Integrity Matters!

For those of you who know Human Design, I am a 4/6 profile “on the roof.”  That means that I am in a life-cycle where I am watching others to see what works and what doesn’t.  I have a few more years of learning before I can come “off the roof”. 

I’m also deeply responsible by Design.  I’m a big lover of humanity and this world.  Sometimes, I can just watch.  But, every once and a while, I have to jump off the roof and speak up.

I’ve been accidentally dropping plates and bowls on my tile floor all week.  Each time I break a dish, the sound of the glass shattering seems to be shattering my soul, waking me up and pushing me forward to speak my truth.

We are in a crucial time on this planet.  We are entering an era of sustainable peace and to grow into this era, we have to grow in consciousness AND take strong, third-dimensional actions that will support us in our evolution.  We have to be honest and courageous.  We have to be willing to stare into the face of the things we might not want to look because sometimes we have to push against the darkness to consciously reach for the light.

Please forgive me if my tone seems harsh.  It is not intended to be rough.  If the energy of this blog post hits you in a way that is disturbing, I gently ask you to please see what is within yourself first that may be triggering this response.  My intention is to invite us all, as Lightworkers, to check in with ourselves and be accountable for our own consciousness and actions.

I have watched the metaphysical community turn a blind eye to tragedy and trauma because it wasn’t “positive” and it created “negative” energy.  I find it baffling that a community who sees their consciousness of the Divine within as Source could be so easily knocked off center by the reality of what is taking place on the planet right now.

If we believe that the projections of our own consciousness creates our reality and what is in our reality is some of the stuff we read on the CNN news page, then, by GOD, don’t we want to be darn sure that we’re constantly and consistently realigning our consciousness with Love and Source so that we can create a more abundant, more peaceful and more loving world?

I know we don’t CAUSE the bad stuff to happen but, as humans and Divine Siblings, we are responsible for taking care of each other.  Hiding our heads in the sand is not going to make it go away.  Shifting our consciousness and deliberately creating the possibility of something better, something MORE ABUNDANT and aligned with what we know as Source is crucial.  And so is delivering food, water and creating safety and shelter for each other, (among other things).

Recently I was given the great honor to publish a very important book by Shawna Bowen about the Sedona Sweat Lodge deaths. On October 8, 2009, three people died, nineteen people were physically injured and an untold number of people were psychologically and spiritually wounded when a sweat lodge ceremony, conducted as part of a personal growth retreat hosted by best-selling author and speaker, James Arthur Ray went horribly wrong.

Shawna Bowen was a witness to the aftermath of this tragedy. In her book, Never Again, Shawna chronicles the events leading up to and following that terrible day.  In this book Shawna shares her  insights and unique perspectives as a  both a student and a teacher in the personal growth field. 

Shawna reveals the dark side of the personal growth industry and issues a call to both teachers and consumers to act with integrity, honor and to always trust your own guidance, no matter what the "experts" may be urging you to do.

By all accounts, this book is an empowering statement to all of us who are both teachers and consumers in the self-help industry.  This story is not about blame, finger-pointing or anger. It is an important wake-up call to all of us to check in and make sure we are truly operating in our work, our practices and our lives with the intention to serve the highest good of all.

In spite of this powerful intention, this book is being pushed aside by some members of the metaphysical community, dodged and thrown about like the proverbial “hot potato”.  While many people are saying that this message is important, we are struggling to create venues where Shawna can share her story and create a platform for open and honest dialogue about the Sedona Sweat Lodge tragedy and what we need to do in the self-help industry to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.

I agreed to publish this book because it struck a nerve for me personally.  Before I was an abundance teacher, I worked for several years as a professional psychic medium.  I always HATED working as a medium because my clients were always in a very vulnerable place and, being a very logical person in some ways, I wanted to see the “proof” that what I was experiencing was real.  My nervousness has always made me use my language carefully, wary of presenting information in an unquestionable and indisputable way.  I always saw my role more as translator, rather than messenger.

It wasn’t unusual for many of my clients to have had several readings by other psychics who had told them things that seemed “wrong” or were unsettling and they felt compelled to keep searching for answers.  I have also met people who were devastated by bad readings and gave up looking for answers.

Sometimes the stories my clients would share with me about “bad” readings would make me very angry.  I couldn’t understand how other psychics could take advantage of people in such obvious pain. 

I like that being a psychic makes me nervous and uncomfortable.  I think my nervousness keeps me honest.  I have always believed that I never tell someone something they don’t already know…they just want confirmation. If a client resists me strongly, I will always encourage my client to trust their own knowingness.  In fact, this is one of the primary reasons I started teaching psychic development classes.  I like it much better when my clients are their own psychics! 

Lightwork is not a science.  It is always subject to our own interpretation and our own conditioning.  How we see information is often filtered through our own experiences and beliefs.  As responsible Light workers, we owe it to our clients to present information in a way that allows our clients to interpret along with us.  Yes, that DOES mean that sometimes you, the psychic, have to ask a lot of questions.  But I’ll take a psychic who asks a lot of questions over a psychic who makes bold, indisputable claims any day!

I eventually went on to teach abundance classes.  As part of my process of growing into a teacher, I was an avid prosperity consciousness student and I attended every seminar I could.  People who are desperate for money seemed even more vulnerable than grieving loved ones.  Desperate people can sometimes make some desperate choices.

In countless prosperity seminars, I witnessed people on the edge of foreclosure and bankruptcy run to the back of the room with their credit cards held high, ready to plunk down up to $60,000.00 for programs that guarantee they will be wealthy in six months (or less!!).  I can’t tell you how many of these people I have had as clients and students six months later.

