Category Archives: Consciousness

Operational Holy Grail

I've been exploring a dynamic that my Spirit Allies call our "operational Holy Grail." The concept here is that, on a day-to-day operational level, each of us has a key quality or condition we are seeking. When that condition is met,  we find ourselves in the sweet spot, optimized for functioning. We experience ease and a sense of right alignment. Things flow.

When Spirit brought this information through a few years ago, it carried a ring of Truth, which has inspired me to learn more. With the help of Spirit, I've been deepening my understanding and helping myself and others to explore our personal operational Holy Grails. I have a strong sense that identifying our operational Holy Grail and learning how to attain it is a vital key to harmony-in-living and effectively bringing our medicine in the world.

Discovering and cultivating our personal operational Holy Grail, empowers us. What is your operational Holy Grail?

My operational Holy Grail is clarity. When my mind is lucid, I am in the sweet spot. My entire system hums. I am cleared for action. When my mind is muddled, it slows my roll. Confusion creates a micro-chaos, which stymies momentum and sends my creative energy spiraling into unfruitful back eddies. For me personally, it is the most miserable state I know. Of course, no one likes to be confused, but for me clarity is a core organizing dynamic. Without it, nothing good can happen. Operationally, clarity empowers me to be at peace and to act in alignment.

This awareness has made cultivating clarity an even greater priority. Through energy work, ceremony, spirit alliance and prayer, I continue to welcome and nurture clarity. When I am unclear, I am not myself. In this moment, I am reminded that whenever I feel confused, I need to step back, insert a liminal pause and reconnect to my authentic core, which is always clear and aligned with Truth. Confusion is simply evidence that I am coming from Ego, rather than Spirit - a timely reminder.

Of course, the operational Holy Grail is simply that: something we seek in order to optimize our ability to function. Beyond this operational level, there is a deeper dynamic: the spiritual Holy Grail that inspires our evolution and drives our destiny. Ultimately, the spiritual Holy Grail is Love. We are called to our own unique pathways of experiencing and expressing Love and the creative synergy that arises when we collaborate from Love. Understanding our personal operating system, helps us to answer the call of destiny.

article by Ananaia R O'Leary

Spirituality Doesn’t Require Suffering

Here's a meme that's been going around lately.   It expresses ideas that are commonly held in the metaphysical milieu, which contribute to misconceptions about the relationship between spirituality and sensitivity.  These misconceptions create confusion, which can impede people's evolution.

The meme reads:

Spiritual Sensitivity meme

The suffering described in this meme may occur during early stages of the spiritual journey, when we awaken to awareness, deepen intuition and begin to heal. This is not spiritual maturity nor attainment. This is merely spiritual awakening. Unfortunately, many people don't move past this stage to achieve a hardy capacity for deep presence and awareness.

 

Suffering is not actually a product of being spiritual. It is a product of unhealed dynamics in your energy field. When we begin to open our spiritual awareness and senses, we shed some of the defenses which guard these unhealed areas. This may make us more tender and vulnerable, but it is designed to bring our awareness to areas where we require healing and growth. We associate this with spirituality, because the exposing of our vulnerabilities coincides with our awakening into greater spiritual awareness.

The key is to keep going -- to deepen your wisdom, learn healing approaches to transform these vulnerable areas and strengthen spiritual capacity.  If you do not understand the deeper workings of your consciousness and your energy field, there can be a tendency to think of your suffering as evidence of the depth of your spirituality. I assure you -- it isn't. It's evidence of a need for healing that your spiritual journey is bringing to light.

As we heal these dynamics within us, we are able to be deeply aware and present without suffering. A beautiful process!

article by Ananaia R O'Leary

Trusting Your Creations Begins with a Liminal Pause

I can trust myself as a perfect and luminous Creator. What an amazing discovery this has been!  The light of this awareness has been slowly dawning over the past few years, as I've come into the recognition that every experience is a perfect gift from my Higher Self, my Spirit.  And this is true for you too!

Every incident, occurrence, event, "accident", etc. carries with it an opportunity for healing, enhanced awareness, spiritual growth for yourself and others involved.  More Light, more Love, more Joy. When we are able to recognize the perfection of our own creations, we can identify and claim the gift(s) in any situation.  When we perceive from this level, we shift our narrative from stories of suffering to tales of transformation.  The trick is to find the gift within the experience.

