Healing Circles

 Source: https://healingcirclesglobal.org/calling-a-circle/what-is-a-healing-circle/

Healing circles are safe havens

• They help us step out of ordinary time into a safe and accepting environment in which we can explore our healing.
• With open minds, we work together to discover the best ways to remove obstacles to healing, alleviate suffering, and deepen our capacity to heal.
• With open hearts, we access our own inner guidance to understand where the greatest healing—in body, emotions, mind and spirit—can occur.

They’re built on a foundation of kindness and respect

Circle participants agree to:

• Treat each other with kindness and respect.
• Listen with compassion and curiosity.
• Honor each other’s unique ways to healing and don’t presume to advise or fix or try to save each other
• Hold all stories shared in the circle in confidence.
• Trust that each of us has the guidance we need within us.
• Rely on the power of silence to access that guidance.

Participants behave in nurturing ways

When they’re in circle, participants commit themselves to:

• Listen with attention.
• Speak with intention.
• Tend to the well-being of the whole healing circle.

Participants play specific roles

Members of a circle have an equal voice and are responsible for the leadership of their own healing.  In circles of more than two people, there are three additional roles that help a circle flow smoothly:

• The host convenes and pays attention to the flow of a circle.
• The guardian keeps an eye on the time, monitors the energy of the group, and protects the agreements.
• A scribe can keep notes if the circle chooses.

Healing circles as a place of refuge

Very little matches the beauty and inspiration of a waterfall, and we’re blessed with many in the Northwest. They’ve played a huge role in Diana’s and my own healing, both metaphorically and physically, but like almost anything in life, context is everything. Things can go from awesome to awful pretty fast if you find yourself in the river instead of on the bank.

For anyone with the apparent misfortune of going over the falls, it’s good to keep in mind that at the bottom of every waterfall or cataract—regardless of how wide, how tall, or how thunderous—is an eddy, and often more than one. This is a place of refuge where the current turns back on itself, the river flows upstream, and time itself seems to stop. It’s a good place to catch a breath, get some bearings, and find perspective. Sometimes a person is automatically drawn into the eddy; sometimes it requires some navigational skill to reach; and sometimes just knowing it’s there is enough.

That’s what we think of a healing circle in general (and Healing Circles Langley in specific) as being: an eddy for those who find themselves going over the falls—whether from a cancer diagnosis, a chronic condition, the trauma of grief and loss, or some other circumstance of life. Healing Circles Langley is also an eddy above the falls, for those looking ahead with either anxiety or excitement about how life may unfold in the quixotic and mercurial ways it often does.

Eddies accumulate things: flotsam, jetsam, resources for the lucky, creative, or desperate. What arrives in an eddy has a tendency to stay in the eddy. Communities (if not entire civilizations) have risen from their shores. Healing Circles Langley is such a community. We accumulate things, too—shared experience and experiences to share; friends and neighbors with needs or gifts, and often both; circles of safety and support for those who want to get out of the current, and for those who want to get back in. Anyone is welcome in our eddy, but consider this fair warning: Those who wash into healing circles have a tendency to stay—and often get their feet wet.

Kelly Lindsay is a co-founder and co-director of Healing Circles Langley. He is the author of Something More Than Everything: The Story of What Went Right When Life Went Wrong.

Header photo courtesy of Harmony Hill

Sound Healing

BY MADISYN TAYLOR

When the vibrations of our physical and spiritual bodies are out of harmony it can cause disease.

Everything in the universe is in a constant state of vibration, including our bodies. Sound is vibration that can be translated by the delicate structures of our inner ear, but it moves more than just those tiny receptors. It is part of the spectrum of energy vibrations that affect us on the mental, physical, and spiritual levels. Long ago shamans recognized the power of sound when they first used chants and drumming to heal people. In ancient Egypt, Greece, and India, the use of sound and music for healing was a highly developed sacred science. Sonic vibration has been one way of experiencing the energy of the universe for much of humanity's history. 

