REJOICE! Identifying the Themes You Came Here To Learn or Why Does This Keep Happening To Me?!?!

Do the same situations seem to crop up in your Life so often that it makes you feel as if the Universe is having a bad day and taking it out on you? 

Just when it seems that you are about to achieve a long-sought after goal does an unexpected problem arise that keeps you from getting there?

Do you find yourself facing the same situation over and over again? 

If so then-rejoice, you may have discovered a Theme!

OK, before you decide Grace has gone bonkers, let me explain.

Before we agree to project forward and become incarnate in a physical body, we decide to explore certain Themes.  Most of us have at least some sense of this even if they don't hold with New Age thinking.   Chances are, that you have some feeling that there are lessons you are meant to learn in this lifetime or at least you can generate a good guess- this is not such an alien idea to most people.

Well, in a way you are right.

Simply put, what a Life Theme is a very general idea, motif or subject that you agreed to explore in various ways while you were living your life here.  (Other belief systems often refer to this as "Karma", and that these lessons are given to you in order to make up for some shortcoming you had in a past life, but with this new definition Karma becomes something you can deal with. ) Most people don't have any trouble stomaching that idea.  But what most people don't understand is that a Life Theme is also a tool that helps you to grow into a Being that is closer in vibration to your Source!  

What a Theme does is to highlight the negative beliefs you hold.  When you become aware of your negative beliefs (or a system of beliefs which no longer serves you) you then have the choice whether to continue to believe them or not.  This is a marvelous gift that we have all been given!  This is why I say "rejoice" because in noticing a Theme, you have become that much closer to being able to make the changes which will bring you to the reality you prefer to live!

In order to really take advantage of this, it helps to understand a little bit about how a Theme works. In order to accomplish it's mission, a Theme will generate an obstacle which appears while you are involved in following your joy. 

For example, let's say that, on a particular day, you feel that your highest joy is to paint a painting.  While you are painting, or shortly after you begin to get into your "painting groove" so to speak, your best friend calls and tells you they are stranded out on some rural road because their car has just died.  You, of course, agree to go get them but on the way you remember back to the other time you wanted to paint and your daughter fell outside and needed your attention; or perhaps your spouse called with the news that the boss was coming over for dinner and would you make that thing you always make that he likes...And you think to yourself "Every time I try to paint, I am stopped by X, Y or Z".  Am I supposed to be learning something from this?"

BINGO!

BUT-and read on...

Many people will assume that the lesson is simply that they are not meant to paint, and that could very well be one of the negative beliefs that is being highlighted, but to find the Theme, you need to take it a step further. 

Let's say that you realize that this sort of thing also happens whenever you want to take a walk.  You are really, really excited about taking a nice walk-and boom!  In addition, you seem to get zapped just when you decide that a nap would be an awesome thing to do about now.  By paying attention, you suddenly realize what all these actions have something in common.  They are all instances where 1) You are really excited and happy about doing them, and 2) you are trying to take time out for yourself. 

Something begins to percolate in your head.

Then, you say, "Surely I'm not meant to believe that I am never supposed to paint, eat, take a long shower, watch a show I like, go shopping, buy something I think is cool, etc etc etc. That's ridiculous!  There must be something more to this, but what is it?"  And then you realize that you rarely saw your mother, or your father take time out to do anything fun for themselves either.  And you remember how they taught you that other people's needs must always come first, that putting others first meant that you were somehow a better person. Maybe you became a doctor, and spent years seeing to the welfare of your patients; or you became a parent and spouse and your family comes first.  When you finally get to the idea that learning to take time for one's self might be a Life Theme, you experience one of, what people often call, an "A-HA!! moment."  

What a position of power to be in because it is only by recognizing those beliefs that you can first, own them, and second, transform them into something that better serves you to reach the Reality that you want to experience.

Getting back to the Theme of Learning to nurture yourself, you identify some of the negative beliefs that are being highlighted.  Let's say one of them is "Other people are more important than I am."  Does that work for you?  If not, then CHANGE IT!  Think of the life you wish to lead, and change that belief into one, perhaps, "I am worthy of time and attention." or something else that is more in keeping with your vision of your preferred Reality.

Now here is a crucial point- once you recognize a negative belief, and you decide to change it, THE CHANGE HAPPENS IN THAT MOMENT.  But if it does not, it means that there is another belief existing "under" that one which is supporting it and you may have to dig a little to find and transform it.  What could be underneath "other people are more important"?  It could be "I am NOT important"- see how it works?  

"But Gracie", you ask, "What about free will?"

Understand that nothing- and I mean NOTHING happens to you without your permission on some level.  And though you may have agreed to cross the road, you have endless variations in the way you are allowed to do it, as long as you get across in the end.  Dance, swim, jump, hop, scream, take a cab or just walk- it's your choice.  

