Ring, ring…

Earthly You:  Hello!….

Godly You : Yes, a big Loving hello to you! This is You speaking, on Spiritual steroids, and I am nudging you to listen to the hints I’ve been sending you, which you’ve been ignoring, dismissing, or laughing at!

Earthly You : Yes, I’ve felt something but they don’t make sense. How can I quit my job and go climb Everest-that’s crazy! I mean, I know I’ve always been interested in mountaineering but it doesn’t pay. In fact, it costs!

Godly You : Trust, you must trust, that fulfillment and wealth originates in the heart, not from the wallet. Do what you can to prepare and then follow your heart.

Earthly You : What?!! I’m hanging up now, Yoda!

Does this conversation sound somewhat familiar? I know I’ve had it a few times with myself. Well, not that one exactly but something similar. This matter boils down to an important issue: getting only 2/3′s of life’s pie, 2 parts of life’s trinity. What trinity? Well, the Heart, Soul and Mind. The heart informs the mind, which is first guided by the Spirit. If our minds have a bunch of static from false beliefs and such, it will override (shadow out) the Light of what we were meant to do in life. There is not only “one” thing we are meant to do either, because life is an evolutionary dynamic and change is its base. Perhaps, instead, we are lead through our special path by our hearts/interests/passions.

There is a simple but incredibly powerful tool that I came across a few years ago that illuminates where are hearts are really at. It’s easy to “think” them being somewhere, when in fact they are somewhere else completely. The tool is The Passion Test, found in the book that carries the same name “The Passion Test” (by Chris and Janet Attwood), and it can also be taken online. Once completed, it is difficult to go back to living tuned out from your heart. Every time we make a conscious choice to follow our hearts, we strengthen that way of Being. Wonderful things start to happen and things start to feel “right”. I am not saying there won’t be hurdles, but hurdles are much easier to get over when a deeper, brighter target (goal) is calling us from beyond.

Am I doing something I am passionate about? Yes, I love to share with others, write and work on-line. I have had many hurdles to overcome to be able to write this but they have only strengthened me. More will arise because they go hand in hand with growth and evolution – there as a readiness preparation for that new place I envision. Keep growing – keep changing – keep loving. If you would like information on The Passion Test, please click here.

Scroll down to watch an interview with Janet and Chris!

To a life of brilliant passions!
Nancy  [superemotions file="icon_smile.gif" title="Smile"]

I would like to share a story that was shared with me recently. It speaks of the sacred journey of being born into our lives. From a human perspective, some of us realize this early on; some of us realize this later in life. No matter when it happens, the point is that it does happen. It’s never too late to love yourself, your life, and find your place in the world. The birth of self – knowing who you are, what you value, and what your purpose is – means that we have fulfilled the unique gift of life that we were blessed with.
It takes faith, hope and patience to get there but the difference is we are no longer trapped in a cocoon; rather, we are free to fly.

A woman found the cocoon of a butterfly and she set it on a table in her sunporch, to observe it. One day, she noticed that a small opening had appeared. She sat and watched the butterfly as it struggled to force it’s body through that little hole, but then it seemd to stop altogether. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it had and it could go no further.

The woman decided to help the butterfly, so she took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily, but it had a swollen body and small, shrivelled wings. The woman continued to watch the butterfly because she expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand in order to support it’s body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened. In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings and was never able to fly.

What the woman, in her kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into it’s wings so that it would be ready for flight, once free from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as we could have been. And, we might never fly.

Pain. It certainly is a four-lettered word. We have all been squeamish with it and most of us avoid it as best we can, but what if we can look at it from a different angle? What if we looked at all events in life as a page or a chapter of learning? Pain is no different.  It is designed to teach us something – not just us either but, hopefully, those around us as well.

I remember a particular event in my life where I felt like Pandora’s Box had been opened – so many repressed feelings from childhood trauma seemed to be percolating up and out, all at once. People did not understand – even I did not fully understand all the pain I was feeling – but I can tell you that I was glad that it was on its way out.  If not, what  happens to such energy if it is not released?  I think this is where we’d get into some serious health problems.   “When going through hell, keep going.” (Winston Churchill)    Also vital to the process is a support network along the way.

Some people in my life did not understand at all and could not support me.  It makes sense though – it is hard to witness/support another when that person has repressed their own pain and are just were not capable of holding a safe/supportive space for another. “Get over it” and “Just put it behind you” are not supportive thoughts – if the person could, they simply would.  In trying to convey to others, I did find a good analogy…

Deeply painful moments are like putting our hands on a cast iron frying pan that is sitting on top of the large element, set to “high”.  After a few minutes, the pan is very hot and glowing red from so much heat. Imagine one’s hands are on the surface of the pan for about ten seconds – you can imagine what that would create. After peeling one’s hands off of the pan, there’s probably some flailing around, screaming and attempts to soothe them. This kind of pain is no different from intense emotional pain and yet you would never think of telling anyone to “get over it” in a physical situation. There is such a gap between the mental/emotional realm and the physical realm, in terms of public perception. People just need support and tools to ”get over it” or “just put it behind you”.

We have to be okay with letting others move through their pain by acknowledging that everything is a teacher.  The best we can do is affirm our love for that person and be there for him/her while remaining cognizant of our own needs.

Our society seems pretty feeling-challenged. In other words, certain emotions are okay but others are not.  I hardly have to touch on the positive side of the spectrum – there’s not much to say because this is generally pretty pleasant.   We are socialized to keep the ‘negative’ emotions at bay.  How was your sadness or tears met at home? Was this welcomed or did you have to stuff it?

By honouring our feelings, and those of others, we enrich our lives and deepen the wells of compassion, empathy and growth in the world.  I think there’s a good deal of room available to expand on this!