New-Edge Pioneers

It's Time to Get a Grip on Fear

Greetings, New-Edgers.

Here's an important news bit from The Guardian (U.K.), as featured in the witty, smart and highly recommended web-zine, Anxiety Culture

"A growing culture of fear triggered by widespread misconceptions about the risk posed by threats such as crime and terrorism is exacerbating the economic downturn and hindering recovery", according to research published by the The Mental Health Foundation. The study finds that a catalogue of fears are eroding confidence, diminishing the quality of life for millions of people and damaging mental health."

We all know this, of course, unless you've been living in a mountain-top cave with your psychic and empathic meters dialed to below-zero. Anyone that's watching and listening in modern culture (particularly highly materialistic, high-tech, low-touch, commerce-worshipping Western cultures), have been seeing and hearing high levels of fear, dread, and anxiety in the collective. Those who are energetically or psychically sensitive (so-called HSPs - Highly Sensitive Persons) can literally feel it.

If you're living in Western culture, you're immersed in this fear-anxiety-dread energy soup, and perhaps you're one of many who are experiencing circumstances that stir your own anxieties, ancestral-cultural dreads, and fears. Whether one, the other, or both, it's important to stay in -- and upgrade -- your spiritual and energy hygiene practices.

Assuming one isn't being chased by a Sabre Tooth Tiger (like the horse-sized sabre tooth whose remains were found off the coast of Britain), much of the fear, anxiety, and dread felt these days is fabricated and fostered -- there are those who benefit from a high level of fear in the populace, or believe their success requires it (it's called fear-based marketing, amongst other things, and it's common).

But fear stems from a sort of primal disconnection from Source, from Earth, from our innate capacity for creativity. A culture that has flourished by promoting and fostering disconnection produces a gaggle of terrified people. Spiritual (or whatever name you'd prefer) practices have long been the antidote to the poison of fear and those who fear-monger, because spiritual practices foster connection to Source, Earth, others by cultivating an awareness of connection and unity, rather than separation.

Being the change in these times includes dedication to those practices that allow us to clear the muck from our own energy fields and cultivate those energies, vibrations, and/or qualities that add something vital and nourishing to the world. We become embodied  antidotes to fear and separation.

Wishing you very well,
Jamie

Money, Work, and the Law of Karma

As we know, looking in the newspapers and listening to other 'news', there is much that is seemingly unstable and much that is changing. There are many in the Western, largely affluent cultures who are living in fear and anxiety about the prospect of these changes, and the potentials of 'not having enough' or 'losing' their monetary and material goods.

There are many who think of themselves as 'Lightworkers', 'Way-Showers', or healers who struggle with issues of money and supply. They know they are being called into a new Way of being and doing, yet they are still locked into old beliefs regarding 'doing' and 'succeeding'. Like many, they see one way of 'working' and one way of 'getting paid', or 'earning enough to live'.

You don't have to earn enough to live; if you're reading this, you're already alive.

As for money and supply, they can and do come through many avenues; there are many ways of receiving compensation from the Divine -- from Infinite Spirit. As sacred scriptures have long said, the ways and channels of the Divine are many, and well beyond what we comprehend. We have gotten lost in wrong thinking by limiting the ways we can receive not only what we think  we need, but what is necessary for us to fulfill our purpose and destiny.

We have been deluded in thinking that there is one sort of 'work', and one sort of 'pay', and that 'pay' is to be used for the accumulation of a certain sort of material communication -- through which we communicate to others that we are 'someone', that we have 'arrived' and 'succeeded'. This is putting faith in idols, and it's severely limiting, and the costs of the limitation are showing.

In the old way, we have been fearful because we have been taught scarcity -- that there isn't enough, and that we're never enough, so there is a need for constant competition and striving. This way has been depleting, for people, the Earth, Nature, and all beings. This has been a way of harshness and a belief in suffering and punishment; of sacrifice instead of mercy; of 'tough love' karma instead of Grace.

During these past cycles of purification and preparation, where we have been and are being challenged to release the false, the 'not us', to reveal authentic nature and remember our unity with all beings and our connection with the Divine. That which is false, which has not been 'you', may have dissolved away; or it may be trying to dissolve away right now. When the 'not you' dissolves and releases, there is often a fallow time -- an 'in between' time -- of regeneration, just as fallow fields seem to rest during the Winter, in preparation for the new growth and abundant fertility of Spring.

It may seem as though 'nothing is happening', because we have been conditioned to monitor 'progress', too, in very limiting and short-sighted ways. Progress is happening, though sometimes in the unseen, and so it must be looked for in the unseen rather than with the physical eyes.

Much or a good bit of the 'work' during recent times -- and any times of great change -- has been in the inner worlds and in upgrading spiritual awareness and practice. Then there has been what we do in the outer world, including for livelihood.

