare to dream big. Start believing in those dreams, and continue to believe in them until they become grounded in physical reality. Let no one stop you from being what you choose to be, having what you choose to have, living as you choose to live. And while you’re doing that, allow others the same opportunity. Not the least of which is our children.

What happens if you don’t?

You don’t need to worry, it’s going to happen anyway. The train has left the station, and whether you are on board or not, it is well into the new journey. Your children are already on board. Will you, through your continued belief that they are here to serve you, or to live up to your—or society’s—expectations, run alongside the train and continually attempt to pull them off? or will you allow them to sit in the engineer’s seat, helping to guide the train to where they know, intuitively, that it can go?

Wouldn’t it be fun to be a passenger on that train and just see where they take you—us? Wouldn’t it be even more fun to be an engineer too, and split off onto a track of your own choosing?

Afterthoughts

There is a lot of information about Indigo and Crystal children circulating about, mostly generated because our children are exhibiting behaviors that we don’t understand, and doing so on a global and ever-increasing basis. The labels themselves are attempts to categorize behaviors and ways of being that we can't comprehend and don't know what to do about.

Much information is available in books and on websites. I recommend Jennifer Hoffman’s “Today’s Children” as a place to start. It’s free and covers the bases well. Lee Carroll (channel for Kryon) and Jan Tober have distributed a lot of mainstream material on Indigos and Crystals. Many spiritual guides have channeled material on Indigos and Crystals, most free for the finding.

These behaviors and changes in Being aren't just in our own communities, they are global and continually growing. Some see this as cause for alarm. Out of that alarm, theories and studies have been developed to help us understand and deal with these new behaviors.

Rather than go into panic or alarm, I would like to see us, as a society, as a world, stop trying to cope with these new behaviors and see them for what they are—wonderful new ways of being. Ways that, at other levels of our own being, we have asked for. I would like us to see these children as representing that which we want to awaken to ourselves.

It’s going to happen. New children are being born every day, and each of them inherently carries this greater ability to stand in the power of their own creation. They will continue to come. Eventually we won’t be talking about Indigos and Crystals, we’ll just be talking about children. At that point we’ll have accepted them as normal, which of course they are.

Until that day comes, the challenge for us, as parents, teachers, and society in general, is in allowing our children to grow and to become who and what they intended before they came here, while helping them live in the world as it currently is. That is what we struggle with on a daily basis.

So I will ask the question again: How hard do you want the struggle to be? If there’s a struggle at all, our children will eventually win it. They came here, at the request of all of us, equipped to teach us how to create, and live in, a new kind of world. Little by little, they, and we, are creating that world. It’s happening and will continue to happen. The only question is, are you willing to get on board with it, or do you want to continue to struggle against it? The choice is yours. It always is.

4.12.2009

Freedom, And The Power of Your Heart

I was talking to a friend who was more or less lamenting the lack of freedom for women in our world. This was part of a discussion group pretty much centered around blaming men for the ills of women, particularly regarding men oppressing women. That conversation got me thinking.

It isn’t up to anyone else to grant us our freedom. We do that. Each and every individual on the planet has the responsibility for their own freedom. Certainly this is far easier in a free society than in one that is suppressed or oppressed, but no matter where we live in this world, freedom is still our own personal responsibility.

Freedom isn’t going to be given to us from somewhere outside of ourselves, it’s given to us by ourselves from inside ourselves. As my very loving and very wise daughter-in-law reminds us, the more empowering phrase is "Freedom to... not freedom from."

Freedom isn’t a place, it’s a state of being. Just like happiness isn’t a place, it’s a state of being. If we want to be free, if we want to be happy, we have to decide that we are, feel that we are, live as if we are, and then nothing, nothing can keep us from it.

No set of circumstances can change how a person feels if they don’t allow it to do so. I’m reminded of a scene from the movie “The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio,” where Evelyn, struggling mother of 10 and the focus of this true story, is listening to yet another apology from her tormented husband. In his remorse for causing her pain he says “I only want to make you happy” to which she replies “I don’t need you to make me happy. I only need you to leave me alone when I am.”

This gets to the core of personal realization. This is at the core of the shift in consciousness—each and every individual accepting their part in the creation of their own world. It doesn’t need to be a revolution that continues to pit some of us against others of us. Women pitting themselves against men is no more a solution than men pitting themselves against women has been. It can be a revolution that happens so quietly we only see it as a revolution in retrospect.

As we have seen from centuries upon centuries of bloodshed, ‘pushing against’ isn’t the solution. The solution lies within each individual taking responsibility for their own heart, and living by what that heart tells them. Within each heart is the god-force, the part of us that sees the bigger picture, knows why we chose to be born into the circumstances we were born into, and is guiding us every step of the way. Whether we choose to listen to that guidance is the question, and within that question lies the answer.

