Lessons in a Life: Who Is Trying To Get Your Attention?

Beings on the other side are trying to get our attention all the time. Jeanne has told us this numerous times and Chuck recently read me a passage from Robert Monroe’s Far Journeys insinuating the same thing.

“What if a fly pestering us is just another being trying to get our attention?” Chuck wondered.

Hard to get a fly to pose, but this little wasp did just fine... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Hard to get a fly to pose, but this little wasp did just fine…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

That same day, as I took an early morning walk, a fly appeared. My earlier conversation with Chuck immediately came to mind. Was this a being attempting contact? The fly pestered me, buzzing in my face.

“Okay,” I said to the fly. “What are you trying to tell me?” It bumped repeatedly into my forehead, right at the level of the third eye. “Stay connected to my psychic self, to my intuitive perceptions? Okay, I will!” And with that the fly buzzed off and I was left in peace.

Later that morning, I struggled with having to do a chore that I felt obligated to do, mostly out of guilt. Was it right to do, or was it just my guilt driving me to do it? I waited. Something didn’t feel right. A part of me implied that waiting was the right action. Every time I thought about this chore I paused; I waited.

After a while, I flipped a coin. Was I being avoidant or should I just do the chore? The coin said no, don’t do it. Should I do it later in the day? I asked the coin. No, don’t do it later, the coin answered. Should I do it at noon? I finally asked. No, the coin said. It seemed that no matter what I asked the answer was going to be no.

I am aware that there is a part of me that knows things that my conscious self does not know. This part doesn’t act hastily. I’ve learned to pay attention though, because it has proven to be right on so many occasions. The fly that had buzzed in my face earlier in the day was reminding me of this part of myself, the psychic self, a part that we all have. It’s just waiting for us to discover it, just as the passage we were reading in Monroe’s book suggested that other beings are trying to get our attention too.

I resolved to pay attention to the message from the fly, to my psychic self, and the coin. I didn’t act. I just waited. In a little while, the reason for waiting came. I didn’t have to do the chore because someone else, who really should have done it, phoned to let me know it would be done.

Trying to remain open, like the first daisy to bloom this year... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Trying to remain open, like the first daisy to bloom this year…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Had I done it out of guilt I would have pandered to an old part of myself. Instead I sat in the uncomfortable tension of waiting and faced my reasons for feeling guilty. In the end, I discovered that had I acted impulsively, just doing what I normally do out of guilt, I would have been guilty of an old behavior! Instead, I felt so relieved that I didn’t, that I paid attention to the fly, to the coin and to what my psyche was telling me. In the end, by waiting I experienced what the fly seemed to be insinuating, guidance IS available if you are open to the experience of it.

In the end, I learned two things: to listen to my psychic self and that guilt is no guide!

Remaining open,
Jan

Soulbyte for Friday June 26, 2015

Do not stand in awe of changing times but consciously choose to change with them, to embrace the awesomeness of change. It is in such times of outer turmoil that inner turmoil finds its reflection and that which shows itself to be the answer outerly may indeed prove to be the inner answer as well.

Sometimes it is simply time to call a stop to old ideas and behaviors no longer helpful. Sometimes it is right to abruptly switch ideals long held yet with no appropriateness to present reality. Sometimes it’s the right time to change.

Changing times are now, calling for sacrifice yet also calling for the glory of kindness and compassion. To love another as the self is the first order of business now. Begin there.

Soulbyte for Thursday June 25, 2015

A warrior is always aware of time passing and that there is no time to dawdle. A warrior uses every moment to learn about life and the self in the process of becoming aware. Gaining awareness is the warrior’s main goal, for only with awareness is there any sense in being a warrior at all. Without awareness a warrior is nothing, just another pea in the pod. Awareness grants entry to what lies beyond the familiar. It is the gateway to greater experience and greater understanding. A warrior knows this, and so a warrior uses time to full advantage. There is no time like the present to begin a new journey. Awareness awaits!

Chuck’s Place: The Living Dream

There's a fine line between worlds... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
There’s a fine line between worlds…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Many approaches to dream interpretation suggest that all characters in a dream be viewed as reflecting different aspects of the self. From this perspective we are afforded the opportunity to own and reconcile with our shadow selves, rather than simply struggling with them as we encounter them unconsciously projected onto the characters we meet in waking life.

For instance, if a dream character consistently terrorizes our dream self and we entertain the possibility that this terrorist is actually a part of our self, we might discover that this character is desperately trying to tell us something, in a very dramatic way attacking an attitude that dominates the waking self. Perhaps it might be an attitude that is too constrictive and is actually undermining our psychic health. Though of course we must stand up to any terrorist, in this case the standing up involves being brave and honest regarding our conscious attitudes and behaviors, which might be undermining the complete flowering of our personality.

Working with a dream character within the self in this way is very empowering. When we can take ownership of all parts of ourself we are positioned to move forward in an integrated way, with all our parts! When we disown parts of ourself and ascribe them to the faults in others, we are stymied in our movement toward wholeness, as we don’t have all our necessary parts to move forward with.

In waking life—which I view as actually simply another, more solid, dream world—we are afforded a similar opportunity. If we look to family and other acquaintances or colleagues as actual aspects of ourself, we might equally discover qualities or dynamics in them that operate in the shadow of our own inner psyche, which become projected, mirrored and reflected in all the characters of our waking life. Waking life then offers an inroad into seeing and owning tendencies within the self and their current state of integration or dissociation.

For example, if I am being held back by some characters where I work, and I view them as aspects of myself, I am freed to question just why I’m being challenged. What is it that I must “wake up to?” Why does this situation keep repeating itself? What is it that I am not seeing? What aspect of myself am I not taking full ownership of and responsibility for?

Of course, as with my earlier example with the terrorist in the dream, it’s not about allowing ourselves to be trammeled. We must stand up for ourselves. However, standing up for ourselves inwardly means taking ownership of the predicament we find ourselves in outwardly. Just as we seek to solve the mysteries that come to guide us in the dark of night, so are we offered the opportunity to solve the mysteries that approach us in the light of day in a similar manner. What am I not seeing in myself? What am I avoiding in myself? When we seek to interpret our outer life as if it were a dream, the waking dramas then become just as meaningful and guiding as our sleeping dramas.

Welcome to true reality! - Photo by Jan Ketchel
Welcome to true reality!
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Ultimately, we might view ourselves as holograms, and as holograms we contain everything, all the time. And, ultimately, everything is interconnected, part of the same interactive whole. Hence, all our dreams, sleeping and waking, represent our individual position vis a vis everything. And we are both a part of, and EVERYTHING too!

Embracing every part of the living dream as part of the self is indeed a path to enlightenment, albeit a challenging one! Life: It’s just all one big dream!

Taking ownership,
Chuck

Soulbyte for Wednesday June 24, 2015

It is time to become selfless. To become selfless is to become part of the changing world. To become selfless is to be without personal want, without desires pending, without need beyond that which is loving, kind, and compassionate to all beings.

What is really necessary now? The world is changing rapidly and to stay abreast of it the self must change too, just as rapidly, if the change is to matter. There is no time to dawdle. It is time to become selflessly loving, kind, and compassionate. That’s what matters.