Finding Your Balance, Riding the Wave

Everything is going my way!

Wait, this is too good to be true...

Crash.

(And just when you were wondering how everything got to be so good...)

When you're riding along on the crest just say "no" to the tendency to get scared and wonder if something is going to come along and throw you off that wave and dump you head first onto the shore. Because as you focus on that fear, well, you create that very opportunity to spit out a bit of sand. Why? To teach you to stop it!

Because just as that little voice of negative self-talk chimes in with "I know it can't last," or "when everything starts to go well, something always comes along to spoil it," or even better, "Who do I think I am, I don't deserve all this!" we lose our balance. We come out of our center (our heart, our passion, our spirit) and lean toward fear.

Whatever the belief you're working through, it overrides everything good that comes your way, and even though we do deserve the success, happiness, joy, and abundance, this is where we crash. This is where you allow self-sabotage in your life just to prove to yourself that you are right about the core beliefs you identify with. (And learn that these barriers have been placed by your own hands.)

So, why is it that we think that we should hold only a certain amount of happiness or success…or love?

Why do we convince ourselves that riding the wave, and having a good, long ride is not possible (or maybe not even allowed?)

We constantly attract the people and situations that reflect our own interior state of being in order to release those limiting thoughts and move toward pure joy.

So the next time you're spitting out the sand, ask yourself:

1. What am I doing to draw this to my life?
2. What is the lesson I need to learn from this situation so that I do not have to repeat it?

Your life is purely a mirror of yourself-talk. Every single moment of peace, chaos, happiness, sadness, miracles and explosions are of your own divine creation. And, they are all reflections of your beliefs, your conscious and unconscious thoughts, the things you are aware of and the things you choose not to see or believe about yourself. And this negative voice – the one that tells you your are about to come crashing off the joy ride and holds all of the lies that you have been told about yourself or chosen to believe – drowns the light filled truth that you really are.

It is time to get out of your head and to stop rationalizing and to move into your heart and open it up and embrace all your widest passion-filled aspirations. It is time to move past the untruths, insecurities, and misdirected loyalties. It is time to paddle out to that big wave and stand in trust, in love, balanced with forgiveness and compassion, and ride with reckless abandon! Fearless and free!

May you be blessed!

image credit: canstockphoto.com

Plant peas and say thank you!

...you might just go a long way in healing yourself and help heal the Earth as well...

Many thousands of years ago, the ancient Chinese practice and philosophy of Acupuncture recognized a flow of life force energy, called Chi, which is responsible for the health and functioning of all of our body systems, both bio-chemical and electromagnetic in nature. We gather chi from our relationships, the foods we eat, our mental and emotional states, and from the Universe at large. Chi energy runs through a grid system throughout our bodies called meridians. If the meridians of our body are not open or functioning properly, the flow of Chi energy is blocked, and consequent ill health is the result.

Like Acupuncture, there are many energy modalities which have been developed to release and clear the blockages to that impede the flow of natural life force energy. These healing arts are practiced successfully in treating all kinds of dis-ease in medical and spiritual traditions around the world. Crystal Gridding and Spiritual Resonance Healing are among my favorites. Today, we are able to blend Science with Shamanism,  Ceremony with Celebration, and Quantum Physics with Quiet Joy to create profound healing in our physical and subtle bodies.

The Earth is also a living being whose body has many parallels to our own. As we are electromagnetic organisms who run on energy, the Earth also has a meridian system which distributes the life force energy throughout Her body. Today, however, it has become overburdened with toxins, both physical, psychic, and electromagnetic, all man-made distortions and pollutions, and as a result Her grid system is not able to function correctly causing a variety of distortions in the energies emitted from the Earth. Have you noticed an increase in eruptions and disruptions? Think. And, feel.

Indigenous people have long known the importance of doing ceremony to maintain the balance of humanity with nature. In our modern day society, we have lost sight of this important function and our celebrations are merely Hallmark occasions with little or no real meaning or purpose still left.  

The internet is full of examples of what can be done to heal the pollution in our bodies and our world and by utilizing cutting edge technologies, by going Green, by thinking about our food and where it comes from, by conserving resources. But Earth's healing must first come by our connection to Spirit. 

Our Spirit. Her Spirit. And the flow of life force energy that makes us one.

I pray that Spring's miraculous capacity to renew, refresh, and revitalize will stimulate your own desire to explore how to come back into a harmonious relationship with nature by working consciously with Earth's Spirit to heal these stresses. 

