The True Seat of Consciousness

(Alex Grey artwork)

I was recently asked -  what is going on in the world? What is happening to people that they seem so out of control and negative? Why are they so unhappy?

The question can be answered with one word - fear. People feel the changes happening in our world and without understanding what those changes might mean, they become fearful that it will mean loss. Loss of everything they have held dear - a way of life, job, house, car, money, security, health.

Their fear is not unfounded. Many people are facing loss. So how do we step outside of fear of loss? After all, everyone will experience it at some point.

I believe the only way to step back from fear is to learn to live from the heart, side stepping the mind - which is where fear lives, learning to live from the true seat of consciousness, which is the heart. (Remember - we grow out of a heart, not a brain.) This is not the sentimental heart in which we are familiar - soft, weak, reactive, feminine, sympathetic, needful. On the contrary, the heart of which I am speaking is empowered by the Creator. It is the vibrational point of equality, the original awareness - the place where individuality and Oneness occurs. It possesses uncommon intelligence, resilience, with the ability to flow and adapt. It is empowered, and is capable of unending compassion and love. This distinction is important.

So how do we access this heart?

First, we must have behavioral intelligence.

The first step is to have humility. Recognizing that we are no better or higher than any other human being. We were all created equal, and in that realization, everything changes.

Learn appreciation. Appreciation begins with recognizing the small things in life that make it full and abundant. That doesn't mean money or prestige, but appreciation of clean water, food, the air we breathe or the birds singing in the tree. It is the recognition of life itself. It is being mindful. Contentment with the mundane.

Practice compassion. Most of us are doing the best we can, although it doesn't always seem so. The best way to avoid being judgemental is to bless the person, place, or thing. It shifts the mind from negative to positive, and keeps you heart-centered.

Forgiveness and Understanding. Sometimes easier said than done. These two take practice. But when we learn to put ourselves in other people's shoes, we get a better understanding of where they may be coming from - which makes it easier to forgive.

And last but not least, we must be valiant in our efforts to do the right thing. Asking ourselves if it is the right thing to do - not always the easiest, or most gratifying, but the right thing can lead to the heart of a lion. Strong and fearless.


(Adapted from James the Wingmaker teachings. For more information go here.)

Refocusing Our Emotions

I get caught up in "what if" scenarios sometimes. I build up whole trains of thought based upon "what if?" Usually it has me upset with what others might be thinking and doing that I may not agree with, or with what others are actually doing. Either way, I really do not have any control over what others think or do or say. The only thing I have control over is my reaction to said situations. So when I received this in my email, I thought I would pass it along. It seems timely with all that is happening in the world, and all that is happening on an energetic level in most people's lives. Stress seems a part of the world right now, especially in personal relationships. It also reminded me of Eckhart Tolle's advice to step into the void when you feel yourself careening out of control. From the Institute of Heart Math:

The Power of Neutral - A Tool to Refocus Your Emotions

An important first step in transforming emotional stress is cleaning up strong, negative emotions and judgements as they come up. As soon as you start to feel your energy going sideways, you can use Neutral to refocus within yourself and go back to the heart. This will clear your emotions as you go and start building your empowerment to clear even more.

Once your emotions become disturbed, your mind will tend to jump in with judgements toward yourself or others. The mind, like a computer, starts a process of analyzing why, calculating next steps, and bringing up memories of what happened when you felt like that before. The Power of Neutral tool helps  put this mental momentum on pause so you can neutralize your reactions and thoughts. The Power of Neutral allows the guidance of your heart, your heart intelligence, to come in and stop the energy drain.

Judging yourself or others causes energy to back up in your system and feels bad. It doesn't bring helpful solutions. It only makes us feel disappointed in ourselves, which drains more energy. We can stop this in its tracks by using The Power of Neutral.

Practicing The Power of Neutral helps bring your mind, emotions and physiology to a state of neutral. Think of neutral as a "time-out zone" where you can step back, neutralize your emotions and see more options with objective clarity.

The Power of Neutral Tool

1. Take a time out. Breathe slow and deeply. Imagine the air entering and leaving through your heart area in the center of your chest.
2. Try to disengage from your stressful thoughts and feelings as you continue breathing.
3. Continue until you have chilled out and neutralized the emotional charge.

Use Step 1 as soon as you feel your emotions starting to amp up. First take a time out by choosing to step back from your emotions. The heart breathing in Step 1 will help you draw the energy out of your head, where negative thoughts and feelings get amplified. Breathe slowly and deeply in a casual way as you pretend the breath is going in and out through your heart area.

In Step 2, disengage from your stressful thoughts and feelings as you continue to breathe. Just having the intent to disengage can help you release a lot of the emotional energy.

In Step 3, you continue the process until you have chilled out and neutralized the emotional charge. This doesn't mean irritability, anxiety, or other stressful feelings will have totally evaporated. It merely means the charged energy has been taken out and you have stopped accumulating stress. Even if you can't totally neutralize a reaction in the moment, simply making the effort to shift into neutral will stop the accumulation of anxiety or stress about it. It will give you a change to regroup your energies and refocus.