For many, these have been great changing times, shifting from an old program of the 'J-O-B' and 'rat race' to a new-era way of being and doing, of 'right livelihood' that is an extension of Divine purpose and destiny -- a way of expressing yourself in a way that fulfills destiny and is of service to others as needed during these times. The shift is also from old ways of understanding and feeling 'secure' to new ways of realizing that you are never truly insecure.

Not all of the work that many of us have been doing is the sort of 'work' we get paid for in the narrow way we've all learned to see 'work' and 'pay', yet they all are part of our soul Journey work and there are forms of compensation we receive, including the money and material supply we need.

You may have sensed that it has been a time when there is a focus on 'release' of 'old stuff'. This is the sort of purification that was highly advised during these Scorpio full moons in what  Native Americans, including my teachers, call 'the Fifth Night', which started last November and goes into November 2008, when we move into the -Sixth Day phase of the cycle.

In this Scorpio Moon portal and the Fifth Night, we're in a purification phase, releasing to 'lighten up' so we can walk more lightly in the next phase and our soul's work here. And as always, we look to be of service and upliftment and healing to others, both in our work and in our prayers and meditations as well.

We are being challenged to let go of the Law of Karma -- the belief in the necessity of struggle, of suffering, of harshness, and of scarcity and 'not enough' -- and open into, learn and live the Law of Grace. The Law of Karma occurs when we're unaware; looked upon rightly, it is our teacher and awakener, always inviting us into new understandings, new and more expansive beliefs, new consciousness. The Law of Grace is what exists once we walk through this portal.

And as it says in the sacred scriptures, we'll have all we need and more. 'Seek first Sophia-Wisdom, and all that you need will be given to you.' Sophia-Wisdom is Grace.

But if we continue to worship and give our faith to the Law of Karma, the way will be more and more difficult, because Love is the emerging Way that we're remembering now ... Grace and mercy instead of punishment and harshness.

This is a big shift, since we've been well-taught in the schools of harshness and fear and punishment and scarcity. This is what we have to change now -- what we have to release and purify or 'detox' from.

Now, we pray 'cleanse me from my false beliefs in separation from you, Beloved God, because that's what a belief in karma comes from. Help me to remember your Law of Grace and live Gracefully in this world. Help me to remember that there is always plenty. This is Heaven on Earth. May it be so for all beings."

Blessings on the Way,
Jamie

Re-Imagining & Redefining 'Success' Standards

Often, along the way of my own journey and in conversations with kindreds, clients, and readers, old issues, patterns, and definitions of 'how things are supposed to be' come up.

This seems a particular challenge for those horizon walkers and seeders of the New Era, who are experimenting, releasing, reimagining, and creating (or recreating) the way as we walk it. One of the areas of struggle that arises is an ingrained belief, perhaps in our conscious awareness but with roots into our unconscious, that we must conform to 'acceptable' standards of success and conventional ways of doing things.

This is often a delicate balance, as we live in a world where we have bills to pay and thus a need for money as one form of exchange. Usually, this need activates old programs and patterns of thinking that say that there are only very specific ways this can happen -- you work hard, have 'a real job', and earn the money you need.

The seeders and horizon walkers of the New Era, however, feel an innate call and purpose which necessitates walking a very fine line. In short, we're called to have to face, question, deconstruct, reimagine, and reconstruct or recreate a new, healthier, more harmonious, sane, and balanced way.

So walking the path requires questioning, asking into, exploring the issues that arise and the standard and default responses. When a challenge arises -- and they will arise for those whose purpose is to help figure out this new way -- old programs and ingrained fears will tempt a default into ingrained patterns, while destiny will work to make us feel conflicted, challenged ... there is something that will not allow us to default comfortably into old ways of doing things and routine habits of limited, scarcity, fear-based thought and action.

We're called to remember deeply, to cultivate a relationship with stillness and the Feminine, to create space for grace and wisdom to work in, through, and as us. We're called to both remember and renew or recreate another way -- a way that doesn't celebrate scarcity, worship limitation, and feed off of fear; a way that isn't harsh, cold, and cruel; a way that doesn't promote an addiction to a kind of sacrifice where the heart is absent.

Rather than 'doing' and 'working' in a way that mindlessly aligns with conventional standards formed in an industrial, automatic, out-of-balance era, we're called to remember how to BE, sourced and guided by a connection with the larger field and intelligence, Higher Wisdom, the Divine, Spirit, or God. And in this being, we're called then to watch what arises within us, allow it to guide us into right action and right timing, and in doing so connect with all that we need, and all that we need to do.

While most of us have 'evidence for Grace' -- we know that miracles occur regularly and Grace and synchronicity flow easily, when not hindered by fear -- we also carry cellular memory and cultural indoctrination that fights the Graceful Way, that has long distanced and separated itself from the Feminine, from which Grace and Wisdom arise.

This is our work: to become aware, and let that awareness inspire our being and move us into inspired action, as we gently -- so as not to strengthen old patterns by our struggle with them -- recognize and release what is no longer true or appropriate for these times.

