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Life Messages from a Potter

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Life Messages from a Potter
An Inner-World Exploration

I took a course in clay sculpture a long time ago in New York City.  I remember rolling the clay into “snakes” and then weaving them in a circle to make a bowl.  I remember looking at a live model and managing to mold a small figure.  The instructions were to cut away what was not needed.  

Cut away what is not needed

Now there’s an amazing life lesson! What are you carrying around in your life that you no longer need, or never needed, but are hanging onto as if you did?

Self-doubt, comes up.  Not experiencing your own self-worth.  Who needs those! Take away what is not needed. What should be left, what should be saved is self-love.  

Build a foundation

To build a larger structure, potters create an armature.  It’s a wooden or metal base they construct to hold the clay when they sculpt a figure or a head.  

The pottery lesson here is that although we can shape our lives into any wonderful figures or elements or expressions of our life that we wish, we may have to provide an armature, a strong, supportive foundation upon which we can build.  That means we need to know our values and our spiritual beliefs.  

The potter knows that the structure of this foundational armature must be in the correct proportions or the entire sculpture will be flawed and unsteady.

How strong is your armature, your foundation?  Does it need strengthening?  Start with self-love. 

You magically shape your life every day!

Become more aware of your role as the sculptor of your own life. I never expected to become a really good potter, but I did love the learning process. And I surprised myself. My most amazing feat was to create the head of a woman model that was really good. I was really proud as well as truly pleased at the talent I showed that I had no idea I had. It surprised me that I could do it.  I took away what was not needed and true beauty emerged.

Then the head broke when the instructor fired it but I was so surprised and pleased that I had done it that I carried the unfired sculpture with me for years. Remember your life successes and bring them forward with you.

Clay can be made into anything, as can your life.

You begin with nothing and you make something.  Is that not a perfect metaphor for life?! 

Chose your clay 

We come into this world with the ingredients of clay, along with the ability to fashion our life in any manner. But we can add elements to our clay to change how it can be used.  We may mix different colors of clay for a specific effect.  We may vary the coarseness of the mixture. We may need to make the object thicker to make it stronger, depending on its intended use.  

We begin with the clay of our being, evolve its purpose, add our choices, our beliefs, our experiences into our own unique clay-ness to form and create and evolve the expression of our life.

Mix in clarity of purpose

The clay itself will vary depending on where it comes from the earth.  Just like us.  The potter (that’s us) slowly adds water (choices) until the right consistency is reached. 

We add all sorts of things to our “life” clay.  We add experiences and beliefs.  We add learning that we accept and learning that we reject.  

Start with your intention

What do you want to create in your life?  You have access to the ingredients to make anything you want.  What will that be?  Begin with an intention but let the clay talk to you and help shape the end result.

What do you want to make of your life?  How do you want your “clay” to be in service?  That will determine how you shape it. 

Form the shape you want

In pottery, you work the clay to get out all the air bubbles, the excess, the unwanted. That takes massaging and folding and pulling and kneading.

The next step is to put the kneaded clay (you) on the wheel (the Wheel of Life) and center it. Picture this.  The lump of clay (you) is on the wheel (life) and the hands of the potter are there to hold you and center you.  These strong, supportive hands (your values and spiritual beliefs) help you begin to form the shape of your life experience and your form of service. 

Shape your life based on the clay you have chosen to work with and the service you wish to provide

To get clay ready for the wheel, you press it to make certain all the air is out.  Air will cause distortion.  Think of air as unfound beliefs or ideas that do not serve your final destiny. Get rid of them.

The very first act is centering  

Here is a major lesson in this metaphor of life.  We must center ourselves many times as we move through our lives, through our day.  It is at the center that we find balance, redefine our direction, and move forward. 

The potter makes certain the clay moves into a balanced form as the wheel is slowing turned.  A slight pressure here, a release there, and the clay begins to take its intended shape. 

The potter begins to get a feel for the texture of the clay and her hands adjust in order to help the shape take form. She “listens” with her hands and responds to the needs of the clay. A little pressure here. A little release there. Just like life.

Draw the clay up into the desired shape

If you’ve ever watched a potter work, there’s a constant moving of her hands.  She “draws” the clay up as the wheel turns.  Pressing in one place so another area can expand. A potter talks to her clay.  She listens to what it offers and she uses her imagination and intention to shape the piece into the best form for its intended place of service. 

Cut off excess

After the shape is as she wants it to be, the potter lets the clay harden, leather hard, soft but holding its shape. She examines her piece to see that it is what she intended and trims off the excesses. She checks for balance and trims off what’s throwing it off.  She checks for appearance and balance. What do you need to trim off in your life?  What’s keeping you off balance and needs to be discarded? 

Trim the unnecessary pieces in your life and refined its shape to make your life experience more balanced and aligned.

Fire it to make it hold its shape

The idea of firing something to help it hold its shape is an interesting life concept. You need fire in your life to hold your shape. Passion, conviction, a little testing here, a lot of testing there. That firing, that heat, allows you to make choices that firm up your beliefs and helps you recognize your gifts and take steps to shape your life according to your calling.

