“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
----from A Return to Love, by Marianne Williamson. If you like the paragraph, you’ll love the book...! (AMAZON.COM) From giving psychic readings I see that some of the hardest times in people's lives are times of transition. These times of transition are phases of life; one phase ends, another begins. The reason they are so difficult is because people are not aware that they are going through a transition. If they were, they would be a lot more tolerant and patient with themselves and the process.
During transition, everything's in upheaval. The old is done, it does not work; usually the person goes into an automatic life review: what have I done? Regrets, desires, unfulfilled dreams -- all emerge in amazing emotional intensity; it can be overwhelming, confusing and hard to take. It is during those times that people, wanting to be out of this pain, tend to make rash decisions, hurry it all up just to be done with it and onto secure ground again where everything makes sense again, and like can proceed, as before. And it's during one of those life transitions--around the age of 50--that people make the mistake of getting divorced. Of course, it may not always be a mistake, but often, from giving psychic readings, I see that it is. For the relationship, most of the time, it's a simple matter of realigning the relationship. Certain life commitments are over, like raising children, and each person finds herself in a new life--hence the relationship needs to be re-configured. It's a time when not only individually do the two people reevaluate their lives and formulate new directions, but as a couple they need to do the same. This is not so difficult to do if one knows what is going on and is willing to be present and patient with the process. What I see, as a possibility, for couples who do this re-configuring of their relationship is a whole new potential for the unfoldment of their relationship. They can enter into a new phase of their relationship, enjoy it in a different way and grow in a different way. It can be quite exciting and exhilarating. The main thing is to give it enough time. This is a process. First there is the turbulence of self evaluation, the the relationship reevaluation. The somewhere about there, the dust starts to settle and the form of the new relationship starts to emerge. In our society where everything is a microwave event, we expect the same for even our relationships, and it simply does not work that way. Forbearance and fortitude are great attributes supporting soul evolution and securing the most fulfillment in life. So, if you're at that age and you're wondering, look at it from this perspective, you'll be surprised the treasures that can await you. I've been reading a lot about Helen Schucman and Bill Thetford, the two people who brought A Course in Miracles into the world. To channel that kind and that quantity of information is incredible, and I was curious as to how it all came about, particularly since, it's made known up front that Helen had a very difficult time accepting what she was actually doing--being the channel for A Course in Miracles.
What I've found is so much of what I face in my own spiritual growth and what I deal all the time in sessions, and that is how to synthesize experience/knowing of the divine and everyday life. With Helen, since she lived (she was born in 1909), at a time and place (New York, working at Columbia University), when spiritual information was simply not available and what was was not highly regarded, having profound psychic experiences was not only unsettling, but with no place to find explanations and support. Also, psychology/psychiatry was rather young and narrow, so offered little help (geees, both she and Bill were psychologists!) From everything I've read so far, and viewing it from my experience and context in giving readings, she had two distinct personas: the part of her that channeled A Course in Miracles, that was psychic, that remembered past lives, etc., and the human personality. And from all my readings the fear, anxiety, inability to unfold . . . in adulthood, always has the cause of abandonment. The parents were simply not there. There was no one to provide a definition of reality. There was no one to lead the child into new experiences and foster confidence . . . . And this is just what happened with Helen, and boy, does her life reflect that--the huge anxiety, fear . . . in complete contrast to profound wisdom of her soul. I feel sad. The misery of the disparity is hugely painful. These days, in readings, and for myself, solutions to this have been offered, but in Helen's time, she was simply pronounced "neurotic" by those who knew her. What a sad, limiting definition, and so final. In another time, she would have been able to transform that. Nevertheless, the challenge to integrate personality and divinity--to continually evolve the personality to match the truth of higher knowledge. From my experience, as long as we are alive, we are engaged in this effort; it's one of the ways that not only consciousness evolves in general, but our soul evolution happens. Once I started giving psychic readings I started to discover the huge, huge range of life purposes. People would incarnate for reasons one couldn't even begin to imagine. But more importantly, it clearly showed just how horribly limiting society's definition of THE "right" life is!!!
