Spring Holistic Therapy Marathon

Knowing Thyself

Why should we know ourselves? Who are we, anyway…..

Our spiritual life provides us with a clue. Many are those who like to stay in their comfort zone, a place where they feel safe and unthreatened. This is done through an identity acquired through beliefs and attachments to which they can relate and therefore feel safe.

Our beliefs about ourselves also contribute to our perception of who we are. If we tend to be easily angry, for example, it is a sign that we let ourselves believe that we are certain of what we think or say, as if we hold the whole truth about anything. Our beliefs get challenged and our identity bruised…..

One need to be aware that having an identity is nothing more than enclosing oneself in a box where two things might happen. Either, one becomes too big headed and thinks that he knows it all or else feel deluded and helpless. Both situations cut a person off from being open to growth and expansion.

To grow spiritually we need to strip ourselves from any attachments to let ourselves be open in receiving new insights. Having no particular identity gives one a great sense of freedom. There is no argument to win or lose and other aspects to a situation could be happily explored.

As a baby in his mother’s womb is nourished through the umbilical cord, we, likewise, get our inspiration to our ongoing needs from our higher universal powers that get tapped to us through our higher chakras that connect us to our divine source. But we need to let this route open for such reception. If we encase ourselves with a patina of ‘identity’ issues we are risking losing this spiritual nourishment from reaching us.

Like a child we need to be open to possibilities and viewpoints beyond any rigid thinking while still using our discretion.

It is a time of taking decisions boldly – rather than keep deliberating about them - with the understanding that in spite of the best of intentions our decisions might still be faulty (on hindsight) - and that is fine too provided we can learn to take home something out of the outcome – whatever it is.

Our actions need to be motivated by love but without the necessity for attachments to results that will hold us back in our spiritual growth.

We are free beings nourished by a higher source. That is what we are. Any acquired identity will only handicap us from moving forward.

Article and photo by Mary Attard

The Dynamic of Love

Our life has to be a celebration of love. It has to be one that manifests love which is the deepest and most profound desire of everyone.

We are always walking on a tightrope because love is such a powerful experience that it easily makes us lose our balance, so we try to find love in everything we do, our lifestyle, belief system, thought patterns etc. It is a celebration of love which becomes a continuous & permanent dynamic in our life without which we will not have a full human experience.

One difficulty is that we are short-sighted. We go for one thing which becomes absolute and total and we believe it will fulfill this hunger for love. Some do it through their job or friendship or even relationship. The problem is if the process becomes a totalitarian one, it will take over our life which will only end in disappointment.

To celebrate love, we need to build a base where the structure of love becomes possible. This is done slowly and progressively and gives rise to a structured situation that we choose and cultivate so that love progressively manifests in our life in a fluid way. Making the process absolute is dangerous and an illusion.

How do we create this structured situation?

1. It demands a certain type of structured discipline – rigid and flexible at the same time. This is because love is so powerful that it surprises us each and every time but once it manifests, it holds you. There should be a certain degree of openness which is a discipline in itself. It is important that we are open to surprises as dealing with the energy of love will bring about surprises.

2. We would need to cultivate a certain discipline of the body, that is, we give the body the very best. The energy of love has to manifest itself in the body. This requires that habitually we choose the best for our body in all aspects which is also a discipline.

3. The third level of discipline has to do with the psyche in that with time and training we move into a discipline of psyche that allows those conditions that are the best for us. We sometimes relate to our psyche in some strange ways which usually have its roots in our childhood. We allow it to remain wild, without discipline and we let everything in. If when young I allowed my psyche to function with manipulation, the relationship of the child with the psyche is that he allows it to be wild and it will infect all other areas of his life with the bug manipulation, thus curbing his freedom.

The psyche cannot be stimulated by different energies but has to be disciplined – enough that it is coordinating with our desires in all aspects. It has to be in unison with the rest of our efforts, namely openness and body.

Together they create a structure which is the foundation to experience love in our lives.

Discipline becomes love and love becomes the discipline. Without the discipline of love there will not be the stability to live situations of chaos. Love has the power to transform any situation.

Who do you think you are?

