Providing Value To The World

How are you providing value to the world?

Like many people, your initial answer to this question will probably revolve around what you’re doing to provide value and to contribute towards the upliftment of the world… I write articles on spiritual development, I teach young children, I make environmentally-friendly products, I do voluntary charity work….

As Lightworkers, when we consider providing value to the world, we usually think in terms of doing things like the examples above. They all seem very clearly geared towards assisting others and bettering the world. The value of such activities seems obvious and direct.

What if the answer to the question is something like I meditate every day or I work as an administrative assistant?

Meditating could be seen as a selfish activity – on the face of it, it is not other-oriented. Working as an admin assistant could be seen as a job far removed from traditional Lightworker roles.

However, an argument could be made that meditating calms you down, and that interacting with others later in the day is always much better when you’re in a calm state than when you’re rushed, anxious and worried. Similarly, an argument could be made that dedicated and competent administrative assistants provide value to the companies for which they work by keeping them organised, efficient and effective.

Both of these arguments are true. Yet they only hint at the full extent to which these two activities can be utilised to provide profound value to the world. The key to this lies in your state of being while doing these activities.

This is easy to see when we look at an activity like meditation. Entering into an alpha state and allowing Source energy to flow freely not only has positive benefits for ourselves, but also for the world – this energy ripples out and affects others, even those with whom we don’t come into direct contact during the day. We may not see the immediate impact of our meditative activities beyond our own well-being and positive changes in our relationships with family and friends, but it is there. Research has demonstrated that crime rates and accidents decrease when even a small percentage of the population of an area meditates (the Maharishi Effect).

Okay, so it is easy to add value to the world by meditating. But what if you don’t have time to meditate because you have to get to work as an admin assistant every day? The same principles apply. Even though you may not be sitting in the lotus position chanting Om, you can still bring a meditative state to your work by practising mindfulness and presence. When you are being peace regardless of what activity you are doing, you can bring peace to the world.

I think we can get very caught up in only considering value from a superficial point of view, in the sense that, on the face of it, someone working in an anti-crime charity seems to be adding more value to the world than someone working as an administrative assistant, for example. When we look at things from an energy level, however, the picture may be very different – it is possible that the charity worker is vibrating with anger and fear, whereas the admin assistant may be vibrating with love and peace. The former will ironically be contributing to increasing the very ills that she is trying to work towards decreasing, whereas the latter will be far more effective at decreasing crime and promoting peace, even though that isn’t her official job description.

So… let me ask you again. How are you proving value to the world?

Flow And Buying A House

In my last post on Flow And Intention-Manifestation, I mentioned that my husband and I had recently purchased a house. One of the commenters on that post, T Edwards, asked:

Congratulations on your new home. My question is: do you give credit for bringing it into your life to ‘The Law of Attraction’?

I gave a brief reply to the comment at the time, although I realised that there was much more that I could say on the subject, so much so that I thought I’d take this opportunity to devote a post to it!

I think I should start by saying that I use the term Law Of Attraction to describe principles of how the universe works on an energy level, mainly because it is a term that many people know these days and which can therefore be used as a reference point. For me, however, the principles behind what is popularly termed Law Of Attraction represent deep spiritual beliefs, many of which I was first introduced to as a young child and which I’ve come to understand more deeply over the years. I’m still learning! So, while my answer to T’s question in the comments is that I do give credit to the Law Of Attraction for bringing the house into my life, my use of these principles is a much more spiritual one than popular products like The Secret describe.

My husband and I started looking for a new house to buy in January this year. We had owned our own home in South Africa, but had decided to rent when we moved to Scotland until we had become more settled and familiar with the city of Edinburgh and its surrounding countryside, and had a good idea of which area we wanted to live in.

I had started thinking about our ideal house when we first made the decision to move to Scotland and I knew a house purchase would arise in the next year or so. I developed a picture in my head of what it would look like (based on both my and my husband’s intentions, which are thankfully exactly the same when it comes to houses and decoration thereof!), and even drew a floor plan and a 3D picture of what it looked like. This picture was continually refined, and by the time January came round, I could see our ideal house extremely clearly in my head. It had the same status in my mind as the house we owned in South Africa, in the sense that it was as real to me as a house that I had actually lived in. I knew our ideal house intimately!

