Guided Meditation • Visualization • Mindfulness

New Year Clearing Ceremony
Saturday January 3rd from 1:00 to 3:00 PM

Together we’re going to create clear intentions, visualize a clear path for the New Year, and welcome 2009 burden free!
 
 
 
Cost:  Donation
 
Where:  The lovely home of Liz Ata in San Pedro, CA
please email me for Liz’s address and directions

“Why do you keep focusing your attention on what you do not want?” This question was asked over and over again at the seminar I attended a few months ago on *The Law of Attraction by Ester and Jerry Hicks. 

The Law of Attraction simply states that whatever you think about consistently you experience, so if you don’t like your life’s experiences then change your thinking.  That is, if you keep focusing on what’s not working in your life you’ll never be able to create what it is you really want.

Sitting there in the audience watching person after person go up on stage and have this same question posed to them, I became acutely aware of many of the same repetitive and negative thought patterns within myself.

 I left the seminar convinced that negative thinking is useless.  Whether you believe in the Law of Attraction or not, repetitive negative thinking and haranguing about what is not working in your life, who did what to whom, what Mary should do about Bob etc…creates internal chaos which inevitably leads to external chaos. 

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by Kris King

Your mind is an instrument, a tool. It is there to be used for a specific task, and when the task is completed, you lay it down.
                —–Eckhart Tolle

I remember when I was first certain that I wanted to pursue my acting dreams while living in Springfield, IL. After driving back and forth to Chicago for auditions, it was clear to me that I needed to move to Los Angeles if I were to have a real shot at it. I sat with that knowing for at least a year before it hit me that time was not going to allow me to wait for a more favorable circumstance. At that point, it wasn’t what I needed to do that was an issue; it was how I will do it.

The major obstacle for human beings is the thinking mind. Alternatively, the human mind is the best tool ever given to you. If used in unison with the soul, the mind helps to create some of the grandest ideas, the most loving gestures, and numerous opportunities. The mind, unaccompanied, creates conflict, strife, and problems that can lead to the most erroneous behavior. In other words, when the mind plays the role of the sidekick to the superhero, the bad guys are captured and the town rejoices. However, when the mind starts acting as if it is the hero and feels that it doesn’t need any assistance, it will eventually self-destruct trying to save the town, ultimately taking the town down with it.

The problem seems to be that most people are trying to use their mind for the what as opposed to the how. To piggy back off my earlier example, when contemplating the move to Los Angeles, it was clear that I needed to move there, I just didn’t know how I was going to do it. So I explored a few different options. I thought about getting a loan. I even thought about saving up for a year or two, then moving. Until I eventually came to the obvious decision to sell my home and use the money to move and pay off some debt before I left. My mind made an assessment of what my options was, weeded out what wouldn’t work, leaving me with the best available option based on my circumstances. Two months later, I was in L.A.  

Your soul is all knowing. Your mind is all memory. If the mind is left unattended, all of your decisions will be made from past experiences. And can you blame it? The mind is trained to go into the storage room of any similar situation that you are currently in, see what you did in that situation, then act out a similar, if not an exact solution even if that solution didn’t work the last time. This is because it has no new data to work with. At least it seems this way.

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Yesterday was a historic day, not just for Americans but for those around the world who woefully believed that the American Dream was fading into the land of myth, into the mists of Avalon.  Being the daughter of an immigrant and of mixed cultural heritage yesterdays outcome is especially meaningful.
 
My father is from Guyana, South America, and came to this country on a student visa and with $23 in his pocket. Being black and immigrating to this country at a time of increasing racial tension did not daunt him from wanting to participate in the American Dream of equal opportunity and limitless possibilities. After being here only a short while, he met and married my mother, an American of German-Irish-Dutch descent. 

My parents married at a time in our history when inter-racial marriage was still illegal in some states.  I grew up listening to the debates over inter-racial marriage on the television.  It seemed like they would end every show with someone saying, “What about the children?” “What about the children,” the final lament of those who were, and are, fearful of change.

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Meditation for Relaxation and Self-Healing begins this week at Beach Cities Health District.  I am really excited to be offering this class again.   We’ll be using visualization to manifest more health, wealth, and happiness into our lives.  I hope to see you all there!

