#627 Pool of Serenity

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Do you have a message for us as regards the energy of now?

Continue to process your outer world in an innerly fashion, sensibly and calmly awaiting your inner responses to that which is offered outside of you, pushing you to mature and grow. Do not dismiss the world around you, for it shows you your own reality in some form. Do not act hastily, or in anger, sadness, regret, or passivity, but take your challenges to your inner place of work and study them for what you need to learn. Approach resolution from this place of learning.

You are all there upon that earth to learn. What are you supposed to learn about the self today? Are you judgmental? Are you quick to anger and quick to decide between right and wrong, with little compassion? Are you so fraught with indecision and passive aggression that you continually sabotage your own life? Do you refuse the call to slow down and listen to your heart’s discontent, or to its contentment?

There is a significant degree of inner calm that when achieved will easily lead you forward with right action, reaction, and decision making. That degree of calm is already known to you, but it is up to you to continually return to it so that its pool of knowing becomes your favorite resting place, more easily achieved each time you retreat there. It is extremely useful in your inner work and in dealing with your outer world to be able to turn to its serenity before action is taken. From a place of serenity and calm, decisions will be different, actions more right, compassion more actual, and your flow through life more apparent.

Use the powers that lie within the self to lead you inwardly to this pool of serenity. Find it once again. Stay with your feet dipping into it even as you must walk into your outer world and deal with its difficulties, challenges, and the mundane normality of it. Remain connected to your calm pool of serenity, picturing it, feeling it, knowing it as your inner place of balance and compassionate integrity. Act from this place and you will change with the energy that now builds to a new high, with a new shift in sight on the horizon. Respond to it from this pool of serenity and see what happens.

#626 Chuck’s Place: Derailing the Conjurer

Welcome to Chuck’s Place, where Chuck Ketchel expresses his thoughts, insights, and experiences! Many of the shamanic and psychological terms used in Chuck’s essays are defined in Tools & Definitions on our Psychotherapy website.

Students of meditation are well aware of the monkey mind, with its undisciplined, ADD, free-associative activity determined to derail any attempt to rein in its mental dominance of our energetic selves. Shamans have labeled the mind a foreign installation, seeing its alien energetic activity as frantic back and forth energy compared to the swirling circulative flow of the other vital energy centers of the body. One thing is certain, the mind is a conjurer, and left to its own devices it will monopolize our lives with thoughts that evoke all kinds of emotional activity that drain our vital energy. If we are ever to gain full possession of our energy to journey beyond the veils we must find a way to detach from the seductive control of the mighty conjurer, the mind.

Two dominant religious traditions, Buddhism and Christianity, offer images to address the challenge of the conjuring mind, each picturing a man and a tree. In Buddhism, Buddha sits utterly still beneath the bodhi tree as the conjurer floods him relentlessly with images beckoning his attachment. Similarly, Christ is utterly contained, nailed to his tree/cross as he detaches from his conjuring mind in his reconciliation with God. In mythology, Odysseus, like Christ, strapped himself to the tree/mast of his ship to refuse the call of the conjuring Sirens in order to survive his journey. These are dramatic examples of restraint from attachment to the conjurer’s offerings. Jeanne speaks more simply of detachment in the flow of everyday life. She coaches us to use our intent to refuse the conjurer by stating: “Don’t attach!”

I have found this practice extremely effective. There was a time when the conjurer could trap my energy in an obsessive mental process of worry as it projected countless scenarios that might possibly occur, some so frightening that they absolutely demanded attachment. Over time, I observed that almost none of these projected scenes ever came to fruition, though they might just as well have, given the emotional energy they had consumed. I also observed that when a real challenge presented itself I spontaneously handled it with no advance cognitive process. I eventually began to trust that I could count on my challenged self to act in my best interest and that the real trick was to empower that self with sufficient stored energy. The way to store energy was to cut off its depletion by not attaching to the incessant sales pitches of the conjurer. I learned to state my intent: Don’t attach! In the beginning, I’d state it incessantly, singing the don’t attach song, rapidly blocking the intensity of the conjurer’s intrusive thoughts. Today, I can state don’t attach, once or twice, and the thought and image disappear and calm emptiness is restored.

I agree with the shamans that the key is perseverance over time. The mind usually wins because it puts up a big fight in the short run and we are tempted to give up, give in, and simply feed its demand to perseverate. Defeated, we think: I really have to get back to learning to meditate. I suggest, keep it simple. You don’t have to sit still in a lotus position or strap yourself to a tree. Simply move along and state: Don’t attach! And, oh yes, then don’t attach to the outcome. In other words, suspend judgment, be persevering, and watch what happens!

As always, should anyone wish to write, I can be reached at: chuck@riverwalkerpress.com or feel free to post a comment.

Until we meet again,
Chuck

#625 Though Reality is Otherwise

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Do you have a message for us, for your readers, and for all of humanity on this Christmas Day?

My wish is for the blanket of spiritual awakening
to spread over the entire earth,
though reality is otherwise.

I wish for joy and peace,
health and stability, feast and fairness,
for all beings,
though reality is otherwise.

I wish for the breath of life to become
most strongly imbued
with gentleness and calmness,
with energetic awareness and truth,
with the realization of the interconnectedness of all things,
though reality is otherwise.

I wish to speak of love and beauty upon that earth,
of the sense of belonging permeating all beings,
of the specialness of one to another
beyond all boundaries and all personal agendas,
though reality is otherwise.

