Hello spiritual friends!
This month we celebrated Independence Day and remembered the freedoms our forefathers fought for hundreds of years ago. We all cherish our freedom in this country, and it is great to remember the gifts they worked so hard to provide for us.
To my mind, there are actually two kinds of freedom to be grateful for. There is our physical freedom -- to live in a country where we can choose the type of work or vocation, where we want to reside, our home, social and personal activities and so much more. We celebrate this kind of freedom every year with our Independence holiday.
Another version, I like to call, "spiritual freedom", which is the permission to choose our reality or personal story and to change it at any time. We can choose to live in the past, the future or the present moment. We can hang onto our old thoughts, patterns and identities -- or we can break free from them at any time. We may not be consciously aware that we are living in the past. But that is exactly what we are doing when we find ourselves holding onto blame, regret or dwelling on things we cannot change. It is also pretty easy to get caught up in the future with worry, fret, fear about upcoming events that are beyond our control.
Our patterns of thinking help create our life experience, perspective and the energy we are running in that moment. Over time, these patterns generate our sense of identity as they become the stories we tell ourselves and other people. Our stories may be remembered in a positive or negative light. How we remember them is important because they create the future we are living into, and they illuminate the choices that are available to us. It is good to remember that we can change our stories at any time.
"Freedom from" begins with a thought.
Sometimes we can change niggling or unsupportive thoughts that show up with just a self-reminder. There are so many negative energies coming at us on a daily basis that can easily throw us off center. From the news to politics, to crime or war, to finding ourselves immersed in old the family conflicts again. Staying aware of our thoughts and words and remembering how very powerful they are in creating our life experience and future can help us make an immediate shift. For some thoughts or experiences, we may be able to change our thinking and let it all go. But others may be more deeply held in our energy and a little more challenging to eliminate.
As we all know, life experience brings an overabundance of lessons to learn. It seems like we have lessons with each new chapter of living on this planet. The limitations we moved through last year may show up again, and in different clothes. What seems like a new and different situation brings the old painful feelings back. And it feels like we are relearning those lessons again and differently. We may even begin to feel discouraged because it feels like we are facing the same old problems again. We may be asking ourselves, "When will I move past this one?".
Remember to remember
Remembering to remember that we have the power to change our thoughts is truly the beginning of a new story. A story that can be more self-loving and validating. A story that feels better and supports us on our life journey (rather than dragging us back down). If something painful is lurking there, we can find a way to re-map the memory in our brain into a more positive light, or at the least more neutral, instead of rubbing salt into our old wounds.
The good news is when we choose thoughts that free us from limitations, we have already kindled a new pattern. We begin to recognize the limitation for what it is, even with those new clothes on. And we have reminded ourselves how easy it is to change our thoughts and feel better. Each time we choose to override one of those old thought patterns, it gets easier to catch ourselves the next time. We begin to put color, depth and enthusiasm into our new story.
Find the seed
One way to free ourselves from an old thought pattern is to look for the original experience or "seed" of the thought pattern. It may take some time to dig deeply into our memories and discover first experience when we had those limiting thoughts, but it can be a wonderful space of self-discovery, especially for those lessons that keep showing up in new clothes.
For example, if I struggle with self-judgement, I might gently look back through my past to see if I can discover when I first experienced it. Perhaps I struggled with a parent, family member, husband, wife, a teacher or even a group of kids who made me feel criticized. Or perhaps I made a mistake or poor choice that I decided (consciously or unconsciously) deserved punishment.
The experience itself may be significant or benign. Sometimes people in our lives are completely unaware of how their actions impact others. They may have been well-meaning. It doesn't matter whether or not the person intended to make us feel limited or small. The important part is how we felt about the experience and the story we made up in our minds about it.
Feelings have memory
The feeling center in our brain can help us track back to that first experience because it stores away this information. It may be catalogued differently in each person, but feelings and thoughts are very closely connected for most of us. Make note of the feelings that come up when that limitation comes up. Then start looking back in your life until you find the seed of it. Let those feelings and memories from the past bubble up to be recognized. Discovering the source of the pain helps us understand it and gives us the power to reframe it with a more positive and self-validating narrative.
Separate fact from fiction
What are the facts about the story and what part of it did you "make up"? This is the key to unraveling the old limitation. What happened is just a plain vanilla fact and nothing more. The narrative about who you are because of it - adds the color, texture, depth and feeling, which becomes your story. We can shift our painful stories to become more neutral; from regret to acceptance; from fear to "I'm willing to rediscover myself."
Why not create a new story that makes you feel empowered? One that gives you more freedom to find your joy and follow your heart.
Freedom from begins with a thought
- Remember to remember
- Find the seed
- Feelings have memory
- Separate fact from fiction
Please know that this is a process and may take some time. I invite you to let your inner spirit guide you down the path to discover it. Or seek out any help if needed, from a trusted friend, spiritual healer or even a therapist.
My guided meditation classes offer a supportive pathway for self-discovery of those unconscious limitations. The classes provide healing meditations to release the energy around old thought patterns and teach empowering concepts to transform your life. Class size is limited to help create a safe space designed for learning, questions, discussion and sharing.
See fall course offerings below:
Healing Meditation 4 - Empowerment starts Aug 6th, 10:30 am MT
Healing Meditation 5 - Manifestation starts Aug 10th, 6:30 pm MT
Prerequisite
Healing Meditation 1 - Energy Awareness
The fall classes have a prerequisite which provides the basic meditation style, energy techniques and powerful self-healing concepts used in the upper division modules. The prerequisite Module 1 is now offered as a 7-video self-paced course.
If you are new to our program and would like to take one of the classes above, there is still time to complete the self-paced Module 1 and join either the Empowerment or Manifestation module in August.
Get the package!
When registering for Module 4 or 5, choose "add to your appointment", and click on HM Module 1 to get it for half price $75 (a $150 value).
Blessings to you on your spiritual journey!
Sue
