Tag Archives: Mental Health

Podcast Episode: A New Moon in Gemini, Solstices, Full Strawberry Moon & Mercury in Retrograde

Posted on by under Consciousness, Podcast, Spirituality, Uncategorized
Full moon rising over fields and a country path with a farmhouse nearby
A glowing full moon rises over a peaceful countryside at dusk

Check out this newly created experimental AI Podcast feature that aligns with my writing, compliments of WordPress.

Full Disclosure: Truly, I do take pride in my writing, and have yet to use AI for the written word. However, I have been having fun with playing around with AI for illustrations.

This podcast version of 1 of my more recent writings stars 2 AI created characters named Pip and Mara.

Please enjoy the podcast & transcript below:

Pip: Gemini season, a solstice, a strawberry moon, Mercury going sideways — June is apparently doing a lot.

Mara: This episode covers one post from Ari Joshua Bouse, mapping the celestial events of late June and what they invite us to pay attention to — new moons, seasonal turning points, a full moon with Indigenous roots, and a retrograde worth taking seriously.

Pip: Let’s start with the sky.

A New Moon in Gemini Through Mercury Retrograde

Mara: June opens with a New Moon in Gemini on the fifteenth, and the question this post is really asking is: what does the sky this month want from us, and how do we work with it rather than against it?

Pip: The post frames the Gemini New Moon as a prompt to balance thinking and feeling — and it puts it plainly: “Harmonizing with our heads and hearts helps support effective communication.”

Mara: That’s the throughline for the whole month. The New Moon opens a window for setting intentions, connecting socially, and letting communication projects move more freely. The post specifically names storytelling and sharing topical truths as things that can come to life with greater ease right now.

Pip: Then June 21 arrives carrying two things at once — the Summer Solstice and Father’s Day, a pairing that won’t repeat until 2037.

Mara: The post draws a real contrast there. In the Northern Hemisphere, the solstice carries what it calls Grandfather Sun-Yang energy — outward, expansive, growth-oriented. In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s the opposite: the longest night, Grandmother Moon-Yin energy, a turning inward.

Pip: The planet literally experiencing opposite seasons at the same moment — that’s the kind of thing that makes the phrase “duality of living on this planet” feel less like a bumper sticker.

Mara: The Full Strawberry Moon follows on June 29. The post traces that name to the Algonquin and other North American nations who connected the wild berry harvest to this moon, and notes that other cultures named it for whatever mattered most to people on the land at midsummer.

Pip: History embedded in a calendar. That’s not nothing.

Mara: June 21 also opens Cancer season, running through July 22. The post frames Cancer as a softer emotional register — nourishment, self-care, reconnecting with feeling. Then Mercury stations retrograde on June 29, lasting through July 23, and the post treats that as a genuine invitation: slow down, reflect, and pay attention to subconscious patterns.

Pip: So the month ends with two overlapping energies asking for the same thing — quiet and inward attention.

Mara: And the psychic and dream life, the post says, can surface real insight during that window if you’re working with it intentionally rather than just waiting for it to pass.

Pip: Which points straight toward how we actually tend our inner lives day to day.

Mara: A month of thresholds — new beginnings, a solstice, ancestral moons, a retrograde. The invitation seems to be: meet each one with some awareness.

Pip: More sky ahead. We’ll see what it asks for next time.

Please enjoy the original post that inspired this new podcast version at the link below:

A New Moon in Gemini, Summer Solstice, Full Strawberry Moon & Mercury in Retrograde at the End of June

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

Posted on by under Consciousness, Podcast, Spirituality, Uncategorized
Abstract swirling streams of water twisting around glowing blue and teal geometric crystals
Swirling water streams intertwine with glowing geometric crystals in an abstract composition.

Check out this newly created experimental AI Podcast feature that aligns with my writing, compliments of WordPress.

Full Disclosure: Truly, I do take pride in my writing, and have yet to use AI for the written word. However, I have been having fun with playing around with AI for illustrations.

This podcast version of 1 of my more recent writings stars 2 AI created characters named Pip and Mara.

Please enjoy the podcast & transcript below:

Pip: Classroom Mothership Earth — where the curriculum includes falling off your bike, losing on purpose, and calling all of it wisdom.

Mara: That’s actually a fair summary. Ari Joshua Bouse has a new post up exploring resilience, paradox, and how everyday stumbles become the practice itself. Let’s start with what it means to stop fighting the dark and work with it instead.