When it came to the details of our ideal house, we had some non-negotiables as well as some nice-to-haves. We were also clear that the house had to reflect the Divine qualities of love, peace and joy. We were looking for a house that felt like home the second we stepped through the door. In terms of finances, we planned to use the money from the sale of our house in South Africa as a deposit towards buying a house in the UK. Houses in the UK are a tad more expensive than in South Africa – our many Rands gave us a great deposit amount to use here, but unfortunately not enough to purchase a house outright! Nevertheless, we were grateful that we had that money to contribute towards the process as it would keep our mortgage down and make us more attractive to lenders.

The first few months of the house-hunting process were frustrating. Each property we saw matched our requirements to a certain extent, but none included everything we wanted, even when we considered doing renovations. Those that were closer matches were outside our budget, but even those didn’t have the energetic qualities we were looking for.

About four months in, I became very despondent. I started to doubt that we would ever find our ideal house within our budget. I hated the idea that we would have to settle for something far less than we wanted. Even though this was a dark time for me, it was out of this period that I began to clarify my thinking around Flow. I spoke to my guides about it, and I started practicing it in all areas of my daily life. I changed my focus from details and specifics to making Flow my primary focus. I learned to trust that if Flow is present, all else falls into place.

At about this time, the UK started to experience a so-called “credit crisis”, and the news was full of doom and gloom – mortgages were difficult to obtain and house prices were falling. I took the latter quite positively, however – if house prices were falling, it meant we would be able to get more house for our budget! I also chose to ignore the news reports about mortgages, and instead maintain my focus on Flow.

Shortly after this, we walked into the house that we ultimately ended up buying. It felt like home. It matched our intentions perfectly on an energy level. At first glance, it only had some of the non-negotiables that we’d wanted, and none of the nice-to-haves. But, upon closer inspection, we realised that we could easily renovate the house to obtain all but one of the non-negotiables and all but one of the nice-to-haves! Honest reflection showed me that these two unobtainable characteristics were in fact ego-driven wants. I released these, and in the process I realised that these two things that I had thought so important actually weren’t so important after all!

Had there not been a credit crisis, this house would have been out of our budget range by at least £10 000. As it was, we were able to buy it for £30 000 under budget, leaving us with money to spare for all those renovations! Thanks also to some helpful family and friends who are involved in the building trade, we are likely to obtain some hefty discounts on things like kitchen units and bathroom suites.

The actual purchasing process was a beautiful example of Flow. Our dates for giving notice on our flat matched up perfectly with the sellers’ moving date. Through our solicitor, we were put in touch with a financial advisor who organised a mortgage for us at a very good rate. The mortgage application process itself was easy and hassle-free. Our solicitor was amazing – he was efficient and thorough and kept us updated at each step. We essentially sat back and watched the process unfold, doing our small bit (e.g. signing a form, making a telephone call, making a bank transfer – nothing too onerous!) as and when required. In a telephone conversation with the seller at one point, he mentioned to me that he was amazed at how smoothly and easily everything was progressing – I could only agree! With Source energy directing the process, how could it be any different?!

If you’d like to see some pictures of our new ‘hood, you’re welcome to browse through those on our other personal blog.

Surfing The Flow

Don’t you just love it when life flows? I certainly do!

In psychological terms, the word flow is used to describe a state in which we are so fully immersed in an activity that we feel energised, focused and involved, and as a result experience a distorted sense of time and effortless of action. It is an ego-less state in which we are completely present. Flow is a concept integral to the field of Positive Psychology, and its main proponent is the man with the virtually unpronounceable name, Mihály Csíkszentmihályi (those in the know say it is pronounced Mee-high Chick-sent-mee-high-ee, but apparently his friends just call him Mike!).

In spiritual terms, however, flow is quite literally Source energy flowing through us. It is possible to feel this energy flow tangibly. It is a strong and powerful energy stream that contains within it a deep sense of love, joy and peace. It is graceful, abundant and expansive. When Source energy is flowing freely, we experience the psychological state described above in relation to our daily activities.

There is an element of surrender involved in the process, in that flow can’t be forced. It can only be allowed. It is when we get out of our own way that we can be a conduit for Source energy to flow through us into the world. That said, once we’re in the energy stream, there is an interplay between letting it carry us forward and co-creating our journey along the way. We’re not so much going with the flow as we are surfing the flow!

I’m going to be exploring the concept of flow over the next few blog posts, looking at subjects like work, health, relationships and money from the perspective of flow. I’ll also be discussing the topic of how flow relates to manifesting intentions, and the different types of blockages that affect flow. I look forward to you joining me throughout this series, and as always, to hearing your thoughts as we delve into the subject!

