How finding the Deeper Meaning can lead to a more fulfilled life
Albert Einstein is quoted as saying: "there are two ways you can live your life...as if nothing is a miracle or as if everything is a miracle". The matrix we live in can be challenging. Everywhere around you there's oodles of reasons why to be invested in the drama - it seems everybody else is doing it! And the world of physicality is so alluring, with its tantalisations and temptations, society has really perfected the art of pulling you into some illusionary 'entertainment'. But what if you resist that? What if instead, you look deeply into every moment and challenge the alluring seduction that would contract you down. What happens if you always look for the deeper meaning?
The Alluring Challenge of Physicality
The home I know is in the higher dimensions. Everything is interconnected. There is total transparency between beings. The deeper purpose is observed, understood, known. There is flow in harmony with other life. Nothing is missing. The driving impulse of the moment is to learn more, to expand more, to express more. Every moment speaks with the syllables of the divine - you follow the path life sings to you, guiding you like a choir of angels. It's not at all like that here! Although I've also found it can be. You just have to work a little harder at it. It seems life has drawn me down into the density to discover this very facet and to work with others to do the same.
There's lots to enjoy about being in physical incarnation of course. There's perhaps no other place in the universe where the density increases the sense of separation like on earth. By having this density of relativity, means the illusion of life feels really real. Like eating food for example or the joy of love between two apparently separate people. It's the coming together from the separation into divine union that creates such magic. But it's so easy to get lost in this illusion too: that chocolate tastes just too good, the allurement of partnership becomes oh so needy. I'm not saying not to enjoy these things, what I'm saying is to practice always looking for the deeper meaning.
The deeper meaning is an intangeable essence of life. It is the flow that's always coaxing you to a deeper understanding, a deeper sense of being. It's always about finding a more complete expression, in the simplest of things.
Penetrating the Experience
For me it's about transcending the moment. So take a typical holiday period (like Christmas for example). Society creates the humungous sense of expectation and the idea that to consume is good. The result is either guilt because you've had too much or else sense of lack because the material never quite fulfills. So instead, I always work to 'penetrate' the experience. What do I mean by this?
1) penetrate the experience with deep presence Well imagine you're eating a tasty chocolate cake (raw and sugar free of course!), then if you really take your time and taste every single morsel with the abundance of presence (what some call 'mindfulness'), then firstly not only do you enjoy it more, but you need much less to enjoy it. So you're becoming as one with the experience - as "The One" in the experience.
2) soften deeply into the situation If you find yourself contracting down in some way, then deeply confront the feeling. So let's say you had an expectation or need of the moment to be a particular way and it's not turning out like you might have expected. Well rather than changing the circumstances, soften deeply into the situation that the moment is now presenting. Feel any internal contraction and work to expand out of it. It happens by accepting it totally - feeling the 'heat of the coals' before you drop them.
3) look for the deeper meaning Finally, it's about then recognising that the moment always has a deeper meaning, a deeper flow. If you've softened the tightness of neediness or expectation, then your soul should now be breaking through. The soul will 'want' to be aligning with the flow of other life around you. Look for the synchronicity, the harmonies that invite you to "go this way now". Then surrender to the pull, to the deeper expression and give yourself entirely to it. It could mean something as simple as driving a different way home today and watching the variance in the signs along the path. What are they saying? If they were inviting a deeper sense of you to emerge, what would that sense be? How could you embody that sense now?
You've Arrived!
In looking for and finding the deeper meaning in this way, ensures we're never disappointed because we're aligning with the very purpose of life itself: which is to always unveil and express a deeper experience of you. It feels just like coming home - continually coming home to the real you - that which dances in the space between the spaces. It's that sense that inspired this video which we'd like to share with you. Enjoy...
In loving support
Open
PS - If you resonate with the content of this article, and would like support in finding Nirvana within, check out...Openhand's Worldwide Events and Courses
(Publishers - please publish with links intact and the Openhand brief biog. Thankyou.)