When: October 1st

Time:  7:30 pm-8:30 pm

Where: Beach Cities Health District

514 N. Prospect Ave.

Redondo Beach CA, 90277

It doesn’t matter how much we think we know or what we say we believe.  What matters is whether or not are we living our deepest beliefs with integrity. 

We talk about peace, love, and compassion but so few of us live these principles.  Our compassion extends only to the people who think like we do, not to the person who abused us.  Our peace extends only to the people who believe in what what we believe, not to the non-believer.  Our love is only for those who please and validate us, not for the person who disagrees with us. 

Pride.  We used to talk about pride, now we talk about ego.  Most of us don’t really understand what the ego is, there are so many different ways of defining it, but pride we understand.  Pride and unconsciousness, (“Father forgive them they know not what they do”), is what keeps us from living in joy. Pride. It’s pride that keeps us from apologizing to our spouse or our children when we’ve been too harsh with them.  It’s pride that keeps us from telling them that we love them.  It’s pride that keeps us on the edges of our relationships–never to experience the fullness and richness of the other person’s company. 

Humility.  Humility is pride’s opposite.  True humility is an act of courage because it is often misconstrued and misunderstood as weakness.  To be humble is to stand in a place of power, to recognize the shortcomings of our pridefulness and then let go.  It takes humility plus courage to live the deepest and fullest expression of Life.  

Action. To speak of humility, to speak of compassion, to speak of love, is not the same as being humility, as being compassion, and being love.  This is true spirituality.

Why do we love negativity?

Why do we believe that real life is found in  the dark place of our lives?

Why is it so hard for us to forgive…the past, ourselves, the driver who cut us off on our way to church?

Why do we insist and persist on dwelling on these ridiculous transgressions?

What is it about me that does not allow me to forgive myself?

Do you know?

Affirmation: Life is Light. Light is my nature. Peace is who I am.

Forgiveness is as easy and refreshing as… 

drinking a cool glass of water on a warm summer’s day.

Good Vibrations

How does the material world exist if the fundamental building blocks of matter have no mass?  And what does this have to do with meditation, visualization, and your wellbeing? 

Your body and everything else in the universe may look solid; but all matter is made up of particles, particles that have no mass.  Science has yet to quantify exactly what this is all about, but the mystic and the metaphysician will tell you that the fundamental building blocks of life is Source energy…moving, oscillating, vibrating, living energy. You are Source energy in a beautiful and unique form. 

You direct this energy with your thinking and with your feeling.  That is, you have a free will to do whatever you want with this energy.  If, for example, you direct your thoughts towards something that makes you feel sad, disappointed, or resentful, the vibratory nature of your being slows down and you feel drained, tired, or depressed.  Why?  Because your sense of wellbeing is directly related to the quality your thinking, and your thoughts direct the vibration and flow of your energy.

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This month I’ve been working with, “Meditation in the Silence,” by E.V. Ingraham. Below is an excerpt from the book regarding communing with our Source through the practice of sitting in silence. I’ve also included a lesson and mindfulness practice that complements Ingraham’s.

The Practice of the Silence

1. Be comfortably seated so that your mind will be as free as possible from any thought of the body.

2. Remember that this period of silence is a period of prayer, a period of conscious communion with your Source.

3. Be interested in discovering the nature of Source and what Source wishes to reveal to you.

4. Become very still, and listen with your whole being to catch whatever degree of Presence may be revealed to you.

5. Acknowledge that The Presence is in you and that Its infinite wisdom is unfolding in you, Its Life is expressing in you, and Its inexhaustible substance is being formed in you continually.

6. Do not make the period of silence too long in the beginning—perhaps only two or three minutes. Let it be only as long as your interest seems to hold you.

7. Only by practice does one become a musician, and it is by practice that you develop the new consciousness of spiritual things…so don’t be discouraged if your experiences are not as you anticipate them to be.

