LASSOING YOUR MONKEY MIND

Have you been writing in your journal each day? Are you discovering any negativity pouring out of you as you write first thing in the morning? If you are, you need to realize that all of this whiny, petty stuff is what's standing between you and your creativity.

All of the stuff we worry about on a day to day basis - the laundry, the spat we had with our loved one, or our job only muddies our day by clogging up our subconscious. Get all this "stuff" out on the page! Clear your mind of all these worries.

You do not have to be an artist, writer, actress, or anyone working in the "arts". We are all creative in our own way - a baker, a software programmer, a landscaper, architect, day care worker, or a stay-at-home Mom. If we are blocked from doing our job by constant worrying too much, we tend to criticize ourselves without mercy. We may not be doing enough or what we've done is completely wrong.

In this way we've turned ourselves into victims of the perfect person syndrome - that nasty, ugly gremlin, aka Monkey Mind, who sits on our shoulders and constantly criticizes and ridicules us. In turn we believe those comments to be the truth. By the way, your Monkey Mind lives in the left brain.

The number one rule to remember is that Monkey Mind does not speak the truth.

The best time to evade Monkey Mind is first thing in the morning. This is when you scribble your thoughts in your journal. Monkey Mind's opinion doesn't count toward anything. Let him keep on talking. All you have to do is keep moving your hand across the page. If you want to include Monkey Mind's comments you can do so, but take note that Monkey Mind is just out to get you.

One way to extract some of Monkey Mind's power over you is to find a nasty looking cartoon creature that you identify as your gremlin. This will help you to stop allowing Monkey Mind to be your voice of reason and instead acknowledging the harm it is causing you by blocking your creative abilities.

You may find that by writing your pages each morning that your inner "creative" child is being fed and paid attention to. He/she is allowed to speak his/her mind. It doesn't make one bit of difference what mood you may be in when you start. I can pretty much guarantee that if you're crabby or stressed when you start, you'll feel alot better when you're done.

Some of you are asking "What am I supposed to write about?" The answer: "Whatever pops into your mind." There isn't any right or wrong way to journal your "morning pages". Just write. You'll surprise yourself when you've discovered you've worked your way through the fear you may be feeling about something, a decision that needed to be made, pushed past the negativity you've been holding on to, or worked your way out of a down-in-the-dumps mood.

According to Julia Cameron we have two types of brain. Logic brain (left brain) is the brain of choice in the Western Hemisphere. Logic brain is categorized in a neat, linear fashion. This is our survival brain, that works on the "knowns" - our belief system. In hypnosis, the knowns is everything we've been taught (right or wrong) until age 8 or 9, when our critical mind came into being. Anything that is unknown to us is either wrong or dangerous. This is the brain we listen to. This is the Gremlin aka Monkey Mind who will try to talk us out of anything that we want to try to do because it isn't logical or it is unknown.

The Artist  brain (right brain) is like a child - excited about what it sees, hears, smells, feels, or tastes. It is an inventor - putting a variety of odds and ends together to create a masterpiece.

Our artist brain is creative, holistic, associative and freewheeling. It sees things in a way that Logic brain doesn't ever see.

If you start to journal first thing in the morning you'll begin to teach your logic brain to move aside and let artist brain have fun. You'll discover that you aren't listening to the ridicule from Monkey Mind anymore, and you may be delighted to discover you've come up with an amazing solution to that problem you've been struggling with at work.

Writing in your journal can also be looked at as a form of meditation. You'll discover awesome insight that may help you change your life. You'll find your true identity, you place on the Universal path of life. You'll connect to your inner energy source that can help you to change your outer world.

Your pages become a pathway to a clear and strong sense of self and you will find you are able to create a link between the light of insight and the power of your energy source to come into contact with the Creator within. Best of all, you'll find yourself in touch with that source of wisdom that resides deep inside of you.

I have been doing morning pages off and on for about eleven years now. I've found it truly amazing to discover such strength, wisdom and power so deep inside myself. It certainly has changed many of the things I've thought about myself from the time I was a child until now.

My journaling has helped me to grow into myself more, to work through many life challenges and to connect with my soul on a profound level. For me, my pages are part of my spiritual journey. Your pages can be for whatever reason you choose to use them for.