Start simple. Create a little ceremony and affirm your intention to reawaken to life on Earth as the Creator intended. Create a vessel for your intention. Take a little clay pot and paint it with bright colors, healing symbols, or geometric shapes. Plant some peas in the pot, nurture them, sing to them, and then eat them with your loved ones. Say thankyou as you savor the taste of sunshine and soil and the labor of your love. Recycle the soil. Regift the pot. Feel love and connection. And watch yourself grow!

May you be blessed!

 

Choosing Reflection over Reaction: Tools for Transformation

 

We are living in challenging times. Yes, times they are a changin'! Human beings are tranforming, whether we want to, like it, or not. Our global economy, climate change, their politics, our politics... the call for compassion, sustainability, human rights...

We Lightworkers have actively been working toward this moment for several decades, and now en masse, humanity's (panicky) collective consciousness is seeking ways to become pro-active rather than reactive to the changes in our lives lest we become totally freaked out!

Recently a client asked me how to best remain calm, focused, and relaxed in the midst of her financial life, relationship life, and spiritual life all in obvious transistions. As we talked, it became obvious that there's really one good answer. Reflect before you act. Expect and respect the unexpected. And, say  "thank you", no matter what.

I approach each day with the attitude that there’s going to be at least one aha moment that will challenge my beliefs or behavior, an important lesson, and probably plenty of teachable moments coming. So I look for them and welcome them as interesting oppportunities for discovery rather than fear or dread them as negative, embarrasing, or stressful.

I also feed my capacity for creativity and innovation by participating in inspiring moments and things I find JOY in doing. I find time to indulge in things that provide sustenance to my  creative soul and curious mind. And, I don't feel guilty about it.  I value play’s ability to keep my mind sharp, agile and open to unpredictable moments. The beauty of play is that the lessons I learned in childhood bubble up and remain valuable in every aspect of my life – communication, problem-solving, ingenuity, innovation, resourcefulness, and creativity – all useful skills to enhance my human potential to be calm, compassionate, and courageous in any given moment.

I believe that good, personal health habits are a must. I eat right, drink plenty of water, get the rest I need when I need it, and I find time to both meditate and walk at least an hour a day. It is a priority. Obstacles can become opportunities when approached with imagination, innovation, and a healthy body, mind and spirit.  A healthy lifestyle ensures that you possess the energy as well as the ability to overcome all things. Yes, we are what we eat. And, we are who we think we are.

You also need a daily commitment, passion, intention, discipline, honest and real effort, patience and belief that your soul's work will be rewarded in time. You gotta trust the process and be committed to your dream even when unexpected change happens. Pray, meditate, then get over it, turn the page. Release it to the Universe. Stop obsessing.

If that sounds unsympathetic, well I guess it may be. But no one serves themselves or anyone else a heaping helping of love and light by playing the victim. Remember: You have the capacity to be tremendously resilient. You possess an ability to be resourceful, creative, healthy, and joyful.
Just say, "thank you."
No matter what...

May you be blessed!

Once Upon a Time... Oshun

In 1996, as part of my Reiki Master candidacy, I set up
Reiki programs with several nursing homes in the area.
This was unheard of at the time. Through a community
outreach grant and the activities directors at a few of
the more prestigious places, I was able to send Reiki
practioners into the facilities to give Reiki to residents
free of charge. I had all kinds of documented studies on relaxation and pain relief which I presented to boards of directors, nurses, and MD’s.

I was also able, through Hospice, to attend transitions and provide services ‘til the end if requested. It was all very groundbreaking and heady stuff, and I felt that I was doing important work
bringing alternative and natural care to venues where mainstream medicine and ho-hum care was the norm.

There were newspaper articles about my work, workshops to give, CEUs for nursing staff, and my mastership was assured. I was really something! I could see my future. I had business
cards printed, ordered really nice state-of-the-art body work tables and was ready to set up a practice and hire the office help! So I thought...

One of my first clients was an elderly woman from the Dominican Rebublic ( I think). She did not know how old she was, although I would guess that she was in her late 90’s. She had come to the US as a teen and worked for several generations for a wealthy family from New
York City who summered here in Wolfeboro, the oldest summer resort in America. She loved it here on the lake. And so it was here that she was resting.