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Stepping into freedom
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Jen - sounds amazing - stepping into freedom *OK*
Steve - keep flowing with the moment my friend *OK*
Inspiring Video
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Thank-you for Re-Posting this article, the timing is very Relevant for me, Much work has been made for me on Letting go, Surrendering to the moment, flowing with what comes and also in distancing myself from Judgment. I have slowly been able to Integrate in my life these ways of being, My sense of Discernment seems tweaked. I have found myself seeing and living life differently, right or wrong are being transcended by seeing the moment as an experience to grow and learn about myself, I am going within more and more.
This has made me feel very relaxed, being much more grateful for the much smaller things we experience and take for granted, I feel like I am riding a wave of gratefulness and Joy of the present moment.
Thank-you for the Guidance <3
Steve
Breakthrough
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Thank you for posting this article today =). Having such deep realizations through deep poking and prodding into spaces I have hidden from. Then wow! just turning toward it, just feeling it...Who do I need to be? How do I need to appear to be? Who is defending? What "name" am I clearing? Who needs to be understood or heard? Who needs to forgive? What if noone ever gets what you are being? saying? what if the whole world turned and pointed their finger in your face and said you are nothing! Then what? Then who is left to get you, to accept you, to love you - it's all here, right now, right here inside. Crash and crumble, body and mind and I am still here - it doesn't matter what anyone thinks of who I am or what I say and omg it is the most freeing feeling EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love it all!!!!!!
And what infinite possibilities may open when one doesn't need to be received a cetain way.
In a humorous, synchonicity, my son put a hockey ball right through a window pane today just above where I lay my head to rest...breakthrough! all over the pillow...no time to rest, who are you really?!!!
AHHHHH!! So incredible!
Love, Jen
I remember........
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.....reading this shortly after I returned to the States from Botswana. The shock of returning to life in the USA, what I hoped with all my mind to be a temporary visit and of short duration, but with all my heart I knew I had to surrender to be whatever was needed and necessary. Conflicted and homesick for Africa, my home of choice, this article was immensely helpful. Now, beginning my 3rd year, and experiencing both rewards and challenges in relationships that have morphed and evolved into divergent paths, this article is both confirming and revealing as new vistas are beginning to appear within me. Thank you for the reposting, Open.
Let it keep flowing
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Glad to hear it Jetster *OK*
And remember, it's YOU making the breakthroughs, it's YOU that's ready.
Let it keep flowing.
Open
Gratefulness and Appreciation to You all <3
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A few days after my Experience of feeling lost, confused and all alone and feeling an Emotional and Spiritual Breakdown.
I want to Thank EVERYONE of you for the support and invaluable guidance with your view points and personal experiences <3....I have realized how I was identifying and attaching to so many concepts, people and beliefs. I feel like a new person, like I have removed a layer, a suit of sorts and that I am one layer closer to finding the real me. 'Open' i have read your sharing many times now and as Margaret said "Your words just hit me in the head and stopped whatever mind processes were running" and as Catherine said "Your words cut like a knife through the density. Like a scalpel excising attachment and identity. Down to the bare bones. Down further. To nothing"
Very straight forward and to the Point Open and i resonate well with this approach, a much needed slap in the face (in a good way) .
<3
Straight Shooter
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Open,
Your words cut like a knife through the density. Like a scalpel excising attachment and identity. Down to the bare bones. Down further. To nothing.
Especially this:
"Can you move beyond the need for anything?
On the path, anything that you cling to will breakdown.
Anything that clings will ultimately break down.
You have to become comfortable in the absoluteness of nothing."
Strangely, the crappier I feel and the more I disintegrate, the more I feel that nothing matters.
Straight shooter you are. Thank you.
x Catherine
Marye :)
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"The realisation that it is actually not that much about ‘what I do’ (a job right in the heart of the matrix or a job at the edge of it), but rather about ‘who I am in what I do’"
Your wording just helped, I think this is a good way to be and well explained :)
I did not feel the Openhand approach failed me but rather I failed it...either way with every ones sharings I am realizing to move on and drop this identity while continuing the self awareness :) I am glad to hear of your progress Marye :)
Identity Crisis...