And so it is vital that we tend our flame, and commit to those practices that cultivate our relationship with stillness and Wisdom, which will help us to more easily find our center and access Divine guidance as we walk in the world.

Blessings on the Way,
Jamie

Shifting Gears & Leaping Grids

Those who describe themselves as 'light workers', healers, 'way showers', or 'edge walkers' are, at this point, well-read on the cycle of enormous shifting that everyone on the planet is experiencing in one way or another. I wrote recently on 'navigating the prevailing energies' in the previous entry.

Talking about the various energies, cycles, astrological perspectives, spiritual prophecies, and inspired messages is one thing: we can read and talk and study and listen in on talks and go to workshops, but at some point, we have to take all of those ideas, suggestions, practices, and potions and put them to work. We have to take the leap and put spirit-centered theory into spirit-guided action.

As Morpheus tells Neo in the film, The Matrix, it's one thing to know about the path, and it's quite another to walk it. The point is, it's time to shrug out of the analysis-paralysis and avoidance, and move from studying to doing, consciously.

Whether we're reading the latest updates from respected astrologers or spiritual teachers, or just noticing what we're feeling, sensing, hearing, seeing, and observing, we feel the 'quickening' that both contemporary observers and ancient prophets told of; and we are being challenged through various layers of experience, in all areas of our lives, to let go of old ways of thinking -- those that have for too long been falsely constricting, constraining, dour, gloomy and doomy, and very much centered in fear and a scarcity-oriented belief that there is not enough to we have to fight and struggle, scrap and claw for our share of the limited pie.

Note that I didn't write 'think about letting old patterns go' or 'study how to let old patterns go' -- most people guided to this article have already thought and studied. Now it's time to do it, and let the doing teach us further and lead us into true gnosis, or experiential wisdom.

We have to look squarely at how we might use studying, talking, and thinking -- all wonderful activities in their rightful balance -- to procrastinate or outright avoid taking the leap and doing what we're thinking about and studying. That also means we have to take an unflinching look and stop being enamored by our victim-martyr status, wherever it might be active, and own the responsibility for doing our part for, as Rumi advises, taking the pearls and leaving those old victim-shells behind.

Looking into 2008, and taking the leap.

As we look into 2008, light-workers, way-showers, and other 'horizon kindreds' will be called to not just put all of our 'spiritual tools' in the toolbox to work, but to deepen and expand them as we release old beliefs and limiting, fear-based patterns, and embrace a new way of seeing, being, remembering, and showing up in the world.

As Mayan Prophecy (2012) teacher, Carl Johan Calleman, commented about the current 'Fifth Night' that humanity is passing through until November 2008, "Spiritual warriors will be put to the test like never before."

To me, this isn't a gloom-and-doom prediction to be afraid of, but rather something we can already see and feel as we look out onto the world stage and also at our own recent journeys these past few years. We know that shift is happening; we know that old ways that have been entrenched and protected, often violently, are failing and must be replaced by more loving, sustainable, faith-centered, harmonious, and generous ones.

We know this, very well; we've heard it and talked about it; and now it's really, truly time to embody what we've learned, step fearlessly forward, and BE the change, for real. And then we can continue to learn and receive inspiration while we're translating the wisdom into wise action. And 'being' is a form of action ... the way we show up, how we are in little and big interactions, and how we discipline and discern what we take into our minds and energy bodies and what emerges from them.

This requires a significant shift in not just what we're thinking, but the way those old patterns of thinking, believing, and doing -- including how we relate to the concept of 'time' and 'space' -- have rooted themselves in our bodies and internal chemistry. It's practice and alchemy. It's shifting gears so that we can make the leap to that new grid of consciousness. It's action.

Releasing fear and embracing love is the key, but saying it is very easy; doing it is daily practice. Day in, day out. Hour in, hour out, Minute by minute. Choice by choice. And it's time to be love, and do love, and embody love.

There is much more to showing up this way, as we all know, and being connected to teachers and kindreds helps us to remind one another and sustain one another and practice together.

As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King said, "You don't have to see the whole staircase, you just have to take the next step."

It's time to stop staring at the staircase and noodling around the landing, and take that step. And then another. And another.

Wishing you very well on your journey.

With love  and in peace,
Jamie

Riding the Prevailing Energies

It seems strange, these days, to speak about the radical, transformative, or just-plain-crazy energies that are weaving and blowing through our planes of existence, if only because it's been this way for quite awhile.

We're more likely to exclaim, with more than a little bit of exasperation, "Still?" or "How much longer?"

But 'still' it is, and each wave builds on the one before it, taking us deeper and broader and wider than our previous limitations and perceptual prisons -- those stories and histories where "can't" thrives. Well, those walls and foundations -- any that are false creations of our minds, usually planted there by culture -- are coming down.

Whether we speak in astrological, energetic, planetary, prophetic, or another terminology, the news is the same: time's are changing -- time, or our experience and perception of it, is shifting. Values, and our assessment of what's truly important, are shifting. And since we've built a culture around certain definitions of 'time' and 'value', those constructs and systems are shifting as well.

