Your donations are our thanks .
We appreciate you!

Horizons Magazine

More about Andrea

AUGUST 2002
Restoring power; midlife crisis; personality integration; giving up your good

Hello and welcome to the August 2002 issue of Horizons Magazine. As usual
as I write my August editorial each year, there's a big summer storm going on
outside: a heavy downpour of rain, dark skies and thunder rattling the rooftop.
It sounds like lightning is striking right outside in my woods, but I've not seen
any casualties yet. This is about the time a nice lightning bolt hits the transformer
3 blocks away on the corner, knocking me outa electricity for a few hours, but I'm
always prepared and actually welcome the down time when it comes.

I have 5 kitties and I always know when a storm is brewing because they begin making their way, one by one, into my office. Usually during the day they're crashed out all around the sitting room, and it looks like a feline Jonestown, after the Koolaid. When they start coming into the office and everyone wanting in my lap or on the keyboard, I know something is up.

The storms at this time of year are comforting to me, perhaps because I feel so safe and cozy in my own surroundings. My home and office are peaceful, serene environments and friends often remark they feel like they're on retreat when they're here. I keep low, colorful lighting on and soft music in the background. I have books and tapes and cards galore. During the summer I keep the a/c about 76. When the afternoon storms come, I often shut down the equipment until it passes, and use the time to relax, get centered, and catch up on any sittin' and thinkin' there is to do.

I used to get aggravated when the storms would come up and the electricity would falter or go out. I'd think Why doesn't the power company get their act together? I'd be grumpy that my routine was interrupted. I'd stew over how long it took them to get the power restored. Then I began thinking about restoring power and realized I was giving away my power (and my peace of mind) every time I continued that line of thought. As I began meditating on what the storms represented, I felt my own personal power restored. I also gained insight and understanding into various personal storms I'd successfully weathered. Knowledge is indeed power!

I realized there are always gonna be storms and if I'm prepared for them when they come, I can have fun and use them to my advantage. Nature is gonna do what Nature is gonna do, and I can either complain about it, or go with the flow. So the next time you have a big storm come up, take the time to relax and sit it out in the dark silence, and recognize that just as mighty as the thunder and rain appears to be, just so Mighty is that Higher Power that's always on our side, closer than hands and feet, our constant companion in times of (apparent) turmoil, to comfort and reassure us.

We've got another awesome issue for you this month. Abraham-Hicks teaches us to look for the positive aspects of everything around us, and reminds us not to allow anything that anyone else is doing to keep us from standing in a place of peace. Rev. Judith Vidal addresses those that can only see the problems in their daily activities, and says, "You will not be in prosperity consciousness until you learn to see the good things." She reminds us that as we give, so shall we receive. If we give out of obligation without joy, that ultimately benefits no one. She reminds us to start small, if we must, but start - with firm commitment and open heart - and the joy we receive and the flow we begin to recognize, will take away all doubt.

I am a big proponent of tithing and know from personal experience that it "works." When I am in need of increased finances, I know that spending my funds down in charitable fashion will soon result in more dollars flowing into my account. But thinking of it in that way alone turns it into a numbers game? Shouldn't the impetus for tithing be extreme gratitude and thanksgiving, rather than handicapping in advance like you're going to the racetrack? In any case, yes, give no matter what, but also stop to remember and appreciate what touched your heart and inspired you to give in the first place.

John Demartini mentions collapsing wave functions, which is a recurring theme in physics, and he was inspired through meditation on that concept to create what he calls The Breakthrough Experience. Yes, I know lotsa people are out there writing books about all their "new" techniques and trademarking names left and right, which are for the most part merely minor variations on traditional techniques with new or faddish "twists" which make them commercially marketable. *Oops, did I say that??* But some hit the mark and find the right combination and make it "click" for their readers. Demartini is a dynamic speaker with the ability to make intricate concepts understandable to his audience. In an excerpt from his book, he writes, "Every time you splinter yourself into positive and negative emotions, you scatter your light, dissipate your energy potential, and disempower your true and centered being. In this way, you separate yourself into past and future, and you are no longer present."

Starr Fuentes writes "You never know when it is going to happen. In the middle of a meal, in a conversation, or just watching other people, something happens or is said that makes you squirm. As you squirm you lose your center, your train of thought, and become connected to emotions from the past. You lose your power of choice and your body re-acts in a way in which the inner "you" seems to have no control? When you allow outside influences to set your inner state of mind, you give away your power." She gives us a few ways to come back into our power, such as reminding ourselves, "it's only an event" and to let go of judgment; and to disconnect ourselves from what others think.

