Conscious Consumption

I recently had a discussion with my beautiful son about right foods for the body.  He is extremely conscious of what he takes into his body and will go without rather than put something in that is not what he considers to be right foods for his body.

I am in total agreement with him concerning right foods and how they support and make for a healthy body.  We define right foods as foods that have a life force, or prana in them.  Foods that have been consciously and mindfully prepared, free of pesticides, chemicals, and negativity.

Eating right foods allow us to feel light, carry less weight, rid our body of inflammation, and even dis-ease.  When our physical body is humming along and running at this high vibrational level we have the energy we need to take care of and participate in other aspects of life with a clearer more focused mind.

I am so impressed by my son’s commitment and discipline to feeding his body right foods, and he is setting an example I hope to follow.  This discussion led us to another way we consume things, and brought forward the title above, conscious consumption.

As a being with 3 bodies – physical, subtle, and casual (soul), we began to discuss how and what we feed the other bodies, and the affect it has on us as individuals and on our society as a whole.

Feeding the Subtle Body

Our subtle body is our electrical body, the place where we feel things, and it is fed by “right impressions.”  I will define right impressions as things that uplift, uphold, and inspire.  This can happen in a multitude of ways; through our ears with beautiful music and lyrics, through speech of positive words, or through the witnessing of a beautiful sunset or piece of art.

Our physical body allows us the opportunity to literally experience life, to hug someone, to work, to cook, to play.  It is the vehicle we are so blessed to use in this lifetime to act and respond with.  Our subtle body is where we experience our feelings, where we feel the hug, where we taste the food, where we hear the music.  This is our place of feelings and where we form our impressions of the world around us and begin the discovery of what we like and perhaps dislike, and what we find pleasure in doing.  It is the place of impression.

How we share things or how they are shared with us, is felt by the subtle body and where we respond according to how it makes us feel.  As we develop our “taste” for things, we are expanding our view and feel for the world.  It is why a first impression can be so important, it sets up an initial response from our feelings, and this is happening from the day we are born.  As we evolve in our state of feelings we can gain greater control of our responses as we learn empathy for others and choose the state of our response.

Our understandings of what is around us and within us begins the play of interaction and the creation of our world, the one we participate in daily. Our little world then interacts with other people’s little worlds and this is where connections can be made or not.

From the moment we are born we are taking in both physical sustenance to sustain the health of the physical body and impressions that feed our subtle body through our senses.

Setting Up Our Ideals

 This is why right impressions are so essential to our well-being, just as right foods are for the body.  Because right impressions are determining how we see and view the world, they are setting up our ideals for how we view the world and how we respond to the world, they are informing the soul as to how to be, or not be.

Given the right impressions one moves forward in life supported by ideals that strengthen self and our society.  If we feel our society is not on the right track, we can trace back the health of any given society based on the impressions being made.  Are the impressions supportive or destructive to the soul?

An obvious example is our source of entertainment. The advancement of technology has led to anything being spread quickly and available for easy consumption, and this holds true for our entertainment.  In our homes, our cars, with our phones and our computers we can sit down and take in whatever source of entertainment we wish.  If the news is what we wish to entertain ourselves with at the moment, we can turn it on and be fed by it.  If a movie or TV show is what we wish for our entertainment, we can very easily watch a show or a movie and be fed by it.

What we choose to be fed by in these forms sets forward impressions being taken in by the subtle body and forming the ideals we carry in our souls.  If we desire a society that lives harmoniously and peacefully, then we take care of the impressions we are making on others and the ones we are allowing to be made on us.

This is where conscious consumption becomes so very vital.

Feeding the Souls of Our Children

When I was growing up, we had 3 TV channels, no computers, and no cell phones.  The world that I was exposed to was mostly made up of actual interactions with my family, both immediate and extended, and a small circle of friends made at school and the teachers I was exposed to.

I am grateful and feel deeply blessed that much of my world contained uplifting and inspiring impressions.  Some people might refer to my young life as sheltered.

I am okay with this analogy and actually grateful for it.  I believe my parents did a good job sheltering me not from just the physical elements of the world but of negative elements that could harm and/or damage my spirit.  Their fortification left me with a strong ideal of love and compassion.

Now it did not mean there was not suffering in my world, it means that they helped to provide me with enough right impressions to sustain my soul through tragedy and the more difficult experiences in life.  I have had my share, some worse than others, and not even close to the suffering some have had to endure.

If I had to put into a few words what my parents did for me, then I would say they helped me view the world as friendly and good, which has allowed me to offer empathy and sympathy to others, because it was offered to me.

I can only imagine a young life without this, a life that began in an unsupported fashion, with negative impressions that caused damage to one’s soul, and how the initial response and reactions to the world could very easily differ greatly from my own.