The most skillful and insightful astrologers, or other 'readers of our times', have likened the current energies to those of the early Sixties: the sorts of shifting energetics that, like lightning bolts, shift the prevailing and long-established norms in ways that might seem sudden or quick, but leave ripple effects traveling outwards through the various circles and cycles and routines of our lives, individual and collective.

On a day to day basis, it increasingly feels as if the veils really are thinning, parallel dimensions are overlapping, what's been thought impossible is suddenly very possible, and our beliefs and old-standby habits are being blown out of the water, and often none too gently. We may feel as if we're having to learn a new frequency, or get competent in walking on a completely different sort of 'ground' -- one that is constantly shifting and doesn't really look like it'll support us from one minute to the next.

The reality is that we either get tossed about by the energetics, or we choose to work with them as skillfully and consciously as we're able. This doesn't mean there aren't days when "WTF?" is our primary question, or when we feel lost once again in a sea of Neptunian fog that blurs lines and boundaries we were so sure about just days (or hours!) before. Yes, there will be those days, and understanding and softening to that fact is one of the key strategies of thriving, rather than just surviving or worse, getting derailed.

Dissolving & Releasing Old-Era Stuff, and Choosing Consciously

We're also being called to dissolve, by choice or circumstance, previously held beliefs, patterns of thought, and favorite dramas. We may have convinced ourselves that we didn't have any, but the prevailing energies will show us that yes, indeed, we still do, and yes, indeed, we must acknowledge and release the old, limiting ones so that we can remember and embrace a more expansive worldview.

Change your worldview -- putting the heart in charge and making the mind or intellect its servant, as Albert Einstein suggested -- and you'll change your own experience of your life. Do that, and you will become part of the positive change rippling outward into the continuum.

Depending on how you're wired, and the degree to which you sense or experience subtle energies, you'll need to stay both aware and relaxed -- both much easier if you're drawing from a series of practices that cultivate a grounded, centered presence that allows for some solidity as energies, people, and events seem to be awhirl around you.

Presence -- as in being in the relative moment -- is also vital, because the more we extend and dissipate or disperse our energies and focus, the more ungrounded we'll feel, and the more likely it will be that we'll be absorbing and getting lost in others' reactions and dramas -- or one of your own 'old favorite' dramas -- which, like Octopus tentacles, reach into us and desperately root around to find a 'like vibe' of old fear, anxiety, or insecurity to tap into and catalyze.

Again, there are times when this will occur, but if you intend to include this awareness in your daily practice -- and these are all practices, and they're getting a real workout right now -- then you'll notice sooner when you're spinning to someone else's drama, and you can bring yourself back into your own center and feel your own feelings, and choose your own responses more mindfully.

Choosing each day, or even each moment if that's what it comes to, to 'side' with the heartful, loving-kind, humanity embracing, and life-affirming option in our energies, moods, thoughts, and deeds, is essential if we're to avoiding falling back into old fear and scarcity based trips and victim-perpetrator dramas.

It's all about the practice...

There is no replacement for practice. One of the unfortunate 'norms' of some 'New Age' and 'buy instant enlightenment' circles is a seeming desire to short-cut -- to go right for the reward without the discipline or practice. That's called delusion, or just lazy, and we're going to feel the backlash to 'lazy' if that's what we allow ourselves to settle into.

Just as atrophied or weakened muscles require consistent working to bring them back into their full strength, so to does our ability to stay present, stay centered, know what's ours, and make more mindful choices with an awareness of what's going on in the outer -- and inner -- worlds.

The great thing about practice is that there is always opportunity, and you can always 'just practice' wherever you are, just as you are, simply by making the choice to be more aware and more skillful, and by so doing bring more confidence and authenticity into your experience.

These aren't empty exercises, either. This is, at its very heart and soul, the center of 'being the change' and bringing in -- by embracing and embodying -- the energies of the 'Aquarian Age' and/or a more harmonious flow of Feminine and Masculine that comes from a more conscious reawakening of the Divine Feminine. And higher, more whole ways of being make up the medicine that our times cry out for.

This is how we make a difference in the most subtle of ways, and it's how we change our own experience -- we, in effect, change the frequency and channel, and get a whole new station.

Guides and mentors on the path...

Having skillful mentors and guides is another important facet of our 'resource toolkit' and practice. I have mine as well, and serve as mentor and guide for other Lightworkers, Wayshowers, healers and new-era change catalysts who are 'building the road as we walk it' and sharing pearls of wisdom just after we've harvested them.

If you feel attuned and can benefit from additional support and mentoring as you walk and co-create more consciously and skillfully, I invite you to schedule a lightning-dialogue session or coaching•mentoring•guidance series. You'll find information on both at Ivy Sea Online, or can just email me directly.