In order to do this, we need to be able to detach from our suffering perspective and witness the dynamics involved from a higher level.  This requires mindfulness, the ability to connect with our intuition ... and, of course, practice. The first step is learning to insert a liminal pause.

What does this mean?

The liminal is a threshold state -- an undefined space betwixt and between, neither here nor there. It is the space between catalyst & response, cause & effect, an experience & our evaluation of it.

When we perceive a challenging situation, we tend to immediately label it as "negative", which triggers resistance and throws us into a fight/flight/freeze mode.  Our brain goes into a beta brainwave state. While this is an optimal state for running away from an imminent threat, it is not conducive to mindfulness or intuitive connection.

Intuition requires an alpha or theta brainwave state.  While we're in beta we cannot be in alpha or theta, which means if we want to perceive and receive the gift of our own creations, we need to learn to shift our consciousness.

In every challenging situation, I'm learning to insert a liminal pause. I stop, breathe and remind myself that I can trust my creations.  I'm cultivating the ability to suspend the temptation to tell myself stories of stress and impending catastrophe.  Of course, I can still be triggered into a fight or flight response, so I've also been learning energy medicine techniques to help me calm, center and reset my system when this happens.  As I relax, my brain shifts into a deeper brainwave state, making intuitive connection more accessible. 

As I work with these techniques, it's becoming a habit for me to incorporate them in the moment or as soon as I realize that I have been triggered.

One technique I find beneficial is Sedating the Triple Warmer.  Triple Warmer is one of the meridians or energy highways in the body.  This meridian tends to get over-stimulated by stress.  Sedating this meridian helps to soothe and calm stress in your body, mind and emotions.

SEDATING TRIPLE WARMER
adapted from Donna Eden’s Energy Medicine Kit

Benefits:  The triple warmer meridian is closely linked with the fight-or-flight response.  Sedating the triple warmer calms the meridian, helping to reduce fear and anxiety, release tension and overcome insomnia.  You sedate the triple warmer meridian by running your hand along the meridian in the reverse direction of it's natural flow. 

sedating triple warmer

Do these exercises when you are feeling stressed, frightened or anxious, having trouble grounding and centering or are over-energized or excessively jazzed.

Simple Option: Smoothing Behind the Ears
You sedate the triple warmer meridian by running your hand along the meridian in the reverse direction of its natural flow: 

  1. Place the tips of your fingers on your temples. Take a deep breath in through the nose and exhale through your mouth.
  2. On another deep in-breath, slowly slide your fingers up and over your ears, maintaining some pressure.
  3. On the out-breath, take them around and behind your ears, down your neck and hang your fingers on your shoulders.
  4. When you are ready, push your fingers into your shoulders, drag them across the front of your shoulders, and let them go.

Complete Option: Tracing Triple Warmer Backwards

  1. Place your right hand flat on your left temple.
  2. As you inhale, sweep your hand firmly and steadily along the triple warmer meridian (pictured above) to the tip of the ring finger on your left hand, exhaling as you release the energy through your fingers.
  3. Repeat 2 or 3 times on your left side as needed.
  4. Repeat on the right side.

I use this and other energy medicine techniques and spirit practices to help me restore balance. For more techniques, I recommend Donna Eden's Energy Medicine book &/or kit.

When I am calm and centered, I ask myself:

How is this perfect? What gift am I offering myself in this situation?

I don't try to find the answer through reason or analysis; I align with ease and ambiguity, stretching out the liminal pause to allow my Higher Self to slip through the space between my egoic responses and illuminate the situation with the Truth of the Spirit. Sometimes clarity arrives quickly. More often, I need to take my mind off the situation, release attachment to outcome and allow insight to incubate. Movement, sleep, meditation and prayer can all help me to connect to my intuition.

When clarity comes and I glimpse the gift at the heart of the challenge, I often laugh aloud. Gifts come in many forms: an opportunity to heal a long standing wound, to forgive and restore a broken relationship, to recognize the beauty of my own being or that of another, to shed a limiting belief which has shaped my experience of the world, to hold another human being in love, compassion and trust in our mutual luminous creativity.