If my world, both in my home and what I took in through other means, was all negative and even violent, I believe I would view the world as unfriendly and have little compassion for self or others.

Today, we and our youth can have exposure to much at the touch of our fingertips.  We can turn on many devices and receive impressions of varying sorts.  Much of our current entertainment includes violence.  We have moved from the Lawrence Welk era into an era where we sensationalize murder and violence and their repercussions. Like all things seeking balance, we have swung the pendulum from one end to the other. As long as this is what we choose to consume, then the entertainment world will respond accordingly.  If violence sells, then violence it is.  The power to change the world has always rested in the consumer’s hand.  It is not the entertainment world choosing what we will consume, it us, the consumer choosing to uphold these ideals.

I am not suggesting limiting things, I am suggesting awareness and the need for mindful choices for ourselves and our youth. If we hope to live in a world of peace and harmony then consuming that which we hope to experience in our world is necessary for setting up ideals that are reflective of such.

I share this in hopes of broadening the understanding of the value of impressions and how they form the ideals we hold on a personal level and our world as a whole.

Einstein, one of my favorite beings ever, said, “if we want our children to be smart, read them fairy tales. If we want our children to be geniuses read them more fairy tales.”

He understood the value of right impressions and its formation of ideals.

If we think our society needs to change, then look to the impressions we are making.  Are our entertainment and media nourishing us?  Are the things we are choosing to take in uplifting and inspiring us?

Conscious Consumption is essential for a forward moving, ever evolving, soul and society.

Copyright 2018 Melody White. All Rights Reserved.

Acceptance vs. Struggle

“I have no more fight left in me.” These were the words spoken by a friend that led me to a new understanding, an Aha moment.

How many times had I pushed against life, resisted change and exhausted my energy fighting life.  A lot is the unfortunate answer.  Here I was challenging the “What Is,” spending my time swimming upstream as the river of life tried its best to carry me forward.

Why on earth would I do such a thing, why create a fight?  Why challenge the grand plan?

Into the Wilderness

I have contemplated this question for the past month to discover that the past is familiar and what I know and understand.  Life before the “change,” whatever the change, is unfamiliar and often scary.  It asks us to step into the dark and find the light.

It may feel like you have been dropped into the wilderness and you are trying to make your way out.  It will require that you look for resources to sustain you, gather firewood to keep you warm, build a shelter from the wind and rain.

You can sit in the forest and beg and pray for it to be different, you can fuss and fight with the what-is, or you can look around you and recognize your resources.   Gather your firewood, build a shelter to dwell in, seek out sustenance to feed you.  You can accept the what is and begin the journey of living in it.  Once your basic needs are met, you can sit in the shelter and once again beg and pray for it to be different, to be rescued from this new place, or you can venture out and see the new terrain before you.  You can choose to enjoy this newfound “wildlife” or you can continue the fight of wanting to get back to what was.  You cannot win that fight, but often we try to anyway.

We hold onto the rope of the past with a strong hand until we have rope burns.  It can be difficult to release the rope and trust that you will have stable footing where you are, but the process of holding onto the past will take all your energy and have you literally living in the past.

Dig Deep, Grow Strong

Acceptance of the what is, of the wilderness, of making your way through it, will bring forward all the beauty you hold.  You will begin to dig deep into the resources within you and use them to build a new life.  You will be fed by new experiences and find renewal in them.

Life is happening for us and not to us.  Knowing this makes all the difference in the world.  We give up the fight and are reborn again and again through the beauty of acceptance.

We find that we are more than capable.  We find our courage and move forward with great tenacity.  We recognize the gifts we have been given and begin to understand that the wilderness, the very scary dark wilderness that we were dropped into, was the great source of our growth and provided literally the rich soil in which we began to cultivate our souls.

Know that all paths merely led to you. Both open fields full of sunlight and dark wildernesses are part of the journey.  Stop the struggle and revel in the acceptance of what is.  Let the river of life carry you forward, begin to enjoy the ride.  Let go of the what if’s and the what was, and start celebrating the what is!

Copyright 2018 Melody White. All Rights Reserved.

 

Sacred Space

I am finding that space is a requirement for all good things to come forward.  It is an essential part of all things and all growth.

An infant learning to walk requires space from the coffee table to your arms to take her first steps.  Learning to ride a bike requires space to ride without anyone holding onto the back of the bike.  A seedling requires the space of planting and more space to grow and expand and eventually bloom.

The world we live in evolved from space, regardless of who or what we believe to be the creator of the beautiful space we occupy; space is an undeniable factor of our existence.