In the meanwhile, remember to breathe, stretch, walk, center and meditate. Slow down, choose a bit more patience, be a bit more kind in your interactions. Live into the questions, and allow the questions to take root and blossom in you!

Lots of love,
Jamie

Jamie Walters is the founder of Ivy Sea and the author of, among other things, Big Vision, Small Business, the critically acclaimed conscious-enterprise and spirit-centered right-livelihood guide published by Berrett-Koehler. She is a respected horizon-walker and guide for humane business, right livelihood, and engaged or embodied spirituality -- including the embodiment and expression of the Divine Feminine, and a 'reconnection' to your Divine Spark.

Learn more about Jamie and Ivy Sea at Ivy Sea Online.

[The above image of the Galaxies NCG 2207 and IC 2163 are from the public-domain images at the Hubble Heritage Project.]

Old-Story Addictions

Many new-era healers, eco/spiritual entrepreneurs, Lightworkers, and mindful-change agents have experienced a frustrating few years, with seeming 'fits and starts', periods of stagnation, and what has sometimes felt as strong opposition to inspiration and visions. 

Quite a few are moving forward with vision-seeds and inspired ideas, yet find themselves not 'reaping the rewards' or attracting adequate means to live in alignment with the lifestyle they desire. And some struggle with a sometimes overwhelming waves of emotion -- depression, anger, fear, anxiety, uncertainty, and low confidence. One day there is a feeling of clarity and inspiration, and sometimes in the same day, or the next, there is a fogginess or sadness that rolls in.

These are not uncommon experiences and frustrations, as one finds when tuning in to any of the writings or radio interviews geared towards this particular group of 'Cultural Creatives'.

There are many influences that contribute to these experiences, perceptions, and feelings. A few 'usual suspects' include:

• macro-energies,
• collective-consciousness or 'group mind' influences,
• a heightened sensitivity to subtle energies,
• a lack of clarity in our vision and thought,
• procrastination around 'right action',
• greater agendas at work (vs. our ego's 'wanted' timing), and
• 'old stuff' -- patterns, hurts, habits, etc. -- that haven't yet been looked in the eye, seen through, and/or evolved as appropriate (a.k.a. 'dealt with').

It's the latter that this blog entry will address -- the 'old stuff' that lingers, acting as a strong anchor to the past, and needs to be looked at, healed, and released before 'the new' can really gain traction in our lives. We can't 'move on'  very well if we're dragging a ton of old baggage along with us, or sabotaging ourselves with unhealed and unhealthy (or unproductive) habits of thought, routine, and action that are not aligned with our soul-vision and purpose.

One of the big issues that needs to be address is whether we're addicted to or over-identified with those old hurts, wounds, circumstances, energies, and patterns. Attachment to the 'old stuff' often shows itself in our thoughts and speaking -- our expressions of the stories, themes, and major plot-lines that we're living by.

Sometimes these attachments can sneak up on us, and can surprise us when we really see, acknowledge, and take responsibility for them. This might be an addiction or attachment to drama, to 'pining' for what we want rather than having what we want, to being in 'power over' (or 'power under') dynamics, to anger or sadness or fear, to a victim stance, and so on.

This is where the popular "Law of Attraction" as it's often presented can be an over-simplified approach which would say it's just a matter of 'changing your thoughts' and all will be well. Too often in these circles there is an abject avoidance (which means an unacknowledged or unhealed attachment to) the so-called 'negative', and so it's glossed over rather than dealt with.

In reality, these patterns and attachments and addictions were long in the making, and may even be ancestral legacies or past-life influences. That doesn't mean they're healthy or soul-aligned, though; it just means they're there.

There are many resources, approaches, and practices that are helpful and healing, if we choose to summon courage and live into this question of facing, acknowledging, and healing or releasing the 'scary things' in the bag we've been carrying around. Some choose to work with a qualified and compassionate therapist, others might choose to work with a spiritual or path mentor, some include a strong prayer and meditation practice, and others will choose self-study through books and training programs. Many of us use a combination of some or all of the above, and perhaps a few more.

This, like many things, is a daily practice. And like many, when we apply our intention and solid commitment and perseverance, it's a practice that can reap magnificent and amazing benefits -- not the least of which is an increasing sense of healing, real self-confidence, groundedness, and an ability to 'show up' in the world in a loving, caring, healing and service-focused way.

Contact us for information on how Ivy Sea can be a light on your path through mentoring or Light-centered dialogue sessions or consultations, or other resources available at Ivy Sea Online. More information...

Wishing you very well!

Sincerely,
Jamie Walters
Founder, Ivy Sea

Staying Centered in the Whirlwind

Many of you are feeling the 'quickening' spoken of in prophecy, or finding themselves in the midst of transition and transformation. This is true for me, as well as for many in my kindred- and client-circle. And it's an important reminder to cultivate our 'centering' practices.

Rudyard Kipling wrote about 'success' as, among other things, being able to keep your head about you when all around you people are losing theirs. This is one way to say 'success is being able to stay centered when it's crazy all around you!'