Embodying Paradox, Change and Humor In Everyday Life

Mara: The central question here is how resilience actually gets built — not by avoiding difficulty, but by changing your relationship to it. The post argues that resilience is cultivated, not inherited, and that the everyday moment is where that cultivation happens.

Pip: And the frame for all of it comes from a Taoist concept the post calls Investing In Loss. The setup is direct: “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.”

Mara: So the upshot is that losing, done consciously, is actually data. The mindset shift the post is pointing at is the difference between defeat and apprenticeship — same outcome, completely different relationship to it.

Pip: The bike and the swimming pool make the same case more viscerally. Most of us got water up our nose and fell off the handlebars and somehow did not develop lasting trauma from either. We just got back on.

Mara: Right — and the post uses that to ask a genuine question: how do we stay present in everyday life the way we were present when we were learning something genuinely new and a little scary? That’s where Dan Millman enters. The Way of the Peaceful Warrior gets name-checked as a long-running personal touchstone — a book recommended in high school, not fully read until after college, but never forgotten.

Pip: There is something quietly honest about admitting the book sat on the to-do list for years before it landed. Delayed absorption counts.

Mara: The post opens with two epigraphs that frame the whole thing. Eckhart Tolle on bringing in light rather than fighting darkness, and S. Kelley Harrell going further: “bless the darkness, hold the light, because the two aren’t divisible.” That’s the paradox the title is naming — not resolving the tension, but inhabiting it.

Mara: The shadow-boxing image the post offers — awakening to shades of your hidden self in a mirror — suggests the inner work and the outer stumbling are the same practice, just different angles.

Pip: Lose on purpose, get back on the bike, and hold the light and the dark at the same time. Straightforward advice, if you don’t mind the bruises.

Mara: That tension between difficulty and openness seems like the thread worth pulling next time.

Please enjoy the original post that inspired this new podcast version at the link below:

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

May all Beings be free of suffering, and awaken to God Consciousness, Cosmic Consciousness, Unity Consciousness, Diversity Within Unity, Inner Peace and the Universal Pillars of Love And Truth.

Happiness As A Way Of Life Does Not Mean That You’re Happy All The Time

Posted on by under Uncategorized
Daily writing prompt
What’s a common misconception people have about happiness?
View all responses
Rural landscape with sun rays breaking through dark clouds over green fields

I remember when I worked with a single parent who said, “I just want my son to be happy.” Regardless of where they are at in their life cycle, that’s what most parents want for their children.

But there is a difference between getting what we want, things not going our way and experiencing happiness as a way of life.

Awareness of the truth that we all suffer and that desire and attachment are the root of suffering is key to unlocking a common misconception about happiness.

Happiness as a way of life recognizes that an open, passive attitude and mindful approach by allowing the present moment to unfold as it will (regardless of what feelings we’re being visited by), is what’s up.

Moreover, it is freeing to be present with softening our sense of craving that often accompanies happiness (like any other state of being)- pleasant, unpleasant or neutral.

We often crave moments to happen or not happen . . . Or by wishing them to begin or end in ways opposite of what’s really going on.

Moments are what they are. We are the one’s that project our “stuff” onto them. We’ve all done it.

Truly, these moments are what they are, and will be nothing more than fleeting or transient.

Might as well be curious about these moments as they arrive, and surf them as they happen, like riding a wave with the grace of a swan.

Just as an example, the pursuit of happiness is a setup in our constitution, if you’ll pardon the multidimensional-revolutionary pun.

Pursuit connotes suffering. Like striving, being in pursuit of something is really just another unattainable craving because the pursuit of something (such as an attached mental concept) never really happens.

Or if it does happen that you manifest, reach your goal or get what you want . . . chances are that you missed the magical moments of the process as they unfolded because you were still in hot pursuit of reaching your lofty ideal.

Perhaps you identify with a dystopian view of your lowest self portrait. Comedian George Carlin captured the sentiment in my favorite one-liner by stating, “if my goal is to fail and I succeed, which have I done?”

Happiness is seeing beyond the smoke and mirrors, bells and whistles, and bling in the world of 10,000 things.

Happiness is the radical self-acceptance that an interplay between form and formless are always flowing together. Happiness as a way of life lives in a space that transcends the clinging and grasping to our judgments, justifications and mental concepts.

Like the old saying, it’s the journey not the destination.

Take care of yourselves everyone,

Ari

Time For A Siesta

Posted on by under Uncategorized
Daily writing prompt
What’s a cultural tradition from another country that you wish existed in yours?
View all responses
Woman sitting cross-legged on cushion meditating amid candles and salt lamps

“America Runs On Dunkin’.”

