Tag: awakening
To Give AND To Receive!
To receive is just as much from the heart as giving!
Much has been said about allowing ourselves to receive (which is just as important as giving), but how many of us really know how to do it? I would count myself among those who – rather unwittingly – seem to resonate with the old adage “it is better to give than to receive.”
I’ve always considered myself a giving person. Giving of my time, energy, compassion, laughter, and yes, some of the more material things in life too (my present wrapping skills are top notch!). I’m a natural giver. It comes to me very easily. I do what I do because I want to, and because I know it makes a difference in people’s lives. I like making people feel special, and I’ve been told I have a particular talent for it.
However, receiving is another story!
Oh, I know that you can’t have giving without receiving. I also know that someone else has always been on the receiving end of my giving. Becoming the receiver myself has always been difficult. It’s not that I’m not appreciative. I am! Deeply and truly appreciative. However, on some level, a part of me seems to wonder if I really deserve it. I wonder if you feel the same way?
Of course, it’s easier with the smaller things. You made cookies for me? Thank you, that was very nice. I need a ride to work while my car is in the shop? Your kindness is so appreciated. And when I needed to shoulder to cry on, you were the very support I needed. But as soon as a certain threshold is reached, that little voice inside my head pipes up and says that it is too much. Too much money spent, too much of an imposition for you, too much of yourself shared with me. “Who am I,” the voice proclaims, “to deserve so much?” This often stops me in my tracks and causes me to feel hesitant, insecure, and even bad about being on the receiving end of such a lovely gift. Why do I not feel worthy enough to receive such a large expression of kindness? From being on the giving end, I can tell you that I enjoy making people feel special and doing things to let them know I care. I certainly feel as though they are worthy of my gifts. Why then, would the same not be true for me?
Clearly, this is something for me to explore in more depth. In the meantime, I am going to work on receiving with gratitude instead of meeting it with insecurity. In fact, this may be the only New Year’s resolution I set this year! If you find that you also have difficulty receiving, I invite you to join me. We’ll soon find that is better to both give AND to receive!
Colby Hall
Trinity Energy Progression Facilitator/Practitioner
F.E.A.R.
When did I first know fear?
– Was I afraid of being born into this world while I was still in the womb?
– Was I afraid to be separated when the umbilical cord was cut?
– Did my mother pass along fears she may have had during my birth as a result of her miscarriage before her pregnancy with me?
– Was I afraid of moving from the protective darkness of the womb into the light of the world?
I continue to wonder if fear is innate to the human experience, and if so, if fear is something we need to learn to live with so that it empowers rather than impedes us. Maybe security blankets and night lights are just the beginning of ways we learn to live with it when we are babies. And then what?
Throughout my life, I have experienced the duality of fear:
– Fear of not knowing; fear of knowing
– Fear of being lost and alone; fear of losing myself in others
– Fear of looking at my authentic self in the mirror; fear of not recognizing who I see
– Fear of being too smart; fear of not being smart enough
– Fear of the unknown; fear of the known
– Fear of the dark; fear of the light
– Fear of making the wrong move; being frozen with fear
– Fear of failure; fear of success
– Fear that happiness is temporary; fear that sadness isn’t
– Fear of loving too much; fear of loving too little
– Fear of feeling smothered by love; fear of starving for love
– Fear of being in a relationship where my authentic self isn’t flourishing; fear of being alone
– Fear of knowing myself; fear of not knowing who I am
My journey has enabled me to realize that my fears are based on not fully loving myself unconditionally. Fear may live in our past. But I have realized that in each moment of our present, we have a choice to love ourselves unconditionally, and in doing so, to say no to living in fear.
I am still learning how to:
– Live with fears that arise by observing them and seeing how they could serve and empower me rather than sabotage and impede me.
– Open my heart and let unconditional love and light lift me out of fear
– Transform fear into something I can live with and not in, so that my authentic self can flourish
As I reframe my perspective on fear, I am reframing/transforming acronyms for F.E.A.R. into:
– Forget Everything And Remember
– Face Everything And Rejoice
– Feel Excited And Ready
– Forget Everything And Relax
– Face Everything And Remember
– Fortunately Everything is All Right
– Feel Entirely Absolutely Resourceful
What does F.E.A.R. stand for to you?