Nanny, as she was known, had cared for this family and their children, and now those children, in gratitude and love had made sure she would spend the rest of her life with the best care money could buy. She was a resident in the best nursing home here, with water views, and fine china, and good art in the dining room. Her bed linens were not issued by the laundry service, they were very fine, a European duvet was covered in embroidered eyelet lace. The exquisite antique furnishings in her room were obviously brought in from the lake house. And every week, I noticed a magnificent arrangement of fresh flowers by the window. Hotel lobby size, no carnations.

The smiling faces of generations of tanned, blue-eyed blond children filled the room in silver frames. Some on horses, some with tennis rackets, in caps and gowns, and some, in wedding gowns, all with Nanny.

She had her hair done every week, and she wore matching Laura Ashley gowns and robes and wore an expensive gold watch, little diamonds in her ears. This was no one’s servant, this was someone’s beloved mother. This was a queen. Now I realize her room and her body, a temple to the Goddess, but how could I have known then? Even they who built it, and maintained it, did not know.

Several strokes had left Nanny with garbled speech and little mobility. She did not mix with the other residents nor did she take part in activities. And although her mind was still pretty sharp, her frail body was withering, and she waited for the spirits of ancestors of her Dominican Republic family to come for her and finally bring her home. I never met her New York family, although I suppose in the end they came for her too.

Nanny did not want the clergy to visit nor did she want the dog lady to bring in the great golden retriever who lavished affection on the residents. She did, however, want an appointment to see the healer.

And that was me.

In those days I was very professional. I would play whale songs and flutes on my little portable CD player and focus on hand positions, carefully listening with my hands. I never brought crystals with me. Never spoke of spirit guides. I was careful not to come across too witchy or new-age. I was after federal grant money, after all.

Nanny was just bones in her bed to the untrained eye, but my hands sensed amazing life force contained in that little body. It was very different energy from any other of the nursing home residents which usually felt very flat, depressed or depleted. I was awestruck at her vibrancy! At
the end of our first session she smiled and said, “thank you Oshun.”
“Susan,” I said.
“Oshun.”

Of course, I assumed (because of her disability or English as her second language) could not
say Susan and what did I care? She was peaceful, not in any pain and she enjoyed our time together. She wanted me to come back. My ego was gratified. I kept notes, documenting it all for an eventual grant.

Each time, I tried to tell her that my name was Susan (soon to be famous Susan, friend of Deepak Chopra and Bill Moyer, right!) And each time I came to give her Reiki treatments she thanked Oshun. Susan. Oshun. Susan. Oshun.

I came to see that her vibrancy was very heart centerd. It was her love force. It was the children she cared for, the beauty of the lake that she loved. Her gratitude for being loved, for having loved. Her life force was her love force. I wrote that down. I was profound!

Toward the end of her life she seemed to gain a little strength, and one day she reached out and took my hand. “Oshun,” she said and I felt a wave of energy shoot through me. Try as I might I could not flow anything to her. Some Reiki Master.

She wanted me to return though and I did but I was beginning to doubt my abilities.

From that day forth I was on the receiving end with Nanny, and luckily I was just wise enough, and just open enough to finally accept it without guilt or judgement. I changed. I remembered.

Why my conditioning and discipline as a Reiki Master Candidate didn’t get in the way remains a mystery. But I allowed the mystery to unfold and Nanny continued to thank Oshun. Then one day, while browsing thru a book about Tarot card decks at Barnes and Noble I discovered that Oshun was a Goddess!

I was able to tell Nanny that I had discovered Oshun and that I understood what she was trying
to tell me. I studied. It was all very different, yet so familiar. I told her about Venus, Istar, Kali. Yemayacame to me in dreams. Oya, Oshun. I began to understand.

Oshun’s holy day is September 11. I told Nanny that was my birthday. She nodded, she knew. She told me pieces of the stories of her remembering. I told her there were similar stories in the Hopi tradition, Zen wisdom tales, and Bilblical parables. She knew. I knew.

She would take my hand and give me her gift. The transmissions were always the same, very distinct energy, although they lasted only a few seconds. An hour long Reiki session seemed ridiculous, infantile, when this energy could be passed in an instant. I began to question everything I knew about spiritual and mind/body healing modalities, including Reiki. It was apparent that I would become a Master of Nothing but Questions.

One day I asked her how she did that. Her answer was simple. “Love you.”

Nanny passed with her hand in mine. I felt her go in a flash of love. She simply became love. In one instant, like light, she was only love. I will never fear death because Nanny showed me how to do it. She was simply restored.