I've resolved to start doing morning pages every day. Even if I don't think there's something inside of me that needs to be worked through my subconscious is able to help me out with that. No matter how big or small - whether to plant a rose bush in that corner, go to Rome on holiday, or if you need to work on forgiveness for yourself or another, your pages are there to assist you.

Happy writing my friends.

Blessings,

Sue

BALANCING YOUR ROOT CHAKRA

It's time to finish the root chakra so that we can move on to the Sacral Chakra or second chakra.

Our chakra system is entwined with our endocrine glands which control the chemical factories of our body via our hormones. All of this is connected to our energy from the most subtle level up to the physical level.

Did you know that our chakras are connected to our past and our current attitudes? In other words our past/biology and attitudes/thinking equals our biology.

You need to remember that our chakras also connect us to our soul.

It's time to raise our awareness of our root chakra. Since survival is the key to our root chakra it makes sense that this chakra is one that is based on a fear of change. Change is a threat to our survival goes on to lead us to a fear of success and a fear of rejection.

Part of our growing process in when we commit ourselves to fulfilling our values. This is success. Our growing process entails valuing ourselves, forgiving ourselves and loving ourselves. Every mistake we make is part of growing as a person.

According to Dr. Roy Martina, in order to raise the manifestation and creative powers of the root chakra, we must become process-oriented instead of results-oriented. Success is not determined by the end result of a project, but the person we become while we pursue the final goal. If you feel as if you "failed" to achieve the outcome you were looking for, it's time to step back and ask yourself these questions: Did I "fail" because I wanted to get someones attention, care, or another basic need met? Did I really want to stay in my comfort zone? Did I really want the goal that I'd chosen for myself? or Did I do this for me or did I do it for someone else or to prove myself to someone else?

We've all been known to say or feel "I didn't succeed in reaching my goal because I couldn't....". Success is embracing your talents and skills but also your limitations and weaknesses (your identity). EMOTIONAL BALANCE

Have you listened to your self-talk lately? Is there some self-criticism going on upstairs? This is an indication of dischord or disharmony in your root chakra. Superficial opinions, formalities, pride, perfectionism, stinginess, pettiness and narrow-mindedness are also good indicators.

Other things to be aware of are becoming attached to rules, structure, organization, and you prefer secrets, ceremonies, rituals, suspicions and superstitions.

Once you become aware of these behaviors, you can begin to balance your root chakra by learning to let go, connecting with the universal consciousness, tolerating other people, places and things, humbleness, love, becoming softer and more compassionate to others, and acquiring a team spirit. We're all here to work for the greater good.

Some basic points to remember are:
1) The elements attached to the root chakra are Matter, Earth.
2) The organs involved are rectum, colon, adrenals, stress, bones, legs, blood vessels, and immune system.
3) Consciousness is all about survival, security, bodily functions and adaptation to change.
4) When we are in harmony we trust, have self-respect, have the ability to let go, acceptance of others and     ourselves, and we feel safe.
5) When we are in disharmony with our root chakra we have these behaviors: humiliation, shame, abuse of authority and feeling inferior.
6) The second truth is ALL IS ONE.

7) The Root chakra sacrament is baptism, welcoming into life, family and community.
8) Our energy comes from our tribe's power.
9) Fears attached to root chakra: fear of change, fear of rejection.
10) In order to stay balanced feed your body nutritious foods and positive thoughts.
11) We place emphasis on competitive happiness and success.
12) The use of positive affirmations start with "It is safe for me..." "I am able..." "I have..."

I welcome any comments regarding your study of the root chakra or any work you've done with your chakras. Have you noticed any changes in your life?

Namaste,

Sue

PLANNING YOUR LIFE BEFORE BIRTH

Have you ever wondered if you planned your life before you were born? ALL aspects of your life? ALL of the experiences you've gone through and will continue to go through until your death?

This idea may seem extremely radical to you, especially if some of the events in your life have been traumatic. If you are willing to accept that pre-birth planning is a possibility, you may be on the path to learning to understand and embrace all of the challenges, including the most painful ones that have occurred in your life.