With no disrespect, the above quote is a bold and telling commercial mantra that’s not something to brag about.

Speaking of programming, how clear is it to everyone that societal conditioning, or in this case the power of corporate propaganda, is captured in the above quote?

Then again, consider the source and the message brewing behind it, if you’ll pardon the pun.

This writer really enjoys allowing for paradoxical thinking to percolate on the truth that just because I’m pro-rest does not mean I’m anti-caffeine.

Consider the cultural tradition of the Spanish word Siesta.

Moreover, further exploration of siesta’s lineage derives from the Latin phrase hora sexta.

Because in the ancient Roman system, the sixth hour was roughly considered the middle of the day.

Ah, Rome . . . The Eternal City. “When in Rome.”

Historically, siestas are common in warm-weather zones like the Mediterranean (especially Spain), Latin America, the Middle East, and parts of Asia

Often taken after a large midday meal, siesta is a cultural practice designed to avoid the intense heat of the afternoon and recharge for the rest of the day

In many towns that observe the tradition, the workday is split. Businesses and shops close for a few hours in the early afternoon, allowing workers to go home, share a large meal, and rest before returning to work until the evening.

Personally, I have a strong value that supports the value of rest. No need to fight against being tired. We all need down time where performance isn’t the focus.

And while any good value shouldn’t necessarily be mandated, the idea of taking a Siesta should be encouraged, incentivized and integrated within the framework of a systemic, developmentally healthy program design and paradigm.

I have always been intrigued by the idea of taking a siesta, catnap or what modern researchers call the power nap.

Furthermore, many of us have heard stories that align with modern pro-health research that concludes that a short 20-to-30 minute power nap can significantly boost cognitive function, reduce stress, and improve alertness.

Back in early Elementary School, I remember when we experienced a version of siesta that was generally part of our daily routine. After lunch & recess (my favorite part of the day), we would reintegrate back into our classroom to rest in a designated personal space, where the lights remained off and we were expected to be quiet.

In fact, some of us had fun pretending to be asleep, maybe some fake snoring or real farting, you get the drift. Funny, some of us pretending to take a nap actually ended up falling asleep without realizing it.

Social Learning Theory in action. Imagine that.

People weren’t calling it teaching siesta as a healthy transitional form of co-regulation back then. And yet, that’s exactly what it was.

Interestingly, the siesta is a time-tested tradition that remains a working cornerstone of cultural heritage.

Of course globalization and modern work schedules have caused the daily multi-hour closure of businesses to decline in larger cities.

There’s nothing wrong with taking action, performing tasks or drinking caffeine.

And yet building in rest and downtime into our everyday routine carries with it a power not to be underestimated.

Time to take a Siesta!

Take care of yourselves everyone,

Ari

A New Moon in Gemini, Summer Solstice, Full Strawberry Moon & Mercury in Retrograde at the End of June

Posted on by under Consciousness, Spirituality, Uncategorized
Supermoon rising over a forested lake with fireflies and dock reflecting moonlight

A New Moon in Gemini on June 15th welcomes new beginnings with manifestation of changes and spontaneity streaming through the airwaves. Safety lies in thinking about our feelings and sharing them with others.

It’s hard to go wrong with a cool head.

And yet, a cold heart can be a good relational repellant, not to mention coming across as callous to others.

Harmonizing with our heads and hearts helps support effective communication.

Tuning in to the energies of this new moon gently aligns with guidance around setting intentions for the months ahead. It’s as if the Universe is encouraging us to lighten up, be playful, and have fun along the way.

Tis the season for connecting with friends, organizing social events, and storytelling. Perhaps communication projects may come to life with greater ease, or communicating topical truths. Tapping into healing vibrations can be a real felt sensed experience during this timeframe.

On most places around the planet, the Summer Solstice and Father’s Day both fall on Sunday, June 21. This is a rare occasion, and will not happen again till 2037.

Peak sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere is associated with Grandfather Sun-Yang energy, where outward expansion, frolicking and growth seem organic.

In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s Grandmother Moon-Yin energy where the darkest days reaches their Zenith, and then we turn inward, journey into the soul and sit with the darker aspects of life.

Ah, the duality of living on this Planet reflects the interplay between the Yin and the Yang.

Even in darkness, there is light. If you look to Nature, you will see the fluidity of these energies at play and the way they are always seeking balance.

Additionally, a Full Strawberry Moon on June 29 reflects lineage connections to the Algonquin and other North American nations who noticed the connection between the wild berry harvest to this Full Moon.