The potter lets her shaped clay dry completely.  Then she puts it in the very, very hot kiln.  This is the bisque firing.  Clay is super fragile before you fire it.  Once you’ve done the bisque firing it holds its shape and is as sturdy as stone.

Does that mean our times of pressure and difficulty are simply ways to help us toughen up so we can truly be in service?

How do you decorate your life?

Now comes the fun part.  The artistic part.  The decoration part.   Now that you have the shape of your life determined, how will you decorate it? What colors do you use?  What shapes do you draw?  Your life is yours to decorate.  What do you choose?

Once the color is on, the decoration complete, it’s ready for the glaze firing.

Put your life in service

The life you have shaped and fired and glazed is ready to go into service. Who needs it?  Who wants it?  Where will the life you have shaped and decorated have the most impact?

Did you shape a life that could hold the joy and love you want? Are your lifelong lessons emblazoned on your surface? Is your place of service clearly evident?

Make each day a new creation

If I approach each day as a new opportunity to create a unique shape for my service I’ll begin by using my spiritual practice as the armature, the solid frame upon which I’ll build my day.  I’ll consciously and intentionally shape my vessel for the service I intend to offer through the choices I make.  And I’ll decorate my life with my thoughts and actions so everyone can see how I’m in service.

How do you shape your day?  What form do you want it to take?  How do you want it to look?  Are you willing to do what it takes to make that happen?

Each day is an opportunity to create a new offering.  Make it a useful one.

To Sing a Deeper Song Consider:

What Are Your Weaving in Your Reality?

Are You Sacred Space? 

Make Work Your Offering 

Does Your Work Stir Your Heart

The Power of Being Different 

What Core Beliefs Are Guiding You Today?

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What Core Beliefs Are Guiding You Today?
An Inner World Exploration

Your core beliefs are the ideals that you base your life upon. They affect everything you say and do and think.  Because of that, at various times throughout our lives, we each need to pause and examine our core beliefs to see if they are still relevant to the way we choose to live our life. 

Ask yourself: What are the core beliefs driving my life? How have I changed?  How has the world changed?  Are the core beliefs I have built my life upon still the most worthy choices for me or should I be adjusting by examining new core beliefs? 

Pause to look at what is more important to you at this point in time. Make new choices – or strengthen your resolve around the core beliefs you choose to keep.

What do you believe in now?  How are those beliefs impacting your life? How have they changed as you gain more clarity and insight? What’s important to you at this point in your life?  What do you need to explore, contemplate, change in yourself in order to make certain your core beliefs are serving our collective consciousness in this changing world, that they reflect who you have become and what you hold as most important?

What are your current core beliefs?

“Core beliefs” is an elusive term.  Stop right now and say aloud three of your core beliefs.  I’ll bet it’s a bit tricky to come up with them because we don’t often pause to examine the subtle beliefs that are at the core of every response we have. We simply unconsciously let our beliefs guide every step we take and every decision we make. 

Unconsciously!  Without thinking or examining or asking questions!

It would make sense for us all to examine our core beliefs and make certain they support our current life path and experience. 

What core beliefs did you identify and how are they affecting your life?

I had to figure out what my core beliefs are. Then I looked to see how I’ve changed and how/if my core beliefs needed to change. I wanted to identify core concepts that will support and comfort and guide me in today’s chaotic world. It wasn’t enough to identify them, I had to prioritize them so I knew what was important to me, what was driving my life, the beliefs I was building my life upon. 

Shift from “me” to “we”

One of the hardest things to do is to change your mind.  Particularly when you are so sure you are right.  But “right” means different things to each person.  “Right” is usually based on how much you know about a situation, the alternate solutions/possibilities you have taken time to explore, and your willingness to change your thinking as you gather new information. 

In my opinion, the most powerful shift we can make in our core beliefs is to move from “me” to “we.” 

What are the core beliefs that influence every choice you make?  

Core Belief #1: We are all one

My foundational core belief that drives everything I think or say or do is that we are one energy.  All one interconnected energy in the Emptiness That Holds Everything.  That means everything I think or say or do – or believe – affects the whole.  And what you think and say and believe affects me. 

If you embrace this core belief that everyone is one source energy, that means that you are energetically one with the guy down the street you don’t like very much.  It means we are energetically one with the people doing really bad things to others.  

No, I don’t like that either.  But we are all one Primal Source Energy. And that very interconnection makes it possible for both of us to influence the whole – for better or worse.  Our thoughts have power.  When we focus, we can shift the consciousness of the world. 

We are like a Cosmic Ocean in which our actions ripple out to affect the whole, in which giant waves ebb and flow and affect the whole even as they are a part of the whole. And like a Cosmic Soup, my “seasoning” affects the whole.  As does yours. That means that what I do in my life affects the lives of others, as my actions ripple out over our Cosmic Ocean of Oneness.  That’s a big responsibility.

And I’m standing here being swamped by waves from the actions of others.  

I get to choose what part of the ocean I live in.  I may be an active wave crashing against the cliffs, or a tranquil reflective lagoon.  I get to choose my place of service in the Cosmic Ocean.

So, my primary core belief is that we are all one Primal Energy and that my actions ripple out and affect the whole. 

What am I sending out?