When the vibrations of our physical and spiritual bodies are out of harmony it can cause disease. Sound healing gently massages the molecules back into the right places, clearing blockages and restoring harmony. Ancient healing systems such as Chinese medicine and Indian Ayurveda associate specific musical notes with subtle-energy systems of the body, such as in yoga where particular notes of music correspond to each of the seven chakras. In Tibet, priests have long used bells and bowls over and around the body to tune and clear the energy centers. Chimes and tuning forks are other tools that have been used to heal not only the body but the energy in a room as well. 

Knowing that sound has the power to heal, we should also try to remember that sounds from modern life can have a negative affect. Choosing silence over discord may help us maintain a state of equilibrium. As we seek soothing and harmonizing sounds to surround us, we may be doing more than creating a balm for the noise of the world. We may actually be performing an act of self-healing that connects us with one of the most basic vibrations of the universe.

Why and how to develop self-discipline

By Gloria Excelsias

Self-discipline is one of the most important qualities to develop on the Spiritual path. It is certainly no coincidence that the words disciple and discipline sound so similar. They originate from the same root. Discipulus, in Latin, means student – and discere means to learn.

It is only when the student begins to learn to discipline his and her forces, that true Spiritual growth and self-mastery may be attained. So long as we don’t learn to control the invisible forces within us, we cannot hope to steer and direct our visible life.

Until we decide to develop self-discipline, we are basically thrown hither and yon by the inner currents of desire and by the outer currents of temptation. In other words, we are the victim of desire and confusion and not the captain of our ship.

Self-discipline enables us to direct our forces and thus take control of our life.
With this understanding in mind, how may we develop self-discipline?

We develop self-discipline first by deciding that from this moment forward we’ll control our desires, passions and appetites which have hitherto controlled us and that from this moment forward we’ll resist the temptation to give into selfish gratification.  Step number one is to make a decision to change our life and take control of our forces. What might be helpful is to make this decision in front of our Creator in the form of a Spiritual contract of sorts. Doing this will make it easier to follow through.

Step number two is to take the opportunity, when the lower passion or appetite arises, to not just restrain it but purify it. Remember, we live in a world of energies and forces. Lower passions, desires and appetites are real, tangible forces. Just trying to restrain them will not get rid of them. The only way to get rid of them is to transform them. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it can only be transformed. We transform a lower passion by purifying it into a higher aspiration. As we transform these lower forces, one by one, they will soon lose their hold over us as well as their attractive power. In other words, as we begin to purify our life through self-discipline, we will begin feeling repelled by the impure life and start feeling attracted to the pure life. As the lower life is phased out of our constitution through self-discipline, as per the law of attraction, we will no longer feel attracted to it.

It is through the purification of our lower nature that we step into our nigher nature. The lower animal forces are not lost in the process of purification, they are simply transmuted into higher spiritual energy. However, this transmutation of lower force into higher energy does not happen by chance. It happens by choice. It is accomplished through self-imposed discipline.

Here is what happens: Each time we give into a lower passion and desire, we give our power away to the lower desire and in this way strengthen the force of desire while at the same time weakening ourselves in proportion. However, each time we restrain a lower desire and transmute it into a higher form of energy, we strengthen our will power and grow in Spiritual power.

As we begin to transform our lower desires into higher energies, we develop will-power, self-confidence, self-love and self-respect. We also begin to conserve our energies rather than dissipate them. In other words, we begin to apply the law of energy conservation. Nature does not dissipate her energies and neither should we if we are serious about stepping into Spiritual maturity.
Without self-discipline we steadily keep drifting lower and lower (one low passion magnetically leads to another lower passion) whereas through the execution of self-discipline we may lift ourselves out of the lower life into the glories of the high life.

We won’t just wake up one magical morning being fully awakened and alive without having initiated the necessary self-discipline to prune away all that is not divine and cultivate all that is. As we sacrifice the lower life, we gain so much in return! Give it a try

ACTION STEP: Practically speaking, let’s say you want to become the master of your tongue. Each time you are about to say something unfriendly, unsupportive, unhelpful, mean etc., restrain yourself and make yourself say something nice, uplifting and supportive instead. Words are forces! That’s why they can hurt – or uplift, for that matter. Every time we restrain our tongue and/or turn a negative conversation into a positive one, we are literally transmuting lower force into higher energy. We are practicing alchemy Spend the next seven days actively practicing alchemy.