I open my heart and mind and say "Yes!" to my own perfect creation.  Once the gift is received, I ask Spirit for guidance to help me move forward, taking the necessary steps for resolution, releasing what is painful and aligning with joy.  I insert a liminal pause and await the inevitable inspiration.

article by Ananaia O'Leary

 

Just Because You Don’t Believe Something Doesn’t Mean It’s Not True

grieving greeks

This post was inspired by this article :  Everything Doesn't Happen for a Reason

This article recently came across my facebook feed, posted by a sincere friend, who resonated with it as Truth because it agreed with her preconceptions. Just because something aligns with our existing beliefs, doesn't make it true. It's not my intent to denigrate the poster or the author of this article, but it provides such a perfect example of the pervasive confusion around these points that it would seem a shame to miss this opportunity for explication.

First, let me begin by saying: clearly the people featured in this article are dealing with acute loss. I respect that and honor that each person has the right to navigate that territory in their own way, to the best of their abilities, with the resources they have available in each moment.  I wish all involved in this (and similar) circumstances, peace and blessings.  I am certainly not seeking to score points off the aggrieved.

So let us separate the people from the perspectives and philosophies being expressed in this article and focus on the latter.

Because You Don't Believe Something Doesn't Mean It's Not True

Of course the inverse is also true.  Just because I believe something, doesn't mean that it is true.  To assess the Truth of any belief, one must first understand it clearly.  My concern about arguments like the ones in this article is that they purport to refute the validity of the statement - everything happens for a reason - without actually understanding what it means or exploring its basis in the Physics of Consciousness.

Although it is beyond the scope of a single post to build a comprehensive case for the validity of this belief, I will say that my support of it arises from deep engagement with the human energy field and the dynamics of human consciousness.  Many people are not conversant with these territories and therefore have a hard time accurately wrapping their minds around this statement. They look for surface evidence to refute it, but the truth of this statement lies in the deeper levels of energy and consciousness.  To understand it, we have to go deeper.

Teasing Out Truth From the Tangle

As often happens in discussions on this topic, in this article Truth is tangled up with emotionalism and conflation of key concepts which create distortions .  Let's tease out a couple of threads and explore them. Of course, it isn't possible to exhaustively cover all that could be explored about this in a single blog post, but I'll have a go at it nonetheless.

Truth Requires Content, Context & Timing

Believe me, I understand that the statement - everything happens for a reason - can often be disruptive rather than helpful, particularly when the person saying it is not in right alignment.

The author writes:

I’m listening to a man tell a story. A woman he knows was in a devastating car accident; her life shattered in an instant. She now lives in a state of near-permanent pain; a paraplegic; many of her hopes stolen. He tells of how she had been a mess before the accident, but that the tragedy had engendered positive changes in her life. That she was, as a result of this devastation, living a wonderful life. And then he utters the words. The words that are responsible for nothing less than emotional, spiritual and psychological violence: Everything happens for a reason. That this was something that had to happen in order for her to grow. That's the kind of bullshit that destroys lives. And it is categorically untrue.

Let us begin with the seemingly obvious fact that Truth is not simply a matter of content.  If we are to wield Truth impeccably, we cannot simply blurt it out. Even the keenest Truth needs to be delivered with respect for the timing and circumstances involved.  Actually the keener the Truth, the more incisive it can be.  Keen Truth must be handled with the delicacy and precision of a surgeon and be delivered only when there is an authentic opening for healing or transformation. Truth touches our raw places and invites them to rise to a higher understanding. Even the purest Truth, when spoken without respect for timing and circumstances, will find no fertile ground on which to thrive.  Sometimes a person doesn't have the resources or capacity to recognize or respond to Truth. In these circumstances, offering untimely Truth simply pokes painful places without affording an avenue for healing or transformation. In such a circumstance, the best is silence.

