Be the light

Find your joy.

Then, protect it.

Don't allow the negative emotions of others around you to dim the light of your joy. Feel sympathy, or even empathy for their plight, but if you get bogged down in their darkness, it's much harder to regain your joy, and even more difficult to help those who suffer.

Earlier, I found myself, in a semi-lucid, semi-dreaming state, considering this problem of getting bummed out when someone around me is down, and my desire to not be so affected. I found that in my mind's eye, I was watching my spirit wrap my joyful heart in a sort of wicker-looking casing, which was semi-permeable in that it allowed light to pass in and out, but would block negativity from entering. How wonderful! :)

This also comes on the heels of a recently revived, dissatisfied awareness of my occasional hip-shot negative reactions to other people's mistakes (mainly while driving...). I have a tendency to curse people who seem oblivious, and what I find would be my preference is to develop a new habit of just shouting blessings. To the person who is slowing down through a green light, presumably because they are unsure of whether to turn or proceed: instead of, "What the eff?! Can we make this light while it's green?! Go!!", I should like to respond, "Omni! Give this driver clarity!", or even just the quick version, "Clarity!" I want to spend more energy praying for people than criticizing them.

I believe that the more we shine our lights, the more light we will have in our lives. When others around us are not the joyful, clever beings we wish them to be, let's all just pray for them to be so, support them as best we can, and carry on with maintaining our own joy and growth.

Happy day! :)

Love is in the air, it's all around

One of my favorite pastimes is listening to music. I often find it a very useful emotive tool. Something I've discovered along the way is the joy of making a slight mental shift when listening to love songs, so as to interpret them as being sung to me by Omni, or, in some cases, being sung to Omni by myself.

Some of my favorites for this are:

John Hiatt - Have a Little Faith in Me - (Omni - to - me)
Kelly Clarkson - Thankful - (me - to - Omni)
The Black Keys - Everlasting Light - (Omni - to - me)
Norah Jones - Come Away with Me - (Omni - to - me)

Check them out; give it a try! (Please excuse the crude YouTube videos...) If ever you are lonely, you can use this trick to turn love songs from painful influences into positive and heart-warming audio hugs :)

Omni is love. Omni is you. You are Omni. You are love. Love is you. Be love!

On this day of romantic celebration, I hope that everyone feels loved, and that everyone is giving love.

Happy Valentine's Day! :) <3

Responsibility and power

I subscribe to an e-newsletter, of sorts, titled "Notes from the Universe." Today's message included a line that took me by surprise: "With great responsibility, ... comes great power." At first, I thought, Yeah, yeah... like in Spiderman. But wait - the line in that movie was, "With great power, comes great responsibility." Huh... Both are equally true, but the difference is poignant.

This new perspective alerts us to the truth that the more we take on, the more we have at our disposal. The more things we enfold into our own purview, concern, and obligation, the more resources we have access to by virtue of authority. By taking responsibility of greater and greater aspects of our own lives, for example, we acquire greater and greater sovereignty over our own lives. When we go further, and accept increased responsibility in other areas of life - say, work, politics, society... - we find we are endowed with increased ability, confidence, and efficacy.

Alternatively, the less responsibility we bear, the more power we give away to others. If we are not responsible for our emotions, they will run us. If we are not responsible for our choices, someone else will make them for us. If we are not responsible for our own well-being, another will claim dominance over our lives. If we are not responsible for our work, our jobs will forever be subservient to those who are. If we are not responsible for the state of our State, we will find ourselves the subjects of despotism. If we are not responsible for the conditions of our surrounding communities, we will not find rewarding places within them.

There really is no facet of our lives for which we should not take full responsibility. Even in those incidents which occur involving forces beyond our control, we can still hold ourselves accountable for the roles we play, for the attitudes we choose, and for our responses to the events. Additionally, it is equally important that we learn to distinguish between which forces are beyond our control, and which are entirely ours to command. While we're at it, we would all do well to run regular checks on our thought processes for areas where we unwittingly forfeit power, by placing blame on others, claiming victimization by others, or demanding unearned benefits under the pretense of entitlement. When we attribute power to others, it is always at the expense of our own, despite any appearances to the contrary. Take responsibility wherever you find it, and you will have all the power you will ever need.

