Come Present

Hello Friends!
It has been a while; life is full and I was delayed in connecting with you. Today I feel compelled to blog about coming present with what is.

We find ourselves midway through October 2017 and quickly approaching Samhain (pronounced "sow-in") - the celebration behind All Hallows' Eve and modern-day Halloween. Samhain was originally celebrated to honor the spirits of the dead, for it was believed they visited the Earth on October 31st and provided insights into the future. Sacred hearth fires were burnt all night as a gesture and request for protection through the approaching darkness of the cold, harsh Winter months.

Photo by Olivia Henry on Unsplash

 

Samhain comes at an auspicious time of year when the season shifts from long, warm Summer days to long, cool Autumn nights. The color of the leaves on the trees signals the change most prominantly. Traditionally this meant the energy and activity of the season was shifting too: crop growing was done and harvesting began.

Photo by Evgeni Evgeniev on Unsplash

Though our context may be different, these same shifts apply to us today, if more to our internal world than our external one. Our body wisdom responds to the energetic shifts inherent in the change of seasons. And if we pay close attention, we may feel a shift in what we long to do that mirrors this change.

While Summer is typically filled with a lot of external busyness and play, Autumn beckons us to start slowing down and bring more presence to what is...to take stock of what we've created in our lives, trash what didn't work, harvest what did, and be grateful for it all.

Today we can use the symbology of Samhain this way:

• honor and release what no longer serves your life (the crops that did not grow or no longer serve your life; your "dead")
• claim what does (the crops that grew to enhance your life; your "harvest")
• be grateful for what is (all the gifts born of your year and your life so far, both tangible and intangible)  

 

Photo by Simon Maage on Unsplash

 

You might want to write down the things you are releasing and ceremonially burn the paper; you might also want to make note of the gifts of your harvest and ceremonially bury the paper. By honoring the ancient Samhain tradition in this way, you can clear your energetic field, gain perspective, and better prepare for what approaches next.

This placement of your attention is a powerful tool to keep you present with what is, in a way that leads to the next aligned step toward right action in your life, rather than getting caught up in messy distractions and distorted reactions that don't serve. I define right actions as those based in love, and distorted actions as those based in fear. For what it's worth, now is a great time to be curious, to stretch beyond your comfort zone, and to choose love above fear.

Photo by Jez Timms on Unsplash

Each and every one of us is called to stop being shy, and to step into right, aligned action for ourselves and for the greater reality of which we are a part. For what better purpose is there to life than serving the world in a way that leads to positive changes for you and for all the beings you share this Planet home with? I can't think of any...

Until next time, fare thee well my friends,
Dr. Ceci Zuniga

Reality Check

In case you haven't stopped to notice it, we are already midway through August, 2017, two-thirds of the way through the year. This is stunning for me to consider, as it feels just last week was the new year's beginning.

If you read my last blog, "2017 - The Year of the Ten Fire Rooster," you may be feeling the truth of what was predicted based on ancient numerology and Chinese Calendar lore. Though perhaps a tad less tense than last year, 2017 comes packed with its own set of opportunities (or dramas, depending on how you choose to look at it). 

At this point in the game, it is important for you to find your inner balance. With strong beliefs and opinions streaming out from every arena, you'll need that inner balance to stabilize you through the rising and falling of emotional waves that pass through your personal space - those belonging to you and those belonging to others. It is human nature to have reactions to things, but it's not your inner emotional reactions that are the problem; it is what you do with them.

   

If you use your reactions to justify blame, shame, judgement, or separation, you are missing the truth and a powerful opportunity. Whenever you slip into this type of justification, you are actually passing off your responsibility for yourself onto others, where it does not belong. Your emotional reactions belong to you and you alone. 

Let me say this another way: Others are not responsible for your feelings - not now, not ever. 

It does not matter what they did or didn't do; you are the sole proprietor of your feelings today, in this moment. They happen inside of you, not outside of you. They are created inside of you. They exist and are managed inside of you. They dissolve away inside of you. They do not belong to anyone else; they belong to you, even when what you attribute them to happens outside of you.

This means that you are also 100% responsible for your reactions to the experiences of your life - how you deal with your feelings. Nobody makes you do anything, unless someone threatens your safety or your life if you do not comply with their demands. And even then you have choices; limited ones, but still choices, either in that moment or sometime later. Other than that extreme situation, you make your life choices from a place of freedom. You are nobody's slave, nobody's prisoner.

If you insist on blaming others for your state of being, you try to make them responsible for your choices, your feelings, and the quality of your life, when in reality you are. You hand them all your power by sacrificing to them how you feel and what you do in your life. And then you blame them when it doesn't turn out like you want. That's messed up. That is part of what Marianne Williamson refers to as error thinking.

As a free adult living in this country, you have the luxury - and it is a luxury - to choose for yourself who you want to befriend, who you join in partnership with, where you work and live, what you eat and drink, where you go, what you do, how long you stay, what you believe in, what you reject, how you feel, etc. No one else makes those choices for you. You make them for yourself, each one adding to the creation of the story of your life.

