Here is your Video Inspiration for the week:
PS: You can receive these video Ezines in your email box every Friday morning; Subscribe Here And receive my gift for you when you do!
“Tap into Your Inner Guidance” A Commentary from Richard
November 8, 2012 — RichardRosemary’s Video and “Exploration” this week offer an excellent way to gain insight into our life, the direction our life is taking and even a method of acquiring that guidance, like our GPS systems acquire the satellites to help us navigate along the highways. And she makes it sound so easy, doesn’t she!
Well, for men this isn’t always the easiest thing to do. In Taoist understanding men have a lot of yang energy, active energy to go out and get things done (even if we are unsure of what it is we are to do at times!). Women have a lot of yin, passive energy to go inside, go quite and seek answers to “what is to be done” – and then to be receptive to what comes in the way of guidance. Taoists teach balance and seek balance between yin and yang energies – receiving and acting. And this is the core of Rosemary’s teaching this week.
It’s important to seek this guidance for a number of reasons; the most prominent is to be sure we are on the route of our “Soul Purpose” our raison d’être. Rosemary throws this out as a given…that we know what our Soul Purpose is, and that we seek the inner guidance to assure ourselves we are on the correct path. But sometimes what we have to seek is that Purpose itself!
Do you know your Soul Purpose? Do you know the answer to your “Big Why?”
Perhaps the answer to this question is the first one to seek inside.
In her commentary Rosemary offers a way to go inside and to get the answers to the big questions. Breathe, tune-in, stay quiet and listen. Listen for any answers, signs, symbols, that come up. Assess these. Separate out the ones that seem judgmental, are coming from ego rather than some deeper place. Note the yin approach to this inner inquiry. It often works quite well for men and women alike.
There are also yang approaches to gaining the guidance our soul urges on us. Rosemary has offered to share additional tools in future videos and commentaries. I look forward to these! Meanwhile I’ll share an approach that has worked well for me.
A number of years ago I read The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I can say that a few books have changed my life; this is one. I follow a practice recommended by Cameron to write out three long-hand pages of text every day, preferably first thing every morning. Cameron calls these “morning pages.” This practice works for me. And it is a way for me to “tap into my inner guidance.” Note the yang, active approach to this method. The guidance comes as I empty my mind and simply write what comes. In a way it is like “following the breath” in meditation practice; I follow my pen…
There are many ways to seek inner guidance. Active, passive, with words, symbols, studying our dreams, following our breath. The key is to first quiet the mind, the ego, to do the listening, active or passive; then to trust the guidance and follow it. And this is why we call it “practice.” It’s a life-long pursuit!
PS: In addition to the many tools to tap into our inner guidance there are ways to determine and expand on our Soul Purpose. Rosemary offers an incredible and comprehensive approach to this through Scientific Hand Analysis. If you are unsure of your Big Why? check out the details on Rosemary’s Website
EXPLORATION: Tap into Your Inner Guidance
November 7, 2012 — RosemaryDid you know that you have an internal Guidance System that is like a GPS for your life? It’s there and it’s always available, but you must learn to crank up the volume and trust the guidance you receive.
Unlike the navigation system [or SatNav, as our friends in other countries call it] in your car, your internal GPS really DOES know the best route for you to take through your life. This is the guidance that keeps you on track for living your Soul Purpose. It’s important to learn how to turn this guidance system on.
The first step to tapping into your inner guidance is to take a deep breath and bring your attention to your inside being, your inner self. When you focus on deep breathing you energize your inner being and begin to disconnect from the outer turbulence we call ‘life.’
After a few deep breaths, bring your awareness to your heart area so that you are connecting at a deeper level than at your conscious mind, which will only distract you with ‘what ifs’ and ‘how abouts.’ Your goal here is to get to the guidance that is connected to your higher self so that you can ‘see’ the road ahead of you without worrying about the distractions around you.
Now ask your question. If you feel the answer in a feeling or a sound or a vision, then just stay with that until you understand the message. Sometimes the answer comes as a soft voice speaking in a way that you can understand. Sometimes it is a symbol that you can interpret by examining it further. Sometimes the message is very clear and sometimes it is subtler. But there is always a message, for even if you don’t experience a message, the answer might be ‘Pause’ or ‘Wait.’
You’ll know you’ve reached guidance that comes from a higher vibration than your ego if the message is neutral, that is, devoid of emotion or judgment or ‘should.’ Guidance that starts with ‘You shouldn’t have…’ or ‘What were you thinking of…’ is from the ego and not your highest self, so keep seeking a deeper connection if you start to feel yourself judged in any way.
