Category Archives: Spirituality

When Attacked By Racing Thoughts, The Energy Of Frog Reminds Us That Sometimes, We Just Need to “Stop It!”

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Back in my Preschool social work practice days, I remember sometimes singing with the students during circle time.

One way I started to get out of my comfort zone, and work with stage fright aka performance anxiety at that time of my life was to play my guitar and sing to them. Like when I first sang aloud with the animals, the littles made me feel more welcomed and relaxed.

Given that we were a special purposed program to help students overcome their developmental delays, I came up with a replacement chorus to the classic old tune, Oh My Darlin’ Clementine.

The message was a simple way to use humor to normalize experiences with anxiety, and went as follows:

“Anxiety, anxiety, anxiety is the root…whether rationalizing or in denial of…Anxiety…The point is moot.”

Over the years, that little jingle has served as a positive self talk mantra, as well as the clip below.

Keep in mind that therapists are human too. And the good ones have a sense of humor, and don’t take themselves too seriously. You can say the same about folks on the spiritual path or any of us for that matter:

Furthermore along the trails this spring, amphibians like salamanders, wood frogs and peepers make the trek toward vernal pools for their breeding season on what’s called Big Night.

Their great migration and safe passage requires overcoming dangerous obstacles like human trafficking patterns, such as driving cars on roads, etc.

Of course humans do many disgusting things, and have shady tendencies that reflect in the 3D realm.

But we can move beyond the victim and perpetrator behavioral trap by being mindful of our shadow work.

We can do this by working with our karmic issues by letting go of, and releasing our old soul wounds.

And then in that process, we are becoming more deeply in touch with our better angels.

Have you felt tempted by fate recently?

Are you noticing any old energetic patterns of yourself rising back to the surface?

Loving Kindness is one way to embody this transformation when sitting in meditation; as well as in our everyday footsteps.

Besides, Life is springing up everywhere as singing peepers and wood frogs signal to us that spring is arriving with glee, rhythm and blues:

A New Moon in Pisces today reflects deeper sensitivity and perceptiveness in the social environment, as does engaging in creative or spiritual forms of imaginative Pisces energy.

Moreover, the Vernal Equinox or the first official day of spring will take place on Friday, March 20th. This date also marks the beginning of Aries season, as well as baseball season aka America’s Pastime at the tail end of March.

Mercury also goes back direct on the first day of spring. No worries, mate… things tend to clear up about 10 days or so when the fog lifts.

In many ways, it’s like a new year because Aries is the first sign of the Western Zodiac.

This writer doesn’t think its a coincidence that the fire element is the ‘I Am’ consciousness of Aries the Ram’s primary driver.

Like any of our gifts, we have to temper them, and not throw caution to the wind, so to speak.

A Full Pink Moon will happen on April 1st…aka April Fools Day.

Synchronistically, The Fool card in the Tarot deck is symbolic of new beginnings, limitless potential, and the courage to step into the unknown.

Indeed, it takes a leap of faith to step into the mythical quest…one step, one foot, one breath at a time.

Spring energies reflect another positive self talk mantra; as in, out with the old, in with the new.

Tis the season for setting new intensions, seeing things from new perspectives, and planting new seeds to spring forth.

Moving our bodies is a good way to cleanse and release every cell.

Remembering to take a deep breath to support new life, and then breathe out all the dead air of old ways is good Sacred Medicine; as is holding the highest vision of yourself.

Light and dark energies are in alignment again on the Spring Equinox.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the sunlight will rise till its climax with peak light on the Summer Solstice on June 21st.

At the same time, the darkness will rise till it reaches its zenith on the Winter Solstice in the Southern Hemishere.

The Winter Solstice is a powerful time for letting go, while the Summer Solstice is a powerful time for manifestation.

Gratitude is always a powerful attitude to walk with in our footsteps, as is an openness to the present moment as it is.

May all Beings be free from suffering, and experience an awakening to Inner Peace, Diversity within Unity, and Cosmic Consciousness.

Ari

Are You Dogon Sirius?

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Since the birth of this blog back in 2011, we have explored expanding consciousness together.

I remember when I was in social work school and living in Miami, and the need to learn how to meditate was calling out to me loud and clear. Like most of us, I white knuckled it for most of my life beforehand. Yeah, I had learned some effective coping strategies, but nothing like the consistent mindfulness practice that helps me stay in the flow, zone or alignment today.

Back in my Miami days, I had developed a nice connection with a teacher at my second internship who knew that I had started meditating. And he was excited to tell me about a hypnotherapy session that he had gone to with a licensed therapist who specialized in clinical hypnosis in his practice. After hearing about it, I wanted in, as did some of my social work peers.

Subsequently, the hypnotherapy session was the first time where I had a direct perceptible experience where I clearly glimpsed my soul’s essence. As in the formless part of my consciousness that was the deepest part of my identity that I had ever experienced till then. What was also clear was that I recognized that the formless part of me was also part of a collective consciousness that we are all part of.