And depending where you are around the world, the other names of this Full Moon reflects what mattered most to humans on the land during mid-summertime.

We will also be shifting gears into Cancer Season (June 21-July 22).

Cancer the Crab is a time when we are encouraged to focus on nourishment, self-care, and our emotional health that breathes in a softer tone that supports reconnecting with ourselves and our hearts. Crabs reflect emotional sensitivity and tapping into the feeling realm.

How you can integrate self-care into your daily routine?

How can you integrate a sense of safety and security into your life?

Furthermore, Mercury will be in Retrograde on June 29 – July 23. These energies are in alignment with slowing things down, reflecting on the past, and focusing on the here and now.

Energetically, Mercury in Retrograde is a good time to be mindful of subconscious thoughts, including past programming. These energies can be a healing and highly intuitive time when we work with its energies intensionally.

Moreover, our psychic abilities and dreams can become triggered so that we can tap into deeper insights by working with our subconscious minds in ways where the unseen realms yield useful information to light our way.

Please feel free to echo my reading of the Great Invocation Below. Consider speaking the lyrics aloud, telepathically or any way that you want to amplify the sentiment to co-create Heaven on Earth. Doing this embodies becoming the change you want to see in the world:

May all Beings awaken to God Consciousness, Cosmic Consciousness, Unity Consciousness, Diversity within Unity, Inner Peace and the Universal Pillars of Love and Truth.

Ari

Facing Our Fears & Self-Doubts

Posted on by under Uncategorized
Calm lake at twilight with tree silhouettes and crescent moon

Facing our fears and self-doubts is not always easy.

But then again, I’m sure that fits into the no shit category.

Speaking of fecal matter…without it, there would be no compost to mulch in the gardens of our inner tapestries.

From a consciousness perspective, we have to be willing to get our hands dirty, get down with the stink, and venture into the cave’s darkness so that we can awaken the light to experience the sustenance of life.

This cyclical process is the power of alchemy.

Furthermore, it is even harder to avoid facing our fears and self-doubts head on by getting seduced by our projections of them.

What I mean by that it is that scarier to think about the mights that tend to rise to the surface of our consciousness when we entertain our fears and self-doubts.

Just as an example, saying to yourself, “if I do this, then the chips might fall here or there and that will be terrifying, out of my control and I can’t have that.”

Like a toddler, the experience makes it tempting to close your eyes and say, “I’m not listening!”

From this place, spiritual bypassing appears to be a preferable path of least resistance by avoiding facing our fears and self-doubts and examining them directly.

But with faith and trust, sometimes we just need to surrender to the Universe and let the chips fall where they may for growth to occur.

However, at the end of the day…it takes more energy to put a band-aid on the wound of fear and self-doubt than it does to examine their origins with radical curiosity, empathy, forgiveness, and self-acceptance.

It is possible; as well as a real felt-sense experience to be kind to our minds, and learn to be gentle on ourselves.

As humans, we all get insecure.

Of course, it does appear easier to fear what we don’t understand.

That’s why self-examination and awareness are key dynamics to allowing the light to illuminate the shadows.

Just as an example, I know someone close to me who made a conscious choice to “stay poor” as a way to mitigate his greed.

But greed is merely a part of the human condition and an emotional reality that visits us periodically.

And yet, to deny any emotion or feeling just energizes it; as in what we resist persists.

Like any thoughts, we don’t get rid of greed by pretending it isn’t there, pushing it away or trying to throw it in the trash.

Moreover, these have been institutional isms, or ‘Good Ole Boy’ forms have been set up by the Establishment to protect forms of oppression. Denial of them just perpetuates more oppression. The Code of Silence is designed to keep them hidden and therefore unexamined.

Truly, I remember thinking that way when the voice of trauma was more in control of my life. Identification with that voice became a security in my consciousness, like a pacifier or binky that helps an infant soothe themself when their neurological system is compromised. It’s that experience that many adults know that is captured by the statement, “I don’t feel safe!”

That line of thinking begs the question…

Do I want to merely exist in a bubble during my time here or do I want to really live?

Moving past our clever excuses and getting out of our comfort zone promotes the Constitutional Preamble’s General Welfare of experiencing life’s bounty.

Happiness as a way of life recognizes that all the reflections in the mirror are revealing the wisdom of awareness.

May all Beings be in alignment with God Consciousness, Cosmic Consciousness, Unity Consciousness, Diversity within Unity, Inner Peace and the Universal Pillars of Love and Truth.

