– Photo by Chuck Ketchel
Flow with the breath, deeply inward.
Slowly release the constriction of body armor.
Open to the tide of the body ocean.
Ride its waves of healing motion.
Safely, with abandon.
Breathing,
Chuck
A Day in a Life: From Another World To This World
– Photo by Jan Ketchel
I wake out of dreaming with the following words flowing through me. They offer guidance in how to approach this season and, really, how to be through all of our days, through all of life in this world:
Rather than wish for, give.
Rather than take, receive.
Rather than too much, just enough.
Rather than withholding and withdrawing, be open.
Keep it simple.
Be present.
Sending Love and Greetings to Everyone! Yes, keep it simple!
Jan
Readers of Infinity: Be Real
Here is a channeled message from Jeanne, compliments of Jan. Our regular blogging schedule will continue through the holidays, so we look forward to communicating with all of you over the next few weeks. Best wishes to all for an energetically peaceful and loving holiday season! Here is what Jeanne has to say:
and allow the true self to more fully live each day…
– Photo by Jan Ketchel
Live every day with an open heart, with graciousness and kindness flowing out of you. With sorrow and sadness releasing, embrace your lives more fully. Be present where you are, with whom you are with, and with the self in your human form. Be aware that this is where you are now, but this is not where you will stay, for you are in constant flux.
Constantly remind the self that you are on a journey, and that journey encompasses all that you have already lived and all that you have yet to live. It encompasses who you are now and who you have the potential to become. It encompasses all that is now in this moment and all that comes in the next moment.
Keep in mind that your journey through life is constantly shifting, that you too are constantly shifting, that each day you are a new being with new opportunities to grow and change. Embrace yourself, your journey, and your life as fully as you wish to be embraced. Make this journey special, productive, challenging, and evolutionary. You are the one in charge. You have the power! Grab hold of it and take yourself to a new level. Your guides and your own energy are waiting to receive, accept, and accompany you!
Open more fully to your life as it is. Face your circumstances, accepting them as necessary to move you along, but also be aware that you must choose to move beyond this stage. If you are going to change, you must allow the power within to emerge more fully now and take you into new life. It’s your choice. The secret, however, is that the power to evolve lies within. You will rarely find it without, though life outside of you has a habit of jolting you into awareness of this fact. Life outside of you is constantly in synch with your true mission: to awaken the spirit within so that you may grow and evolve.
May you all choose to ignite this power, independent of, and instead of, waiting for that jolt from outside to strike. Light a fire beneath your complacency, your negativity, and your hopelessness—for now is the moment when lighting that fire will kindle more than just smoke. New life will emerge now more fully, as you instigate your human self to be consumed more fully by your spirit self—the real you, seeking to live your life more fully.
It’s time for everyone to shift—to no longer be ruled by the world outside of you, which is not really succeeding—and turn inward, taking hold of the truths of the true self; a loving, kind, sensitive, knowing being. Allow this true self to speak, act, and be more fully present in your world and your life. The time to do this is now, everyone, no matter who you are or what you have done or been.
Now is the time to dare to be gracious, humble, beautiful, and open to the world, to be amazing in the world, just as it has the potential to be amazing in return! All of you are a part of making this so. All of you can be part of shifting the current situation, simply by daring the self to shift a little bit more each day into the real you. Without fear, I encourage you to present this real self to the world.
I suggest you sit with yourself a little each day, calmly allowing your true and gentle self—kept so safely hidden inside for so long—the opportunity to smile a little more each day, to speak a little more each day, and to feel a little more each day. You’ll be surprised at first, but then less so, as you realize this true self is being constantly met graciously and kindly by the true self in others in return. This is what all others seek as well, a new, truer communication, on a deeper level—a connection with the oneness of being a spiritual being in human form on this earth at this time.
Let go of all facades and posturing, of negativities and cynicisms, of projections and disappointments, and instead be real!
Chuck’s Place: Sobriety & Ecstasy
– Photo by Chuck Ketchel
Addiction is a very pejorative term for behavior that seeks, at its heart, some form of ecstatic joy, comfort, and satiation in transcendental wholeness. The addict pursues bliss with dogged determination, regardless of the negative fallout generated by the object of choice.