Our earliest ancestors looked up into space to begin to define their world.  Seeing the sun, they called this space “day,” seeing the moon, they called this space “night.”  Daytime became the space in which we worked and performed the necessary things in order to live. Nighttime became the time to rest from this activity and spend time with others who are significant to us, often utilized as space for enjoyment.

Our beautiful souls are no different, they require space to learn and grow from experiences.  I have both witnessed and experienced this rhythmic flow that comes from taking part in and taking rest from.  I believe it is why there is a space requirement for grieving, from a life enjoyed with someone to a life without them. Space provides the necessary healing agent to recover emotionally.  And grief is not always experienced by the death of someone but can and may be experienced by the death of something, a relationship, a career end; any ending can fuel the energy of grief.  It is true that all experiences of life that come to an end.  A life lived with parents comes to an end and we set a new space for ourselves to experience life without them. At the same time, parents are learning to live in a space without their child there. Oh, the rhythm of life, it is our constant, and space is where it takes place.

Recognizing this aspect of space, and with great awareness, creating our own circle of space necessary for any transition, is vital to our spiritual self.  It is here in this circle of space that we grow and expand if we choose to do so.  It is always a choice.  Once the growth and/or healing (which I believe to be one and the same) takes place, we may widen our circle to embrace more.

The more able we are to be aware of this space, the more sacred it becomes as it fills with conscious living made by conscious choices.   Who and what you allow into your circle is directly related to the amount of space taken to grow and expand; with more understanding you will be able to house more spiritually.  Your perspective, your personal lens, will widen and be able to hold many viewpoints, many ways of both doing and seeing.

This growth and expansion comes from a reconciled heart, one that has processed an experience to the point of no two things striking within it any longer.  A heart that has brought itself back to balance and resides in equilibrium.

Equilibrium is the resounding vibration of love.  Love is the greatest living force we can house and is done so by our own creation of events, things, and experiences, and provides the greatest type of energy we can experience.

Be mindful of the sacred space you create for the processing of these events, things and experiences, in order for your circle to continue to widen until one day it houses all.

This, I believe, is the evolving spirit of mankind, to one day house all understandings; until one day we stand with no two things striking, and the heart is whole and the world we know, the one we have been so blessed to take part in, is at rest and resides in peace.

Copyright 2018 Melody White. All Rights Reserved.

 

 

 

The Stories We Tell Ourselves

“The stories you tell over and over shape you and your world in profound ways. If you are living a story that brings you pain, pay attention to your words – be aware of the ways in which you tell and re-tell this story. Then, stop telling it, craft a different story, one that you adore!” ~ unknown

We are all made up of numerous experiences, some good, and some not so good.  Some of the not-so-good can leave a mark on us energetically and become defining moments which color the rest of our lives.

I had an experience at a young age that caused me to be cut off from my grounding wire, and because of that, I sort of floated through life with little ability to ever place my feet on the ground. I spent the first 45 years of my life unaware that I had come undone, untethered to this world.  Without my children to care for, I probably would have left this life a long time ago.  Fortunately for me, they were my mainstay.

Years of wanting to know why I only felt my body from the heart up, why sitting was so difficult, and why I had to wear boots all the time so I could feel my legs, became clearer to me as I worked hard to understand my disconnection.

Through years of study, mostly in the energetic realm of the subtle body, I found answers that explained my detachment to this world, and eventually explained many of the experiences I had drawn to me after the original trauma and how holding that experience in my energy field was causing repeated patterns of behavior.  Once I became aware, I began to talk about it, sharing my experiences with others so that energy could become known by vocalization, to speak it and eventually express it out of myself.

I expressed and expressed, until one day I couldn’t.

One Story Ends, Another Begins

I was standing at the whiteboard in my studio sharing aspects about the Chakra System, specifically the root chakra, and I started to tell the same story I have been telling for years.

I was speaking about the function of the root chakra, and its beautiful purpose of providing us with a grounding wire, the cord that allows for our beings to take on experiences without losing our footing. But this time I couldn’t tell the story, I couldn’t repeat it. The story was done, I felt it fall away, I felt it die from me, leaving me fresh and feeling like an energetic newborn.

And I became consciously aware of this rebirth and renewal, and as this awareness unfolded I knew I had finally processed this experience fully and it had served its purpose and it was done.  It was done because I had done the work of identifying it and seeing all the habitual patterns I had taken on because of it and all the experiences I had drawn to me because of this held energy, the same energy that had wreaked havoc on my physical body with one diagnosis after another of chronic illnesses.

It was gone.  Poof!  No more!

From that very moment of awareness, my life began to shift and new teachers who I needed to direct me came forward, guiding me towards new understandings, ones that would help me stand firmly in my own power, and move me to the next place and space for my new experience and understandings.