You are not "doomed" to repeat the same mistakes over and over again.  If you understand that these things are here to teach YOU-and YOU have the power to make of them something that transforms you, then you understand that you are not "at the mercy" of anything, and indeed never were!  Every belief has its own vibration- when you change your belief, you change your vibration and you begin to attract things that are more aligned with the new you.  

So when the "same old thing" happens, give some thought to what it might be telling you, thank the Universe for the uinconditional Love that is giving you this chance to know more about yourself, and REJOICE!

I Am. The First Law- Walt Whitman, God and Popeye

In the years leading up to the American Civil War, American writer and poet, Walt Whitman carried a notebook with him everywhere he went; and it is by his commentary on everything he saw, that we come to know him the best.  

It's a lot like the notebook I carry with me.  We both jot down observations, notes, things we need to remember, questions we need to ask, a hundred different first lines to what we are sure will be the next "Great American Novel"- all the usual stuff.  But there is one entry in Whitman's notebook that is particularly worthy of note.  

On one page there is an entry which many believe to be simply the beginnings of his book "Leaves Of Grass", which reads; "And I am."

Now, many believe that those words, "I am", should be looked at as an unfinished sentence.  Popular opinion seems to be that the sentence was meant to read "I am (insert something here)".  In other words, "I am" was not meant to stand alone and Whitman just forgot to write whatever was supposed to come next.

I believe something else.  

As evidenced by a single notebook entry, I believe this was the point at which he began to access his real power as a writer and as a Human Being.

Modern Reality theory holds that there are 4 Laws (existing outside our "laws of physics" that really only pertain to our particular dimensional Universe anyway) that allow you to experience your version of reality.  The first law states "You exist".

That may sound simple, but it contains a sub-current of information that, when you realize what it means, is astounding and humbling.  It also comes with an inherent set of perks and bennies that we are given as human beings by the All-That-Is that can help us to navigate our existance.  

You see, if you exist *now*, you always have and you always will.  

"How can this be?" you ask? (yes, I heard you)-it is because of the way the Universe is structured.

Many of you have heard me talk about the concept of Time as something created by the ego mind for the purposes of understanding what is happening at a given moment.  This concept does not really exist outside our physical form.  ALL things exist, at all times- the past, the present and the future for our Higher Selves so if you "exist" "now"-you MUST also exist "then"- and then and then and then...

We see this referred to in the Bible, as God answers when Moses asks him what he should be called.  God answers "I am."  Not "I was", or "I will be", but "I AM."  It is the certainty of God's existance, and ours- all wrapped up in those two little words.

No beginning, no end.

In the image of God (insert definition here)

We can change form, and we often do- but in the knowing "I am", we know that we will always exist in one way or another.

Carrying this further, we understand that if we exist in all times, we have access to the information of our "other selves" AT ALL TIMES.  Once you understand that there is a connection, and how to access that connection, you can tap into the greater wisdom of yourself- Your Self.  You can, in effect, "borrow" from your alternate self when you need to.  If you have a question in this Reality, there is a self somewhere "out there" in a reality which has an answer.  

Take the cartoon "Popeye", for example, as a sort of comical analogy (pun intended).

I know you were wondering how in the world I was going to fit this in, well here it is:

If you are familiar with this cartoon, you are familiar with his catch phrase, "I 'yams whats I ams, and dats all that I 'yams" and that he often says this just before or just after he performs one of his daring feats of strength.  Looking at that through your "new" eyes you can see a layer of deeper meaning here in that it can be said that Popeye is calling upon the strength of his "other selves" in order to add it to his own and save the day.  "I am"- and that's all he needs!  

Now, one more baby-step.

If this is the case, and whenever you have a question there indeed is a "you" out there with the answer, then in means that what is "out there" is capable of BE-ing and doing ANYTHING and EVERYTHING!

You are being supported by infinate existence- an existence that expands to include every answer you will ever need. Your imagination is the spark that creates these selves-and you could not have imagination if you did not exist!  Realizing this can be the difference between feelings of despondency, and a sense of empowerment.  

Though we may never know for sure, I think that, consciously or not, Whitman came into contact with this very powerful sense of connection with the writing of those two words. 

If you want proof of how powerful this realization can be, take this into consideration; three blank lines after Walt Whitman wrote "...I am." in his notebook, he begins the prose which will eventually be published as "Leaves of Grass"; a work which was to spread of the idea of an America free of slavery, and would earn Whitman the title of "The Father of free verse".  

The Purpose Of Fear, or, as the Klingons say, "Today Is A Good Day To Die"

I am surely showing my Geekery with this post, but so be it!