Knowing myself to be an impactful ripple in our world will cause me to be mindful of my choices and my actions.  My words and my deeds.  My thoughts and my beliefs.  It opens me up to empathy and compassion and unconditional love – for me – and since we are all one energy, unconditional love for all others.

Is one of your core beliefs that we are all one? It will make a powerful impact on your life if it is.

Core Belief #2: We are capable of giving and receiving unconditional love

Another core belief I’m working to build my life upon, is that Unconditional Love is at the core of the Primal Source. My first step in embracing that core belief is to learn to accept unconditional love for myself. Then I can learn to extend unconditional love to others.  

Accepting unconditional love for yourself can be tricky. You know your flaws and shortcomings intimately, so accepting those, being patient with your own unfolding life process, loving yourself in spite of how you see yourself is a valuable place to start to understand and experience giving yourself the unconditional love that’s there for you. Learn to accept unconditional love into your life.  

Loving yourself unconditionally is a powerful place to begin to change your experience of our world.  If you are not worthy of unconditional love, who is?  You cannot give love to others until you give it to yourself. Begin by loving yourself.

When you learn to love yourself, your entire life will change. You will learn the power of love and feel your own value in the world. Then you will understand and accept how powerful unconditional love is and turn and radiate it into your world. 

We’re talking unconditional love here. Compete acceptance. 

Pause a moment in the here and now to accept and feel and experience that you are wrapped in unconditional, all-encompassing love.  Accept that love – unconditionally.

Extend your conscious practice of loving yourself to others

Is one of your core beliefs that you are deserving of unconditional love? Is one of your core beliefs that everyone is deserving of unconditional love?

The wall between you and others is built inside you. You are the only one who can take it down. When you begin to make room for a deeper connection with others by extending unconditional love both inward and outwardly, your experiences will expand and fill your heart!

We’re building on two core beliefs here. We are One Light Energy.  We each deserve and accept unconditional love. 

Core Belief #3: We are totally responsible for what happens in our own life

We create our own life experience.  We do that by our beliefs, our thoughts and our actions.  No one does it to us. We “do it” to ourselves by what we believe we deserve and what we believe is possible.

Think about that.  You draw into your life what you think you deserve. That means accepting unconditional love for yourself because you deserve it.  What you believe is possible creates the parameters of what unfolds. It can be limiting or expansive.  It’s your choice. What do you believe you deserve and what do you believe is possible?

When you accept that we are all one energetic source, and that we are all connected, it means that the unconditional love you focus and share comes back to you to create and enhance your life experience. 

Change your thinking, change your life 

Core Belief #4 Our focused thoughts can change our life experience

Our thoughts create our reality. That means the focus of our thoughts should be monitored and purposefully directed. When our thoughts are aimed at the highest good, they have great power, they have the ability to create positive change.  In order to rise above the chaos in our current planetary experience, we must carefully and consciously choose the focus of our thoughts. 

A simple way to change your life experience is to focus on simply being the light that we are and joining with other light beings who are also focusing on the highest good for our world. That shift in focus has the power to change our life experience.  It doesn’t take away from the physical plane activism we may choose to do and it allows us to energetically join with others all over the world who are raising their vibration by focusing on peace and unconditional love.  

Not everyone can see their own light, let alone the light in others, but we are all over the world, often finding each other online in groups focused on a specific cause. Whatever your focus, go online and find those who are holding energetic gatherings that will raise the collective consciences. Join your energy with theirs and feel the collective power. 

There are other Light Beings working to heal the planet. Find them. 

Examine your core beliefs for relevance and adjustments 

Our core beliefs are the foundation stones upon which we build our lives.  You may still be standing on stones you don’t even know are there. You may have put them in place as a child, from what your parents told you or what you experienced as a child. Now you are an adult with some life experience and you need to examine your foundational beliefs again.

For each core belief you select, ask: “Does this foundation stone still reflect what my experience of life has shown me and is it supportive of the direction I am want to take my life?  Is this foundational belief still serving me in the midst of the changes of today?”  Then adjust your core beliefs to shape the life you want to live.

What are your current core beliefs?

We have considered these four core beliefs but there are many more possibilities. 

  • We are all one energy. Our actions and choices affect and influence the whole.
  • We are capable of giving and receiving unconditional love. Begin by loving yourself. 
  • We are responsible for our life experience.
  • Our focused thoughts can change our life experience

What are the core beliefs that are guiding your life?

To Sing a Deeper Song, Consider: 

Where Do You Find Your Inner Circle of Light Beings?

Where Did You Come From? 

What Does Spiritual Friendship Look Like? 

How to Weave the Sacred into the Ordinary

You Are Never Separate

How to Weave the Sacred into the Ordinary

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How to Weave the Sacred into the Ordinary
 An Inner World Exploration

A day stretches out before me.  It’s an excellent day.  It has great potential.  And it’s mine to live as I choose.  So how do I want it to be? 

Fun.  I would like to have a good time doing whatever it is I do.  I love to learn, so I’d like to learn something today. As a writer, I’d like to write something meaningful. But how can I make this day sacred?  How can I bring myself to appreciate the magical flow of the words that appear as I write or the love I feel for my cat as he cuddles his warm and vibrant body beside me? How do I remember to stop and listen to the sound of the birds outside my window, or to breathe in the lovely smell of the lilacs growing nearby?  

