Buddha Says Pain Passes

You can’t go preventing pleasure and pain, you can’t keep the mind from labeling things and forming thoughts, but you can put these things to a new use. If the mind labels a pain, saying, 'I hurt,' you have to examine the label carefully, contemplate it until you see that it’s wrong: the pain isn’t really yours. It’s simply a sensation that arises and passes away, that’s all.

- Upasika Kee Nanayon, "Tough Teachings To Ease The Mind" 

I read this quote and thought about living in the present moment.  When a person is present, pain has a harder time being present.  It is like trying to have two beings inhabit the same space.  It is not possible.  Pain does pass.

Blessings,

Judy

What Is Your Hot Button?

We all have personal sensitivities—“hot buttons”—that are evoked in close relationships. Mindfulness practice helps us to identify them and disengage from our habitual reactions, so that we can reconnect with our partners. We can mindfully address recurring problems with a simple four-step technique: (1) Feel the emotional pain of disconnection, (2) Accept that the pain is a natural and healthy sign of disconnection, and the need to make a change, (3) Compassionately explore the personal issues or beliefs being evoked within yourself, (4) Trust that a skillful response will arise at the right moment.  – Christopher Germer, "Getting Along"

I read this quote and realized how appropriate it is for these times when we are all on a short fuse and anxious about what will happen.  I wondered how many people are finding that the hot buttons that they thought were dealt with are now popping up in the most odd places, and anger is being triggered.  Or perhaps it is not anger, it is simply the huge reaction (emotional) that you have to something.  Triggers are all about learning – around self, family, and beliefs. 

What beliefs do you carry that are not helping you?  What values are out dated?  What people are no longer going to be part of your life because you need to move on? 

These questions are ones that we see pop up everyday.  How are you handling them?

Blessings,

Judy

Feeling Pain Together

Direct Seeing -  With direct seeing, we know that we are not alone in our suffering and that no one need feel alone when in pain. Seeing our oneness is the beginning of our compassion, and it allows us to reach beyond aversion and separation.

-Sharon Salzberg, “A Quiver of the Heart” 

When I read this passage, I am reminded that not all of us see the same way.  I realize that many people judge others’ pain to be lesser than their own.  I wonder why we seem to feel aversion, or even jealousy, about other people’s pain.  A scene from the movie, “Grumpy Old Men” sticks in my mind.  Jack Lemmon’s and Walter Matthau’s character each competed to see who had the biggest hurt!  It was funny, and sad, at the same time.

I confess, when I see other people in pain, I most often seem to hurt for them.  It quickly goes away.  The pain lets me see/feel how they are feeling, and, I empathise with their pain.  I typically respond the same way to tears of grief or sadness.

I think most people are like that!

Many blessings,

Judy

Spirit Talks About Catharsis

 

Catharsis is about being able to release pain – emotional pain – by watching someone else’s pain, and being able to recognize the pain and feel it in you, and then release it in yourself.  Many of us do this by crying at movies or even at commercials on TV.  The process, for some people, is quite embarrassing, that is, to be crying at a movie. 

However, Great Spirit and our Angels and Guides reassure us that this is a healing mechanism that humans have so that we do not overload on emotions that we store inside our bodies.  From the time that we are born, it is in our nature to laugh, cry, be sad, celebrate, and all the other emotions that exist.  If we cannot feel great sadness, then there is a good chance that we will not be able to feel great happiness.

Feeling emotional release based on someone else’s experience, real or performed in a movie, is a great confirmation that we are all connected; that there is Oneness.  What I mean is that if we were all separate, we would not feel that tug of pain in a nerve around our heart, or, we would not feel the fear in our solar plexus when we watch that scary movie.  Emotion is an energy that radiates outward until it is absorbed by “something”. Often that something is another being.

The nick name for emotional movies is “tear jerker”.  Literally, the nick name describes the process of the movie pulling the tears that have been locked away, out into the open.  Some spiritual teachers believe that a good tear jerker is as good as a meditation in helping a person release pent up emotion.  In either case, during the movie or during meditation, the person is so absorbed that they are completely in the present moment, and, in the present moment, there is no pain, so the body releases it as tears.

What a beautiful process!  Catharsis!

Blessings,

Judy

Who is Sananda?

I was meditating with a friend a while ago when I felt a new energy around us.  I asked her who the energy was.  She replied, “Jesus”.  

