nlitenedsoulz.com Blog

If you’re never scared or embarrassed or hurt, it means you never take any chances.
[ Julia Sorel ]  

Dealing with Negativity

Adapted from The Third Jesus, by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2008).
There are a number of different techniques to deal with negativity. It takes time before you find the right response to suit a specific situation. The more patient you are with yourself, the better. One day you may need tears, the next day it’s a matter of patient waiting or talking to your inner self. Here are some methods of dealing with negativity to add to your repertoire:

• Patient waiting. Notice your negative reaction and watch it for a moment. Be attentive to your feelings as they are, without judging or forcing them to change. This response is quiet, but it isn’t passive. You are removing the shock value of the moment, softening the feeling so that you don’t act on it impulsively or push it away. You are letting it dissipate naturally, at its own pace. You are also practicing detachment.
  
• Talk out the problem. Any negative experience in the mind is part of yourself. It’s neither alien nor evil. Try talking to your fear or hostility. Ask to know what it means. Find out why it chose to show itself at this particular moment.
  
• Ask the underlying energy to leave. Not all negativity wants to stick around. We are all aware of passing moods and sudden flashes of emotion that soon subside. Ask the negative energy to leave, but first give it a chance to say what it has to say.
  
• Summon help and assistance. Your mind has countless levels. At higher levels, you possess much more control and authority than you realize. Learning to trust in aspects of your higher self that you can’t see is important. Ask for help in removing unwanted negative energy. Some people address their angels and guides; others pray to God; still others make a request to the higher self directly. Depending on your own beliefs, don’t hesitate to say that you are feeling overwhelmed and need help.
  
• Physical responses. Turn to the wisdom of the body. Although the mind always wants to rush in and take charge, life is a cooperative venture between mind and body. As some body workers like to say, there are issues in the tissues. So let your body do what it wants in order to release the grip of a negative experience. This can be physical, or even toning, which means humming or singing at certain pitch and then letting the body carry the tone up or down.
  

My thought:
This post is per several requests. I have been asked several times this month how I deal with negative energy. The key there is to DEAL with it! Find your own way to identify it, make an informed decision to deal with it and take action (NOT REACT) towards not making that energy your own (Don’t take it on). I believe the most important step I take is learning from the root not the cause (the cause is not always the root) of that negative energy. Getting to the root of any issue helps you to restructure and move forward positively. *ALWAYS remember the universe is showing YOU everything for a reason and/or you are ultimately creating all you see around you. So it is you who must learn, reflect and grow in all situations.* Don’t be afraid to do things in a way that is best for you, cry if YOU need to, scream if YOU need to, run 5 miles if YOU need to but do what YOU need to do. Ultimately you help the greater good by presenting a more positive YOU!
 

Have a GLORIOUS WEEKEND!! Be Safe Be Well Be PEACE!
Love is…
TL

Anyone can become angry. That is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way…that is not easy.
[ Aristotle ]

Seeking Signs of Spiritual Growth

Adapted from The Third Jesus,by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2008).
The soul is the highest form of the self. It doesn’t unfold biologically like a child’s brain and behavior. But in other respects there’s an undeniable similarity: The soul works beneath the surface, and when its work comes to fruition, consciousness shifts.
In the case of childhood development, it may seem that nothing is actually happening. If you make a video of a 3-year-old’s typical day, you won’t see isolated moments of epiphany or awakening where the child says, “Aha, I just had a glimpse of what it will be like when I am 4.” Appearances are deceiving, however, because invisible changes are occurring beneath the surface, and when they come to fruition, the child will consciously know that something happened. Old interests fall away; new ones arise. A stronger sense of confidence emerges, along with a more informed sense of self.
It would be wrong to say that children are the puppets of biology. They have to participate in their own development, taking an active interest in exploring the world and finding out their own potential. When this doesn’t happen, when the child is inert and passive, the diagnosis is autism. In spiritual terms, the same holds true. The seeker must take an active interest in the soul’s unfolding, or the result will be inert.
That’s why I find myself reluctant to use the word seeker, because it denies the spontaneity of inner growth while at the same time implying that the goal is outside the self. Seekers seem like hunters on a safari to capture the soul. The spiritual path isn’t like that. The goal is within and ever present. Better to say that one is trying to uncover the true essence of the self. We have all loved at times, felt compassion and risen to acts of selflessness. We know the difference between being awake and asleep, at least vaguely, and being awake feels better. It produces a better life.
You must keep in mind that the real you is love, is truth, is God. By removing the obstacles and resistances that hide your essence, you reveal yourself to yourself. Essence, being permanent, can’t be destroyed, only masked. It patiently awaits the day when you wake up to who you really are.
My thought:
By awaking to the YOU under the mask you find peace and harmony. Anger is just an emotion and not one to be negated. Emotions are necessary; it is what you do with each emotion that shows whether or not your true essence has been unmasked. DIG DEEP, let go of that MASK and JUST BE!   
Love is…
TL

Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you’ll never cease to grow.
[ Anthony J. D’Angelo ] 

Healing Your Inner Needs 

Adapted from The Path to Love, by Deepak Chopra (Three Rivers Press, 1997). 

When you heal separation, your needs will not reflect fear and insecurity. All of us bring needs to relationships, but they don’t have to turn into attachment. Attachment is created when needs aren’t understood and faced. Needs you place on your partner never really get resolved. Therefore even if your partner bends over backward to satisfy every need you have, the final outcome will be the same as if none of your needs was met: You will be left to confront why you have such needs. This “why” is answered by examining how you feel about being in separation, for the underlying anxiety of separation from God, spirit, and Self is what created need in the first place. 

In many relationships there is a confusing mismatch between what two people actually consider most important. How can neediness be healed when there is constant jockeying over what two people want? We have to make a distinction between external needs, like food and shelter, and inner needs. Inner needs come down to what makes you feel secure. 

If you are on two different paths, one way or another the weaker partner will wind up giving in to the stronger, or one of you will repress your true needs in hopes that you will find happiness through sacrifice. 

This rarely if ever works. 

Giving in to another person’s needs is actually a form of attachment. Having thrown away your own desires, you will be forced to cling to the other person to bring you satisfaction. This is a form of separation from your true identity, and in the end you cannot hope to use separation of any kind to reach unity. 

The object is to find the balance of male and female within you rather than take the easy road, which is to attach yourself to someone else’s strengths as a compensation for your weaknesses. 

My thought: 

Those in strong relationships learn from each other passionately. It is within the steps of learning you’ll experience growth as a unit! All things begin with self; examine and exhaust looking within before looking at others as the source! Connect, Experience and GROW! 

Love is… 

TL 

Do one thing every day that scares you.
[ Eleanor Roosevelt ] 

The Artist of Your World 

Adapted from Power, Freedom, and Grace, by Deepak Chopra (Amber Allen, 2006). 

There is an ancient saying from India about the soul: “Fire cannot burn it, water cannot wet it, wind cannot dry it, weapons cannot cleave it. It’s ancient, it’s unborn, it never dies.” The soul is the source of all unreality, but the domain of the soul is beyond your everyday reality. That’s why you need to experience the domain of your soul to stay in touch with your soul, to experience the qualities of the real you. 

How do you experience the domain of your soul? By spending time in silence, by quieting the time-bound conversation in your head and tuning in to the timeless, peaceful quiet of your soul. When you experience complete silence in your body-mind, then you recognize that you are not your thoughts but the Being who is having the thoughts. 

Slowly, by spending time in silence, you notice that the scenery comes and goes, but the seer is always there. You realize that you are not the scenery; you are the seer, the witness of the scenery. As you shift your identify from the scenery to the seer, everything starts to slowly awaken. You glimpse the soul, and you begin to experience more expansive states of consciousness: Cosmic consciousness, divine consciousness, unity consciousness. 

You begin to realize that you are painting the scenery. In the past you did it unconsciously, randomly, chaotically. Now, like a great Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci, you consciously create a masterpiece that influences your destiny and the destiny of others. 

