Wild Horse Empowerment – Rick Allen and Lauren Monroe

This video was sent to me on Facebook, by my friend and Def Leppard drummer Rick Allan, and his beautiful partner Lauren Monroe.

Rick Allen and Lauren Monroe visited the Life Savers Ranch in Lancaster, CA and each had a first hand experience gentling or whispering wild horses.

Raven Drum Foundation: http://www.ravendrumfoundation.org

Facebook Group:  Raven Drum Foundation

Twitter :  @ravendrum

Music:  Oneness Chant by Lauren Monroe and Rick Allen.
Visit http://www.laurenmonroe.com

A Sick Society

I know I’m getting on my soap-box again, but that’s just me. One day I’ll probably fall off it and anyone who wants can laugh but for now let me just mention the stark fact that six times as many Americans die every year from lack of health care as the number killed on 9/11. Acceptable ? Not in any sane society.

The health care system in the USA is broken. No-one can seriously argue that its not. It does not operate in the best interests of everyone who needs it. The richest country in the world has 46 million people with no health insurance and even more that are dangerously under-insured with high deductibles and co-payments. The cost of essential drugs is obscenely high compared to other countries. The result is that more than 18,000 Americans die needlessly every year from preventable illnesses because they cannot see a doctor when they should.

Remember, this is six times the number who died on 9/11 but this avoidable carnage occurs every single year and nobody does anything about it. That’s not even counting the far higher numbers who live in misery with treatable illnesses they can’t get treatment for. This crazy system costs the U.S. far more per capita than any other country and health care costs continue to soar. Its not value for money. Sick people are being ripped off.

Why is it so hideously expensive yet so bad ? Really simple. Greedy individuals and big business interests add to the cost at every stage of the process by gouging out profits and resist any reform or effective regulation. Well maybe you can sell T-shirts or Coca-Cola like that but its sure as hell totally inappropriate for a fundamental human need like health-care. Its a disgrace and the whole discredited system needs to be radically and urgently overhauled so that good quality health-care is available to every single citizen, free at the point of delivery and regardless of their ability to pay.

No one should have to hesitate about seeing a doctor because of cost. No-one should have to forgo the drugs they need because they’re too expensive. No-one should be left crippled by debt because they fall ill. None of that is acceptable in a civilized society. Other countries can manage it so why not the USA ? Its hardly rocket-science after all. It just requires political will and common-sense.

Let me be blunt. I believe that any unscrupulous politician or self-interested big business lobbyist who tries to block or sabotage the desperately needed health-care reforms is an enemy of ordinary Americans in a very real way. If they succeed thousands more decent people will suffer and die needlessly. Its time to get angry. Its time to get serious. Failure is not an option. Compromise is not enough. Only radical, root-and-branch change that puts people ahead of profit is acceptable. The way things are is a national scandal and it can’t continue.

Send in The Clowns

I just wanted to show my sincere appreciation for all of the slapstick clowns who have worked so tirelessly to entertain us during the health-care debate. I mean, of course, the ‘right-wing’ TV hosts, political pundits and snake-oil salesmen. Here’s to good old Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Glenn Beck, Bill o’Reilly, the sainted Sarah Palin and many more. Merchants of doom, purveyors of hot air, peddlers of hate and vitriol all. For every lie and half-witted fabrication, for every unscrupulous scare-tactic and clumsy attempt to mislead the American people, our only response can be ….
hahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha …
ohmygosh, you guys are funny

New Rule: electing a smart president does not mean its a smart country – The incomparable Bill Maher using wit like a straight-edged razor on that section of America which is gloriously stupid and by-God proud of it! Alarming but sadly true facts to make you either laugh or cry, depending on your mood. Its hard to disagree with anything the man says.

Einstein goes high-tech to treat patients with eating disorders

The body’s innate relaxation response is an incredibly effective remedy for stress and anxiety. Relaxation methods such as deep breathing, guided meditation, visualization, progressive muscle relaxation, and various forms of yoga can aid individuals in activating this powerful response.

When performed on a regular basis, these various activities can eventually cause a decrease in daily stress or anxiety levels and contribute to a heightened level of happiness and peace. In addition, they instruct individuals in techniques to utilize to stay calm and level-headed when faced with a stressful or unexpected situation.