Link: http://iamuniversity.org/why-and-how-to-develop-self-discipline/

Connecting with the Archangels

by Sunny Dawn Johnston

Angels can unleash hurricanes of healing,
release tidal waves of love,
move whole mountains of hatred,
melt icebergs of jealousy
and evaporate oceans of pain.
—Unknown

In order to understand how to connect with the Archangels, you first have to understand vibration. Everything created is energy, and energy vibrates at different levels. Just as a singer has a vocal range that moves from lowest to highest, so do human beings have a vibrational range. In other words, you move up and down a vibrational scale. The more you work on loving yourself, the higher your vibration rises and the easier it is to connect with the higher vibrational beings that I refer to as Spiritual Helpers. These helpers are also known as deceased loved ones, Spirit Guides, Ascended Masters, Angels, and Archangels. Everyone is born with a different vibrational scale, but everyone possesses the ability to reach the highest level through appreciation, forgiveness, joy, meditation, and love. If you wish to connect to higher vibrational beings, then you simply raise your own personal vibration.

You might be wondering why you need to raise your vibration. The universal Law of Attraction states that like energy attracts like energy; and because the beings in the spiritual realm will not lower their vibration, you must raise yours to connect with them. The more you stay in a higher, lighter, clearer vibration, the more you will connect with the spiritual realm.

Physical beings are you and me and everyone you see with a body and a heartbeat.

Deceased loved ones are family, friends, co-workers, and loved ones who have passed away, transitioned, kicked the bucket, died, dropped their body, and so on. They have released the dense energy of their physical bodies and have automatically moved up the vibrational scale. Deceased loved ones can raise their vibration even higher now and can become Spirit Guides, if so desired and chosen. In my experience, there is often an amount of divine time, not measured time, where they "prepare" for this, as it is not typically instantaneous.

Spirit Guides, who once inhabited a physical form, had the same journey or purpose as the physical beings they are now guiding. Upon leaving their physical bodies, Spirit Guides choose to become teachers or guides to those of us still in the physical realm. They offer guidance, comfort, and, at times, warnings and protection. Spirit Guides are often the spiritual essence of deceased loved ones.

The Ascended Masters are Divine Beings that lived earthly lives as great teachers, healers, or way-showers of ascension. They released all their fears and grew and raised their vibrations in order to ascend. Ascended Masters come from all cultures, modern and ancient civilizations, and are often spoken of and remembered in religious context, such as Buddha and Jesus. The Ascended Masters bring light and love to everyone regardless of their religious beliefs or feelings of worthiness. The Ascended Masters know and teach that we are all worthy of love and guidance.

Angels, Guardian Angels, and Archangels are higher vibrational beings who exist only in the spiritual realm and do not incarnate into physical form as humans and animals do. Angels help, guide, comfort, and assist us in our earthly journey by uplifting and protecting us. Each physical being is supported by one Guardian Angel throughout his/her entire physical life, from birth to death. A Guardian Angel's job is to unconditionally love and protect us. Archangels are the powerful overseers of the angelic realm. Call on the Archangels any time for anything, and they will be there immediately.

Throughout my life, angelic beings have presented themselves in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and forms. Their appearance was often determined by what I was feeling, seeing, or knowing in the moment. Over time though, their forms have changed and evolved as I've grown spiritually. Therefore, the definition or visual representation of Angels can be as different as seashells on a beach. Each individual will experience Angels based upon his or her own perceptions. I believe that all impressions of the angelic realm are valid. Angels show themselves in a way that you are able to perceive and understand and are often gentle and comforting in their approach.

The Divine is the God of your understanding. My understanding of God does not come from religious beliefs or scripture but from my own journey inward. When I reached a point in my life where I recognized I had to take responsibility for myself and that I had no control over anything or anyone but myself, I came to understand that God was in everyone and everything. I realized that God is Love. I am God, you are God, we are God. As are the wind, the trees, the ocean, the animals, the clouds, the rainbows, and the sun. The God of my understanding is everywhere, in everything, and is simply Love.

