Lesson #15: Your Hero's Journey

If you're like many of us, lately you've been thinking more about the meaning and purpose in your life. Maybe you've been starting to sense the vastness and complexity of  human life. What was once black and white is now many shades of gray. For example, lately it seems that whenever I form a strong judgment against someone or something, life immediately proves me wrong (the "mean" person demonstates great kindness, or the "stuck up" person turns out to be painfully shy).

Our lives represent layer upon layer of experience and meaning, and the journey we're on is truly heroic. What does this mean? Let's look at the work of the great American mystic, Joseph Campbell.

Joseph Campbell spent years studying and comparing the mythologies of the world, and two of his favorite universal themes were the Hero's Journey, which is the story of humanity's quest for enlightenment, and the Perennial Philosophy, which says that the kingdom of God lies within each of us, or in Campbell's words, "You are the mystery which you are seeking to know."

A hero is someone who has struggled through adversity, lived through great pain, and been transformed by it. He or she eventually uses this experience to help others.

Some modern-day Western myths that exemplify these themes are: Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Avatar. In each story, we have a reluctant, would-be hero, an average sort of guy who for one reason or another finds himself in the uneviable position of having to lead the fight of good versus evil. In each case, the hero is outnumbered, overwhelmed, and ill-equipped, but through perseverance, intent, and basic goodness is able to call forth that which is necessary to get the job done.

The truth is that we each have a unique story (and battle), and most of who we are exists below the surface of our awareness. We humans are on a grand journey, a hero's journey of sorts. It's not that we're fighting evil, but we're fighting the illusion of evil, which is the backdrop of this stage set we call life. Each time a hero conquers his or her fears (the illusion of separation from source) the angels sing, for there is no greater moment than when a soul returns safely home from battle.

When, in the midst of the scariest dream imaginable, we realize that there's no real danger, that everything we needed we possessed all along, the universe lights up and expands in all directions. The birth of something new and beautiful takes place. This, I believe, is what we came here for. And you, I believe, are a hero.

Lesson #14: The Protection Prayer

This week I'd like to share one of my favorite prayers. It's one of those extremely powerful and magical verses like the surrender prayer used in 12-step programs.

I learned the following Protection Prayer at Unity Church many years ago, and it has truly changed my life. At one point, I dreamed that "bad guys" were chasing me and I had no defense besides the prayer, so I started reciting it at them, loudly and confidently. With this, they became powerless to harm me. It was as if a force field  of light surrounded me. This is how it goes:

The light of God surrounds me
The love of God enfolds me
The power of God protects me
The presence of God watches over me
Wherever I am, God is, and all is well

Have a beautiful week.

Lesson #13: The Power of the Heart

The heart is perhaps the greatest tool we have for clearing and balancing our energy and maintaining our physical bodies. But the heart is sometimes misunderstood. Let's take a few moments to clarify the function and explore the powerful influence of the heart.

As you know, the heart is a bodily organ, but it's also a major energy center. It is an intuitive feeling center, as well as the metaphorical seat of love and goodness. The heart is also the rhythm-setting apparatus for the other organs and for the entire body and mind. The state of the heart, both physical and energetic, sets the tone for how we feel emotionally and how we handle stress, which in turn has a profound effect on our physical and mental health.

The heart, whether as a physical organ or as a chief energy center, is a powerful muscle, a tremendous source of strength and intelligence for humans and animals alike. At the most basic level, the intuitive intelligence of the heart alerts us to mortal danger, thus tirggering the fight-or-flight response mechanism. The heart signals the brain to "think fast" and take immediate action. On a more subtle level, the intelligence of the heart can guide us in every decision we make.

Researchers at the Institute of HeartMath in California have discovered a relationship between one's emotional state and the heart rhythm patterns observed when a person is hooked up to an electrocardiogram machine. When you are relaxed--when you feel content, secure and happy--your heart rhythm is smooth, and radiates this pattern to the brain and the rest of the organs. They call this state "coherence."

Conversely, when you feel tense, distressed, irritated, etc., your heart rhythm is irregular or jagged, like an earthquake presents on a Richter scale. They call this state "incoherence." If incoherence is experienced repeatedly over time, it becomes a habitual pattern, or groove in the brain. This can result in altered or impaired brain functioning. The stress response becomes a sort of default setting, such that the slightest stressor can trigger an exaggerated fight-of-flight-like response.