Life is nothing more than one experiencing leading to another.  We are all here to learn and as physical beings we do so through this process we call life.  Take it personally only to the point that serves higher understanding, the growth of your heart and a newfound compassion towards mankind.

I can’t overstate the power of the words we speak, and how important it is to pay attention to them. Recognize and note what they are telling you.  Learn and examine the sections of your life that have seemingly defined your experiences and what you have drawn to you because of them.  This is not an easy process and it takes a lot of alone time, sitting with self and hearing the director of spirit, to digest them, bear witness to them, and eventually let go of them.

Let go and let God.

As you spend time with self you will come to know all that has filled up the hollow spaces of your subtle body.  All the emotional pain you have experienced is held there until you recognize it, literally express it through speech, and offer forgiveness to self and to any who may have contributed to this pain. Release any and all negative thinking concerning this experience and free yourself from this energy.

Then place your newfound freedom in the support of this wonderful dynamic God-created universe and let your new teachers and new stories come. Shed the weight of old experiences, let them live in the past and no longer tie you to a pattern of behavior.  Note your new birthday and celebrate your freedom.

Copyright 2018 Melody White. All Rights Reserved

A Dream is Your Creative Vision

Learning to live with your heart wide open means being willing to bare all and go after your dreams; to quiet the voice of naysayers and nonbelievers, and to move on with your divine purpose held strongly in your heart just waiting for you to bring it to life.  Be assured that the road will be rocky, and strewn with obstacles difficult to pass, but know that it is meant to sharpen you and to prepare you for what is to come.

“A dream is your creative vision for your life in the future.  You must break out of your current comfort zone and become comfortable with the unfamiliar and the unknown.” ~ Dennis Waitley

The familiar grounds us, connects us, and is needed.  It’s like the entry into “Cheers,” where everyone knows your name.  It gives us the feeling of home and provides us a sense of security.  It is a most comfortable space.

The unfamiliar expands us, give us new perspectives, and allows diversity to reside within. It challenges us to step into the unknown and place our toe on the tightrope and find our balance in new territory. Here is the place where “butterflies” exist, and the life force that courses through us is most felt. It is here that new growth takes place and the cultivation of the soul continues.

The yoga practice offers us a simulation of this type of balance between stability and growth.

When I come to my mat, I find myself moving through the poses that are most familiar to me, and through flows that I have come to know as second nature. Into pratyahara I sink, and the sense of self and knowing step from the shadows, and I am at home. My breathing guides me to this place and my being is strengthened.  Then comes the time, and even the need, to move into something new, something not yet experienced. If connected to the breath (spirit), I am carried through and across to the other side.  And what was once completely unknown is, at the very least, less frightening, perhaps obtainable and even enjoyable.

Unsure if it is the actual unknown that provides the stronger beat of the heart, or the mere fact that I was willing to step into new space, I leave my mat feeling more alive, more ready and prepared for new experiences, and more directed with spirit as my guide.

All things feel possible in this state, and my dreams reachable. My batteries are charged, and my light is burning bright, the burning desire I carry, the flame that I hold within is ready to be seen.

Now go light it up people, the world is waiting for you!

Copyright 2018 Melody White. All Rights Reserved.

From a Place of Love

I have changed my mind several times about what to write for the blog this month.  I have written several and tossed them aside as they seem too political.  I struggle now to find the right words to speak or rather write.

My heart grieves for our nation right now and for the pain and the many divisions we are experiencing. We are now faced with how to move forward from so many events and situations that have divided us so deeply.

With each event bringing forward more angst, the one thought I continue to have is this.  Words spoken from a place of anger will never bring forward good. And actions taken from a place of hate will breed no good will either.

Love for All

I am currently reading a book about a leader I adored. His name was Gordon B. Hinckley and he was, for part of his life, the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

I had the pleasure of meeting this great man when I lived in Hawaii, and it was such an honor to stand in his presence.  He illuminated light.  The element of light is associated with understanding.  And when you met him, you felt understood.  It was such a remarkable thing to feel.  It was even more remarkable to me how just his presence could produce this affect.

As I read more about him, I can see the makings of his spirit and the light he carried.  I can see the work he put in to find common ground with others without wavering from his own beliefs.  What I witnessed the day I met him and what I understand as I read about him, is that his heart was truly full of love for all people.  Though the leader of a Church, he met with great and powerful leaders from all over the world who were seeking counsel in how to accomplish certain tasks.  The variance in beliefs between him and multiple world leaders from diverse ethnic backgrounds and religious beliefs in no way hindered his ability to communicate well with them.  It did not prevent him from sharing many ideas with these leaders and being heard.

