It seems that with this New Year, a lot of change is happening. Everything from personal lives to the weather, everything is changing everyday.
Today I feel the need to take the time to reflect, ground, and heal. I also feel the need to share this with all of you because I feel my friends could benefit from this. Maybe it is the Shamanic side of me.
There has been a lot of hurt in our past. It is time to let that go. The hurt in the past was required for us to become who we are today. I like to think of it as a learning experience. Some of this hurt we had control over and some not. The part we had control over, it is time to forgive ourselves and move forward. Don't continue to do the what if's..it is in the past and can not be changed. The parts we did not have control over, we have to forgive those too. This can be harder because we want to hold on to the resentment. (I was sexual abused at a young age, just once but once was enough. I had to learn to forgive). The problem with holding on to the resentment is it seeps out of us and into the people around us. Do you Really want your dearest loves to have resentment built up inside of them to the point of physical anger? Of course not. They have enough going on in their own lives, don't add more to them by unknowingly pushing your own resentment on them. It is not something you would ever do on purpose, but energy is a funny thing. The best way I have found that works for me to release negative energy is to close my eyes and imagine this black cloud inside of me. With each breath in I try to ball up this cloud. When I exhale I see the cloud coming out of my mouth and disappearing. The next breath in, I see the air coming into my body as a positive color and filling the space that the black cloud left. I do this over and over about 5 or 6 times until all the black cloud is gone. Sometimes I do this outside on a windy day when my negativity is pretty high. This way it makes me feel I am truly blowning the negativity away and my family can't "catch it".
I try to ground myself by noticing the world around me. Watching the birds eat and listening to their chatter. Do a little cloud watching just to take in the awe of what force it takes to move something so large across a the sky. I touch the earth and feel the coolness of it in my hands and see how alive it is. All of these things connect me to the world around me. I am but a very small part of this earth. My problems are minor compared to the problems of the world.
I heal by doing something positive. Whether it be for me or someone else. I feed the birds, I weed the garden, I hold to door for the elderly person at the store. Yes, these are all things I do normally but when I am trying to heal I pay attention to how these "good deeds" make me feel. Not like a chore I am required to do. I see the honest thankfulness of the person I helped. I allow myself to smile at the job well done when I get the curtain washed and rehung, I watch a sleeping puppy dream and smile that they are happy and healthy. I don't go pay lots of money or spend a great deal of time in doing any of these things. It is truly paying attention to the small details of life and how they can make you feel better about yourself and help the ones around you feel happier as well.
One more thing, I think it is always always always important to remember that actions speak louder than words. You can Tell some one you love them, appreicate them, miss them, are thankful for them all day long. If you are too self absorbed to show it with a hug, a card, a phone call out of the blue, then your words will mean nothing. It is like having a vehicle and forgetting to put gas into it. You will find yourself on E on the side of the road. You thought about putting gas in the car, you even said you were going to, but if you don't actual do it all your talk is for nothing. Take that extra second and make the effort to show it. The one on the receiving end will appreciate the effort.
Ok, lesson for the day is done....hehehe. Thank you Lady Brigid for the inspiration to write this and to my Native American elders for passing the gift of Shamanism on to me. The need to share this with you was great and I look forward to sharing more of my life with you.
Blessed Be!