WEEKLY AFFIRMATION HOMEWORK

I am a big believer in affirmations. It is hard to think about something negative and positive at the same time. So... why don't we just bring as much positive into our minds as possible.. Even if it doesn't feel real, it's OK. Just keep doing it... My life changed with the Angels & Affirmations.. and yours can too!

Angel Affirmations

I am loved, unconditionally.

I am open to my Guardian Angels.

I am protected and guided by my Angels.

I trust that my Guide will attract only miracles in my life.

I am open to my Healing Angels.

I am thankful for my life and my Angel of Perception.

I am now surrounded by Angels.

The Angels shine the love of the Universe upon me and through me.

I accept love from the Angels.

I call upon the Archangels to help and guide me.

My inner voice and feelings are guidance from the Angels.

I know that the Angels love me and are guiding me right now.

I accept the Angels' love.

My Angels and I enjoy new opportunities to give service to the world.

The Angel of Inspiration guides me to do anything I truly desire.

I am divinely guided by the Angel of Happiness.

I am divinely guided by the Angels to guide me towards optimal health.

I am Peace.

I am divinely guided by the Angel of Patience.

I Trust my loved ones will be protected by the Angels.

I believe in the Universe’s messengers, the Angels.

Staying Grounded, Conscious in a Big City or Busy World

by Madisyn Taylor

For a more grounded life, choose not to get caught up in the fast-paced world around you.

1. Live simply and live deliberately. By choosing not to get caught up in the details of this fast-paced world, you are doing your part to slow down the rat race and quell consumerism. You will also discover that you have more time to enjoy being alive.

2. Stay in touch with yourself. Soul searching, meditation, and journaling are just a few of the many activities you can take part in to stay aware and learn as much as you can about your emotions, reactions, likes, dislikes, dreams, and fears. Having a solid sense of self gives you a firm foundation for living in this world.

3. Support or teach others as often as you can. This can help you form connections with people while also giving you an opportunity to make the world a better place.

4. Consciously choose what you will allow into your being. The media bombards us with visions of hate, war, and pain. Be judicious about what you read, watch, and listen to.

5. Acknowledge the beauty that resides around you. Whether you live in a sprawling metropolis or a stereotypical suburb, there are natural and man-made wonders just waiting to be discovered by you.

6. Nurture your ties to your tribe. If you don’t have one, create a community that you can belong to. Modern life can be isolating. When you have a tribe, you have a circle that you are a part of. Its members – loved ones, friends, or neighbors - can be a source of support, caring, guidance, and companionship.

7. See the larger picture. Remember that the way that you choose to live is not the only way to live. Widen your perspective by exploring other modes of being through research, travel, and discussion.

8. Embrace the challenges that life presents to you, and challenge yourself often. After a time, even the most exciting jobs or lifestyles can seem routine. Never stop assimilating new knowledge about whatever you are doing, and your life will never seem dull.

9. Move your body. In this busy world, it can be easy to live a sedentary life. Movement reacquaints us with our bodies and connects us to the earth in a visceral way. It also restores our vitality.

10. Make time for stillness, silence, and solitude. The world can be noisy, and we are subject to all kinds of noises nearly every waking hour. We are also often “on the go” and unable to relax. Being alone in a peaceful place and making time for quiet can help you stay in touch with yourself. 

Source: http://www.dailyom.com/articles/2015/50604.html

 

 

 

Healing yourself with writing

By Catherine Ann Jones

Our lives may be determined less by past events than by the way we remember them. Memory can be either disabling or enabling. Dr. Viktor Frankl, holocaust survivor and author of Man's Search for Meaning wrote that "…everything can be taken away from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms: to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." What we think or imagine in fact is our reality, both individually and collectively. Healing and transformation is possible only through changing one's perspective from within. It is by making meaning out of memory that true healing and empowerment can occur. What story are you living? How do you choose to remember your story? The following allegory offers a clue.

Two Wolves: A Native American grandfather is talking to his grandson about how he feels about a tragedy in their village. "I feel as if I have two wolves fighting in my heart. One wolf is the vengeful, angry, violent one. The other wolf is the loving, compassionate one." The grandson asks, "Grandfather, which wolf will win the fight in your heart?" The grandfather places his hand on his heart and replies, "The one I feed."