The Belmont Center for Comprehensive Treatment, part of the Albert Einstein Healthcare Network, has begun employing Healing Rhythms as an aid to a variety of behavioral disorders. Patients recovering from eating disorders may, early on, experience panic attacks and physical discomfort while learning how to eat healthy. This software is used in 50-minute sessions, twice a week, to help patients cope with a wide range of symptoms.

Healing Rhythms, developed by a San Diego company called Wild Divine, is designed to help patients learn to relax and control their heart rate, pulse and skin response through their breathing.

One program shows balloons peacefully rising and falling on the screen. As the participant does deep and focused breathing, the balloons will slowly float in a steady and straight course across the screen. In a different program, balls are juggled in the air. The more relaxed the person becomes through their breathing, the slower the balls move. If the person increases his or her stress levels, the balls are juggled faster and higher.

“The aim is to offer these patients another way to gain control of their psychological and physiologic responses, and, ultimately, their lives,” said Stacey Saleff, an occupational therapist at Belmont.

Original Suorce

http://philadelphia.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/stories/2009/02/02/newscolumn1.html

Marijuana Has Anti-Cancer Properties

(NaturalNews) The active ingredient in marijuana appears to target cancerous brain cells for destruction while leaving healthy cells alone, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Complutense University in Madrid, and published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Researchers first conducted an experiment in mice that had been engineered to carry three different grafts of human brain cancer. They injected the mice daily with the molecule tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) near the site of the tumors once each day. The chemical appeared to stimulate the cancerous cells to engage in a process known as autophagy, in which cells initiate their own breakdown.

“These results may help to design new cancer therapies based on the use of medicines containing the active principle of marijuana and/or in the activation of autophagy,” researcher Guillermo Velasco said.

THC belongs to a class of chemicals known as cannabinoids, named after the cannabis (marijuana) plant in which they occur. It is the chemical responsible for the psychoactive effects of marijuana consumption.

In a followup experiment, the researchers extracted and analyzed brain tissue from two patients with an aggressive form of brain cancer known as “recurrent glioblastoma multiforme.” The patients were treated with THC for either 26 or 30 days, then the researchers extracted and analyzed another sample.

After examining the brain tissue under an electron microscope, the researchers discovered that THC treatment resulted in death of cancerous cells but had no effect on healthy ones. The researchers were also able to discover the signaling pathway by which THC acts.

The research opens up the possibility that cannabinoid research could yield “a new family of potential antitumoral agents,” the researchers wrote.

Glioblastoma multiforme is the most common and aggressive form of primary brain tumor. Without treatment, the average patient lives only three months after being diagnosed with the cancer. Treatment extends the average life expectancy after diagnosis by less than a year.

Sources for this story include: rawstory.com; health.usnews.com.

Saturday, July 25, 2009 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer

Energy Muse Jewelry – Healing gemstones and crystals

Energy Muse Jewelry is intended to balance the body through the healing properties of gemstones and crystals. This is the world’s most recognized conscious lifestyle jewelry consisting of handmade crystal and gemstone jewelry with healing properties for love, health, prosperity, luck, and empowerment.

This unique handcrafted jewelry has been cleansed using ancient techniques and energized to amplify the power and healing properties of the stones. Embraced by athletes and celebrities, their pieces are worn by Sting, Bono, Heidi Klum, Britney Spears and many more.

Over the last few years, I have chosen meticulously, for each of my family members, a piece which I felt would benefit them most directly, according to obvious years of personal observation. The Energy Muse Jewelry that I have purchased for myself are listed along with their healing attributes, below:

6th CHAKRA BRACELET

6th CHAKRA BRACELET

The Brow Chakra, also known as the 6th Chakra, is located above and in between the eyes. This chakra is the center of intuition, and is associated with insight, devotion and memory. Clearing this chakra helps to balance discipline and dissolve feelings of inadequacy. Amethyst promotes peace and protection from negativity. Lapis Lazuli expands awareness and encourages a state of serenity. Quartz crystal is a stone of manifestation and enhances clear thinking. Blue Lace Agate works to calm the nervous system, while Charoite awakens intellect and grounds the spiritual self. Wear this Energy Muse piece when you seek guidance from your intuition.

6th Chakra Affirmation: I listen to my intuition and hear divine guidance.

