Just Drive

Have you ever had a major decision to make between binary options?

I have had a few in my life.  John Martin’s “Just Drive”, simply teleports me back several years ago when I had to decide whether to move and work in Boston, MA, USA or stay in Montreal, QC, Canada.  So what critical activity did I do to help me process all the different feelings, thoughts, expectations, list of pros and cons, and possible consequences regarding whether to stay or go, you may ask?  I took my keys and just drove my car to the nearest major city.  Just drive.

This is my own personal theory:

The preoccupied conscious mind is focused on driving (forward motion), while the subconscious mind is trying to resolve an issue the person has an intention of resolving(whether to move to Boston or not).  Scores of feelings, thoughts, worries, expectations, weighing pros and cons, and imaginary scenarios flood the mind, and it so desperately tries to make sense of it all.

I believe the subconscious mind is processing and calculating it all, at an unimaginable speed.  At the end of the ride, the subconscious solution is resolved and bleeds through to the conscious mind.  You feel a sense of relief and clarity at the end of the drive when you are returning home from the drive.  Problem is surprisingly solved and the decision is intuitively made.  It appears as if driving distracts the conscious mechanical mind, while the real problem-solving is done by the subconscious mind behind the curtain.  The mind seems to have re-allocated most of its resources to the subconscious mind to deal with the issue.

Please tell me I am not the only person who has experienced this.  Thank you John for this passionately-delivered song that has evoked something to be explored further.

 

Unravelling Reiki

Is it possible to connect with the universal life force and heal ourselves through our own hands?  I recently reconnected over a casual light lunch with an older lady friend of mine named AC (retired nurse), originally from (Lake District, England, UK), who is an artist (writing, paintings & photography), a Tai Chi practitioner, and an intuitive healer (hand healing in person and remotely).

AC’s works:

http://www.blurb.ca/user/lumixangela

AC had told me that she had no Reiki training, but that during her younger years, she had accidentally discovered it while attending a workshop in which the speaker casually mentioned the technique of laying hands on people who needed a healing.  She then asked her friend to show her how she did it.  As AC put her hands on her friend, who was sick with a serious migraine, they both felt a tremendous rush of energy through their bodies.  Her sick friend immediately felt better and well, with the healing stopping by itself.  They were both shocked at what happened, yet grateful for the gift and the healing.

I am slightly familiar with Reiki, in that I have done the basic 10 hand positions found on the web, and have applied them as part of my daily health routine.

Both of my little daughters have unhealed ear drums from an ear tube procedure done to drain the sinuses when they got an infection.  I have started to learn(free Reiki PDF manual below) and apply Reiki to them, in hopes of helping their ear drums recover a bit more quickly, than if there would be no intervention at all.  AC has generously offered to channel the “Ki “(Qi, or Prana) to my daughters for a few days.  I openly accepted.  I hope it works out well.  Next doctor’s visit in 6 months.  I ‘ll keep you posted.  No pun intended:-)

Here is a free Reiki PDF beginner’s manual I found online:

Click to access Reiki-1-Manual.pdf

if you are interested.

 

What are we fighting for?

Dinner table,

Words fill the air above,

Knee-jerk reaction from my voice,

I snap at my partner with a thunder,

I look at my child’s blank stare,

Crisp silence at the table,

Eyes down at her plastic plate,

My heart is on pause,

I freeze time with intent,

To reflect,

What are we fighting for?

Leon

Monday, December 1, 2014

12:35pm EST

These carefully-sequenced words above, flowed out from me when listening to this original song from the young Australian talent, Angie MacMahon.  Thank you Angie.

Tell me what you think.

White Buffalo Sage

I was initially introduced to white buffalo sage (a.k.a. Salvia Apiana) at a shamanic workshop.  It appears to operate on two levels.  Spiritually, the Native Indians use it to purify the space before a ceremony/ritual that they perform.  And scientifically, burning white buffalo sage releases negative ions that cling  to positive ions in the air, thus neutralizing them and purifying the air in which we breathe.  Incidentally, I myself have four negative ion generators in my home.  There is one in my bedroom, one in the kids’ room, and one in each of our two cars.  I have been convinced of the effective use of negative ions by several scientific studies done on how negative ions can improve air quality/purity. Especially this study in hospitals:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3228#.VIcouzHF83k

So, being the curious individual that I am, who is perpetually looking to experiment on any method to improve one’s quality of life on different levels, I had purchased a pouch of white buffalo sage during my trip to: http://www.alchimiste-en-herbe.com, in addition to the black tourmaline crystal from my previous post.