One of the things that can help you get to neutral is asking yourself, "Do I really want to keep draining energy and stressing about the situation or how bad I feel?" For example, right before a situation that normally makes you anxious or stressed, you may start negatively projecting the idea you will blow it or be judged by others. This is the perfect time to use The Power of Neutral. Otherwise, your emotional reaction will kick in and drain you. And even if you don't get completely calm, going to Neutral still reduces a lot of stress and helps you refocus.

As you build your ability to use this tool, you will acquire a new type of emotional energy maintenance. This translates into more energy to do the things you really want to do.

The Heart, Contd.

In relation to my newest learning curve, how the heart may actually have a mind of its own, I've learned a few things I thought I would pass along. But first let me say - I have been finding more and more references to the heart and how it will play a very different role in the future then it does now. Most of us see the heart as an organ, nothing more. It pumps blood throughout our system and keeps us alive - without it, we die. That is certainly true.

But for years we've heard stories of people with heart transplants having the memories of the donor through Cellular Memory. This theory postulates that the brain is not the only organ that stores memories or personality traits. In fact there are documented cases where transplant recipients awaken with mild personality changes, cravings, opinions, and tastes, that they didn't have before the surgery. One classic example of this is Claire Sylvia, who after a heart and lung transplant in the 1970's wrote the book A Change of Heart.

So if we entertain the idea that the heart may also be more than just an organ that pumps blood and keeps us alive, what else might that mean? Here are a few things to consider:

• A new discipline of neurocardiology has confirmed that the heart is a sensory organ, and can actually learn, remember, and make independent functional decisions that does not involve the cerebral cortex. 
• Emotions that we once thought only originated in the brain are now known to be a product of both the brain and the body acting together.
• Feelings of appreciation are good for your heart. 
• Our nervous system acts as an antenna and responds to the magnetic fields produced by the hearts of others.
• Data has shown that it is possible for the magnetic signals of the heart to influence the brain rhythms of others at conversational distances.
• We can learn techniques that can help us stabilize internally in order to be less vulnerable to being affected negatively by the fields coming from others.
• Your heart can synchronize with your loved one in your sleep.

So I will continue my study, but I hope I've piqued your interest. There are several websites out there that talk about this subject. My favorite so far, mostly because it is scientifically based, is the Institute of HeartMath, which had been referenced in other reading I've been doing lately. I bought their book on Transforming Anxiety for someone else, and I downloaded The Energetic Heart for myself. Most of the above information comes from that e-book. I would highly recommend it for anyone wanting to understand more about the heart and its effect on your overall health, and the health of others.

All of this reinforces my belief that we are so much more than we ever could have imagined. We only use 10% of our brains,  so maybe the other 90% actually comes from our heart...

Living From the Heart

Did you know that there is a whole science behind the heart/mind connection? Did you know that the heart has a larger electromagnetic field than the brain? That certain types of music affects the heart? I find all of these facts fascinating, and also important.

The human being begins as a heart, not a brain. Think about that. What is the first thing you see when you get that first sonogram picture? A little flickering heart! The body grows out of the heart.

We have bioelectromagnetic interactions between and within people, and our physiological systems are interacting in subtle ways. The electromagnetic signal produced by your heart can be measured in the brain waves of people around you.

We have been living in a state where everything we deem important comes from our brains. This has had devastating effects on our planet, people, other sentient beings. We've been told in all religions that love is the answer, yet most of us have no idea what that means. Our first instinct is for ourselves, protecting our ego, which is mind-based. And, I believe that's how it was meant to be - that by living in a dualistic world we have been able to learn the lessons we were meant to learn. Living from the brain/ego has allowed us to make all the mistakes we were meant to make.

But things are changing rapidly. For those of you who are reading this and resonating with what I am saying, let me say that I believe finding a way to live from the heart is our most important challenge. So if you've noticed me away from this space, or not commenting on yours, it's because this has become my focus for now.

For more information on this subject, go to Institute of HearthMath. For meditations on the heart go here.

Who are you?

Better yet, who do you want to be?

I think as we enter 2011 there is no bigger question for each individual to answer. I believe we are gifted with something we are destined to do, to accomplish, during these turbulent times. You are very special, or you would not be here right now. You have something the world needs, and deep in your heart you know that. If you are not living your light, then 2011 is the time to start.

Start by asking yourself what makes you happy? What makes you feel full of energy and hope? What brings you a sense that time has stood still and you are in the midst of something greater than yourself?

For each person it is different. But you are unique and incredibly powerful. That is what 2011 is going to be about - finding your destiny through positive intention to do so. Living from the heart. When in doubt about how to act or respond to a challenge - ask yourself - what would love do? You will automatically be in the right frame of mind to make the right choice or decision. Living from the heart is what we are destined to do, and 2011 is the time to start.