With so much going on -- energetically, psychically, emotionally, mentally, and physically -- practices that help you stay grounded, calm, and centered in the midst of it all are no mere luxury; they're vital to your wellbeing, skillfulness, and effectiveness at navigating the rapids in a way that is rewarding.

How do you know you're not centered? You know. You feel scattered, 'thin', anxious or 'high-strung'. You might feel short-tempered, confused or 'foggy', forgetful, or tired. You might feel 'disconnected' from your vision or sense of intuition and confidence. You might have trouble getting to sleep, or staying asleep. You might feel edgy or close to tears, or like you're flailing about. You might feel all of these and more, based on where the hands of the clock are at that moment!

And the more time you spend in 'not centered', the more you feel it wearing on you, and the more likely you are to find yourself with a cold, or the flu, or a mystery ailment that slows you down.

As one of my mentors said, "If I don't go to it (the calm), it comes looking for me!"

In sharp contrast, when you're minding your centering practice, you feel much calm, even when circumstances could be described as frantic or stressful. You feel a sharper connection to your intuitive and instinctual wisdom and guidance. You feel more in touch with a sense of 'right action' and 'right timing'. You feel the presence of what I call your 'buffer' -- a good space of calm between you and your reaction to something (which means you can respond, rather than react!). You feel more well, and well-guided. You feel more able to be patient, skillful, kind, and genuine. You feel more connected to your sense of purpose, vision, and priorities. You notice more synchronicity in your life, and feel more joy. You notice that things have a way of working themselves out.

Centering Practices

There are more than a few practices that people turn to for help finding and staying centered, including meditation, some forms of yoga, tai chi, conscious nutrition, walking, mindfulness practice, prayer, ritual, and others.

All of these are important -- some blend that feeds body, mind, and spirit ... and the connection between the three. Yet any time I speak with someone about this, and looking at my own two-decade experimentation with mind-body-spirit practices, there is one that comes first and always on the list is meditation.

Meditation is a hot topic these days, and yet can be confusing, because each spiritual or religious tradition has a way of practice, and some traditions are open to all while others are quite close-minded about using other ways of practicing. But you can avoid the ruckus of it all by just staying simple:

* Sit comfortably, with your back straight, legs straight or folded as is comfortable for you, hands resting on your thighs or gently together.

* Ensure that you're in a place where you won't be disturbed for a bit.

* Once seated and comfortable, become mindful of where there is tension in your body, and as you breathe, soften each tense area ... just intend to relax shoulders, back, legs, etc.

* Breathe gently ... inhale, exhale, slowly ... in, out.

That's really it. Some people start with a mantra or word -- centering prayer -- for a few minutes, and then go into just 'being with' their breathing and settling into the calm center. Others just sit, relax, breath, and let thoughts come and go until it suddenly seems quiet for longer stretches.

Studies now show that meditation in this way has many health benefits as well, stemming from the slowing and relaxing of your body and 'stressful mind'. So it's a health and wellness practice as well as a spiritual practice.

And, for me, it's one of the key practices for 'building your buffer' ... what some people call an energetic or spiritual 'bank account' or store-house. Build it up, make deposits, and you'll have surplus supplies of buffer when you need them most. Even if you're 'bufferless' at the moment, meditation as a wellness and centering practice helps you calm your anxious-mind and your body in the midst of the whirlwind.

Other practices depend on your situation, history of practice, constitution, and other factors. If you want to create a practice that works perfectly for where you are right now, schedule a dialogue/coaching session or consultation (415.752.6317) or through email at Ivy Sea Online.

In the meanwhile, I'm hoping your 'finding center' no matter what's going on around you, and staying very well!

Sincerely,
Jamie Walters
Founder, Ivy Sea

Shambhala Morning, Present Day

I see myself waking out of a deep and rejuvenating sleep, with a feeling of deep calm, well-being, and knowing that all is well, truly.

I put the coffee (or tea water) on, and greet the sun and enjoy a few minutes of slow stretches to get my energy going and set the intention to carry this gracious, centered, Spirit-full energy within me and through out the day. I know that regardless of what comes up, I'll know exactly what to do, what to say, where to be ... all in the perfect way, in graceful cadence, and in the perfect timing.

I see myself wandering into the garden to greet the day outside, with my coffee or tea, taking in the morning light and sights and sounds, hearing the water trickling, communing with my little bit of Nature. I enjoy the sight of my Garden-Studio Haus, because I love the energy and feel of it, and feel inspired working my part of the Great Work in and from this sacred space.

Gone is the anxiety that seemed a constant presence in my solar plexus, healed by a calm and warmth from the Divine Spark within me into a deep, Spirit-Sourced confidence.

Gone is the deep sadness that seemed a constant and often-overwhelming inhabitant of my Heart, healed by the joy and warmth from the Divine Spark within me into a deep, loving compassion.