My thought:  

We fear the unknown! Step out into the abyss and enjoy the journey! Create the best scenery as you venture to that next hurdle, situation or possibility! 

Love is… 

TL  

A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.
[ Hugh Downs ]

About the 5 Senses

Adapted from The Book of Secrets, by Deepak Chopra (Three Rivers Press, 2004).
The more consciousness you have the more potential you have to create. Pure consciousness, because it underlies everything, is pure potential. Your alternatives are:
• Depending on the five senses: Separation, duality, ego-based, subject to fear, detached from the source, limited in time and space.
• Depending on natural law: In control, less subject to fear, taps into natural resources, inventive, understanding, explores the reaches of time and space.
• Depending on consciousness: Creative, intimate with natural law, close to the source, boundaries dissolve, intentions turn into results, beyond time and space.
Awareness is all that changes in the journey from separation to the one of reality. When you depend on your five senses, you are aware of the physical world as primary reality. In such a world you must come second because you see yourself as a solid object made up of atoms and molecules. The only role your awareness has is to look upon the world as “out there.”
The five senses are extremely deceptive. They tell us that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, that the Earth is flat, that an object made of steel couldn’t possibly be held up by the air. The next state of awareness depends upon laws of nature that are arrived at by thinking and experimenting. The observer is no longer a victim of deception.
When the human brain considers the laws of nature, the material world is still “out there” to be explored. More power is gained over nature, but if this level of awareness was the ultimate one (as many scientists think it is) utopia would be a technological triumph. However, the brain can’t set itself aside forever.
Eventually someone has to ask, “Who am I doing all this thinking?” That’s the question that leads to pure awareness. For if you empty the brain of all thoughts (as in a state of meditation), awareness turns out not to be empty, void and passive.
My thought:
By gaining more awareness your happiness level will rise. Your attitude will shift to one that seeks out the positive yet understands the need that bought the negative. That attitude will search for the details in the answers! To ask the questions is not enough, you have to want to know the answers!! Create and become full through your awareness!    
Love is…
TL

It is not what he has, or even what he does which expresses the worth of a man, but what he is.
[ Henri Frederic Amiel ]  

The Law of Detachment  

Adapted from The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, by Deepak Chopra (abridged edition, Amber Allen, 2007) The word “universe” means one song. Your every intention or heart’s desire is like a melody in nature’s symphony; all you have to do is sing your song. A Rumi poem says, “I want to sing like birds sing, not worrying who listens or what they think.” If you can sing your song with that attitude, you are participating in the Law of Detachment, and nothing will be able to stop the force of your intentions. 

• Practice detached involvement. Stay alert to the opportunity within every problem by letting go of your idea of how things should be. • Accept uncertainty as an essential part of your experience. In your willingness to accept uncertainty, solutions will spontaneously appear. 

• Remain open to all possibilities and enjoy every moment in the journey of your life—all the fun, mystery, and magic in the field of pure potentiality 

My thought: I am me and all that flows within, out and around me! The art of letting go, accepting and being open is one that is only mastered with time and patience; if master at all. BE!! 

Love is…  TL  

Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
[ Frank Outlaw ] 

The Times They Are A-Changing
by Owen Waters

Suddenly, the Vatican says that it’s OK to believe in
extra-terrestrial aliens. The Vatican is not the only bastion
of conservatism to have come out with such a policy in recent
months. Both the British and the French governments have now
released their extensive files on sightings of Unidentified
Flying Objects.

Governments have been shy of talking about UFOs ever since the
national panic that Orson Welles caused in America in 1938 when
he read out an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel, ‘The War of the
Worlds’ over the radio. The broadcast lasted 60 minutes without
commercial interruption and was formatted as a series of news
broadcasts about the progress of an ongoing alien invasion of
Earth.

People who tuned into the radio show after the initial
announcement about it being fictional were swept up into a
panic that quickly spread across the country. The drama hit
such a public nerve in those tense and anxious days leading up
to World War II that millions of listeners became
panic-stricken. The fallout in the press was enormous, with
12,500 newspaper articles appearing about this episode over the
next month.