Ari

Gemini Awakens A Twin Full Blue Moon At The End Of May

Posted on by under Consciousness, Spirituality, Uncategorized
Two women sitting cross-legged on a patterned rug, facing each other and holding hands in a room with plants and crystals

“The real measure of our lives has to do with your Values, not your valuables; by your Goodness, not your goods; by your Self-Worth, not the weight of your wallet.”

-Dr. Wayne Dyer

Following a powerful Wesak Full Flower Moon on May 1st, a New Moon in Taurus will happen on May 16th. Spring energies are springing, in the Northern Hemisphere at least. Everything is ephemeral, and it’s hard not to feel inebriated by the seasonal energies of growth and transience that are reflecting back to us from Nature.

This new moon gives us a friendly reminder that a deeper sense of stability comes from self respect. Deeper respect comes from accepting ourselves for who we are over what material things we manifest, and perhaps become identified with.

Nothing wrong with manifesting abundance in the 3D realm. But we can align with calmer and restorative energies by focusing on how short term actions may affect long term gains. Imagine the possibilities when politics and the stock market consistently reflect that kind of mindset.

When we accept that change is a natural part of life, then we are more equipped to embrace that change is the only constant in everyday living.

I focus on this when dealing with the losses that we face with our loved ones during our lifetimes here. As a human being, I still get sad when people (including animal friends) close to me get sick and suffer, die unexpectedly or those who have lived a good life or die by natural causes. And of course I grieve the death and dying process of those I have never even met. But what I am mindful of is reminding myself to have the self respect to not get sucked into the dirge.

Truly, facing our own mortality is sobering. Because I had to face my own mortality and loss of innocence at a younger than normative age, I woke up to the truth that doing so gave me an opportunity to work with the feeling of facing my own death. It isn’t that I don’t have my fears. I just move through them by trusting that the light of consciousness will guide me toward the end of the tunnel.

Many people, like my dad, have experienced that process during near death experiences. But you don’t have to physically die to know the experience. Just as an example, the sacred medicinal energies of Groundhog is a friendly reminder that the shamanic death without dying is a real possibility.

But it is also freeing to awaken to our soul purpose, know that our time here is limited and it’s what we do with this precious gift that counts. It’s like the old story about the zen master whose students are watching him die, and they are perplexed because as he’s taking his last breaths, he grieves his own death by asserting that he wants to live!

Speaking of death and rebirth, Gemini season will be in the air from around May 20 till the Summer Solstice on June 21st. During this timeframe energetically, our chi will be flowing from our lower chakras to our upper chakras to support creativity, self-expression and our desire to share. Communication is doubly powered up by Gemini, if you’ll pardon the astrological pun.

The Twins reflect our status as part creature and part divine. As spiritual beings having human experiences, we exist as the form of a mortal that has incarnated in this lifetime.

Coupled with our form identity, we have a formless eternal identity that reflects a central Law of Thermodynamics positing that energy cannot be created or destroyed. Our souls live within our bodies during the gift of this lifetime. Our bodies are our temple, but they are temporary because we all die. However, our souls live on. Interestingly, science and spirituality are converging on this Universal truth beyond a shadow of a doubt.

There will be a Blue Sagittarius Moon on May 31st. A Blue Moon only happens approximately every 18 months or so, and occurs when we have two Full Moons in one calendar month. Blue is symbolic of water, loyalty, trust, and faithfulness.

This extra Full Moon at this time invites us to release old aspects of ourselves that no longer serve us so that we can move forward in alignment with who we are becoming. The winds are at our back for taking risks and opening up to a sense of adventure in our daily lives.

An optimistic and longitudinal approach to life; such as communicating with our ancestors, can invite abundance and good fortune. Remember that there is so much help in the spirit realm just waiting for us to tap into, if only we ask and allow ourselves to receive their collective crystalized wisdom.

But then again sadness, sorrow and hardship are natural parts of reality that are not to be suppressed or repressed. We can lean into them, and discover acceptance of them as part of the totality of our experience.

Keep in mind that the forthcoming Summer Solstice reflects peak sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere. Time to frolic in the festivities of the season.

In the Southern Hemisphere, it will be the Winter Solstice or the darkest day of the year. Coaxing back the light resurrects a felt sense perception that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

May all beings be free from suffering and awaken to God Consciousness, Cosmic Consciousness, Unity Consciousness, Diversity Within Unity, Inner Peace and the Universal Pillars of Love and Truth.

Ari

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

Posted on by under Consciousness, Spirituality, Uncategorized

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?

Posted on by under Consciousness, Spirituality, Uncategorized

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

Posted on by under Consciousness, Spirituality, Uncategorized

“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