To Hell With Self-Improvement!

WARNING: Adult language ahead!

I shocked myself this morning. After a walk, some sungazing, yoga in the park, I was feeling pretty good about myself. Being as I started my day off in the “right” way (I was proud), I thought I would attempt to journal.

You see, I’ve been trying to tap into my creativity for awhile (not only with writing, but with my career as well) and I’ve felt blocked. Majorly blocked. This has been going on for years. I always feel as if I’m operating at about 5% of what I’m actually capable of. But for some reason every time I try to force myself to do better, I shut down. I feel even worse. What’s resulted from this inner struggle is a constant and ever-present feeling of failure. I never feel good enough.

As one who prides myself on my ability to face my own shadow (and embrace my negative emotions), I thought I would go into this feeling and see if I could coax my inner self out — to let her know I love her and it’s okay for her to shine — to heal the negative emotional imprint so I can finally do what I’m “meant” to do.

I decided to write my inner self a letter (my “human” self). I wanted to talk to the part of me that wasn’t allowing success. The part holding me back from my full potential.

But she wasn’t having it.

I couldn’t type the first sentence before I realized it was my human-self who wanted a word with me. And she wasn’t happy:

“Why do you insist I prove my worth to you? Fuck you and your self-Improvement! I don’t want to be improved upon. Fuck you for treating me like I’m your problem to fix — a fundamental flaw in your system. You’ve adopted your dad’s way about you – the critical way. Unaccepting. Unattainable perfection. You chose the path of ‘improvement’ because you hate me.

Fuck your belittling ways; you’re trying to coax me out to do your bidding – to make you look good for others – to earn their love and approval. I’m not interested in improvement. I’m interested in doing nothing but existing in peace without your fucking judgments. I don’t want a war. But a war is what you will get if you try to force my hand.

You always want to prove, prove, prove. Fuck you. I don’t have anything to prove. Your validation is just not that important to me.

I want to be loved simply because I exist. I’m not good. I’m not bad. I just am. Fuck your ‘enlightenment’ bullshit. Perfection doesn’t interest me.

I REFUSE to prove myself to you. The sooner you accept that, the sooner we can go in peace. You cannot force me to do what you want by withholding your love from me. Fuck that. I am not your slave. I am not your constellation prize. I am not your whore. Fuck you!”

It poured out of me like a volcano eruption. I couldn’t hold it back. I was literally shaking. I realize I wasn’t only talking to “me” — I was talking to everything (and everyone) in my life that reflected that judgment — including my false perception of God.

Like whoa.

#shadowwork #shitjustgotreal

Signs That You’re An Empath

Bits and Pieces, Empaths, Features, Spirituality, The Third Eye Chakra, Uncategorized

Ever since I posted my experience with understanding my own empathic abilities, I’ve received dozens of emails and questions from people who realize they are deeply sensitive but unsure if they are “empathic” or what do about it. Understanding what’s going on with your emotions is the first step to living a balanced, healthy life as an empath, and in my experience, beyond that it is learning how you uniquely read other people’s emotions so you can develop the skills to control that gift, rather than allowing it to control you.

Anna Sayce wrote an excellent article outlining signs of empathic abilities a couple years ago, and in light of recent questions I’ve received, I thought I’d share it with my readers here at Chakra Center. Be sure to check-out her site for related articles on empathic abilities and how to control them. You can also check-out my own video on understanding empathic abilities below.

Signs That You’re An Empath

“What’s an empath?

In short, an empath is someone who feels what other people are feeling. This doesn’t mean you can get an idea for how other people feel just some of the time. Being an empath means you were born with the ability to enter someone’s aura and explore their feelings and experience of life on an intimate level. Much of the time this is done unconsciously. On the upside, you know what it feels like to be another person, so you’re often great at relating to others (empathy is, after all, a psychic gift and you can use it to read other people).

On the downside you are like a sponge who is often wet and full of other peoples’ emotions – the conscious one and the unconscious ones. This can be a heavy burden of energy to carry around.

It gets tiring. That’s why I wrote this article.

Signs that you’re an ‘unskilled’ empath include:

