You may not credit this but our freedom from our challenges lies in our facing our fears. I know it sounds both weird and unbelievable. I did not believe it myself either, until I tried.
Fear is not a ‘thing’ that we can ‘meet’ in the physical really. Fear is sneaky and it lies low. Depending on the nature of our fears, they appear in the areas of our life where we are in a cave, in the darkness.
Facing our fears means ‘letting the light in’. It may appear in way of actually doing something to face our fears or in meditation we consciously release ‘specific’ aspects of our fear.
What to do?
For example – if you have a fear of looking ridiculous because you have low self-esteem and your self-image requires you to look cool so nobody will notice your low-self esteem, what you need to do is to look ridiculous. Just do what feels most uncomfortable. It is very much like stepping outside your comfort zone.
I am not saying it is easy but it is quick. It is liberating to do something we have so far feared to do. Just do it anyway.
The situation is more tricky, if the fear is an ’emotional’ such as anxiety around our abilities regarding future events or insecurity e.g. financial. It is often that we need to face this kind of fears in meditation and affirmative prayer. It means that we focus into the fear centre which is our self-talk. We listen in as our ‘fearful’ mind tells us his/her horror stories. As we notice the ‘figure’ of the fear, we start imaging a bright golden light shining down on us.We gently usher the ‘fear figure’ into the light and simply allow it to be lifted up and turn into star-dust.
Please remember to BE KIND AND GENTLE with yourself when to attempt to face your fears. Though our freedom lies beyond the fear, you should not fight your fears or try to demolish them. They are there to protect you, except you do not need that kind of protection any more. You are an adult now. You can deal with the world on your own terms.
When the ‘fear figure’ is gone with the golden light, we can start with our affirmative payer. We need to replace the ‘negative elf-talk’ with positive ones. For example, when I am anxious about my abilities, after I have done the ‘golden light’ release, I start creating affirmations such as, “I allow Life/God to support me.” “I am supported and cared for.” The affirmative sentences must sit ‘right’ with you. They must give you a sense of ease and reassurance. Sit in meditation, pray the way that works for you and find your affirmative sentences.
A few words about the cave
So, throughout our entire existence, we live in a ‘cave’ because there is not much ‘inner light’ shining here. The cave is also our body and the various energy layers that surround our physical body. They all belong to the ‘mortal world’. It is dark here because we are not connected with the light that is not of this ‘world. This light is called the Light of Spirit or the Light of God.
As we start liberating ourselves from our limitations and fears we start letting ‘light’ into the our cave. The door of the cave starts opening and we start feeling lighter, happier, more alive, and more connected.
Remember, the Light can only start shining in if you open the door. And you open the door by starting to remove the ‘blocks’ of fear and self-imposed limitations.
0-1:30 What I have been busy with recently 1:30-2:50 Brave new world of specialisation 2:50-4:40 The process from a Unity stand point 4:40-5:15 What is the Cycle from Bitterness to Wholeness 5:15-5:30 1st step 5:30-6:45 2nd step 6:45- 8:20 3rd step 8:20-9:30 4th and 5th steps 9:30-10:10 in closing
On a personal note for the video It feels that I have arrived to the top of the mountain. Naturally it doesn’t mean that my journey has stopped. I continue on into the greater depth of Oneness. I suspect as we reach a certain station on our personal and spiritual journey, we stop and marvel. I have done the same. As I was taking in the view, I received an idea of a system that comprises my journey in stations. This is what this video is about. I detailed it below.
FROM BITTERNESS TO WHOLENESS
Healing is recovery from a set of mis-beliefs and (dis)illusion(ment). We are in constant search of happiness, contentment, and success. What we do not realise is that our disposition (the way we generally think and feel) determines whether we are happy or not.
As we walk the journey of healing or recovery we realise that we are the source of our own happiness and contentment. It is a commitment to self. Instead of being in constant search of an outer source of ‘fulfillment’, we realise that we are our own saviour.
At a certain stage of the journey we also realise that true happiness and fulfillment is drawn from the relationship that we create with our ‘greater-self’ and the Divine Presence that we all part of.
To know more …
Our spiritual evolution is a cyclical process on an upward spiral. But for now it feels that I really understand the cycle of the journey I call from Bitterness to Wholeness. I look at it as a cycle because it is constantly swirling presence of energy. I walk this journey with consciousness awareness on a daily basis in a very practical way. In order to get here, however, I needed to discover the major elements that I call stations on this journey.
The stations are: 1. Self awareness 2. Forgiveness and letting go 3. Awareness of the greater picture (Acceptance) 4. Gratitude and Compassion 5. Wholeness and Oneness (Surrender)
Each element or station, as I discovered them in their depth, builds on each other that’s why I call this a cyclic process.
The Process
Probably self-awareness is or has been the major part of my journey because it comprises of a lot of different things. On one hand it is a discovery of our denials, bitterness, anger or our victimhood. It is also about breaking down the false self-image that we built to protect ourselves. It is also about our wishes and dreams. At the same time, it helps us discover our powers, strengths, and uniqueness. And finally, it is about looking at our journey so far – becoming aware of the glorious as well as the painful events in our lives; how we have integrated all that into our understanding of ourselves; and what conclusions we have drawn about ourselves as a result of these events. Though self-awareness is a great part of the journey, it’s only the beginning or the foundation of the greater journey.