I know it is because of the love and understanding he held in his heart for all beings.  I know it was because nothing anyone would say would cause him to rise in anger or be pulled off balance.  He was steadfast in where he stood yet open to all who were in front of him.  This love he emanated allowed for very open communication without any kind of threat.  This example of great love, of a heart wide open, impacted me greatly.

I have a rich desire to be a person of such balance, grace and humility.  I think I better understand that his ability to be this way was because of the great love he held for all, not just those who believed as he believed.  He had found a way to hear others without being offended.  He did not take what was said by another as a challenge to who he was, or what he believed.  He just listened and because of this he was able to share his thoughts and was often asked to share them, even sought after to share them.

He was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom when he was 94, the highest civilian award given in the United States.  He was able to reach beyond his religion, or perhaps because of, and make an impact on the world with those from different backgrounds.  He even stood well in an interview with the relentless interviewer, Mike Wallace, and made a new friend.

Most recently, we lost another great leader steeped in strong religious beliefs who also was able to reach others and be heard.  Billy Graham was revered by many, and his counsel was sought after because of his openness and the love he held for his fellow man.  He shared what he believed without placing judgment.

What I am doing my best to share is that we will be heard best when we stand in a place where we are whole and emotionally available.  When we have cultivated all that lies within, our ability to be effective in the world will be much greater and easier heard.

Widening Our Perspective

Life at best is difficult, and it can be full of hardships that challenge us and demand that we reach deep to find understanding for what is taking place in our lives.  So much of what each of us is experiencing creates new opportunities for us to see beyond our own viewpoint.  We walk around knowing what we know and viewing life from a lens colored by our own experiences.  It takes a very conscious being to see beyond what is just happening to them, and to take a look out another person’s window.  But on the rare occasion that we do, we see another piece of the picture that we couldn’t see from our current stance, and here is where we get a chance to widen our perspective to hold and possibly understand more than we did before.

I pray for this great nation that I love, and this world that houses all of us.  I pray for the ability to understand others and where they are coming from, and I am hopeful for a world that seeks to blame less and understand more.

I appreciate more the ones in my life who challenge me to see things from their point of view so I can widen my lens to see more of the big picture and not just the view from where I stand.

Copyright 2018 Melody White. All Rights Reserved.

Taking Time to Sit with Self ~ the Power of the Daily Review

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.  ~ Proverbs 23:7 ~

As the heart is the center of all things, the great unifier and integrator, I am not surprised to read the words written in Proverbs so long long ago.

This beautiful heart we carry contains so much, both our understandings from the past and our blueprint for this life.

When a soul is born into this world, it comes with a physical body that will be its vehicle for experiencing this life.  We must care for this physical part of us and fortify it the best way we can with food that nourishes and strengthens it and exercise and movements that keep it functioning well.

Laid within this physical body is an energetic body. Much like our physical body, it has many different systems, one of which is the chakra system.  This system is one that stores, records, transmits, attracts, and repulses other energetic fields.  As such, it is drawing in that which feeds and nourishes the soul, much like food does to our physical bodies. How we meet, handle and process those experiences (that food) determines the health of our soul. Daily reflection is necessary to view how the soul is digesting that which it is taking in and how we are processing these experiences to further our understandings of all things.

Here in this daily review or meditation, we may recognize continual patterns of behavior that we can further analyze and use as information and wisdom to either choose differently for habits that are not healthy for us or to continue with habits that are supporting us.

When there is a continual level of awareness placed upon the experiences we are having, then all of our experiences are leading us to a greater understanding of ourselves, how we view others and our surrounding world. Herein lies our power to shape and change our world.

The beauty for me in knowing this is that it has allowed me to label experiences less in terms of good or bad. Rather, they are just experiences, as all are, for our benefit if we evaluate them well and utilize them optimally for the good health of the soul.  We begin to understand that the viewing of life, of all of life, and its experiences, are within our power to lift and sustain us when given proper review.

For me, this understanding has helped me feel less helpless in circumstances and more powerful in situations. It has helped me understand how life is happening for us, and not to us, allowing much more gratitude for some of my more challenging experiences and by far, seeing greater growth from them.

If then, I can see and use all experience as a chance for forward movement, then life will flow with greater ease and greater understanding. My heart will remain unstruck with no discord, and no reason to shut down or close off, leaving my greatest source of power running at full capacity and operating at full force.

If the heart continues to renew to its unstruck status, then our energy will not be spent on things it cannot change, as we will have processed and accepted that which is before us through this process of daily review. Our hearts will remain unstained and full of love, for self and for others, until it ultimately and infinitely just holds love, the one and great continuum.