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Richard as I was awkwardly making my way through this experience in the last 5 days I realized something you touched on, I started identifying with being this Spiritual person, hence as you say striving to be that identity..Thank-you Richard for sharing that you also felt as you made progress and from more challenges when things did not go as according to plan the Fraud feeling was something you felt, I think the issue is that word 'Plan' there is no 'Plan' thank-you again my Friend.
Open I hear what you are saying and I think intellectually I can relate somewhat but I am just not there yet, I am going to need to sit with this however from what you shared I realize I am getting attached and identifying way too much, Thank-you Open.
Catherine we have connected you and I and you have always made me laff :)and I know just the surface of your health issues and when this happened to me I thought of you and how strong you are and your willingness to fight and continue, I really have great admiration for you <3 I stopped for a moment and did think as u said "So how does it feel to be you right now? And does this still serve you? I was able to do this yesterday a bit but your timing on reminding me is perfect, thank-you for the support :).
Jan Maybe for both of us as you say sharing with each other and other forum members is the beginning of looking for help to make sense of our experiences....I can say one thing that this experience for me has grounded me more and on some level made me more compassionate to others with less judgment, my heart goes out to you with what you are going through <3 and thank-you for taking a moment to share with me <3
Questions vs. answers
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Hi Jetster,
Can I share a quote from Terry Pratchett (actually an Atheist)? 'The company of those seeking the truth is infinitely preferable to the company of those who believe they've already found it'. While perhaps slightly distorted I wonder if Pratchett touches on something here. Who needs an answer?
I have felt a fraud in the past, after believing that I had made 'progress' only to be shown that given even more emotive experiences, it all went out the window. But who are you striving to be? Is there an identity who feels that there is an ideal that needs to be met? Give it time dude, it'll come.
You said you feel confused. I've been there. But if you stay with that feeling can you feel something beyond it? Don't try to feel it, just watch.
Best wishes,
Richard
The true way leads to no way. The true path leads to no path.
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Breakdown is good. Breakdown is necessary.
You cannot ultimately come home to the absolute without absolute breakdown.
Blind faith in anything will not ultimately bring you home to who you are.
All belief becomes progressively redundant as we come to the One.
Hope must be broken apart into dust.
All form must break down.
Ultimately, do not believe in anyone or anything.
Everything has to be taken from you.
For only then, can you come home to the absoluteness that you are.
All form is transient. It is not absolute.
All guidance - any guidance - is only a way - a way to the absolute.
Can you move beyond the need for anything?
On the path, anything that you cling to will breakdown. Anything that clings will ultimately break down.
You have to become comfortable in the absoluteness of nothing.
The true way leads to no way.
The true path leads to no path.
Just the void. Just presence.
Can you be awesomely okay in that?
Open
Wow!
In reply to The true way leads to no way. The true path leads to no path. by Open
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Wow Open. Just wow. Very powerful.
Beautifully direct Open...
In reply to The true way leads to no way. The true path leads to no path. by Open
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Beautifully direct Open... These words carry a powerful, inspiring energy. Thank you <3 Jen
Be still and know
In reply to The true way leads to no way. The true path leads to no path. by Open
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Whoa, Open!
Your words just hit me in the head and stopped whatever mind processes were running in the moment. I went inwardly quiet and my beingness filled up with stillness. The feeling reminded me of the words of Dr. Sutherland: “Be still and know”.
And that is why I love the Openhand energy: it hits the TRUTH button and there is no way to deny it, to hide from it.
You said: “Breakdown is good. Breakdown is necessary”. What a relief. What am I needing to salvage? I feel I could be awesomely ok with letting that go... perhaps even now :-) Thank you. <3
Margaret
Ticket to Ride
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Hi Jetster,
We talk on Facebook a lot and we have a real connection, so I'm comfortable responding in this way to you right now. My heart goes out to you, having had many health crises and physical challenges in my life. Fraud suggests faking it, which I've done plenty of in my lifetime, projecting an image of wonder woman as I was conditioned in my family to do and also in previous lifetimes. I was so disconnected from my emotions and how I truly felt -- vulnerable, overloaded, over-burdened, tired, sad, angry, fearful -- that I didn't even realize I was faking it. In my extensive experience with counselling people with injuries, disabilities, and adverse health conditions, I can say that it is common to feel anger, despair, sadness, depression, and hopelessness when faced with health losses. I applaud that you are not faking it. I applaud your honesty. I applaud that you are brave enough to express how you are feeling. That's your ticket to ride as the Beatles sang, the ticket to journey beyond the emotional blockages and watch them fall away. The only way out is through.