I make my day sacred by being mindful. By paying attention. By listening and noticing and stopping to observe.  I learn to be aware of the subtle gifs it shares, the unseen nudges it gives, the blessings it bestows.  I notice and I am grateful.

Gratitude follows closely on the heels of awareness.

See and feel the power of your own light

Sit for a moment and feel the light within you.  Let it expand from your spiritual heart, through your body, and out into the room around you.  With quiet mindfulness, expand your light to your community.  Begin to notice there are other light beings.  Join with them and take your light to encircle the planet where there are even more light beings.  Together you can and do bring wholeness to our world. 

You have just woven your light into the fabric of the world.  With your mind.  In an instant, you have changed the ordinary act of reading this post into the sacred act of radiating light to the entire planet!

When we practice becoming more conscious of our own sacredness as a light being and extend that to an awareness of the sacredness of all the light beings around us, we begin to move our entire life experience into a sacred experience. Every step of it. Every moment, when we are aware, is seen as sacred. 

That means that in each moment, we have to be mindful, aware and conscious of what we’re saying and doing. 

Live your day as a sacred offering.

Mindfulness is the cornerstone of weaving the sacred into the ordinary

You have a morning routine.  You probably have a morning spiritual practice. It can be meditation, movement, affirmations.  It consists of moments of focused awareness on the spiritual facets of yourself. The unseen, expansive, all-there-is aspect of your body suit.  We see it, we honor it, we bring it into the forefront of our day.

And then we forget because we get caught up in the details of our daily life.

But your whole day is a sacred offering.  It’s your opportunity to give to the world, to shine your light on others, to share your own gifts.  There’s a lot of sacred work to be done each day. Using mindful pauses to shift your view, you can weave the sacred into the ordinary.

Your body is a sacred offering

Your body suit holds your spiritual self.  That makes it a temple.  A holy place.  Your body is the launching pad for your spiritual work in the world and the holy place for your invisible self.  When you take conscious care of your body temple, you’ll nurture and nourish it, you’ll care for it and provide for it.  You’ll offer it what it needs each day because it’s a sacred place. Whatever actions you take to nurture and support your body, is a form of offering your body in service to the world.  Caring for your body weaves the sacred into the ordinary.

See your work as a sacred offering

Whether you are scrubbing a floor or leading a large meeting or all those places of service in between, you are in service. You are valuable, and you’re creating an impact in the web of life.  Know that. See that. Feel that.  And place your work as a sacred offering on the altar of life. 

See your life as a sacred offering

You’re in service in many ways other than a job or a business.  You’re in service when you smile, when you hold the door for someone when you speak with someone.  Look at the way you walk through your life and notice the small and subtle ways you’re in service. Become more aware of the impact your life has on others, and see how you might like to take that to a higher level. 

To make your life more sacred, be aware of the guidance your inner spirit offers throughout your day

A powerful way to weave the sacred into the ordinary is to listen.  Simply listen to that powerful and wise voice that nudges and pushes and sometimes shouts at you to pay attention.  Notice how everything is connected in this great web of life and understand the resonating impact of your smallest move.  Listen to what’s said and to what’s not said. And answer the unsaid.

Expand your ability to love – to love yourself, to love others – unconditional love, all-inclusive love.  

Mindfully practice that.

Find ways to remind yourself of the sacredness of your day

A mindful breath is an immediate and powerful way to connect with the sacred.  A slow deep breath in, a pause to absorb it, a longer breath out.  Think of your inhaled breath as filling the space within you and then being exhaled to bless the space around you.  Allow your breath to speak to your body temple, to relax your muscles and organs, to calm and center you. Feel your breath connect you with your invisible self. And pause a moment to hang out in the sacredness. 

You can use breath to connect with the sacredness within you any time, any place, and no one but you knows that’s what you’re doing.  Use a series of mindful breaths to inhale and embrace the sacred any time, any place.

Bless your work. Bless it before you begin, while you are doing it, after you have completed it. I bless my computer. I bless what I write.  I bless what I post.  I’m a writer and I want everything I write to contain the sacred, to come from my spiritual heart and to touch lives.  I set that as an intention as I begin, as I create, and as I publish.

Become mindful of your exchanges.  As I spend a lot of time alone, email is my primary way to connect with others.  Offer thoughtful responses. Actively seek new connections.  Reach out to touch the lives of those around you and make the sacred offering of yourself.

Accept the nurturing that nature offers

Pause to notice the beauty of the changing sky as the sun sets.  Sing or chant the sun down. Or just mindfully be with its magical splendor. Spend time contemplating the moon. Follow the changing seasons. Perhaps go outside to be in nature before you go to bed. Keep your windows open and listen to the sound of nature.  When I had a bird feeder, there was always great activity and noise outside my window.  Now I have to listen a little more attentively but the birds are there, the wind rustles the leaves, and I can hear the patient and gradual unfolding of nature.