And then many years later, I had a similar experience in a tai chi workshop; when I closed my eyes and saw both my formless self, as well as the formless selves of the other students in the workshop. Colorful prisms of the rainbow were also part of the experience.

Like the hypnotherapy session, I got feedback that I had “gone very deep”. The best part of the experience was that it wasn’t coveted or scripted because I did not have a sense of expectation, was in a really open place on the inside, nor had any idea that I could experience such a thing. Both experiences were spiritual awakenings, and a portal into deeper and higher form of consciousness.

At the end of the day, we have a choice to be a teacher of suffering or a teacher of presence. For those of you who have tried on both hats and know the difference, you already know the latter is the preferred way to go. If you find yourself arguing with that, then hopefully you’ll awaken to the truth that you are reinforcing the point.

But then again, suffering is always a catalyst to opening portals into consciousness, and being present with what is. From that perspective, the curse becomes the blessing or the blessing itself is the curse.

Or like George Lucas said about the Star Wars story, “the Empire is the Republic and the Republic is the Empire”.

During Mercury in Retrograde, and this Pisces season, we truly are fish in water swimming in a larger sea of consciousness, including soul travel.

Just as my old spiritual counselor would say about Pisces, “it is the best of signs and the worst of signs.”

What he meant by that is like all energy, we can work with it in the positive or negative. At its best, Pisces best trait is empathy. At it’s worst, their energies can be like sacrificial lambs.

A fish going with the flow and swimming downstream is a very different experience than fighting the current and swimming upstream. I’ve done both, and prefer to swim with the current rather than against it.

Or like Colin Hay (from Men At Work) sings, “My, my, my, it’s a beautiful world . . . I like to swim out beyond the white breakers, where a man can still be free (or a woman if you are one)”.

Through the echoing channels of Spirit, I can hear my old Teacher saying that we all have the signs of the zodiac within our being, in much the same way as we have the entire Universe within us.

Pisces energies are unique, in the sense that they are the tail end of the zodiac- so just as all rivers and lakes eventually empty into the oceans, all signs eventually flow into Pisces.

Just as an example, science has revealed that we all have stardust encoded in our human DNA.

Interestingly, Starseeds are said to descend from various star systems that incarnate as humans or are perhaps visited by ETs or trans-dimensional beings in the form of downloads in consciousness.

Stories about dolphins and whales are said to originate from watery Sirius:

To Wit: Have you heard the one about the treatment facility for dolphins with major mental health issues?

It’s called the School For Intensive Porpoises.

When contemplating human spiritual DNA, lineage or ancestry, consider the African Dogon Tribe’s connection to ancient Egypt, and Sirius in the Dog Star constellation.

What a long, strange, trip it’s been:

Regardless of where we come from, were we are going or what lifetimes we have lived; when you get down to it, it’s the now, the eternal moment or presence that really matters. It Is What It Is . . . Everything else is really just chatter. And while you’re at it, “keep hope alive”.

May all Beings be free of suffering awaken to the dimension of Inner Peace, and Cosmic Consciousness.

Ari

Embodying Paradox, Change & Humor In The Everyday Moments Of Life

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“Instead of fighting the darkness, you bring in the light.”

–Eckhart Tolle

“In the end, bless the darkness, hold the light, because the two aren’t divisible.”

–S. Kelley Harrell

Now more than ever, our resiliency needs to show up in our everyday humanity.

We all have the capacity for resiliency.

Resiliency doesn’t come from having a charmed life, not having to deal with stress, nor facing obstacles that get in our way or living in a bubble.

Rather, it’s something that we cultivate, like building energy for better strength and conditioning.

In much the same way as the Taoist idea of Investing In Loss, imagine the darkness you face is like a ghost that you are playing with rather than fighting.

Just as an example, you might lose a game 99 times out of a hundred.

But if you lose 99 times and you are paying mindful attention about your partners moves, you can learn their tricks, and spring the trap to win the 100th game. Your mindset of losing shifted, like the saying, “if you had fun, then you won.”

That’s Investing In Loss in a nutshell.

Because you remained open, let go of perfectionism, and learned that it’s the process that matters along the way.

As you are shadow boxing in front of a mirror, imagine yourself awakening to shades of your hidden self.

Perhaps blind spots will be revealed when you allow the light to come in, and shine brightly on your soul.

Just as an example, do you remember learning how to ride a bike or how to swim?

Some of us never did learn how to do either for different reasons.

But most of us who did learn how to ride, and swim know that novel learning curves didn’t come without falling off our bikes or getting water up our nose.

Somehow, most of us made it through learning a sometimes painful new skill without losing a limb from the bike accident or drowning in the water.

And most of us got back on the bike, and back in the water without developing PTSD from falling or sinking.

So how do we allow ourselves to be mindful of the present moment in everyday life?

I remember an old High School teacher who recommended a book called The Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman, during my Senior year. I didn’t read the entire book till after I graduated from college. But I remained intrigued, and never stopped looking forward to reading it

In fact, the Peaceful Warrior message resonated so much that I read some more of Dan’s books after that, and then watched the film adaptation many years later, after it came out in 2006.