How do we learn to "feed" the stories that heal?

How do we put together the pieces of the past? How can we rewrite our life story so that pain becomes meaningful and actually promotes growth and transformation?

One answer lies in focused journaling. This course offers a step by step journey of discovery and re-visioning through focused journaling. Throughout this course, the reader will be presented with writing exercises designed to facilitate healing and transformation. In this way, global healing takes place one individual, one tribe, at a time.

Negative Patterns

Negative patterns sometimes evolve for a reason. A child growing up in an alcoholic and/or abusive environment may create a wall around him or her for protection. Such defensive methods may actually ensure surviving emotionally and physically through challenging and threatening times in our lives. Years pass, however, and though now safe, these walls and other defensive mechanisms may sabotage our personal and professional lives. The wall is no longer needed yet it remains. It has become habitual. The first step is to become aware of what we have built around us. What stories we continue to tell ourselves to fortify the wall. Stories from the past live on in us long after the cause or effect is gone. Here's one small example. I recently taught a workshop at Esalen in Big Sur, CA. A woman had broken up with a man who also happened to be taking the workshop at the same time. Sitting in the circle with this former lover made the woman increasingly uncomfortable. And though she ! had looked forward to taking the workshop, she now felt unable to focus. I spoke with her privately for a few minutes then asked if she could for a moment separate the perception of the man from the inner story she was telling and re-telling within. She closed her eyes and was able to discriminate between seeing him and listening to the story she was keeping alive within herself. I asked her, "So who is telling the story?" She laughed, took a deep breath, and was able to release the old track from her mind – at least enough to return and focus on the remaining days of the workshop. This is not to say that her work was done in this moment, but she had acquired a new tool in lessening the trauma she had experienced from the break up with her partner. With a small shift in perspective, she had gained an insight into a deeper self enabling her to step back and witness a life event that had stalled her moving forward into a new life.

So what exactly happened here? A woman felt powerless because she was unable to let go of a story she was holding onto which made her a victim. Even though she no longer saw this man, her former lover, she carried him within, and over and over again inside was keeping this version of the story alive. Thus, in doing so, she made herself more and more powerless. All she did now was to step back and take responsibility for the story she was telling and re-telling. She could see herself as separate from what she was doing. She became a witness to her own creation of her daily life.

EXERCISE:

Think of a difficult event in your life, now past. Feel within the emotions associated with the person or event. Now visualize stepping back and see yourself telling the old story. Ask who is telling the story? Now choose to write a new version from where you are now standing, some distance away. Take all the time you need for this process.

As we grow these negative, protective patterns outlive their use. Then as maturity comes, we seek to create new, healthier patterns. It's not that the negative patterns leave, they simply go dormant, and the new healthier patterns take over, as it were. We learn, as the old grandfather did, to feed the good wolf. It makes sense to accept this and have compassion for not only the old negative patterns but for the child or young adult who needed them at the time.

Only when old patterns which no longer serve are released can new ones emerge. Sometimes new, healthier habits must be in place before releasing the old ones.

EXERCISE:

Feed or visualize positive thoughts as the fuel that powers your goals. Make a list of two columns with two headings: Negative and Positive. Under Negative, list any negative thoughts or feelings you have lived with and are now willing to release. Under Positive, list a new version transposed from the Negative version. After completing the list of both, read them and decide which ones you will adopt.

When traumatic or disturbing events either personal or collective happened to us when young, we may not have possessed the words to speak out then? The words would come later as we look squarely at our own lives and the world we live in, at how we got here from there. What in your history, both positive & negative, made you who you are today? By going through and beyond your own story, you will connect to the great universal story of us all.

Personal events are not the only forces that darken our psyches. Sometimes the soul's way is diametrically opposed to the collective tune, and we must find the courage to march to our own drum. It is possible peacefully to separate yourself from the dysfunctional collective whose message is that we are helpless and must accept the world as it is, that we are powerless to change it or our own lives. If we wait for only the perfect people to change the world, it will be too late. If speaking out can help one other person, how can we remain silent? How can I make a difference, be it ever so small? How do I choose to spend my free time? As Gandhi said, "Become the change you wish to see."
To be most effective, it is best if the movement towards change comes from within, that deeper part of our being. There is no greater force than being true to one's self and finding the courage to move forward in a centered way. How many times have allies –visible and invisible – come to our aid when we walk our true walk.