8. On closing your time of silence, assume an attitude of thanksgiving.

From, “Meditation in the Silence,” (by E.V. Ingraham, pp. 42-43)

Lesson and Practice: Practicing Attention and Appreciation.
To know God (Source, Universe, Soul, Self, etc…), you must first be interested in knowing God, you must give your attention to It. This week practice knowing God in all things, in all places, and in all peoples everywhere through the giving of your attention. (more…)

Stop trying to fix your family and friends, they won’t thank you for it!
Happiness, Intention, and Karma

A good way to frustrate yourself, waste time, and create tension in your relationships is by trying “fix” your family and friends.

We have all experienced the aggravation that arises from trying to help a loved one or a friend only to have our advice and intentions ignored, belittled, or used as ammunition in the battle for “whose right.”

The reason why our seemingly good intentions fail, is because the deeper, truer, inner intention is tainted by self gratification.
 
For example:  Mary has a friend Betsy, who is always depressed.  Mary loves Betsy and wants help her.  Mary treats Betsy to lunch, buys her spiritually uplifting books to read, recommends seminars and classes to take, tells Betsy what a terrific person she is, and so on. 

Mary’s thoughts about Betsy are often, “she’s such a great person.  If she’d only…..she’d be so much happier.”  Mary’s feelings about Betsy range from frustration, to pity, and back again because although Betsy complains a lot she will not listen to Mary.
 
Why aren’t Mary’s efforts to help her friend working?  Does Mary truly see her friend as complete, whole, and perfect?  Or does Mary see someone who needs “fixing” or saving?  How do you think Mary will feel once her friend is fixed?  Who is she really trying to make feel better? 

Mary’s inner/subconscious intentions are in conflict with her outer/conscious intentions.  Mary’s conflicting intentions contaminates the outcome, thus Betsy never gets “fixed” and Mary remains frustrated.  This happens for a number reasons: 

1.  Since Betsy complains a lot about her life situation, we can assume that Betsy sees herself and her life as flawed.
Mary perceives Betsy’s complaining as a desire to be “fixed” or helped in some way.  Unfortunately, Mary’s attempts at helping her friend fail because her perception of Betsy is of someone who is broken…thus Mary unwittingly perpetuates Betsy’s negative self image.

The law of karma states that  every action (intention) has an equally corresponding reaction (manifestation).  Thus, Mary continues to feel frustrated in her friendship because her feelings about Betsy are negative to begin with.  That is, she can not create a positive outcome for herself and her friend as long as she is coming from a negative inner space.  Mary does not really believe that Betsy is a terrifically whole person, her deeper belief is that there is something wrong with Betsy that needs fixing.

2.  There is a Hindu saying that only a god can worship a god.  What this means is that when we are in the awareness of our inherent and divine perfection we see It in the world around us.  Conversely, when we are in lack consciousness, we will see lack in others, in our relationships, and in our world.

Since Mary’s attention is not on her own perfection, Mary’s perceived inadequacies of Betsy are an unconscious mirror of Mary’s own perceived inadequacies. Here Mary’s deeper unconscious intention in fixing Betsy, who represents the outer world, is about Mary feeling better and ultimately more complete.

3.  It is possible that Mary has a “savior” or a “martyr” identity.  Thus Mary’s need to fix Betsy, will enhance and feed
this ego identity.  When Betsy doesn’t listen to Mary, the “savior” feels frustration. The “martyr” identity is perpetuated also when Betsy doesn’t listen because now Mary’s thoughts and feelings revolve around self-pity.

4.  The ego (unconscious, uncontrolled, and reactive thinking) thrives on feelings of power.  If Mary was very present during her time with Betsy, especially when the conversation or her actions revolved around fixing Betsy, there would be a tingling sensation in the solar plexus, accompanied by a feeling of power or superiority.  Why?  Because Mary knows more than Betsy about how to fix Betsy’s life, what books to read, and so on.

This Week’s Mindfulness Practice:
1. Be mindful of your intentions.  What’s really motivating you in your relationships? 
2.  Work on feeling your own completeness and acknowledge the completeness of others.

For more on topics about relationships and personal freedom, please attend my “A New Earth Workshop:  Working with the teachings of Eckhart Tolle,” begining July 8th or my “Women’s Wisdom Workshop.”