3rd CHAKRA BRACELET

3rd CHAKRA BRACELET

The Solar Plexus Chakra, also known as the 3rd Chakra, is located behind the navel. This chakra is connected to ambition, transformation and self-discipline. Opening this energy center clears negative patterning and addictions, as well as stimulates digestion. Carnelian is worn to enhance personal power, balance sexual energy, and encourage creativity and joy. Citrine carries with it the vibration of joy and peace, while Amber is believed to attract strength and success. Sunstone is a healing stone that promotes a positive attitude during times of high stress. Wear this Energy Muse piece when you seek vitality and discipline.

3rd Chakra Affirmation: I am an empowered and vital being.

4th CHAKRA BRACELET

4th CHAKRA BRACELET

The Heart Chakra, also known as the 4th Chakra, is located at the center of the chest. This chakra is connected to forgiveness, compassion and hope. Clearing this energy center restores optimism and dissolves grudges. Rose Quartz is the stone of self-love and works to heal all issues of the heart. Aventurine carries a nurturing vibration that evokes a state of well-being. Malachite is a purifying stone that helps to release energetic blocks, while Peridot emits a warm, soothing energy. Watermelon Tourmaline attracts inspiration and diminishes fear, and Jade, the stone of wisdom, balances the emotions. Wear this Energy Muse piece when you wish to heal and nurture the heart.

4th Chakra Affirmation: I evoke clarity of the heart.

HEALTH NECKLACE

HEALTH NECKLACE

This Energy Muse Health piece has been created to enhance and protect your physical well-being. Turquoise, known as the Stone of Heaven, is considered a master healer. This stone works to protect and align the chakras, which in turn strengthens the overall body. Sodalite, also a healing stone, has been added to still the mind and encourage relaxation. Agate works to remove blockages from within the body, as it promotes balance, which leads to vibrant health. The authentic Chinese Coin, estimated to be 100-500 years old, is an ancient and powerful manifesting tool for attracting wealth, luck and endless opportunity. A symbol of good fortune; with its’ round shape representing Heaven and the interior square symbolizing Earth. Wear this Energy Muse piece when you seek healing for the physical body.

Health Affirmation: I live in vibrant health of mind, body and spirit.

MIRACLES – JUDE

Miracles – Jude

Trust and allow miracles to flow through you. Saint Jude brings peace in times of desperate situations. Call upon him to feel inner peace and divine care and love. As you feel peace within it will emanate to everyone around you.

Affirmation: I AM Peace.

Stone: Amethyst attracts spiritual contentment and gives you faith.

Energy Muse® Jewelry is intended to be a tool for transformation, manifestation and empowerment. It is designed to enhance the wearer’s own energy.

Discover the peice that best suits you @ http://www.energymuse.com

The Raven Drum Foundation

Friend and Def Leppard drummer, Rick Allen and his wife, Lauren Monroe, are the founders of the Raven Drum Foundation, an organization that seeks to heal individuals through drumming circles.

The Raven Drum Foundation is a nonprofit organization with a mission to serve, educate and empower veterans and people in crisis through the power of the drum.

Community & Partnership Drum Circles

Drum circles are conducted in various communities across the country and internationally. Drum circles use drumming as a tool for healing and allow participants to use rhythm as a form of release and connecting to others.

They conduct two types of drum circles:  Community Drum Circles and Partnership Drum Circles.  Community Drum Circles are open to the public and are held throughout the year for communities to come together in support of their local veterans.  Partnership Drum Circles are conducted in collaboration with groups and organizations and are arranged upon request.

Resiliency Program

Raven Drum Foundation’s Resiliency Program is an innovative healing program for veterans, active duty military, and their families. They use self-care modalities to aid in healing combat-related trauma, and the everyday stress, anxiety, and depression experienced by service men and women and their families.

Current research demonstrates that the primary impact of traumatic experience is a bodily impact. Our body, as the site of all human experience, stores the memory of traumatic experience implicitly, and these memories permeate our thoughts, feelings and actions. By using the drum circle as a backbone, our programs incorporate drumming, rhythm, movement, dance, yoga, breathing techniques, and the practice of mindfulness and meditation. When combined together these modalities help to release and heal the trauma allowing the body to become integrated and whole.

Our program provides participants with self-help and self-healing tools to be incorporated into their daily lives to help cope with their emotional, physical and psychological wounds.

Over the past several years, we have had the opportunity to work with hundreds of veterans throughout the country and we hope to continue to expand our programs to reach more and more service men and women, especially new veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with life-changing injuries. Additionally, we are developing components of the program that will focus specifically on women veterans, as well as military spouses, partners and families.