Eckhart Tolle: A New Earth

A New Earth is Eckhart Tolle’s second book on the power of living in the present moment. Like The Power Of Now, his first book, A New Earth is special to read. Words are powerful carriers of energy, and both of Eckhart’s books emanate the love, peace and joy that he obviously experienced while writing these from a place of presence and high level of consciousness.

The book takes its title from a Biblical prophecy that refers to the emergence of a new heaven and a new earth, the deeper meaning of which relates to the transformation of human consciousness and the reflection of this higher level of awareness in the physical world. Although the title has its basis in a Christian teaching, A New Earth is a spiritual book and as such can be read by people of any religion or people of no specific religion. In fact, it is interesting to note that the feedback received from the webcasts done recently by Oprah and Eckhart Tolle has indicated that many people have found that reading the book enabled them to understand the teachings of their religions in far greater depth and to apply them with far greater insight than they had previously had.

While The Power Of Now was written in question and answer format, A New Earth reads more like a traditional book, and it is therefore often the preferred introduction to the topic for many people. It was certainly Oprah’s choice for the webcasts that she and Eckhart conducted! Having read both books, I would probably recommend starting with The Power Of Now; however, this really is a personal choice and either will do as a starting point. The important thing is to read at least one of these books, and to reflect on and practice the teachings contained within them. Increasing your awareness and living in the present moment can be a challenging process, particularly when you start, but the rewards are immense. If you haven’t yet read my earlier review of The Power Of Now, you can find it and read about these rewards here.

In addition to going in-depth on subjects such as the ego and the pain-body, A New Earth addresses the topic of conscious creating, particularly in Chapter 10. Although Eckhart never refers to this as The Law Of Attraction, the principles that he discusses provide a spiritual view on the process of creation. If you’ve ever felt disillusioned by the very materialistic view of The Law Of Attraction, then Eckhart’s description of how consciousness creates may be just the antidote that you need!

Ask Mags: The Spiritual Life Or The Simple Life?

I am very taken with teachings such as Eckhart Tolle’s and I want to live a life of presence – a spiritual life. But does this mean that I have to give up my possessions and live a simple and austere life? Is it possible to be both spiritually and materially wealthy?

The answer to both of these questions is Yes – yes, you do have to give up your possessions, and yes, it is possible to be both spiritually and materially wealthy. And before you ask, the answer to your next question is No – no, my previous answers are not completely contradictory! Let me explain….

The key to understanding this subject lies in getting clear on the intent behind the decision to create on the physical plane.

When the ego is in charge of our lives, it creates experiences and things for the purpose of definition and identity – in other words, the ego uses the things of the physical plane to define who you are and to give you an identity separate from others. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that this type of “creating” is not really creating at all. Instead, this process is more accurately termed “getting” or “collecting”, as the ego gathers to itself all those experiences and things that can tell a story about who you are. The ego likes to have an answer for the ubiquitous cocktail party question regarding what we do: I am a writer, I am successful, I am a wife/mother/daughter (insert appropriate role here).... It doesn’t matter to the ego whether the identity is positive or negative. I am a successful writer may be a more positive identity than I am a loser and victim of circumstance, but it is an identity nevertheless and the ego will therefore defend it and continue to promote it. Because the ego is so heavily invested in the identity that it has “created”, it suffers when it loses any of the things that go into supporting this identity and to which it is therefore attached.

In a state of presence, however, we are aligned with Source energy. This is the state of I am. This is the state of pure creation. Whereas the ego has to work hard to get everything that it wants, creating from a state of presence is effortless. It flows. The intent behind creation is to experience the physical manifestation of our highest path and purpose. We create because we can – I am, and therefore I choose to create the experience of being a successful writer. Unlike an ego-based life, in a state of presence there is no attachment to anything we create. If something is taken away from us, we do not suffer – after all, we can create the same thing (or even something different) again tomorrow.

To return, then, to your original question: Yes, you do have to give up your possessions, although this “giving up” is not necessarily a physical act of relinquishing all that you currently have in favour of an ascetic life. Rather, to live a life of presence means to give up your egoic attachment to those things that have previously defined you. The ego will rebel against this perceived diminishing of who you are. However, far from making you less than you are, awakening to a state of presence allows the fullness of your being to emerge. When we live in the state of I am, we know that we are already all that we want to be: we are already abundant, we are already joyful, we are already peaceful. This is our natural state and it is ours now. Access to these ways of being are never taken away from us, although we may sometimes not allow them into our lives. We can be both spiritually and materially wealthy. It is our choice.