It usually takes some practice to be clear about the inner guidance you are receiving. I’ve worked with some clients who, over time, learn to catch themselves in that self-judgment so that they can avoid the trap of beating themselves up for mistakes. There are no mistakes, only LESSONS. If you keep repeating an action and getting the same results, then you are stuck in the same lesson. Look around for what you are to learn. When the time is right, you will get it!
We once drove a rental car in California from the Napa Valley to Big Sur and decided that we wanted to take the Golden Gate Bridge instead of the freeway on the other side of the water, which is the route our GPS [affectionately called ‘Nuvi’ after the model name] preferred that we take. Can you hear that voice saying ‘Recalculating’ every time we ignored Nuvi’s advice? After about 5 ‘Recalculatings,’ and I’m certain I heard her voice getting more and more disgusted, Nuvi finally said, ‘There IS a better route available!’ [Emphasis Nuvi’s!]
Our inner guidance never gets that judgmental! We just keep plodding along and our inner guidance system quietly ‘Recalculates’ to keep bringing our lessons to us.
Take some time this week to practice tapping into your own inner guidance system. There is a lot of good information available there about the road ahead. And there are lots of tools that you can learn for additional ways to tap in. Stay tuned for that information!
VIDEO MYSTIC MESSAGE: Your Inner Guidance
November 6, 2012 — RichardHere is your Video Inspiration for the week:
PS: You can receive these video Ezines in your email box every Friday morning; Subscribe Here
And receive my gift for you when you do!
“How’s Your Health?” A Commentary from Richard
November 1, 2012 — RichardHere is this week’s commentary from my partner, Richard:
In her Video and Commentary this week Rosemary asks a broad question about health. On the surface this may seem to be a simple, straightforward question. For the most part when we think of our health we immediately scan our physical bodies for anything that may be signaling a pain or illness. But probing the question of our health is a much deeper subject than that first reaction!
We have four bodies, at least! And Rosemary addresses each of them in her commentary posted yesterday. For optimum health we need to “treat” each of these bodies and balance them. For men this can be a real challenge!
Last week I wrote of the emotional body and one emotion I am particularly familiar with, Anger! In Taoist philosophy the ancient Chinese identified five primary emotions and their correlating virtues. For example Creativity is the virtue corresponding to Anger. The other four emotions are Anxiety, Worry, Fear and Grief. Treating these emotions and moving them, transforming them to their virtues is the work we must undertake at the emotional level to achieve a healthy emotional body that in turn supports the physical body’s health.
Today let’s look at Anxiety, a serious emotion affecting so many of us in Western Society. Here in the US we are nearing the end of a polarizing National election. And in the Northeast US we are cleaning up and recovering from a devastating storm, Hurricane Sandy. This election cycle has seemed to go on forever! And with the long prediction of Sandy’s potential as an historic storm, it seemed larger than any storm could live up to; yet for many, it did! Just holding the energy of these two intertwined events is sufficient emotional strain to give the healthiest person a severe case of Anxiety!
What do we do?
Anxiety is often associated with our place in society, our standing within our family, group, tribe, nation, world. It is about who we are; it is deeply connected to self-esteem issues. Using the Tao as guidance, the emotion of Anxiety is associated with the heart and small intestine; it is the Fire Element emotion. The virtues that correspond to Anxiety are Connection and Joy, clearly virtues of the Heart. Moving Anxiety to Joy is a natural transformation as we work on our place within the human family, recognize the importance of that place, our being in that place and the Connection we have with others from that place. And once we have that Connection, deep Joy is there for us. The process here is remembering our own connections. “It’s a Wonderful Life” that famous Christmas Capra movie, is an excellent reminder of just how connected we are in this life and how vital to the overall scheme we are.
The process is reasonably simple: breathe into your Heart Center. Visualize a ruby red light streaming in to your chest to cauterize the wounds inflicted by Anxiety and transform those wounds to Connection and Joy. We are humans, a connected species. We live in groups and survive through cooperation and connectedness. Anxiety is created through our sense of
disconnectedness. Breathing the color Red in to our Heart Center restores this sense of togetherness in all of Life’s experiences.
My 15-year-old granddaughter just came down to visit and to apologize for her over-reaction to an incident around the dinner table this evening. I accepted and in turn apologized for my own over-reaction! It reminds me of our connection; our heart-connection. Family, friends and neighbors, communities, cities, states, countries…we are all connected. We can transform our Anxieties through remembering all of our Essential Connections and taking great Joy in those Connections!