Following our heart is first done by accepting that, for whatever known or unknown reason, we chose the circumstances in which we live. We choose them every minute of every day. We are creators. We are of god. We are part and parcel of god, each of us. No matter how disgusted we are with another human being, no matter how unacceptable we find their behavior to be, no matter how much we feel that they have hurt us or hurt someone we love or care about, the plain and simple truth is that we are all god, with all the power of creation that that implies.

I know that most people who hear that will recoil in pain at the mere possibility, let alone see it as any kind of reality. And yet knowing that, accepting that, is at the heart of change. Because change comes from within. It comes from knowing that you make the choices for your own life, no matter what physical circumstances you find yourself in. When you can look around at every circumstance in your life and accept responsibility for it, then you are experiencing true freedom. And you can do that anywhere, at any time.

There are no victims. Don’t allow yourself to be one, and don’t see others that way. Does that mean we have to condone the horrors that happen to ourselves and others? Of course not. What it does mean is when we see the horror, experience the horror, we have to know there is another way, and then focus on finding that way. Focusing on how it’s been is just more re-creation of how it’s been, it leaves no space for change to occur.

From Theo as received by Gina Lake in her book "Return to Essence":
The past is not a predictor of the future, and yet the mind believes that it is.

In other words, the past is not a predictor of the future unless we believe that it is, unless we allow it to be.

Each and every one of us is more powerful than can even be hinted at. That we can’t see that we are lies in the duality, the illusion of right and wrong, good and bad, the illusion of separation. That’s what the great planetary awakening is all about. It’s about realizing that the time has come to see duality for the illusion that it is.

Some of us (I, being American, am not one of them) have taken on enormous challenges to be born into a culture of oppression at this particular time. My heart goes out to those of you living in the throes of that, but also my encouragement, my appreciation, my love, and my knowingness that you can make a difference. You do make a difference.

As Ghandi so eloquently said,
Be the change you want to see in the world.
No one anywhere on earth is in a better position to be the change than those who are suffering the most. Follow your heart and let others see that such a thing is possible. It doesn’t necessarily come from standing atop a soapbox, it comes from living in your own power and allowing others to see that it can be done.

Standing in that power, you have something that others want. Even if they don’t know what that thing is, they will draw from you the possibility that their life can be different. That is the seed that you plant by being the sovereign being that you are, by listening to your self, by not letting others tell you what is right for you, by not letting others tell you how you ought to live or how you ought to behave.

You know what is right for you. Trust it. Your guidance is there, it comes from you. It comes from within you. Feel it. Know it. Follow it. But that also means that you must allow others the same freedom. Whether they are doing what you think they ought to do is moot, what they do or do not do is their decision. You are not responsible for it.

In situations of oppression it’s far more difficult to accept that we are choosing our circumstances, because logic would tell us that a person would never do that. We just cannot reconcile that any human being would choose to be born into conditions that are less than ideal, let alone atrocious.

But there’s an upside to a human being taking on such a great challenge, and that is that even the smallest movement toward accepting their own power, the power of god within, even one tiny decision, adds enormously to the shift of the whole of consciousness. Even considering the possibility that there are peaceful solutions to every situation, that we can all live in harmony, and that we can do so one heart at a time, adds to the global consciousness of such thinking. Congratulate yourself for being such a person. You make a difference.

The greatest change comes from the smallest decisions, and those are the decisions we make each and every day, about whether we will allow ourselves to follow our heart or whether we won’t. It happens in a moment, and all those moments add up.

Espavo, friends. May you find the true power of your own heart in every moment.

4.11.2009

Breath of Life

It must be obvious that breathing is the most important thing we do. I mean, if we don’t breathe for more than about three minutes we incur permanent brain damage. After a couple more minutes of oxygen starvation we die.

The will to survive is so strong, so instinctual, that the body will not tolerate oxygen starvation voluntarily. This is why we cannot involuntarily hold our breath until we die.

A child isn’t “born” into the earth environment until it takes its first breath. This is the moment when the human baby begins living on its own, in its new environment outside of the mother, even if, such as is the case with some premature babies, that involuntary breathing is supplemented or temporarily replaced by machinery.

But did you know that your breath is more than the simple mechanism that keeps your body filled with oxygen, keeps it from dieing? If that were not so, our bodies would not continue to live after we die.

Our breath is like an energetic umbilical cord, connecting us, in our human body, with all other realms and dimensions. It’s the direct route to integrating all of our experiences. Consciously breathing reconnects us to who we really are in ways we are only just coming to realize.

Whenever you feel stressed or anxious or confused, simply breathe. Whenever you think of it, breathe! Breathe .. and enjoy.

From Uriel as received by Jennifer Hoffman:
Know that the air that you breathe is the physical manifestation of the energy of the Source in your environment. When you breathe, you are taking in the wondrous energy of the Creator God.
And this from Kuthumi, as received by Chris Simon in his channeled book “Good Blowing Job: How to Get A-Head with the Breath”:
And here you were thinking you were just walking around, doing this bothersome thing called breathing, and now you come to realize it to be a portal to experiencing everything imaginable in any realm, while you stand here on Earth, in any given moment, even during the times when you're pretending to be a Silly Silly Human.