When Truth Becomes a Platitude

Something can be true, yet, if it is not spoken from Truth, it has no power to uplift or transform.  It becomes merely a platitude. I cannot vouch for the man cited in this article, but all too often I have witnessed people spouting spiritual aphorisms with meager comprehension of what they actually mean or how they actually operate. Often they only half believe what they are saying; they wish it to be so more than actually knowing it to be true. At such times, the speaker might be seeking to convince themselves as much as the other person. They have a half-assed understanding of what the statement even means, usually a highly over-simplified and overly literal interpretation of a complex metaphysical dynamic, which they have accepted on the say-so of one of Oprah Winfrey's special guests.

When we speak Truth from Truth, our words carry resonant wisdom from our spirit-core.  If the content, context and timing are aligned, our words ring with Truth and have the power to sound Truth within the listener. This is the Truth that can set us free.

Acknowledging a "Reason" Doesn't Require Blind Trust

Unfortunately, when people make a statement such as everything happens for a reason, too often a kind of chaotic haze swirls around them as they speak. Instead of elucidating Truth, they are verbally gesturing towards a belief that all of this is beyond our ken as humans and can never be truly comprehended.  They may be advocating abdication to a "higher order" which cannot be known, but must be blindly trusted.  This is often coupled with ideations that God has a mysterious plan and is "doing this to us" for some unknown, inexplicable purpose. If this is one's understanding, it would be pretty difficult not to cast God in the role of the villain in some kind of cosmic torture porn. If I thought that this is how Creator Mind operated, I too would be hostile to this statement ... or to God directly.

Fortunately, this is not how it works. Every experience is finely crafted to offer us (and everyone involved) an evolutionary opportunity - a chance to become more authentically ourselves. This is not just random, arbitrary, scattershot growth, but growth which is exquisitely appropriate for our soul's journey - the best available context for necessary progression. With the proper skills and mindful presence, when the timing and context is right, it is possible to understand the content:  in this case - the "reason" that something is happening.  The data we seek is coded in our energy field.  I say this from direct, extensive experience of working with the human energy field. It is not being done to you by some outside agency, it is being shaped by the dynamics in your own energy field and your consciousness. There is so much more that can be said about this, but there is only so much that can be encapsulated in a single post. Have no fear, much of this blog will be devoted to exploring these dynamics.

A Lost Opportunity is Still an Opportunity

The author writes:

 I hate to break it to you, but although devastation can lead to growth, it often doesn't. The reality is that it often destroys lives.

With every occurrence in our lives, we are offering ourselves and each other an evolutionary opportunity.  Failure to actualize this opportunity doesn't negate its presence. No one guarantees that we will be able to make the most of these situations.  However, refusal to recognize them as opportunities greatly increases the likelihood that we will not reap the gift embedded in every situation.  Convincing ourselves that our experiences are random and without meaning, is not only fallacious, but disempowering.  When we throw up our hands and bemoan life's caprices, we miscast ourselves as hapless victims, rather than the trustworthy creators that we truly are.   When we greet each experience with a willingness to find and actualize the opportunity it affords, we can meet each moment with ever-increasing hope, grace, trust and love.  The alternative is to condemn ourselves, unnecessarily, to chronic confusion and perpetual pain -- not to mention a significant slowing of our evolutionary progress.

The author writes:

I now live an extraordinary life. I've been deeply blessed by the opportunities I've had and the radically unconventional life I've built for myself. Yet even with that said, I'm hardly being facetious when I say that loss has not in and of itself made me a better person. In fact, in many ways it's hardened me. While so much loss has made me acutely aware and empathetic of the pains of others, it has made me more insular and predisposed to hide. I have a more cynical view of human nature, and a greater impatience with those who are unfamiliar with what loss does to people. Above all, I've been left with a pervasive survivor’s guilt that has haunted me all my life. This guilt is really the genesis of my hiding, self-sabotage and brokenness.

I feel for the writer's predicament, but this argument does not disprove the presence of opportunity.  It is simply proof of a work still in progress. If we are unable to actualize opportunities, we often retreat and entrench, intensifying conditions rather than healing them.  Fortunately, even this does not need to be a permanent state.  With awareness, we can learn to revisit these hardened dynamics and illuminate them with healing.  Stay with it ... this too shall pass. If not in this life, surely in the ones to come.