To further demonstrate the powerful influence of the heart, consider this: surrounding each of us is an electromagnetic field made up of the collective fields of the brain, the heart, and the other electrical systems throughout the body. Well, it turns out that the heart's electromagnetic field has forty to sixty times more amplitude than that of the brain, and the heart's magnetic field is approximately five thousand times stronger than the field produced by the brain.

When you are in alignment with the heart you have the power to move mountains, while being in alignment with the brain alone packs very little punch. When making an important decision, it can be illuminating or therapeutic to make a list of pros and cons, but in the end: what does your heart say? The intelligence of the heart takes all factors--seen and unseen, known and unknown--into account.

So, how do you enlist the heart to to help you clear away stress and other unwanted thoughts and feelings, and help you make wise decisions and feel good? As it turns out, it's easier than you might think. By just focusing your attention on the heart area and taking a few deep breaths, you can quickly redirect attention from your head, etc., to your heart. I like to place my hand on my heart, as this speeds up the connection, but the mere intention to access the heart puts you in it.

When you first start doing this there may or may not be a struggle from the ego (who wants you to stay in your head), but the more you practice, the easier it gets. So this week, especially if you find yourself getting stressed out or overwhelmed, I invite you to stop, put your hand on your heart, and take a few deep breaths. Just try this and see what happens.

For more information on HeartMath visit: http://www.heartmath.com/

Lesson #12: Honoring the Person You Are

You may recall that last week I spoke out against the habit of being grumpy and depressed, but the truth is that we're all human and we all have our ups and downs. (We just don't need to pitch a tent and hang out in that grumpy place indefinately!) This week I wanted to help you honor yourself just the way you are.

There are thousands of practices, exercises, teachers, therapies, articles, books, blogs and Websites out there that are designed to help you understand and know yourself better. There are even more resources available to help you "improve" yourself, which you may have been working on extensively for years.

For this week or this month, especially if you're feeling a little frayed around the edges, please consider dropping all efforts to be a better person, and focus your attention on honoring and accepting the person you are right here and now.

Maybe you can accept yourself just for today, with all your warts and bruises, with all your late bills and "failed" relationships.The fact that you chose to be on this planet during this rocky time of human evolution means that you are a pretty remarkable being.

Take a moment to push aside any criticism you have of yourself, any regrets from the past or doubts about the future. Like Stuart Smalley from Saturday Night Live used to practice: take a deep breath, smile at yourself in the mirror, and say, "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggonit, people like me!"

If we can keep our sense of humor about us, it's not that hard to laugh at the bumbling mistakes we humans make. Trying to be perfect, or to be someone we're not, can ruin all our fun. And, sweetheart, it's still okay to have fun.

Lesson #11: Rethinking the News (Part 2)

Last week we discussed how the media can have an adverse effect on our well-being, and how we need to be more proactive in filtering what we allow into our energy fields. I asked you to consider how you might be able to get the information you need while protecting yourself from unnecessary negativity and overload. This week I'd like to take it a step further.

You've probably heard the saying, "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem." While this is not always true, often it is. Of course we don't mean any harm, but if we're walking around angry and depressed about the state of the economy or the world, we're inadvertently spreading negativity to everyone we come in contact with and everyone with whom we have a mental, emotional, or psychic connection. It's not enough that we don't intentionally harm people. It's time to intentionally help people (or animals, or the environment, or science, or whatever lights us up).

Last week my husband returned from a conference of Engineers Without Borders, a non-profit organization for which he is advisor to the board. While so many people in the world were busy feeling hopeless, he and his band of altruistic engineers were busy planning bigger and better ways to serve the planet (which in this case means providing clean water systems, health care, etc., to poorer communities in the world). He was so pumped up he could hardly contain himself.

I think you get my point. When we're part of the solution, we feel great. And when we feel great, we raise  the vibration of the entire planet (or at least our little corner of it).