The Resiliency Program is our way of giving back to these courageous and inspiring warriors by providing them with a new path for the future.

Additionally, Def Leppard and Live Nation have donated unpurchased tickets for each Def Leppard show to Raven Drum for our veterans!

Over the past decade, Raven Drum has been honored to work with amazing groups of people.  They are continually inspired, especially by our veterans, to continue serving and sharing our gift of healing and peace.

http://www.ravendrumfoundation.org/

Emotions and Animal Essences

How Essences Work: A Brief Review

The idea that energy can get blocked and prevent or limit the flow of healing, balancing energies is fairly well known today. Edward Bach, M.D., originated the idea’s application to flower essence work by noticing that blockages often took a particular form. One person might be blocked from expressing unconditional love by feelings and thoughts of anger, another by resentment. Someone else might find her ability to be guided by her inner source limited by the feeling she had to ask the opinions of others; another might always feel there were too many choices available to decide.

In the Bach Flower Essence system (and in many others), each of the flowers embodies a particular energy frequency. When an individual resists the expression of that particular energy (i.e., patience, calmness, enthusiasm), she is out of touch with that aspect of her fundamental nature.

Melting Emotional Blockages with Wild Earth Animal Essences

While these essences also relate to specific qualities, I have noticed that some of them have a more general effect on emotional release and rebalance. No matter what emotion I’m choosing to release with the appropriate essence, the addition of one of the following essences in my mixture seems to make it easier to let go of the persistent emotional pattern.

You probably couldn’t go wrong in choosing any of the three below. Each, however, has a particular relationship to emotional release.

Big Girls Don’t Cry (or Big Boys)

They’d be happier if they did. That’s my opinion, and for those interested in astrology, I have Moon in Pisces, which is about as wet and emotional as it gets. I believe that a good cry, like the rain that relieves drought, revives us and gives us a new beginning.

The deepest levels of healing are accomplished on the emotional level. Emotions are associated with water, especially in the context of tears. If we are brought up to believe that tears are shameful and childish, we deprive ourselves of a powerful form of emotional release.

Frog medicine follows this principle. With its help, we can begin to experience tears as being as natural and necessary as rain.

For me, one of the most welcome signs of spring is the evening chorus of the spring peepers. Their song tells me that the ice in the ponds and streams where they live has melted. So Frog medicine symbolizes the unfreezing and flow of emotions.

Water cleanses and replenishes the earth, and in terms of healing, this animal’s medicine can help when our lives feel dry and dull, when we feel mired in the mud of circumstances, or when we have allowed emotional toxins to poison our outlook on life.

A Scottish version of the story of the Frog Prince illustrates the power of this medicine. A queen who was ill could only be healed by a drink from the well of true water. When each of her three daughters tried to get this water, a monstrous frog refused to allow them access unless they agreed to marry him. The youngest daughter agreed and was able to heal her mother. She also later discovered that her unattractive bridegroom was actually a prince.

This story teaches us that to heal ourselves (and others), it is often necessary to face the emotions within ourselves that we’ve buried because we find them unacceptable, or “ugly.” When we can honestly look at all aspects of ourselves, we find that the “ugliness” washes away, and our true beauty shines, like the sun after healing rain.

Seal: The Inner Voice

As humans, we often don’t realize the purpose of negative emotions, which are intended to tell us when we’re out of harmony. Guilt, for example, is meant to warn us when we’re about to violate our true nature. If we find our love for someone diminished because we judge them, we may feel guilty. This emotion isn’t intended to beat us up but to guide us back to unconditional love.

Fear is supposed to us of true danger, as opposed to an imagined danger. If I see a bear in the background, I am wise to stay inside, but if I spend my waking hours worried that a bear might appear, I am misusing the power of fear.

We humans have the tendency to let negative emotion misguide us that we can’t hear the deeper song of inner guidance. The seal reminds us of our connection to our inner rhythms, feelings, and knowing.

Often, when we create, the feeling aspect is missing. As a sea mammal, Seal is strongly symbolic of our feeling, sensual selves, and connects us to our deep inner rhythms and knowing. As animals with intellects that we believe set us apart from other animals we often resist surrendering to these deep rhythms, being fearful that we will lose what we think of as ourselves.