PS: Tomorrow, November 2, just in time for All Souls Day, the Day of the Dead, you are invited to a Conversation with The Other Side! Rosemary brings in the Energies, Loved Ones who have crossed over, Angels, Spirit Guides, all manner of extra-dimensional beings during this time when the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest! Join me! Learn more here!
EXPLORATION: How’s Your Health?
October 31, 2012 — RosemaryI’m writing this as I sit in a doctor’s office while my daughter sees a surgeon about having her gall bladder removed. It’s sobering to see your loved one in pain.
So I’m thinking about the pain that so many people have, every day, because their health isn’t what they would like it to be. Not just physical health, but also emotional health, mental health, spiritual health. It’s so important to be healthy on all levels that just focusing on the physical doesn’t lead us to the life of our dreams.
What’s the last thing you did for your emotional health? Are you looking at your life for keys to the blocks that you are experiencing? Have you mined the past on your personal timeline to learn the lessons of your experiences? Are you developing new tools for your responses so your knee-jerk reaction isn’t where you get stuck when something happens in your life?
How about your mental health? Have you examined the tapes that play in your head for their source and to decide whether to keep them playing or to change them? Do you know what negative thoughts are popping up and keeping you from growing into the person you were meant to be? Are you holding yourself back from your greatness because you think you can’t be great?
And your spiritual health is most important because the beliefs you hold affect all the other levels of your being. Your beliefs affect your thoughts which generate your emotions and, finally, present as physical health problems if you haven’t cleared them. Oftentimes, beliefs come from our childhood or our family tree or our environment [society, teachers, churches, etc.]. They have not been generated consciously but are sourced in the unconscious mind.
What do you believe about yourself? Might there be a belief that ‘Everyone in our family gets arthritis by the time they are 50’? How about ‘No one from this neighborhood gets to go to college’? These unconscious beliefs operate to restrict us whether we are aware of them or not. Have you examined what you believe and made a conscious choice about holding onto that belief or releasing it?
At the physical level, you must choose to live in balance with all of your other levels. Are you eating in a way that matches your beliefs about food and its sources? Are you making physical choices based on unconscious emotions or thoughts that conflict with what is best for you? Do you ask yourself questions about your life and its balance when something presents as out of balance?
Many people can look at stress in their life and see the imbalance that is caused there. Too many believe that they can’t do anything about stress. But what they are really saying is that they don’t know what to do about the stress that they can’t change.
Things happen. We react. Then we choose our response to the event. That’s what life is.
And if we can’t change the things that happen, then we have to look at our reactions and our responses. This is the first place to build up our took kit so that we can live a conscious life and choose wisely our responses to events. This FOLLOWS doing all the other work to bring our beliefs, thoughts, emotions into balance.
When I spend a Muse Day with a client, where we have a whole day together to clear blocks and make plans, we often spend most of the day on the clearing blocks part of the agenda, checking in on the spiritual, mental and emotional levels. Creating a plan for the actions to take in the physical plan is often the easiest and quickest part of the day because we’ve brought every thing else into balance before we start the planning.
Trying to plan without the balance brings frustration and much harder work. Trying to deal with dis-ease without finding the source of the imbalance makes the task much more difficult, if not impossible.
Our daughter will be fine. She’s been working through many levels of what is happening. I’m sorry she’s going through the proverbial ‘2 by 4 to the head’ experience but haven’t we all had some of those? We learn!
And I hope that you, too, will examine the levels of your being for where imbalances live. Clearing those can really help you move the pain out of your life!
PS: This Friday, November 2, just in time for All Souls Day, the Day of the Dead, you are invited to a Conversation with The Other Side! I’ll be bringing in the Energies, Loved Ones who have crossed over, Angels, Spirit Guides, all manner of extra-dimensional beings during this time when the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest! Join me! Learn more here!
VIDEO MYSTIC MESSAGE: The Steps to Balance
October 30, 2012 — RosemaryHere is your Video Inspiration for the week:
PS: You can receive these video Ezines in your email box every Friday morning; Subscribe Here
And, enjoy your GIFT when you do!
“Are You Flipping Out Over Something?” A Commentary by Richard
October 25, 2012 — RichardWe are adding a new feature to the Mystic Messages Blog with the change-over to my weekly MuseLetter which is replacing my Ezine. Now on Thursdays, in place of what I used to publish as Book Lights, my partner, Richard, is offering a commentary on my weekly Mystic Message and Inspiration.