From the beginning of time man tried to seek the answer. Throughout our life we build an identity and we think that this is what we are. Our consciousness creates a personality, the way we behave, and erroneously perceive this personality as being us. This concept was explored lately at the Centre.

We forget that our consciousness is only part of a universal consciousness and we are all interconnected in a network. No one is totally independent in his thoughts and actions as these are influenced by our surroundings and other circumstances and beings.

So when one is experiencing a problem, it (the problem itself) is due to many factors often beyond our control. This fact should relieve us from thinking that we are totally responsible for any problem we might have as this was created through a whole dynamic of events. This is a very practical and important factor to remember.

If we, on the other hand, take it on ourselves to solve the problem we will be trapped in our own belief that we are the only ones that can or should untangle the matter. We would limit ourselves from tapping into higher consciousnesses for receiving aid thus stressing ourselves unnecessarily in shutting up our energetic aura.

And likewise when we have some successes it is not all due to our own efforts either, as it is the result of various happenings and other people’s interventions too.

By now you could realise that what we think we are – we’re not…or perhaps it is only our ego playing games.

Understanding this will enhance our life as we feel supported by the universe in what we do and experience. We are not alone when confronted by some challenges as the realisation of our interconnectedness will relieve the weight for the need to solely sort an issue. By surrendering into the process of life we will be inspired to do the right thing in its due course.

Osho explained it very well when he said, ‘All life is of the Whole. If you are trying to live on your own, you are simply being stupid. It is as if a leaf on a tree is trying to live on its own — not only that, but fighting the tree; fighting other leaves, fighting the roots, thinking that those are all inimical to him. We are just leaves on a tree, a great tree — call it ‘God’, or ‘the Whole’, or you name it, but we are small leaves on an infinite tree of life. There is no need to fight. The only way to come home is to surrender.

So, to the question for knowing who we are the answer is that we are part of a network of consciousnesses and any identity we think we have is only skin deep.

No one is an island and we all need each other to live harmoniously……and healthily.

Article and Photo by Mary Attard

The Medicine Wheel

The Medicine Wheel is a tool for the journey of self-discovery. There is always an unknown in the relaity we experience as we are not capable of seeing all. Even in prehistoric times they were aware of this because they used to look outside of their reality eg astrology. The Medicine Wheel is a circle that represents the Earth. It is divided into four sections. The belief was that if you understood these four sections you would be able to understand yourself better. This was practised by The Native Americans, Celts and others. To understand something deeper you create a Medicine Wheel. This can be universal or personalised.

The Centre is NOW. The smaller the NOW circle, the less awareness one has, so we have to work to expand the centre circle equally in all quadrants, otherwise out view is warped and we lose contact with ourself. When we move out of the NOW center unevenly we unbalance.

Fear sends us either to the Future which is an illusion or else to the Past and not where we are in the present moment – the NOW. The more we open and expand the centre NOW circle, the more we move toward the outer circle thus reaching enlightenment since reality would then have become one.

If our energy is transferred to the Future, we experience uncertainity and fear or else an infinite possibility of hope. If our energy is transferred to the Past, we experience guilt or nostalgia. If our energy is transferred to the Subject we experience grandiosity or depression/self-pity. If our energy is transferred to the Object, we experience anger, jealousy or envy.

The law of gentle return takes us back to the centre.

Drawing a simple medicine wheel gives us an awareness of where we are at this point in time. When we sleep with our problems without integrating them, they sink into our subconscious and continue to work. With a healthy attitude it might resolve by a dream, but the experience continues to work at a level that we have no control over. Therefore before sleeping, we should distance ourselves from the problems if they cannot be resolved before sleep.

Putting our intent in the NOW is sufficient for the power of intent to work. It is important that we are rooted in the present moment.

When the past is helping us to understand the present moment, it feeds the inner circle – the NOW centre which begins to grow, so it no longer energises guilt etc. But energises our present moment, empowering the NOW.

The Future can help us to strengthen the NOW by non-attachment to thoughts and material objects. The Past can bring about a process of forgiving ourselves as well as others. Our past experiences can also help us learn how to love ourselves. The Object can express compassion and empathy towards others and the Subject will begin to doubt the stories about itself with all the titles and labels we collect along the years. We are then liberated, that is, we realise that we do not have the whole truth about ourself and all previous beliefs about ourself fall.

