160 - The View

Backward views 
All remembered
Through distorted lenses:
Magnified or diminished
By varying degrees.

Looking forward,
Conscious of
That creeping haze: 
Our only escape. 

Sunday 160 is a creation of Monkey Man. If you’d like to participate or check out other 160s visit him here! 

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Who Do You Think You Are?

I think that I know myself. After 44 years on the planet, I would hope that I could at least say that. But can I really?

Every moment of every day we are growing and changing ever so slightly. Yet at the same time, these changes amass quickly enough that most of us can easily recognize that how we thought a few years or even months back, isn’t the same as how we think now.

It’s fascinating, really, this process of personal evolution. Do you ever observe yourself in those moments when your thoughts shift over the course of a conversation or after witnessing something uplifting or disturbing? I love these instances of clarity when I just get something in a way that I never have before. But it also makes me realize that I can’t fully know how I will think and consequently, who I will be in the future. The twists and turns life has in store could put each of us on completely different tracks.

I hope that I will always be open and curious about life. I can’t imagine ever being so jaded by circumstances that I can’t treat everyone with kindness, respect and love. And I think that I am strong enough to hold on to my spirit despite the challenges I know we all must face from time to time. But I can’t be certain. So do I really know who I am? I think perhaps I do, if only in this moment. How about you?

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Soul to Soul

“The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances; if there is any reaction, both are transformed.” 

~ C. G. Jung

What if you were to take what Jung wrote about here and expand upon it: consciously observing your own reaction while an exchange with someone plays out, witnessing the transformation in the moment.

And could you take this experiment a step further: completely open your energy up to that other person, in acknowledgement of him or her as an equal Divine soul. Using your heart, instead of your intellect, even for just a few moments, to feel or sense the connection between you. With whom would you feel comfortable sharing such an experience? And perhaps more importantly, who would you not feel comfortable with and why?

One of the gifts of interacting with people who are very different from us is the opportunity it presents to see ourselves reflected back in the “mirror” they are holding up. Whether we are enjoying an exchange or not, our own reactions always tell us more about ourselves than they do about the other person – if only we have the courage to really examine them.

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Seize the Day!

“Looking for alternatives ­- better sights than we see, better sounds than we hear, a better mind than we have ­- keeps us from realizing that we could stand with pride in the middle of our life and realize it’s a sacred mandala.” ­ - Pema Chodron

Why is it so difficult to live in the present moment and to appreciate it for what it is? Instead we tend to find it more alluring to look into the future and fantasize about a time when we will be richer, thinner, or happier for a myriad of reasons. Or we get stuck focusing on past glories, or what would have, could have, should have been.

To live for any time that is not the present, is quite simply to be outside of reality. Sometimes, when things are really bad, looking to the future can pull you through. But doing it too often can only lead to more unsatisfactory feelings about one’s present experience.

Getting stuck in the past can be even worse: We imagine what might be if we had only done something different. How things would be better in our current situation, if only... But there is no way of knowing how things would have turned out if another choice had been made, because it’s impossible to see far enough down that path. Things could indeed be worse!

When we spend too much energy imagining better outcomes or dreaming about a perfect future, we lose sight of the true power we have in our present time to make the positive changes necessary to move forward in our lives. We certainly need to remember the lessons of the past, and set goals toward our future success but the key to getting the most out of our experiences lies in our ability to live consciously in the present.

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Transformational Books

Simply Conscious
– by Valerie Marta

Living consciously is a choice – and whether we realize it or not, it is a choice we make with every act and through every interaction we have. It is a process by which we build upon the character and integrity necessary to create a meaningful life for ourselves and ultimately has the power to affect our health, happiness and personal evolution.

“Simply Conscious” is author Valerie Marta’s divinely guided prescription on how to do just that, through the essential process of inner reflection, acknowledgment of personal truths and awareness of the many ways the universe speaks to each of us. Ms. Marta explains how through our coincidences, patterns, mirrors (seeing ourselves in other people), dreams, intuition, insights, and life-altering events we can find most of the answers we are looking for within ourselves.

The difficulty, of course, is being able to accept what it is we see and choosing to make decisions we KNOW are in our best interests, as opposed to what simply feels best to the ego. But by living our lives with true intentions, striving towards our highest good and looking for the signs along our journey, we are far more likely to achieve success and fulfillment.

If we could all live our lives based on the concepts presented in “Simply Conscious”, this world would be a far more beautiful place. Valerie Marta is a gifted intuitive and healer who channeled much of this book through her spirit guide, David. Currently based in Toronto, she conducts various workshops and seminars that are open to the public. For more information on how to purchase a copy for yourself, please visit www.erahealing.com.

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Truth and Consciousness

One thing most of us know but often choose to forget is that very little is ever truly as it appears. And while there are many reasons we might happily resist the inclination to examine something more closely (financial need, desire for companionship, emotional comfort, convenience, etc.), the fact is if a situation isn’t right (or right for you), the truth of it will always win out eventually.

To accept anything for how it seems on the surface is an exercise in self-deception. And difficulties that arise from ignoring truth in situations close to us span the gamut from emotional discomfort to serious life-threatening illness, depending upon the length of time one is out of integrity. As it has been said before: the greater the deception, the greater the fall. The beauty of this system, however, is that the fall itself is our wake-up call; the time when we have the option of learning from our mistake, reassembling our broken selves and deciding to a make a better choice the next time around.

The key to living our lives in integrity is simply our own consciousness. We get out of alignment when we miss or ignore the signals our emotions and bodies send us. But if we are paying attention, we can recognize when decisions we are about to make are based on ego or the opposite, which is love. The ego is all about perception and concerned only with its own preservation. It looks for lack in all areas of one’s life, exploits fears and encourages an “act now, regret it later” philosophy. On the other hand, actions derived from a place of love are routed in truth. And our emotional and physical responses are always the best barometre.