Tag Archives: self-knowledge

Soulbyte for Wednesday June 26, 2019

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.

-From the Soul Sisters, Jan & Jeanne

Soulbyte for Wednesday March 28, 2018

Let the light in your heart show you the darkness it hides. Let the darkness reveal the light it conceals. Let your heart be your guide in the dark and the light and let be revealed the truth of your being, that you are both light and dark, revealing and concealing, and know that this is your wholeness. At the same time that you accept these two sides of the self, seek to know yourself in all aspects, light and dark, so that your wholeness may be fully explored and understood. For if you do not fully know yourself, how can you truly know and understand anyone else? Seek knowledge of self. That is where contentment lies.

-From the Soul Sisters, Jan & Jeanne

A Day in a Life: Living An Energetic Life

This little pheasant lady, who came into our lives on February 1st, is still here! Did she pick our yard at random or is there a reason? - Photo by Jan Ketchel
This little pheasant lady,
who came into our lives on February 1st, is still here!
Did she pick our yard at random or is there a reason?
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

Today’s Soulbyte, a channeled message, poses a most common dilemma. “Interferences happen,” it says. “Even the best laid plans may have to be canned as life, nature, and even death may interfere. Learn to flow with life, with what comes.” How do we learn to let go of control so that we will flow with the inevitable, yet still remain open to the joys of the improbable? That is the dilemma.

Chuck and I decided, quite a while ago, to let the energy of life, the universe, our higher selves, etc., not only guide us but connect us to our higher potential as energetic beings in human form. Acquiescing to this idea has often been a challenge, as we do often want to make something happen, or make plans that we think are best, either for ourselves or others. In acquiescing to the energy of the greater cosmos, however, we have learned to let go of control, to not focus on outcome but to live each day in the moment, allowing unfolding life to guide us.

We practice this in many ways. We don’t rely on anyone else. We do no advertising, no promotions, no soliciting. Our lives, work, and interests are fully funded by our intent alone. Things happen. Things arrive. Things come to us. We find or discover something in perfect alignment with where we are in our lives, as we continually seek out new and deeper experiences and knowledge.

We have discovered that the key to living an energetic life is, yes, to “learn to flow with life, with what comes,” but also in the choices we make. It has not been easy to always flow with life, but it has certainly been rewarding. Even in times of difficulty we have learned to find the jewel. We have no set practice to achieve this other than our attention to the details of our life, and a certainty that everything is meaningful. We have elected to live consciously, making decisions that are proactive and in alignment with spirit, with the awareness that we are here to learn something important about ourselves.

There are many practices that can aid us in experiencing life on an energetic level, the most common one these days appears to be meditation. Any number of practices exist to choose from, but the overall intent of a practice is to gain control, discipline over the mind, thoughts, all that they attach to and the stories they weave, which interfere with our ability to flow with life.

We hear some news. We spin a tale around it. We expect the worst, we spin a worse tale. We tell ourselves bad things, bad things happen to us. We make a wish, the wish comes true. We want something, we get it. We think and think and think, driving ourselves crazy with thoughts. But when we look closely at those thoughts we realize they don’t exist, they are mere stories in our minds. But in the spinning of our thoughts we have created a reality.

In acceptance of energetic reality we gain a certain peaceful acceptance of all that is... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
In acceptance of energetic reality
we gain a certain peaceful acceptance of all that is…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

If we change our thoughts, actually let them go one at a time as they come into our minds, we free ourselves to exist in the moment. This is the practice that we have found is the most practical method of being present. It is meditation in action, all the time. The purpose being to examine the personal, the life we are in, as we live it consciously each day. Our sitting in meditation, our breathing, our yoga and other physical practices are merely tools to learn how to be in the moment and flow with what comes. But the real practice comes in implementing it, putting it to work in each moment of each day.

Once we set the intent to be in the moment, once we decide we want to live an energetic life, we must acquiesce to that intent. To do this we must learn to let go of our attachments. Attachments include desires, wants, needs, ideas that things should be this way or that way, that life should be a certain way. Letting go of attachments means letting go of our preconceived ideas, what we’ve learned about life and the world, and becoming open to new ideas.

Letting go of attachments means allowing everything to be of interest and yet attaching to none of it. If we are to live an energetic life we must allow ourselves to fully embrace the possibility that everything is possible, that nothing is impossible, that anything can happen. And when we do that we begin to have the experiences of an energetic life.

I think about my daughter. I should call her. The phone rings. It’s my daughter. “Oh,” I say, “I was just thinking I should call you and you called!” “Yes,” she says, “that’s how we operate!” It goes the other way as well. I will call her and she will say, “Oh yes, I knew I would be hearing from you because I’ve been thinking about you.” We operate on an energetic level.

We all communicate on this energetic level, with people we know and with people we don’t know. We might dream of each other, think of each other, run into each other and if we are aware we know that none of these things are coincidences, they are synchronicities, the intent of our higher self directing our lives.

If we can allow this idea, that we have another part of us that directs our life, and acquiesce to this higher self, then we are well on the way to leading an energetic life. I learned how to do this most assuredly during my recapitulation, as I learned to trust the process and found that everything that was happening to me was meaningful. It became the most important and most fulfilling journey of my life. Everything since then has been a continuation of that amazing process, as life since then has unfolded in a most magical, unplanned way.

Anyone doing deep work on the self is in alignment with energetic living, because deep work, the search for self-knowledge is the path that leads to discovery of the higher self. The higher self waits for us to find it and to trust it. But first we must discover and trust who we are in the lives we are living. We must first be interested in ourselves as human beings and how we really operate.

Many people have no interest in knowing who they are at a deeper level. Stepping into the deeper self is frightening, as often the first things we have to face are the things we have suppressed during our lifetimes, the things we consider bad about ourselves, the things we have done, the things we fear, the things that make us sad or pathetic to ourselves. But those things are our challenges to face, obstacles blocking access to our higher self.

The magical in the cosmos is ours to experience... - Photo by Jan Ketchel
The magical in the cosmos is ours to experience…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel

In taking the path to self-discovery and self-knowledge we discover so much more about the world too. I am a big proponent of taking an interest in the self! Not in a selfish way, but in exploring the meaning of life.

Someone once said to me, “Oh, that’s such ridiculous stuff!” when I mentioned my interest in astrology. “You really believe that?” he asked, quite disturbed. “No,” I said, “I don’t believe anything, that’s why I’m interested in it. Anything is possible.”

We had two totally different perspectives on life, and although the guy was a very intelligent and warm human being, a college philosophy professor, he just could not ever get out of his head. That is really the first challenge. Can you get out of your head? Try it and see what happens! Think of someone and see if they call you, come into your dreams, knock on your door, or send you a text. Living an energetic life is about having experiences of energy in action.

As today’s Soulbyte also said: “Let the randomness of nature into your life, to be part of it all.”

On an energetic wave,
Jan