Many years ago, there was an episode of Star Trek Next Generation which involved some kind of spacial anomaly (remember those???) creating a line of demarcation which was passing through the ship-almost like the ship was passing through some kind of veil.  You could see this line as a shimmering field that moved along the corridors as the ship moved forward.  Eventually, most of the crew members were cowering in the corner of 10-forward (For those unfamiliar with the series, 10-forward is the Star Fleet Equivalent of a lounge) as the shimmering wave came closer and closer.  I won't give away the end of the story- (AWWW  but GRACIE!!!!)  But I will say that it sparked a dream the night I saw it.

In my dream, I was with that group of frightened crew members, watching the "safe" and familiar space getting smaller and smaller and wondering what to do about it.  To the horror of my colleagues, I adopted a rather Klingon attitude and, figuring that if I was going to get squashed anyway, I would get squashed on my OWN terms; and chose to walk through the veil and into the unknown under my own power.

Oddly enough, that dream marked a turning point of sorts in my life and I began to examine how my attitude towards the fears in my life might be keeping me from doing the things I really wanted to do.  Now, bear with me a moment here while I explain something.

When you are experiencing a feeling of joy, like when you are doing something you love to do, you are emitting a vibration that is the closest your physical body can get to the pure vibration of your non-physical self.  You are more openly connected to that part of you which inspires you and which is best suited to guide you on the path to the you that you chose to come here to follow.  So, it can be said that when all your beliefs are arrayed to connect you to that feeling of joy, you are closer to being your true self.

All emotions are nothing more than a movement of energy through you (as it is said Energy-motion, E-motion), and all emotions emit a particular vibration.  They are designed to keep you aligned with that truest point- your "true North" of self-hood.  This is what is meant by the popular phrase "Follow your bliss", and the teachings of Abraham describe this as your "emotional guidance system", which is a good analogy in general.  They often say that when you do not feel good-for example, when you are experiencing fear, you are not "in alignment" with your true self.  When you *are* one vibration at your core level, and you are emitting another, non-compatible vibration through your emotions, you sense the discord.
The teachings of Bashar have a slightly different take on it (though they are really saying the same thing at the core).  The idea is, that you embody one vibration as your Higher Self, and when the physical "you", over time, adds layers of beliefs which are not compatible with the vibration of your higher self, you feel the discord in the form of fear.  So Fear, in effect, is the vibration of your Higher self as it is experienced when you hold certain patterns of belief (which are also vibrations).
Both of these views can be roughly compared to throwing two rocks into a pond.  Each rock will cause a certain configuration of ripples, but if the ripples happen to collide, the pattern is disrupted.

If your eyes aren't crossed by all this, read on!

So, if this is the case, it means that fear has a definite meaning and can become a tool for self-exploration.  When you are experiencing fear, you know you are holding a belief that doesn't "jive" with what your Higher Self knows is true about you (and your Higher Self knows a WHOLE lot more than you do-so trust it).  So your next step is to take a good, objective, look at what is happening and to ask yourself- "If I am attracting this situation to myself-or if what I am seeing in my reality is a reflection of what is going on inside my own head-what would I have to be doing (i.e. thinking or believing) to have brought this on?"  You are asking yourself, in effect, what beliefs would have to be in place, somewhere inside you, for this situation to appear as it does.  I usually carry a notebook with me.  As I experience a fear, I jot it down in the notebook, and when I get a moment, I look them over and decide which ones no longer serve me-and that would be pretty much all of them. ;)
Then, I choose to change the belief.  It's really as simple as that.  If the belief does not "come loose" at first, it's a clue to me that there might be another belief existing "underneath" that is supporting it.  With a little detective work, some meditation, and paying attention to how I feel, I usually get to the bottom of it very quickly.  I then write a line through the old belief and write the new belief in the book- "I choose to believe...".  The writing helps to "lock in" the new vibration with some physical reinforcement.
This is where some of you might use ritual, or mantra to act as your "locking in mechanism".  Whatever it is that convinces you that a change has occurred is fine so feel free to get creative if you are inspired!  Vianna Stibal, author of the book "Theta Healing" suggests that you envision your mind as a rolodex with each belief you hold written on a different card.  Then imagine the card with the negative belief being removed and replaced with another card containing the positive belief.
In this process, you are also transforming the energy of fear itself.  First, you create a sense of curiosity about what this fear is attempting to signal to you.  Then, when you have chosen your replacement belief, the curiosity becomes a sense of empowerment which puts you in closer harmony with your core being.  When you know that you have changed, your experience of what is around you will transform to be more representative of the new beliefs that you hold.