Our Assumptions About Grief are Not Absolutes

One of the biggest impediments to mindful presence is pain.  Although our experiences are, in fact, happening for a reason, does that mean we that we are instantly inclined to fling our arms wide to welcome pain and grief?  Of course, not.  We reflexively recoil from pain.  Circumstances like these touch upon and exacerbate already existing pain within, forcing it to the surface in the hope that we can at last confront and transform it.  We are called to healing - and this can be a painful process.

The author writes:

So I’m going to repeat a few words I’ve uttered countless times; words so powerful and honest they tear at the hubris of every jackass who participates in the debasing of the grieving: Some things in life cannot be fixed. They can only be carried. 

When I read this statement, it appears to me to conflate 2 related, but distinct, concepts:

  1. The Need to Honor Our Feelings & Our Process
    I agree that when we are in pain, we need to allow ourselves to be present with what is arising.  We should not suppress or prematurely rush to remedy it.  We need to engage it in a way that is sustainable and authentic to us.  However, when we are aware of the energetic dynamics of grief and empowered with healing wisdom, it is possible to traverse this territory with greater grace and ease.
  2. Belief in the Inevitable & Eternal Presence of Grief
    The author writes:  Grief is woven into the fabric of the human experience.  Contrary to widely held belief, grief and pain are not inevitable responses to death or adversity.  It may be a long-standing human habit, but, as we evolve as a species, we begin to discover that it is not an absolute requirement of the human condition. It should not be enshrined as an inevitable or eternal sacred cow.  If it is present, it should not be avoided -- it should be acknowledged and supported. Although grief can seem to engulf us, it actually arises from finite dynamics in our energy field. If we didn't have these dynamics, we could greet life's transitions with peace and presence. Most of us have not yet attained this state of being, so grief and pain are common responses.

    Fortunately, these are energetic dynamics and as such are ultimately mutable. If we know how to support transformation of those parts of us that are triggered into grief, we can can eventually move through grief to a state of peace.  There is no prescribed timetable for this.  Our tempos are our own. The key here is to understand that true healing is not only available, but is a profound way to honor what has happened by reaping the fullest harvest from this painful event. While it may not be possible to "fix" the initial circumstances, the impact of the event can be changed, healed.  It is possible to emerge stronger and more resilient from even our darkest passages.

    To convince ourselves that emotional pain and grief is eternal and immutable is one of the greatest injustices that human beings can perpetrate upon themselves or others.  Some even go farther, insisting that perpetually nursing one's grief is virtuous proof of love for those who have departed.  Pain is never proof of love.  If you don't understand that statement, you have more to learn about the true nature of love.  Don't worry, we all have a lot to learn on that frontier.

Anger & Distortion - Is There a Connection?

I introduce this point, not to pick at the author, but simply as a cautionary note.  Anger arises from disrupted dynamics in our consciousness.  Where we have disruptions, there is a strong likelihood of distortion. If something triggers us into an angry rant, it is almost guaranteed that we have yet to come to true clarity regarding the situation. A raw area of our being has been triggered and is inviting us to heal.  If our conclusions arise from pain and anger, we probably have not yet arrived at Truth.

In the End I Concur

The insights I shared above are for your own awareness, not meant to be thrust upon others at the moment of their extremis.

The author writes.

When a person is devastated by grief, the last thing they need is advice. Their world has been shattered. This means that the act of inviting someone—anyone—into their world is an act of great risk. To try and fix or rationalize or wash away their pain only deepens their terror.  Instead, the most powerful thing you can do is acknowledge. Literally say the words: I acknowledge your pain. I am here with you ... There is no greater act than acknowledgment. And acknowledgment requires no training, no special skills, no expertise. It only requires the willingness to be present with a wounded soul, and to stay present, as long as is necessary. Be there. Only be there. Do not leave when you feel uncomfortable or when you feel like you're not doing anything. In fact, it is when you feel uncomfortable and like you're not doing anything that you must stay. Because it is in those places—in the shadows of horror we rarely allow ourselves to enter—where the beginnings of healing are found. This healing is found when we have others who are willing to enter that space alongside us. Every grieving person on earth needs these people.

