Posts Tagged ‘spiritual practice’
Monday, December 5th, 2011
How do we pace ourselves during this holiday season so that we can “fly” through busy schedules, family relationships, celebrations and sometimes travel? After all, the body doesn’t know the difference between “good” and “bad” stress. What it does note is an imbalance.
To fly a plane, a pilot has to master the controls of four forces of flight that act on the airplane: thrust, drag, lift and gravity. The engine can provide the thrust, and power also provides lift. But we don’t want to overdo it, either in the air or on our holiday rounds.
If it’s all thrust, we’ll burn out our fuel and be too speedy to be in control. If we let drag take over, we won’t have the speed we need to fly. Lift is wonderful, but getting too “high” isn’t always wise. Gravity, on the other hand, can bring a body down too quickly, whether it’s made of metal or flesh.
Piloting is the art and science of managing our energy so that our vehicle–whether it has wings or not–can operate with the most ease and efficiency possible. After all, that’s what it was made to do.
Here are some tips for managing your energy so you can soar through this season:
1. Use your mental “dipstick” to mentally measure the energy you have every day, on a scale of 1-10.
2. Decide what your personal minimum should be.
3. How and when will you pause to re-fuel? Schedule breaks.
4. What is your premium fuel? Is it solitude? Prayer? Family? Nature? What have you learned about this?
5. Discipline yourself. Does that seem dreary? It won’t if it means you get through the holidays with your well-being and cheer intact.
6. Joy is the key word for this time of year, but sometimes it’s hard to come by. Track your joy. Pursue it. Treasure it. Give it. It’s good for you!
Tags: consciousness, Flying, Flying metaphor, living today, managing change, perception, Photography, spiritual practice, winter
Posted in aviation, coaching, conscious evolution, consciousness, Flying, happiness, healing, health, nourishing ourselves, Photography, seeing oneself, self-healing, shifting paradigms, spiritual practices, Tools for seeing ourselves, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 5th, 2011
I walk along the Pacific coast of the Baja peninsula. The stones at my feet are thrown across the sand like a random galaxy, and I connect their dots, picking out constellations. As the tide encroaches, waves wash up stones and other objects. Suddenly, I have company—a mystical sand woman! Her head is a glowing coral stone that seems to contain her facial features. Streaks of iron filings paint an aura around her head and give her a clear neck, shoulders and gown. She silently declares to me that she is a sand spirit, a form here for a fleeting moment.
I photograph these forms for four days, not touching anything. Back at home, I am delighted with the images, but still have no idea what I’m going to do with them. Two weeks later, I go in for a routine mammogram and am diagnosed with breast cancer. The rest of the story is about how the Sand Spirits become part of my healing journey and eventually part of others’ journeys as well.
I invite you to explore using the Sand Spirits in your own personal life, to activate the ocean of wisdom inside you! They will help you find your purpose and passion, help solve practical problems, facilitate deeper communication and bring out the healer within.
On Saturday, October 8, you can set aside 6 hours just for you and give yourself the gift of working with a tool that will show you how to move ahead in any area of your life and evolution. For information and to register, copy and paste this link into your browser: http://tinyurl.com/sandspirits.
Tags: beauty, consciousness, creative imagination, Essence, inner landscape, inner peace, living today, musings, Nature and the soul, perception, Photography, Sand Spirit Insight Cards, spiritual practice, The Beauty Way
Posted in authenticity, bringing out your gifts, consciousness, creative imagination, Creativity, creativity and empowerment, Guided imagery, happiness, healing, health, Imagination, inner landscape, nature as mirror, nourishing ourselves, Photography, Sand Spirit Insight Cards, seeing oneself, self image, self-healing, shifting how we see, shifting paradigms, spiritual practices, Tools for seeing ourselves | No Comments »
Monday, September 26th, 2011
My friend and assistant Cynthia Wheeler was in Encinitas CA with me this week, enjoying a respite from the Tucson heat and enjoying the beach. The other morning she came back from a walk breathless with excitement.
“I met a young woman on the beach, “ she said, “who saw me taking pictures of the sand spirits I found in the sand, and offered to take a picture of me using my camera. I thanked her and asked her if she had ever seen the sand spirits on the beach. She looked puzzled, and so I showed her one.