I have watched many well-dressed, muscled men in shiny double-breasted suits talk about how making money is our responsibility as Divine Beings and that if you’re broke, it’s all your fault.  I have watched people who know better than to spend $60,000.00 they don’t have, leave these workshops dejected and broken, feeling even more “less than” than when they walked in.

I certainly have had some of those feelings and experiences.

I actually attended a free James Ray seminar about five years ago.  I was scheduled to have James Ray on as a guest on my radio show and, after almost up-chucking during his 90-minute presentation and sales-pitch, I canceled the interview because I could not, in good conscience, host him on my show.

I believe that the James Ray tragedy is a wake-up call to all of us.  And as people on the leading-edge of consciousness, we MUST come together and dialogue about what is in front of us.  The self-help industry has no real way of policing itself.  There is a danger in this industry that we don’t often talk about.

I have read comment threads after news articles calling the victims of the Sedona tragedy “stupid” for following James Ray and for being willing to spend over $10,000.00 to attend his Spiritual Warrior retreat that ended so terribly.

Many of us use techniques that are designed to assist our clients to “re-wire” their neurobiology.  We know subliminal and hypnotic techniques designed to trick the brain into accepting new ideas and programming.  It is easy to apply these techniques and manipulate people, if you are not clear about your role as healer and if your intentions are less than honest. 

Our clients trust us.  They look to us for support, guidance and sometimes help with healing. With the purest of intentions to grow and make their lives better, they turn to us and, before they reach awareness of their own power, transfer their power to us to help them. 

Our clients are not “stupid.”  They are vulnerable and open to growth and transformation.

Sometimes the dark side can sneak up on you.  The ego gets seduced and, if you aren’t clear about the role of your own ego, it’s easy to see how things can get messy and convoluted very quickly.  Sometimes we are motivated by needs and beliefs we aren’t always aware of. I believe that is what happened to James Ray.

I don’t think it will ever work to regulate this industry.  It evolves too quickly and, because of the difficulty of measuring parameters for validity and accountability, it’s too hard to make good rules.  Many people seek help from us because a traditional, more regulated approach hasn’t worked.

That leaves it to each and every one of us, on a personal level, to agree to be our own “police”.  Here are a few simple guidelines that we should consider for ourselves. 

I’m going to list them below and I look forward to any others that you think should be posted here:

1.        Always see your client as healed, not broken. Your job is to help them see themselves as healed.

2.       Walk your talk.  Be honest.  Admit when you don’t know or if you are in over your head. 

3.       Set your intention to be of the greatest service to your client and allow the Creator to work through you.  You don’t heal your clients.  They heal themselves.  You just give them a gentle nudge sometimes…even Jesus didn’t claim to heal people. 

4.       Never convince someone who doesn’t have the money to beg, borrow, steal or whatever they need to do to procure the funds if they can’t afford your workshops, services or trainings.  Always offer free resources on your website that they can benefit from while they are shifting their money consciousness.  Sometimes it’s just not right timing.  And sometimes potential clients have to learn what they have to learn to be ready for the next level.

5.       If a client isn’t a good fit, let them go and support them in finding someone who is.

6.       Never judge your clients or potential clients. 

7.       Don’t make promises you can’t guarantee or keep.

8.       Always speak to your client in terms of possibilities and probabilities.  The future can shift on a dime.  You want to help your client understand and master new patterns so that the probability of their outcome changes in their favor.

9.       Always tend to your own evolution.  You can only lift someone up to the degree to which you yourself are lifted.  Stay humble and honest with yourself. 

When we are faced with “negative” or “dark” things, like the deaths in Sedona or some of the many tragedies on the planet, as Lightworkers, we cannot turn away.  These tragedies are here to help us define what we’d rather be experiencing on the planet instead.  Use tragedy to construct a vision of what you’d rather see happened, then hold that vision, knowing that it is Truth and begin to look for evidence that it’s already starting to come into form. 

Then get to work making it happen with your own two hands. 

When we turn away, we judge a situation as “bad” and the denial only creates more of what we are seeking to avoid.  We have to give our attention to potential solutions rather than ignoring what isn’t going away at the moment.

This is not a time for hiding or blaming, running or denying.  That is what James Ray allegedly did.  I wonder how the outcome might have been different if he had stood up from the very start and stated something like this:

“Wow.  Something really terrible and horrifically sad has happened.  I don’t know how it happened but I am committed to discovering exactly what happened so that it doesn’t happen again.  And, I’m going to do a serious search of my own mindset and consciousness to see what my part of creating the energy associated with this terrible tragedy played.  I am truly, truly sorry to the people who were killed and hurt and to their families. I am deeply remorseful.  Please let me know what I can do to help and support you in your healing from this event. I am removing myself from a position of teacher and leader as I need to tend to my own personal growth and evolution.”

We are in an era of authenticity and integrity.  Things that are out of alignment with integrity can only fall away.  We need to honor those brave souls like Shawna Bowen, who have the courage to speak the truth and are willing to accept the consequences.  They are helping us deepen our intention and co-create a new world.

In our dying days and in the time that follows our death, we never wonder if we made enough money, if we were famous enough or if we got enough testimonials and kudos for a job well done.  Our only question as we savor our last breaths is this, “Did I love enough?” 

As Lightworkers, I pray that your answer is a resounding YES!  Love is the only true legacy we leave on this planet.

Love your creator, love each other, love yourselves and trust that everything is in Divine Order, even if it looks messy right now.  Have the courage to take a good long look at the darkness and use it to push against to spread even MORE light!

Love,

Karen

p.s.

If you’d like to learn more about Shawna and her book, Never Again, please visit:  http://www.shawnabowenbooks.com

Make sure you download the Introduction by Jim Tree-Gilmore.  He shares some important insights about how this event impacted the Native American communities in Northern Arizona. 

 http://www.shawnabowenbooks.com

Lies and Love by Design

Welcome February, the month of Love and Valentine's Day!