That made complete sense to me.  Sometimes we know energies by different names.  Lord Sananda is an Ascended Master who is also called “Jesus” which was one of his lives on Earth.  Over time, different Ascended Masters have spent time on Earth to help raise the vibration of mankind.

While Sananda was meditating with us, several thoughts came through, with his gentle guidance.

1.  Nurture -  no one is going to take care of you on the Earth plane so you must do a great job of taking care of yourself.  

2.  Sorrow – what appears to be sad to you, and what appears to be unkind to you, is showing you areas of self that you need to work on.  These areas are places where you need to work on self forgiveness.

3.  Heal – this is the time to work on those things that ail you.  Know that you are not responsible for healing others who have not worked on their own healing.  When you work to clear something that causes you pain or illness, and when you are successful, those that need that same work will be sent to you for coaching.  

4.  Love – work to be in a place of constant love of the world and all that is in it.  This is the way of the Angels.

Meditation with Lord Sananda is a wonderful experience.  Call for him as you start to meditate and you see what this energy is like.

Many blessings,

Judy

Small Injuries To Your Body

 

I banged my knee on the corner of the bed when I was making it.  It bloody hurt, because I punctured the skin on the corner of the post.  Within fifteen minutes, I banged my head on the corner of the kitchen cupboards.  I never do that.  I couldn't figure out what happened.  The last straw was stubbing my toe on the step as I was going upstairs.  It hurt, and I never stub my toe, either.

What is going on?? I kept asking myself what was happening and what I was supposed to learn.  And then I got it!  I was not being mindful.  I was not paying attention to what I was doing.  Instead, I was allowing my mind to wander, and to distract me from the task at hand.  I am all attention, now.

Getting small bangs to your body causes one to go out of balance.  It is a good idea, after a couple of knocks like I took, to sit in meditation and bring your body back to Center, to a place of stillness and balance.

Many blessings

Judy

Sending Healing Energy To Others

 

When we have self healing to do, and when we are feeling sorry for ourselves, we can get so focused that we forget that there are others out there that also need healing.

Sometimes, the first step to self healing is to look at someone else, and see their pain, or circumstance, and wish for healing for them.  Some rules for this… 1) make sure the person has asked for help and 2) make sure that you are sending the healing from a place of love.  You can always ask someone if they would like you to send them healing energy. An easy way to start is to exchange energy with a friend.

Here are some suggestions for sending healing energy.

1) Find a quiet place to sit, and ask for angel light to surround you to keep you safe.

2) Visualize yourself surrounded in white light or in purple light, so that you see yourself in a big ball of light.  

3) Then invite the person needing healing to step into your healing ball of light.  Hold them there for several minutes. Increase this to five minutes after a week.  The aim is to be kind and helpful, not to play yourself out.

You may notice that after doing this practice for several weeks, that the other person feels lighter, and that you feel a change in your body.

Remember, this information on healing does not replace healing advice from a medical professional. Do consult your doctor if you are in chronic pain or discomfort.

Many Blessings,

Judy

Forgiving A Family Member

 

                                                 “Yellow Roses” - Picture by Judy

The Oxford Dictionary defines family in several ways… one definition is “all the descendants of a common ancestor”.  That is a really big definition!  It is even bigger if you think that genealogy blood work shows that we are all descended from “the seven daughters of Eve”.  This is actually the name of a book written by Brian Sykes.  Check it out for Christmas season reading.

Back to the point - family is big.  When one of the family members does you wrong, it is very hard to forgive the family member.  So much that needs to be forgiven happens in families…

• Cruelty
• Guilting
• Punishment
• Belittling
• Beating/abuse
• Theft
• Abandonment
• Lack of food and clothing, and even shelter

You get the picture of some of the family actions that require forgiving.  Even worse, some of these activities cause individuals to stay stuck in a place where they relive the moments and feel the recurring pain.

There are many practices that one can use for forgiving family members.  What many do not understand is that forgiveness does not mean accepting the family member.  Forgiveness does not mean you have to be buds with the family member or that you have to like what they did or even like them.  Just as you choose your friends that you hang out with, you can choose which family members that you associate with.  Forgiveness means that you can move on in your life without them, that they no longer have a hold on your life.  

In the process of forgiveness, the Abundance and Healing take hold in your life.  You can now move forward.  You can follow your own path.

Blessings,

Judy