‘See this figure on the sand? ‘ I pointed. ‘If this stone were its head, see how the streaks in the sand look like a robe, and these streaks around the shoulders…’
‘Oh! It looks like an angel!’ She was excited. ‘I needed this today!’
‘And so I told her,’ Cynthia went on, ‘that if she asked her angel—her sand spirit—something, she would hear an answer.’
‘I will?’ Her eyes widened. And so I assured her that if she listened with her whole being, of course she would. And, I suggested she google Sand Spirits and find the Insight Cards and even join us on the free webinar. She said she was going to go right home and do that!’”
Cynthia is so generous by nature that I wasn’t surprised that she had struck up this touching conversation with a stranger. What did surprise me was the reminder that even people who walk on the beach all the time may never have seen the figures nature has created there. I often hear people say, “I’ll never see a beach the same way again.” And I think that is a lot.
If we begin to see even one thing in a new way, our whole life can change in that instant.
May something appear to you in a whole new way today!
Pam
P.S. Join us on our free webinar Thursday at 4PST! It will be recorded, so be sure to sign up even if you can’t attend.(Sorry–you’ll have to copy and paste this long url into your browser! http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e4u7zku02c910453&llr=bvhm8ccab
P.P.S. Go to Facebook.com/PamelaHale9 to see the photos of sand spirits I found this week in Encinitas!
Tags: beauty, consciousness, creative imagination, inner landscape, inner peace, living today, musings, Nature and the soul, perception, Photography, Sand Spirit Insight Cards, spiritual practice, The Beauty Way
Posted in consciousness, creative imagination, Creativity, creativity and empowerment, Guided imagery, happiness, healing, Imagination, inner landscape, nature as mirror, Photography, Sand Spirit Insight Cards, seeing oneself, self-healing, shifting how we see, shifting paradigms, spiritual practices, The Beauty Path, Tools for seeing ourselves | No Comments »
Thursday, December 23rd, 2010
Looks like a heart-shaped puddle, right in the middle of mud, doesn’t it? What an odd image to put into a Christmas blog.
That’s what I thought while I was scanning my photo collection looking for just the right burst of light and energy that could represent the true Christ energy. The Christos: a burst of light in the midst of darkness.
Born in a stable. I often think of that. In a town where there was no room in the inn. So His birth was probably dirty, common. According to the story, he was born in the mud. Love was born right in the midst of the mud.
No matter what your faith, all our holy ones have brought light into the lives of the suffering. They have all taught us that even though life is dirty and hard, we can find surprising moment of love right in our path.
So no matter what your faith, do you have room in the inn? Do you have room in your heart and in your world view for love? Not the easy love for all that is beautiful and whole and graceful, but the kind of love that is a surprise. The kind of love you might almost trip over or walk past if you weren’t paying attention.
I think we have to intentionally make room in our hearts for that kind of love. We have to practice shifting every time we see a person behaving in a way we want to judge. Every time there’s a political decision we can’t stand. Every time a loved one is unkind. This doesn’t mean giving into it; we don’t have to wallow in the mud ourselves. We need to stand for justice. When we “take a side,” though, I think being conscious means being on the lookout for the love contained in this “dirty” situation that might surprise us. Every time we can find it by paying attention, we receive the Light, the true Christos, the Beloved.
So Merry Christmas, and happy Holy Day, whatever yours is. If you don’t have one, try making it today. Make room in the inn. As you walk your path, look for love, and report on the surprises.
Tags: consciousness, perception, Photography, spiritual practice
Posted in consciousness, Photography, shifting how we see, solstice, spiritual practices, Tools for seeing ourselves, winter | No Comments »
Thursday, August 19th, 2010
Sand Spirit #13
Today I drew this Sand Spirit, and had this dialogue with it. First, I asked, “Who are you?”
And I “heard” it answer, “I am a reflection of your essence, which is similar to the essence of every human, but also unique.”
“And why, out of all the images I could have chosen, did I choose you today?” I asked.
“Well, because this is a day when it would be good for you to remember your true essence and to recognize the true essence in all others. That way you can forgive your own limitations and the limitations of others, just by remembering who we all really are.”
“Thank you!” I say back. And then I ask, “Do you have any other message for me?”