I wish to invite the people of the world
and all the nations of the world
to lay down their arms,
to drop their arguments,
to forget their disputes,
and turn to one another in recognition
of the energetic disposition of all beings,
though reality is otherwise.

On this day, I invite you
to think deeply upon the self,
upon the judgments and postures,
the ideas and thoughts
that keep all of you isolated and separate,
friendless and distant,
though a different reality exists.

I invite you to reconsider your beliefs,
your premises of the meaning of existence,
and your ultimate goals in life
and find that different reality.

I invite you all to shift from focus
on the needs of one nation
and instead focus on the true needs
of each individual upon that earth
to exist as you desire,
no more privileged and no less poverty stricken
than you wish to be,
and find that reality is individually based,
not mass based or based on the strengths
of one nation over another.

I wish to invite you
to become known as a being of energy,
living in a different reality
where all beings are given admiration,
respect, and love,
simply for the fact that they exist
and their lives are equally meaningful
no matter their circumstances
or their position in the world.

I wish to invite you into humbleness of spirit,
into a new season of awareness
based on this humility that exists
at the base of a different reality,
in the current energy that runs through you all
and presents you with your humble truths,
your humble lies and your humble problems,
your humble accomplishments,
your humble arguments,
your humble posturing,
with your humble self who exists
beneath the presentation
of life all around you.
I invite you to become humble citizens of a new reality,
though a different reality exists.

A time of shift approaches
where every single individual upon that earth
has the opportunity to accept
the blanket of spiritual awakening
as a new reality;
to humbly accept the awareness of self
as no more or less than every other self
(individual) upon that earth;
for all are comprised of energy,
humbleness, and truth.

These aspects must now be made known
and outerly expressed for a new reality
to accompany the blanket of awareness
that does not cover the truth,
but clearly reveals it,
exposing all that it must make known,
asking for participation
so that humbleness and love for all
may now advance upon that earth
over greed, corruption, and deceit.

This is a Christmas to recognize as different,
for it does not meet the old standards.
The times upon that earth
do not breed good will to all men
and this is the truth of now,
but that is only because such sentiments
are based in a world of untruths,
of pretend, and of greed.

A new world is on the horizon.
Do you wish to partake in it,
to move forward into humble acceptance of the self
and all others who exist upon that earth,
even the most hateful and despicable,
as necessary and equal?
This is the challenge of a new world
as the blanket of awareness drops its clarity of vision
and its energetic intent upon the world stage.

Though the reality of now is different,
it does not need to stay stuck.
A new opportunity is offered to each one of you.
Your humbleness is being invited outwardly.
A new expression of humanity
is being enticed into reality
and that has the potential to truly change the world.

Merry Humble Christmas to All!

#624 You are the Choice Maker

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Do you have a message for us today?

It is time to become fully responsible, holding the self accountable for all actions, progress, transgressions, and life’s unfolding. By accepting responsibility for your own life, every moment of it, you offer your self the gift of freedom of choice. Freedom of choice comes only with the fact of ownership of every aspect of self, unbeholden to others. By becoming fully responsible for the past, present, and future self, your power, spent aimlessly in the pursuit of outer recognition and blame, will return to its rightful place as your own trusty energy.

I advise much contemplation and absolution, it at all possible, over the next few days. I advise inward turning and inward acceptance of the self, of life’s events and problems, of all that now plagues you, for only in fully accepting the self will you resolve the issues of power and responsibility. Only in truly owning every aspect of the self will you advance, truly advance, in your soul’s journey upon that earth.

Are you feeling lost, stuck, uncertain, unsure of where to go next, what to do with your life, who to turn to? I advise turning inward for the answers to these and all other questions that may arise or that may remain brewing beneath the surface of your awareness, as yet unknown. Only in delving inward will you discover your answers, in the truthful speak of the inner self.

In order to do this deep inner work, this self-contemplation, you must be aware that it is necessary. You must accept your own role in your life as the most powerful one, fully responsible and fully in control. Control of your life and resolution of the problems in your life come from inside you, rarely from outside. Your outer world merely reflects your needs, desires, and issues, aiding you, offering you means of progress, teaching you what you must learn and in other ways showing you the possibilities that life offers. But, and this is the most important aspect of responsibility and control, you are the choice maker and by your choices will you grow, both externally upon that earth and internally upon your soul’s journey.

This is a time of forceful energy as it begins to build over the next few weeks, offering you the option of turning inward or turning outward. The old habits will attempt to override your inner process. The outer draws will be great. The inner process will remain calmly waiting for your return to its work on the self. Keep always in mind that each choice you make over the next time of energetic building is one that you alone must make. You are responsible. You are fully in control. You are powerful. Seek to use these most cherishable and energetic gifts. Seek growth.

Website Updates

Over the next few days and weeks we will be updating the content on the website. A new side panel showing recent comments will appear allowing for easier access to reader comments that are now embedded in each post. This will offer the opportunity for you, our readers, to perhaps engage in a dialogue with each other and with us as well. We’ve been enjoying the process so far, but realize that it needs to be more accessible and obvious, so hopefully the new format will help. Thank you to those of you who have been commenting thus far. It has been a pleasure reading your insights and experiences.

We intend to maintain our current channeling and blogging schedule over the holidays, though we will be taking a break from our psychotherapy and hypnosis work until after the New Year.

An energetic happy holidays to all!
Love from all of us,
Jan, Chuck, and Jeanne

Chuck Ketchel, LCSWR