Check out the short video below that reinforces his mindful approach to life’s everyday moments:

May all beings be free from suffering, awaken to Inner Peace, and open up to the realm of Cosmic Consciousness,

Ari

“What’s In It For Me? A New World If You Can Take It.”

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“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.”

–Albert Einstein

Mercury in Retrograde (currently February 26th-March 20th) is often viewed as perceptually akin to the classic old TV series The Twilight Zone.

Growing up, I heard some of my family members talk about how they loved that show, and how they watched it faithfully at that time. By the time of was a teenager in the 80s, the old show was resurrected and reimagined into a new version with the same name. I enjoyed watching both versions.

Check out the brief opening sequence to the show below that illustrates the point:

Looking back on humanity’s origins, our Indigenous ancestors have passed down stories about the Sky People, their relationship with Mother Earth, and their influences on our evolution as a species.

Just as an example, check out the brief Hopi Origin Story clip below for contextual understanding:

And then some years later, just after I finished graduate school and began my career as a professional social worker, I read a couple of non-fiction books entitled, The Day After Roswell, by the late Colonel Phillip J. Corso, and Passport To The Cosmos, by the late Harvard Psychiatrist, John E. Mack. Both American men were Veterans, and highly respected within their professional fields, long before they started speaking out about UFO and ET phenomena.

Check out the interviews with them below to see for yourself what they had to say about their experiences. Consider how their stories provides further contextual understanding to our current developing narrative on this important topic:

Furthermore, respected scientists like, Amit Goswami, “argue that consciousness is the ‘foundation of existence’ that causes the wave function to collapse into a single experienced reality.”

From this perspective, the convergence of science and spirituality are coming in waves, if you’ll pardon the pun.

During its lifetime, this blog has explored consciousness and the reality of its mystery.

Stories about where we come from, our purpose here, and where we are going are not fixed states.

Rather, like seasons, our experiences are fluid and changing.

In much the same way as Spring and Fall are arriving (depending on where you are on the Planet), humanity is collectively in a transition between paradigms.

In this writer’s neck of the woods, birds are singing and you can see evidence of Spring happening. Days are getting lighter, crocuses are starting to breach, and warmer temperatures are starting to show up in the forecast. But Winter is still hanging around, and is quite adept at reminding humans about it; to the chagrin of the moods of many.

From a expanding soul consciousness perspective, the way the aforementioned material is playing out in the 3D realm is shifting.

As such, a growing body of us are seeing the world change before our eyes.

The trick is to not get seduced into any Doomsday scenarios or fear-based war mongering mentality.

Remember there is nothing more devilish than fixed mind, rigid thinking, or a hardened heart.

We may not always be able to control what happens to us.

But we do have the power to choose our attitudes.

Keep in kind mindfulness that a playful, light-hearted and healthy sense of detachment can go a long way to keep your wits about you…especially as we moved forward during the tumultuous times we are living in right now.

May all Beings be free from suffering, and know Inner Peace as an awakening State of Consciousness,

Ari

Scuba Diving Into An Expanding Sea Of Consciousness

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As we dive into deeper waters, things can get murky. Many of you are familiar with the Dark Night of the Soul experiences.

Yet paradoxically, here we are in the throes of an enlightening Spring Eclipse season.

It’s Pisces time of year, the last sign of the Western Zodiac.

Also, Mercury in Retrograde happens today, February 26th and will remain there till March 20th, the first day of Spring in the Northern Hemishphere.

In the meantime, a Full Worm Moon Lunar Eclipse on March 3rd will further amplify meditative, and expansive soul traveling opportunities.

Remember that Full Moons during Eclipses are like regular Full Moons on steroids.

Of course the spiritual path and the energies we encounter on it are not all unicorns, sunshine and rainbows, so to speak.

Dark forces are coming out of hiding big time, rising to the surface, and asking for further examination.

But if Eclipses can be looked upon as light sources that shine on shadowy caverns, they do give us the eyes to see what has not yet appeared to have risen to our awareness.

Deeper spiritual wisdom emphasizes experiential learning through metaphorical scuba diving into the depths of our subconsciousness to bring back Sacred Medicines that can support us in living more consciously.

When we do this, it’s hard not to become inspired to use these Energy Medicines during our day to day interactions with ourselves and each other. For some, it’s the other way around.

When we honor that the most important person that we should pay mindful attention to is ourselves, we are always led back to a personal place of power.

In this spaciousness, we can discover meaningful and lasting changes that come from the inside out.

Vibrations are happening at different levels.

Do they exist whether humans see them or not?

Waves are vibrations of light that make up everything. These waves move at different speeds. Like seasons, these speeds can change.

If only we can harmonize with, surf and ride these energetic waves of light during our everyday interactions with one another.

Do you remember the old story of the tortoise and the hare? Check out the short read aloud version at the clip below to jog your memory, if you’ll pardon the pun:

Looking back on this classic story, the message reawakens the convergence between science and spirituality. Everything is made up of energy.

