Neuroplasticity happens when connections are made across the neural network in our brain. Essentially, our brain creates super-highways that it travels quickly in response to outside stimuli. Thought patterns that are repeated often create massive highways that the thought travels on. The more the thought occurs, the more it will occur.
One of the most effective ways to reprogram the mind, to reformat the consciousness, is through using affirmative statements. I share with you examples that you may find helpful should you wish to use them to assist in reformatting the thinking mind.
Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So, you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there yousee differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving. ~ Terry Pratchett
It’s no longer just about you, but about all who will benefit from your story. In your minds eye, imagine you are delivering a passionate graduation speech to a sea of eager students who are hanging on your every word. You stand at the podium, confidently sharing your story, reflecting upon your journey. You reminisce about lessons and blessings learned and earned along the way. Your words become seeds, planted in fertile soil in the minds and hearts of all those who are destined to be changed by your wisdom. At some point, you notice you are no longer telling a story about how you found the elixir but have embodied it. Between words, when you pause for breath, you continue to radiate a life-affirming message that alchemically alters all who are blessed to be in your sphere of influence.
Mantra :: I’ve graduated from having a story worth telling to embodying the potency of my story, and it emanates through every cell of my being.
Artwork by Rassouli
The Hero’s Journey dream oracle, by Kelly Sullivan Walden
Neuroplasticity happens when connections are made across the neural network in our brain. Essentially, our brain creates super-highways that it travels quickly in response to outside stimuli. Thought patterns that are repeated often create massive highways that the thought travels on. The more the thought occurs, the more it will occur.
One of the most effective ways to reprogram the mind, to reformat the consciousness, is through using affirmative statements. I share with you examples that you may find helpful should you wish to use them to assist in reformatting the thinking mind.
When we are at a point in life where we want to attain greater things, but don’t necessarily have a proportionally greater supply of energy at our disposal, it is time to work smarter rather than harder. This is the way of feminine wisdom.
However, a cultural ignorance of the feminine way currently prevails. We are generally taught that the more force we use, the more we try to make things happen, the more we will achieve. The feminine way is not about force. Nor is it about driving, striving, pushing or grabbing at what we can in order to create. It is about inviting what we wish for to come into the space we have provided for it – internally and in our lives. This method cultivates more energy, causes less stress and attracts what is desired. It is manifestation by invitation rather than by will or force.
There is an old story that the sun and the wind were debating about who was more powerful. After boasting about their prowess, they made a wager. A man walked down the street with a coat on. The wind and the sun decided whomever could force the coat off the man, was the most powerful. It blew and blew and caught underneath the coat, pulling it and nearly ripping it right off the man! But the man wrapped his coat around himself more tightly to protect himself against the force of the wind. Eventually, perhaps temporarily put off, the wind gave up. The sun took over. He shone down, becoming brighter and brighter until the man slipped off his coat, slung it over his shoulder and walked down the street – quite possibly wondering what was happening with the weather that day.
The wind attempted to do by force what the sun was able to do by being. You are being asked to surrender your forcefulness, your determination and your intense activity – even if it is just for this moment. Does this mean you have to surrender the goals you were chasing through those endeavors? Certainly not! This is not about letting go of achievement. It is about understanding the process of manifestation in a more intelligent way. There is a way of creating that gives you energy and doesn’t leave you utterly worn out. It is about allowing what you want to come to you. Be yourself absolutely, naturally and with ease, shine your light and allow your presence to invite that which you wish to receive. It is about cultivating an energetic affinity with what you seek, rather than feelings of lack and need. Do you see the subtle but important difference?
To feel that you are already a naturally abundant being who gratefully invites more of what you want into your life, is rather different to feeling lack, fear and wishing your world would change. It is a bit like dressing for the job you want, even if it is not yet the job you have. You energetically embody what you wish to attract more of in your life. Like attracts like!
You don’t need to push quite so hard to receive what is naturally coming to you. Your ‘push’ comes from a place of uncertainty over whether or not you will succeed. You need to relax and have more faith in yourself. All things come in time – rightfully and according to a great loving wisdom. You are not immune to this. You shall have your time and shine, too. Rebel against any voice of fear, within you or around you, that tells you otherwise!
It is okay to become softer, to feel the energy of what you wish to attract into your life, and to act (as much as you can) as though it is already that way. You are not fantasizing or daydreaming or failing to live ‘in the real world’ if you do this. You are actually working with the feminine art of manifestation through gentle beingness and attraction. As you soften into becoming what you are seeking, what you wish for will not be able to resist your shining, inviting presence.