Ok. I'm a Leo. I'm also a 4/6 profile in the Human Design System, which means that relationships and partnerships are very important to me.

I've been working on writing and editing my new book, Parenting by Design. As I work on my book and actively parent my own five children, I'm gaining a new awareness of how many our actions and interactions in relationships are influenced by our conditioning.

The official definition of conditioning is, "the learning process by which the behaviour of an organism becomes dependent on an event occurring in its environment."

When you expect an event to occur, you begin to prepare for it on a psychological, spiritual and emotional level. Unfortunately, many of us have a life history of experiencing events that are not based in the truth of our magnificence and the possibility of our limitless abundance. Consequently, we are conditioned to expect punishment, suffering and lack from the world and from our relationships.

I get that this is old stuff for you guys. You all know this and I am certain that most, if not all of you, have been diligently working on "de-conditioning" yourselves for many years now.

I have, too. And, yet, in spite of all my internal searches, I still discover small and subtle places where I seemingly continue to believe in the "lies" in my consciousness.

I know that "lies" is a harsh word. But I don't know what else to call a set of beliefs or "conditioned responses" that are not rooted in the truth of my limitless abundance and magnificence, so "lies" feels like a good word.

I also don't want to sound like Chicken Little running around screaming that the proverbial "sky is falling", but, the more we evolve and grow in consciousness, the more these "lies" feel the the "pea" underneath the princesses mattress. These little "lies" make the mattresses of our life, lumpy and uncomfortable.

Not only do they make us uncomfortable, if we don't pay attention to the discomfort and make some serious changes, these "lies" will force our reality to collapse until we realign with the truth of who we are. Frankly, we don't have a whole lot of wiggle room in pretending that we don't know the Truth. Once you know the Truth, the door to evolution busts open and we are compelled to begin the process of "plucking the peas from under the mattress."

The thing about conditioning is that sometimes it can be very subtle. We often don't realize we've seduced ourselves with a "lie" until we're deep in the middle of the self-deception.

One of the of the horrific gifts of parenting (and one of the reasons why evolution can become an urgent agenda when you are a parent) is that you get to see your "karmic lies" reflected back at you in the actions, choices and words of your children. Those of you who are parents, how many times have you noticed your children doing or saying something they learned from you? Have you ever watched your older children relive your karmic choices?

I have a friend whose sons have all married women with the same name as their mother. One son has married a couple of these women, all with the same first name. My oldest daughter is dating a young man with the same name as her father. Her father wanted to study acting in college and was told that if he studied acting, there would be no money for college. Her boyfriend is experiencing the exact same thing...and more.

When I watch my children, sometimes it feels like I'm looking in a mirror. Through my children I see their conditioning from their life with me and their father. And I see the conditioned patterns I carry from my family as well.

When conditioned patterns are so generational and deeply ingrained in our bodies and our consciousness, they are so much a part of who we perceive ourselves to be, that they can really sneak up on us before we realize what's happening!

Our "lies" can be family patterns that are not only ingrained in our decision-making consciousness, but in our energy fields. One of the things that I find so fascinating about Human Design is that our Human Design is inherited from our grandparents. If you know your grandparent's birth charts, you will see that your chart is a compilation of all of those energies.

You are designed to carry the energetic patterns of your grandparents. Imagine the delicious agony of our parents (or you as a parent) when they realized that they are sandwiched between two generations who can trigger and provoke them in the same way!

Another way to think of this is you intended to be born into a family with a preset energy pattern. You picked the energetic "karma" you needed to further the evolution of your soul and your life path.

In addition to there being a genetic component to the energy we play with, we are also deeply conditioned by the energy in our families, the energies we experienced on a daily basis during our childhood. In the Human Design chart, where you have white in your chart (openness or undefined energy) is where you take energy in from the world and the people around you. (If you are new to Human Design, click here to watch an introductory webcast.) To receive your free Human Design chart click here.

When we consistently experience other people's energy, we get used to always experiencing that energy in our own essence. When we leave home as young adults, we commonly believe, albeit mistakenly, that we have that particular kind of energy.

For example, if you are not a particularly emotional or dramatic person but you live with emotional people, you take in that emotional energy your whole childhood. It's hard to believe, when you leave home and enter into a new energetic world, that you are not emotional.

Even when we realize that perhaps those energies are "not us", we are still drawn to them in relationships, over and over again until we learn to navigate our way through those energies with an evolved, higher consciousness. If you run your parent's Human Design charts and the charts of your lovers, spouses and friends, you will see that you are usually attracted to people who have similar designs to your family of origin.

Aren't we really good at recreating themes in every arena of our life? What a powerful way to insure that we'll have LOTS of chances to evolve in one lifetime!!! Talk about Divine Order...yikes!

Awareness (and, of course, intention) can be all that's necessary to shift and change energetic patterns and help us start on the process of re-telling ourselves our Truth. Once you become aware of patterns, it gets easier to make different choices.

We live in a dualistic Universe. Energies and patterns can be expressed on a continuum but at the end of the ribbon of energy there is one end or the other. While there can be gray in the middle of a "spectrum" of expression, at the end of the gray "spectrum" there is either black or white. Most "lies" have a truth that is the opposite of the lie. And it is usually in experiencing the "lie" that we create energetic alignment with the intention to bring forth the opposite experience.

Our "lies" are often very good at revealing the Truth of our heart's desires. You can use your "lies" to help yourself create a different reality. Your "lies" can become pushing off points for evolution and clarity.

To do this, you have to start first with an awareness of what you desire to be your Truth. Just for grins, I've inserted the Abundance Manifesto here to inspire you. I encourage you to write your own manifesto related to whatever area of growth you'd like to focus on.