Playful Seal leads us to the water’s edge and urges us to lose our heaviness in the buoyancy of the sea. This animal reminds us that we can swim gracefully with the current, and that when we do, we can learn to release the worries created by our minds. With this perspective, our emotions, rather than pulling us down, provide us with the buoyancy that gives joy to our journeys.

Though the seal spends much of its life in the sea, it gives birth on land. This helps us to know that there are two essential ingredients to the fulfillment of our dreams and visions. They are optimally conceived in the deepest part of ourselves and given nurturance through the strength of our ability to imagine them with all the senses. They are then most easily realized when we help to bring them to birth with the help of practical and material acts.

Dove: Peace

Where I live one of the most familiar sounds of a summer evening or early morning is the cooing of the mourning dove. When all the other birds are asleep (except the robin and nightingale), the dove’s haunting call fills the air.

Thus, this bird is associated with these transitional periods in the day’s cycle, during which, according to mystical and magical traditions, the veils between the physical and spiritual worlds are at their thinnest.

I find it interesting that the crystal, amethyst, which is the color the skies of sunset and sunrise often assume, is, like the dove, related to peacefulness. Amethyst is one of the most popular crystals, and a comfort to those of us who live in a world that seems to be characterized by stress, tension, and major changes.

It is certainly a world in which we all need peace, and we can work with both amethyst and Dove Medicine to achieve it, especially when we are going through major changes and transitions. The peace symbolized by Dove is that of the deepest kind. It quiets our worried and troubled thoughts, and allows us to find renewal in the silence of mind.

It teaches us that, regardless of external circumstances, this quality of peace is within us, and always available to us. The regular practices of deep breathing and meditation can help us to find inner peace and enable us to move calmly and with purpose during the hours between dawn and dusk.

What are the Different Types of Meditation?

While there are many different types of meditation, there are two general classifications: concentrative and mindfulness. In concentrative meditation, you focus on clearing your mind to provide you with greater concentration, awareness and clarity. In mindfulness meditation, you open your mind to become more aware of the things around you, such as scents, sounds and thoughts.

The easiest way to engage in concentrative meditation is to sit quietly and focus on your breathing. Relax and count your breaths as you breathe through your nose. Take deep breaths, hold them and let them out slowly. This helps you to get oxygen into the lowest portions of your lungs.

There are times when you mind may wander, but you refocus on your breathing to get rid of your thoughts. You can also focus on an object when meditating or you may want to repeat a phrase or a word. This is called mantra meditation in which you can choose to repeat the word or phrase aloud or silently in your head.

View the video below to see how easy meditation can actually BE!

If you are agitated or worried about something, your breathing will be short and fast when you first start this type of meditation. As you start to relax, your breathing will slow down and become regulated. As you focus on your breathing or on an object, your mind will become absorbed with the regulation of your breathing and all other thoughts will vanish from your mind.

Zen meditation is one type of concentrative meditation in which you concentrate on the functioning of the heart. There are three main aims in this form:

to develop the power of concentration

to awaken your inner sense of wisdom

to recognize the action of the Supreme Being on your inner self

The idea is that once you are able to rid yourself of the thoughts of everyday life, you can reach that inner sense of peace that exists in everyone. It helps to calm the mind and body to give you insight into the nature of your existence. You must be patient and persistent in meditating in order for your mind to become clear.

Raja Yoga Meditation is another type of concentrative meditation. This form of meditation helps you to gain control of your mind to enable to you to develop a sense of peace. The life force of your body moves through the spine so that awareness is able to move into the “Third Eye” which is a point between your eyebrows.

Your mind is not passive and there can be many thoughts racing through it. You try to free yourself of these mindless thoughts and focus on the real meaning of meditating to achieve a pleasant feeling throughout the body.

Mindfulness meditation involves a passing parade of thoughts, emotions and images through your mind. You sit in a meditating position and instead of trying to banish the thoughts from your mind, you allow them to enter. You do acknowledge that they are present but you don’t concentrate on them. This allows you to develop a calm approach to your problems so that you don’t react quickly.

Instead of focusing on one individual thought or scene, you allow each though to become part of the bigger picture. It trains your mind to meditate on things in your life over which you have no control so that you have a heightened sense of inner peace that will enable you to go on with your life in spite or extreme difficulties.