This is sound counsel. Although the capacity to be present actually is a skill and requires practice to develop, it is a beautiful baseline to cultivate.  This same power of presence will, in time, empower you to be present with your own painful experiences -- to step back, breathe and discover the gift you are offering yourself from the depths of your consciousness. As we come to truly know the beauty -- and yes, genius! - of our own creations, we can be present more peacefully with the painful creations  of others.  We don't need to preach to them, but our awareness will prevent us from co-suffering which tends to reinforce, not ease, another's pain. When the content, context and timing align, there will be occasions when it will be appropriate to share Truth from Truth.  When it is right aligned and welcome, we can offer Truth which engenders hope, uplifts and helps others to heal and transform.  Until that time, I concur with this author - presence is a truly powerful and loving choice.

article by Ananaia O'Leary

Calling Out Your Spirit

At the luminous core, we are medicine. Light and love emerges from within us, seeking expression. Where it finds a clear path, it pours out uplifting the world with healing, harmony and wholeness. Where it is blocked or impeded, the light of our being bends into shadow, expressing in ways which create challenge and suffering.

But whether our light is flowing straight or bent, 24/7 we are only doing one thing: attempting to bring our medicine.  

I mean this literally, and without exception, stating this from deep and direct observation of the subtle energies of humans -- no rose-colored lens involved. Truth -- subtle, but observable.

When we come home to the Truth at the core of our being, we discover the healing and harmonizing power of Love. When we witness this clear light of Truth, we energize and call it forth. When we acknowledge and call out the light of our Spirit from the core, we help the wounded and blocked places in our being to remember their true nature, enhancing their ability to express the light within.

  • Take a few moments to calm and center yourself.
  • Tune deeply to the column of energy that runs through your body from above your crown to beneath your feet: Heaven to Earth. If you are new to sensing energies, use your imagination to help you connect with your luminous core.
  • Reflect on your intent to call out your Spirit.
  • Use a rattle to energize your intention. Each time you shake the rattle you are calling to the light within you, inviting it to shine forth. Energy follows intention, so trust the process. No effort or energy manipulation is required on your part -- this is as simple as call and response.  Align with your intention and rattle to energize and convey your intent. (If you don't own a rattle, you can improvise with a chime, tapping two rocks together or shaking a bag of beans.)
  • Breathe and welcome the emergence of your inner light.
  • Rattle until you sense a lightening or uplifting shift in your state of being.
  • Take a few moments to experience and appreciate your own luminous nature.
  • Explore the benefits of incorporating this practice into your daily or regular routine.

article by Ananaia O'Leary

Align with the Luminous

The Luminous is Source Consciousness existing within all form, manifesting as light, expressing as love. We are luminous: our souls, our cells, our sacred spirits and our blessed bodies. Everything we see, touch, taste, know, feel and are — is light manifesting as both matter and energy, particle and wave.

Matter is consciousness experiencing itself in finite form. Consciousness cannot be divided. Every particle, every being contains within it — not a “piece” of consciousness — but Source Consciousness itself: indivisible, unified, whole. When we recognize this, we discover that what appeared to be the tension of opposites is in fact the harmony of Oneness.

Within us, lies the deep wisdom of the whole: the pattern of Creation and the consciousness which created it. When we perceive only the physical plane, we are caught in the superstition of the material (the false belief that matter is the only reality); we experience separation from Oneness, creating disharmony and the experience of suffering.

When we identify only with Light and Consciousness, dismissing matter as illusionary, we disdain the beauty and power of Creation and disregard the very purpose for our existence.

We are here to create. We are Source Consciousness incarnating in a body in order to create and experience from our unique perspective within Creation. As creators endowed with free will, we can choose to create from the fragmented perspective of the finite or to align with the Luminous, creating from the perspective of Source Consciousness for the good of All That is.

The Luminous is Love, the medicine which heals and harmonizes Creation. As we align with the Luminous, we progressively free ourselves from the superstition of the material and recognize the presence of divine Consciousness within all form. In the presence of the Luminous, we are uplifted, revitalized, reconnected with the ecstatic Song of Life. We remember who we are.

When we liberate the Luminous Within us, we express our gifts and discover our authentic ways of being. As we live and create in alignment with the Luminous, we infuse our world with beauty, grace and harmony, transcending suffering through the power of Love, flowing direct from Source.

article by Ananaia O'Leary