Return of the light

In a few minutes (in my time zone), the shortest day will officially begin: Winter Solstice. Tomorrow morning will be the latest sunrise of the year, and in the afternoon, the sun will set at its earliest (or something approximating that, anyway). BUT - after tomorrow, each successive sunrise will be a little earlier, and each successive sunset will be a little later. Thus, the days will begin to lengthen. This brings me great joy.

Although I know that Winter still lies ahead - and that it's not generally a happy time in the good ol' Pacific Northwest - I am able to take solace in knowing that the darkness will be reaching its maximum, and that the light will be returning, more and more each day. In the meantime, I will do as the fishermen did when they were unable to sail, and mend my nets - so to speak...

This morning, I noticed that a mark in the bracelet I recently made for myself resembles a rune which is quite appropriate to the bracelet, as well as the timing of the discovery. It is "Nauthiz." It essentially means need, but also encompasses restraint, innovation, and the power of will to overcome distress. I needed a new bracelet, so I made one.

As for the timing, it was a pleasant reminder, as I have drawn this rune before, in another time of restraint. This time, however, I am feeling a sense of restraint imposed by inhospitable weather. This rune instructs one to exercise patience, perhaps even to embrace the current restrictions by utilizing the opportunity to "mend your nets," or in other words, to do some shadow work.

Nauthiz is also characterized by "major self-initiated change." I find Winter a perfect time to go inward, and do some internal house cleaning. After the Autumn of discarding unneeded beliefs, I can now search the shadows of my consciousness and pull out those things I have tried to hide. When I dust them off, shed some light on them, and polish them up, I will find that the aspects of myself which I sought to hide are truly some of my greatest assets. This is the essence of shadow work, but it is a difficult and complex task.

Fortunately, the light is returning to my world, and I shall open up my whole being to it :)

Facilitate Spirit

One of the many things I have on recurrent mental-reminder rotation is to "facilitate Spirit." I view "Spirit" as the universal consciousness, or soul, from which all living beings have sourced their own, and to which all living beings contribute their own. From this vast wealth of grace, wisdom, and abundance, I believe we can all draw, in order to achieve our goals. However, It is not something to be harnessed, but rather to be facilitated. There are essentially two ways in which we can do this.

The first way is to stay out of Its way! When we conduct our lives in harmony with the Universe, we leave open countless doors for Spirit to integrate into our lives. We ought to keep open hearts, open minds, and open eyes; we will find more blessings, the more open we remain to the opportunities presented to us. We have to be willing to allow Spirit to operate in our lives, which often means relinquishing some control, and accepting the blessings bestowed upon us.

The second way is to be Good - we must embody Goodness. When we are angry or selfish, or otherwise embodying "bad," we are not receptive to Good, and are, therefore, inhibiting the flow of Spirit into our lives. This, also, involves a harmonious conduction of our lives, in sync with the Universe. When we are angry, and send venomous thoughts out through our minds, words, or actions, we are acting in ways that counter the efforts of Goodness. I frequently catch myself witnessing a poorly thought-out event, and wishing for the culprit to experience the most likely negative result, as though such a lesson would obviously do them some good. But then I have to shake that off, and remember to just wish them some good, because spreading the Good, will increase Its presence in my life, and who am I to presume how the Universe will most effectively deliver Its Good? We should act in accordance with our values. Having compassion in lieu of criticism, for example, is one way to aid Spirit in bringing the Good into your life, as well as into the lives of all others.

When we facilitate Spirit, our lives are enriched, our joy is enhanced, and our well-being is strengthened. So let's all pitch in and do our best to help out ;)

Looking up

I would like to share three interesting perspectives on looking up...

People often refer to others they look up to for inspiration. Some look up to earthly characters, others choose metaphysical ones; some, admire both kinds. I recently heard the Bible referred to as "the first self-help book." Hmm... I could see the case for that. In it, as well as countless other writings from that era, there are references to wise people having "went up to the mountain." As it turns out, this is currently understood to mean that they stepped aside to reflect on the situation and attempted to gain a hilltop-like perspective, while aligning their thoughts more closely to that of God's and seeking His (Her, what-have-you) guidance and assistance. Einstein is noted to have said that you cannot solve a problem from the level of the problem. Apparently, these wise people knew that, too.