Writing or focused journaling can be a powerful tool for healing wounds and furthering our own growth as a human being. Writing is the best therapy I know. An only child, I began at age twelve writing in journals. The journal became my best friend, my confidante, and began, for me, a path of self-discovery.

Later earning my living as an actor then playwright in New York followed by a career as a television and screenwriter in Hollywood, I have experienced writing as a way of understanding the world and others. Writing for the popular television series, Touched by an Angel, I learned how important it is to tell the story from the character's Point of View or perspective. It is so in life as well. How we see our past is how our present will be imprinted. All we have are our thoughts, feelings, and sensations. These are what we remember, these become the memories good or bad which constitute a life. How we view our life matters tremendously. If we go deep enough, have the courage to let go the negative past, and allow a shift to occur, we can free ourselves of negative patterns which imprison by recreating negative feelings and events.

One example of a shift in seeing is this. Something occurs with a family member, friend, or business associate which causes us to become frustrated. You might habitually pronounce, "I'm frustrated." In this way, you become identified with frustration. You are walking frustration. Develop a practice of stepping back and just become aware of the frustration – without judgment or resistance. Instead of saying to yourself or others, I am frustrated, try saying instead, "Frustration is there." See it as something separate from you, as an uninvited guest who has dropped by. In this way, you may grow to see that you have no problems, only challenges. Remember you can only govern your reactions to what happens to you, not what happens.

EXERCISE:

Consider an unpleasant occurrence either recent or past. Write it down. Now close your eyes, breathe deeply and release, then visualize stepping back from this incident, seeing it from another point of view. Now write down your reactions to what happened to you – not the incident itself – only your reaction. Lastly, write down these words: "I take responsibility for my reactions."

Paul Reps in his wonderful collection, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones gives us the Zen story, Is That So? The Zen master Hakuin was praised by one and all as one living a pure life. A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him. One day her parents discovered she was with child. At first, the girl refused to name the father yet after much harassment at last named Hakuin. In great anger, the parents marched over to the Zen master, and Hakuin responded by saying, "Is that so?"

After the child was born, it was brought to Hakuin. Now, his reputation lost, he did not seem troubled, and took very good care of the child. A year later the girl's mother could stand it no longer and told her parents the truth: that the real father was a young man who worked in the fish market. The parents rushed to Hakuin to beg his forgiveness and to get the child back again. Hakuin simply gave the child back to them, saying, "Is that so?

What if we adopted a welcoming attitude to life, letting go of a habitual defensive or controlling attitude? What would we attract then?

How to Live Your Life as if Everything is a Miracle

Do you believe that life is miraculous?

Are you waiting for a miracle to happen in your life?

Just imagine what it would be like to live your life as if everything is a miracle.

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is.” ~ Albert Einstein

Sometimes people look for some kind of miracle when their life is in a fix. Other times, people may pray for a miracle when a loved one is seriously ill or when they face a life threatening challenge.
I remember praying for a miracle when I felt I hadn’t done well in a school exam. Somehow I did pass and that was my first personal experience of my own miracle, albeit a tiny one.

In the recent Haiti earthquake, there were many “miracles” of afflicted people surviving for many days under the rubble without food or water.

“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

What’s a miracle and how does one recognise one?

Wikipedia gives us a number of interpretations of what we mean by a miracle:-

• An unexpected event attributed to divine intervention.
• A fortuitous event.
• Any statistically unlikely but beneficial event, such as the survival of a natural disaster.
• An event which is regarded as “wonderful” regardless of its likelihood, such as birth.
• Survival of a terminal illness.
• Escaping a life threatening situation.
• Beating the odds.
• Some “coincidences”.

In all of the above, the common thing is some unlikely or unexpected occurrence, or something that just seems so incredible such as the birth of a child.

I have never witnessed the miracle of a child being born but a few years ago, I was lucky enough to be just outside the hospital maternity where a friend was giving birth.