“Yes, I think it would be great to concentrate most on the gift you see me holding in my left hand. This is a reflection of the unique gifts you have to offer the world, and the unique gifts everyone has to offer. Keep asking yourself what yours might be, and what each person’s might be also.”
“I will, Sand Spirit. Thank you for your wisdom.”
And what do you see in this Sand Spirit? What would your answers be to the questions? I would love to hear some.
Tags: beauty, Essence, inner landscape, Photography, Sand Spirit Insight Cards, Self, spiritual practice
Posted in bringing out your gifts, conscious evolution, creative imagination, Guided imagery, Imagination, inner landscape, loving ourselves, nature as mirror, Photography, returning to essence, seeing oneself, self image, self-healing, shifting how we see | No Comments »
Thursday, August 5th, 2010
Have you seen sand spirits like this? Surely you’ve walked on a beach where the iron filings leave streaks in the sand. And where the tide reveals shells and rocks that sit perched on top of the pattern like a head on top of a robe. Have you imagined that these faceless robed ones are spirits?
If you’ve seen my Sand Spirit cards, you know that I’ve spent a lot of time imagining this, and working with people willing to dialogue with these “spirits” to see what wisdom emerges. (If you haven’t seen them, consider going to throughadifferentlens.com and hit the Sand Spirits tab.)
These spirits, now long-time friends of mine, are proving themselves international. I discovered the original images in Mexico, and this photo is from a recent trip to Costa Rica. Where else have you seen the “faeries of the sea,” as shamanic teacher, Tom Cowan, referred to them?
Perhaps there are colonies of spirits hidden within nature, just as the Celtic celebrants believed. We can regard these invisible ones as friends who help us live in and understand more than one level of experience at a time. Kind of like multi-tasking in this “middle world,” we can experience the spirit world while walking “on practical feet,” as teacher Angeles Arrien puts it.
Look around you now, wherever you are. What elements of nature are nearby? Even if you’re in the middle of a city, you have sky and clouds. Can you see figures in these elements of nature? What if you played with them as if they were “signs” meant to help you walk in more joy and peace and wisdom? What might they say, then? And how would you respond?
Everywhere in the world, we have the earth, and her spirits. We simply need to open our eyes.
Tags: consciousness, perception, Photography, Sand Spirit Insight Cards, spiritual practice, The Beauty Way
Posted in consciousness, creative imagination, Imagination, nature as mirror, Photography, seeing oneself, shifting how we see, shifting paradigms | No Comments »
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
Costa Rican turtles
While I was on an idyllic vacation in Costa Rica, I was shocked to have a disturbing nightmare that “woke me up” with a warning.
In the dream, I was driving a car too fast around a curve. To my horror, straight ahead of me was a toddler standing alone, right in the middle of the narrow road. I recognized her as a young version of my precious daughter, Erin (now a mother in her own right.) As in many other dreams I’ve had, little Erin seemed to represent everything innocent, beautiful, creative and fragile.
There was no time to come to a stop. To avoid hitting the toddler, I began to swerve right, onto the shoulder where there was a small store. At the moment a mother and her toddler came out of the store and walked in front of my car’s path. Confronted by the choice of hitting my own toddler or a mother and her new life, I woke up in a sweat, wondering what this nightmare could mean.
By the middle of the next day my frantic mind stopped long enough to see the simple truth. “Slow down,” the dream was saying to me. “Slow down before you mow down innocence, femininity, creativity, beauty and new life.”
And I was in the right place to practice. Costa Rica has a much slower pace than the U.S. That’s why their favorite expression is “Pura vida,” which means life is pure and good. They seem to get more juice out of every moment than I have in my usual pace. These turtles are good at practicing slowness, so I will hold them as totems.
I take my dreams seriously, so I am still practicing at home. Slow down. Breathe. All I have is this moment–with all its innocence, beauty, creativity and new life.
How do you keep your pace slow enough to make sure you experience “pura vida?” I’d love to hear your comments.