Feeling the world’s suffering on a large scale and wishing you could do something to help. Ironically, this makes you less equipped to help, because you feel overwhelmed.
Finding it difficult to watch the news or distressing images because you feel the pain of the person/people you’re watching – as if you’re them
Finding it difficult to fully be present to yourself and your own feelings when conversing with other people. This is because you’re busy exploring their aura and responses to life – not your own.
Shyness – empathy can make you somewhat self-conscious as you’re very aware of the effect your words have on another person and what they’re thinking and feeling in response.
A tendency to say yes to the requests and demands of other people – almost as a reflex; without thinking about whether you actually want to. When you’re so immersed in another person’s experience of life and what they need – how can you say no? It’s only afterwards that you realize you forgot yourself and your own needs.
A general tendency to put your needs last, or serve others at your own expense.
A liking for distance in relationships, and for solitude. This occurs because as an empath, intimacy and closeness is your default. But when you don’t know how to stop yourself from exploring other peoples’ auras, you need some space on your own, where you aren’t around other people.
Feeling an affinity with the animal kingdom. When you’re an animal empath, you can get a feel for how other species experience life and you are able to relate to animals on a deep level. Some people are plant empaths, so the same is possible for plants.
Feeling responsible for how other people feel – and going out of your way to help them to feel better (even when it doesn’t serve you.) After all – you feel their emotions so keenly.
A tendency to let relationships and friendships get too heavy (and too close) – too fast.
A strange tendency to feel aches and pains, but only around certain people.
Finding yourself often in a counseling role, where people dump their emotions on you, and being very drained by it.
An emotional over-identification with characters in novels, films and plays. It doesn’t matter that they’re not real – you can still feel how they felt.
A tendency to forget to have fun and lighten up.

If you related to many of the above signs it is important for you to understand that you can control these feelings. Instead of automatically exploring the aura of most of the people you meet, you can turn your empathy on only when you need it. That makes life a lot lighter.”

For more details on how I’ve learned to control my own empathic abilities, you can check out the video I posted below:

Twin Flames: Fact or Myth?

Bits and Pieces

In recent years, the spiritual community has adopted the concept of “Twin Flames” and made it a common focal point for discussion and estimation of the success of one’s life and level of happiness. The Twin Flame concept is essentially a re-branded version of Soul Mates.

With the intention of ever becoming more fully conscious beings – is this something we can accurately believe in and pursue?

Is it true that for each person there is one other being, either physical or non physical (and isn’t that a tragedy if your Twin Flame didn’t incarnate this time around….) that is perfectly attuned for partnership and cosmic, enlightened love?

Often explanations of the Twin Flame idea include an assertion that prior to incarnation, one soul was actually split into two and put into separate bodies. Is this even possible? Let’s examine the concept and see.

For many in the Lightworker, Starseed, New Age community, there is a desire to continue on a path of purposeful, conscious, soul evolution. This is not a novel idea – the same basic thought was expressed by Jesus when he spoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, a place of thought and feeling originating within each person rather than a physical location, as well as by Buddha when he spoke of a state of Enlightenment.

Over the course of physical incarnations, with the various lifetimes experienced by a soul or group of souls varying in length, location, and experience, one accumulates and synthesizes events, emotions, and energetic/thought patterns in order to evolve a soul (which can also be thought of as a sentient non-physical energy pattern) by the learning that happens through varied experience.

So where does this leave the Twin Flame theory?

What are Twin Flames?

If you do a simple internet search on Twin Flames, you are likely to find a plethora of information in articles and videos that is highly romantic and sometimes heartbreaking, singing the praises (sometimes literally) of the experience of a deep, connected, “only-one-out-there-for-me” romantic love. You will see that Twin Flames are often described as one soul that has been broken apart into two pieces and incarnated into two different physical bodies, neither of which able to feel complete until they have reconnected with each other and fallen in love.

This hearkens back to the idea of the Soul Mate – one person, somewhere on the globe (often conveniently in the same country or at least speaking the same language) that is “meant” to be in romantic love with another.

The concept of Soul Mates, and now Twin Flames, is usually accompanied by a bittersweet feeling of intense longing and a sort of pleading with the Universe –
“Please bring my Twin Flame to me.”

“I cannot continue my evolution as a soul in joy and completeness until I find that perfect love.”
“I can feel my Twin Flame out there – where is she/he?”
“I am in love. Could this be my Twin Flame?”

The latter question is asked with the unspoken assumption that if this person actually is the Twin Flame, then the relationship should be perfect, and if she or he is not the Twin Flame, then the relationship is doomed.

Are Twin Flames Real?

To begin, the general concept of Twin Flames leaves out one very important piece of information regarding what an incarnation lived on this planet actually is. The school of Gaia, which we are each now experiencing because of our presence on this planet at all, is one of balance, the completion of the duality paradigm, and, now more than ever, attaining a grasp of the effortless skill of perfect manifestation and creation of life experiences through focus, balanced thought, the energetic pattern of abundance, and self-care.

Every experience had by any person in any lifetime is brought for the purpose of learning and evolution.

These experiences are not always beautiful and easy – in fact, the majority of lessons are learned through pain historically – but as a soul learns to attain a level of conscious creation, life experiences become more harmonious. This is a logical progression, because if the goal is conscious creation, then things would obviously feel more smooth and pleasant as this goal comes closer to being reached.

Beginning with the idea that we all experience exactly what we need in order to learn and that our goal is to become cognizant of our state as creators and skilled at the act of creating, then it would not make sense that one external human (or non-human as the case may be, there are MANY beliefs about this subject) is floating around somewhere, waiting to be discovered.