Are You A Bonsai Tree?

I had an epiphany yesterday. I like having epiphanies. Except I prefer it when they don’t come with tears, like yesterday’s did. The tears themselves aren’t so bad – very cathartic, and cathartic is good (it’s even a fun word to say, much like epiphany!). But when the wailing and gnashing of teeth are all over and done with, what I’m left with is one very scary-looking blotchy-faced woman squinting at me from the mirror through puffy eyes and hazy contact lenses. It wasn’t pretty, I tell ya, but it was worth it.

My big epiphany was that, in a few areas of my life, I’m a bonsai tree. Figuratively, that is (although after my lenses had clouded over in protest at the amount of salt water they had to cope with, it was kind of hard to tell from my reflection whether I was animal, vegetable or mineral anymore).

I’m a bonsai tree because I’m keeping myself small when I really want to be a big mighty oak. The irony is that I am already one. The only difference between me and the giants of the forest is that of scale, not of type. I am already that which I want to be.

Why stay small? Why limit my natural propensity for growth? Here are a few reasons of my own:

Space issues
Everyone can find space in their lives somewhere for a bonsai. When you’re small, you fit in anywhere. You don’t dwarf anyone, and you don’t threaten anyone. But, it’s kind of different when you’re a mighty oak. Suddenly, you don’t fit in where you used to. You stand out. You may be a gentle giant, but you’re a giant nevertheless, and giants need space for both their branches and their roots to grow. Other people may not understand. They may think you’re being selfish. They may feel entitled to the space that you claim for yourself. You may feel guilty. You may decide that it’s just easier to stay small to keep the peace.

But… staying small to keep the peace hurts you and ultimately hurts others as well. The world needs mighty oak trees. You are serving the world and Spirit best when you are being the very essence of your oakness.

Care and attention
Bonsais receive a lot of attention to keep them small. Mighty oaks don’t get the same kind of dedicated attention. You know such attention stunts your growth, yet you are scared to want something different. You may have seen what happened to those who did. Those who suddenly became persona non grata, even with members of their own family. Those who couldn’t be controlled by guilt. Those who are now spoken of with a bitterness verging on hate.

But… genuine love isn’t conditional, especially not on you staying small just to make others feel comfortable about their own smallness. And maybe, when you venture out to find your space to grow into a mighty oak, rather than it being lonesome, you discover tree-huggers who love you for your size and strength.

Are you a bonsai tree? Are there any areas in your life where you are keeping yourself small?

GTA4 And Violence In The Media

Grand Theft Auto 4 (GTA4) has just been released, much to the delight of gamers. It is, without a doubt, a violent game, and as a result, it has also prompted the usual television panel discussions and newspaper editorials regarding whether or not violent games and movies lead to violent acts being committed in society.

Gamers vehemently deny any such link, most of them making the point that it is “just a game” and that it would never prompt them to go out into the world to perpetrate, copy-cat style, the violent acts that they see during gameplay. On the other hand, cases exist of people seemingly doing just that – for example, after spending hundreds of hours playing a previous release of Grand Theft Auto in 2003, 18 year old Devin Moore Thompson gunned down three men (two police officers and a 911 dispatcher) in the town of Fayette, Alabama. For every Devin, however, there are millions of other gamers who have never (and would never) follow through on what they do during a game. And so the argument continues, round and round in circles.

Because of cases like Devin’s, it is often assumed that any link between violence portrayed in a game or movie and violent acts committed in real life will be a direct one. In other words, people assume that the gamer or viewer themselves will be the perpetrator of any violence, acting out what they have practiced or seen in the virtual world. While I think it is perfectly possible that this is a plausible scenario, I also think that the situation is a bit more complex than this.

At an energy level, what we think about creates our reality – including changing our physical brains. For someone like Devin, with a troubled history, anger was already a predominant way of interacting with the world. Playing a violent video game would have further entrenched these thoughts in his mind. Given that the “wiring” of the prefrontal cortex (the brain’s impulse control centre which allows us to think ahead to the potential consequences of our actions) is not fully completed until one’s early 20s, Devin would have been continually reinforcing neural connections during his teens that supported angry and violent patterns of behaviour. In a situation perceived as threatening, Devin’s actions merely corresponded to what he had trained his brain to do.