Gone is the expectation that anyone or anything else can 'make me happy' or 'complete me', replaced by the tenderness and self-containment from the Divine Spark within me, which allows me to meet others, and be met, as Whole Selves.

Gone is the fear of 'losing love', healed by the knowing that Love is always present, always near, closer than our own breath and blood.

Gone is the adapting to everyone else's agendas and timelines until I'm nearly sick to my stomach over it, replaced by a deep centeredness in Spirit's right action and right timing for and through me. I rest in perfect Divine pace and timing.

Gone is the constant wondering about what everyone else needs and what everyone else thinks, replaced by the compassion and inner-knowing that Spirit within me will act and speak through me in the most perfect ways at the most perfect times, with the most perfect generosity of Spirit and deep kindness.

Gone is me 'outside of myself', replaced by Me having come home to myself -- I Am able to walk through the day and the whirlwinds around me feeling centered, grounded, and authentically Spirit Being Jamie.

Present is the deep joy, passion, fire, creativity, graciousness, loving-kindness, and dignity that are my Highest Nature.

I Am Present, and fully aware of and sensing, and experiencing the incredible blessings, miracles, joy, prosperity, and beauty all around me, because I recognize and have come home to it within me.

It's All About the Vibe

Chances are excellent that if you're reading this blog, you're familiar with age-old reminders such as, "With your thoughts you create your world" and "As a man thinketh, he becomes". 

In the mid-20th century 'New Thought' returned to the radar, leading to more recent revelations that "thoughts create" and "you get what you focus on", as many more people saw in the films What the Bleep Do We Know, and The Secret.

Of course, none of this is truly 'New Age', since one can find evidence of this wisdom being given in the world's most ancient teachings and sacred scripts -- In the Beginning was the Word. And such philosophies have always attracted their critics, as well, sometimes for good reason and often just because the suggestion challenges traditional thinking -- not to mention beliefs around personal responsibility and power structures.

Confused about 'attraction'?

There are also many people who are understandably confused about how our thoughts create, how we deal with 'negative thinking' and challenging events or circumstances, and how it is -- and if it is -- that we really 'attract' what we focus on. To me, this is where much of the readily available information on the 'law of attraction' misses the mark or is incomplete.

Our thoughts are important because they reveal something deeper, but to focus on 'thought' alone is to be looking at the finger that's pointing to the Moon.

So what do our 'thoughts' point to?

What we're thinking not only influences what we're saying, doing, expecting, or even noticing; it also reflects what we believe, what we think of our own value or inner-worth, and how we're truly feeling beneath any shiny, smiling mask we might be wearing in public. Our thoughts -- if we're paying attention to them -- guide us to what's really bubbling beneath the surface.

And this is where we find the real treasure beneath the surface of "new thought'; this is where we can change our thoughts by refining what shapes and influences our thoughts, and by doing so we also change what we say, what we do, what we expect, what we perceive, and what we notice, so that it is more healthful, loving, creative, humane, skillful, and aligned with what we really do value most within ourselves, our homes, our communities, and our world.

Here is the real 'secret': Our thoughts, our words, our feelings are vibration. They reveal what 'level' or 'octave' we -- as an energy field -- are vibrating, if you will. And if we're not aware of it, we're also absorbing the thoughts, words, and feelings of others, which may be contributing to a lower-vibe or 'cloudy' energy field. This is what 'attracts' or perhaps more accurately 'syncs up with' people and experiences of similar vibration.

It's about the vibe...

That's right -- it's all about the vibe, individually and collectively. And it's why the various spiritual traditions, at their heart if you look closely, convey wisdom that helps us to clear the low-vibration 'old stuff' -- including fear for fear's sake and anger for anger's sake and greed for greed's sake and power for power's sake -- and cultivate spiritual virtues, or a 'higher vibration'. Love is the highest vibe, and it is Divine Love that we're called to remembering, realizing, and expressing. Wisdom illuminates the Way.

What about when 'bad things' happen to 'good people', including (as critics immediately point out) children and others who are innocents? This is a really good point and question.

My understanding, which is always evolving (and thus not gospel), is that while we are individuals with individual purpose and 'karma' -- cause and effect brought about by past words and deeds that have not had their trajectory altered by spiritual cultivation -- we are also parts of the group, or the whole, and ultimately of The One.

There are some things that are beyond our control, and some things that we must experience individually or collectively in order to open us to greater wisdom and compassion. And there are some individuals or groups whose sense of self is so mired in the lower, unhealed muck that they strike out at what most evades them ... love, light, innocence, faith, joy.

Even so, we can often broaden and deepen our understanding and reduce our own suffering and the suffering that we cause by watching our thoughts and finding our way to the treasure to which they lead us.

There are many practices that help to find, heal, clear, transmute, and attune to a higher frequency or vibration. Manna from Heaven; timeless alchemy.

By doing so, we really can 'be the change' we wish to see in the world, by rippling out a different vibration in what we feel, think, say, believe, and do. We can more easily heal what wounds us, and find our way to navigate challenge more gracefully and plucking the pearls of wisdom while leaving the shells behind. And with each individual soul that finds its way to loving vibration and expression, it becomes easier for others to do so.