Do you notice too, how immediately and effortlessly the breath takes you away from the way your mind has been feeling in the New Energy (tired and overworked)?

And in the moment of the breath, when your mind literally disengages from its hurrying and worrying and spinning and turning, you feel quieted and calmed and centred and balanced and peaceful and loved and loving and loveable.

Do you not find it amazing at times how close this refreshing of your humanness with your divinity is, in any given moment?

As close as a breath.
and
Don't you find it refreshing that there is no “instruction manual” on breathing? Why would you need one, you have been breathing since you were birthed onto this Earth and you are breathing right now as you are reading or listening to these very words. The only difference is that, as you have entered and are now living in and with New Energy, you now have the potential to become conscious of your breath.

Conscious of the act of breathing.

And that's it.

Now do you come to understand the feeling of your breath traveling through your entire body? Your entire Being. Not just your nose or your mouth or your lungs, but every cell, every awareness, every level, here and in other realms. And Dear Ones, that is going on every few seconds with each inhale and each exhale.

Each breath is an experience of your Self circling back and knowing. Yet sharing all of this with those around you on Earth and in other realms.

From Tobias
Just breathe. Go into yourself. Feel yourself—not all of the world’s outside energies, but yourself right now. It’s okay to do that. It’s not selfish. As a matter of fact, it is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself.

You know you can let down for just a moment, let down on the energies and the attachments to your children and to your spouse and to your job and business and this great shift on Earth right now and just come back into yourself.
Come back into you, into that sacred vessel that you call your body, into that sacred device called the mind. Come back into you … into your spirit, into this moment.

4.09.2009

Pets and Us

I enjoyed this question and answer from Tobias as received by Geoff Hoppe at Crimson Circle.
SHAUMBRA 4: … A beautiful being has come into [our] life. Her name is Maggie. She is called a Weimaraner by description of the breed of dog she is. And – I don’t know – maybe you can tell us just a little something. I know she’s had some trials in this lifetime …

TOBIAS: When anybody, when Shaumbra, is considering their pets – oh, they’re such a marvelous thing and there’s a whole history of Tobias and Tobias, Jr. and dogs. It’s interwoven into all of our lifetimes.* But take a look at the time that this precious one came into your life. You could say that pets – dogs and cats and a few birds – are generally the manifestation of a part of yourself.

They’re not what you would call your total self, but your energy is infused into them and they – these precious beings, these precious type of devas or type of earth beings, not quite angels, but they’re earth beings – they absorb your energy. So when one like this comes into your life, take a look at the timing when it came in, what it’s sharing back with you right now, which is probably love and wisdom, but also take a look at its past because that past also is a reflection of your past, in the case that you get a pet like this.

Now for those getting brand new pets, generally they are ones who have been with you before. They’re very familiar with your energy and your journey, and they’ve been walking along the path with you for as many lifetimes as you could count. So they generally feel very, very close. They’re like energy sponges – consciously. They pull your energy in and they help you work with it in such a loving way – as long as you’re choosing it to be loving.

So … when you look in its eyes understand that it is its own being, but it’s also being such a part of you as well.
* Tobias has said that Geoff was Tobias Jr. during the Tobias lifetime. Geoff and Linda have a dog that is often present when he channels Tobias.

I enjoy knowing that our pets are so close to us. They surely feel close! April Crawford's Veronica has said that when pets die, if there’s a strong desire on our part and their part that they return to us but that return is down the timeline a bit, they’ll often take on the body of a bird temporarily. Doing so allows them to stay physically close to us while the timing is worked out for them to return. I find comfort in that.

What I found most interesting in the comment from Tobias is how true it seems to be for both my cat (who is most definitely my cat) and our dog. Our dog is more “our” dog than tied to any of us individually. He was brought into our lives about 10 years ago, after we finally gave in to our daughter’s constant begging for a dog. Over time it’s become clear that this dog has become the family pet rather than her pet alone. She was gracious enough to allow him to stay with us after she grew up and moved out on her own. We are ever grateful that she did so, as this dog has been and continues to be such a joy to us.

I think I mentioned, in another post, how much freedom means to my husband and me. We are both self-employed, and both of us work alone, without employees. Our work is like that by design. We both know we could grow our businesses and employ others, but for us, right now, the freedom of answering only to ourselves is the most valuable thing we have. We could be free in any number of ways, but for now this is what we choose. Without a doubt our personal freedom is at the top of each of our lists for how we like to live.

Enter our dog, who was given up twice within a year because of his propensity for jumping 6-foot fences to get out of the owner's yard. This dog will not be penned up. He will be as inventive—and annoying—as possible until he takes or is given his freedom. When we first got him from the Humane Society we were told about this “misbehavior” that caused his owners so much frustration and upset, and eventually caused them to give him up.