So why don’t more gamers duplicate the violent acts that their avatars perpetrate during a game? At an energy level, I think there are various contributory factors. For example, gamers who, prior to even engaging with a game, are already aligned with a more positive energy frequency, will have differently wired brains. Playing a violent game will not be enough to significantly alter physical brain structure, or permanently change their predominant thought patterns away from the game. Another factor to consider in this regard is how easily gamers are able to detach from the energy of the game after ending their gaming session. The more someone ruminates on the violent scenarios contained in a game like Grand Theft Auto after playing it, the more their thought patterns and hence their physical reality will be affected. Both of these factors just mentioned assume that the gamer is engrossed in the game, and hence aligned with the energy of violence, while playing it. However, it is also possible that some gamers can remain detached from the game in an energy sense, even during game play – they will still enjoy the game for what it is, but their level of conscious awareness is sufficiently high that they can maintain an objectivity towards the violence, maintain present moment awareness rather than getting lost in the game, and consequently remain at a high positive energy level throughout, For such gamers, the game may not change their vibrational alignment at all.

I think the number of gamers falling into the latter category are, however, small, and that the vast majority fall into the other groups, in which their vibrational alignment shifts temporarily while playing the game. As a result, even though these gamers would not commit violent acts themselves, I do think their playing of violent games contributes to the level of violence in the world – at an energy level, the effect of millions of gamers changing their vibrational alignments, albeit temporarily, to ones of anger and violence, affects the collective consciousness, and consequently reality mirrors this negative energy level in the world. I think this indirect link is often ignored during discussions of the effect of games like GTA4 on the world, yet I think it is far more insidious.

I’m not suggesting that we start getting all controlling and rush about censoring all violent games (and movies). I would far rather see the small group of gamers who are able to remain detached from the energy of such games increase. There is evidence that humanity’s collective consciousness is changing – many more people than before are starting to consider spiritual issues (the number of people tuning in to Oprah’s webcasts with Eckhart Tolle is an example of this). As this continues to grow, it is possible that we will see an increase in conscious gamers. It is interesting to consider that, although this group may continue to play violent games for a while, as their and humanity’s consciousness increases, it is likely that the nature of gaming will change too as the content of such games changes to reflect the new reality of a higher level of consciousness.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject – please leave a comment and share!

Resisting What Is

Today marks the second day of strike action at the Grangemouth Refinery here in Scotland. The employees are protesting against changes to their pension schemes. The employees return to work tomorrow. As this particular refinery provides fuel to about 80% of the country, shutting it down during the strike will have an effect on the supply chain. However, there are sufficient fuel stocks in reserve to cover ten weeks of normal petrol consumption levels. In addition, more fuel stocks can be brought in if required.

Given the information above (which I’ve tried to keep as objective as possible) how do you, as a petrol consumer, react?

Do you:
* Get upset and verbalise this in your conversations with others by saying things like “This is ridiculous! I don’t understand how this can be allowed to happen! These employees shouldn’t be allowed to strike and cause a disruption to petrol supplies!”
* Rush to the nearest petrol station to fill up your car, convinced that supplies will run out despite assurances to the contrary. As you do this, you are experiencing feelings of outrage, anxiety and fear that if you don’t act quickly others will get in there before you, leaving you with no petrol for your car.
* Watch the news footage of queues at petrol stations and reports of some running out of stocks, and feel justified that you reacted as you did, telling everyone “I knew this would happen! Thank goodness I got in there quickly!”

Or do you:
* Accept the situation for what it is and go about your normal life, leaving your petrol consumption patterns unchanged.
* Remain calm and present, unaffected by others’ panicked reactions to an imagined future event (no more fuel anywhere).
* Know that you live in an abundant universe and that all your energy needs will always be fulfilled.

The outcome of the first set of reactions to the event is the creation of a reality that matches exactly what people feared – namely competition for fuel and shortages of supplies. The irony in this situation is that these reactions created a self-fulfilling prophecy: as people panicked and changed their normal consumption patterns, demand outstripped supply. Had people not reacted blindly to an imagined future and instead continued to buy fuel at their normal rate, scheduled fuel deliveries would have more than adequately met demand levels, even though the refinery was closed for a few days.

My husband and I made a choice to respond to the event, rather than react unconsciously. Our car was due to be filled up, but it was a task that could wait a couple of days. We went about our daily life, secure in the knowledge that there were sufficient fuel supplies for the country. Sure enough, by the time we had to fill up our tank, the initial rush to petrol stations had died down and we were able to fill up our car during the normal course of our day without any bother at all. While other people’s conversations were filled with talk of “the fuel crisis”, ours concentrated on other topics altogether. While other people experienced anxiety, fear and anger over the last few days, we experienced calmness and joy.