That means when things "go wrong" in your life, so to speak, or don't go as you hoped, you have the choice to change something to bring it back into alignment with what you want. Whatever happened in your past is past; whatever wounds you carry forward from that past can be healed. You have the choice to stop blaming others and take responsibility for your life now, starting today. There is no one to blame for your current situation, or for the feelings you hold in relation to it.

Instead of blaming others when you make a choice or a string of choices that do not bring you the outcome you want, or when you disagree with what is, or when you let your emotions get the better of you and react destructively, step off the road you are on and find a new path to walk. It really is that simple. 

You are the captain of your ship; the star, director and producer of your movie; the King or Queen of your life. You have the power within yourself to change the course of your ship, to manage the contents of your movie, and to make rulings about the direction of your life. But first you must stop blaming others and take full responsibility for yourself. You must reclaim your freedom to choose, for you alone can truly change your life.

And the sooner, the better. 

Stuck in a Rut or Rolling like a Stone

Do you find yourself stuck in the same old ruts?

It's easy to do, because most of us have just enough energy to keep doing what we are doing but not enough to change anything. Yet we hope and wish for things to change. This pattern matches Albert Einstein's brilliant definition of insanity: "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

Why do we do it? I know many people who want their lives to change but cannot make it happen. Why not, especially when it is something they strongly desire? 

Perhaps it is because change takes energy. And if the majority of your energy is sapped up by or depleted from what you've been doing for some time now, you don't have enough "extra" to make the changes you desperately want. 

So how do you get the energy you need to make the changes you want? The simple answer is to change what you are devoted to.  

Consider this: it takes at least 51% of your energy to make a change. That is because you must have more of your energy - even just one percent more - invested in changing than you do in staying the same. If you have 50% of your energy invested in changing and 50% of it invested in staying the same, guess what happens? Nothing!

You must find a way to invest more than half of your energy into changing to make it happen.

 
There are many ways to do this. A good place to start is to fire up your commitment. Make a commitment to the change you want, but not just any old commitment. I'm talking about a solid gold, nothing can stop me, I want this more than anything, double-dog dare you commitment to it. Feel your commitment to the depth of your bones. Devote yourself to its success. If it is important enough to you, you will. 

If you don't feel it that strongly, you might not want it that badly. Then, I suggest you set that one aside for later, and devote yourself and your energy to making the changes you really want and are ready for now.

Next, pay attention. By this, I mean seeing the story of your life from a higher, more neutral and compassionate perspective. Pay attention to how you spend your time and therefore your energy; your energy flows where your attention goes. Paying attention to your life in this way is called "awareness" or "self-awareness."  

Awareness helps you see where you are spending your energy so you can decide if it still serves you to do so. Uncover what you are feeding with your time and energy. Take stock. Which things in your life inspire and nourish you and which ones tire and deplete you?

Third, begin to shift how you spend your time and energy. This can be a challenging step because it may mean letting go of people, places or things that feel comfortable to you. But just because they feel comfortable to you does not mean they are supportive for you. They might be, yet this is the time to take a radically honest look at them and decide once and for all what to keep feeding and what to stop feeding with your attention and energy.

Sometimes you must let go of something good to make space for something great.

Not all of what you decide is "out" has to stay gone forever, but it may serve you best to let them go temporarily as you move through your changes. Later, you will know if it supports you to bring them back in. But in order to free yourself from the old ruts you've been stuck in, you must devote most of your time and energy (i.e., attention) to the new things you want to have in your life.

Remember, at least 51% of your time and energy must be devoted to making the changes you want in order to have a chance at success. That means 49% or less of your time and energy is going into maintaining the same old things that keep you stuck in a rut.

You must change what you are doing for things to change.

 
Focusing your time and energy on things that support you is not selfish, as many people fear. Quite the contrary; it is self-aware. There is a big difference between selfish and self-aware. 

Selfish is when you are primarily focused on your personal welfare despite any negative outcomes for anyone or anything else; and you only care about yourself.  

Self-aware, on the other hand, is when you are primarily focused on yourself in relation to all else, knowing that your choices impact other people and things; and you care enough to make the most compassionate choices possible for all concerned. BIG difference. 
  
Forth, once you see clearly what you want to keep in and what you want to let out of your life, and you refocus your time and energy to change them, it takes strong devotion to be successful in the long term. The relationships you feed will thrive in your life. By relationships, I mean to people, places and things. Devoting yourself (i.e., your attention, time and energy) to what truly nourishes and supports you in the long term will move you closer and closer to the life you really want.

Your level of devotion to this journey is what will get you through it with success. For lasting change to happen in your life, you must focus on long-term rather than short-term outcomes. Immediate or short-term gratification does not create lasting change, but long-term vision, intention and devotion does. What do you devote your time and energy to?

For lasting change to happen, you must devote at least 51% of yourself - your attention, time and energy - to the things that sustain it.     

Do this and before you know it, you will find yourself feeling lighter, happier and more fulfilled in life...out of your old ruts and rolling like a stone.