Learn more at WildDivine.com

Out of the Darkness Suicide Prevention

This year, we will make suicide prevention a national priority. In 2009, the Out of the Darkness Overnight national walk returns to Chicago. We’re planning a beautiful route full of sweeping lakefront views, big city streets and picturesque neighborhoods, supported by the welcoming warmth of the Windy City’s residents.

The Overnight is fund raising walk unlike any other.  Starting at dusk and ending at dawn, we’ll walk up to 18 miles, a moving community of thousands of diverse individuals connected by a common goal.  Please join our community.

This year, we will make suicide prevention a national priority. And we need your help. By joining the Overnight, you’ll send a loud, clear message, heard from your house to the White House, that it’s time to end the stigma surrounding suicide and shed light on the tragic consequences of depression, substance abuse, anxiety and other mood disorders that, left untreated, can lead to suicide.

Register now for the Out of the Darkness Overnight, Chicago June 27-28, 2009

The funds you raise will further the mission of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the leading not-for-profit organization exclusively dedicated to understanding and preventing suicide through research and education, and to reaching out to people with mood disorders and those impacted by suicide.

Register Now

Request Information

Forgiveness – The Doorway To Freedom

Forgiving is love’s revolution against life’s unfairness. When we forgive, we ignore the normal laws that strap us to the natural law of getting even and, by the alchemy of love, we release ourselves from our own painful pasts. We may talk about turning the other cheek and forgiving those who have wronged us, but it is not a simple thing to do. The problem usually lies within the whirling tornado of emotions that are at the center of this act. It is the hardest trick in the bag of personal relationships.

It is important not to confuse forgiveness with other similar acts. Forgiveness is not excusing, smothering conflict, accepting people, or tolerance. When you forgive the person who hurt you deeply and unfairly, you perform a miracle that has no equal. Nothing else is the same. Forgiving has its own feel and its own color and its own climax, different from any other creative act in the repertoire of human relationships.

There are four stages in the process of forgiveness beginning with the hurt that precipitates the crisis and causes us pain that will not go away. We must acknowledge that first. The second stage is hate when all our feelings of anger and righteous indignation come to the surface. The third stage is healing; you are given the ‘magic eyes’ to see the person who hurt you in a new light. Your memory is healed, you turn back the flow of pain and are free again. The fourth stage is the coming together where you affect a reconciliation and invite the person back into your life at the right time ( which doesn’t always mean now). The major healing takes place within us thanks to the love and freedom that blooms in us.

It is best to practice forgiveness a little at a time. Ordinary people forgive best if they go at it in bits and pieces, and for specific acts. We bog down if we try to forgive people in the grand manner, because wholesale forgiving is almost always fake. Forgiving anything at all is a minor miracle; forgiving carte blanche is silly. Nobody can do it. Except God. And the first rule for mere human beings in the forgiving game is to remember that we are not God. Below, I want to share with you The Doorway To Freedom. It’s a way to begin healing yourself TODAY.

Enlightenment cannot enter through a closed door. Forgiveness is the doorway to enlightenment or love consciousness, for without completing forgiveness you cannot move on. It will always be the anchor that holds you back. Sooner or later you must do it for your own sake. “Unforgiveness” is a poison in your system that will rob you of your spiritual life. If you hate one soul you will never be able to love another completely. The poison in your system will pollute your experience of love with everyone and everything in life.

“Unforgiveness” spills over into other aspects of your life and stains your experiences. When the time comes for true forgiveness, open yourself to your God and invite the Holy Spirit to enter, to cleanse the cellular memory of all the negative energy stored in there and dissolve with love the patterns you hold about others that you have not forgiven. The vibration at this time can be so strong as to make your ego or logical mind start having fearful thoughts.

Remember God created us to experience perfection and beauty. When the Holy Spirit meets our darkness, “bad” things happen in our best interest. Do not judge the situation let it be. We cannot hate one Soul and love another. For our own sake we need to forgive one another, to be kind and considerate to each other and show tolerance. When we hold resentment in our hearts and minds we poison our beings with dark energies that foster anger that we then suppress and deny. This dishonoring of our being brings emotional pain that destroys our qualities of life. Every experience that comes to us is filtered through this unforgiving attitude, thereby diluting our enjoyment and experience of the joy of being alive.

THE LOSS OF SPIRITUAL LIFE

Vague shadows lurk in the background and forever blunt our edge. The dullness of our experience robs us of our spirituality. We know there should be more, but we can never quite fully experience what we feel we should. The shadows of resentment keep our spiritual light from shining through, never allowing us to fully experience who we are.