If you take the time to ask yourself "If I did plan this experience before I was born, why might I have done so?" Asking yourself these questions can help open you up to a journey of self-discovery and exploring our life challenges more.

As an eternal soul, which we all are, you planned the life you currently live. You didn't have any concerns about what your mind would come to know. What your eternal soul wanted was to experience the feelings that a physical life would generate. Our life's challenges are vital to the soul's self-knowing due to the feelings these challenges create.

Our mind is a barrier. When our mind and our soul do not connect and communicate we are out of balance. Our life's adventure is a journey from the head to the heart. All of the challenges we've planned assist this journey by opening our heart so that we may know them better and value what they offer.

When we decide that we want to incarnate we make very detailed and endless-reaching plans. We plan not only our life's challenges, but we choose who our parents will be, just as they choose us. We decide when and where we will be born, the schools we will go to, the homes we live in, the people we will meet and what relationships we will have.

Have you ever felt upon meeting someone that you know them already? You may have a very positive feeling toward the, or one that's not so good, or it's a terrible feeling. It's very possible that this person was a part of your pre-birth planning.

Perhaps a place, name, image, or phrase strikes a chord within you the first time you hear it. This may be something you heard or discussed before you incarnated.

Have you ever had a moment of de ja vu? Usually these are associated with past lives, but they can also be memories of our pre-birth plans.

As we are sent into this life, we are made to forget what we planned. We are aware that this amnesia is self-induced, prior to our ever being incarnated. According to Robert Schwarz, the phrase "behind the veil" refers to this state of forgetfulness. If we come into this world knowing that we are divine souls and our life plans, there wouldn't be any challenges, lessons or growth. This may sound great, but to me, this would be a boring existence. One in which I would never have to figure out who I am; get to know the "real" me.

To use an analogy, if you never experienced the cold, how would you understand and appreciate hot? The contrast between hot and cold leads to a more complete understanding, which in turn would lead to your ultimate goal - remembering. Our world consists of duality; up/down, light/dark, good/bad. Sorrow reveals joy. Chaos enhances appreciation of peace. Hatred deepens our knowledge of love. Can you imagine if you never had the opportunity to experience these challenges of humanity, you would never be able to know your own divinity.

Have you ever wondered where your interest for something came from? For example, you're drawn to the feel and smell of freshly cut wood. Images of beautiful hand hewn furniture pop into your mind when you gaze at a piece of teak, or walnut. No one in your family is a carpenter or shown you anything regarding woodworking or furniture making. In you head you know this is something you must learn to do. Your hands itch to create something with this piece of wood. You find yourself stroking the wood like a lost love. Yet you are unable to understand this connection to wood, carpentry or furniture craftsmanship.

A challenge is before you - one you can ignore it, or you can take that piece of wood, learn, practice, create. You continue to work on this until you're a master craftsman. Once you're done, you remember something - what you created was something from HOME. This memory may trigger another - you are this craftsmanship - this carpenter, creator of beautiful wood furniture. You were this and it was you - not from outside of you, but from deep inside.

You have opened up a new place where you now truly know yourself. If you'd never left HOME, would this have been possible?

This is what our soul desired. To experience yourself. To discover the personality of a human being; a portion of the soul's energy in a physical body.

Our personalities are traits that only exist in non-physical bodies. Upon our death, our immortal core reunites with our soul. It is important to remember that our personalities have free will. The challenges we planned before birth can either be accepted or resisted. We can go through life becoming angry and bitter with each challenge or respond with love and compassion. If you're unwilling to accept that your challenges were planned before birth, our choices become clearer and easier to make.

The emotions we feel are actually communications from our soul. Joy, peace, excitement are indications that we are behaving in our true nature as loving souls. Fear and doubt are not in our true nature. The physical body receives and transmits energy that tells us through our emotions or feeling whether we are in or out of contact with who we really are and in how we express ourselves toward others.

Can you take some time and go back through you life and look at the challenges that you dealt with, the choices you made, and honestly see the direction you headed and where those choices may have lead you? It doesn't pay to look back at the past with regret, but to look at the past and see the lessons and the direction we moved in to accomplish a small step along the path of the life we planned before birth.

Namaste,

Sue