Tags: beauty, consciousness, inner peace, living today, managing change, musings, new life, own pace, perception, Photography, spiritual practice, The Beauty Way
Posted in authenticity, Being, consciousness, divine feminine, Dreams, happiness, healing, managing change, not doing, nourishing ourselves, Photography, returning to essence, seeing oneself, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Monday, May 10th, 2010
Today there is a new wave of opportunity for women who want to become empowered, conscious, evolutionary leaders who make a difference. Teleclasses abound. Just google Integral Enlightment or Feminine Power or Conscious Evolutionaries and you’ll see. In the meantime, here are 3 principles to think about and practice:
1. Nourish yourself. This means on the level of mind, body and spirit. These are not times for wimps. We need to be strong. Gentle warriors, standing in our truth. If we don’t take care of ourselves, what good will we be for anyone else? So what is your premium fuel? Fill that tank.
2. Ride the wave. The wave in the photo is a wave of light, a photo projected on the wall of an imaginative San Diego restaurant. Light is nothing but energy. You are nothing but energy and light. So ride the big wave of light, the one other “en-lightened” beings ride. Jump on. Meditate, pray, do yoga, eat spinach or do whatever else helps you stay on. Ride the wave of light.
3. Bring out your soul’s gifts. If you don’t bring them out, what in the world are they for anyway? They are your “original medicine” and if you don’t bring them out, they could disappear forever. This is the moment. We are the ones. We need whatever you can offer. Remember what Jesus said (according to the Gnostic gospels): “If you bring out what is within you, what is within you will save you; if you do not bring out what is within you, what is within you will destroy you.” Sounds dramatic, but think about illness, crime and other tragedies. Could be as simple as this. Out. Into the world. Now.
The Dalai Lama said it best recently: “The western woman will save the world.” I guess it’s up to us. Let’s get started!
Tags: centering techniques, consciousness, empowerment, feminine leadership, meditation, new life, perception, Photography, spiritual practice, women leaders
Posted in authenticity, bringing out your gifts, conscious evolution, consciousness, divine feminine, feminine leadership, loving ourselves, meditation, new life, nourishing ourselves, self image, self-healing, spiritual practices, women's empowerment | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010
Allow me to introduce my mother-in-law, Margaret, the weekend after her 99th birthday. That’s right–this is the new 99! She has just walked down the steps on to the the lawn where her granddaughter will be married to the groom (on her right), in a service officiated by the woman on her left. Doesn’t she look like she’s dancing? Isn’t her outfit smashing? Can you believe her smile? You should hear her conversation. She is alive and vibrant. This is my definition of health. This is my dream for old age.
What might happen if we hold such an image in our consciousness right now, and ask to be informed about decisions we might make that will help this dream to come true? If we were consistent about it, I think that would have a tremendous influence over the result.
What do you think? What is your experience about the link between vibrancy, setting intentions and your health? Please comment!
Tags: consciousness, grandchildren, health, living today, managing change, perception, Photography, spiritual practice, vibrancy
Posted in conscious evolution, consciousness, creative imagination, Guided imagery, healing, health, managing change, nourishing ourselves, Photography, seeing oneself, self image, self-healing, shifting how we see, shifting paradigms, spiritual practices, women's empowerment | No Comments »
Friday, April 30th, 2010
Among the many prophesies about these challenging times we are inhabiting, the Hopi have commented on how things will continue to speed up. And their advice? “When things speed up, slow down.”
Isn’t it true that when we do slow down, the days seem longer? When we were children, time went so slowly. As we grow older and accelerate our “progress,” time speeds up. Proof that time is relative.
And isn’t it true that right now everything seems accelerated? For me it seems harder to stay in touch with everyone on a deep level, in spite of all the social media. Lives are getting more challenging and complex. Things are speeding up.
All the mindful meditation practices encourage us to notice all the elements of this very moment. That is slowing down to the now. And when I do that, I can actually see where I am. See better what drives me, what delights me. See more clearly what action I’d like to take next. See more wholly how I can serve.
What do you think about time? Is it running you? Are you “running” out of time? Or are you pausing, stepping out of time? Slowing down long enough to see and be?
Tags: centering techniques, consciousness, inner peace, living today, meditation, perception, Photography, spiritual practice, The Beauty Way, transformation
Posted in Being, centering techniques, consciousness, meditation, new life, not doing, nourishing ourselves, Photography, returning to essence, seeing oneself, shifting how we see, shifting paradigms, spiritual practices, The Beauty Path | No Comments »
