Do not be upset by every stone and pothole on the road to balance, for they too are part of the journey. They too point out that there are always challenges to encounter and to not get swept up in feeling that you are not doing well on your journey to wholeness. Keep going. And without regret sidestep the obstructions and feel no remorse for the fact that you stepped into what naturally formed on your path. Just keep going, for the end result will be the same.
Be dependable. Be someone to trust, share and be safe with. If people know they can depend on you they also know that you can be trusted with even their deepest secrets and experiences. But to become dependable you have to first learn to trust yourself, to become for yourself a trustworthy being. Do you show up for yourself when most needed? Do you hold yourself responsible for your choices and actions? Do you trust yourself to hold sacred your most important issues and to work with them until they are resolved in a fruitful manner? To be dependable is to be selfless in a loving way without losing yourself in the problems of others. In this manner you learn that you can also count on yourself to maintain your energy for what is really needed.
We live in an age where direct access to the tools of manifestation abound. As human evolution has shifted to the psychic plane, we are all waking up to latent powers that allow us to tap into both elemental and subtle resources to manifest our desires.
One question that emerges as we expand our consciousness and deepen our access to psychic powers is, how we might appropriately use them.
Robert Monroe provided explorers with an affirmation in their journeys, “to Use such greater energies and energy systems as may be beneficial and constructive to me and to those who follow me.”
Clearly, Bob is stressing here that we hone our intent to the benefit of all humankind. In fact, the mission of the Monroe Institute is, “Helping people create more meaningful and joyful lives through the guided exploration of expanded consciousness.”
I participated in a recent intensive retreat at the Monroe Institute where the theme of mandalas emerged in many participant’s journeys. I personally, during one journey, came upon the face of my round wristwatch at the center of a rectangular door. A mandala typically includes the juxtaposition of a circle and a square.
Experientially, this encounter with a mandala coincided with a very powerful vibrational energy that I was experiencing at my heart chakra, which provided the energy, via this sensation, to come to acceptance of a disturbing dream image from the prior night.
Carl Jung brought to the attention of the modern world the archetype of the mandala as the central organizing symbol of life. The circle encompasses infinity; the square, our humanness. For Jung, at the center of the circle was the Self, or Spirit, and not the ego, which is the center only of the conscious personality.
The path toward fulfillment in life requires one to square the circle; that is, to align one’s life with the core intent of one’s Spirit. Expropriating one’s psychic resources for ego gain, which is out of alignment with Spirit, would be considered an ego inflation, where ego assumes the identity and authority of Self. Humans have the amazing tool of free will, which all too often leads to ego decisions that throw them out of psychological balance and negatively impact the world.
Mandalas frequently appear in waking life and in dreaming, as trail markers from Self, as we suffer challenging experiences and make decisions in our lives. The mandala in my experience guided me to raise the vibration in my heart chakra to be able to activate love to accept the unacceptable.
Carl Jung’s Red Book is his diary of his journeys into the collective unconscious, which became the foundation of his contributions to the field of psychology. His communications with entities during his discovery process are documented alongside countless mandalas he painted that enabled him to maintain psychic balance throughout this extraordinary process.
Stan Grof, initially through the use of psychedelics and later through holotropic breath work, has deepened the mapping of the transpersonal regions of the psyche. His protocol strongly encourages all participants in his workshops to paint mandalas as they restore inner balance and recapitulate their soul retrievals and adventures in infinity.
The highlight of the mandala in my recent retreat was a collective reminder to be sure to not forget to ask if it’s right. It refers to one’s intent, decision or ambition for manifestation.
The Self often spontaneously and creatively provides some semblance of a mandala-like symbol to provide guidance. These can take the form of a dirty, heads-up penny on the ground, or a circular or rectangular pool, or a grouping of 4 objects or people—the permutations are endless.
One may also have to wait patiently for this guidance or validation to appear. Sometimes the Self requires that the ego go it alone, taking full responsibility for decisions made. The effects of decisions and actions taken are often the best teachers.
When mandalas do show up, give the ego the worthy job of contemplating their messages. Or, to get in alignment with Self, simply start drawing a mandala. Or use a finger in the sand, and like the Tibetans and Native Americans sculpt a mandala with the intent to align with Spirit.
See what happens. Remember Bob Monroe’s affirmation to make constructive and beneficial one’s use of greater energies and energy systems.
Keep your two feet on the ground, stationed on planet Earth, even as your spirit soars and your heart yearns for other worlds, other experiences and other knowledge. Like a rooted tree stand firmly attached even though your branches reach outward to embrace all that is. To be human is a privilege, with the opportunity to live among so much beauty and pain, so much love and despair, so much delight and intensity, the opposites that make life a divine privilege. Make the most of your experiences and make your time there of the utmost importance, for you and your life, in the great turmoil of it all, matter immensely.
Be kind to yourself even as you expect the most from yourself. Extend that kindness to others, to those who deserve it and to those who don’t. For to extend kindness is to offer a simple gesture of human interest and that simple gesture may mean a world of difference to someone, just as it may mean a world of difference to you. Kindness has its own language and the way it is spoken is up to each individual. Speak the language of kindness today.
