Maintain inner stability at all times. Place yourself under house arrest by keeping yourself to a certain standard of inner control. Stay grounded and centered even while you are pulled in a direction you no longer wish to go in. Stay connected to your spirit, the part of you that is often neglected and yet which is you. With inner control of yourself, the way forward may be more measured, contained, and bearable, all the things that make progress in a new direction possible, for to say you are going to do something is one thing, but to actually do it is another. Action takes discipline and commitment, and that’s also how to keep your inner house in order and yourself on your path of heart, with intent.
Everything is possible, the good, the bad, and the seemingly impossible. Adopt an attitude of openness and wonder, dropping old ideas that restrict and bind. A warrior knows that the first step in changing the world is to change the self. Begin by changing what you tell yourself. A simple positive approach, rather than the usual negative approach will do wonders. A sensitive look at who you have become, largely because of all the things you tell yourself, will help you see how you have developed into the being you are today. Be honest, be direct, and be lovingly truthful with yourself. Strain the negative speak, the negative thoughts, the negative intentions from your life, and begin anew with fresh ideas, positive words of wisdom, new truths that invite the impossible everything into your life. Begin with that!
When fate deals a blow there is nothing to do but have faith that it is what is needed. Sometimes the solution to a problem can only be in its total opposite. More of the same will not do what is needed. Sometimes the only answer is the most feared. When that is the case there is nothing to be done except holding fast to that which is of the heart’s knowing. Let the heart speak of loving kindness and compassion until fate brings the next new phase of change. New life will eventually come. It’s only natural. The sun will rise, the flowers will bloom, and peace will come.
We’re all just tellers of tall tales… – Photo by Jan Ketchel
Ever notice how rapidly the mind assembles a story at the slightest hint of a possibility?
Once the story blossoms, all surrounding extraneous events become added details to support the surety of the story, as absolute reality. Yet, many, if not most of the times the story turns out to be just that, a red herring produced by the internal dialogue.
An incredible amount of energy is spent on these stories that are generated nonstop throughout the day. Furthermore, many of the stories evoke emotional reactions that further deplete one’s energetic reserves.
One way to apply the shaman’s dictum to suspend judgment would be to not attach, as the Buddhists would say, to not give attention to our stories. Perhaps we can’t stop the rapid assembly line of thought that creates the stories, but we can say to ourselves the word “story,” as they are presented to consciousness, reminding ourselves to pause and wait for the real facts to arrive.
Intuition sees in the dark, but it’s not always right. Make sure you get the facts. Synchronicity abounds, but it too can get caught in the tangled web of the storytelling trickster within. Tracking energy is a shamanic activity that seeks out genuine expressions of manifested energy, not cogitations of the mind that spin many a sordid tale.
The storytelling function we all possess is in fact an expression of how our intent is used. Someone fails to call us at an agreed upon time. Our creative capacity, our link to intent, is suddenly commandeered by the internal dialogue that then paints its pictures and authors its novels. When we refuse to attach to these unsubstantiated stories we strengthen our control over our link to intent.
Perhaps the most valuable gift from the current state of the world is the rapidity at which new stories are rapidly assembled, constantly changing versions of reality, blatantly assembled before our very eyes! We are suffering from story saturation, yet the lesson is crystal clear: ‘reality’ is created by stories that people agree upon.
We live in a consensus reality that is currently losing its cohesion due to major conflicting interpretations of the facts. The question to ask is, what interpretation has substance, and which is merely a phantom story? A good place to track the truth is following a path of heart. Seek the truth within the heart, beyond the reach of the cogitating mind.
The practice of recapitulation entails reclaiming energy from the stories we have really lived. As we relive our true stories we reclaim the energy they have held. Our freed energy then becomes available to be redeployed toward walking our true path of heart.
Self-importance is truly believing that the story of ourselves, our personal novel, is a best seller! Indeed, it must be, or we wouldn’t be solidly committed to it! This, of course, is the ego’s pitch, and the ego does have a point. If we weren’t so committed to our personal value we truly would cease to exist. This is one definition of schizophrenia: loss of ego, and with it, the ability to commit to a consistent storyline of self.
So yes, we do acknowledge the magic of our being as a story of great continuity. On the other hand, to become too fixated on a consistent story of ourselves clips our wings, limiting all that we might become, in fact, a very changed being.
Storytelling beings that we are, may we create a new story, a substantial world we can all really live and thrive in.
Remain intent upon a path with heart. Reinstate that intent every day, no matter the chaos and cruelty, the destruction and despair that loom over the world. Continually sow the seeds of love and light, knowing that in time they will germinate and that new growth will occur. All things pass. The dark times must be weathered through for the light times to come again; such is the cyclical certainty of nature. Rely on that as much as you rely upon the goodness that still lives in the minds and hearts of those who hold the human spirit to be sacred and unbreakable. Intend goodness, kindness, and love, and your journey will surely be a path with heart.