We are so conditioned by society to view our vulnerabilities as weaknesses, so I can relate to how you are judging yourself. Now that I am connecting to how I feel and honouring feeling into and expressing my emotions more and more, I am more fully able to accept that therein lies my path to freedom -- beyond the darkness into the light, like stepping through a doorway. That said, I know it's not easy to fully accept being in fear and anger without judging it and wanting it all to go away. I'm not fully there yet but I am making progress. Gradually I'm becoming okay with sometimes being pissed off, with being tired, with feeling some days that I can't go on, that I've had enough, that I've hit rock bottom. What I'm not doing any longer is denying that I feel this way, and I'm no longer telling myself that I am weak and a failure for feeling this way. I'm sitting with the crap, feeling into it, accepting all my messy emotions and the unconscious conditioning they are revealing to me. Digging into the deeper meaning so I can release the distortions behind my pain. In that sense, my pain and disability are gifts. I might take this statement back on a bad day ha! But that's okay, too. As Trinity said to me not long ago: We get whatever experiences we need to remind ourselves of who we truly are, Absolute Presence in all experiences, identified with none of them.
There are lots of folks in mainstream spirituality who say that anger is bad and that we should focus on the positive instead. I remember years ago standing in a circle with friends pumping our fists and shouting, "I am positive. I am positive." Over and over again. What a bunch of bullshit that was. I wrapped myself up in a bubble of false love and light, failing to realize that how I was truly feeling was always the key to self-realize beyond it. I'm meeting more and more people on spiritual paths who are seeing through this false love and light fakery, who are willing to embrace their darkness to find the light beyond. I'm feeling an energy shift in this regard.
I resonate with Rumi's quote: "Be patient when you sit in the dark. The light is coming." It sounds as though you dodged the bullet of a serious health crisis, so to speak, and that you are now beating yourself up for not being the perfect, enlightened angel in the maelstrom of fear. So how does it feel to be you right now? And does this still serve you? Those are the questions to ask yourself and then feel into whatever you're feeling. I know you know the process. Open mind. Open heart. Open hand. Let go and receive. That's your ticket to ride. It's easy to write about and talk about. Doing it is a whole other matter. I remind myself frequently that there's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.
Wishing you well, Jetster. I'm in your corner.
Much Love to you,
Catherine
How can circumstances not matter ??
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Steve - we are sharing your breakdown here the past few days - lost, alone and wondering when the hits will stop coming. Another of our dogs - our family - has lymphoma. This boy has been my loyal, faithful protector since I rescued him, and he rescued me 8 years ago - he is always at my side. And now - gone in a few weeks? HOW can circumstances not matter? This is the question that keeps going around and around in my head.
As with you - none of the 'work' I have done over the years - none of the meditating, reading, inner child, teenager, past lives, entity or any other kind of clearing that has been part of this journey has done any good. It feels like a complete spiritual and close to physical and mental breakdown.
I don't even know where to start looking for help.... maybe it is here with you - sharing the pain.
I hear Open saying - go into the pain - be awesomely okay with it. Maybe one day I will get to that place.... it sure feels a long way off this day.
With love and understanding, Steve.
Jan
Sharing the tears
In reply to How can circumstances not matter ?? by Moonbeam
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Jan, I share your heartache at the passing of a beloved four legged. I feel your pain as acutely as if I were standing next to you. I have no spiritual advice to give you because grief, loss, mourning is so personal. But what I can give you is a big etherial embrace, and the knowledge that the soul of your four legged has another journey ahead.