How Does Love Work?

The energy of love is much like the energy of financial abundance, a.k.a. money. The creation of experiences of love, in the creation’s energetic matrix, is much like the creation pattern needed when manifesting experiences of bountiful financial abundance.

This often means that if the state of “not enough” is focused on and fed emotion, then the abundance option is pushed away.

If you long for your love, thinking about how unhappy you are until you find them, you are likely pushing that love away. This is completely unrelated to whether this love is possible with one person or a thousand people.

If you long for financial abundance and focus on your empty bank account, giving it thought and emotion, then you are pushing abundance away – whether that abundance comes from only one option of a job or career, or many options.

If you focus on the pure enjoyment of your life, within the parameters you have but without thinking of your lack, then the abundance of love, money, or both will find you.

If you enjoy your own company and the company of friends, you are much more likely to emit a vibration to the Universe that will attract an experience of beautiful romantic love, which will of course bring its own challenges.

If you work within your budget and make it a point to have experiences that feel decadent whether or not they cost any money at all, it is much more likely that you will draw in the experience of enough money to pay for whatever experience you wish to have.

The difficult thing about this idea is that it is impossible to prove after the fact. I know a lovely couple made up of an American man and a German woman who had a very interesting internet-based meeting. He had just bought a new computer and installed a chat program. She had just gotten the idea that she needed to practice her English language fluency by chatting with someone online.

Ten minutes after he opened up his chat window for the first time, she randomly picked his name off of a list of English speakers to introduce herself to in order to practice her English. Just after their meeting and short conversation, she went on a business trip and he was too busy to log on to the internet again for weeks. The next time he logged on, she had just returned from her business trip. They met again. Now they live in Virginia, married with three delightful children.

Some would argue that this experience proves the Twin Flame idea with the caveat that no matter where your Twin Flame lives, you will meet him or her when the time is right.

But perhaps a more accurate way to look at this is that if you are ready vibrationally to experience love, then love will find you and has an infinite amount of possible way to appear in your realm of experience.

So What is the Real Way to Think of Love?

We are each a being holding a unique energetic signature. We create our reality through our planned lessons (often prior to incarnation) combined with the belief systems and energetic/vibrational patterns we currently hold as physical beings with unique life histories.

So with this truth in mind, we can look at the surrounding population of eligible romantic partners and see logically that some subset of these available individuals will be compatible in their energetic signatures, belief systems, and life circumstances for romantic partners.

It is true that we often make agreements with members of our soul pod, or family, prior to incarnating about the parameters of any given relationship that occurs between us in our lifetime.

However, this is not a helpful thought when thinking of romantic love and attempting to draw it in.

The most clean and effective way to view this experience is by isolating our own energetic pattern regarding romance that we are projecting to the Universe and that is therefore being presented back to us as experience.

Do we believe that we need a relationship with another being in order to feel fulfilled? It is likely that if we do, we will attract relationship patterns that disprove this theory via heartbreak and possibly betrayal until we change the projecting pattern we are emanating.

Do we believe that we easily find love and each relationship serves as a learning experience and an opportunity to grow love and compassion? If so, it is likely that we will have a more harmonious romantic life – although the rigid grasp that many people have on an idea of “one love only per lifetime” is being disproven often these days. And just because one finds love, this does not mean that the challenge is over.

The lessons learned in the most intensely loving and connected relationships are some of the most challenging in an incarnation – romantic love is an energetic opportunity to learn in infinite ways, but these are always tempered and shaped by our beliefs and our level of self-love.

If we choose to accept only the best, it is likely that increasingly better experiences will present themselves to us. If we have a problem with spiritual bypass or denial, then it is likely that our experiences will become progressively more painful until we wake up, stop bypassing and denying, and honestly look at our belief system around our worthiness as individuals.

Every being on this planet deserves love. This of course includes you. And the more fully you believe this, the more beautiful your loves will be – both romantic and platonic.

The fairy tale idea of the Twin Flame is incorrect and misleading. However, the truth is much more beautiful and open. If you are waiting for love, then begin to emanate love – for yourself, for your friends, and for your loved ones. Love will come to you. And there does not need to be one person somewhere in the world to search out – the experience will appear before you, effortlessly.

Charis Melina Brown serves as an ambassador to realms of existence that our modern Western culture has denied the existence of in recent centuries.

She carries an MA in Transpersonal Psychology, and is the author of two books, Journal of a Starseed: Discovering the Real World, and Instruction of a Starseed. She is a regular contributor for our Starseed corner at Chakra Center.

Charis has a beautiful website and YouTube channel, sharing all things blissful and metaphysical. Check her out at the following links:

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/charisbrownmalloy

Website: http://www.charismelina.com/

Gnosticism: The Untold Story

Bits and Pieces, The Crown Chakra

“Jesus said, ‘If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is in you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.’”