Sandi Newton
Trinity Energy Progression Facilitator/Practitioner
Shadow Boxing
“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light,
but by making the darkness conscious.” CG Jung
I should’ve bought that bottle of wine
I’d drink it down in no time
Drown my sorrows, run from my past
Except I know now, this never lasts
No denying what’s happened
In this life of mine
Pure excavation, doing my time
To weed out, to blend, to mend
To reap, to sow, no fitting in
An outcast, a comic, no believer in sin
A mother, a sister, an old dear friend
Tried and true – weathered and worn
No sleep in the night – I must always fight
For freedom – for liberty – no path to the right
So stand up I must – no easy way out
Face demons returned, for the final bout.
Tammy Taylor
Trinity Energy Progression Facilitator/Practitioner
Celebrate Life this Festive Season (and ALL the Time)!
Are you celebrating life this year, this season, this week? Do you see life as one big party and a nonstop adventure? If the answer is no, my question to you is “why not?” Life is meant to be celebrated… to be lived to the fullest and to the fullest extent of joy and happiness. It’s not just for the holiday season, even though most people do tend to get jollier in the month of December. Think of when you were a kid—were you not happy? Children are naturally joyful beings and they don’t know a different way (at least not typically). They intuitively understand that they are here to be happy and they have a natural enthusiasm for life. They want to thrive! That’s why many adults love being around children–they make them feel youthful again and it helps them remember what it was like to be a bouncing ball of energy. Even if kids have a rough day, they know how to bounce back quickly. It doesn’t take long to see the return of a smile on their face. Ahhh, that’s because they have resiliency…they know tomorrow will be another day. In fact, it doesn’t even take until tomorrow for them to get into a better mood; they are usually cheerful within the hour. Lol! Again, this is because they innately KNOW they are here to be happy and that life is meant to be enjoyed every day.
I attended a very unique holistic fair recently, and in fact, I even had a booth in it. It’s called the Holistic Festival of Life & Wellness. The name alone implies a life-enhancing, life-giving event. It was filled with life in so many ways, even down to the marketing materials. The flyers were created with bright, vibrant colors and the words almost jumped off of the paper. There was so much positive energy exuding from the flyers that I knew this was a festival for me. I could feel the energy and the intentions of the creators; I could feel the love and unity and the celebration. Regarding the actual event, the room was packed with dynamic practitioners and professionals who were passionate about sharing their services and products—many of which had left a dull and stressful job to do what they love to do most. It was so refreshing to see the smiles on their faces as they stood behind their booths eagerly waiting for people to stop by eager anticipation. Not only was this gratifying to watch, but I was also one of these excited vendors there to celebrate life. I had left a hum drum life to join the forces of the creative spiritual world to do what I loved. The stage was also filled with another type of warmth—passionate musicians and dancers. They were incredible performers and the shows lasted ALL day long. Featured acts included belly dancers, drummers, conscious singers, sound healers, ecstatic dancers, and comic entertainers. The performing groups had names like Wild Sky Tribal, Little Goddess Tribe, Daisy Windsong, and Tribal Evolution. These people were authentic to who they are. They were there to thrive! They shared their jubilant and festive spirits with one and all and it was like there was no tomorrow. They smiled ear to ear and they lit up the room with so much love and light and amazing energy. All I can say is Wow! The event lasted from 10:00am—10:00pm and the entertainment outlasted the guests. This is not indicative of people who are bored, sad, dull, or depressed. These are vibrant souls who have discovered the magic of life and who have decided to celebrate it.
We have a choice. We can be happy or sad, alive or bored. We all have down days from time to time and that’s part of the human experience. There’s nothing wrong with that and it’s important that we accept the “dark” times as well as the “light” times. It all comes from a place of love and it was created in love. However, we don’t have to stay down… and we don’t have to hold onto the lower vibrational experiences of life. We don’t have to be attached to them and we don’t have to exist in a hum drum or mundane state. We are allowed to and worthy to release anything that no longer serves us. For many of us, that means releasing the chains that bind us….the chains that hold us back from living a life of abundance, joy, and freedom. Happiness is one of the most significant contributions we can make to ourselves. When we’re happy, we open up a vortex of well-being and it’s an avenue for all good things to flow to and through us, including abundance and optimal health. Happiness and joy are very high vibrational states. High vibes attract more high vibes.