Sometimes we vibrate slow and sometimes we vibrate quick.

Energy is energy. It’s what we do with it that counts.

Be careful of getting seduced into a sense of urgency to run the hurry up offense on the spiritual path.

Our greatest power is being present in the here and now.

In this eternal moment, may we allow presence to unfold as it is with radical acceptance, a felt sense of empathic compassion, and radiate a heartfelt loving kindness from within, and then outward expansion toward others in our collective orbit.

We are all interconnected with each other, and we all have a role to play in co-creating A New Earth together.

May all Beings be free of suffering and experience Inner Peace,

Ari

Riding A Whale Of A Tide, Surfing Waves Of Climate Change & Emptying Into A Watery Pisces Sea Of Consciousness

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Galloping into the year of the Fire Horse on February 17th, seasonal transitional energies are blowing in the wind, and kicking up dust along the frontiers ahead. Pisces season starts a couple of days after that till the forthcoming Equinox in later March.

Keep in mind that the Eclipse Season further fuels the flames of transformation with a Solar Eclipse on the Chinese New Year, and then a Full Moon Lunar Eclipse on March 3rd. Many of you are already feeling the energies of the Spring Eclipses now.

Mercury will be in Retrograde on February 26th-March 20th. This mysterious Twilight Zone reality aligns with free-spirited, soul traveling and meditative Pisces. Nothing to get superstitious about, just allow yourself to go with the flow, and embrace the unknown waters waiting to spring forth new perceptual experiences, if you’ll pardon the pun.

A Full Worm Moon on March 3 reminds us that Spring is arriving, and the early bird gets the worm. Everything is ephemeral because the Law of Transience reflects that seasonal changes are in the air, and we are reminded that the only constant is change.

Speaking of Spring, the Vernal Equinox on March 20th reflects the seasonal transition between the end of Pisces and the beginning of Aries. It’s out with the old, and in with the new. New life is bursting at the seams with new growth and energies. The reason that Easter, which will happen on April 5th this year, is often associated with eggs is because eggs are symbolic of fertility, new growth and rebirth.

Does anyone out there remember that 70s TV Show called Mork & Mindy, about an ET who comes to Earth in an Egg Shaped Spaceship? Isn’t there a non-coincidental felt sense of resurrection in that?

Reflecting on technology that is out of this world, what’s up with the mysterious comet 3I/ATLAS?

Of course, there are mixed reviews but check out the scientific quote below:

“Scientists say that 3I/ATLAS has likely been traveling through interstellar space for a long time . . . University of Oxford astronomer Matthew Hopkins is part of a team of scientists that think 3I/ATLAS, discovered on July 1, 2025 by the ATLAS Survey Telescope, is around 7 billion years old . . . All non-interstellar comets, such as Halley’s Comet formed at the same time as our solar system, so they are up to 4.5 billion years old,” Hopkins said in a statement. “But interstellar visitors have the potential to be far older, and of those known about so far, our statistical method suggests that 3I/ATLAS is very likely to be the oldest comet we have ever seen.”

Remember that comets are historically seen as harbingers of change, in much the same way as Eclipse seasons are known as shakeups in consciousness. Think of them working collaboratively together as catalysts for transformation.

Dreamy Pisces awakens oceanic visions of water and its multidimensional beings, like whales, that live in its element. I remember when I had two specifically similar perceptible transformative shifts in consciousness during experiences with Whale consciousness.

The first encounter in consciousness happened while submerged in a pitch black sensory depravation floating tank filled with saltwater. And then the second experience transpired a few years later during a holotropic breathwork workshop in 2016.

Holotropic breath work was invented by the Grofs, two therapists who developed a natural way to access altered states through breathwork. Evocative music played during the breathing session, followed by non-verbal mandala artwork afterword as a way to silently integrate the experience. To learn more about holotropic breathwork, check out the link below:

GROF® BREATHWORK.

During the encounters with Whale, I had authentic shapeshifting experiences, where I literally turned into a whale, energetically speaking at least. It’s hard to put into words what happened to me.

Looking back on these experiences, I felt as if I went into a deep dive into a previously unexplored empathic frequency. Even though I was aware that I was still a human being in a pitch black coffin-like saltbox of water; at the same time I had also transformed into the consciousness of huge whale in the depths of the ocean.

During the breath work meditation, I shifted into the energy of whale again. This time however, my consciousness experienced a frequency shift by ‘swimming’ into a perceptibly deeper and higher form of consciousness.

As I ‘swam’ through the waters while still embodying Whale consciousness, I encountered and also transformed into all of the animal spirits found in the first edition of my first book, Something to Chew On. The best way I can describe the experience is that it felt like I was reading the energy of the book’s material from a deeper state of consciousness that involved a telepathic-empathic form of awareness.

As heartwarming and mindblowing as these experiences were, they felt so natural. It was as if I was literally tuning into the heartbeat and frequency of our living planet Gaia.