Paul Ferrini reminds us that "You are responsible for what you believe, even if you choose to believe what others tell you." Alan Cohen tells us to be conscious of what you are asking for. He says, "All thoughts are prayers and all prayers are answered. You pray more with your thoughts and intentions than with your words." This relates to what Abraham-Hicks tells us about saying one thing yet vibrating another. We've all experienced situations in which someone said one thing, yet we knew something else was the truth of the matter, despite their words. Or like when teenagers come home and you ask what they've been doing, and they say, "Nuthin'." You intuitively, energetically know that is not the case *hehe* If we're showing one face to the world, yet living a lie behind it, we can't be surprised when we reap the consequences of the mask we wear. We always know exactly what we've been thinking or "vibrating" by what is showing up in our environment. By what is showing up in our workplace. By what is showing up at home. By what is showing up in our relationships. By what is showing up on the xrays.

Yikes, sound scary? The good news is that we're the ones in charge of what we call into our future experience and all it takes is a little change of thought, a change of emotional scenery, a change in what we think and how we feel about what we think. When we do that often enough that it happens spontaneously when we feel ourselves going down an old, outdated line of thought, then we're well on the way to having a big change in personal circumstance.

Lloyd Thomas talks about mid-life crisis and how to confront it as a rite of passage, without all the erroneous myths attached to it. It happens between our late 30's and early 50's. He writes, "The reality of mid-life passage is that the overwhelming majority of people accomplish the tasks of mid-life transition through a long and gentle process-not an acute, painful crisis." Carl Jung characterized this period as a "time to integrate the conscious with the unconscious life, the life of action with the life of dreams and desires."

As a counselor and a kinda visible personality, I am in contact with lots and lots of people, and the more people I come across, the easier it is for me to see overall patterns in human behavior. I notice that often people in that age group begin expressing themselves in unorthodox fashion, and my background in esoteric psychology tells me they're undergoing personality integration. As a student of astrology, I notice this time/age frame coincides with the Uranus opposition, a time when the planet Uranus is directly across from where it was when we were born. It's a time that we're looking across ourselves, at ourselves, and getting a new perspective. Just as you stand in a circle with friends, and look across at someone else, during the Uranus opposition you're standing across from yourself, seeing yourself with fresh eyes, as never before.

The planet Uranus has to do with original ideas and concepts, and is a catalyst for change. Uranus rules the sign Aquarius and when we have their aspects, we tend to get flooded with new ideas that come in so fast we don't have time to process them. Sound familiar? No wonder they call it mid-life crisis; it can feel like a crisis. It's during that age/time also that some people think they're having a nervous breakdown. They may not know what it's called, but they know something is happening to them, and they don't always like it.

The process of personality integration can take weeks or decades. It's more of a state of consciousness, than it is a timeframe. It has more to do with how much someone understands about the process, and how willing they are to dive right into their psyche (and beyond) to see who they are, at their essence. Not who they are as a personality, but who they are at the core of their being. Who they are when there is no one else around. Who they are when they are no longer a wife or a sister or a daughter or a mother or a boss or an employee or a customer. Who they are, not in relation to someone else, but relative only to themselves. And to go on to find out who they wanna be and how they feel about who they are now relative to the one they wanna be. Hmmm, sounds like a process for self actualization, right? It is.

Rev. Beth Head asks us to give up our good. she writes, "God only asks us to give up our good in exchange for something better. And once we realize this truth - that we only give up our good for something better - it gets easier and easier to give up our good." She goes on to say, "Because we are spiritual beings, the power of God within us is always greater than any circumstance. As we recognize that power and as we turn to God, we are always loved, we are always comforted and we are always healed." So how does this realization show up in our lives? Beth says, "It shows up as we let go of our smallness, our selfishness, our insistence on looking good, being right and controlling everything."

Susan Ann Darley writes that, "When you let go of "my way" attitudes, life becomes an adventure. Impatience makes it hard when it can be easy. Patience, willingness and faith help to nurture dreams to reality." She tells a story, "One day while anxiously tapping my foot in a market line, eyeing the line next to me, wondering if it would move faster, I began to think, What if by staying in the line I was in, I was purposely being slowed down in order to run into an important person who would play an integral part in my life and dreams? The thought brought me peace."

I know what she means. I've experienced being in the right place at the right time, and recall the wondrous feeling that such synchronicity brought with it, the feeling of pure positive energy flowing through me, leading me in the most extraordinary directions. If I can stay outa my own way on a regular basis, and get into the flow of the Universe, I know I will be led to greater joy on a regular basis. It's my choice *hehe*

Gillian MacBeth-Louthan counsels, "As you begin to flow with the circumstances of life, those involved with your life will begin to look at you differently. To dwell in the place of allowing, is to place yourself fearlessly in the fluidity of the future." She also reminds us that we cannot become who we need to be by remaining who we are. We should reinvent ourselves everyday *I like that idea*

Well, clearly the theme this month has turned out to be going with the flow, looking for positive aspects in all situations, giving freely with an open heart, and creating consciously through thought and intention. That sounds like a recipe for spiritual solutions to me. And that's what Horizons Magazine endeavors to bring you each month; spiritual solutions to everyday problems. Enjoy our offering this month. Hari Om.