The second station is forgiveness and letting go. This is probably the most challenging part of the cycle. We need to understand, however, that forgiveness and letting go opens the door to greater, deeper and more beautiful experiences . Through forgiveness and letting go, we, literally, embrace our Life with all its twists and turns in its entirety. Letting go often refers to letting go of false ideas, self images, and misunderstandings as well as false expectations. (NOTE: I have created a video on forgiveness, pls find the link further below.)
The next step of the cycle is actually the result of the previous two, which is awareness of the greater picture or of the greater journey, and an awareness of our greater-self. Meditation, contemplation, and connecting to the Divine Presence is a big part of this stage. This is the station where we start becoming aware of our spirit, our spiritual journey, our relationship with the Divine Presence or God. As we do that, we can start moving into the Loving with IT ALL, including ourselves. Loving is a sense of alignment and an awareness that we are part of ‘everything’ and ‘everything’ is the part of us. This alignment helps us accept all there is just as they are, knowing that all that is going on right now is part of a greater movement, and all is well. It is total surrender to Life as is gratitude. As a result of seeing the greater picture and becoming aware of our own indwelling Loving Spirit that is constantly connected to God’s Loving Presence, and being able to experience this loving presence more consciously we become grateful. Gratitude is a conscious action. We choose to see the good. We develop faith in the good in self, in others, and in the Universe. In our gratitude, we start seeing the puzzle pieces of our lives in greater depth and as part of a bigger picture with all its challenges and beauties. We willingly see how our life is built with precision, care and Loving. We also start to see how difficulties, challenges, drama, even devastation, overcoming, and triumphs, all add to the greater movement of Life itself for us all. In gratitude, we stop judging, blaming, shaming, and expecting: We arrive to a sense of peace. I see compassion as an accompaniment to Gratitude. As we are compassionate, we accept all there is, as it is. Compassion helps us be grateful.
As we practice all the above steps, we find ourselves surrendered to the Flow of Life. At this stage, we consciously align ourselves with the Loving Presence of God. As a result, we simply find ourselves in wholeness with ourselves, our lives and our (imperfect) world; and in Oneness with the Loving that is of God.
What is on offer?
In Unity we talk about ‘raising our level of consciousness from the material world to the immaterial in a way that it effects our physical journey in a positive and practical way’. Under the brand of Spirit’nArt, I offer classes, workshops, individual discussions (mentoring sessions) that will support you the walk the cycles of the upward journey at your own pace in your own time with your own level of awareness using art as a tool.
You will always be safe with me. I will push you but I will also hold you.
All the classes, workshops and discussions I offer are practical with a lot of takeaways that you can integrate into your daily life. To make the journey more joyous, I use fun artsy tools!
My greatest wish for you is that you can walk your journey called Life with greater awareness of your own unique beauty, and a deeper sense of knowing of the Divine Presence that watches over you at every step of your journey, so you can experience more loving, happiness, contentedness, joy, and much more smiles.
Self-awareness is KEY to spiritual development and Self-Love
We all see the world through a filter that was mostly created in our childhood until about the age of 7. We created this filter as part of our self-protection. Most of us are not aware of this ‘mask’ or layer of personality because we often believe that this is who we are. Except that this is not true.
Who we are in our essence, this beautiful unique being, is often hidden behind the ‘mask’. Becoming aware of the different facets of the ‘mask’ or Ego can help us heal the wounds that created the ‘mask’ in the first place and recover our true identity.
In this podcast I talk about the different levels of self-awareness and how to go about gaining correct self-awareness. I also mention different ways to approach becoming aware of mask and limitations. I talk about the Enneagram system.
– sorry about the quality of the podcast, the filtering process diminished the quality 🙁 –
A couple of years ago, I was interviewed by a lovely host on self-love. it is one of my favourite topics because I grew up with being taught how to hate myself. The society I grew up in was condemning and judgemental. People believed that by pointing out your faults would make you a strong and capable human being. Well, I don’t think it worked because at the age of 21 I had a nervous breakdown. This experience made me look for ‘other ways’ of becoming a strong and capable human being. I found that self-love does the trick! 🙂
Listen to our discussion and let me know what you think.
I often notice how many more likes a post of a quote or a nice photo gets compared to a well written personal account of overcoming challenges, or sharing a personal experience of an event.
We seem to feel uncomfortable with becoming personal.
Wise words of a guru may inspire you but it will not change your life. What will though is that you consciously walk your own journey and share it with others. Not the fancy stuff, not the pretences or the photos of lovely places – they are nice to look at them surely – but the insight you have gained by walking this specific journey, having seen that scenery, reading that book, meeting that friend for a coffee.
What have you learnt about yourself and the world around you as a result of that particular experience?
What have you become aware of that could maybe be let go of?
What magnificent newness have you realized about yourself?