Look at your life with gratitude

Mindful gratitude is another powerful way to notice the sacredness of the day that has passed. As your day comes to its conclusion, look back in conscious gratitude.  When you notice the gifts and offerings and nudges and insights, there’s so much to be grateful for. You’ll see and feel how active and sacred so much of day was.  Even the tough patches were gifts – gifts of awareness, gifts of a lesson, gifts of an opportunity to shift a direction, an attitude, a thought. Notice it and be grateful.

Offer your sleep to healing

Before you go to sleep, offer your body to your helping spirits for healing and cleansing and strengthening. Be willing to expand your spiritual awareness through dreams. Then trust the process of the invisible realms. 

Bringing the sacred into the ordinary is a matter of willingness. Willingness to look, to see the sacred. Willingness to welcome the sacred into your daily tasks and to live your life from a place of sacred inclusiveness throughout your day. 

Each day is sacred.  You simply have to become aware of it and weave the sacred into the ordinary. 

To Sing a Deeper Song, Consider:

What Does Spiritual Friendship Look Like? 

Live in the Present

Make Work Your Offering 

Join the Circle of Light Beings

Follow Your Personal Drumbeat

Discover Your Spiritual Heart

How to Use Sound for Self-Healing

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How to Use Sound for Self-Healing

There are many ways we use sound – to heal, to communicate, to locate. Sound is a powerful tool for healing and wholing. 

Our innate inner vibration is one of wholeness.  Sound reminds us and connects us with that universal vibration.

Bringing rhythm or sound into a meditation, shamanic journey or ceremony moves us from our mental chatter into our serene inner vibration.  It opens the doors to our innermost realms and invites us to come exploring.  

Find your inner vibration of wholeness

Our minds fill our life with chatter – beliefs that may need to be changed, fears we may need to overcome, reactions and responses that jar our lives. Our body suit’s thoughts, beliefs and word choices come from the limitations of our human mind.  

When we seek to heal and balance, we’re actually tuning in to our innate vibration of wholeness. A powerful way to connect with our inner wholeness is through sound. Sound speaks of harmony and connection and oneness. It opens the doors to the inner realm and invites us to come exploring. You do that simply by listening to sound. 

The purpose of any healing/balancing session is to remember 

When we seek to heal and balance, we are providing the opportunity to remember and re-identify with our inner light, our inner being. 

Remember that you, we, are, all simply One Energy, One Light Energy, One Radiant Energy. When you set out to rebalance yourself or others, you’re putting light into the places that need healing. You’re using sound vibration to focus the energy of wholeness.

Begin with the wholing vibration of the breath

The fastest, easiest way to direct healing vibration is through your breath.  Take a deep breath.  Then let it go in a very slow, measured manner.  That simple step immediately relaxes and centers you.  Take another breath and create a vowel sound with the exhale.  See how that feels to you. 

Balancing breath work can be done anytime, anywhere.  When you’re rushing between tasks, take a moment to add some deep, slow, conscious breaths in order to change your inner rhythm. To calm down even further, hold the inhaled breath for a count of seven or so.  Then  s l o w l y  exhale. 

A simple breath can immediately relax and center you.

Expand the vibration of your voice

When you add your voice to your exhaled breath, use some syllable like “aum” (“ohm”). Experiment with tones, the vowel sounds of a,e,i,o,u…  Notice where they resonate in your body.  Use those sounds to direct the energy of your wholing breath.  

I have evolved my own power song that consists of only three tones with three different syllables. I sing it every day. Let your personal power song evolve and sing it to center and prepare yourself for meditation.

Use your breath to intone ohms to open and close your day.  Let that vibration move through your body and out into the invisible worlds, paving the way, open the doors, announcing your willingness to participate.  The sound you use is one of alignment.

Add a bit of rhythm

Rhythm adds a powerful dimension.  I took two bamboo pieces from a broken wind chime and I have a wonderful clacker sound that I use in my daily meditation work. You can make a rattle by putting popcorn in a spice jar or a paper cup. Look around you at what can create sound. Two spoons can create a rhythm, slapping your palms on a pillow or a table or your knee creates sound. Two acorns from your yard may make an intriguing sound. Explore your environment to discover what sounds already exist there and see what calls to you.   

Rhythm is like our heartbeat. Don’t structure it, let it emerge.  Your inner rhythm is waiting to share itself with you. 

I have discovered a pattern of six beats that send me immediately to my deepest self.  Six beats and I yawn and feel a deep connection to my inner world.  

As you begin to acquire sound instruments and bring them into your spiritual practice, take your time in getting to know them. Develop your own sound healing session. We are energy.  We are vibration. The sound that resonates, that calls to you, is the sound you should choose to use.  

Develop a melody  

You don’t have to be a singer to add a melody.  

In my daily ceremonial work, I drum and sing songs to the four directions.  I made up those songs over time. My words. My melody. I simply let them evolve.

I have a shamanic friend who whistles. Her power song is a whistled melody. 

Hum, sing, whistle, speak in rhythm. Make up your own songs as they call to you.

Allow your whole body to experience the sounds. Chant, sing, hum, dance, use rhythm and melody as catalysts for movement that stimulates your entire being. Move as slowly or as rapidly as the music invites you to do. 