The Gospel of Thomas

I’m fascinated by history. And as the saying goes, it’s always written by the victors. One of the most amazing aspects of being apart of this “Information Age” is our access to alternative information, histories, and answers to questions time has never satisfied.

So why I am writing about Gnosticism? Because it is a huge part of our history, and a perspective all too often overlooked.

Enjoy!

Gnosticism: The Untold Story

In December 1945, an accidental discovery was made along the Upper Nile in Egypt. An Arab peasant unearthed sacred Gnostic texts, written on papyrus and buried in jars of clay for sixteen centuries. The writings were discovered in a cave on a mountain called Nag Hammadi. After traveling through the black market, the manuscripts eventually ended-up in the hands of a well-known religious historian in the Netherlands, Professor Gilles Quispel. After careful deciphering, Quispel was astonished to discover the texts were early Gnostic writings, and contained previously unknown Christian gospels. (Pagels xiii)

Until the discovery of the Gnostic library in Nag Hammadi Gnosticism had been widely dismissed by many Christian scholars as an esoteric, fourth century heresy. All that was previously known about the Gnostic Christians was through the viewpoint of their opponents. Now, through recent study of Gnostic manuscripts, scholars have discovered a rich, ancient spiritual tradition, with origins that pre-date Christianity. Why these writings were banned and unknown for nearly 2,000 years is part of an intricate and intense “campaign against heresy,” led by orthodox Christians in an attempt to form and maintain Christianity as a purely orthodox religion:

By the time of the Emperor Constantine’s conversion, when Christianity became an officially approved religion in the forth century, Christian bishops, previously victimized by the police, now commanded them. Possession of books denounced as heretical was made a criminal offense. Copies of such books were burned and destroyed. (Pagels xviii)

The Orthodox Church criminalized many Gnostic teachers during the reign of Constantine as “blasphemers” and perverters of the “one true faith.” Yet interestingly enough, many Gnostic writings refer to biblical scriptures and most Gnostics at that time referred to themselves as Christians, believing Jesus to be the ultimate redeemer and liberator. (Hoeller 58)

Nevertheless, notable differences exist between Gnostic teaching and Orthodox Jews and Christians. Orthodoxy speaks of a separation – a great chasm dividing God from humanity. Gnostics, however, believe true knowledge of God is found in knowledge of self; “the self and God are identical.”

According to Gnostic gospels, Jesus speaks not of sin and repentance, but rather “illusion and enlightenment.” “Instead of coming to save us from sin, he comes as a guide who opens access to spiritual understanding. But when the disciple attains enlightenment, Jesus no longer serves as his spiritual master: the two have become equal – even identical.” (Pagels xx)

While orthodoxy maintains Jesus is the only Son of God, according to the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus and mankind come from the same place and are made from the same source. (Pagels xx) These contrasting beliefs make Gnosticism distinctly unique from Christianity and more closely related to eastern religions and philosophies.

The Gnostics’ unique understanding of Jesus and his teachings, as well as their claim to a “secret knowledge,” infuriated the Christians of the fourth century, who were attempting to form a unified set of “right practice” and belief.

Led by Bishop Irenaeus of Lyons, members of Orthodox Christianity (by this time an institution believing themselves to have the only true interpretation of Christianity), set out on a mission to overthrow the “falsely so-called knowledge” of the Gnostics. It was Irenaeus himself who asserted salvation was found only through his one true church, and this church was to be catholic (literally meaning, universal). Anyone claiming to be Christian outside of this universal church was considered heretical (and many were toured and killed for it).

Shortly after Constantine converted to Christianity, the fight against heresy gained military support. According to Elaine Pagles, a religious historian from Harvard University, and author of The Gnostic Gospels, “the efforts of the majority to destroy every trace of heretical ‘blasphemy’ proved so successful that, until discoveries at Nag Hammadi, nearly all our information concerning alternative forms of Christianity came from the massive orthodox attacks upon them.”

What makes Gnostic interpretation of Christianity so diverse (and therefore, threatening to orthodox Christians) is their emphasis on personal experience and “inner knowing.” Rather than relying solely upon the original Apostle’s accounts and experience of the resurrected Jesus, (and therefore, the Apostle’s authority alone), Gnosticism teaches the resurrection can be experienced, not merely as an event of the past, but rather, a present reality. Each person’s own personal experience of Jesus is expected to be unique, because each individual is different. (Pagels 20)

Stephan A. Hoeller, director of Studies of the Gnostic Society states, “Gnosticism has always acknowledged that the potential for gnosis, and thus salvation, is inherent in every man and woman, and that salvation is not vicarious and collective, but individual.” (19) Emphasis on individual experience and divine potential makes a very clear deviation from Orthodox theology of sin (mankind as fallen, broken, and in need of a savior).