From Richard—
I was particularly struck by the topic this week: Flip-Out. In fact I too often find myself flipping-out and almost always over very small things. Computers suddenly running slow, or even worse, crashing for unknown reasons; a lost item, like keys; a negative checking account balance when there should be plenty of cash available; a credit card that inexplicably fails to work (and this is worst if it’s a client’s charge that won’t go through!); the dog’s 2:00 am need…the list can be nearly endless! Are these life and death issues; of course not. But in our hustle-bustle lives they do add fuel to the fire of an already hot burn life-style that keeps pace with a 21st Century clock!
Is it a particularly male thing to flip-out over small things? Rosemary goes through life at a pretty calm clip; her life is just as complicated as mine. She writes and speaks this week about a “Toolbox of Resources.” Well, I’m a pretty resourceful guy; I’m on the journey with her. And yet my fuse is so much shorter. But I’m ready to learn these lessons; the 2×4 upside the head is beginning to hurt, get through to me!
I am examining my tools and resources. In the last few months I have rediscovered the Tao, the ancient Chinese philosophy known as The Way. I have read fairly extensively about Taoism, studied it as part of my seminary program, practiced off and on through authors such as Mantak Chia, studied and memorized sections of Lao-Tzu’s Taoteching, consulted the I Ching, and practiced Tai Chi. And recently I found an excellent Qigong instructor who has brought me back to this Way. And there are some significant tools and resources to be found here.
Managing my “flip-out moments” is certainly a skill I am working on. An emotion I frequently reach for in these moments is “anger” in its various forms. I can too easily flash to a white heat over some relatively small irritation. I cool quickly and then realize the exaggerated reaction as an unproductive response to the situation. And I ask myself, “why the unbalanced reaction?” And, “why the wasted energy?”
The Chinese Masters identify anger as one of the obstacles to finding The Way. In addition to wanting to reduce my expenditure of energy on a wasted emotion, I want to overcome this obstacle. And, oh by the way, mastering anger will go a long way toward improving my environment!
In the Taoist traditions negative emotions, like Anger, can be transmuted into their corresponding virtues; in the case of Anger the work is to transmute it to Creativity or Resourcefulness. Wow! What if my wasted anger energy can be channeled into creative energy? What a concept!
This is not as easy as it sounds, however. But in my mind it is clearly worth the effort; I choose creativity over anger, calm over flip-out, any day! Rosemary mentions meditation as an approach to “hit the pause button” in the midst of over-reaction (or better yet before the reaction even occurs!). Qigong is often referred to as “Meditation in Motion” and I am finding this practice is a way to pull my energy and my resources, my consciousness, into the present moment when I can be fully aware of my environment, my reaction at any given moment to the environment and to then respond appropriately. When I am very, very present I can actually catch myself on the verge of anger and quickly seek a creative response, diverting the anger into resourcefulness! I have a long way to go to catch myself every time, or even often! But it’s good work for the journey!
Guys, Rosemary has many ways to channel the flip-out mode into presence of mind. Her toolbox is filled with fun things and even some neat toys! Sometimes it may seem easier just to go with the reactive emotion of the moment; but too often the consequences of the easy route bite painfully.
Flip-out reaction or creative response? The choice is yours if you are willing to do the work!
INSPIRATION: Are You Flipping Out Over Something?
October 24, 2012 — RosemaryIt seems today as if there is always something to ‘Flip Out’ over! What has you feeling this way today?
I sometimes hear clients longing for simpler lives or less stress or at least less drama in their lives, but they are really wishing for something to change about their circumstances without a thought to how they can change themselves.
Flipping Out happens when we don’t have enough resources in our tool box to deal with what is happening in our environment. If you can reach into your Resource Tool Box and pull out just what you need to do in this circumstance, then you just do that and there’s no need to get too excited. But how often are you perfectly prepared for exactly what is going on?
Let me say here that I am not talking about going into denial and pretending that nothing big is happening! Sticking your fingers in your ear and singing, ‘La, la, la, la!’ won’t manage the stress of the circumstances, although, I admit, sometimes that seems like an attractive behavior choice. Denial invites the Universe to keep bringing the lesson to us, over and over again, with perhaps more severity each time until we learn what we are to learn.
What tools have you been developing to prepare you for whatever might come your way? Are you on a path of constant personal growth, seeking new skills, finding new opportunities to explore ideas? Are you committed to your own personal, spiritual growth as a journey of exploration? How you answer these questions will determine how well you can handle what happens around you.
Just as an athlete doesn’t wake up one morning and decide to win a gold medal in discus throwing without training for that exact sport, so, too, must you train for the circumstances that haven’t yet come into your life.
When the doctor says, ‘There’s something of concern going on here,’ or you get the phone call that, ‘There’s been an accident,’ how will you respond?
I pray that you never hear those words but it could be something else that throws you for a loop and the resources must already be available to you or you will find it more difficult to cope.