HONORING THE LESSONS

The longer we hold hard thoughts or feelings of animosity, the weaker our light becomes, and consequently the deeper the hurt from our own dishonoring. The anger grows and grows. No matter what the perceived sin is against us, eventually forgiveness is seen to be the only doorway to freedom. All of the denial and suppression must be reversed in order that our spirit be set free and our heritage of a full and joyous spiritual life be realized while still on the earth plane.

Anger is the state that divides and separates spiritual beings experiencing physical life. The damage is self-inflicted. The person who holds the resentment is the victim of their own anger and does little or no damage to their perceived enemies. The people closest to them become secondary victims. As they weave their karmic web, they draw others into their play, intensifying and complicating what could have been a wonderful and simple experience.

Nevertheless, the play that is happening is learning and growth, so to judge it as wrong would be another misperception of the truth. With all of life, options are there for us. The choice of how we learn is ours; no matter how it appears to others, it is our choice. As we watch another learning, we must honor that person and the path of learning that he or she has chosen. Judgment is not the way. Love and tolerance will open the door to spiritual freedom.

FACING OUR GREATEST FEAR

Pain in the heart is the energy of love pushing against a blocked emotion contained there. Forgiveness shakes our very foundation and belief that we are the victim and we are righteous in our anger. This belief pattern must go if we are to progress. Holding onto anger keeps us on the path of self-destruction. Justifying our behavior is an indication that we are out to convince others that we have a right to be angry, and hatred of another soul is completely OK because of what they did to us. Justification and self-elevation above others is the most divisive and destructive path that the ego can take us on.

In the experience of resentment, we are pushed further from our light than at any other time, because anger and hatred are the opposite of love. The festering inner wound will never heal and allow us to move forward until the door of forgiveness is reached. At this moment, depending on the intensity of the experience, the strongest person can cry and shiver like a frightened child deep in the experience of a nightmare. At this time you see the wrongs you have done to yourself.

Yet in all of this, the gentle prompting from our own divinity never really lets us forget who we are, it is the inner voice of sanity. This voice is our link to the inner Light, to our conscience; the whispering of our Soul; the comforting words of our God self; our true being; the doorway through which enlightenment will come. Discard the shackles of many lifetimes and embrace who you are. The fear perpetuated by the ego needs to be faced and seen for the illusion that it is, that which robs us of our spiritual life.

HONORING OUR MAGNIFICENCE

When we stand before the light of who we are and prepare to allow the light to enter our darkness, the fear of accumulated lifetimes in our cellular memory trembles in a way that defies any description. The pain of release goes to the very core of our beings. Yet throughout all of this, another energy stands close by, allowing but comforting, never interfering, but strengthening us. The time is at hand to honor our true magnificence. The light beckons us to come home. The lessons you have chosen are refining and purifying you to accept your rightful place in the universe.

MY EXPERIENCE OF FORGIVENESS

My father was an alcoholic from the time he was a very young man, and he carried within him a lot of pain and anger. Unfortunately, he carried that anger with him until his death at 86 years of age – a terribly long time. The effect on children of alcoholic parents is well-known; rather than regurgitate all the details, suffice it to say I had never forgiven him.

On an intellectual level I had forgiven him, but in my heart I had not. It seems a small point, but our minds tell us one thing, but in our hearts we know better. During those early healing times, it became my habit to stand and allow the spirit guides to work with my body, teaching me how to tune into them and anticipate mentally and physically what part of the body I should focus on next. All of this exercise was done alone, and greatly helped open physical and mental channels for a more efficient working partnership. These became my practice sessions.

After a clairvoyant friend had mentioned on numerous occasions that my father was around me quite a lot, I became alerted once by the spirit guides that he was here during a practice session. I felt this to be unusual as he had passed over barely two years before. Why was he around so much? My learning had taught me that he possibly should be being helped on to another level, not be visiting the earth plane so soon. With prompting from my guides I finally arrived at the conclusion that he needed my forgiveness before moving on. This realization shocked me. Had I been responsible for his staying back, earth bound? What happened next will be with me forever.
The spirit guides brought him to me, and because my sense of psychic touch had developed, I could feel his energy field moving closer to me. I can never describe to you the emotional sensations that began to move about inside me and then move to the surface. Refusing to be held in check any longer, my emotional dam wall cracked and then flooded out, demanding expression. Tears of release poured forth, so painful but so sweet.