Click Here to read the Abundance Manifesto:

http://www.joyfulmission.com/articles/article/1975190/49301.htm

Once you have identified what your Truth is, you can now make a list of your "lies" to help you see where you may need to make some deliberate changes in your choices.

Start by picking an area of your life that you'd like to bring into alignment with your Truth. Since it's almost Valentine's Day, let's use an example about relationships.

Let's say that your Truth is that you are a lovable, beautiful, partner who deserves to be cherished, valued, loved and honored exactly as you are.

Now make a list of all the "lies" you may have been allowing in the relationship part of your life.

Here are some of my "lies", past and present:

1. Men only want "one thing." (And now that I'm older, I have nothing of value to offer a man...)

2. Men are inconsistent and you have to always be prepared for the unexpected if a man is involved in the equation.

3. Men leave. Sometimes they come back. Sometimes they don't.

4. Men hate commitment and being tied down. It's not in their nature. We just have to accept them for who they are.

5. Men aren't responsible. They chase after their dreams and leave you with the "serious" work of life. A woman has to figure out how to live her dream while still fulfilling her obligations and responsibilities. A woman's dream is her hobby.

6. If you love a man enough, he will change for you, settle down, get a job, realize that you are The One...

7. Your physical beauty is your most valuable asset.

8. A woman is more capable than a man. But you have to keep it a secret from the man. You don't want to hurt his ego.

(Aren't these YUCKY?)

Using your understanding of the principles of duality, you can now use these "lies" to redefine your Truth.

You new Truth List might look like this:

1. I am an older, wiser woman and the right man will see the value of who I am and what I have to offer in a relationship. I celebrate my wisdom and the beauty that radiates out of me. My consciousness, my heart, my spirit and my Light are the true sources of my real beauty. I only allow people into my life who see these parts of the Truth of who I am.

2. There are consistent men on this planet who are diligently dedicated to the growth and expansion of their own consciousness and live a life that reflects this evolutionary state of awareness. I'm looking forward to experiencing commitment with the right man.

3. Some men commit strongly and enjoy and celebrate their commitments. I'm excited about having this kind of man in my life.

4. See above.

5. My dreams and the fulfillment of my life purpose is the most important part of the expression of the Truth of Me. I only attract people into my life who support me in this expression of myself.

6. My love is strong and true. I commit to expressing my love with a man who shares my commitment to our relationship and to me.

7. See number one.

8. I celebrate my own capability and intend to attract and allow people who are of like-mind, passion and quality of energy. I serve myself, my Creator and my Divine Siblings by shining my light brightly for all to see!

These are just a few quick examples to help you see that awareness can give you a dramatic way to re-write your "lies" into Truth.

Of course, the next step is a little trickier. Once you have identified your Truth, you have to inventory your life and get real and honest with yourself about what you've been creating. You may discover that in order to live your Truth and bring it forth into form, you have to take some pretty dramatic actions to make space for your Truth to grow into your reality.

Are there situations in your life that you need to let go of? Where do you need to make room? Where do you need to speak your Truth? Where do you need to set clearer intentions and, sometimes, take courageous action to allow what you intend to experience?

As you move into action phase, remember that these actions can and must be taken with loving energy. This is not about rebellion, revenge or even a need to prove anything. Without your current "lies" you may never have discovered the Truth for yourself. Everything in your life that has brought you to this point has been in your life to serve you in some way. When you can deeply see the truth of this statement, positive change will hasten its way towards you at a breath-taking speed.

As you move into your new awareness, you will begin to see how to shift the "darker" expressions of the essence of who you are into higher expression and fulfill your Divine Potential.

In honor of The Month of Love, I am offering a unique Love By Design reading to help you identify your old energy patterns and "lies" so that you can start telling yourself the Truth of Who You Are. During this one-hour reading we will examine the energetic patterns of your life using your Human Design chart and (if you have them) the Human Design charts of your family of origin and your past and current partners. With this new understanding, you will learn to shift from living from the "low" expressions of these energies to the "high" expressions to help you create relationships that are loving and empowering.

In addition, if you are currently in a relationship, we'll look at your partner's Human Design chart and the composite Human Design chart for your relationship. We'll use these charts to talk about strategies to help you create a strong, mutually loving and respectful Truth in your relationship.

The Love by Design readings will all be recorded and you may, of course, bring your Beloved to the reading with you, if you choose. The cost for this reading is $147.00. My schedule is pretty tight so please be sure to book your reading quickly if you want to do this for Valentine's Day. To schedule your reading, simply click on the Paypal button below. After we receive your payment confirmation, we'll contact you asap to schedule your session.



May you discover and celebrate the Magnificent Truth of Who You Really Are!!!! You deserve to be loved wildly and passionately.

May you fall madly in love with yourself first...

Love,

Faith and the Cash Cab

Yesterday I discovered a new brand of “miracle”. By miracle I mean the possibility of a wildly unexpected and powerfully abundant experience.

I was at the gym running on the treadmill. I was working out at an unfamiliar facility away from home. The gym attendants graciously strolled between us sweaty joggers and offered us cups of water from their well-stocked trays. In front of us were three massive flat-screen TV’s with subtitles, distracting us from our puffing and pain and informing us of the current trends and news.

As I watched the giant screen, the scene changed from the local news to a taxi cab picking up riders in New York City. As the riders entered the cab, magical lights began to shimmer and shine on the roof of the cab and the driver turned to the riders and said, “Welcome to the Cash Cab!”

At first I thought this was a joke or an advertisement for something, but as it turns out, this was a real TV show. The Cash Cab drives through New York City picking up passengers and taking them to their destination. While they are being driven, the riders are asked questions and given money for their correct answers…think “Jeopardy on Wheels…”

As I watched happy passengers go for a nice cab ride in New York City and win cash, I thought how cool it must be to be a tourist in the city, get into a cab and win some unexpected money. I imagined how one man, traveling with his teenage son, might have used the extra money to take his kid to a Broadway show or stay an extra night in a fancy hotel.