In order to keep the dog in our yard we put him on a generous leash. This leash was attached to a cable that ran the width of the yard. He could move the length of the leash, which slid back and forth the length of the cable, so he could move around a lot. In fact had access to nearly the whole back yard.

It wasn’t enough. He was confined and he knew it, and he was not happy. He howled and whined and barked and howled and whined and barked, non-stop on that leash. When we were outside with him he would quiet down. But the moment we left him there, tied up in as generous a way as we could think of, he’d howl. And howl. And howl.

We read up on all the ways to control such behavior. We talked to dog behavior experts. We reviewed all the different ways to get this dog to fall in line with city ordinances that he stay in our yard unless we were walking him ourselves—on a leash. We tried a few of the less severe methods. We even tried giving him his own "cave", a generously-large and strong open mesh metal dog kennel that we borrowed from our son. The dog wouldn't have any part of it. One time we put him in it and closed the door hoping he'd take to it. He chewed (destroyed) the metal latch and pushed and shoved the metal door until it bent enough that he could squeeze out.

We agonized for many months during this "training" process. I will say that is was agonizing for all of us, dog included. Eventually we gave up. Not because the dog didn’t learn, but because it became clear to us that he didn’t want to learn. He wanted to be free.

Could we have persisted in breaking him? I’m sure we could. We decided not to. I began to see this dog as the embodiment of what I considered to be the most important attribute of life, freedom. He didn’t mind being indoors most of the time. Some dogs would mind that, he didn’t. Nor do I. I work out of a home office so I’m at home a lot.

It—this relationship of the dog and us—turned out to be a marriage made in heaven. He's loyal and loving to a fault, the way most dogs are. He stays inside with me most of the time. When he needs to go out I am there to let him out, unleashed. Any time that I or my husband are outside he is out there with us, yet free to come and go. He doesn’t mind being on a leash when we go for a walk, because he’s with us. Being with us seems to be the key. If he’s with us he’ll forgo his freedom somewhat. If we aren’t around he requires his freedom.

So here’s this dog who needs his freedom every bit as much as we do, who came into our lives shortly after we both decided to get serious about our freedom (by quitting our jobs and becoming self-employed). Amazing.

Then there’s my cat, the one who is clearly my cat. To show you a little bit of synchronicity, I had wanted this cat for a very long time. I had her clearly pictured: gray and white shorthair, female. I wanted her, but I didn't do much in the way of trying to find her. I figured if things worked in life the way I thought they did, she'd find her way to me.

My husband, bless his heart, searched the Humane Society off and on for months (unknown to me) but couldn’t find what I had said I wanted. One time he found a cat he thought I’d like and brought me to see it. Despite the fact that this cat wasn’t a gray and white shorthair female but instead a black and white long haired male, he seemed like a loving kitty so we brought him home.

Long story short, this cat, the black and white, used us to get him out of prison. Of that I am certain. He was the most adorable, loving thing in his little cage at the Humane Society. He stuck both paws out of the bars and lovingly grabbed my arm, with his claws retracted. He purred and tried to rub his head against me while still caged. My heart melted. We brought him home.

From the minute that cat got to our house it was clear he didn’t want to be there. Gone was the totally loving creature we'd experienced at the Humane Society. In our home this cat became completely indifferent; he could have cared less about either one of us.

Sure he'd take our attention if we wanted to give it, but he wasn't the attention seeker/lover I had always experienced as cat pets. Certainly nowhere near as affectionate as he'd been before we brought him home. This cat was always off adventuring around the neighborhood. He seemed to enjoy that. Occasionally he would jump into the front seat of a neighbor’s car or truck. I always thought that was curious behavior. Whatever neighbor it was who's car he had gotten into would gently pick him up and put him back on the street. This went on for months.

Then one day this cat disappeared. Just up and disappeared. It didn’t surprise me. It had become clear to me that he didn’t want to be with us. I worried about him for awhile until I realized that was just silly. Here was a cat that was just like me in one way, he was bound and determined to have the life he wanted. It didn’t take long for me to realize that he wasn’t coming back. And I knew that wherever he went, whoever he ended up with, both cat and owner would be delighted with each other.

Back to my cat. My (now ex) daughter-in-law, who I still love dearly, knew about my desire for a gray and white cat and had been putting feelers out. From a gal that she worked with she heard about a gray and white kitten that had been found and taken to a veterinarian clinic and was being cared for there. This kitten needed a home; were we interested?

The vet where she was being held was some 25+ miles away from where we live, but we (my daughter-in-law and me), decided since I wanted a gray and white so badly and hadn’t been able to find one, we might as well go have a look. And so we did.

We arrived at the vet and told them why we were there. One of the lab assistants at the vet’s office brought out the cat that we had come to see. She was perfect! She laid down in my lap and while I petted her she purred happily and soon was fast asleep.