Pick your sound-maker

Bring sound healing gently into your life.  I’m into sound healing and keep exploring new vibrations. I’ve discovered that I like the lasting resonance of chimes or bells and use a hand bell to begin my meditations. I drum every day. I have several rattles but use my Third Eye Rattle to bless the directions and move through my chakras each day.  I have added an ocarina to my healing sounds as I continue to explore the power of sound healing.

Here’s most of my sound collection.  See what calls to you.

The traditional way to begin a shamanic journey is with rhythm –  drumming and rattles.  It helps to move you into a state of receptivity.

RHYTHM

  • Djembe Drum Bongo Congo –  Wooden African Hand Drum – SIZE 16″ I use this small drum to drum down the sun each day.  It’s very portable. This video shows you how to play a much bigger djembe than the one I have.  See if drumming calls to you as a musical and/or ceremonial expression! 
  • Third Eye Rattle skin rattle filled with crystals. It is made by a shaman trained in rattle making who blessed it with ceremony while making it. I use this to bless my day, heal my chakras and in any ceremony I perform.
  • Conch shell rattle I’ve had for years.   Rattles are made from shells, goods, skin, ceramic. Find a sound that calls to you.
  • Original clay palm size rattle made for me by my shamanic practice partner. Sorry, she’s not in business yet. 
  • Rainstick  The sound of rain coming down. Powerful and soothing. I also have a long three-foot rain stick I got years ago.  It has an awesome sound. I use this as I would water in healing, to clear out and release and heal.

BELLS

  • Tibetan Hand Bell  Meditation & Prayer Bells / Dorje / Vajra – Medium I use this to begin each journey and to bless my day and even my computer so that it sends out good energy.
  • Cymbal  These make a long resonating tone.  I use them to bless my home and the surrounding area. 
  • Tibetan Singing Bowl – comes in many sizes. This is palm-sized.   A love its resonance that goes on and on.  Great to begin a meditation or to bring the day to a healing close.
  • Energy chime I’ve had a single energy chime for years but they also come in groups. Woodstock is the best chime maker. I strike it to announce to the unseen world that I am now in service for the day. 
  • Fairy Bells refers to small hanging bells. Mine are very old. They are part of my blessing for the world each day.
  • Woodstock xylophone. I’ve had one for years and there is a new version of it. Woodstock also has great wind chimes
  • Tuning Fork 432 mg.   I use my mallet from my energy gong on this and focus it on my chakras.
  • Wind Chimes. These come in many materials. and are a lovely connection to the flow of nature.

MELODY

  • Ocarina  I’ve had pendant ocarina on a necklace for years. I just got this:”Fores I’ve had pendant ocarina on a necklace for years. I just got this:”Forest Whisper” 12 Hole Ocarina Classic Straw-fire Masterpiece Collectible,alto C
  • Shulong Drum  rrecently ordered.  It has the sound of Tibetan Bowls and plays melodies. I don’t have this yet but I have heard one and am intrigued.
  • Your Voice.  Whether you hum, chant, sing, whistle, use your body to create healing sound.  Just listen and let it guide you.

If you’re starting with nothing, find something to rattle, something to drum and a bell/chime of some sort.  Explore the sounds they offer and find the type of sound-maker that calls to you. And don’t forget your voice as a powerful sound instrument.  Bring sound into your daily practice in some form

If you’re starting with nothing, find something to rattle, something to drum and a bell/chime of some sort.  Explore the sounds they offer and find the type of sound-maker that calls to you. And don’t forget your voice as a powerful sound instrument.  Bring sound into your daily practice in some form.

Talk to your sound healing helper

You can begin your sound healing practice with anything that makes a sound. Choose what calls to you.  Add them one at a time and experiment to see how they feel and where they resonate in your body.

When you find a sound that calls to you, meditate with the sound-maker you have and ask how it would like to serve at this particular time in your life/practice.  In what way is it to be used?  To what purpose?  Talk to your chosen sound object.  It’ll talk back to you.

Put sound healing to work

In your sound healing you’re focusing the sound of wholeness, of oneness, and whatever is around it will come into gradual alignment with that vibration. 

Notice, too, where the vibration resonates in your own body. Make a sound with one of your sound healing choices and feel what part of your body responds. Notice how your chakra system responses to each sound. Sounds talk to you when you listen.

Use sound to honor the elements

Use sound to create a blessing. The songs I sing to the directions are about the qualities I see in those elements.  For me Fire (East) is about passion and creativity, Earth (South) unfolding and coming with nature, Water (West) deep listening and Air (North) is about spirituality, and, for me, creativity.  Explore the elements and define their meanings for yourself. 

Use sound to bless the world

I stroke my fairy bells and shake my conch shell rattle and ask the tree messenger outside my window to send my blessings to the earth from tree to tree throughout the world. 

Use sound to begin meditation or a shamanic journey

The traditional way to begin a journey is through drumming or rattling.  The sound changes your brain waves into a more receptive state. I happen to channel my journeys right into my computer (I just tune in and type) and I use my Tibetan Handbell to center and focus myself, allowing the vibration to resonate all through me. 

Use sound to bless the past, present and future

Because my Tibetan Bowl is small, I make a fist and set the bowl on the circle made by my thumb and first finger.  Then I take the wooden ringer and gently place it against the side and begin to circle the rim. The sound builds and when I stop stroking it, the lovely vibration continues. I do this three times with the intention of healing the past, the present and the future.  Create whatever message calls to you. 