It is easy to tell how a man thinks in his heart.  It is visible in every action he takes and in every word he speaks.

A wonderful way to do a self-check of how you are processing your life experiences is to note the words that you speak and the responses that you are making in your interactions with others.

If you spew forth venom and hate towards others, it is often a good indicator that you have experiences that you have not processed for the greater good of self and are viewing the past through unhealed wounds that you have allowed to fester. The relationships in your life will be a sounding board for all your unprocessed pain and the person in front of you will become your punching bag to act out that pain.

If your words and actions towards others are kind and compassionate, then it is a good sign that you are processing your life experiences well, moving forward with new understandings, and not harboring ill will that would ultimately restrict the energy of the heart and cause you to build walls and create emotional response triggers.

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.  Think love, act and speak in love, and the world around you becomes love, a pure free flowing energy that supports all life.

Copyright 2018 Melody White. All Rights Reserved.

 

Align with the Divine and Lay Down Your Piece of the Puzzle

After more than a half century of living, I have come to understand more the purpose of things, including my own.  I know that I contain, like everyone else, a piece of the great puzzle that makes up this world.  My piece is of great worth, just like everyone else’s and no two pieces are alike.  Your piece to lay down is unique to you and your gifts.  Your surroundings, your circumstances, are all leading you to your divine path, to laying your piece of the puzzle down.

The Gift of Adversity

I have recognized a common denominator for laying great works down, bringing forward your specific piece, and that is adversity.  I have said it many times, and I will say it again here, struggles are the stone upon which you sharpen your soul, so give thanks to them and seek to understand what they are telling you.  There are signs everywhere for those who are ready to receive.

And there are powers that be that uphold the good and help to move life forward as it was meant to happen.  Some forces are held in the energetic fabric that makes up this beautiful universe and are unseen in terms of what we know as natural sight.  And then there are the physical beings who walk right into your life to lift and support you as you strive greatly to give birth to that which you hold within; some will only be with you for a short while and others will be your constant companions, championing you on to deliver and lay down your piece.

I have known for most of my life that I feel things deeply, so much so that I often wished this was not the case.  I wanted on so many occasions to be normal, to not be so sensitive, to not feel so deeply, but I was cursing and trying to rid myself of the very thing that is my gift –  to feel, and to feel deeply.

Plagued with delicate health, I have always had to work hard to feel good.  Doing yoga was one way I found to feel physically good all the time.  No one told me that what I was doing in practicing yoga was balancing my doshas and thereby keeping the physical constitutional make-up of my body strong and in balance.  I just knew that every time I stepped off my mat from practicing, I felt better and stronger and able to better live this life.

I didn’t know or see in the beginning that my struggle with my health was leading to my divine purpose.  My health was a catalyst for finding yoga and then finding there on my mat healing patterns of movement that both soothe and strengthen the subtle body.  My ability to feel so deeply gave me the ability to know and understand and feel pain, and with it I gained, or more appropriately stated, I received from the great council of spirit, how to move and how to be still to rid my physical body of discomfort and how to sit with the feelings that stirred through my heart and the experiences that made up my life and make sense of them.

My great sense of feeling, the one thing I wanted not to have, was the very thing that was at the base of my understanding to create Samdhaana Yoga and the principles it contains for directed movement on the mat.  I began to share these understandings with the world in the small groups of people who came to my classes and the souls who allowed me the great opportunity to share in their journey of yoga and become guides of this wonderful practice themselves.

Gratitude

I began to be more thankful for the sensitivities I had been given and gave gratitude for them and the ability they gave me to feel my own energy and heal it through this work; and then came the next step, which was the ability to gather the energy of others while in class and provide patterns of movements that would help and support and strengthen their bodies both physically and energetically.

All of this great sense of feeling deeply and the human experiences that I was having in my life were leading me to laying my piece of the puzzle down and that piece is Samdhaana Yoga.  It will not be the right thing for everyone or resonate with everyone, but it will support and help many, and the beautiful powers that be knew this all along and were just waiting for me to wake up and recognize it myself.

Like every single being on this earth, I am here to experience life and learn and grow from these experiences.  When I look at my life and what has happened, I can see that all of it was in preparation for what is to come next.  All of it was preparing me for reaching within and discovering my gift so that I might share it with the world.

I can’t say it has been easy or that I have bowed with gratitude for the hardships that I have had, but I know they were all things that occurred for my growth and the rising up of knowing and understanding my divine purpose and doing the work to bring it forward.

A Game Changer

So many many times I have wanted to quit, so many times I have cursed my circumstances and wanted a softer way forward.  When I would falter in this way, my life would immediately get even harder and new situations of difficulty would arise and make me want to quit even more.