In essence, they are dried branched-out leaves, you light one leaf, wait a few moments until it catches, blow the flame out leaving the cinder intact, wave it around your room allowing the wispy smoke to linger about, and when you feel there is enough, extinguish the cinder in dirt, sand or salt.  Never into water though, to preserve its dryness, I gather.  I use it mostly when I sit in the bath, meditate in my bedroom, or whenever I feel the air in the rooms are due for a cleaning.  If it is not too cold outside, I would open the windows to air out the rooms after the sage has been extinguished.

How does it smell like, you may ask?  I would say that it has a fairly distinct-earthy odor, yet surprisingly soothing and familiar to me on many levels.  It also gives me an impression that I am in a mysterious ancient realm.

Have a great week.

 

 

Black Tourmaline

My niece and my spiritual friend from Paris, France have strongly recommended me to go to this herbalist boutique in Montreal (http://www.alchimiste-en-herbe.com/) and get a black tourmaline crystal to protect against negative energies around me and to help ground me better in my life by strengthening my root chakra.  So, I did just that.  Check out what I got below:

Just last week, I took it with me when I went to the hospital with my 4-year-old daughter for a doctor’s visit.  I keep it in my front pocket close to my root chakra and I let my daughter hold and play with it now and then.  Personally, I find hospital environments fairly negative.  In the many instances that I am sitting in the waiting room, I sense a lot of fear, anxiety, worry, frustration, and despair from other patients, when I am obligated to make visits.  While waiting, I deliberately attempt to be positive by smiling, laughing, playing, and being silly with my daughter, in the hopes of creating a higher vibration which can effectively spread to others around us and help influence their lower negative vibration to lift or transmute to a higher vibration, resulting in a better chain of events from visit to outcome.  Most of the time, we get serious pursed lips transform magically to a full grin with a set of teeth in it!

If you are interested in its health benefits.  I found Dr. Group’s website to be thoroughly researched:

http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/benefits-of/tourmaline

I hope you welcome the black tourmaline as an indispensable member to your crystal family:)

 

This is what it feels like

The super-talented Roxanne Emery covers “This is What It Feels Like” by Armin Van Buuren feat. Trevor Guthrie.  This song’s lyrics tell a story of a serious break-up, in which the storyteller is describing how she feels.  They include receiving no more phone calls, only photos and memories to hold onto, feeling dead inside or drowning in water, feelings of desperation, feeling lost, and feeling incapable of continuing to live without the loved one.

I remember having similar feelings from a serious break-up during my young adulthood.  I had a very uncomfortable feeling around my chest, and an empty sickening feeling in my tummy.  I remember after a week of the agony of it all, my ‘heart space’ naturally receded like a turtle head in its shell, to recover and heal from it.  It took around 6 months to recover from my break-up.  After that time, I had to consciously begin to trust and love myself and others again, opening myself up to the world, through the heart chakra and projecting out the heart space.  It was not an easy task, I might add.  Luckily for me, shortly after, I met the mother of my children, when I was least expecting it, just simply being an authentic person.

Many people I met in my life were never able to trust again after that ‘one’ serious break-up.  In my humble opinion, I think that is a big mistake.  Without bi-directional love, there is nothing.  I encourage people to run the risk to love again, whether it be, for ourselves, pets, potential partners, colleagues, neighbors, family members , friends, or an idea that you strongly believe in.  Who knows, it might lead to something unexpected.  Just trust, take action, and see where it takes you, I usually tell the folks around me.

Allow Roxanne’s voice to penetrate deep in your heart, and maybe you can see what it feels like.  Enjoy:-)

Fresh eyes

I took these interesting photos while taking a casual walk in the park by my home last week.

Photo 1:

Looks like a dead fallen tree trunk, huh?  Look beyond that.  Could it be an eagle flying with its wings out?

 

Photo 2:

Here’s another.  Looks like a dead fallen birch tree, huh?  Look beyond that.  Could it be a deer or moose head with antlers?