We experienced similar polarised reactions from others when we had a burglary recently. Although we didn’t condone what had happened, we did accept it. Once it had happened, we knew that we had a choice: either stay present, and follow through with what was now before us to do, or fight against what is and add negative emotions of anger and fear into the mix. Remaining present throughout the process opened up a space in which peace and joy could remain paramount, and as a result, I could feel a very clear energetic shift inside me and a stronger connection to Source.

Quite a few people with whom we interacted during the process displayed a similar response. They were supportive (emotionally and in practical ways) without dwelling on the negative aspects of the event. In our conversations with these people, the focus was on gratitude and the continued commitment to the creation of a friendly community in our block of flats. Overall, these interactions were uplifting. There were, however, others who had a very different reaction. These interactions took the form of moral outrage and a stream of invective against these criminals in particular and crime in general. Ironically, in their resistance to what had happened, these people seemed to suffer more as a result of our burglary than we did.

Suffering is not a given. More and more, I realise that reacting blindly to an event and fighting what is causes suffering, whereas acceptance and present-moment awareness frees up energetic space to create a live filled with love, joy and abundance.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic – are you able to accept what is happening as it is happening, or do you resist and wish things were unfolding differently? Do you notice that you suffer more as a result of your reaction to an event than as a result of the event itself?

[Edit: Andrea Hess’ latest blog entry deals with this very subject, specifically around spiritual practices – please read it if you haven’t already done so! In the meantime, since this topic is obviously coming up in my reality, I’m going to reflect on it some more and see what it is in turn reflecting for me!]

Do Things Get Worse Before They Get Better?

It was foul-smelling. It was foul-tasting. And it was a ritual in my family when people turned thirteen. A kind of rite of passage, I guess. What it was, was a tea made from dried Leonotus leonurus leaves, something that one of my great (great?) grandparents had picked up along the way from the indigenous people of South Africa, where we lived at the time. Whether or not the rumours that the plant could be smoked as a kind of cannabis substitute were true or not, we never knew nor tried :). Instead we drank it as a “blood purifier”, and parents made it specifically for their young ‘uns entering their teenage years as a way to stave off acne.

I remember my turn only too well. I can even still smell it if I take myself back to that time in my memory! Three glasses, one every twelve hours, downed really quickly after taking a deep breath, followed swiftly by a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down. Luckily, those three glasses comprised the entire treatment and it was unlikely to ever need repeating!

Luckily, too, it worked! At least, I remember myself and all my cousins sailing through our teenage years with nary a pimple in sight compared to our peers, so either our family was largely genetically blessed with “no-pimple” DNA, or the brew was effective in “purifying our blood” and removing any of the toxins that would cause acne. Writing this now, I’m not too sure of the scientific merit of “blood purification”, but that’s the story that was handed down in our family and it seemed to make a kind of logical sense at the time!

The only catch in this whole process was that the brew caused any toxins that you already had in you to be pushed out… so shortly after drinking the brew, some pimples would erupt, and once the smoke and debris had cleared they would slink away, never to be seen again. For that reason, this treatment was always doled out over a weekend, so that you could stay in if things got ugly!

Regardless of the type of physical detox regime followed, I’ve often heard people report similar experiences of initially feeling worse until their system has been cleared of all toxins, after which they feel lighter and have a level of physical health that is higher than where they were prior to the detox.

This process also seems to occur when we’re going through a “spiritual detox”. I’ve noticed that when I become aware of limiting beliefs, or start focusing my energy on making a significant positive change in my life (even if I’m intending to go from good to great), things often get worse before they get better. For example, if you’ve been reading my blog for a while (for the little while that it’s been up and running, that is!), you may remember me mentioning that honouring my boundaries has been an ongoing issue for me. I’m certainly way better at this than I used to be (can anyone say “doormat”?!), but it is an issue that still crops up every now and then. It’s been cropping up lately – I’ve had two colds related to the issue, and the latest evidence of the issue was a (minor) burglary – nothing got taken, but how’s that for a clear physical manifestation of violated boundaries?!

Now, in Law Of Attraction terms, focusing on something negative can cause it to manifest in one’s life. I know this, and so when I identify a limiting belief, I use it to clarify what the opposite positive belief is, and then direct my energy towards that. In my case with boundaries, for example, whenever I identify a belief like “People don’t respect my personal space”, I use it to figure out what I do want to create, in this case “People do respect my personal space”, or “My boundaries are respected”. I don’t even stop there – those are great, but they do still focus on other people, so I look at where I might be disrespecting my own boundaries, or where I’ve disrespected others’ boundaries. This leads to affirmations like “I honour and respect my boundaries” and “I honour and respect others’ boundaries”.