Rather than adopting the orthodox view of humanity as inherently sinful, Gnosticism holds “humans are essentially not the product of the material world.” (Hoeller 17)

The great Gnostic teachers believed every human is born with a “divine spark,” a piece, or essence, of the Divine within them. Yet, these divine sparks are held captive in the world, desperately longing to be reunited with The Divine – the true source of life.

To the Gnostic, salvation comes not through an external provision, but from within, through knowledge – or liberating gnosis. (Hoeller 18) Jesus is recognized by most Gnostic teachers as the ultimate liberator and teacher of gnosis, and therefore is revered and even called upon as “savior.” These claims to salvation posed a huge threat to the Orthodox belief that salvation was solely available through their tradition.

Today, Christianity is diverse and malleable, with multiple churches claiming their interpretation is the only true way to attain salvation. Pagels argues that although many Christians see this diversity as a new phenomenon, (believing the early Church to be the “golden age” of pure, simple, unified Christian faith), the discovery of the Gnostic library shows us that “early Christianity was far more diverse than nearly anyone expected.” (xxii)

For spiritual seekers and religious admirers alike, Gnostic teachings offer a refreshing perspective and a new way of interpreting the familiar accounts of Jesus. Although little was known about Gnosticism for nearly 1,600 years, many scholars believe its rediscovery in the 20^th Century is a treasure for our society, as we seek to further understand, with greater awareness, the events that helped shape the western world as we know it today.

Works Cited

Pagels, Elaine. The Gnostic Gospels. Random House: New York, 1979.

Hoeller, Stephan A. Gnosticism: A New Light on the Ancient Tradition of Inner Knowing. Quest Books: Wheaton, IL, 2002.

What is an Intuitive Reading?

Bits and Pieces, Online Classes/Retreats

Because I’ve received many questions about what an intuitive reading actually is, I thought I would give a general overview. Please note that intuitive readings vary depending on the person giving the reading, and the person who is having the reading. That being said, here are some basic things for you to know:

Intuitive readings are different for everyone. Depending on the person conducting the reading, the focus can be on anything from releasing blocked energy and past trauma, tapping into past lives, working through a current hardship, or helping a client to activate their highest potential and life work. As the name implies, the sessions are usually led intuitively, and any professional reader will tell you each of their sessions are unique and highly individual.

Typically, during an intuitive reading there is a lot processing, releasing, and transmuting of energies in the mental, emotional, and physical energy bodies. For some, intuitive readings can feel like a “talk therapy” session. For others (especially those who are highly sensitive to energies) it can feel like having psychic surgery. It all depends on what the client and intuitive reader intend for the session.

Most intuitive readings provide in-depth information about a person’s soul journey and life path. They do this by tapping into different dimensions of consciousness, reading subtle energy, and even accessing the Akashic Records (a term used in theosophy to describe a “library” of mystical knowledge supposedly encoded in a non-physical realm of existence). For many, intuitive readings help provide clarity on life purpose or karmic cycles.

Intuitive readings are different from psychic readings. Most intuitive readers do not read the future, but rather read a person’s individual energy (a subtle distinction). Everyone is intuitive and everyone has the ability to read energy, but some people posses more pronounced strengths in using their intuitive gifts to access extra-sensory information.

A good intuitive reader will always point a client to their own intuitive powers and help them access their own inner-knowing. When a reader fosters a dependence on their “special gifts” and services, it is usually always unhealthy for both parties. A successful intuitive reading should leave the client feeling empowered and more knowledgeable about their own gifts and abilities, rather than feeling a need for the reader to “fix” them.

When searching for an intuitive reader it is important to listen to your own feelings about a person. If their website or presence feels disempowering, their methods most likely result similarly. Look at testimonials on their page and pay attention to how people felt after their session. Did they feel empowered and more in touch with themselves, or are they simply describing the “amazing” gifts of the reader? Look for readers who put the focus on the client rather than themselves. And most importantly, trust your feelings.

*For more about Amanda Flaker, click here.

*Interested in connecting with other empaths? Join our “Empowering Empaths” online community!

Sandy Hook Tragedy: Lightworkers, Why the Bypass?!

Bits and Pieces, The Heart Chakra

There seems to be this belief floating around the “spiritual” community that feeling any emotion other than happiness and joy is somehow “wrong.”

It’s as if we’ve taken the Law of Attraction to be another kind of All Knowing, Judging God. Only now the sin is any emotion outside the realm of Pollyanna thinking and over-stretching optimism. While I certainly feel that joy is our most natural state, bypassing pain is not the way to get there. Remember the age-old adage: “what you resist persists.” Yet it seems after all we’ve learned through understanding how the Universe works, the message we have bought into is this: Ignore pain. Ignore suffering. Just be happy.

I noticed this heavily after the shooting in Sandy Hook Elementary. My normally very vocal and active spiritual community online was surprisingly silent. Only a few people (I noticed) said anything at all. The same people who make an online ruckus over a moon cycles and how important love is, were barely able to give a nod to the atrocity of the events on Friday.