You have been working very, very hard. You have learned much and accomplished much but it is now time to change your approach. Let go of any force in your approach to creation now. Everything serves a purpose and learning the benefits and limitations of the more forceful way of manifestation through effort and willpower was a useful lesson. However, if you were to continue with that approach it would stop working for you, because you are now beginning to create on a far grander scale that is beyond what an individual can manifest through willpower alone. You are individually creating through your healing and art, but also contributing globally to a new consciousness through your own spiritual growth.
You are part of a global healing manifestation process! You are – through your way of being in the world – helping birth a new awareness. This new way will heal the human heart and bring it back into balance with nature. This is essential for the human soul to survive, flourish and to co-operatively nurture the earth rather than destroy her natural resources. You may or may not be consciously aware of the extent to which this new way of manifesting through receiving rather than taking can actually help all of humanity, but nonetheless, it is playing an important role in greater human evolution. It is the power of attraction, or magnetism, rather than that of striving and force that will replenish your energy and restore your body, mind and heart after your struggle. This change in approach will encourage the shift from head to heart that is essential for your individual wellbeing and for the greater human evolution. You need to heal so that you can help the world to heal. Does this give you absolute permission now, in your own mind, to take an easier approach to your sacred, rebellious, creative manifestation?
Healing process :: I shine like the sun – radiant with grace – and all that I desire, comes to me according to perfect timing. I relax, believe and receive. Through unconditional love, this is now so.
Neuroplasticity happens when connections are made across the neural network in our brain. Essentially, our brain creates super-highways that it travels quickly in response to outside stimuli. Thought patterns that are repeated often create massive highways that the thought travels on. The more the thought occurs, the more it will occur.
One of the most effective ways to reprogram the mind, to reformat the consciousness, is through using affirmative statements. I share with you examples that you may find helpful should you wish to use them to assist in reformatting the thinking mind.
“I am so drunk I have lost the way in and the way out. I have lost the earth, the moon, and the sky. Don’t put another cup of wine in my hand, pour it in my mouth …” ~ Rumi
You’ve said yes to becoming all you can be, yes to becoming your best self, and yes to contributing to the world by remembering your dreams, sharing your gifts and talents. It seem the universe heard you and is responding in kind. Instead of panicking at the loss of who you thought you were, celebrate your gain. By releasing who you were, you have created space to explore the infinite possibilities of who you shall become. Your divine disorientation is due to the disappearance of the self you’ve come to know over all these years. Take heart knowing the sacred storm taking place within is part of your apotheosis. You are experiencing elevation – from where you’ve been to the human you were born to be. The rearranging of cells, molecules, atoms, electrons, and quantum material that holds you together is a wild party. Call it good and revel in divine oblivion.
Mantra :: I am high on life, and off my rocker with the overwhelming beauty that surrounds me.
Artwork by Rassouli
The Hero’s Journey dream oracle, by Kelly Sullivan Walden
Neuroplasticity happens when connections are made across the neural network in our brain. Essentially, our brain creates super-highways that it travels quickly in response to outside stimuli. Thought patterns that are repeated often create massive highways that the thought travels on. The more the thought occurs, the more it will occur.
One of the most effective ways to reprogram the mind, to reformat the consciousness, is through using affirmative statements. I share with you examples that you may find helpful should you wish to use them to assist in reformatting the thinking mind.
In every creative process, in every birth, in every opening of a new cycle of life, there is a time of vulnerability. This vulnerability is natural and appropriate. It is the foal learning to become steady on its legs. Those legs will become remarkably powerful in time, but the process of growth and maturity has to take place, and that requires some wobbly first attempts. It cannot be any other way.
Within you, perhaps even below the level of your conscious awareness, there is a fresh new life emerging like a vibrant green shoot rising up from the earth. This new life is in need of your attention and your care. This could be a new relationship that needs tending with interest and kindness. It could be a new idea that you need to nurture into fulness, because it is going to hold special purpose for your life path. It might be something within you – a new behavior, a new way of looking at yourself or a new way of being in the world – that you need to tend to until it becomes more natural for you to embody.
The idea that you are currently nurturing, or soon will, is of great importance to your life path.
You must pay attention to the new life emerging for you now, or that you will soon sense. You must not be careless and think it doesn’t matter. It matters greatly. Being careless now is akin to killing off the idea before it has a chance to grow strong enough to withstand the criticism, jealousy or sabotage by dark consciousness in others or yourself. We don’t have to be frightened of destructive energy – it exists in nature and in us, and is part of life. We do however need to be intelligent to its potential power and stay centered in our heart and in our wisdom to avoid its ill effect upon that which we are nurturing into life.