So what are you doing today, this week, this year to expand the tools in your Resource Tool Box? Are you taking a class? Working with a coach/counselor? Reading self-help books? In a group with speakers who teach you tools? Attending seminars and conferences with content-rich programs for personal growth?
This is not an activity that can be postponed indefinitely! Now is the time to prevent Flip Out!
Learning meditation can be a great start. Breathe, hit the pause button, take a moment to collect yourself. Allow thoughts to arise but to keep flowing onward, without attaching to the thoughts. Give yourself permission to focus on your breath and to let go of thoughts and emotions that come up for you. Give yourself permission to simply BE.
Sign up for a class on a psychological or spiritual topic that intrigues you. Read a book that someone has recommended to you. Find a group of explorers that you can join to study new ideas. Work with a coach who can help you to develop the tools that are best for you.
Fill up the Resource Tool Box and you’ll be ready if and when something happens. Won’t it be nice to have the confidence of knowing that, even if you never need to use the tools, you won’t have to resort to ‘Flipping Out’?
PS: Are you in the Annapolis, Maryland area this evening? Then it is not too late to register for my workshop on Spiritual Tools for 2012 and Beyond! But do hurry because it starts tonight, in person, at 7:00 pm Eastern. Come add to the fun evening! Register Here
Mystic Messages 
EXPLORATION: The Tools of Your Trade
November 14, 2012 — RosemaryIf you were a carpenter, you would have a huge toolbox filled with tools that are designed for each specific task that might be required. If you are a doctor, your office is outfitted with all the tools that you need. And I’m sure that whatever you do you have gathered to you the tools that you need to do your work.
But what about those intangibles? What about the tools that aren’t hammers and scalpels and mixers and computers? How is your toolbox for Conscious Living Tools?
You might think these are not as important as the tools of your trade but I believe they are even MORE important, for success in your work depends on being successful in your life, and the 21st Century is asking us to increase our spiritual tools.
These are not religious tools, but the ones that fit us into a bigger picture than just the physical life we lead. Do you have a way to connect with your inner guidance? This can be meditation, journaling, connecting with Nature. Sometimes it’s useful to have a physical tool, like a pendulum or an oracle deck of cards. Do you have an altar, formal or informal, where you can light a candle that communicates to your unconscious mind that you are getting ready to focus inward or pray or send your intentions out to the Universe?
Creating an altar in your personal space is a very powerful way to set an intention and support the manifestation of that intention. You can do this simply by gathering a few objects that are meaningful to you. This does not have to be a complicated process or a formal one. In fact, this is so personal that someone coming into your home might not even realize that the collection of crystals on the windowsill or the candle and pictures, etc. on that side table are really your altar. What’s important is that you create something that speaks to your unconscious mind every time you see it.
Take a space that will be undisturbed and gather some meaningful objects. Then add a candle. I like to use candles in glass so that I can leave them burning for a while without worrying. (And make sure there are no curtains or other flammables that can blow into them!) You might like incense and you can certainly have an incense burner on your altar (adds the element of air). Add pictures of spiritual teachers or loved ones or your vision board. If you do healing work for others you might keep index cards handy so you can put the names on a card on your altar when you are intending to do healing work.
It’s nice to have the elements represented: water, fire, earth, metal, wood. Some add air to the list. A plant or flower. A bowl of water, especially sacred or blessed water. One or more crystals or rocks. Use your imagination and tap into your own intuition about what is meaningful to you.
If you use some kind of cards to get a message you can place today’s card on your altar.
Have fun with this! I have put fruit, pictures, jewelry, gifts I am giving – you name it! Anything you put on your altar gets charged with the energy of your intentions. If you have a new business card, put one on your altar. A problem you want to solve? Write it out and lay this on your altar. Keep a pendulum or other tool on your altar. Are you having an issue with a person? Instead of being upset by them, put a picture or their name on your altar, maybe upside down so you’re not going into the negative energy, but set an intention to heal the problem.
There are lots of ways to use your own energy to bring healing into your life and creating an altar of intention is a powerful way to focus your energy on your desired outcome. This also helps your unconscious mind know the direction that you want to move so it can support you on your journey.
And I’d love to see your altars! Send me an email with a picture of your altar. I’ll gather them on my altar to join with you in manifesting your intentions.
PS: If you are enjoying these written messages you may be interested in my Monday calls when I channel The Divinine Feminine. These are FREE calls for your support and guidance through these fascinating times approaching the Winter Solstice of 2012. The calls are scheduled at 8:30 PM Eastern Time every Monday. Sign up here for the call details