For the inner NOW circle to expand it needs to be fed with Joy, Love, Stillness, Gratitude and Presence (comfortable in being).

When we do not live in the NOW and get stuck in our problems, the inner NOW circle shrinks because it loses energy which is wasted on Past/Future/Subject/Object.

Psychosomatic illnesses come about when we lose this energy and begin to weaken. When our consciousness is scattered and fragmented, it causes damage to us. The arrows have to be inward focused, so that anything out there, Past/Future/Subject/Object gives us energy not depletes us. Future should be lived as possibilities.

When we live in the inner NOW circle, we will automatically learn how to protect that space. As the inner NOW circle grows, it automatically begins to repel those situations that can lead it to shrink. It grows and shrinks everyday according to our life circumstances until we reach the critical point, where the only way is then forward.

When making a spiritual step forward, there is the tendency to be attacked by those issues that usually shrink this inner circle because the energy that was usually outgoing rebels which can even lead to absurd thoughts and ideas that are out of nature and that we do not normally indulge in. This happens as an attempt to pull us down to a lower level of vibration.

Ways to have Spiritual Guidance in my life.

If I do not know how to move forward in my spiritual guidance, I get confused. Before it used to be solely the prerogative of the Church, however, there has now been a spiritual shift which has made our spiritual progress the responsibility of each and every one of us. There are signposts as guidelines:

1. It is important to know where I stand at this point in time. We

tend to fluctuate on this and sometimes function through

different parts of our personality, in a range from immature to

mature. We emphasize different aspects of our personality

according to our circumstances, family background etc.

2. It is important that with total honesty, we can examine what part

of the personality we are functioning from at all times, either the

mature or immature part without guilt feelings since it has

nothing to do with us but the circumstances we met up with.

3. A good indicator could be signs that the physical body manifests

eg. anxiety, fear. The physical experience reflects my thought

pattern at that time. When we wake up, the first hour is the time

when we take the decision which will give us our direction for the

whole day.

Spiritual Guidance – I believe that there is an inner push that is guiding me for full development whether I want it or not. If I accept it I move into a dynamic of collaboration, if not I get into a dynamic of confrontation and thus find myself in a crisis. The more we use our spiritual guidance to take decisions to enhance our life, the more we strengthen it. Sometimes, we choose the road of confrontation, and then experience life as fragmentation or negativity.

Unity of Opposites

Duality is an everyday experience which we move into on awakening. If I experience sadness, I am aware that there is the opposite of that and vice-versa. Everything has the flipside, thus duality. Some people take this as an experience of fragmentation and they can never find stability in life, thus it is the source of their unhappiness. So if something joyful comes to them, they always live in the fear of the sadness that might me awaiting them round the corner. In this way, they never live their experience of joy to the full, causing deep unhappinees in their psyche. This because they constantly live in fear that something will happen to unbalance them. This sometimes becomes pathological and does not let them experience long periods of peace.

Many spiritual traditions have unfortunately encouraged this way of thinking by creating a chism between what is good and what is bad. The duality is emphasized and people are encouraged to choose one part which they call ‘good’ if they are to be happy and save their soul. This has harmed many because it has created a conflict within some people since it has created a psychological struggle which to them ends at death.

In every spirituality, there are the rules of the religious part which is so to speak, the rules of the club which empasizes the duality part. However, every spirituality also has the mystic part which goes beyond, with the belief that duality is not the real human experience. The personality is experiencing wholeness through integration of the opposite poles. Thus it does not experience it as a split in personality but deeper integration and maturity. By rejecting one part one can never experience unity of opposites.

An example of this is the relationship some people have with their sexuality, where they are afraid of thoughts that come to them and struggle to reject them. This is an experience of opposing attitudes that come up of their own accord. Because of this, many people go through life riddled with guilt which is often misplaced. They can only achieve balance if they accept all their experiences as sacred, not to be suppressed or rejected. This can be done by unlearning some of our beliefs and basing our spiritual life on the mercy of God.

When in a conflicting situation, it is wise not to suppress one part but to allow both sides space to manifest in ones life. If we believe that ultimately all human experience is one of unity, it is only there that we can find balance and happiness, thus allowing conflict a place in our life.