This poor kitten had been through a lot. She had been out in the cruel world for who knows how long, had become malnourished almost to the point of death, and had gotten infested with lice and had ringworm. To cure the ringworm her fur had been shaved in a number of places, and she was thin. The vet had done a good job getting her health back, but we were told she’d have to be isolated from other pets and family members for weeks, to ensure that the ringworm didn't spread. I didn’t care. I loved her and brought her home.

We had picked up the kitten on a Saturday. On Monday, when my daughter-in-law returned to work, she called me. Her friend who had told her about the cat wanted to know why we hadn’t taken it home. What?! That didn’t make any sense, we had taken it home!

Turns out that the cat we went to see was not the cat we were shown. The cat we went to see was a long hair, while the one we were shown was the short hair that I had been waiting for. Since “my kitten” was still sick she wasn’t supposed to have been shown at all. Don’t ya love it when life works out like that? I’m still thankful to that lab assistant who ‘accidentally’ (heh) showed us the wrong cat. The one that was really the right cat.

So this new cat needed to be isolated, medicated, and cared for a great deal during her first weeks with us. I was the one who took care of her, and she bonded quite strongly with me. Forever after she has been my cat.

Funny thing about this cat, she didn’t much like being outside. Once in awhile she’d get brave and venture out, but these adventures always ended up in even greater trauma for her. I’d find her huddled in a corner under the deck in our back yard, crying that terrorized cry that cats cry, trying to stay safe in what for her was a terrifying world.

During this time I was reaching a low point in my own life. Too much to tell in this short space, but I was going through my own inability to be in the world. I spent a great deal of time inside. Inside was comfortable, safe, and I didn’t have to deal with being in a world that I didn’t feel like I fit in and that I wasn't sure I wanted to be in. The cat and I lived in this safe indoor world together.

One day, years later, I shifted out of that fear of the world. I won’t go into detail about that, just to say that it was a process that culminated one day in my fear dissolving. I began to go outside, and I began to do things outside.

Very soon after this shift in me I realized that the cat was taking her own first tentative steps exploring the great outdoors too. Whereas for years she never even went near a door, now she was taking the opportunity to go outside. I hadn't noticed her slipping out, and she was going out while I was still inside. Not only was she going out, she wasn’t running for the nearest cover (under a car, under the deck, behind our stacked wood) like she had done the few times she had gone out before. Instead she was exploring being in this fun new place. She was mimicking me!

The cat still spends more time inside than outside, but so do I. The difference is that she isn’t afraid to be outside anymore. She goes out frequently when the dog does, and comes back when he does, probably because he’s much better at getting let back in than she is. If she misses coming in with the dog she just cries in the normal way that cats cry to let you know they want in. Quite a difference from the way that she used to be outside. Quite a difference in the way that I am when I'm out of the house now too.

So pets carry certain characteristics of their owners because they are far more closely tied to our energy than we realize. Is it any wonder that pets so often look like, or come to look like, their masters?

How much like you are your animals? What might they be showing you that's worth seeing?

4.08.2009

Games People Play

If you’ve been following my posts for long you’ll know how much I love the analogy of life on planet earth as a game. There are many wonderful analogies that help us understand why we are here, but of all the explanations I’ve heard, the game analogy works best for me.

There’s no doubt that besides being fun, which is the point of a game afterall, games can be taken very seriously. So it is with life. Thinking of life as a game helps remind me that we have a choice in any moment how we perceive our experience.

I saw a new twist to the game idea in this comment from Kuthumi:
Some of you struggle with belief systems. For instance, you try to create them in the mind. You’re playing with yourself in your head. A belief system is what you feel, not what you think. You go in and say, “Well I believe in being abundant,” but yet you don’t feel abundant. You feel that the world is controlled by a small few, which it is, who give nothing to others, which they don’t. But you forget to believe and to feel that you don’t have to play that game with them. You can create your own game.
It’s interesting to me that we can think of everything we do, each of our belief systems, as one of uncountable numbers of games that we created, all for our personal experience and enlightenment, even amusement. Some we created alone, others we co-create with others. All can be given up. All can be re-created differently.

We don’t need to know why we created certain beliefs, but we can if we wish. We don’t need to know how long ago we created a belief (this lifetime or eons ago), but that too is knowable, if we wish to seek the answer. Whether we know or do not know where a belief came from, we can always know how the belief has served us. We can always view it in the context of a game, either to continue playing knowing full well that no matter how serious a game it is we’re still ‘playing’, or we can choose to stop playing that game and choose a different one. As Abraham insists,
a belief is simply a thought we keep thinking
and we can change what we think at any time.

We all know how easy it is to stop playing any given game. We’ve all had games, sports, hobbies that we’ve enjoyed and then given up. For whatever reason we simply decide not to play that game anymore. It could be as simple as a “been there, done that” sort of attitude. The point is that we have a choice: continue playing or don’t.