Of necessity, we focus on the toxic fallout of the chosen object, but, in so doing, neglect the purity of the underlying need. All humans are driven to seek union with their lost wholeness—it’s the core riddle of life in the human form—the golden treasure that lies at the center of our existence.
Once the addict has glimpsed this golden treasure through the path of chosen object, that object invites the addict on a journey of compulsive desperation, as the object, unable to deliver the addict to the promised land, becomes a source of increasingly diminishing returns.
The only cure for addiction is the mastery of ecstasy.
Sobriety is really the establishment of an adult personality that can withstand the impact of our true wholeness. We must first be able to withstand the full truth of the wholeness of the life we have lived—with all its traumas, choices, disappointments, and losses—in order to clear the channel to transcendent wholeness. Short of this, the quest for wholeness is commandeered by the need to stay whole through numbness that obliterates the discomfort of life unaccepted.
We will not be able to tolerate all that we must feel and release without the sober grounding of the adult self. Don Juan Matus stated that for shamans to face infinity, they must first master life’s apprenticeship by facing the cruelest of petty tyrants without regressing into the shields of self-pity and entitlement. Such attachments, like addiction, are traps that keep our liberation bound to numbing objects, as we remain disconnected from our wholeness.
Only the maturity of our sober adult self can take the journey through life’s deepest somber truths and free the self to open to love and the ecstasy of transcendent wholeness. Only the sober adult is ready for the real deal.
The addict, meanwhile, repeatedly seeking the satiation of deepest need in the object of choice, can’t get away from its dogged pursuit. When the addict finds true sobriety, with the adult self in charge, the road is cleared to transcendent ecstasy—life’s true deepest quest.
Wishing you all mastery of ecstasy,
Chuck
A Day in a Life: Wholeness
It’s not that hard to change…
A little new energy can go a long way!
– Photo by Jan Ketchel.
We are all seeking our wholeness. That’s why we’re here. Everything we encounter, choose, and act out is part of our greater intent to achieve this wholeness. Everything that bothers us, makes us feel, makes us angry, fearful, bad, good, beautiful and alive is part of the challenge to get us in touch with our wholeness. If we begin to look at all aspects of life as necessary opportunities to aid us in achieving this wholeness, we might begin to view our lives as spectacular experiments.
Life as a spiritual craving for wholeness is not a new idea, but it encompasses more than our spiritual selves. As long as we reside in physical form then our physical bodies, encompassing our emotional, rational and feeling selves everything we do to our bodies, everything we challenge them to do, and everything that happens to them, becomes part of the whole experiment too. We must pay attention to what our bodies tell us.
At the same time, we must not be afraid to live. We must challenge ourselves to take up the cause, to fulfill our spiritual desires in a conscious and constructive manner. Our spiritual/physical vehicle seeks full life. I suggest making a concerted effort to stir up new energy, to pry ourselves out of our slumps, depressions, no-man’s-lands of isolation, our feelings of disconnect and aloneness, ridding ourselves of our ingrained thoughts of despair and self-condemnation, by intent—intent in the form of empowerment.
Do something to empower the self, in some way, every day. Even something small may be the thing to jolt us into a new kind of living, into valuing who we are, allowing who we know we are at our deepest level to emerge more fully into life. This is what our deepest self desires above all else, to be given permission to fully live. It’s the kind of process that involves testing and proving, so make a little effort, each day, to bring out the deeper self. In so doing, in my experience, we will be met in return with the spiritually seeking side of others. You’d be amazed, as one spirit talks to another, how alike, and how tender and loving we all are.
“I promise to do something, each day, to empower myself.” Setting this intent and then choosing one beneficial thing each day is a good way to begin. It might mean pushing aside our ideas that we are too busy, or too shy, or too unworthy to make a phone call on our own behalf. It might mean standing up for ourselves, feeding our bodies and souls with only the most nourishing and healthy foods and thoughts. Changing one behavior or thought about ourselves is the beginning of consciously taking over the experiment of this life, taking our journey to a new level. What are we waiting for?
Jan