When I began to recognize this pattern in my life and became conscious of it, I began to change how I met the struggles or times of adversity in my life.  I began to meet them with a more open heart, and a knowing that whatever it was, was just trying to push me forward.  I became more accepting of circumstance and began looking at it with more awareness of what was trying to poke through the hard ground and be born and have light shed upon it.

I started looking at my life experiences as my teacher and looking for the golden nuggets of truth that they were trying to reveal.  This was a game changer for me.  I woke with gratitude each morning instead of dread, I awoke saying out loud all the things I had to be grateful for and really seeing what was in front of me and all the help and support I actually had around me to deal with whatever lay at hand. It still didn’t make the experiences less to handle, but I began to handle the experiences better, with more awareness and joy of learning to move forward and the power to grow me as I was meant to grow and learn and ultimately understand.

Support, Both Earthly and Divine

With this new awareness, I recognized the ones around me who were placed through circumstance to stand with me.  That is when I recognized, I had been given a Lisa! Lisa is my best friend, my business partner, and my earthly guide in this lifetime.  She came to one of my first classes for beginners at my yoga studio.  She stepped into my life during one of the most trying and most difficult times I have ever experienced.  She saw the gift that I possessed and offered to help in any way to bring it forward.

It started with helping with handling our social media. Doing our newsletters, getting us twitter and instagram accounts, creating our monthly calendars, overseeing my schedule, and building our new website.

With her very strong resolve she began to lift me up from the rubble of what was my life and help me stand strong on my own two feet.  She believed in me, in my gift and in the work I was doing.  She selflessly gave of her time and energy to move me forward and help me lay down my piece of the puzzle.

I often tell her she should run, run as fast as you can away from me, not understanding at times how she can give so much for what seemed to me for nothing in return.  These are the times when she shares with me that helping me is part of her divine path and that what we are doing together lifts and supports and strengthens her as well.

I still feel she got the short end of the stick on this, but she assures me daily that this is not true and then she shows me, by standing valiantly beside me as I weather life’s storms while we work together toward what we both believe in.

Lisa’s energy can be likened to that of the earth, she is strong, steady and still in life.  My energy can be likened to that of the heavens and is uplifting and moving like the clouds in the sky.  Together we complement each other well.

I believe without a doubt that her walking into class was fate and part of the great and grand plan orchestrated by the master of the energetic template of life.  We hold the energy we hold and as such we attract that which we need to move forward and grow.

As you move forward in life look for and pray gratitude for the “Lisas” in your life.  They are there to help you lay your piece of the puzzle down.  Wake each day with great commitment to live your life well and align it with the divine and watch the powers that be support you, for they know and understand your worth and your purpose.  Take time to sit with self and recognize the greatness you hold and the divine plan of your birth.

Follow Your Heart

Your heart contains all the information you need for this life, so follow it and see the universe support your efforts.  I can promise you it will not be easy, but you will have a great sense of contentment from doing so.  I strongly believe that all actions taken in accordance with the heart will breed great things; as all actions taken against the heart will only lead to frustration and discord.

You were born with tremendous gifts, pay tribute and give gratitude to the great creator for them.  You were born to be a game changer and many will follow you once you step onto the platform you were meant to stand on.

And finally know this, standing in your power and aligning with the divine will always be met with equal resistance of the very strength that you hold.  You, my dear one, hold much, your struggles will be great because of that.  Understand when you meet each one, it is to build you and strengthen you for what is to come, and the effort it takes to stand and reveal what it is you were born to do.

Copyright 2017 Melody White. All rights reserved.

Surrendering to a Higher Power

One of the greatest things I have had to learn to not only survive the difficult parts of life, but to thrive in life and move through and forward, is to surrender the things beyond my control to a Higher Power. Not only is it so freeing, but it has become essential for me to really live with my heart wide open.

We only have control of two things in life, and that is our own actions and thoughts and how we respond to someone else’s actions and thoughts.  Once we have done everything in our power to do and be, we must relinquish control, and believe that the universe and the powers that be will handle it from here.  This is a very simple concept, but it is not an easy one as long as we are ruled by the nature of our ego and not the love in our hearts.

We have a perception of how we want life to go, and it is sometimes difficult to let go of the reins and believe that what is meant to happen and meant to be, will happen and will be. And because of this, we try very hard to control the things around us in order to have the outcome we want.  The problem here is that our view of things is limited to what we know, what we understand, and is often very clouded by what we want and desire.

I have personally experienced not letting go of the reins and watched life hand me what it could, based upon my continual input and struggle with what I saw as the right thing. I limited myself in many ways from allowing God, or the powers that be, to give me what would really be best for me.