In the same stroke I learned of the above, I was also taught a fascinating physiological fun-fact about the literal act of looking up. Where ever you are, take note of your posture, your spine, your breathing... then make a small adjustment by tilting your chin up just a notch, and then raise your gaze a few degrees. You will likely notice a clearer breath and a subtle inner smile. Supposedly, moving your eyeballs upwards engages your frontal lobe. This is where advanced cognition takes place. This is how we solve problems :)

Lastly, I was walking the half-block from my car to my home the other night, and I gazed up at the stars, which I often do at night; during the day, I frequently admire the cloud formations. Granted, where I live, there aren't a lot of starry nights, or days with clouds other than a gray blanket, but when I do get to look upon the moon and stars or a batch of cumulus clouds, I tend to take the opportunity. I always have, but I find, sadly, not many others do. I thought a little more about it this other night, and I realized that I do it not only because I just love Nature, and enjoy taking it in, but in the case of examining the beauty of the sky, I also enjoy the sense of scale it provides. I suspect some people, were they to consider their smallness, might feel very meek, and perhaps experience a sense of impotence. For me, however, I find that when I am reminded of the vastness of the Universe, I feel even more grand for being a part of it, and it is my problems which come to seem insignificant to me. I wish for all of Creation to be able to share in this experience with me.

In summary, looking up offers numerous ways to grow: you can look up to inspirational entities for guidance and a broader perspective; you can look upwards to engage your cognitive powerhouse; and you can look up at the sky to remember not to take things too seriously :) Happy gazing!

Personal accountability

I've mentioned Peck's "The Road Less Traveled" in reference to love, and that one of love's described facets is discipline. Peck defines self-discipline as 4-fold, including delaying gratification, accepting responsibility, dedicating to truth, and balancing.

In light of certain aspects of certain current events, I am compelled to comment specifically on the second listing: accepting responsibility, or personal accountability. This means recognizing the choices we have made, and their role in our circumstance. This also means preceding choices with consideration of outcomes, but it seems that the retrospective understanding is most difficult for us mortals. It is unfortunately easy to fall into the mindset of the victim when evaluating our circumstances. The self-perceived victim fails to maintain sight of his or her gift of choice. Most of the time, we have a vast array of choice. Undoubtedly, there are influences on our lives which are sourced beyond our realm of will, but our reactions to such influences, as well as all events, remain solely within our very own discretion.

If you make a choice that turns out to be less beneficial than you anticipated, and subsequently place blame on entities outside of your self, you are not accepting responsibility for your own decisions and actions, and you are falling prey to your own victimization. If you choose to become a victim of your own choices, you will find yourself in an assured cycle of despair. If, however, you make a choice under certain conditions, and those conditions change during the course of your actions, in such a way as to have an adverse effect on your planned outcome, you could choose to cry victim, and pitch a fit, but you still have the gift of choice. You could alternatively, recognize that some of the negative effects of your choice were set from the beginning - whether or not you chose to acknowledge them then - and choose to make lemonade out of the newly and unexpectedly developed lemons. Discover your innate resourcefulness, develop a greater ingenuity, get creative! Perhaps, consider occupying YOUR street. See if your neighbors need any services you might be able to provide (e.g., lawn care, pet care, child care, automobile care, or even other forms of personal assistance you might be qualified for, such as accounting assistance, academic tutoring, or shopping aid...) Seek a wage, be a volunteer. Be proactive, but be productive. You only get to the extent that you give.

Charles Darwin initiated the discovery of the nature of evolution, the law of survival of the fittest, and the necessity of adaptation. Failure to perceive the universal fact of ever occurring change will result in a regular shellacking of unpleasant surprises and disappointment, as well as an inability to adapt. Resilience is a quality we should all aspire to cultivate. It is what we see in every person ever admired by anyone. It is what is lacking in so much of our modern culture to a depressing degree, and what we need to reclaim if we are to have any hope for survival. Depending on others for our own well-being is no way to obtain well-being; in fact, it is a distinct recipe for ill-being.

When we find that our circumstances are undesirable - be they self-made or external - we are well advised to take what action we can to effect constructive change. We can always make changes in our own lives, and that's also the best place to start when seeking to effect change in external circumstances. When external change requires greater action, engage in an enterprise that will effectively achieve your goals, and consistently integrate with your values. In any case, we must always remain accountable for our own choices, for without that assumption of responsibility, we leave the option open to others to assume it for us. If we lose our freedom of choice, we lose all worth of life.