The Shamans of the tradition in which I was trained understood well the power of transformation, and it is said that every Shaman must undergo a kind of "death" in order to truly realize his potential.  Sometimes it is a death of old habits or systems of belief which no longer serve the Shaman in existing as the Being he was created to be.  We discover more of who we truly are through exploring the unknown- like what existed beyond the curtain on the Enterprise.  When I faced the veil of the unknown, I recognized it for the opportunity for transformation that it was.  In this "real world", I am no longer afraid of fear, because I know that it is a signal from my Higher Self that some examination is in order.  By facing it, I become stronger, and a more competent creator in my own reality.
As a Klingon in the dream, I said, as the Klingon warriors were famous for saying in the series, "Today is a good day to die", meaning that this was a moment in which I was being given a chance to transform myself for the better.
I took that chance.
My Life has been richer ever since.

The Story As A Tool For Creating Reality

Stories have been used since the beginning of humanity to impart information and to entertain. As a Shaman, and conscious creator, I write stories to help illustrate certain concepts.   Shamanism recognizes that the "story world" is akin to the "dream world", and as such, is just as real as the physical reality you exist in at this moment.   But have you ever thought about why the story, as an entity in itself, has become such an integral part of human development?  Sure, we often identify with the characters in a story as other facets of ourselves.  We like to see them succeed and imagine that we are the ones coming out ahead.  If we are not presently "ahead" then we might prefer to see their struggles and relate them to our own.  In addition to, and separate from, the archetypes and characters, we are also drawn to certain themes, or "plot lines" (such as boy finds girl, loses girl and finds girl again, or the Greek model of tragic figures who fall and then rise again) over and over again because there is something about the reality that they create which speaks to us on a deep level.  The story structure itself becomes the archetype, and because this resonates so strongly with humans, it makes the information conveyed by the story that much easier to remember.

But it is the story itself-meaning the creation of information based on the imagination- that has a much more powerful meaning in the inclusive Universe.  

Life is a story:

Look at it this way,  each moment you exist is the next moment in the continuing adventures of you.  If you were to take a few moments to examine your life as you have experienced it to this point, you would see certain themes, habits, illustrations, actions, reactions, feelings and patterns emerge- in other words, a story.   Your story is utterly unique to you, and is playing concurrently with any number of other stories generated by the people around you.  You may play a major character in some of those stories or be relegated to a minor, supporting role.  But your own story exists as a complete and self-contained vibration and this is what gives you such power in it.

The Story As Magic:

Telling a story involves all 3 components of creation; Physical mind (the body-mind), The Thinking Mind (the Ego), and The Higher Mind.  This is similar to what those practitioners of Magic might call "Intent-Focus-Belief"-Identification of the desire, the focus of energy on the desire and the belief that the desire will come to fruition. 
Law of Attraction fans may define the process as "Want-Ask-Allow"; The Thinking Mind identifies a desire and focuses attention on it while the Physical mind (tied to the body-mind) summons up deep feelings and passion about the subject which are taken and interpreted by the Higher Mind, which in turn takes care of the details and arranges the circumstances needed to bring that desire into manifestation.  Run-on sentences aside, both are simply different ways of referring to the same thing. ;)
When seen in this context it becomes clear that all "spells" are simply ways of convincing the practitioner that the present story (the reality of the moment)  has, in effect, been re-written into a story which is more representative of the practitioner's desires.

The Story As Creation:

When we put forth a particular story, is it said that we are vibrating at a particular frequency.  You support and sustain this frequency by living your story- behaving and believing in such a way that supports your vision.    Something as simple as looking at your life as it exists now, in other words, the story that it represents; and deciding to change the story, can have profound effects on what you experience in reality.  This is another tool that has been given to us, "hard wired" by the Universe to help us become conscious creators in our own Lives.  You may be happy with your story as it is playing out, or wish to make changes.  If you wish to make changes, then envision your story as you would prefer it to be and live as though it has already happened.  You can do this because you have ultimate control over your own story, even to the meaning you attribute to the events occurring around you.  

The Story is Meaning-less:

All events, all stories, are neutral.  They have no intrinsic meaning in and of themselves.  It is the observer who assigns the meaning to the circumstances and therefore, it is the observer who can choose to change the meaning that they had previously assigned.  If someone doesn't call you when they say they will, how many of you choose to believe that it means they dislike or are avoiding you?  How many of you will choose to believe that it means they simply lost track of time?  What you choose is determined by your habitual beliefs (belief is a vibration).  If you choose to assign a positive belief and meaning to an event, then that event must ultimately serve you in a positive way because you have changed the vibration.  

Life does not write your story, YOU write your story.  You have only to imagine it, and trust that your Higher Self knows the way to make your story happen.  

Change the story, change the vibration and change what is being attracted to you.