But she gave me lots to fear and and lots to get over in life. She set me upon a path where I confronted my ideas of what a Master is and is not. What a healer is. What spirituality can be. What life is for. What threads connect us all.

Search, abandon. God, Goddess. Create, dissolve. Intellectualize, forget. Finally, all that was left
was the power of love. And the Spirit of Oshun.

Much of this story remains untold because there is no language suitable for miracles. I hold much experience sacred in silence where it belongs. Nanny is one of my greatest teachers, and I have been blessed with some profound ones. Nanny was Priestess, Healer, Teacher, Friend.

I share this story primarily because I want you to keep your heart open, especially when you think you are on the path, doing the do, walking the talk. When you think you are it.
That’s when you need to get ready to re-evaluate in a big way.

Whenever you interact with anyone, remember, by design, each one of us has a profound gift to give another just at the right, life-altering moment. I might have become just another Reiki Master with a massage therapist and accupuncturist sharing space in a strip mall if I had not met Nanny. That's what I wanted to be! That was my highest calling, a dream come true! I never would have become an ebay psychic or swam naked with dolphins and study with Taino elders, or create Oshun Spirit Fragrance Oil, or...

And, I might have even feared an ancient tradition or two, locked in judgement and a false sense of superiority, if I had not embraced the appearance of Oshun in my life.

Like I said, I was just barely wise enough to not let ego and emotion get in the way of a life altering experience. Nanny joyfully possesed Oshun’s dancing spirit, I saw her fully present in the last breath of a tiny, crippled woman. I saw the Goddess in her, I know.

So, instead of becoming a Master I became a student.
Oh, I had the certificate, but it was more of a birth certificate than anything else. The Goddess had taken my hand, literally. She had awakened me to the power of love.

In the hours I sat with Nanny, gazing out her big picture window at the lake, looking at her framed photographs, smelling her roses and lillies, smoothing her beautifully coiffed hair, I also sat with Oshun. With beauty. With harmony. With the love emotion of the initiated. With the knowledge that love is the only question, the only answer, the only prayer.

May you be blessed!

Image credit: www.gods-heros-myth.com/gallery/jessica/oshun.jpg

Eating for enlightenment

Much has been written about the health benefits of a vegetarian diet from which dead and devitalized substances have been eliminated. Ecological principles are also cited as a prime consideration for restructuring our diets to better serve the fragile ecosystems of the Earth and our own bodies.

But what about the spiritual impact of eating a diet in accordance with the laws of the Universe?

Gabriel Cousens, M.D. goes into great detail in his book, Spiritual Nutrition and the Rainbow Diet, describing the system through which he believes cosmic energy feeds and nourishes our physical bodies. This system begins with the potential energy that fills the cosmos prior to the materialization of an object. The first "stepping down" of this virtual energy is into something called a tachyon field space, which can be thought of as the virtual state trying to become a particle. This tachyon field energy is next stepped down as a particle of matter called a photon. This continues to be stepped down into what he refers to as Subtle Organizing Energy Fields (SOEFs). SOEFs create the template form of living systems, resonate with and energize the mind and body.

It is believed is that a perfectly organized SOEF can transfer by resonance from the level of purely cosmic energy to the biological level without a loss of energy. The SOEFs work in conjunction with the chakras and a series of subtle energy fields that regulate the flow of energy into the different parts of the body. Cousens says that the functioning of the SOEFs is impacted by the foods we eat: "When we eat in a healthy, harmonious way, our ability to attune and commune with the Divine is enhanced."

When we eat foods of high vibration that are raw, organic, and living, and when we live an energizing, harmonious lifestyle, the energy of the SOEFs is enhanced. When energized, the SOEFs develop a more structured, defined organization that better maintains the form and function of the human system. This optimal function can reverse entropy or aging. On the other hand, when SOEFs are depleted through eating low energy foods and living energy-depleting lifestyles, they become less organized and the body ages.

This is why the true source of abundance is the ability to receive this unlimited cosmic energy free flowing into the SOEFs and the physical body. As our mind and body become better conductors, we're able to store and transmit greater and greater amounts of higher energy. This explains how miracles occur in the presence of spiritual masters!

Raw plant foods, laughter, joy, bliss and unconditional love all exist on the same frequency. Tuning into this frequency raises the overall vibration of your energy field, causing anything that is vibrating at a lower frequency, such as fear, pain, depression and toxins to eventually percolate out to be removed from the body.