Ah, talk about taking the plunge into unchartered waters, and an evolving co-regulative communication between an author and their muse!

Writing about consciousness is merely using the form of words as signposts to point in the right direction. Perhaps the consciousness of writers will awaken from their own lyrics, just as the consciousness of the readers will awaken from reading the author’s poetic prose. Tapping into our sense of resiliency is key. The short inspirational clip below features Mexican-American, Detroit native singer-songwriter Rodriquez that further amplifies the sentiment:

At the time of the aforementioned experiences with Whale, I had a a sound intellectual, and early spiritual understanding of the old spiritual and scientific stories that whales had big brains, great intelligence, and carried the heartbeat and consciousness of the planet.

But I was also working on getting more in alignment with my soul purpose; as in deepening my learning curve to go beyond my intellect into a more intuitive realm of knowing.

My experiences with Sacred Whale Medicine certainly invited newly awakened portals of perception and consciousness expansion.

Interestingly, humans are mostly water, in the sense that water makes up the majority of our form.

Curiously, water is a conductor of sound and an elemental force of primordial creation.

But beyond that, we are mostly formless, energetic beings of light.

May we ride the waves without getting washed out in the surf.

From that perspective, this wisdom reveals that humans are creative beings who can align with sound and light frequencies that can change our vibrations.

We are both form and formless. The formless shines through the form, and is the presence or light of consciousness that illuminates our form because it radiates from the inside out.

Further, this process can lead to a dimensional shift in our consciousness that is a real perceptible and felt sense experience. That’s why there is a growing reception to the movement in sound and light therapy as effective forms of energy work.

In much the same way as Easter’s connection to eggs, Mork’s egg-like spaceship, and of course past Creation stories of the Cosmic Egg . . . Check out the sign of the times Harmonic Egg featured in the video below:

Remember, the Truth is that we will tip the scales on our Planet and beyond our current state of consciousness when we move further away from fear, and instead closer to Love. Fear has been perpetrated onto us by certain old powers that be that are afraid to give up their control issues.

Keep in mind that when you are in a place of Joy and Light, it’s harder to get seduced or bogged down in the heaviness of the world or give up your power to others. The Power of Love isn’t going away. Consider the clip below as a friendly reminder to have the Grace to know that the Truth of the power of Love shall set us free!

May all Beings be free and awaken to the dimension of inner peace,

Ari

Racoons Unmask Natural Internal Martial Arts Wizardry & Magicianship

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 Whenever suffering occurs in your life, whether coming down with the flu or not getting the job you wanted, you seek to know it fully rather than resent or deny it. Instead of distracting yourself, with fantasies, or worries, you focus your attention calmly upon the felt sense of what is happening. As you perform this task, you become acutely conscious of your reactive “arising’s” and the potency of their force. They too, are to be included within that, same wide, still embrace. You do not free yourself from narcissistic or self-disgusted longings by suppressing them, but by accepting them as the arising of habitual inclinations, which may be psychologically, culturally, religiously, or instinctively conditioned.

–Stephen Batchelor

When contemplating darkness and disguise in the throes of this wintry dirge, I think about the sacred energy medicine of Racoon. These sentient beings embody the self-defense mastery of the internal martial arts. When we play around with opening and closing our eyes in the 3D realm, we are playing with form by putting on a mask, and accessing a primordial creative power within. For those Star Wars geeks out there, the clip below reinforces the felt sense experience of letting go of our conscious minds by seeing without seeing:

Stepping into new dimensions and accessing deeper realms are real possibilities with Racoon consciousness. This spirit guide is a friendly reminder to do a deep dive into the popularly unpopular fear of the unknown. Rather than avoidance, we become inviting of spiritual awakenings into new ways of looking at ourselves. But if we choose to ignore such soul promptings; perhaps the reality based, felt sense experience might otherwise remain hidden or unavailable to our naked eye’d view our previously unexamined selves.

Racoon’s transformational vibrational frequencies align with traits that can support growth in fine motor skills, such as dexterity; as well as a sensory diet, like self-stimulation forms like self-massage, and bodily compression. They certainly can also inspire cleaner eating approaches, like washing our food, and emphasizing a plant based diet. Or maybe you like to pluck away on a musical instrument. Close your eyes, picture a racoon and see what happens organically.

From a heartwarming and mindbending felt sense of spaciousness, the internal martial arts help us cool down from the inside out. This differs from the so called external martial arts; which have traditionally emphasized relaxed on the outside, intense on the inside. But like astronomers and astrologers, social workers, psychologists and many therapists and other energy workers; you can be both and we need all of them.

Speaking of the internal martial arts, check out William C.C Chen’s demonstration below. He used to come to the place that I took classes many moons ago. The ‘Studio’ was heavily influenced by his teachings. And sometimes he would come visit, and do special weekend workshops. I remember meeting him once. He certainly filled the room with his form, which was a real shared felt sense experience by many of my old teachers and peers in that community:

May all Beings be free of suffering, and experiences Inner Peace as a way of Life,

Ari

Letting Go Of Getting Stuck In Life By Being Present With Our Stuckness Through The Power Of A Sweet Surrender

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“You can’t feel good when you’re feeling bad about feeling bad.”