I even noticed this struggle in my own heart. My first response was “turn it off. Don’t give it any energy.” It was as if we are afraid that to look at the suffering of those in Connecticut, because to look at it means we are choosing it to be our reality.

The concept of “we are all one” seems to go out the window when those aspects of us that are in incredible pain take a more public platform. It’s like we all wanted to pretend that that atrocity was caused by someone else’s low vibration, not ours, and to acknowledge it at all is to give it a presence in our lives that may perhaps reveal our own shadows. Or perhaps it makes us look “unspiritual,” because, after all, the truly enlightened have no emotional reaction to anything because they “know” the higher reality. Right?

This is why I disagree:

You can never truly heal if you don’t go THROUGH the emotion – bypassing is not healing. And healing is not the same as ignoring. Choosing to focus on sending love to those who are suffering is not the same as focusing on the atrocity.

Focusing on pain or tragedy seems to strike fear in the heart of many light workers, dreading that “terrible” event of a “lowered vibration.” And to be fair, it is certainly easy to get pulled into the drama of tragic events if we’re not careful to stay present to our hearts while facing the pain.

But it is possible to face pain and hold a space of love while keeping your vibration high. It’s called transmutation. And it the foundation of all healing. In fact, it’s the foundation of our light-work, is it not?

True healing is not bypassing the pain, it’s going right into it with love and compassion. This step can’t be skipped. It’s impossible to heal without it.

Holding a space of love for the suffering of others and our own “shadows,” is not the same as ignoring suffering all together. Like it or not, pain DOES still exist in this world. There is still a shadow…and that shadow will grow bigger if it is not faced in love, validated, and healed.

If life has taught me anything, it is that ignoring a problem does not make it go away. Grief is necessary for true healing. In fact, grief can be a truly liberating and freeing emotion.

After my mom died, I didn’t grieve for years – I just simply didn’t know how. But pretending I was okay didn’t work. No matter how hard I tried to be happy, somewhere deep inside me desperately ached, and by not giving that pain validation, it grew.

We are all called to walk that delicate line between acceptance/surrender and resistance/despair. Bypassing the work of healing all together is the root of suffering . If we refuse to face our shadow, it will find a way to get our attention – and the more we ignore it, the bigger it gets.

Just look at the man who instigated the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary – he was clearly suffering from unhealed aspects of his own shadow. And I’ll be bold enough to say that by ignoring the suffering of these people (who are other aspects of ourselves), we are perpetuating the same problem that caused these deaths to begin with.

What happened in Connecticut is not a reflection of somebody else “out there”; it’s a reflection of ALL OF US, because we are not separate from these people. Whether we choose to look at it or not, the suffering of the families in Connecticut (and around the world) affect us. It is our suffering. And these sufferings will continue to affect us until we embrace true healing. If someone else is hurting, we all are hurting. There is no way around it.

It strikes me as odd that the very people claiming love is the only answer, are unsure of what to do when people are in need of it. By choosing to ignore the pain and suffering of those in Connecticut, we are choosing to ignore our own shadow.

And I don’t just mean the “victims’’” pain, but also the man who inflicted it. Yes, he too is a reflection of all of us, and we have to face this. Hating him will not heal anyone, anymore than ignoring him will make him go away.

It’s time to come to terms with who and what we truly are. We must embrace all aspects of ourselves. We are not in this alone. We are not separate from those people suffering in Connecticut or Darfur or Iraq. It may seem far removed from us, but it’s still there, and it is desperate for validation, love, and healing.

I cannot speak for the majority of light workers, this is just what I experienced on Friday: near silence, a few nods of acknowledgement, and several philosophical, New Age babble about how it is all meant to be – how these kids created their reality and in some “higher perspective” out there it’s all good. And that’s all fine and well, but the fact of the matter still exist: these people are hurting. Like it or not, that is our global reality.

I know all of my fellow light workers are powerful healers, with deep empathic abilities and loving intentions for the transformation of this world. So where was the love on Friday? Why aren’t we bonding together to meditate and send healing to these people? I’m still trying to figure that one out.

I once posted a blog on Chakra Center about hugging trees and to-date it’s had more views, feedback and shares than any other article I’ve posted on this site, even more than my call out for a meditation of love for the people in the Sandy Hook Elementary school tragedy.

Light workers! What’s with the silence? It is in times like these when your love and powerful abilities are needed most. It is in deep suffering that people need to know they are not alone. In order for pain to heal, it must first be validated, then we must do our best to surround them with the love within us.

We should never let a problem to be solved, a fear of “low vibration,” or any “New Age” belief become more important than a person to be loved.

Just something to think about.