So what's your part? You wouldn't be here during this dynamic turning point in history if you didn't have something special to contribute. It doesn't have to be a monumental effort on your part. In fact, it's highly likely that your special gift to the world involves something you love to do.

This week, especially if you find yourself being pulled down by negative thoughts, family members, co-workers, or the news, try doing something of service. It needn't require time or money. It can be as simple as picking up three pieces of trash, or giving an elderly person a few seconds of your attention. Notice how doing this service makes you feel, and recognize that how you feel actually effects the world.

Lesson# 10: Rethinking the News (Part 1)

Last week I noticed that a lot of people around me were expressing feelings of overwhelm and despair. Perhaps the crisis in Japan was pushing them over the edge---I don't know---but what occurred to me was that now is a critical time for us to learn how to monitor the information that's coming into our fields of awareness, as well as the information and energy we're putting out into the world.

For instance, when we watch the news on TV we are willingly entering a dark realm, a crazy, distorted world where mostly only bad things happen. Why do we do this to ourselves? I always hear people say, "I watch the news because I want to know what's going on," but I wonder if it might be more accurate to say, "...I want to know what's going wrong."

Here are a couple thoughts for you to consider regarding your involvement with the media. First of all, the objective reality is that we live in a world of contrast---lots of positive and lots of negative (and in between there is plenty of neutral). If you want to find an abundance of good news in the world it's not at all difficult to find. Many, many good individuals and groups are doing amazing, even heroic things all over the world as we speak, and I'm not referring to the cute, tongue-in-cheek human interest stories occasionally found in the news.

The problem is that good news doesn't sell the same way that nightmarish headlines do. We can blame the media for their role in this, but ultimately it all comes down to supply and demand. Many of us actually crave the gory details of the darker side of life.

Secondly, I don't believe we humans were biologically or psychologically designed to process all of the horrors of the world in a single sitting, much less have visual images of that suffering brought into our living rooms.

Grave difficulties have occurred globally throughout history. Brutal violence, devastating natural disasters, climate changes, constant wars, massive plagues and other epidemics, famines, religious persecution, witch hunts, rampant infant mortality, you name it---it's been going on for thousands of years.The main difference I see today is not the magnitude of crisis on the planet, but the inability for most of us to filter out what we don't need to know, and what can actually harm us.

Up until a few decades ago, human beings only had to process what was going on in their own geographical areas. Occasionally they were touched by rumors or newspaper stories from far-off lands, but these distant places probably felt as far removed from them as the moon feels to us. If your nervous system feels overwhelmed by life, it probably is! Too much information and drama. Not enough individual censoring and discretion.

Next week we will continue this discussion, but for now I'd like to ask you to consider how you might be able strike a healthy balance between staying as informed as you see fit, and protecting your space. Remember, the world needs your light. You can't work your magic when you're feeling hopeless and depleted. So, hang in there, Sweetheart, and we'll see you next week.

Lesson #9: What is Prayer?

While meditation is viewed as communication from source, or observation of source, during prayer we generally speak to source. There are many different types of prayer, some very formal and ritualized: "Our Father who art in heaven...," while others are informal: "Yay, God!" Some prayers have a beseeching quality: "Dear God, please help me...," while others are affirmations: "Mother/Father God, I see myself healed and well..." Some prayers employ bargaining tactics: "If you make my wife stay I promise to...," and others are pure expressions of gratitude: "Praise the Lord!" Sometimes we ask for information or a sign from above.

Many people believe that we shouldn't "bother" God with petty concerns because God is (or should be) busy taking care of real problems: "I'll find my own parking space; you stop the war in Iraq." Others believe that source can be everywhere at once, and that the more we connect with it, the better.

Some people are more comfortable addressing their prayers to angels, ascended masters, ancestors, or other divine representatives because these figures feel more accessible to them: "Angels, surround me now!"

While there is no right or wrong way to pray, I personally have found the most benefit from speaking freely, but respectfully, with God, angels, etc., often throughout the day. I find that the more I engage with them, the more they engage with me, and the more I feel connected with the divine. I ask for help whenever I need it, express all of my feelings and concerns, surrender whatever feels overwhelming, and offer gratitude regularly. In fact, my two favorite little prayers are: "I surrender this to you, God," and "Thank you, God!"