-Rhonda Byrne

Looking back in the rearview mirror, I remember working with a spiritual counselor for many years, who reminded me that people get stuck in life, and can have a really hard time getting unstuck. His empathy statement still sounds true because, the truth is, we all get stuck.

Upon reflection, my old spiritual counselor’s wise guidance invited a personal awakening of an awareness that a big part of my own getting stuck at that time was that I was getting stuck on other people’s stuckness . . . and taking it personally. It can be hard to not to become moved by other people’s stuff. Although experience teaches that it is freeing to stay centered, and observe those entanglements soften and relax. Ah, letting go of victim consciousness is a process, like peeling away the layers of an onion.

Awakening to our true nature as spiritual beings having human experiences happens when we are surrendering to the will of the Universe by getting in alignment with it. Ancient meditative movement practices like Tai Chi supports this process by integrating the right and left hemispheres of our brains, and facilitating emotional regulation of our neurological systems by re-patterning them.

In addition to Bruce Lee’s beautiful introduction, the video below also features Professor Cheng Man Ching, who brought Tai Chi to the West, and some of his students who reflect back on their experiences with him. Both of these men had very strong rebellious streaks because they brought secrets of their people to the West. Sharing their knowledge with outsiders was strictly forbidden, and against the orders of their masters.

But they both knew that the West needed to be clued in to the mysteries of the martial arts. Although Professor’s students deeply respected him as a master, some have also said that he wasn’t an enlightened being, and that he had an ego. His playful soul and competitive spirit is probably what made him so approachable to his students. Not long before he died, he said that he was approximately 70% Confucius and 30% Lao Tzu. He also emphasized that he was interested in learning how to be human, and that it takes a long time to do that:

Reflecting back on my own experiences with getting stuck, and what to do about it reminds me of my last semester of college, many moons ago. At that time, I took an extra class as an independent study with one of my psychology professors so that I could graduate on time. Part of my stuckness back then was procrastination. It’s not that Grandmother’s Stop Procrastination tapes with subliminal message hidden underneath ocean waves didn’t work. It’s just that building ‘Righteous Chi’ works gradually, like the power of water. Once enough momentum is present, there is no stopping it.

Back to my last semester in college . . . I took a heavy course load to fulfill my academic requirements for graduation. My psychology professor was also a part time psychotherapist, who worked with a colleague who was also a therapist with his own full time practice. These two progressive men were both concerned about when their clients would get stuck during their therapeutic process, particularly between sessions. Part of their stuckness as psychotherapists was when their clients would get stuck. As therapists, they felt a degree of responsibility and helplessness about that.

Given that, both clinical psychologists were very interested in exploring a newly emerging therapeutic idea at the time called bibliotherapy. Basically, bibliotherapy is a medium to utilize reading, and other multimedia forms (movies, videos, podcasts, quotes, articles, etc.) to reinforce the power of the therapeutic process for change to occur. The independent study explored a deep dive into how bibliotherapy might be utilized as a medium to help clients get unstuck; especially during the interval between sessions or when they were outside of a therapy session. The three of us met weekly to discuss and unpack bibliotherapeutic experiences. I read a bunch of literature on the emerging subject, and wrote a paper based on my research, our clinically oriented weekly conversations, and reflections about what I learned from the experience.

Many years later, I collaborated with librarians, who were aware of the growing body of research on bibliotherapy’s efficacy. Plenty of counselors out there will assign “homework assignments” to their clients. In many cases this involves utilizing bibliotherapy as a medium to water the seeds of change so that they can take root.

Flash forward to today, experiences with getting stuck in therapy appears to be akin to how meditators talk about applying what we learn during sitting meditation to when we’re off the cushion, and going about the business of living our lives. A big part of why we get stuck has to do with our habituated mind, and cravings that block us from experiencing the present moment. Truly, this is a relatable experience to anyone who is taking an honest look at themselves, or in many cases feeling triggered by looking at others.

Finally, check out the video below by highly respected veteran spiritual teacher and nun, Pema Chodron, that further amplifies the sentiment. She has been a leading catalyst in bringing Buddhist principles to the West:

May all beings be free and awaken to inner peace,

Ari

Digging Into Groundhog Day, Underground Tunneling Toward The Vernal Equinox & Riding Off Into The Sunset Of Death, Whilst Awakening To The Dawn Of Rebirth

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We began as mineral. We emerged into plant life, and into the animal state, and then into being human, and always we have forgotten our former states, except in early spring when we slightly recall being green again.

–Rumi

A Full Snow Moon on February 1st sheds moonshine on the birth of February, followed by the Imbolc aka Groundhog Day on February 2nd. Energetically, spring starts now because the seeds underground are starting to think about waking up from their winter slumber.