Holding a Space of Love for Sandy Hook Elementary

Bits and Pieces, Meditation, The Heart Chakra

In place of our regular Meditation Monday post, we are asking all of our readers to hold a special meditation prayer for the peace and comfort of the beautiful lives lost on Friday in the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting. We were also inspired by a post on Facebook from one sister of light:

“I’ve been racking my brain and heart on how to actively move forward in love to counter-act (on some level) what happened to the children, teachers, families, and community in Connecticut. An idea came to me that I thought I would share:

My kids and I are going to do 26 acts of love and kindness, one for every angel that just entered heaven. We will help light the lanterns of hope, Gods love and unfailing light in what seems to be very dark times. I invite anyone who wants to do the same…

LET’S ALL DO THIS AND ENCOURAGE OTHERS AS WELL IN HONOR OF REMEMBRANCE OF ALL THE SWEET ANGELS! IMAGINE THE RIPPLE EFFECT IT COULD HAVE ON OUR WORLD!! Every person that you do an act of kindess for will usually pay it forward and the impact of LOVE it could spread would be amazing!! ♥” – Nicole Ramirez (and idea inspired by her sister, Jennie Larsen).

Love is more powerful than hate. Although we can’t take away the suffering of those involved in this tragedy, we can do our part in helping to hold a space of love for this small community. We can pray for the healing of their hearts and the hearts of those around the world that face atrocities like this every day. We can keep our faith in humanity, and choose to believe the true nature of all people is love. We can use our wisdom to remember all pain, all psychosis, and all evil acts stem from a place of suffering. We can choose to face our own shadows with compassion. We can use our thoughts and emotions to create a world where this kind of pain no longer exists.

We cannot combat hate with hate. Love is the only solution. Love is the answer.

Please consider joining us in 27 special acts of kindness, each in remembrance of the lives lost at Sandy Hook Elementary. And continue to pray for the suffering of everyone around the world.

Feel free to share your stories with us here at Charka Center.

Let’s spread love! The world desperately needs it.

Namaste.

For each act of kindness you give this holiday season, consider doing it in the name of one of these 27 beautiful souls:

— Charlotte Bacon, Female, 02-22-06

— Daniel Barden, Male, 09-25-05

— Rachel Davino, Female, 07-17-83

— Olivia Engel, Female, 07-18-06

— Josephine Gay, Female, 12-11-05

— Ana Marquez-Greene, Female, 04-04-06

— Dylan Hockley, Male, 03-08-06

– Dawn Hochsprung, Female, 06-28-65

— Madeleine F. Hsu, Female, 07-10-06

— Catherine V. Hubbard, Female, 06-08-06

— Chase Kowalski, Male, 10-31-05

— Jesse Lewis, Male, 06-30-06

— James Mattioli, Male, 03-22-06

— Grace McDonnell, Female, 11-04-05

— Anne Marie Murphy, Female, 07-25-60

— Emilie Parker, Female, 05-12-06

— Jack Pinto, Male, 05-06-06

— Noah Pozner, Male, 11-20-06

— Caroline Previdi, Female, 09-07-06

— Jessica Rekos, Female, 05-10-06

— Avielle Richman, Female, 10-17-06

— Lauren Rousseau, Female, 06-?-82

— Mary Sherlach, Female, 02-11-56

— Victoria Soto, Female, 11-04-85

— Benjamin Wheeler, Male, 09-12-06

— Allison N. Wyatt, Female, 07-03-06

Wake-Up from the Illusion and Become the Builder of Your Own Dream

Bits and Pieces, Channeled Writtings, Spirituality, The Crown Chakra

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).

Who is Jesus?

Bits and Pieces, Spirituality, The Crown Chakra

Who is Jesus?

I’ve thought about this question a lot lately. And I don’t mean, who does religion say he is, or the “new age” movement, or historians and quasi-intellectuals. I’ve studied all of that (ad nauseum). I mean, who is Jesus to me.

Like it or not, whoever he was and whatever he did, changed the course of our world – for better or for worse, and everyone at some point in their life is faced with the question of what it all means. But it is only from my own heart and experience that I can speak.

I grew-up in a religious culture, with family split on two sides of “Christian” doctrine. I’ve seen enough fighting and severed relationships in the name of “Jesus” to last me a lifetime. The last thing this article is intended to be is an explication of doctrine, a creed, or any religious or spiritual teaching. Nor is it intended to convert anyone to my way of thinking. It’s simply a sharing of experience, and therefore uniquely mine.

The concept of Jesus as The Way was taught to me from a very young age. While I always felt a closeness to Jesus I could never fully explain, something felt “off” about the religion he was steeped in. The Jesus I read about in the scriptures seemed a far-cry from the man many around me were professing to know. And I could never quite get comfortable in the “Christian” setting, no matter how hard I tried.

I’ve been all over the place with my external connection to my internal relationship with Jesus. And to tell the truth, there has never been a “group” or philosophy concerning Jesus that has satisfied my inner-knowing. Something about my relationship with Jesus has always felt eternal – like it didn’t begin in this world, nor will it ever end, and I always felt that religion and Christian groups tried to shove my relationship with Jesus in a tight box, with only a short list of beliefs and interactions that were acceptable.