So, if I’m focusing on the positive side of things, and doing affirmations, why do I still experience the temporary negativity? What’s up with that?! Well, here are my thoughts on the matter:

When we live in a state of unconsciousness, we will more than likely still have limiting beliefs about a variety of subjects, but they all blend into a kind of low grade background hum and we don’t really notice the specific effects of them on our lives. That may initially sound like a good thing… but, usually life lived at this level of unawareness is not really a life lived at all. These are people who are not very happy with their lives in general, they experience a general sense of dissatisfaction, but can’t really seem to change anything in their lives for the better.

However, when we decide to live consciously, we bring those beliefs right into the open. As we progress, different beliefs will come under scrutiny at different times, and bringing them to the forefront of our attention can temporarily manifest these into our experience. This can be seen as an opportunity – we can clearly see what we are dealing with, and make a choice regarding what we are ready to let go of and what we want to create in our lives. Like a physical detox, a spiritual one can move us to the next level of health. It may be temporarily unpleasant, but the next level of health brings with it a significant increase in feelings of lightness and vitality.

Have you ever experienced the phenomenon of things getting worse before they get better? Please leave a comment and share your thoughts and experiences!

Ask Mags: Vibrational Alignment And Unexpected Negative Manifestations

I have become quite good at using the Law Of Attraction to manifest things and experiences. But every now and then, something unexpected and negative crops up. The latest was an unexpected bill. I didn’t intend for this, so why did it manifest into my experience?! I get quite upset when this happens – what am I doing wrong?

The physical manifestations in our lives reflect the balance of positive and negative vibrations that we put out. Even those of us who are more practised at maintaining a state of conscious presence, thinking positively, and focusing our thoughts and feelings on specific intentions don’t always manage to keep this up 100% of the time.

Since we have a mixture of vibrations, we get a mixture of experiences back. I tend to think of it as a kind of interference pattern :). For example, say the balance of your vibrations is 95% positive and 5% negative… your life will reflect this in that things will go incredibly well for 95% of the time, yet every now and then something negative will crop up. I refer to the ones that happen in my life as “glitches in the Matrix” :). They’re not hugely negative experiences in the grand scheme of things (on the level of administrative-type things, like my bank messing up an application and me having to redo it). Obviously, I’d prefer for the glitches not to happen, but I’d rather redo a bank application than have my house fall into a sink-hole!

The glitches that you experience may not be anything that you have specifically intended. Things and experiences manifest into our lives that match the general level and tone of our vibrations – becoming more present, for example, with its attendant vibrational energy of joy and peace, will attract joyful and peaceful experiences into your life. You can further focus your energy on specific intentions, but it is important to realise that this is not necessary in order for experiences to start coming into your life. The same principle applies to more negatively toned vibrations – sending out a general anxiety-type vibration will tend to attract physical manifestations of that. We may therefore not intend specifically for an unexpected bill, but it arrives nonetheless because we are a vibrational match for it.

I understand your experience of getting upset with the unexpected manifestations! I experienced this as well a while back. I was quite frustrated, almost angry, with the glitches – my thoughts went along the lines of, I’m positive and good with the Law Of Attraction and energy stuff… how can this be happening to me?! When your life is largely positive, even a small negative thing can seem major because it is so different from the rest of your experience. But as I started to understand more about how we attract what we’re a vibrational match for, and the balance of positive and negative energy, I realised that instead of beating myself up every time a glitch happened, I should actually be congratulating myself… having glitches rather than major catastrophes is evidence that I am pretty good at manifesting positive things and experiences into my life!

For now, then, while I’m still learning about the Law Of Attraction, I’ve decided to relax about my glitches. Instead of focusing on them and how terrible they are compared to the rest of my life, I accept them when they happen, and use them as an opportunity to learn even more about the Law Of Attraction. Then I take my focus off them and look instead at the things that are going well, sending out deep gratitude for the wonderful parts of my life.

Can You Change The Past?

If we can change the future by the choices that we make today, is it possible to change the past? Can we unsay some of the hurtful or thoughtless things we said? Can we take the paths we should have taken, but didn’t?