Once we clean our minds and bodies, we are able to live with the lightness that less eating and a clean body will produce and we will be able ready to get in touch with a much higher plane. As you change your diet to natural high-vibrational foods, and become free of the toxic waste, inner channels of receptivity are opened. We become dramatically less dense and better able to pick up those cosmic vibrations and forces that were beyond our perception in the past!

A whole new dimension of sensitivities awakens, especially a more profoundly intimate knowledge of our oneness identity, and we become more open to Universal Love, wisdom and guidance.

The body derives its nourishment from pranic energy, but when the body is dirty, it's hard for it to use pranic energy. When people eat cooked food and put things into their bodies that don't belong there, this toxic build up makes our third eye blind. As people start to eat cleaner, more healthful foods, our psychic abilities open and we are able to see our true nature.

As I move further along my spiritual path, the benefits of eating a raw food diet becomes more and more apparent. It makes sense to me that freeing energy that would otherwise be spent digesting heavy food gives me more energy for spiritual pursuits. It also makes sense that eating foods of high vibration raises my vibration.

Our real nourishment is Divine energy. May you be blessed!

brighten your day!

When you're happy, you feel better, look better, and are better! Here are some simple and effective tips you can use to brighten your day!

• Get outside! Whenever you feel bored, antsy, or gloomy, go for a walk. The fresh air, changing scenery, and exercise will boost your mood. See the sun daily. The sun's rays may encourage your body to produce natural chemicals that induce joy. Go outdoors at night and look to the heavens. Whenever you have a chance to relax under the stars, do it. Gazing at the night sky makes you feel more connected to the world.

• Meditate while you walk. Stroll through a familiar part of town and focus your mind on its sights, smells, and sounds. If other thoughts pop up, acknowledge them but return your concentration to what's around you.

• Answer slowly. Take a deep breath before responding to a question from anyone, whether it's your boss, your mother, or your lover. Chances are you'll say something smarter (and kinder). Bow out gracefully. The next time you argue with someone, be the first person to relent and acknowledge the other person's point of view. You'll both be smiling sooner.

• Marry beauty and practicality. Next time you need an everyday object, like a cereal bowl or a coffee mug, choose the most pleasing replacement you can afford. When you use it, notice its simple elegance. Place a small but exquisite painting, handmade vase, natural object, or other piece of art prominently in your home. Admire it often.

• Add greenery. Adorn your desk and kitchen counter with cut flowers, houseplants, or potted herbs. Plants are proven mood enhancers. Revel in simplicity. Buy a single rose, tulip, or gerber daisy. Admire the color and shape of the petals and remember how beautiful life can be.

• Care for yourself. Eat fresh food, drink pure water. Create a home spa in which you can retreat, relax and renew. Treat yourself to scented candles, therapuetic bath salts and oils, aromatherapy, soft towels and uplifting music.

• Remember kindness. Recall a situation in which a friend treated you kindly. Mentally extend the feelings of joy she inspired back to her. Keep in touch. Write a friend. Use your best pen and beautiful stationery. Realize that you are actually sending love. Know you're loved. There's no greater joy!

Distance Energy Healing

Physical distance is not a barrier to a healing interaction. Energy healing can be accomplished at a distance just as easily as in person. A skilled healer can sense the energy field of the person receiving the healing and provide healing equally effectively if the person is in the same room or across the world. There are many ways one might understand how distance healing works. Much of our everyday experience involves the transfer of energy over long distances. In fact, satellite dishes are just one example. There are energies all about us traveling great distances in short amounts of time, including radio waves. The "life energy" used by healers is a subtle energy that is "faster than light energy" (Richard Gerber, MD, Vibrational Medicine).

From my own viewpoint, it is not necessary for the energy to "travel" anywhere as I am able to "see" the universe as being like a holograph, where the whole is contained in every part. Time and distance are only concepts which help define our "ordinary" third dimensional reality. The laws of nature which describe subtle energies in the higher dimensions are different than those which describe the denser frequencies including the physical body. As physics explores the layers of the structure of creation, phenomena become less and less "localized". Physicists describe a unified field. This is the field in which I work, actually an altered state of awareness in which the limitations of time and distance have been transcended. Awareness itself, the field of intelligence and "beingness" in which this whole phenomenal world is contained, is completely non-local.

Please feel free to email me at suberry@verizon.net if you would like to learn more about the energy healing modalities and services that I offer on my website Oshun Spirit Earth Friendly Goods. I look forward to opening my heart as a channel for healing, growth and awareness in your life.