Michael Raven Horse used to say that when a four legged passes over he/she is simply making space for another four legged to come and teach...when my beloved Spirit Dog passed away last september from a brain tumor, it felt like my heart broke into a million pieces. I rescued him from a shelter, but in truth he rescued me from walking amnesia. Then this January a feisty ball of australian shepherd fluff looked up at me and said, "I've got lots to teach YOU." And so Rocket Crockett came into my life. He doesn't replace Spirit, but I really understand that Spirit had concluded what he came here to do. It was time for me to have another teacher. I've gone from a zen-monk dog (Spirit) to a full blown revolutionary named Crockett. Crockett is all about breaking through :-)
Sharing the tears with you,
Tigger
Surrender and breakthrough
In reply to Sharing the tears by Spiritpaws
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Thank you so much, Tigger - and I hear and feel every word you speak. I do know that if it is Mick's time to move on that his work with me is complete and the space is opening up for something I am not aware of yet.
I heard someone recently say that his heart was broken into so many pieces that they didn't remember how to come together again. Perhaps that is the breakthrough...
In the meantime, I have come back up from my breakdown enough to wonder whether there is a chance that we have bought into an outcome that may not be written in stone. As I feel into Mick I am tuning into what he wants to let me know. I feel he is surrendered to whatever comes his way... and in service to him, may my surrender be as peaceful as he is.
Much love, Tigger,
Jan
Unexpected complete Spiritual Breakdown :(
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Confronted with the possibility of having a serious health issue (which turned out fine) I completely unwound...broke down and lost faith in the ways I believed, I felt jaded, hurt, biter that this was possibly happening, went as far as to speaking to the hand of benevolence (the nine masters)and wanting out of this spiritual way if this was the sacrifice. this was brief just a few days as I got tests done right away. I now feel confused, lost, disappointed , a bit of a fraud...as when push came to shove EVERYTHNG I resonated with so strongly from Open and Openhand , the catalysing tools, the guidance, all the ways to use these I knew, I thought I believed and was slowly integrating them on my journey...all seemed to not matter :(. I have shared many Openhand articles because I thought I resonated with them so strongly, did some meditation from Openhand, read Divinicus and the 5 gateways ( absolutely loved them both) thought I was doing well....then BAM!.. just a complete breakdown :(
I am so confused, I feel lost and alone for the first time on my Journey :(
I have read all the sharings from Marye and all the responses and it has been good, I know there are many Openhander's that come to this forum and provide invaluable feed back from their own personal experiences and knowledge and have been helpful to so many, I would so kindly appreciate anyone providing any input.
Steve
one of my frequent
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follies is to get stuck in a loop where I try to discern what is ego and what is soul...a dear Openhander recently gave me the rich advice...take attention away from thoughts and focus on the feeling of being alive...then I follow that...it's another way of saying get out of the analytical mind...Love, Jo
Priceless spiritual question for walking the path
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Hi Marye,
You ask...
- "how do I distinguish whether I am dealing with a tightness/ego disguised as a pull or a genuine pull from the soul?
That's the priceless spiritual question for walking the path!
Now here's the thing, the ego mind tends to want an immediate answer to any question and goes into a spin if it can't get one. To encourage the soul, is to hold the question in an open space, without needing an answer.
I sense your paralysis is happening because you're used to the immediate answer and when one doesn't come, it kind of strangles the moment. Whereas the soul is wanting to just be open and vulnerable in the not knowing.
This reflects the constant dynamic that people will experience on the path: an authentic expression of the soul wanting to come through, which is then owned and suppressed or distorted by the ego.
So how to work with this?
Get used to identifying inner tightness. Which could be physical, emotional, fuzziness and frustration of the mind or even higher still - energetic tightness. When you can spot this, then you're touching the purpose of the moment - why you manifested the moment. The tightness is where you need to be.
Feel into it. Open out into it. If the pull is confronting you with this tightness, then you're in the right place.
If you can work into this, surrender and accept, then you can begin to unwind this tightness. Upon which you start to unleash the soul through you, felt as a sense of 'rightness' - "this is how to be now", "this is the way to go now."
So get used to holding questions like this but without needing an answer. Then feel into the disharmony inside. You'll begin to make a space for the soul to emerge - felt as this sense of 'rightness'.
Briefly I've outlined the Openhand Approach to walking the path here below...
http://www.openhandweb.org/contents/openhand_approach_openway
And you'll get a great deal more detail in the 5GATEWAYS book here...
http://www.openhandweb.org/5GATEWAYS_book
Namaste
Open
Dealing with paralysis
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Perhaps it is the sense of being 'paralysed' which is the feeling to confront - not doing anything but just being in that state.