Use sound to release

I have a three-foot long rainstick I got years ago. And probably because it has the sound of water, I use that sound to rinse out and release whatever I no longer need.  Again, I seem to do it three times, release, restore, revive. It’s your ceremony, follow your intuition. 

Use sound to balance your body

The 432 mg tuning fork is said to be the frequency of the universe. I only have one tuning fork, and I use the wooden mallet from my energy gong to strike it although the instructions are to tap it with the base of the hand.  It has a lasting resonance and I stroke the energy field of my body with it. 

Use sound to balance your chakras

I use my third eye rattle to rattle a sound pattern to each of my chakras.  I happen to use the same rhythm for each but I’m certain if I explore, each chakra will ask for a different rhythm.  Talk to your sound instrument of choice and let it guide you. 

Follow your intuition

As you organically heal and balance you’ll be drawn to different vibrations.  Notice and honor those times you are to change the form of your sound healing/wholing.  Let your intuition guide you to the next sound instrument you are to use or the change in rhythm you are to explore next. 

Use sound throughout your day

One of the most powerful gifts of sound is the invitation to simply listen.  Stop right now and listen.  Listen to the silence.  Listen to nature. 

Use your sound healing instruments as they call to you.  I use most of mine to begin my day.  I use some to end the day.  Sound is a powerful balancer and healer and would be a powerful addition to your life. 

Use sound to deepen your mindfulness. When you sit in silence, for meditation or mindfulness, use your breath to chant ohms.  Let that vibration move through all of you and out into the invisible world, paving the way, open the doors, announcing your willingness to participate.

Use sound to release. As you listen to a sound fade away, let go of limiting beliefs, old habits and old patterns that no longer serve.  Feel them disappear as the sound fades.

Use sound as closure. Drum down the setting sun to close the day.  Pick a sound to celebrate the moon.  Or the sun.  Or life.  Use sound to deepen your own vibration. 

Make this evening ceremony one of releasing – of releasing limiting beliefs, old habits that no longer serve, old patterns.

For ending my day I like to see my personal ceremony as three parts: 1) Release, as in let go and clear out all that no longer serves you. 2) Repair or restore what needs fixing and 3) Replenish, accept the flow of wholing light energy to fill you and bring you into balance.

This can be as simple as three focusing breaths, it can be a song of intention you sing, it can be done with the sound instrument of your choice.  The intention is simply to release, repair and replenish.

Listen to nature. The vibrations of nature speak of harmony and connection and oneness. Sit in nature and listen to the richness and variety of the sound of our wonderful earth home. Let those sounds heal and balance you. 

Become aware of sound throughout your day.

Your need for certain tones will change

As balance occurs, you may be drawn to different forms of sound healing. Your skill at one instrument or another may be a factor. Rhythm instruments resonate with me.  I’m not as skilled on wind instruments, but I think they’re lovely. And the ongoing vibration of chimes is very balancing. As you experiment with sound, notice which form touches your soul and work more with that. Keep experimenting with what you use and how you use it.

Absorb the resonating healing power of sound

Sound sends a message to your body suit – get in harmony, you guys! Blend your voices, make this composition richer and deeper and let its vibration touch more hearts.  

Remember you, it, we, are all simply one energy, light energy, radiant energy.  So in that respect, you are putting light into a person’s body, a balance of light that’s created by vibration. When our cells, our bodies, beings are aligned with Source, we experience our wholeness, our oneness, our nothingness

Allow the power of sound to resonate with your spiritual heart and feel the blessing from the All That Is. Feel loved.  Feel appreciated. Let it stroke you and cover you like a warm protective cloak. Sound is the vibration of Source. 

To Sing a Deeper Song, consider:

Unleash the power of your Sacred Garden

Do Things from the Soul 

How Effective Is Your Spiritual Practice? 

Follow Your Personal Drumbeat

Discover Your Spiritual Heart 

How Your Spiritual Life Changes You

The Path of Supportive Service

By

The Path of Supportive Service

We help others by simply walking beside them in supportive service.  

We don’t push.  We don’t pull. We don’t tell them what to do.  We simply walk beside them in service. Supportive service.  Loving service. Loyal service.  

We do it for others.  Others do it for us. 

We move gently into their life and match their steps.  

We may shine a light here and there to highlight possibilities, but mostly we walk in loving support beside them as they move through their own journey.

It’s an interesting feeling for me to know that I don’t walk beside you as a teacher or a leader.  I’m simply here to support.  And shine a little light along our shared pathway. 

I see myself on a path.  It’s not a particularly steep path, but it’s heading steadily upward.  

At this point in human time, I have two people with whom I’m actively interacting as we walk along together. We’re going in the same direction, but we are taking separate journeys. 

That’s as it should be.

I’m also walking beside others through my writing, even if I’m not always in direct interaction with them. 

I know that just as I find support and inspiration and motivation from other people whose work I read, we never know how the waves we send out impact others. 

Support by listening

For me, the greater service my two walking-beside-me-in-service partners give is to provide a space for me to share my excitement over what I discover and what I learn. They’re strong sounding boards and reflective mirrors. In that sense, we teach each other because we’re going more or less in the same direction, but we each have chosen a distinctive pathway. 