Whether the groundhog sees his shadow or not, the arrival of the Vernal Equinox on March 20th marks the official onset of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and the Autumn Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere. The equinoxes reflect the Nature’s balance of day and night; which reveals homeostasis of yin&yang/light&dark/masculine&feminine energies.

When I think of honoring the Imbolc tradition of the approximate halfway point between the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, I think of the shamanic energy medicine of Groundhog as an animal spirit guide.

How many of us would benefit from waking up to an elevated state of consciousness that Groundhog awakens as a metaphor for reincarnation?

There are evolving souls in the spiritual community, who have shared that they have an attachment to a desire to not incarnate anymore, and would prefer to stay in the spirit realm after their experience in this lifetime ends.

While I respect a person’s sovereign right towards self-determination, there is wisdom in the old saying, be careful what you wish for. In order to really trust the Universe, you have to do the shadow work. The voices of trauma can be exhausting at times.

Groundhog energy medicine awakens death without dying as a real perceptible reality during the gift and many blessings of this lifetime. In this experience, we are reminded of the cyclical death and rebirth aspect of life. In every breath we take, a part of us dies, while another part of us is reborn.

Besides, science has confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we have trillions of cells living within our bodies that change like tastebuds over time. From that perspective, we really aren’t the same person we once were, nor will be in the future. Might as well learn to illuminate every cell in our bodies and learn to make them smile. There’s God(ess) in that.

For you gamers out there, playing video games is akin to the shamanic death without dying experience. You get to hit the reset button, start over, get a new life, and explore different levels. The program is already there and reveals itself when the time is ripe. Beyond that, it’s up to you how to play the game. Freewill within the program’s matrix. Once you know the program, you can transcend it.

Knowing our true identities as mostly luminous, formless beings of light can be the torch that carries you toward the perceptible reality that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes, we have find the eyes to see that the sun is still there, it’s just hiding behind dark clouds. More importantly, there is light within, no matter how consumed with darkness we might feel.

Just as an example, the classic American film Groundhog Day captures the sentiment of moving beyond the egoic realm of egocentric manipulation to waking up to the realm of Oneness or Unity Consciousness. Remember that Groundhog Day, like Halloween, derives from ancient traditions honored by our ancestors. I first saw this movie in High School and thought it was hilarious. Little did I know that I would end up going to college in the Pittsburgh area of Western Pennsylvania, where the film takes place, and later realize the profound spiritual depth of this movie that stands the test of time.

And then in the next clip below, we have an open hearted and high minded spiritually oriented conversation between Oprah Winfrey and Eckart Tolle to further capture the sentiment. I remember when I first picked up Eckhart’s new book at the time, The Power of Now. This was back in my social work graduate school days in Miami in the late 90s. The trauma of my mother’s suicide was still a fresh deep soul wound, and I was craving finding deeper spiritual meaning in my life to deal with the loss so that I could move forward. Upon reading the this book, I was struck by how his own suffering transformed into a radical spiritual awakening. I was inspired back Zen, and continue to be right Tao.

Flash forward to March, 2009, when Oprah brought to life the first free online planetary book club that explored this spiritual teacher’s next book, A New Earth. Both of my grandmothers died earlier that Winter. I felt triggered by their deaths, my energy field was gravely depleted, and l really looked forward to their live weekly webinar sessions. It was a light at the end of the tunnel for me at that time. I had already been working for several years as a day treatment social worker, in the same Public School community that I worked in over the past couple of decades. I still don’t know how I got out of bed to go to work in the morning during that time. Because we had meaningful connection, a concerned School Nurse I worked with at that time could see auras, and commented that she could see how weak my energy field was. Between Winter’s dirge, and my own grieving process, the time was ripe again for some more transformational inner work.

Switching horses, we will officially enter into the Year of the Fire Horse on February 17th. Fire Horse’s energy reflects greater movement, decision, freedom and courage so that we can effectively gallop into unknown frontiers.

Perfect timing for much transformation on this year’s pathways ahead. But transformation isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Growing pains are part of the process, and we do need to get off of our cushions and live our lives. May the Chi of the Fire Horse heat up our saddles, and get us off our bums, so to speak.

Speaking of blazing saddles, the Eclipse Season further fuels the flames of transformation with a Solar Eclipse on the Chinese New Year, and then a Lunar Eclipse on March 3rd. Many of you are already feeling these energies before the first eclipse takes place.

Of course, the aftershocks of the Spring Eclipse season will carry on through College Basketball’s March Madness, the Ides of March, Vernal Equinox, and into the Aries time of year. The season of Aries the Ram starts around the onset of baseball season, and energetically always feels like a new year because it is the first sign of the Western Zodiac.

As we already know, eclipses are catalysts for change and shaking up the status quo in our inner and outer worlds. There’s nothing to be superstitious about with regards to any of these energies because, like the present moment, they are what they are.

More importantly, what matters is how we align with the energies at play. Hunkering down and riding the storm out are typical conditioned human survival instincts. But instead of running away from the weather by heading down to the shorelines to get washed out; consider what the animals like rams do in times of alarming weather fronts.