I can recall on my journey there have been times when I didn't know to go forwards or backwards. At some point, I just tired of it all, then went with the first pull.
Letting go in these situations is the sense of giving up. It's like "yes, I'm ready to fall and get smashed on the rocks." It's only then, when you're really ready for it, that you can truly fly.
Open *OK*
Abundantly successful Spiritual Living
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Marije you said...
- "I guess I should start watching myself in those moments of internal conflict and paralysis as well."
Yes absolutely. Now here's the crucial point to get: you created the circumstances exactly so you could manifest the internal conflict and paralysis.
Your inner configuration of consciousness is what creates the experiences of your life. When we start to surrender to spiritual awakening, the soul begins to infuse. It's increasingly ready to take over decision making and guidance in your life. It does this by penetrating into all the places where 'you' - as an identity - close down internally. These are the 'touch points' where you're identifying yourself with the mirror - the drama of life.
The only way out is through.
So when these moments of paralysis arise, you're being offered a golden opportunity of transformation - that can change your life permanently.
Instead of trying to fix, cure or avoid them - popping some proverbial pill (which includes alternative healing) - get right into the feeling. Accept it. Soften into it. In which case, the light of your soul begins to penetrate those feelings internally.
If you can accept and penetrate the moment in this way - internally - you'll realign internally. You will self-realise in it and truly heal. This is the way to begin to transform your life into abundantly successful spiritual living.
Open *OK*
Knowing yourself in the behaviours
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Hi Marje,
Perhaps the difficulty lies in our respective perceptions of the word 'resist'? In retrospect, I could have used a different word. I could have used the word 'penetrate' or 'penetrate with awareness'.
If there is an efforting to resist something, then yes, that can create identity. It all depends where we are on the spiritual path too. If we're still at a pre-awakening state, breaking into an awakening, then yes, resisting day-to-day experiences could create some kind of spiritual identity, which only does things because it believes that's the 'spiritual thing to do' - that's the 'done' thing.
Instead, a more appropriate and beneficial approach would likely be to allow yourself to do whatever it is you feel to do. Even if you know that to be 'matrixy' behaviour. But then to be watching yourself in the behaviours as an Observer of yourself. Get used to watching yourself in these actions. The deeper meaning, becomes more about a deeper sense of self: that you are not the behaviours, thoughts and emotions in response to these circumstances, but rather that which is watching through them.
This begins to disassociate you from the behaviours. You start to find the deeper meaning in them - your deeper self. It's a feeling that is through all things. Steadily this becomes more important than the situations themselves. At this point, you can then more easily challenge the behaviours and transform them.
So I'd suggest a protracted period of accepting the behaviours and watching yourself in them. Steadily working to know yourself beyond them.
I trust this helps
Open
A sense of grounding, re-connection...
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Thank-you once again for an invaluable article of pure majestic guidance :)
You so Eloquently are able to express and teach how to Ground oneself, to Re-connect and go deeper in every present Moment :)
Balance, Harmony,Freedom
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Thank you for this tether into the moment. As all was let go of, so much came to this being. Amazes how others find value in this form and care for it even in the abandonment at times. I just arrived back to the "normal" routine that sustains after taking a trip to an island where all was cast away for a brief period. Thrown into the ocean to wash ashore to a warm fire was divine. As I travelled alone per say, goodness was attracted and the experiences that transpired are beyond words. I was taken "under the wings" and flew so freely that the beauty burns ever brighter. It is so real what you say. Finding the deeper meaning really is allowing the simplest to be what is. Splashing in mud through a bamboo forest hiking in the rain so exhilarating. No expectations... Thank you openhand for shining light. Listening to bongos rejoicing in the setting sun over the ocean is simply breathtaking. Its great to know there are others in this dimension allowing it all to come as well. Glorious day!
Tastier "Now" Chocolates
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Thanks for this joyful message, Open, and for the yummier taste of "Now" chocolates. I found myself embracing the deeper meaning this Christmas -- tipping into the magical.
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