During this holiday season of shopping, decorating, parties, and family visits, it can be quite challenging to keep up a perky mood in the midst of family obligations and responsibilities. We’ve been conditioned that we have to do it in a certain way and that we must hustle and bustle to get it all done. We have a conscious choice to ring in the holidays with stress or with smiles. We are deserving of spending our days exactly the way we want to, doing the activities that we love to do and not doing the activities we don’t want to do. This is what high vibrational living is all about and this is the meaning of true freedom. If we love and value ourselves, this is exactly what we’ll be doing…and it’s truly worth celebrating!
Life produces life. Energy produces energy. Joy produces joy. Like attracts like. Let’s ring in the holidays with the joy and vibrancy of life. Emulate and embody our TRUE selves, which is complete, utter, and endless happiness. Celebrate life like nobody’s watching and bring in the New Year with promise, hope, and trust. Is this how you would like to step into 2016??
Sandy Anthony
Trinity Energy Progression Facilitator/Practitioner
The (In-)Equality of Pride and Humility
One night, at an open spiritual discussion meetup group I used to run, I was talking about my understanding of the Divine being completely within us (which is the premise of Trinity Energy Progression), existing in a state beyond ego and in unconditional love and acceptance. One of the attendees asked me, “What about pride and humility?”
I asked, “What about it?”
The person continued with, “Isn’t it more important to be humble than full of pride?”
This topic comes up repeatedly, in different forums. We perpetuate SO MUCH culturally and via belief systems (including general spirituality), around the importance of showing humility! I see so many others in the public spiritual forum talk about their own humility, how important it is to them, how important it is for others to show. The inflection: That it’s better to be humble than it is to have pride. We’ve decided, collectively, that humility is a virtue and pride isn’t.
Actually, we’ve decided – or rather, the ego has decided – that it’s BETTER and MORE VIRTUOUS to be humble than it is to have pride… and really, that it’s ok to have pride in being humble. Oh, the irony of that!
Here are definitions, from the Mirriam-Webster Dictionary:
humility: Having or showing a low estimate of one’s own importance.
pride: A feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.
Here’s what’s important to consider when looking at this, and with any other judgment about ourselves and others, at all: They’re all formed in duality and separation. My understanding is that the ego was created with the “job” of exploring the perception/experience of duality and separation, so all of the energies and emotions around such are ego-based: fear, anxiety, regret, resentment, guilt, doubt, sorrow, pain, judgment, shame, etc. And yes, judgment is created only in duality and separation… so it’s based in the ego, and judging anything as “more than” OR “less than” is… you got it… based in the ego, as well. Therefore, BOTH pride and humility are ego-based perceptions, regardless of the individual’s use of them.
When we begin to remember the perspective that EVERYONE is the Divine expressed as who they are, when we see the Universe through the eyes of Oneness, what happens is that we start seeing through the eyes of acceptance and unconditional love. Likewise, we start seeing everyone and everything as equally magnificent, beautiful, amazing, awesome, and Divine. In unity, it’s not that “no one’s special”; it’s that we ALL are! Even what the ego considers (judges) most depraved, most in lack, what we perceive as “dark” or “evil.” It ALL has a higher purpose in this symphony that we’ve created. BOTH pride and humility are based on a scale of separation and comparison; once we accept all as Divine, we remember how to just BE, free of the need of hierarchy or importance, standing in the truth and full expanse of our wholeness. It’s simply achieving a state of full IS-ness… knowing that we are all.
I remember once a conversation I had with a friend about my frustration with some seeing me up on a pedestal beyond them; my friend replied, “Oh, come on, admit it… you like being on the pedestal…”
I laughed and said, “Of course, I LOVE it! However… I’m ready for everyone around me to realize that THEY’RE up on the pedestal with me, for the awesomeness that THEY are, so we can all just PLAY!”
“Well, then, there is no pedestal, is there?”
“Of course not… ” But that’s a conversation for another day… 🙂
When we say “Namaste,” we’re essentially saying, “The Divine in me bows to the Divine in you“…
Namaste,
D5 Creation