While I’ve always had a strong connection to the spirit world (seeing/hearing spirits from the time I was a child, perceiving auras, etc), Jesus always appeared to me as a friend, protector, and guardian of my heart. I’ve had many conversations with him – vivid visions of walking on white-sandy shores and feeling his energy surround me, flying with him, and seeing the multi-dimensional colors of his heart. He held me when I was 12 after my mother died, and helped me “exit” my body to protect me at times of great emotional and physical trauma.

When I got involved in the Christian religion around the age of 8, I was taught extra-sensory abilities were not something to “mess with.” The best thing to do was to turn-it off – the spirit world was “dangerous”, and I was better-off with all my attention on “this” reality. It was the first time the magic seemed to seep out of my life, and what replaced it was fear.

That fear followed me throughout all my years of religious involvement.

I have journals and journals of prayers I offered to God; almost all of which begin with “please be with me.” I look back now and wonder how I couldn’t see the Spirit with me every moment. It never left. The very words I invoked through prayer reflected what my heart truly believed: I was alone.

Suddenly Jesus felt like a being I had to please, and understand correctly, or else serious, eternal consequences would follow. Not only was my own soul’s immortal home at risk, so were the souls of my friends and family. I was taught that if they did not believe Jesus is the ONLY way, they would go to hell.

It was a terrible feeling, and it never really made any sense to me.

Yet, all my interaction with Jesus told me a different story.

In all my years knowing and communing with him, I never once felt Jesus fearful of my thoughts, sensitivities, visions, beliefs, or mistakes. He isn’t threatened by people who don’t believe in him. Even in the abyss of the darkest times of my life He would show-up and hold me, or offer gentle guidance and sound advice. He compelled me to love in times I wanted to hate. He encouraged me to forgive actions that felt unforgivable, and I never felt he desired to be worshiped.

All Jesus ever truly wanted from me was my heart. He wanted to know me, and to be known by me.

I’ve never felt him fierce about anything but freedom. Never has he encouraged me to hate, belittle, or exclude anyone who believed different than me, and I never felt him calling me to be a slave to religion, or to “save” anybody. He never told me that I am separate from God – only that we are one.

In fact, when I look back at all the fear I felt in religion, I don’t see Jesus behind any of it.

When I was in the Christian culture, something always felt “off.” I never resonated with the idea of a magical prayer that would set “sinners” free from hell, or the belief that one only need to “confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord,” in order to be “saved.” I’ve seen and heard many such confessions, most of which existed apart from any true or inspiring transformation.

The Jesus I know desires me to know Love. And to accept others unconditionally, the way he accepts me. He very specifically told me that everyone had something to teach me, regardless if they “knew” him or not. Jesus never encouraged me to live in fear.

And he has never given me an ultimatum.

Jesus never asked me to be “less” than who I truly am, to call myself a “wretch” or “a sinner,” or anything other than Divine. He has always encouraged me to go within and know my own beautiful and mysterious role to play in this grand adventure, and to stop identifying with the world’s version of who I am.

He takes joy in the magic of the Universe, and the great love of fairy tales within me. He is gentle and humble in heart, and in him I have found rest for my soul.

He told me we are capable of doing everything he did, and even greater things than these (John 4:12). Never has he pushed me in a box, or asked me to remain in brokenness.

There are other spiritual teachers, guides, and beings that have offered comfort, wisdom, and counseling at times when I’ve needed it most. I feel a strong connection (and have felt/seen) angels and other beings surround me, and protect me. Many friends and family have played an important role in helping me understand truth, forgiveness, and unconditional love.

But none of these other beings of light have ever offered me their heart, the way Jesus has. None of them know me intimately.

No other spiritual master, disciple, apostle, or teacher has walked with me in to the deepest places of darkness. No one but Jesus has called me not only his disciple, friend, and sister, but even his lover. Yes. Jesus goes there. He loves in the most intimate of ways.

I do believe Jesus is the Son of God.

But he told me that I am too. We are all of God. The great I Am is within all of creation, and it is only by identifying with my true nature, that I will ever be set free.

I’ve discovered it was never Jesus’ intention to distinguish himself from man, but rather to show us who and what we truly are. To give us a picture of a life free from the illusion of separateness – completely in relationship with the Source of our Souls.

For me, Jesus is the flesh and bone incarnate of a personable, intimate, loving God.

And I am madly in love with Him.

But perhaps his own words declare his mission best:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind. To bind-up the brokenhearted, and to set the captives free…” Jesus (Luke 4:18)

Amanda Flaker is a freelance writer, editor, news correspondent, mentor, and creator of Chakra Center. She loves to travel around the world and write about it. For more information about her writing/editing/ and mentoring services, click here.