Isn’t it amazing that we can take that attitude about our beliefs? We can simply say, at any point, “I’m tired of playing the poverty game. Been there, done that, ready to move on.” And then get fully engaged in the wealth game. Or the “relationships that work” game. Or the “living my passion” game. Or the “joy in every experience” game. Talk about opportunities to be creative, oh my. Just think of the games we can make up!

It really speaks to allowing each and every individual to believe what they believe and live however they live, without needing to change them. You simply allow them to play the games that they made up, while you play games that you make up. You don't have to be playing the same game as everyone else, even if you're experiencing the same event! You can believe anything you want, and not one other single human being on the planet has to believe the same way for you to be happy—and successful—playing your game.

What new game will you dream up? Role play it and watch it come true!

4.07.2009

Plan B

Abraham was asked, “What happens if you have a Plan B?” Abraham’s response was immediate and simple:
Having a Plan B assures Plan B.
Can you see why that is?

We only have a Plan B when we don’t believe our Plan A will work. If we firmly believe in Plan A, it won’t even occur to us to have a Plan B.

Think about what you’re feeling when you start formulating a Plan B. Maybe you’re feeling hesitant, or even fearful, about what you are wanting. Having a Plan B brings you some relief from those negative feelings. As well it should, because that relief tells you that’s really the plan you believe in. Sticking with Plan A no matter what can be like stepping onto the high wire without a net. Having a Plan B takes some of that fear away. There are other ways to find that relief without formulating a Plan B.

Being human, it seems only prudent to have a Plan B, right? “What if” you ask, “I mean, just what if Plan A doesn’t happen, even though I believe strongly in it? Don’t I need a Plan B ‘just in case’, so I’m prepared? so I’ll know what to do if Plan A doesn’t happen?” “Only the most foolhardy people would go through life with no Plan Bs!” you say.



The simple truth is this: You never need a Plan B, nor is it in your best interests to have one if you truly want to change the kinds of things and events you are manifesting.

If Plan A doesn’t work and you have a Plan B, you’ll move effortlessly and unconsciously into Plan B. If you have a Plan B and Plan A didn’t pan out, you’ll miss whatever intuition, inspiration and guidance might be available to you that would lead you to manifesting Plan A.

Plan A not manifesting doesn’t mean anything other than that Plan A didn’t manifest—yet. It doesn’t mean it won’t. It doesn’t mean you screwed up. It doesn’t mean you’re wrong to want Plan A. It doesn’t mean you don’t deserve Plan A. You are already worthy. You are already deserving. Those are not things that need to be earned, those qualities are inherent in who you are.

Remember that it’s not your work to figure out how to get Plan A to manifest. It’s only your work to want Plan A and get into vibrational harmony with it. It’s Source’s job to manifest it into your reality.

How do you get into vibrational harmony with Plan A? By believing in it. How do you come to believe in something you don’t yet believe in? Notice how you feel when Plan A doesn’t happen, or when you think it might not happen. Do you feel fearful? Angry? Upset? Hurt? What thoughts were you having that brought up those feelings? Are you beginning to see conflicting beliefs that cause you to sabotage yourself in your creation of Plan A?

If your Plan A doesn’t manifest, or doesn’t seem to be manifesting, don’t immediately shift into a Plan B. Instead, be quiet within for a moment. Breathe. Turn off your thinking. Listen in the stillness. Allow yourself to feel however you feel. See if some insight or intuition doesn’t pop up in that moment of quiet contemplation.

If you don’t see anything fearful, if no insights or intuition are apparent, tell yourself whatever you need to tell yourself to be at peace with your decision to manifest your Plan A. You might want to remind yourself that you are already deserving, you are already worthy. You might want to remind yourself that its not your job to know the how and where and when of your manifestation, its only your job to want it and get into vibrational harmony with it. You might want to remind yourself that you will be inspired to the appropriate action when the time is right.

If you’re struggling to get back into the feeling place of your Plan A, read or listen to something inspirational, do processes (Abraham has a ton of them), feel what it will feel like when Plan A manifests. Do whatever it takes to get yourself re-focused into Plan A. Get determined to manifest Plan A!

Our seemingly innate desire to think our way out of a situation that isn’t going as we wished or hoped is just our habitual way of wanting to force creation. We spend a lot of time and effort teaching each other that the way to create is with the mind. It never is, it just seems that way because we’re so used to forcing things.

Conscious creation can’t be forced. It’s not an activity for the brain or the mind. Allow yourself to feel whatever you feel when you have a Plan A and don’t see it manifesting. Don’t immediately develop a Plan B, unless you strongly feel that you no longer want Plan A. If that’s the case, what you’re really saying is that you want a new Plan A.

During this process, simply see whatever is there to be seen. If you are quiet, if you aren’t filling your mind with ideas on how to ‘solve’ your current situation, inspiration will come to you. Insights will come to you. Creative solutions will come to you.