I heard some faint crying and then 20 minutes later, the beaming father invited me in to see their newly arrived baby son. And there he lay cradled next to his mother, with his eyes wide open and looking as if he had always been there.

It was one of the most beautiful and miraculous moments of my life – I can’t even imagine what it would have been like for the proud father.


Just how did that little baby boy happen?

“I am realistic – I expect miracles” – Wayne Dyer

In reality, everything around us is a miracle if only we can learn to see and recognise these miracles.

By living your life as if everything is a miracle, every moment becomes something to savour and live in awe of. You naturally get to feel great appreciation and gratitude for your life, knowing that you are blessed with such miracles all around.

To help you become more present to all the miracles in your life – I have split them up into 5 specific categories.

As you read the remainder of this post, I invite you to treat this as your own personal journey into the world of miracles.

After every section, please pause for a few seconds, breathe deeply a couple of times and simply become present to that miracle.

Let’s begin our journey:-

1. The Miracle of Life.

The greatest miracle is that you are alive and able to engage in this conversation with me. Just think about it – how is it that a mass of flesh and blood is able to partake and experience what we call life? What allows us to experience the world through our senses?

If you have never thought about your very life as a miracle, please take a pause right now.
What is it that makes your blood go through your body – and what’s that universal intelligence that makes you tick?

Isn’t it a miracle that somehow life evolved on this planet we call earth, which just happens to be the right distance from our star and where during the course of billions of years, just the right conditions came about for some hydrogen and carbon molecules to gel together and finally evolve into you and me?

I am giving myself permission to repeat what I just said here, since I am so in awe – just how is it that a soup of organic materials somehow evolved into the wonder of you and me?

It all seems to happen like magic – and yet we hardly ever pause to reflect on the biggest miracle of all.

Life – our greatest miracle and gift – and even more reason for you to appreciate it every day.

“Each of my days are miracles. I won’t waste my day; I won’t throw away a miracle” – Kelley Vicstrom

2. The Miracle of Love

After the miracle of life, the greatest miracle is that of love.
But what is love?

Love is much greater than what we feel romantically. It is what makes us sing, dance and makes us human.

“Love doesn’t make the world go around, it just makes the ride worthwhile.” – Franklin P. Jones

Love is the most amazing thing in our lives. It is what makes us human, what makes life worth living – in the grander scheme of things, nothing else truly matters. The size of our homes, bank balances, the beauty of our partner, the speed of our car – all those things pale into insignificance when we face the miracle of love.

“Where there is great love there are always miracles” – Willa Cather

Love leads to other miracles such as kindness. 

Have you noticed how great you feel afterwards when you have done someone a kind deed?
Through the miracle of our love, we can indeed transform the world – even a hug, a loving touch or just a smile can cause the miracle of healing others.

There are so many simple things we can all do on a daily basis to bring more love into our lives. Together we can all make this an even more beautiful and miraculous world than it already is.
So from today onwards, appreciate and acknowledge all the love around you and in you. Look for ways of spreading your love through compassion and making a practical difference to those around you.

3. The Miracle of your Body

To experience this thing we call life, we need our bodies to function as well as possible. Our bodies somehow sustain themselves, grow, repair and fight to stay alive till the very end.

There are trillions of chemical reactions and exchanges going on within us every second and everything seems to run like clockwork. Even when disease or decay sets in, our bodies continue to strive and sustain themselves almost like magic.

The durability of our body is a miracle in itself – I remember when my first nephew was born a few weeks prematurely and he spent the first month of his life in an incubator.

It was heart-breaking to see this little guy, a tiny bag of skin and bones fighting for dear life and getting stronger day by day, ounce by ounce. Experiencing something like that sure opens you up to the miracle of life – and also makes you realise that perhaps there really is something much bigger than us out there and indeed within us.

From today onwards, why not commit to take great care of your body?
You only have to take some simple and practical self-care steps and your body will begin to miraculously heal itself and sustain you for the rest of your life.

4. The Miracle of Nature

Where does one even begin to extol the sheer beauty of our natural world?

Let’s start with one of the main symbols of beauty in our society – the majestic flower. Have you ever looked at a beautiful flower closely and failed to be moved by its magnificence and symmetry?