For decades since then, the fear of public panic in the face
of a real, mass alien landing has helped to keep governments
quiet about UFO incidents. Also, there was always the nagging
fear in the minds of politicians that, if extra-terrestrials
landed and spoke words of wisdom, people might start following
the ETs instead of the politicians. That fear has since been
largely eclipsed by the fact that, today, very few people
listen to politicians anyway!

In a recent edition of the Vatican newspaper, the Rev. Jose
Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory,
was quoted as saying the vastness of the universe means it is
possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even
intelligent ones. So, he said, believing that the universe may
contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God.

“How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?”
Funes said. “Just as we consider earthly creatures as ‘a
brother,’ and ’sister,’ why should we not talk about an
‘extraterrestrial brother’? It would still be part of creation.”

In the interview for the newspaper article, Funes said that
such a notion “doesn’t contradict our faith” because aliens
would still be God’s creatures. Ruling out the existence of
aliens would be like “putting limits” on God’s creative freedom.

Funes said science, especially astronomy, does not contradict
religion, touching on a theme of the current Pope Benedict XVI,
who has made exploring the relationship between faith and
reason a key aspect of his papacy. The Vatican Observatory has
made great efforts to bridge the gap between religion and
science. It was founded in 1891 and is based in Castel
Gandolfo, a lakeside town in the hills outside Rome where the
pope has a summer residence. The Vatican Observatory also has a
team which conducts research at the University of Arizona
observatory in Tucson.

Funes went on to say that the Bible “is not a science book,”
adding that he believes the Big Bang theory is the most
“reasonable” explanation for the creation of the universe. The
theory says the universe began billions of years ago in the
explosion of a single, super-dense point that contained all
matter. But, he said, such a beginning to the universe would
have been the work of God as “God is the creator of the
universe and we are not the result of chance.”

Funes urged the church and the scientific community to leave
behind divisions caused by Galileo’s persecution 400 years ago,
saying the incident has “caused wounds.” In 1633 the astronomer
was tried as a heretic and forced to recant his theory that the
Earth revolved around the sun. Church teaching at the time
placed Earth at the center of the universe. Galileo was
imprisoned, and later released to spend his final years under
house arrest.

“The church has somehow recognized its mistakes,” he said.
“Maybe it could have done it better, but now it’s time to heal
those wounds and this can be done through calm dialogue and
collaboration.” Pope John Paul declared in 1992 that the ruling
against Galileo was an error resulting from “tragic mutual
incomprehension.”

From this recent news article, it would seem that the Vatican
is beginning to bridge the gap between science and religion in
an attempt to become aligned with the wider view of reality
presented by modern scientific knowledge. Where this will
eventually lead is anyone’s guess, but an evolving
consciousness in humanity makes plenty of room for the
potential for philosophical reform in traditional areas.

It is heartening to see that, today, the times certainly are
a-changing. 

My thought: 

 I am not going to go into politics or religion but I will offer a warning of being open to awareness. It is through awareness your character will flourish. This world changes daily; are you prepared to live in while being aligned with the greater good! 

Love is… 

TL

PS.  REMEMBER OUR ELDER  El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz

There is no knowledge that is not power.
[ Ralph Waldo Emerson ]

Four Steps to Affluence

 Adapted from Creating Affluence by Deepak Chopra (New World Library, 1998).
Why not adopt God as the role model of affluence? After all, no one is more affluent than God, for God is the field of all possibilities.
The Four Steps to Affluence
1. You slip into the gap between thoughts. The gap is the window, the corridor, the transformational vortex through which the personal psyche communicates with the cosmic psyche.
2. You have a clear intention of a clear goal in the gap.
3. You relinquish your attachment to the outcome, because chasing the outcome or getting attached to it entails coming out of the gap.
4. You let the universe handle the details.
One of the easiest and most effortless ways of slipping into the gap is through the process of meditation.
 

My thought:
Your power lies in the knowledge you have already! Take the steps and BECOME!
Love is…
TL

Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes time. Vision and Action can change the world.
[ Joel Arthur Barker ]