Insight, inspiration, and creativity are ways that You speak to you through the focus of your Inner Being. That voice is always there, guiding you, but it often can’t get past the clutter of your mental processes. Listen for that inner guidance and you won’t even want a Plan B.

4.01.2009

Of Ego and Essence

I have this thing I want to create. This is something I’ve never created before, so I have no track record of success in creating this particular thing. It’s a pretty big thing, as things go. By that I mean it has a lot of significance. Most people would say that such a thing cannot be consciously created, consciously manifested.

Most people would say, if such a thing manifested at all, that it would be by luck or by cheating or by 'the grace of god,' as if god were something that was not us. That’s what most people would say. There’s not much listening in our world—yet—for conscious creation, or for ‘you are god also’ for that matter. But I know something that ‘most people’ do not know. If you’re reading this you know it too.

We know that we can all consciously create because we unconsciously create all the time. Every waking moment of every day in fact. I know that I can consciously create, and I know that I can consciously create this thing that I want. I know, strongly, deeply and without reservation, that I can consciously want a thing and have it show up in my experience. That is, have it manifest.

Though I know this with every fiber of my being, thoughts pop into my head frequently that question my ability to do this. I have some ability to look at thoughts and choose whether or not to accept them, and over the years I’ve had a lot of success doing so. I’ve had some success doing the same with these thoughts.

But I noticed that these thoughts have been coming with increased frequency and urgency, and that increase in frequency and urgency caused me to stop and ask myself what was going on. Why was I trying to sabotage myself with thoughts that are exactly opposite of what I want to create? Why am I frequently being visited by thoughts that say “I can’t” when I know I can?

It’s kind of a fun thing that happens in my life when I ask questions like that. After asking some kind of question to no one in particular, generally I’ll end up being guided to the anwer. I’ll see something that sparks an interest in me that I follow, or I’ll have some inspiration to do something or go somewhere or look something up or call someone. Or someone will say something, or I’ll see something on TV or in a movie or something I’m reading that either answers the question or becomes another clue to follow.

In other words, very often when I follow my impulses I’ll be led right to the thing that answers the question I was asking. I’ve begun to think of my life as one giant Easter Egg Hunt, where the clues to the answers I seek are hidden around me and it’s my task (my joy!) to find them.

Over a year ago I contacted Gina Lake for a private consult. Gina Lake is a wonderful gal of many talents, one of which is a strong background in understanding and interpreting astrological charts, and another is channeling her spirit guides, a group she calls Theo. She writes books with Theo on her shoulder, and gives personal sessions reading charts and channeling Theo.

I called her for insight into an an area of my life where I was having some frustration. It was a terrific session, one that I enjoyed and which helped me a great deal with the issues I was having at the time. I should add that I highly recommend Gina to anyone who has such an interest. Gina had sent me a tape recording of our phone session, which I put into an old tape recorder and listened to.

In my house I have a lot of places to store things. Lots of drawers and closets and cubby hole things. My dad had a saying “A place for everything and everything in it’s place.” I’ve spent the greater part of my life living in opposition to that philosophy. Likely not by accident, if you think about how children often and purposefully do things in direct opposition to the wishes of their parents. ;) So anyway .. Often I don’t pay much attention—sometimes no attention—to where I put things. Add to this that I’m not particularly organized, so things in my house get ‘misplaced’ frequently.

Knowing all that, it probably won’t surprise you that at some point the recorder—with the tape still in it—became lost. I searched for it rather diligently for awhile, but never found it. As time went by, every once in awhile I’d realize the recorder and tape were still missing, do a brief search, not find them, not care much that yet again I hadn’t uncovered the recorder’s hiding place, and move along. Eventually I stopped looking for it at all. I figured if I ever really needed it, it would show up.

Back to this question I was pondering—the question about why thoughts, unwanted thoughts, keep surfacing in my mind despite the fact that they are thoughts that draw me away from an intent that I have, a very strong intent, to consciously create something in my life, something that I really want and fully intend to have. I know that I will prevail, yet these thoughts keep surfacing. I felt like I was sabotaging myself. I wanted to know why, and what to do about it.

It has become a habit with me, when I have a question like that, a question where the answer is not forthcoming immediately, to just let it go. I know that somewhere, somehow, the answer will come. I’ve pretty much stopped being concerned about the when and the how, I just live in the knowing that it will.

So that is what I did. I had this question mulling around in my mind, and I let it go.

Some time later I noticed that my husband was digging around in a compartment of our buffet—the buffet having some of those infamous cubby holes I mentioned. He was making quite a mess moving things around, and I had an impulse when he was done to get in there and clean things up. Not because I insist on all things being neat and tidy, because I don’t. I simply had an impulse to get in there and clean things up. So I did.