My arms were lifted from my side to embrace my father as I had never done in my 54 years. My pain of withheld love expressed itself. The sobbing slowly abated as did the pain in my throat as all the unsaid words were released. To feel my father in my arms as he really is and was moved me in such a way that I feel it was a gift of pure grace. To have faith is one thing, to know and experience is another. At that moment I knew death to be a fraud. Life is eternal.

Next I was asked to pray for my father. This I did with much passion and love. During this prayer, my father was surrounded by a ball of golden light. He was then sent into the light to begin his journey once more in spirit. He had been released from the lower astral plane with love, something he had needed from me all of his life…love.
All was not done yet. As my communication was rough to say the least, this whole exercise had taken nearly two hours to get it right. Soon I understood that I needed to pray for myself. The Guides were most pleased that I understood this last request quickly.

My prayer for forgiveness was filled with the emotion still flowing from the experience of my father. As I prayed I became lighter and lighter, understanding that my burdens were being lifted. Our emotional burdens will be taken piece by piece over time, and though this one was large and heavy, it was leaving at once. The forgiveness that I had asked for was for my dishonoring of myself. As a divine being we dishonor ourselves with unforgiveness as much as the person we need to forgive.

The next day while driving to work, I realized that a knot in my stomach that had accompanied me all of my life had gone. My thoughts turned to my father. I felt a smile on my face and a feeling of love for him in my heart for the first time. It was a warm love, with a depth of feeling I had never felt before. How wonderful it is to know that it is never too late to forgive. Knowing where he was made me feel warm inside. The fear of death had been washed away. As I was to find out later in my healing experiences, “Those who work in the light have no fear.”

TRUE FORGIVENESS

Once true forgiveness is completed with one soul, it is done for every soul. Forgiveness will reside in your heart from that day forward. When this lesson is completed, we need not keep repeating something we now understand totally. The lesson of forgiveness shows us that love is the only experience we ever want in our hearts forever.

The stain on ourselves is so damaging when we do not practice forgiveness that another awakening occurs through the realization of our own incredibly thoughtless acts. As we see our ignorance, we see our path to enlightenment. The horror of our actions repels us so much, we seek forgiveness for ourselves. In this act of seeking, we see the need to forgive others, no matter what they may have done. The freedom forgiveness brings us is total.

TWO TYPES OF FORGIVENESS

There are two types of forgiveness, and the first one we try is the intellectual path. The ego is in control here. We say with a grandiose wave of the arm, “Oh I have forgiven them for that,” making light of the whole subject and busying ourselves in a big selling job on ourselves and on the other person or persons we are speaking to.

The second path is through the heart where we become defenseless. Now all of the emotional pain from the heart and body is released in the most wonderful act of cleansing. This path takes courage and honesty with yourself; every cell in your body holds the fear. It is powerful, painful and wonderful all at once, an experience you will always remember and cherish because you have just been reborn. You now have new eyes through which to perceive the world. Strange but beautiful things occur when you release through the heart, allow the fear to be there and drop your ego’s defenses. You CAN do it.

When you forgive, you do it with your whole being. You become as a child again without defenses. Any form of defense will stop forgiveness. The river of love that flows through us is the inner pathway.

We may or may not enlighten ourselves by standing on our heads in the corner of the room, or by saying prayers continuously like a parrot, or by focusing on an object for the purpose of stilling the mind or by any spiritual practice that disciplines our bodies. When we forgive ourselves and others, we have opened the floodgate so that the river of life can flow through us and change our consciousness. While snippets of resentment may arise, or anger may pop up, we immediately replace it with love, fully realizing that we do not want to go on that path ever again.

It is essential that all stains of unforgiveness are washed away. To truly love another soul this must happen. If you have not forgiven your Father or Mother, your ex partner or anyone that you perceive has wronged you, then you can never fully experience love or give love fully to another. Once the Creator’s love flows through our hearts, the spring cleaning begins, and it’s not always a bed of roses.

Do not stress that you have not forgiven. As love changes your mind, it is inevitable that forgiveness will come. True forgiveness comes in its own time. When love opens the door, we constantly correct and refine our behavior, gradually bringing ourselves to a state of love where fear will not exist.

If you hold a strong desire to become the loving soul that you know you are, it must happen.

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