When we try to control everything, we negate the many great and wonderful options that could be. Limited by our mind, our beliefs, and what we as humans can see and understand, our options are made narrow, and we circumvent the many options that could be.

We know what we know.  Whereas God, the universe and all the powers that be, know all truths, have all understandings, and given the chance they will pour upon us all things best for us if we can step out of the way.

I watched an old HGTV show one time, where a woman had a very large basement and she was given the opportunity to have someone come and create a space in her basement for the things she said she wanted, a great living space for family and friends, a nice workout area, and a nice extra bedroom for guests.  Her basement was full of all kind of things she had not been able to part with but hadn’t used in a long time.  As the design and construction team came to give her what she wanted, she was unable to part with what she had, and in the end what she got was a ton of shelving for things she didn’t use anymore and a tiny space with a sofa, coffee table, and a small workout machine in it.  She limited herself and all the things she could have gotten by her inability to let go of the things she thought she had to keep.

Now I know this was a show literally about material things, but it made me wonder how many times in my life I had limited myself by what I could have had because I had to hold onto to what I knew and what I thought I had to have or wanted. Life is meant to be enjoyed, and most of our struggles come from our inability to accept what is and step out of the way of what could be.

I remember the first time I was dragged to my knees by life and how I fought with it to give me what I wanted, what I thought should be based on what I knew and understood.  It was a long and brutal battle that took many many years to give up.  When I finally gave it up and accepted what was, life came in and gave me something entirely different than I had been wanting and it was so good that I cried many times, not because I had it, but because I hadn’t gotten it sooner so I could have lived with it longer.  My holding on to what I understood, to what I thought I wanted, prevented what could have been from coming a lot sooner.

I know some people who are masters at letting go and accepting what is.  They move through life with ease as they place no restrictions and no resistance to what is trying to come next.  These people are not people with easy lives free of difficulties and pain.  They are people who do not push against the flow of life.  Change is our one constant.  It is going to happen. Our ability to adapt to, accept, do what we can and allow a Higher Power to handle the big picture allows our lives to be richer, fuller, and free of a lot of pain. We can gain a lot more enjoyment out of our lives if we can believe and allow the powers that be to support us, comfort us and provide us with options beyond our limited sight.

Copyright 2017 Melody White. All Rights Reserved.

 

 

 

 

Love Continues

The holidays are fast approaching and many of us will face them without the ones we love, be it spouses, parents, siblings, our children, our grandchildren, or our best friends.  I remember the first time I lost someone very close to me, and the very difficult challenge of living daily without them.  I felt and still feel with some of the losses, that I relive the pain of their leaving everyday.

There are so many who have faced greater loss than I have, and it almost makes me feel guilty to share mine, but to not share is to turn away from my heart, and I have never been one to be able to do that.  I am a believer of a heart directed life, knowing that it is truly the center of all things.

Love is the most powerful force on earth and is a living thing born of our hearts and has no end.  Love is a continuum and never ever dies, not real love, not true love, it just keeps going and going and going.  Anything less would not be authentic.  How we meet it, how we care for it, matters greatly.

I have loved big and much in my life, and I have lived through losing the object of my love many times, and not once has the love ceased to continue, and I think therein lies the struggle.  Where do we put all the love we have when what we love is gone from our lives? 

I know for me shutting it down does not work, as I would have to close off pieces of my heart for that to happen, and my current stance on life and our ability to not just survive it, but to thrive in it, is to live with our hearts wide open.

Love is associated with the element air, and when we love, and when we are in love, we feel like we are walking on air, it is a state of nirvana, pure bliss.  Nothing on earth feels as good as love does.  When we lose the object of our love, we struggle with where to put all the love.  Sometimes we try to drink it away, eat it away, smoke it away, run it away, work it away, but the results are poor.

For those who have lost their loved ones to death, it feels so final, so helpless.  Those who lose their loved ones to another or to other circumstances have a different battle. They live with the inability to share their love with that person knowing that that person is still here, and they are held in a different kind of struggle.

I have watched people and myself try to place that love into projects, to keep that love alive in some way.   And I think it helps place our energy in a better place, but the void remains, a big gaping hole in our heart where they use to exist.

I understand that love never dies, and I don’t have an answer to my question, but I do have a strong belief in the existence of a higher power who is the great and grand orchestrator of life.  I also know that my acceptance of what is, is crucial to living more fully and peacefully, regardless of my sometimes failing attempts.

I send prayers of light and love to all who are facing life without their loved ones. May we reach out to one another with all the accumulated love that we have been holding onto and try to heal the wounds that be.

Copyright 2017 Melody White. All Rights Reserved.