In our daily lives, we pass by people, things, and events that seem mundane to us.  However, if we develop ‘fresh eyes’ and take the time to look beyond someone or something more deeply, we can discover a surprisingly different aspect that we couldn’t ever imagine before.

Let’s take a real-life example of my grumpy neighbor that I tended to avoid in the past.  When I took the time to look beyond what everyone thought or judged her to be, I was able to detect a kind-hearted woman, who had a tendency to automatically react in a negatively emotional way towards people around her, due to difficult circumstances in her life.  With my newly-acquired ‘fresh eyes’, I gradually approached and made simple & sincere conversation with her.  Now after a year, we are respectful, understanding, and fond of each other.

My lesson was learned that day:  to take the time to look beyond someone/something long enough to discover that unique perspective.  It is well-worth the time.  I thank ‘Mother Nature’ for that powerful-awakening message to me.  In closing, I hope for you all, that the next time you take a nature walk and pass by a fallen tree or whatnot, that you look more closely, with a few ounces of more imagination than usual, and maybe, just maybe you could see something extraordinary.  I trust this could be helpful in our lives.

Sound Healing

My niece is a talented music student in university, and we often have conversations of how sound and music can effectively heal people.  I read somewhere that music and mathematics were the keys to truly understanding the nature of reality.  I was introduced to chakras through learning yoga poses on my own.  I wonder if certain sounds can help with opening our heart chakra to be more loving in this world.  I managed to find a credible and brief 8-minute video clip for heart chakra balancing recently and have tried it for 7 consecutive days.  During the first session, my left temple was swelling until I stopped.  After that, it went smoothly.  I usually visualize my chest area opening up with bright light shooting out in every direction.  At other times, I think about my loved ones, and have an intention while listening to the sound healing.  For example, ‘I’d like to be more affectionate with my partner’, or ‘I’d like to be more patient and understanding with my little children’.  Does it work you may ask?  I guess only you can answer that question by patiently observing how your relations are improving, however, actions do speak louder than words though.  For the healing to be more effective, I use headphones, close my eyes, and sit meditatively in my dark closet.  For more technical details in sound healing, check out the Youtube description below from Dr. Jane Ma’ati Smith.

I have started to incorporate this sound healing into my daily routine.  If I find it useful, I will try her other sound healings for the other 6 chakras.  I hope it is something you could consider.

Love Louder!

This song, “Love Louder”, by John Martin, reminds me of times in my daily life when I get in a comfort zone, cruising through the day, doing things without much effort or ‘love’ in it.  This song is a great wake-up call for us to do better!

I can be a little stronger

And try a little harder

We could do better

If we love a little louder

Love is the key driving force that can make us stronger, work harder, and do better in what you consciously intend to do. Our head space is driven by our heart space, so to speak. Love is something that not only occurs between individuals, but things, tasks, and ideas you have. This begs the question. How do we love louder or more? John has the answer, which is counter-intuitive.

Just surrender

It would set you free

It would set you free

By surrendering your control by trusting others, life, or the ‘higher power’, it will set us free, thereby ripening our heart-space, which hopefully could lead to some ‘heartful’ actions. Thank you John:-)

Rattle and Drum

Last weekend, I attended an ‘introduction to Shamanism’ workshop.  I did, however, had to run to the music store to buy a rattle and drum to equip myself for the course.  Click below:

Without going into too much detail, in essence, if you rattle or drum at 4 to 7 beats per second for about 15 minutes, you are able to create a sound vibration that your brain waves will automatically sync with.  In doing so, you are able to create a fertile environment for you to access Consciousness (Spirit/God/Source).  Shaking the rattle is more subtle than the drumming as you can see from my brief video clip.  You choose your preference.  I like to use the rattle as a warm-up first, then drum afterwards with more intensity.  I have just started to begin this practice in the morning allowing the beat of the drum or rattle to penetrate my pores, with eyes closed, walking, standing, or sitting down, I simply follow the beat and allow my imagination to run unbridled.  At the end of the session, my body tends to feel energized with a lightness in my chest area.  I am ready for my day.

Martin Duffy explains the process very clearly with more detail and leads you to a 15-minute drumming journey afterwards.

I hope you find this helpful:-)