“The miracles of nature do not seem miracles because they are so common. If no one had ever seen a flower, even a dandelion would be the most startling event in the world” – Author Unknown

A flower is but just one example of all the wonderful nature that makes up our earth and indeed beyond the earth. Look at the sky this evening and marvel at all the twinkling stars all around us.
Just how do those points of light just stay there? And who put them up there?

Everything in nature is so beautifully symmetrical and perfect – it is almost like a universal master craftsman or craftswoman was at work.

From today onwards, please spend some time in nature daily and simply appreciate the miracle of what’s around you – from the humble ant to the majestic oak. And then for the rest of your life, be in continuous awe of the nature around you.

5. The Miracle of your Creativity

Only a few years ago, before the advent of the internet, it would have been impossible to even envisage you and I having this conversation via the medium of the blogosphere.

And yet today, we can send out a single message to thousands of people around the world in seconds.

As a species, we are incredibly creative and intelligent, and sometimes there seems no end to what we are capable of.

You are capable of so much – and probably a lot more than what you are currently doing. You can literally create your own miracles – if you choose to do so.

From my perspective, the challenge really is to channel this creativity into something that benefits the greater good.

So from today onwards, put your own creative gifts to work – and create your own miracles to make the world a better place.

“I have found in life that if you want a miracle you first need to do whatever it is you can do – if that’s to plant, then plant; if it is to read, then read; if it is to change, then change; if it is to study, then study; if it is to work, then work; whatever you have to do. And then you will be well on your way of doing the labour that works miracles.” - Jim Rohn

It’s in your hands to see life as a miraculous experience.

Make the Rest of your Life a Miracle

Your journey of seeing the world as a miracle has only just begun. From today onwards, your eyes and the other senses have been opened up.

See everything around you as the miracle that it really is – and your life will never be the same again.

So if everything is a miracle, how will you live from now onwards?

Source: http://www.arvinddevalia.com/blog/2010/03/24/how-to-live-your-life-as-if-everything-is-a-miracle/

 

Medicine Buddha Healing Mantra Chanting

Tayata Om Bekandze Bekandze Maha Bekandze Radza Samudgate Soha.

"English translation: 'May the many sentient beings who are sick, quickly be freed from sickness. And may all the sicknesses of beings never arise again.'

Buddha taught that suffering is caused by attachment to things, people, etc. We think things will bring us happiness. but our attachment actually brings us much suffering because we become obsessed with protecting them, ever hungry for more, and depressed when we lose them. A better way to live is to enjoying the abundance around us but not become attached -- "counting nothing as one's own".

Peace, It means not to desire anything because you are , all ready, all that is and all that will ever be!! (there is no need for a selfish thought (or a desire) when you know you are part of all that is and all that will ever BE Already! ) Being at one with the Universe is living in Abundance! Blessings"

Perspective taking

"Perspective taking goes far beyond empathy; it involves figuring out what others think and feel, and forms the basis for children’s understanding of their parents’, teachers’, and friends’ intentions. Children who can take others’ perspectives are also much less likely to get involved in conflicts."

Children learn perspective taking skills when we are willing to understand their perspective.

When we are gentle with ourselves, especially when we feel we are at our "worst," we begin the process of moving through our past and creating a present with children where everyone's perspective and everyone's needs have value.

We go beyond the either-or mentality and open the possibility that we can meet everyone's needs.

Read more: How children learn perspective taking

Medicine Buddha healing Mantra Chanting

Tayata Om Bekandze Bekandze Maha Bekandze Radza Samudgate Soha

"English translation: 'May the many sentient beings who are sick, quickly be freed from sickness. And may all the sicknesses of beings never arise again.'

Buddha taught that suffering is caused by attachment to things, people, etc. We think things will bring us happiness. but our attachment actually brings us much suffering because we become obsessed with protecting them, ever hungry for more, and depressed when we lose them. A better way to live is to enjoying the abundance around us but not become attached -- "counting nothing as one's own".

Peace, It means not to desire anything because you are , all ready, all that is and all that will ever be!! (there is no need for a selfish thought (or a desire) when you know you are part of all that is and all that will ever BE Already! ) Being at one with the Universe is living in Abundance! Blessings"