Illusions.

How many times do we wander off the path of our desires, of our missions, our callings, or dreams, because we are seduced by the illusion?

When we plug fully into the illusion of “reality” it feels more real to us than all else – we lose all sense of breath (the true time), possibilities, and intention. Like a dream, we have no idea how we got there or when it will end, we simply find ourselves placed in the middle of a story – a drama somebody else has weaved around us. It’s the cloak that has been draped over our eyes to blind us from the truth. Although that “somebody” is merely another expression of us, it is not the “us” we want to be in control – it is not our true identity.

Unless we become aware that this is in fact a dream, we fall victim to wherever the illusion leads us, and often we remain within the dream for years, blindly accepting its limits as our own. We don’t realize we can wake-up, change the story, move beyond the mirage of its boundaries, and be set free.

When we become lucid in a dream, we realize we can remove the cloak of night and call forth the sun. Monsters can be tamed, ocean waves put to sleep, and we suddenly realize we can open our eyes before falling off the cliff. We become the constructors of the dream and through our focus we change its course.

Your current “reality” is no different than a dream – you’ve simply forgotten your role in it. It may appear others have power over you. You may feel like merely a victim to circumstance. But when you wake-up, when you realize that you are the dreamer, there is no end to what you can create.

But how do you wake up?

It all begins with the movement of your breath. When you realize you control its flow – you can speed it up, slow it down, hold it, or move it into the depths of your lungs, you take the first step.  It may seem simple and irrelevant, but breath is the building block of all life. Your breath is your life, and you can direct its course.

Notice it. Feel how it moves within you. Pay attention to where it flows, its depths, and which areas of your being feels deprived of its nourishment. Direct your breath into your tension, your wounds, your fears. Feel how it expands your life, your perception, your sense of “being.”

Ask yourself, “what does it mean to BE?” Unplug from the existential crisis of “knowing” and simply be. This is the deepest meditation of thought: Being.

Once you’ve mastered the flow of breath, move into your mind. Through guided meditation you can learn to enter into the subconscious region of your vast mind and start to shake things up a bit – move things around, realize where you stand in relation to your desires, and begin to reconstruct the dream.

These are some of the concepts we’re experiencing together in my “Writing to Connect with the Elves” course. It’s all about learning to see the realm of thought forms, understanding where your focus is directed, and developing the conscious muscles to move things around – to become the builder.

Here’s an excerpt from today’s assignment (it’s all about learning to see the illusion):

Instructions: Watch the two video clips below.  Notice how the illusion is constructed to seduce, but also pay attention to the disorientation.  Observe how you *feel* as you watch the clip, and try to recognize times when you feel this way in your own life.

What sparks her attention to the fact that she’s in a dream? How does she realize it’s not real? What does she do to get out of it? Notice how the Goblin King does not go after her when she attempts to leave. Why do you think that is? Perhaps he knows he can’t control her will, he can only persuade her mind.

Notice how in the beginning she is simply there, and allows the illusion to envelop her. She doesn’t question why or how she got there; she simply accepts the dream as her reality. How does her acceptance change at the end of the scene? Watch the progression of her emotions. Is she comfortable in this “reality”? How is she persuaded to remain in the illusion? What draws her in?

Now watch the scene where she finally wakes up from the illusion by remembering that “the Goblin King” actually has no power over her. Pay attention to how his power feels less and less real as she takes more and more control over her reality.

What areas of your life do you feel powerless to? Write them down. Write out why you feel powerless. Who or what do you believe is actually in control? Notice where the emotion arises within you. Take deep, fluid breaths into the areas you most “feel” react to these thoughts within your body. Observe how you have control over where you send your breath.  Feel how you simply exist. Ask yourself again, “what does it mean to ‘be’”?

Below is an excerpt from one of our “Elvin” friends:

“To connect with us is to connect to the heart of the trees and the river – the rocks and the earth. It is to connect with your very heart. To shut out the Spirit of Nature, is to abandon your own nature – your own spirit.

Like the river and trees, the rustle of the leaves, the steady flow of the water – the scattered rocks, there is nothing tame about your spirit. This is often why it feels unnatural to contain it in your body – in your linear dimension.

It is by learning to feel those movements within you and flow with them, that you will learn the ways of your True Heart – the way of the Spirit’s heart. To know the Creator’s heart you must allow yourself to move with it – always in its direction. Always with the flow of your very breath.

To know your true heart, you must learn to be still. Watch the trees. Listen to the way they breathe – to the very sound of their heartbeat. Look at the way nature moves, always in perfect abandon to the will of the Breath of Life. By following the movement of Nature, you will learn to Master the Entering of our dimension.

You’ve bought too deeply into the expression of reality that others have created for you. Now is the time to create your own expression, to bring forth the true essence of all life, that which comes from within you. It is time for you to discover who and what you truly are.”

Namaste.

Amanda Flaker is a freelance writer, teacher/tutor, editor, and creator of Chakra Center. She heads-up the website’s online writing classes (Writing to Connect with the Elves and Discover your Bliss, Writing to Heal, Writing to Develop your Intuitive Gifts).