In a corner of one of the shelves, half buried but still visible, was the tape recorder with the tape of my session with Gina and Theo. “Well, huh!” I thought. “There it is!” After all this time of not being able to find this recorder and tape, there it was, hidden in the corner of a shelf in the buffet. The buffet is not a place I would have ever thought to look for it, and hadn’t. But there it was.

All giddy with excitement at having found my session tape, I had a sudden impulse to listen to it again there and then. So I did. I had no inkling that I was being guided to this ‘find’. But I was. I realized that soon enough.

If you didn’t know it already, that’s the nature of the way that spirit often speaks to us. It rarely comes as a voice shouting “hey! the answer to your question is on that tape from Gina, you'll find the tape in the buffet!” .. instead it’s just little flashes of inspiration that pop up. Things like ‘notice the buffet’ ‘clean it up’ ‘play it now’.

Little inspirations, little clues that, if we follow them without needing to know why they are there or what they mean or needing them to mean anything at all, will easily and fluidly lead us to where we say we want to be. Where I said I wanted to be was with the answer to my question, or more accurately, with a way to move past my self-doubt.

As I listened to the tape, in there with other wisdoms I found this gem that seemed to speak directly to what I was experiencing:
Don’t be halted by the doubt. Any kind of doubt always comes from the mind. Do you think essence creates doubt? No, essence never creates doubt. Essence doesn’t need self-doubt to protect you. Essence protects you in other ways and through its own wisdom.
Not long after that was the following excerpt. What Theo is discussing here is about ego and essence: About ‘us’ as human and ‘Us’ as spirit.
This that you are—who you truly are—is alive right now. It’s not some concept. “It” is living your life, it’s breathing your body, it’s right here. It gets overshadowed by this manufactured me that the mind speaks about: I’m this, I’m that, I like this, I like that.

This whole identity is created by the mind. It feels real, it seems real, it even has feelings attached to it which makes it more real, but that isn’t who you are. All that mental stuff, it isn’t you.

What is real is this aliveness that is living this life. This awareness that is aware of this life, that is aware of thoughts, that is aware of feelings. You are that awareness. And this awareness is co-creating with itself on other levels.

So that which you are is incarnate. It’s not just a concept of a higher self that’s sitting up there in some other dimension (separate from you). It’s incarnate. It’s here. And when you’re responding naturally and joyfully, that’s it responding, that’s it living. When you’re involved with thought, that’s your ego living you.

So there are two ways of Being in any moment. There is Being aligned with the ego and the mind, and there’s Being aligned with essence. Any moment any of those two things can be happening, but not both of them at the same time. So there’s a dance going on in every moment—people spend time involved in the ego, and they spend time in essence.

The more spiritually progressed you are, the more time you spend identified with your true self rather than the mind. And that’s what awakening is about. It’s a movement toward full identification with essence as it’s living you now.
There was the answer to my question, the inspiration I was looking for. There aren’t two me’s, the one who knows she is consciously creating and the one who’s trying to sabotage those creations, there’s only me. Just me. I’m either aware or unaware, but always me. I'm not sometimes a powerful god and sometimes an insignificant human. I am always god—as you are—so I’m always creating. Therefore there's no such thing as an insignificant human. The question is, am I being aware of what I’m creating or am I not?

It was fun, having the questions I had, knowing that something would come along that would ignite me back to the belief that I hold so strongly and so clearly, the belief that we can manifest any desire that we have if we just get out of our own way. What Theo said helps me remember that thoughts are just thoughts, that they don’t mean anything unless we give them meaning, that we can choose which thoughts forward us in where we want to be and discard the rest.

It helps me remember that there is no separation between us and our Higher Self/Inner Being. We are our Inner Being. Our Inner Being is us. There’s not two of us like it sometimes seems, the lowly human and the mighty spirit. There’s only one of us. We are the creator and the created, all at the same time, all the time. There’s never a time when we aren’t that. And that which we are is every bit as powerful as that implies.

As Seth has said:
... you ARE your entity. You are its materialization in space and time as you understand it. There is no division between your entity and what you are.

You are your entity growing through the seasons. The entity is not some soul—completed, perfect, done—and you a product. You are a living portion of the tree of your entity. You experience newly in your own dimension, and therefore enrich your entity as it constantly enriches you, for your source springs from it. But you are one, and there is no division.
All that’s going on, when it seems like there are two of us, is that we forget that we are both the creator and the created. We can remember again any time we choose to. In the remembering is the power. In the remembering are our conscious manifestations. In the remembering is the awareness that we are the creator, we are god, a knowing that has lain forgotten for so long. Lain forgotten on purpose, because that was the nature of our game.

That game is over now. It’s time to wake up. It’s time to remember.

It's time to know that we’re into a new game. A game where we experience walking in the remembering instead of walking in the forgetting.

It’s time to start playing that new game now. It’s time to own up to and consciously use our power, our inherent power, as creators, as conscious creators. It’s time.