Rather than resisting and fighting ominous weather, they head for the mountains to gain a better vista so that they can intelligently secure deliberate footing that harmonizes with Climate Change.

Or you can curse the weather, fight against the current or push the river, so to speak.

May all Beings be free and live in the present moment of Inner Peace,

Ari

Comets, Constellations & Climate Change

Posted on by under Consciousness, Spirituality, Uncategorized

I remember when I saw a fireball with my naked eyes, while driving to play with the old garage band one night, many moons ago.

Different from fireballs, comets are known to be harbingers of change.

Pun Alert: While comets and fireballs are out of this world; like them, we all have stardust encoded in our constitution.

Speaking of comets, has anyone heard about the arriving mysterious interstellar comet that scientists are calling 3I/Atlas?

This more recent timeline development reminded me that explorations of co-creating Heaven on Earth have been an intentional commitment regularly revisited in this blog over the years.

All that means is a shift in consciousness that awakens a more transcendental, expansive and open hearted and minded perception of the world we live in.

Evolutionary impulses are often led by a simple shift in mindset, even though it doesn’t appear to be simple at the time.

Worldviews collapse and realign led by individuals and small groups of people whose doors of perception are cleansed, and energized to see things as they truly are.

We all know the mountains of opposition that are at play to keep humanity in the dark about seeing clearly; as revealed in Plato’s classic book, Allegory of the Cave.

From a position of empathy and a compassionate approach, it’s really frightening to the powers that be to feel like their power and control structures are being dismantled and dissolved as we speak.

But a deeper sense of identity is awakened when we have the courage to leave behind the realm of manipulation; the place where we feel fed by manipulating and controlling others.

When you’re sitting atop the pyramid, it can be challenging to see that a more equitable triangle is far more buoyant than the one we’ve got going right now.

It’s reflective of a developmentally delayed system that supports the current inequities that we face, which is unsustainable. Many in various circles are fed up with this set-up.

Before my last 20 year gig as a school social worker, I worked as a day treatment clinician at a large mental health organization with a garden variety of special purpose programs that served children and families.

During that time period, I had the honor to work with a brilliant psychologist, who was a catalyst in transforming the culture at the time so that we could operate in a more collaborative way with students, their families and their sending school districts.

Back then, clinicians led the treatment team of teachers and other school staff. Each clinician carried a caseload of students. During these meetings, clinicians took turns presenting by prefacing our communication with a ‘frame’. All that means is that we would capture the focus of the treatment process with a sentence or even a word; such as “all family members will regulate themselves” or “accountability”.

It was at that time that a novel personal frame or mantra came up in meditation to co-create heaven on earth.

Nobody can do that alone because like the African proverb says, ‘it takes a village’. I remember learning the origins of that frame back in social work school from one of my favorite teachers who taught our policy classes.

In the brief year and a half I worked at the day treatment school, I gained invaluable systemic experience, from a mental health perspective at least. This was over several years before this blog existed, but I had started getting more disciplined about spending time meditating alone out in Nature.

In much the same way as the divisive us and them duality that is fading away in a dying old age; the special purpose school was going through an identity crisis of whether we were a treatment facility or an educational facility.

The reality is that we were both, but we were merely a microcosm of what we are going through now as we are transitioning a New Age and Paradigm.

Furthermore, there have been many different prophecies that have spoken of the Climate Change that we are going through on our planet today, humanity notwithstanding.

Back when the early signs of colonization were noticed by Indigenous shamans, these trusted leaders would then return to their villages, and tell folks about the changes that were on their way.

For example, these wise leaders noticed that the wave formations were changing by the shorelines; in a way that gave them the vision to see ships coming in on the horizon. Appreciate that these forthcoming ships had not yet been integrated into their worldview.

It’s like when you learned a new word that you believed you’ve never heard before. And then you hear it more and more after that till it becomes part of your common language experience.

Or like when wise Native American elders saw visions of big bugs crawling over the lands, and big birds flying across the skies before cars or planes existed. And then at some point after that, cars and planes became easily recognizable.

Perhaps someone noticed a comet or other celestial activity beforehand that aligned with the physical evidence of the changing wave patterns.

Prophecy is not the end of the world. But like the old REM song, it’s the end of the world as we know it.

The purification we are going through now reflects the beginning of a new reality. Heaven on Earth is a shift in consciousness; therefore a shift in reality.

It’s like when one door closes, another door opens. It was probably your anticipatory anxiety or projected fears about the forthcoming change that seemed spookier than when you began allowing the chips to fall where they may.

In the death of your old self, there was a new self that began to blossom.

Just like the transition from one season to another, seasonal changes aren’t only concrete. If you are paying attention to the shades of gray, you will see the subtle (and not so subtle) evidence of the changing seasons that are on their way.

Like a wise spiritual teacher says, “Don’t argue with fear; comfort it. Be the calm in the current”.

Surrender to the process.

Inner stillness simply balances out opposition.

Enjoy the ride!

Ari