You will not always need to cloak that which is young. Soon enough it will be able to stand up for itself, but for now, your vigilance and care is most certainly required. Hug your ideas to yourself as though they were a new lover you cannot bear to share with another. In time the world will be the lover receiving the love of your idea. For now, it is for you to love, for you to hold and for you to observe. Only allow those proven trustworthy to support you in this – those who can handle the frequency or vibration of what you are seeking to nurture. Some may love you but be frightened of what you are creating. Stay true to yourself and your creative power and be wise as to whom you invite into your inner sanctum to witness this new life emerging.
Keep your inner sanctuary pure. This may be your room, a sacred place you visit, or your own body, into which you retreat in relaxation or meditation. Sometimes you will find that others have taken up residence in your sanctuary. Perhaps an argument that you cannot let go of, has another living in your head. A suffering that has not been acknowledged and released can feel like a big, old dirty suitcase of emotional baggage cluttering up the temple space of your heart. It is time to focus on the purity, light, love and compassion that dwells within you. Everything else will come and go, and that is just fine. But the purity within your sanctuary is eternal. You can come back to it to refresh your spirit and gain resources to help you deal with the rest of the world and even your own darker moments, anew. It will give you the peace and spaciousness of mind you need to recognize the new life, and to compassionately, but firmly, denounce any intrusion upon that new life by doubt, fear or sabotage.
Healing process ::
Close your eyes and relax. Focus on your breath for several moments. Imagine the external world fading away and allow yourself to step into your heart, as though within you there is a silent, vast, open space. That space within is peaceful.
Sense, see or feel that deep within that space, a tender young shoot is rising out of the earth. With tremendous courage and focus, it has summoned the energy to crack through the seed that once contained its life force, and it is reaching directly up towards the light, boldly determined to become a full, mature plant.
Imagine that you are joyfully, lovingly and consciously standing guard over that shoot. From a loving, aware, and strong space you firmly move on any big muddy boots that would step on it, or any devouring insects that look rather interested in that tasty young morsel. You do this easily and effectively, whilst remaining centered in your heart.
Around you and the shoot are many beings of unconditional love. These may be ancestors, spiritual guides, beings of light, or angelic beings.
You may sense darkness rise and fall around you and the circle of light created by your love and the beings supporting you to protect this tender young shoot. You can notice that rise and fall of darkness whilst remaining calm, centered and detached in your heart as you focus your love on the young plant. Watch it respond and grow strong. All is well. You may whisper to it, “You are safe and you will grow strong and thrive! Through unconditional love, so be it!”
In your own time, just open your eyes and you have completed your healing process. At any time you can return to repeat this process, especially if you ever feel anxiety or fear about your new life being able to sustain itself and become strong. There is no need for worry, just treat such feelings as an intuitive sign that this healing process will be helpful for you and repeat it. You can do it daily for a few weeks if you are going through a particularly vulnerable period in your life. It will never do you any harm, it will only ever support you.
**I actually doubled the recipe and cooked it slow for 6 hours before pressure canning it.Here is the recipe as it stands for stovetop cooking.
2 Tbsp olive oil 1-1/2 cups chopped yellow onion (1 medium) 2 cups peeled and chopped carrots (about 5) 1-1/4 cups chopped celery (about 3) 4 cloves garlic 4 (14.5 oz) cans Low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth 2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes (undrained) 3 cups peeled and 1/2-inch thick diced potatoes (about 3 medium) 1/3 cup chopped parsley 2 bay leaves 1/2 tsp dried thyme, or 1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves Salt and pepper 1-1/2 cups chopped frozen or fresh green beans 1-1/4 cups frozen or fresh corn 1 cup frozen or fresh peas
Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.
Add onions, carrots, and celery and sauté 4 minutes then add garlic and sauté 30 seconds longer.
Add in broth, tomatoes, potatoes, parsley, bay leaves, thyme and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Bring to a boil, then add green beans.
Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until potatoes are almost fully tender, about 20 – 30 minutes.
Add corn and peas and cook 5 minutes longer.
Serve warm
For more flavor add in more dried herbs (or even triple the amount of dried thyme). Other good herbs to add include basil, oregano, rosemary, marjoram, or italian seasoning.
Vegetable soup all prepared, now for it to cook all day.7 quarts of delicious vegetable soup. Plus I have 2 pints in the freezer.
Feel the thrill of the winds of change blowing through your hair. Smell the new blessings whispering from around the next corner. Sense that you are being summoned to level up to something magnificent. You don’t have to do anything rash like giving notice at your job, leave your relationship, or vacate your residence. This might just mean it’s time to get curious about an improved version of yourself. Meditate on how you can best align with the higher levels of wisdom, blessings, gifts, energy now emerging through you, and infuse that awareness into your here and now.
Mantra :: I release all that no longer serves me, so a better version of me can emerge.
Artwork by Rassouli
The Hero’s Journey dream oracle, by Kelly Sullivan Walden