Or that the two young women, who took their turn next in the Cash Cab, might have used their money to make their student loan payments or for rent….

What I love so much about the Cash Cab is that is falls into that amazing category of weird and unexpected blessings. I mean, what is the probability that someone would hail a cab, step into an income generating vehicle and receive abundant cash, just for being in the right place at the right time?

This is the nature of a true miracle.

All of my life I have struggled with mastering the difference between hope and faith. Hope, I have been reminded, is not really a good strategy. Of course, it’s a step up from despair, but “hoping” by definition implies that there is still a chance that whatever you are intending won’t come true.

Sometimes we get trapped in hoping versus KNOWING when we struggle with what I call a Belief Gap. A Belief Gap is when you desire a certain outcome but you don’t believe that the manifestation of this outcome is possible. In other words, you want to get from Point A to Point B but you don’t know if getting there is possible (but you HOPE that it is…).

There is a distinct difference between hoping and knowing. When you know that Point B is possible, you can relax, tune in and pay attention to the signs and signals that the Universe provides you so that you take the necessary actions to get yourself to that awesome Point B you’re inspired to be at (pun intended….).

When you’re just hoping, your focus is split, waiting to see if Point B is actually going to happen or if your desires are being carried away on an eternally empty wind. When you’re hoping, because you’re tuning in to see if what you desire is manifesting or not, you run the risk of missing that vital next bit of information that will lead you to the next step in the creation of Point B.

Sometimes we get stuck in hope versus knowing when we can’t seem to see the “how” of a specific manifestation. How many times have you let go of a dream because you can’t “imagine”’ how it’s going to happen?

And how many times has something miraculous and ridiculously unexpectedly good manifested in your life?

Things have to happen in linear order on Earth. It’s the nature of the third dimension. We experience time and distance here. When we try to jump out of order we simply create chaos, especially when we haven’t completely rewired our physiology.

Once you really master your Divine Power and you live out your full creative potential, it is possible to take great leaps of faith. But, if you do not completely, deeply believe that something is going to happen, if you still have underlying fears or limiting beliefs about knowing that something will manifest, beyond a doubt, then do not take action.

Faith is not hope. Faith is pure and relentless knowing. It is an act of unwavering certainty and surrender.

The delicate dance between humanity and Divinity starts in the human brain. The right hemisphere receives Divine Inspiration; the left hemisphere translates it into human action. The right brain conceives the “what”. The left-brain conceives the “how”.

The brain is just an organ, like the heart and the liver. Its function is to think, translate data and regulate the nervous system. Your heart doesn’t have the option to do anything other than beat. Your brain doesn’t have the option to do anything other than think.

When we live in the paradigm of a separate God, we think that we have to come up with all the answers. We have to take our inspiration and figure out “how” we are going to make it happen. As you may have experienced yourself, this can put you under tremendous pressure, especially when you have an inspiration that is bigger than you know how to create.

This is where a lot of people get lost in the creative process. We think we have to come up with the “how” things will happen and we close ourselves off to the constant possibility of miracles.

Thinking is to the brain as beating is to the heart. But the human brain presents challenges to us that the physical heart does not. In the brain we experience not only thinking, but also consciousness. Our Divine Awareness is perceived with the brain and we are given the task of sorting out Divine Thought and human thought, both of which are crucial on the Earthly plane.

Our human thoughts are vital. We need human thoughts to drive a car, put on our shoes, cook and build houses. Our human thoughts are the operating system for the body.

Our Divine Awareness is the antenna or the inter-dimensional interface between our expanded Self, or the Soul, and our human Self.

But, as I stated before, thinking is happening all the time. The brain has to be still for us to hear our Divine Consciousness talking. This is why a habit of daily meditation is crucial. The thinking has to be silenced in order for you to get into the habit of being able to hear your Divine Consciousness. Meditation helps you learn to sort out the different voices in your head.

Imagine this for a moment. Your brain is like a giant chamber. Inside this chamber, you are hearing your Divine Guidance, Consciousness and Inspiration. You are also simultaneously experiencing your old thought patterns, limiting beliefs and subconscious fears. At the same time, your thinking mind is translating all of this activity into possible actions, thinking thoughts about what you saw on TV last night, remembering an old experience and wondering what’s for dinner tonight.

No wonder so many of us feel paralyzed, confused or overwhelmed.

You have to think of your brain as a muscle. In order to build muscles, you have to gently train them to make them bigger. When you first start to go to the gym, you start with small weights and gradually, over time, build up your muscle strength and mass. It takes time and repetition.

Even though the brain isn’t technically a muscle, it operates the same way. You have to really build your mental “muscle” over time. You have to train it to be still, be deliberate, and hold a thought for a prolonged period of time and to know the difference between God-Mind and human mind.

It takes years for a body builder to build up his muscle mass. The process of training your brain won’t necessarily take years but it is a process that has to occur over time. Remember, as you are training your brain, you are also physically changing the nature of your body. You aren’t growing muscles, but you are growing neuropathways.

There is a simple strategy to learning how to use your brain to anchor the high vibration of Divine Thinking and turn it into inspired action.

Step One: Daily Meditation

It is crucial that you adopt some kind of daily meditative practice. There are a lot of techniques out there. I suggest that you experiment until you find one that works for you.

The most important part of meditating is learning to get your mind quiet enough to be able to hear Divine Mind speaking to you. You probably will never be able to fully shut off your thinking mind, just as you may never get your heart to stop beating for a while.

Regardless of what technique you use, enter into your meditative practice with intention. I suggest that you write down an intention statement each morning before you meditate to help you line your energy up with the experience that you would like to have.

