Wind of the Soul

I just found out a recent acquaintance of mine passed away. We weren’t friends. We actually spoke only briefly a couple of times. But the fact our last conversation occurred a few days prior to her passing is what prompted me to write today’s entry. It never ceases to amaze me how our consciousness can be physically focused one minute and then “gone” the next. I suppose no matter my state of comprehension, regarding the subject of death, I will always be taken aback at that one simple realization.

Many years ago, I spent a lot of time pondering over whether or not we even survive the process of dying. After much soul searching and exploration into the subject, including my own personal experiences with astral projection, I came to the conclusion that a form of our awareness does continue on. Just what that form may consist of and if it’s indeed eternal with regards to our individual personality, I can’t say for certain.
(Read the rest of Understanding Death through Consciously Living Life…)

Over the years, as I have worked to explore my total-self, I’ve discovered an occasional tendency to try and ignore or hide certain emotions and experiences. If something didn’t feel “proper” or if it didn’t seem to fit into a so called sublime spiritual state of being, then I found the need to repress or ignore it. And when I wasn’t forcing it back into the abyss where it came from, then I was feeling guilt or shame for thinking the thoughts and for taking the specific actions related to the thoughts.

For me, coming into a better understanding of my spiritual side has been amazing; however, it has also caused me to place a lot of undue, unnecessary stress and pressure upon myself. I think anyone that’s engaged in self-exploration and growth will eventually encounter some form of self-condemnation or judgment. As we tune into what we feel is a more aware, connected, conscientious state, it’s not uncommon to hold ourselves to an even higher standard than ever before regarding our past and present emotional responses and actions.
(Read the rest of Honoring Your Emotions & Experiences…)

Many people are capable of embracing the old adage, “Variety is the spice of life”; as long as variety doesn’t stick its nose into the spiritual side of their lives. After spending many years reading and learning about an array of metaphysical and spiritual teachings; the one thing I have consistently observed: almost every book, theory, philosophy, religion, etc. differs significantly from another. Often times the core tenants are similar, however the farther you move away from the core, the greater the quantity of spice that’s been added.

These differences used to frustrate me because I wanted so desperately to find the ultimate truth. Little did I realize the variations I was so agitated with contained more validity than any “Holy Grail” of external knowledge I imagined to exist. It wasn’t necessarily the teachings, contained in each variation, which brought me to this epiphany. Rather, it was the fact so much variety could exist.
(Read the rest of The Evolution of Spirituality…)

Out of all the emotions that lend themselves to self-sabotage, perhaps none are as potent as guilt. When we carry a heavy heart, burdened by something we’ve done that’s deemed wrong or improper, we constrict the expansion of our being. Guilt has the potential to shut us down in so many ways.

Often times, I have looked to my past and thought, “Why on earth did I do that?” Usually this thought is laced with heavy doses of gut wrenching judgment. The more I dwell on condemning my past actions (actions which cannot be physically changed anyway), the more I can feel myself undermining my potential.

Somewhere along the way, many of us have adopted the illogical attitude we aren’t a good person if we don’t carry around regrets from our past. We grow up believing we should be disgusted with ourselves for making certain choices. After all, no person of good moral standings would dare do something like that (insert any unfavorable action here) and not feel bad about it until the day they die, right?
(Read the rest of Freeing Ourselves of Guilt…)

A large portion of our personal interpretation, concerning reality, stems from our willingness to slap labels on experiences. Admittedly, it’s extremely difficult to not label items, events and other people, when we consider our entire means for communicating is dependent upon descriptive terms and phrases.

But, we can begin to make a conscious effort, in the language we choose, to rearrange the stamps and marks of identification which are slung around on a routine basis. Even more importantly, we can begin to internally release our attachment and affinity for casting a very specific type of label: the label of judgment.
(Read the rest of Releasing Attachments to Judgmental Labels…)