Living Lightly in Darkness

     In my last post I spoke about attending to those actions/thought forms/feelings that add to us energetically, to recognize what those are and do more of them (as opposed to the actions/thought forms/feelings that deplete us energetically) so that we can stay in 'positive territory.' By staying in positive territory, I do not mean avoiding negative/harsh/hard experiences. We cannot avoid these things obviously - we live in a polarity reality. By staying in positive territory, I mean keep your energy up so that when the shit hits the fan as it is wont to do, you have enough energy to be with it, allow it, hold it for yourself and anyone else involved without tipping into negative thinking. When we tip into negative thinking, we are operating from the density, from the darker end of the spectrum, so that fear, doubt, anger, etc. will likely be influencing our state of being. This is where we react in anger, do or say things we later regret and/or have to apologize for. And ultimately we likely will have to revisit the issue because our reaction did not allow process or completion. We increase the density of the situation by our own dense reaction.

When we have enough energy in our energy 'bank' (because we've building energy in our own fields by doing those things that increase us), we can hold dense experiences with more equanimity. We can take a breath, expand our viewpoint waaaaaaaay out so that we can see maybe even ALL aspects of the situation with clarity. Then we can chose right action, we can respond rather than react. We can move through the experience, processing it and receiving any information or wisdom it's offering us. (And truly every single moment of our lives offers something.) Now we're rocking our experiences instead of being rocked by them.

That may look like this: my daughter gets into the car after school and immediately starts screaming at me. She knows me almost better than I know myself (she has been intently studying me for 15 years) so she knows exactly where each and every button is. She hits 'em all. If I am low on energy, I react and yell back, to defend myself, to deflect my feelings of shame, embarrassment or whatever else may come up (she's good, she knows where those hide), or I may try to flip it back onto her so I don't have to be with those hard feelings. Either way we both end up in a darker place.

Or, if I have enough energy, when she begins yelling, I begin breathing deeply, I look her in the eye so that she knows she's being heard, and I become calmer and calmer. When she's done, I may repeat what I heard her say. And then offer some empathy, compassion or whatever the situation calls for in that moment. Then I might wait a bit and when she's calm, I might ask her how her day was, because obviously it was tough if she needed to off-load it in that way. And then she tells me about some heinous high-school shit that went down, I empathize and hold the space while she works it out in her own being, and then we're done. And later I can look at the words she screamed and see if any of it is mine to own, or all hers. Now I'm rocking my experience and hers.

Suggestions for things that add to us energetically that we can do daily: meditation, yoga, working out, hiking/being in Nature, being in water, eating foods that are really good for us, connecting with self, family and friends, service of any kind, conscious breathing, massage/body work, studying with a master or teacher (or reading their teachings), journaling, creating something, engaging in hobbies, etc. etc. etc.

So lastly, I repeat, by using the terms 'positive' and 'negative', I am not making a judgement about experiences. These are actually neutral terms when it comes to energy. Think of a magnet; one end has a positive charge and one end has a negative charge. The ocean has negatively charged ions which balance out our positively charged ions which is why we feel so good after being in or near water. In Oneness, all emotions, experiences, people, choices are equal; they all have value well beyond our understanding. There is no guy in the sky looking down saying "That's good and that other is bad." Only we do that. Only we judge. And we have the free will to stop judging. Judging is a deeply engrained habit, tightly woven into the fabric of human society and psychology. And yet, there's us, there's our free will. The Piscean Age was all about judgement, and we've (VERY) recently stepped out of that epoch. Now we're tiptoeing into the Aquarian Age, where judgment has no value because it's a non-reality. I see this new reality already dawning in the teenagers of today - they call each other out for judging all the time. I can't even tell you how that increases my energy ;)

So that's it, that's my spiel. Have at it <3