We listen well.  We exchange ideas with enthusiasm.  We give informed feedback and encouragement. Sometimes the gift is an idea we pick up from the other person that they’ve chosen to put in place themselves.  Listening is learning.   As we share our experiences and our response and interpretation of our own journey, we each expand our awareness – of self and of possibilities. 

Because my path is so focused on deepening my own spiritual understanding, for me the most important aspect of walking beside someone in service is that we’re at similar levels of interest and accomplishment along our path.  We can understand each other at the deepest levels of our journeys.

It has occurred to me, in writing this, that you are the third person I’m walking beside in service. You, who read what I write and sometimes offer comments.  Thank you for your thoughtful steps beside me. Thank you for sharing in my journey.

We follow our heart when we select who to walk beside in service. It’s always an exchange.  We both give and receive as we move along our journey. 

Support by mirroring

One of my walk-beside partners is very detailed.  I’m at the other end of the spectrum.  I grab an idea and run with it.  She holds it and studies and absorbs it.  Both are perfectly appropriate ways of learning but it was important for both of us to see and honor each other’s learning styles.  She helps me be willing to be a little more detailed – I help her be a little more experimental. 

Support by reflecting

One of my partners is a fellow shamanic practitioner.  We’re both exploring how we want to fit that incredible work into our lives, for ourselves and for assisting others.  She wants an active in-person shamanic practice. I want to primarily use the journey work to explore and write about what I discover and show others how to apply journeying for their own self-awareness. Two different objectives.  One shared path.

We practice on each other.  We reflect back to each other.  We learn from each other. We talk on Skype every week. 

Learn from their path

The other major person I’m walking beside in service is also a healer, but her path is different from mine.  She’s exploring things I never even thought about and some of my experiences in my shamanic explorations expand her knowledge. We have broad-ranging conversations as we walk alongside each other.

As you walk beside someone in illumined service, there’s an exchange.  You learn from each other as you also support each other’s journey.

Learn from helping

I’ve just begun to walk beside someone else in service.  She wants to learn shamanism.  As I prepare an outline for the guidance I want to offer, my own knowledge deepens and expands. Her questions and needs and interests will guide our journey together. 

Helping her helps me clarify how I want to be in service on a broader scale.  The words I want to write. The insights I want to offer.   You learn from the person you’re walking beside even as you’re the one doing the supportive walking.

There are people you serve you don’t know

Here’s the unmeasurable one. Our presence has a ripple effect. Our work has a ripple effect.  My work with the people I’m actively walking beside supports them and helps them expand their reach. I can see the movement that comes from our exchanges.  But through these people, I’m also in service to others I do not know in places I cannot see, as they expand their own reach into their world.

I also am aware that I’m walking on a planetary-wide path with people I do not know.  But I know our purpose.  I know our direction.  We are Illumined Explorers expressing our spirit-directed living and we are moving through the world to tap on the shoulders of receptive people.  As we shine our light, others see it and recognize the light in themselves, and they join in to help raise the collective consciousness. It’s very inclusive, impactful work for the wellbeing of our planet.

It’s trickier for me to gauge the impact of my own written offerings.  I occasionally get emails that indicate that a particular post has touched a life.  And I know there’s a consistent number of “opens” on my weekly posts.  But I have no idea what my work prompts each reader to turn around and give their world. And I never will. I have to trust and keep shining my light their way.  So that’s what I keep doing. 

You walk beside someone in service with every exchange

I live in a senior community in the conservative Mid-West and with my metaphysical interests, there’s no one here I can talk to about them.  But my mere presence is part of my service.  My persona, my participation, my appreciation for the opportunity to interact, those are all ways I walk beside them in service.  Your mere presence is a light that shines upon the path. We must be conscious of everything we offer the world, even by simply being present.

Point out the possibilities

If you picture yourself walking along a path beside someone, you may periodically shine your light on other possible paths to explore.  They may take one detour. You may explore another.  When you continue on the main path together, you each have new insights to share from your separate side journeys.

Help them over the high places

When we walk beside someone in service we help each other over the high places – and the low places. That’s simply the nature of walking along the same path. We’re supportive of our respective journeys.

Appreciate their light upon your path

Not everyone is going to think of their personal journey as shining their light upon the path of another.  Perhaps as you walk beside someone, you tell them how much their light means to you.  Perhaps you even find ways you both might shine your lights in other directions.  Stay aware.  Keep on the lookout and respond to the opportunities that appear. 

What does it feel like to walk beside someone in service?

Look at your life.  Who are you walking beside?  Who is walking beside you?  Some may be walking more closely to you, some may be nearby but at different points on the journey. Some may be willing to take that interesting detour with you. Others may not. 

Simply shine your light brighter.  Expand your beam. Draw in more people. And keep walking.

FOR DEEPER EXPLORATION:

Live in the Center of your being

What Is The Foundation Upon Which You Build Your Life?

Discover Your Spiritual Heart

How Effective Is Your Spiritual Practice? 

One Powerful Way to Change Our Future 

If You Are A Rock – Who Supports You?

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