Your intention might say something like this:

I intend to use this special, quiet time to connect deeply with Divine Mind and to hear clearly and understand perfectly. I intend to sit in silence and deeply integrate my understanding of my Inner Divinity and to act in accordance with my Divine Wisdom each moment of this day.

Step Two: Clarifying and expressing your desires
God whispers within us through desire. God wants what you want. The blueprint for the Divine is within you and communicated through you with hopes, wishes and dreams. These are the direction points given to us by our Divinity Within.

When you turn away from your dreams and desires, you are turning away from your Inner Divinity and shutting off your access to unlimited re-Sources and miracles.

You have to have dreams and desires. These are the catalysts that inspire growth and expansion.

Step Three: Know that your desires will manifest into form
Faith is the unwavering knowingness that your desires will manifest as part of your reality. The knowingness carries a certain vibration that lines up your consciousness with the reality you choose to experience.

You will allow yourself to experience a desire to the degree to which you believe it is a possibility for you.

When you can exist in a state of certainty and knowingness, then you can allow the natural flow of miracles to enter into your life and then take action accordingly.

Step Four: Take actions that are in alignment with your desires and beliefs
“Act as if” your desires are coming true. And make sure that your actions are leading up to what you want. I see so many people waiting for “miracles” who forget that creation in this dimension is a co-creative process. You can’t just sit back in your cave and wait for the situation to magically show up. You have to do your part.

If you’re going to be a best-selling author, then you better be spending time working on writing your best-selling book, or hire a ghostwriter. If you are planning on having a lot of money, then you better have a real plan on how you are going to save and invest your money when it shows up.

You have to take earthly actions that line up the frequency of what you expect in the third dimension. If you are not making the necessary preparations to receive your miracle, then you may want to re-evaluate whether you really want what you want or believe that it can really happen for you.

Miracles are wonderful works done by the Power of God. If the Power of God resides within us and our vehicle for this power is our human form, then we as humans have to co-facilitate our miracles by getting ready for their manifestation and surrendering to the process of creation.

This is the supreme expression of the spiritual concept of “surrender”. The human mind that is co-creating with Divine Mind operates like a beautiful machine. Inspiration comes in. Desire is triggered. Imagination and emotion take over with delight and the human mind begins to imagine the possibilities.

The envisioning of the earthly possibilities is the translation of Divine Inspiration into human form. Once the possibilities are envisioned then you begin to prepare the way. “Act as if” your vision is coming into form.

And then you surrender. You wait until the circumstances in your outer reality show up to give you the next steps to follow for creation. Our human experience is a metaphorical experience of the Divine. Our outer world is God’s world. Miracles show up daily, even hourly, in our outer reality, if we expect them.

We get inspired with big ideas, often times ideas that we don’t know how to “do”. Let’s say, for example, that you wanted to be a best-selling author, but you didn’t know how to make that happen.

First you begin the process by taking the inspiration and turning it into inspired action. You write a book.

Over time as you are writing your book, you feel and imagine yourself as a best-selling author. Maybe you even pretend a little bit and you create a fake New York Times Best Seller list that you tape on your office wall.

As you are working on your book, you realize that you keep meeting people who are authors and publishers. (Funny how you never noticed this before!) One evening you are at a dinner party at a friend's house and her brother is visiting from out of town. Turns out he is a publisher and has worked with several best-selling authors. The two of you have a lovely conversation and the next morning he emails you and asks you to send him your manuscript.

You send him the manuscript. He’s impressed and wants to see more and before you know it, you have a publisher, your finished book is in hand, you are on a whirlwind book tour and your book is steadily climbing the best-seller list, just like you desired!

In this story there is a gentle relaxation or surrender that happens when you take action and wait with certainty and expectation. Of course, this is only one possible scenario. The cool part about co-creating with Divine Mind is that Divine Mind is waaaaaaay bigger than your human mind.

Although your left-brain is very good at figuring out possible “how” scenarios, Divine Mind truly understands the magic of unlimited possibility. Surrendering is letting go of pre-conceived ideas about “how” your inspiration will manifest. You simply need only to know that it will manifest and all you have to do is get ready for it and pay attention to the evidence in your outer reality.

This process of knowing and surrendering creates a vibration that is in alignment with what it is that you want to experience. The more you hold this vibration by staying in a place of certainty with your expectation, the faster your vibration aligns with the unlimited possibilities that will help you perceive your desire into form.

The marriage between the Power of God within you and your human form creates the unlimited possibility of miracles in everyday life. When you let your Divine Power work its magic, you are an essential player in creating Heaven on Earth and you fulfill your Divine Role of anchoring the vibration of God deeper and deeper into the third dimension.

When you master this process, you open yourself up to experiencing the magic of the Universe and your Divine Power. Miracles will happen to you every day!

(And you never know when the Cash Cab will carry you to your next destination…!)

Love,

Bury Your Worry in the Dirt

It's raining outside and right now, my electric bill and one of my credit card bills is in my backyard…three feet underground in the dirt, getting all wet and muddy.

Why, you might wonder, are my bills buried in the backyard?

Did I conduct some woo woo ritual to eliminate debt?

Did my frustration get the better of me leaving me senseless and enraged with my bills?

No.

It's kind of a long story that started with me experiencing worry.

I was raised by "worriers". I love my parents dearly and they did a good job of worrying about everything. Even now they call me up worried that I'm not taking good care of myself, worried about my financial well-being, worried that my kids aren't getting a good education and worried about the possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning in my house (and to make sure that I have enough carbon monoxide detectors in my home.)

(They also worry a lot about my sanity and my life path, but that is a whole 'nother blog post…)

Worrying is in my genes. All of my memories of my grandmother involve visions of her wringing her hands with worry over everything.