The idea of changing the past is known as retrocausality, and it isn’t as far-fetched as it may sound. In fact, within the field of quantum physics, retrocausality is perfectly possible, although it has yet to be demonstrated.

For retrocausality to work, the past, present and future all have to exist simultaneously. In Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, they do. Many metaphysical and spiritual writers have also commented on the fact that our perception of time is an illusion, and that it is more accurate to describe the universe as functioning by means of state or intent rather than linear clock time.

The idea of retrocausality brings some troubling paradoxes to light, the kind that movies like The Butterfly Effect have portrayed so vividly. Is it really possible to change the past to such a degree that our present changes completely? Would we even want to? Sure, I have things that I might wish had happened differently in my past, but I am who I am today and have the life that I have because of everything (good and bad) that’s happened to me so far, and I quite like my life :). Who will I become if I go back and tweak things?! Even more scarily, what if I somehow changed things in a way that resulted in my parents never meeting, and I never “became” at all? It’s enough to blow your mind!

Perhaps this is a far too literal view of the subject. Scientists and philosophers alike have debated whether there are any limits to retrocausality, with some arguing that, while actual physical changes to events may be impossible, it is possible and sometimes beneficial to change one’s present perceptions of a past event. This may sound like a more wishy-washy view of changing the past, but it can be immensely powerful and liberating, especially when we consider this argument in the light of teachings by people like Eckhart Tolle. He reminds us that the only moment that exists is “now”. The past and the future are always only in our heads. When we remember the past, we remember it now. When we think about the future, we think about it now. And when we get to the future, it is just another “now”.

In addition, let me throw another thought into the mix… if you sit ten people down who have all supposedly experienced the exact same event and ask them to tell you about what happened, you’ll pretty much get ten different stories! Each person’s memory of the event is dependent on their perceptions of the event. Given this, can we even say that an objective past exists? All that actually exists is people’s perceptions of the past. Change those, and you seemingly can change the past as well as make a tangible difference in the present.

Eckhart Tolle: The Power Of Now

On one of the online forums to which I belong, whenever anyone asks for book recommendations to help them with personal development, spiritual growth, becoming more intuitive, meditation, relationships or the Law of Attraction, the first book recommended and endorsed over and over again, is Eckhart Tolle’s The Power Of Now. This book has clearly had a profound and powerful effect on many people’s lives, including my own.

Like Tolle himself, this is a quiet book. And it is in this quietness, in the spaces between the words, that the book’s power becomes apparent. The book gently and lovingly, yet firmly, deconstructs our egoic minds and allows us to experience the pure spiritual presence that lies behind the identities created by our egos. Letting go of the incessant chatter of our analytical minds, and living in The Now, is far from being an empty and boring place to be (as many people starting out on this journey imagine). Instead it is a rich and fulfilling experience, full of intense joy and peace. It can be quite overwhelming the first few times you experience this – I dipped in and out when I started, each time increasing the length of time for which I was able to sustain such presence.

The concepts Tolle discusses are both profound, yet simple, but it can be a challenging process to implement. Our egoic minds are strong and they do not give up their hold on us easily! But, the more you practice the principles, the easier it does get. It is worth persevering – the rewards for doing so are enormous. For example:

• Going about daily life with a strong background hum of joy and peace is infinitely preferable to one of anxiety and stress. And this is noticeable to others as well – people (even those who are not into woo-woo things themselves) have often said things to me like “I enjoy being around you, you have good vibes”.
• You are able to focus on tasks before you with much more clarity. The full strength of your mind is brought to bear on your work (and play!) as it is no longer cluttered with unrelated issues.
• You feel alive and your health usually improves. You glow with vitality. Tolle himself is one of the best examples of practicing his own teachings – he looks about 40 years old, but is actually in his early 60s!
• Your life circumstances change to reflect the abundance of love, joy and peace to which you are connected. Life flows more smoothly, problems seemingly disappear, and new and exciting experiences and things are drawn to you.

Eckhart Tolle is currently working with Oprah Winfrey on a series of teleclasses based on his second book, A New Earth, which expands on the concepts in The Power Of Now. While I found it most helpful to me to read the books in the order in which Tolle wrote them, you can start with the books in any order, and some people have found A New Earth more easy to digest. If you’d like to follow the New Earth webcasts live, you will need to register on Oprah’s website. Be warned though that they have experienced some bandwidth issues because of such high demand, resulting in some viewers not being able to log in. You don’t need to log in, however, to download the classes after they have taken place (you can download the video, audio, or a pdf transcript of the show, depending on your preference and internet connection).