As the Sufi mystic and lover of the Divine, Rumi, wrote: "Let the love you are be what you do."

To explore these issues and various 'high vibe' practices more fully in personal consultation, contact me through Ivy Sea.

Sincerely,
Jamie Walters
Founder, Ivy Sea, Inc.

Understanding the current energetics

For many people called to the Great Work - Light Work path, this past cycle has been a hugely transformative one, with 'inner work' being the primary Great Work, and outer work and 'supply' providing what one needs during the transformation time.

Whether we're talking about this in terms of a 'Shift of the Ages', shift from Piscean to Aquarian Age, Mayan Calendar progress to 2012 or other Indigenous prophecies, astrological influences, or something else, the underlying themes are remarkably similar: Things are changing, and we can see, feel, hear, and sense that. It seems as if all the Universe is pushing and squeezing us to re-evaluate our beliefs, habitual thoughts, and patterns of action, and embrace a higher potential.

Though the energetics are still intense, we're starting to see and sense a shift in the energetics back into a more energized and externalized expression, so many of us will see additional 'activity' and 'flow' if we rise to the occasion, do the inner work, and take conscious 'right actions' to co-create in the outer world of our lives -- home, business, work, community, and so on. This is what it means to 'be the change'.

One challenge is to move away from seeing our 'work' as the only potential source of our supply (money, etc.) and to expand that into seeing Spirit, which moves in and through all things and is Infinite, as the Source and Bringer of our supply through the many avenues through which it flows and manifests. As we do this, we will realize our always-abundance, we will increasingly know what is 'enough' and what we truly 'need', and this energy vibration will bring all that we need in perfect time and plenty.

This is the big challenge for spiritual workers, 'light workers', and others who are called to this Great Work. Navigating these energies and fulfilling our higher purpose -- which will feel right and bring joy as well as the necessary means -- requires giving up for transformation our old self-liming doubts, thoughts, beliefs, patterns, and habital actions around 'receiving', 'money', flow, 'work', and other circumstances that have, for many, seemed sluggish and/or in 'disruptive' chaos in recent years. This transformation of 'old thought and habit' can be done through hard circumstance (forcing), it can be done through working with the Divine (Grace) and some combination in between. It's our choice.

Through our thoughts, beliefs, words, feelings, expectations, 'lenses', and pattern-guided actions we create and perceive; those things define which vibration we're sending out and thus what we notice (what some people would say is 'what we bring into our lives' or 'attract'). And no, this isn't as black-and-white as portrayed in the movie The Secret. While that film hints at an important element, it is not complete -- though it may be the perfect starting place for those new to the concept of interconnectivity, cause-and-effect, and the self-responsibility that comes with it.

And as we know, there are times when our circumstances arise as our teachers, no matter what we're thinking, feeling, or doing, because the deep knowing -- by experience -- is crucial for our particular soul-aligned purpose in the world. In this case, we must actively engage with this Divine process, as a learning experience, so that we might 'get' the lesson rather than have something drag on and on because we're not engaging with it that way. Of course, the way many of us -- including myself -- learned this is by doing the 'dragging on and on' until finally 'getting it'!

On a practical basis, I've always had a fine business and 'practical living' sense and ability, though I, too, have been challenged in these recent years to shake loose old thinking, fears, and other inherited 'baggage' in order to embrace a more Divine understanding of how things CAN work without so much self-imposed or culturally ingrained fighting and struggling and suffering and lack-thinking/experience.

This is the great transition we're making collectively -- this is what it really means to re-introduce the Divine Feminine in partnership with the Divine Masculine -- so we who are 'seeders' are doing this deep work within ourselves and our own lives, livelihoods, families, etc. to 'set' the pattern rippling out into the shared mind, and also so that we can guide and teach it from a real understanding, not just an intellectual or conceptual knowing.

Again, practically speaking, what is very important is the vision-clarity, knowing what you're saying a very clear YES to, and then energizing and consciously focusing your expression or communication (including marketing, etc.). The internet allows for broader expression, and thus the potential for additional livelihood pathways and clients, readers, students, or customers who aren't in our geographic locality. And sometimes we may be surprised at who is in our locality and beginning to think in these ways. Often, though, we find ourselves 'bridging' or straddling several different streams of this. This is the new 'real'.

I'll be writing and speaking more about this in this blog and at Ivy Sea Online, and in gatherings and consultations. If you'd like to schedule a personal consultation to discuss your own circumstances, purpose, and pathway -- and how to work with the energies of the time rather than against them -- contact me through Ivy Sea and I'd be happy to share insights, resources, and practical ideas.

Stay tuned and attuned, listen for guidance, and flow accordingly.

Wishing you very well!

Sincerely,
Jamie Walters
Founder, Ivy Sea, Inc.
Author, Big Vision, Small Business