She had a stroke at age 65. For 15 years after her stroke, she was carefree. It took significant brain damage to make her stop worrying.

Somewhere along the line, I learned that worrying was the responsible way to go through life. If you weren't worried about the future, making money, your kids, your neighbors, the news or your career, you weren't being responsible.

And, of course, if you were irresponsible in any way, you were giving your parents something to worry about.

I got good at worrying at a very young age. I bit my nails most of my life until I discovered acrylic fingernails when I was thirty. I chew the side of my mouth and have a hard time sitting still and focusing on one thing when I'm worried. I pace a lot and am very good at waking up several times in the night fulfilling my responsibility to worry about my life.

Over the last few years as I have experienced shifts in consciousness, I have mastered my worrying habit (for the most part).

When you integrate a deep understanding that your true and natural state is abundance in all of its expressions, you realize that you don't have to worry about anything. You are abundant. And abundance continually shows up, often in beautiful and unexpected ways.

But shifting is hard work. As we raise our vibrational frequency and continue to align energetically with our Divine Abundance, it's not unusual to become more and more sensitive to our conditioning and those places where we may still hold beliefs that keep us from allowing our abundance.

We are more sensitive, not because we are weak or vulnerable, but because we are more finely tuned to those places where we need to continue to shift our focus back to abundance. Our intention is to live abundance in consciousness and, obviously, in our third dimensional realities. When we are out of alignment with that intention, we notice!

We have been training for "The Shift" for many years. It is crucial as our souls come together and unify our energies that we ignore our outer realities and stay focused on our inner abundance, no matter what may seem to be going on outside of ourselves.

What does that look like in reality? That means, for example, that when the bills are due and things look grim, you have to ignore "reality" and focus on the abundance that is already there for you, even if you can't quite see it yet.

Freaking out and worrying, albeit "responsible" behavior by old standards, really doesn't work in these situations. We have to practice holding a vision for what we intend, in spite of the outer circumstances.

When we worry, we are basically expressing an unconscious underlying belief in lack of some kind. When you examine what you are worried about, it is always a belief or possibility that somehow there will not be enough and terrible things will happen.

Explore those beliefs and see what needs to be cleared in order for you to come back to an awareness of your natural state of abundance.

From a physiological perspective, worrying triggers the adrenaline "fight or flight" response. When you are fearful or "running", all creative thought shuts down, your connection to Source is forgotten and you go into survival mode. Not only is this tough on your body, especially if you do this on a chronic basis, but it also shuts your mind to creative possibilities and inspirations that can change your situation.

When we worry, we are basically making an energetic statement that we do not trust in the Divine Plan and the Universe. Worrying points our creative energies, our thoughts and emotions, at the worst case scenario and, not surprisingly, worrying can actually contribute to making your worst fears come true.

These are the simple mechanics of deliberate creation.

Letting go of worry doesn't mean you don't "deal" with reality. You may need to call your utility or credit card company and ask them for an extension on your payment. But you do it with knowingness that the bills will get pain, not with fear or shame.

You will be amazed at how simply holding the energy of knowingness that there is an inspired, Divine and elegant solution to your challenges (even if you don't know what it is yet…) creates, well, an inspired, Divine and elegant solution to your challenge.

Where you put your energy and attention is where you get growth and results.

Of course, this all sounds so simple and easy. Just stop worrying, right?

LOL!

I have found that turning your attention away from the worry and back to gratitude and appreciation is the fastest way to get out of the worry rut. If we focus on what we DO have, what we appreciate and all the abundance around us, it's hard to slip into worry and fear.

Not only that, if you place your attention on all the good that surrounds you, you will, by Universal Law, only draw to yourself more abundance. (Focus and attention creates.)

"If you can rid yourself of worry, you will rid yourself of things to worry about.
It is really that simple.
Shift the way you feel and watch what happens."

- Abraham-Hicks

So, you are probably wondering what this has to do with my bills being 3 feet under in my backyard.

Lately I've allowed my consciousness to be seduced by worry. In my meditations, I have been working on releasing my worry. I know how little worrying helps my life.

Well, as you know, the Universe often has unique ways of sending us messages. Personally, I think G-d loves to laugh.

Yesterday I was outside on my back deck talking to a client on the telephone. Ayelet, my 16 month old Star Baby, came running out of the house with a handful of my bills clutched in her chubby little fists. Now, as I was talking to a client, I was trying to get my bills back without eliciting a scream of defiance from her (She IS gifted and "NO" is one of her favorite words right now…).

Not only did Ayelet come tearing out of the house, but Kwincy, my 110 pound lab/Rhodesian ridgeback mix followed right behind her.

As I was gently trying to pry my bills out of Ayelets hands, Kwincy galloped towards the back corner of the yard and began to dig a huge hole. Ayelet, seeing that mud and dirt were flying, immediately followed him to be a part of the digging "party".

As soon as the hole was just right, Ayelet, with all her might, pitched my bills into the hole and proceeded to help Kwincy fill the hole back up. My bills had met their fate, 3 feet underground.

Upon completion of their task, both of the Sneaky Sneakers dusted off their respective paws/hands and grinned with pride at me.

The moral of this story:

Go bury your worry in the dirt.

And if you can't do it yourself, get some good soul friends to help you...

Love,

Karen

My Soul Friends, Ayelet and Kwincy

 

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Forgiveness - The Big Reset Button

I’m Jewish.  As a Jew, I am in the midst of what we call The Days of Awe, the time from the holidays Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur. 

During this time, we focus on repentance, deep self-inquiry and atoning for mistakes we’ve made during the year.

Now, I know that even though this doesn’t really sound like so much fun, I actually enjoy this time of year.  There is something to be said for dedicating 10 days to looking back, taking stock and remembering Source. 

