Intend change, within and without. Stop telling yourself the same old stories to begin with. Shift out of your current mode of thought by interjecting new ideas and thoughts about yourself so that your mind becomes infused with new possibilities. In this manner begin to build a new you. Make some changes on the outside to support the changes on the inside. It’s okay to change, to be different, to truly be you. Maybe you’ve had to play a role, be someone else in order to achieve something, though it may be far from the real you. It’s okay to make a course correction, a surprising move, to take a new path, as long as it’s a path with heart, for that is the only change that really matters and the only path to take. Maybe it’s finally time. And once you begin that first step, don’t doubt yourself but stay connected to what your heart tells you, for the heart speaks only one language, the language of truth.
Suspend judgment and let your mind be silent. Still its thoughts, quiet its incessant chatter. In fact, just don’t think. Let your spirit take over instead. Rather than be guided by old ideas, thoughts, and judgments of yourself and what you think you can and cannot do or be, let your spirit show you who you truly are. Be open and trusting that your spirit has only your best in its intentions, that it truly knows what you need. Just as you have been learning to trust that your body knows what it needs and how to take care of it, that it has a mind of its own, trust your spirit in this manner too. Body and spirit and you, what better combination could there be? And what is the “you” in that mix? You are the energy of consciousness, awareness, knowledge, and wisdom. You are your own body and spirit, but also far more than that. For you are all that you are and all that you can be, present oneness and future oneness. You are your own potential, your own fulfillment, the totality of you, and you carry it all within. So, suspend the judging mind for a while and tap into all of that, and then see what happens!
Though you may struggle, do not give up. Though you may feel there is no end in sight, do not give up the fight. A warrior knows that freedom will come, that salvation lies in taking the journey of self-knowledge, for only in revealing what lies within the self will any progress be made. A warrior begins and ends each day eager to know, eager to explore, eager to experience. Even though the journey may be treacherous, fearful, and frightening at every turn, a warrior proceeds with nerves of steel and a seeking heart, knowing that in the end peace of mind awaits. And what is peace of mind? It is knowing that no stone has been left unturned, no road avoided, and no experience unlived. A warrior’s journey is a journey of heart, personal and impersonal though it may be.
Go down to the wellspring of life… – Photo by Jan Ketchel
On the eve of the summer solstice, the most enlightened day of the year, President Trump abruptly cancelled a retaliatory strike upon Iran.
The year is cyclical and repetitive, punctuated by seasons that mark life’s beginning to its completion. The summer solstice elongates the light of consciousness at its highest peak, a supreme opportunity to be in alignment with inner truth.
Perhaps under the impact of solstice energy, President Trump was influenced momentarily to be patient and acquiesce to the greater good.
I threw the I Ching this morning, with the question: Where are we now in the cycle of the Tao and how best to promote fulfillment?
The I Ching responded with hexagram #48, The Well, with moving lines in the fifth and sixth places. The model for The Well in nature is the tree, whose wooden roots penetrate the earth to draw up the water that sustains its life. The well, in ancient China, was accessed by a wooden pole that dipped a bucket into the water, which was raised to nourish all.
The I Ching warns that carelessness in raising the bucket can be disastrous, such as, “if for instance the military defense of a state is carried to such excess that it provokes wars by which the power of the state is annihilated, that is a breaking of the jug.”
On an individual level, the I Ching counsels that, “every human being can draw in the course of (their) education from the inexhaustible wellspring of the divine in (human) nature. But here likewise two dangers threaten: a (person) might fail in (their) education to penetrate to the real roots of humanity and remain fixed in convention… or (they) may suddenly collapse and neglect (their) self- development.”
Interestingly, the future work proposed by the I Ching to solidify the best use of the well is hexagram #18: Work on what has been spoiled. That hexagram has us address the contents of the shadow or personal unconscious that create decay within the personality, as well as the attitude of the ego in a state of avoidance or inertia.
The two moving lines of the hexagram are extremely hopeful. The nine in the fifth place states that the water in the well is exceedingly pure, fed by a spring of living water. Thus, the channel to the living spirit is available in the hearts of everyone. However, what is lacking here is the volitional drawing from this wellspring of wisdom. Though the knowledge and right guidance are available, they must be drawn upon to arrive at right action.
The six at the top takes it to that final step: “One draws from the well without hindrance. It is dependable. Supreme good fortune.” All are empowered to draw from the inexhaustible guidance and nurturance of their inner well, situated in the higher truth of the heart chakra.
Thus, the I Ching highlights in these accentuated lines that the guidance we truly need is readily available within our hearts. We are primed to receive it, since we already have available to us the tools to procure it. The time is right to exercise such actions.
These tools include, reading the synchronistic signs that appear to guide us through our days, as well as the dreams which foreshadow the opportunities for self-development each night. In the calmness of meditation we open directly our channel to spirit.
Specifically, the I Ching asks us to face the source of our guilt. By facing and addressing the issues behind our guilt, the water of our inner well is clarified to nurture our fulfillment. Sometimes we must undergo shocks to our well before we are fully ready to deepen our fulfillment. This is the work of recapitulation that fully frees our energy from the ‘impurities’ of the past.
The time is right for deepening fulfillment through drinking the pure waters that await in the deepest caverns of the heart.
Listen closely to your body. It tells you each day how it’s doing, what it needs, and what it doesn’t want. Attend to it as you would someone you love dearly. Give it what you know it needs, based not on hearsay or fad, but only on what it tells you it needs. Your body speaks its own language. Learn how it communicates, paying attention to its methods. Respond with love and caring, and in this manner learn to love it as your human vehicle in this life, as your spirit’s home, complicated and capable of far more than you can imagine. Your body is you, and yet you, as spirit, are far more capable than you can imagine too. Combined, body and spirit, you are quite unique, one of a kind. Remember this duality that you are, but remember also this oneness that you are, and operate always as one loving being, within and without. For that is what you truly are capable of, loving unconditionally, without judgment, self and other, simply because you can. What else really matters?