Most of us try to squeeze into the conventional, socially accepted lifestyle because that is the only thing that we know to do. It's the atmosphere in which we are raised--how could we know anything different? And not surprisingly, this produces huge amount of unhappiness for huge amounts of people because the socially defined roles just do not fit most people! The way to find out what suits you is to simply follow your own intuition and guidance, follow your basic drives and interests. That's tough to do because every move you make, particularly if it really stands out, you'll have your family, friends, co-workers . . . standing on the side with a running commentary. Unfortunate. Yet, if you can negotiate it, you'll find your way to greater happiness and satisfaction in life. Here are some examples of life purpose that I have come across in giving psychic readings that surprised me and made me gasp at the level of unacceptance from "society," the sort of a thing society would not even give notice whereas from soul perspective the person is not only fulfilling his/her life purpose, but in doing so, is engaged in a noble act. One is a person coming in not with a specific thing to do in this life for himself, but coming in to support and facilitate others. This person, before incarnation, made agreements with other souls to support them in having certain life experiences, and certain learnings. From an earthly perspective, this may not be such a big deal, afterall, the person is not a great anything, not a writer, leader, mathematician . . . but from the soul perspective . . . oh, my goodness, a nobler act cannot be achieved. The dignity, the nobility, the grandeur of this act is beyond magnificent. Another socially unaccepted life calling is the person who came in to try everything out and learn from everything. From an earth perspective this person looks like a flake, noncomitted, wishy-washy, never sticking to anything, good at nothing . . . a loser. But that is not at all the case. From a soul perspective, they are doing exactly what they came to do: have as much exposure to as many different life situations and people as possible learning huge amounts in the process. Anyway, you get the idea. We incarnate here with hugely different purposes--all important and all noble. I'd say, follow closely your own impulses, they lead you to the fulfillment of your soul purpose, no matter how odd it looks from known structures. And be accepting and respectful of others doing the same. All around us is "evidence" that life happens in a material world, a cause and effect world where we rely on outside/material sources for everything.
Don't be fooled! You can do SO much psychically, and the better you understand the nature of reality, the more you rely on inner sources, the more you can manage and maintain psychically. Have the intention for the highest possible standard in everything. Know that at the core is energy. That's where it all starts. It is first. Matter comes second. So everything depends on that original thought, that original intention, main belief. If you know that we create from thought, in cooperation with all of life, and that the universe is always cheering for out highest well being and most creative expression, then ally with the Truth and the Highest forces to create beauty, love, harmony, joy -- the highest qualities; the eternal qualities. In giving readings I have discovered that we move through phases in life. Each phase has a focus. These are the larger phases.
There are also smaller phases. These smaller phases tend to be about completing a set of learnings. Once we are done, we are ready for another round of learning. It's these transitions that are really difficult for people for one reason: they don't know that a phase has ended and they are starting a new one. In our society we are expected to be on the move all the time. And we are expected to always know everything. There really is no room for being in the unknown and without action. And this is why this phase is so difficult. Usually between the ending of a phase and the beginning of a new phase there is a time of "nothingness," a time when we seem to be confused, without direction, lost. This is a time when lots of stuff is going on on the inner levels. It is truly a fantastic time. If we understand that we are between phases, and simply allow ourselves to just be, with no expectations, we can quite easily transition into a new phase. What's most supportive at this time, as I already said, is not to have any expectations. No agendas, no demands on the self, just a huge openness. And a huge allowing. When thoughts come up, give them air time. When emotions come up, let them rise to the surface and look at them. When desires come up, bring those to the table and look at them. Attaching to none of it. Judging none of it. You are going through a huge integration time. And just allowing all to surface is part of this integration, and prepares you for the next level of growth, the next phase in your life. This phase can feel tremendously disorienting and ungrounding. The way to handle that is to simply accept being disoriented and ungrounded. Not to expect of yourself to be anything else. Not to put yourself down for not knowing better. But to just accept being disoriented, ungrounded, in the unknown. Once you get with this program, it is actually quite liberating--your energy can flow freely, and you will feel huge relief from the exertion of trying to "control" your situation. With enough time, all the pieces that were up in the air will come down and settle into a knew state of being, a new consciousness, a new awareness. Spontaneously you will reach for the next thing, be driven organically to seek out whatever is next for you, and there you are, off into your new phase! As I said, the easiest way to move through this is a large acceptance of the unknown. And the acceptance that you will need some time to move through this; don't rush it. It's an organic process, and the more you let it unfold organically, the faster you will move through it. When you know you are in this transitional phase, and you simply accept its conditions and allow to surface what will, the process is very enjoyable and fun, like being on an amazing adventure, freeing and liberating. Enjoy!! There is a habit those involved in the New-Age Movement (that is really the Old Age these days), to rally for change by setting into motion love energies intended to have a positive affect, a transformative affect on others.
The "others" are in need of being transformed is the assumption. Though this aspiration has at its core good intentions, it separates the fact that all of us have to behave in new ways for any change to happen. Sending out energy, then going into traffic and swearing at people, or lying to your husband, or cheating in your business -- is what happens after the sending of the energy. Rather than deluding ourselves that it's the "others" who need to be transformed, and is us, the "good" guys who will be the cause of change, why don't we simply, all of us, put into practice--in EVERY MOMENT: politeness, integrity, honesty, consideration, decency, generosity, caring, kindness . . . . Look people in the eyes, speak the truth from an open heart. Guaranteed, that is a lot harder to do than sit in a group, feeling superior, as we bask (who is this for??), in the energy that we're sending out that is ostensibly supposed to cure the rest of the population. |
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