I like to think of these days as one big Reset Button.  Push the Resent Button, start over, new possibilities, new opportunities and a chance to improve and “get it right’.

Obviously, this time is about asking others to forgive you for any wrong-doings you may have committed or regrets you may have in how you’ve treated people. 

But it’s also a time of “unbinding” yourself from your stories, old thoughts and beliefs and, most importantly, victim consciousness.  To me, this is the real definition of forgiveness.

There is a real danger in playing with the concept of forgiveness.  Forgiveness can be tricky.

I know forgiveness is a crucial piece to spiritual growth and evolution.  Many

of us have done all kinds of forgiveness exercises.  I personally have written at least 20,000 forgiveness letters to various people who have victimized me in my 45 years…(okay, I exaggerate a bit…but you get my drift.)

One of my publishing clients, Pat Rainville, author of Forgiveness is an Act of Power, (Empoweringbydesign.com) says that one of the dangers of forgiveness is that we think that by forgiving someone we make their actions “okay”. 

This style of “turn the other cheek” forgiveness is dangerous in that it doesn’t usually honor your self and often results in people re-creating old stories and victim circumstances because the underlying energy isn’t shifted.

Forgiveness is not about condoning what someone has done.  It’s about releasing ourselves from the story of the transgression and setting ourselves free to define ourselves not by what “crimes” we may have survived, but by our authentic identity.

I attended an Abraham Hicks Meetup group a few years back.  I remember the third time I attended the group we were invited by the leader to go around the circle of attendees and introduce ourselves.  The third woman who spoke, introduced herself as a survivor of childhood incest. 

It was fascinating to me that every person after that enthusiastically introduced themselves as survivors of different sorts of victim situations such as incest, rape, bankruptcy, infidelity, etc.  Once someone opened the door to “story-telling”, everyone had a story to tell. 

To be honest with you, I never went back to the group.  It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate that these people had endured and survived terrible things, but it was energetically challenging to sit in a room of people who seemed to still be so tied to the story.

If you define yourself as a survivor, there is, by definition, something terrible that you have endured and that you probably were victimized by.  Survivors are still tied to their association with the transgression.

As long as you continue to tie yourself to the story, the energy of the story perpetuates itself.  And while the lessons of the story were probably quite catalytic in your own personal evolution, the actual event is over.  If you choose to hang on to the story instead of the lessons and the blessings, you run the risk, by virtue of focus and attention, of re-creating similar circumstances over and over again.

Haven’t you ever wondered how it is that some people just seem to attract the same kinds of tragedies again and again?  Perhaps there is a need for cutting the ties to the story and truly forgiving the situation…

You can immediately end these cycles and create something new and different when you stop looking at the past and stand clearly in this current moment, recognizing that this moment is the only moment that matters in shaping your future and redefining yourself.

The past is over.  And only determines your future if you choose to let it.

Personally, I prefer the term “Thriver” rather than survivor.  I am a Life Thriver, plain and simple.

Of course, it feels good to let go of being a victim of any sort.  But there is another important reason to release any victim stories from your consciousness. 

It’s important for the planet.

We are representatives of the energy we want to see on the planet.  (For more information on this, scroll down and read about the four stages of evolution in consciousness.)  When you open your newspaper, turn on the TV or read your CNN webpage on your computer, notice the headlines.  Ninety-nine percent of the time, there is some terrible headline that involves someone doing something to someone or groups of people being victimized by natural disasters or catastrophes of some sort.

When you really understand the mechanics of consciousness, you realize that the projection of our collective consciousness, the sum total of our thoughts and beliefs, create our collective planetary experience.

We create reality and on a global level, we co-create our world. 

What we think, how we behave, our thoughts and our consciousness is added to the thoughts, emotions, beliefs and actions of others to create a consistent projected collective reality.

We are all unique pieces to a giant puzzle.  When your piece of the whole is carrying the energy of being victimized or victim consciousness of any kind, you are adding to the victim consciousness of the whole.

Now, before we go any further, this is not blame or chastisement.  I am simply pointing out that we are responsible for what we put into the world and what we project into the collective consciousness.

If we want to live in a world without victimization, then we have to eliminate victim consciousness in our own personal consciousness. 

While this may sound big and obvious, you have to also be aware of the sneaky places where victim consciousness creeps in…victim energy can be insidious.

Think about this.  In your outer reality, you are responsible for the creation of every experience. 

Yup.  Every single experience.  It’s Universal Law.

So, for example, if you believe that your business is not doing as well as it could be right now because of the economy, you are engaging in victim consciousness.  You are not a victim of the economy.  You are simply aligned with a belief that the economy is bad and you are manifesting that into your reality.

If you believe you “can’t” do something because of any outer circumstance, including shifts in energy on the planet, karma and the old standby, “It’s just not God’s will.”  Remember that you are not a victim of shifts in energy, karma or even God’s will.  (God doesn’t want you to be a victim.)

I invite you to examine your beliefs on a deeper level and see if you have any beliefs that may be keeping you locked into a victim position. 

Some questions to ask yourself that may give you clues to hidden victim consciousness might be:

Are there any things you feel resentful of or circumstance that feel like they are “not fair”?

Do you have stories about your life that you retell often to the point where it almost feels scripted?  

Are they any places in your consciousness where you define yourself as a survivor?

Are there any creations in your life that make you feel like you are a loser of some kind?

Do you have excuses about why you aren’t experiencing the success or results you intend?

Are there any people or circumstance that you feel resentful of or trapped by?

Fill in the blank:  If only ____________________________________ hadn’t happened, I’d be ____________________________________________________.

This is just a start.  Give yourself the gift of taking an inventory of your consciousness and “untie” the ties that bind you into victimhood!

Enjoy THRIVING!!!

Love,

Karen

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