Glad-Sad-Mad-Okay-Presence

So often the way we feel depends on how things are going in our lives. I’m “glad” when nice things happen to me… “Nice” being defined as things that a part of me likes and enjoys… or that something turns out the way ‘I’ hoped it would turn out … At other times, I see someone do well or they are happy and glad about something, and I join in the celebratory mood.

Feeling “sad” can be a similar dynamic in which outside circumstance are not going as I had hoped… or I have lost something I wanted to continue to enjoy. Likewise, when I see things happen in the world that seem unfair, abusive, or harmful in other way, we can feel some empathy on the “sad’ side of the spectrum.

Anger is another emotion in which something happens that goes against some mindset we are holding… It may be an outcome I was hoping for which didn’t occur. It might be seeing something being done to others or myself that seems unfair and harmful.

Emotions are usually based in our mindset and values. When the emotion is present it tells us something about who we are. So emotions are a normal expression that can teach us… if we choose to look… If we think that anything is absolute, then we miss the opportunity to learn and grow. By looking we begin to identify those beliefs and values to which we are most attached and aligned. Self-examination provides the opportunity for greater awareness and choice.

At times there may be a more stoic sense of neutrality… “I’m okay”…neither positive nor negative…. just present… It can be a positive acceptance of what is… an “Okayness”… almost an “I’m okay; you’re okay; it’s okay” moment… a neutral detached, yet engaged and observing presence. This presence is a state of awareness that to others may appear as a detachment from emotions…. It may also be accompanied by a detachment from mental chatter and trying to figure things out or understand a situation… The state of presence just is… being present in a situation with a peace and calmness that allows for clear response.

In reality, there is much more that we do not ‘know’ than what we do know… yet our feelings often point to the underlying assumptions, beliefs, and thought-forms we hold in our egoic mental make-up. We may reflect or mirror someone’s emotions they are sharing with us in empathy and support…yet we do not need to take on their emotions as our own.

At times, I have been seen as aloof or detached, when in fact I may be fully engaged and feeling something quite intense within. Some of us tend to be more process observers. Introverts tend to process things within, often showing less demonstrable reactions to situations. Extroverted folks tend to process things out-loud and prefer the presence of others to share their thoughts and feelings.

It is good to feel our feelings… Its natural… Our emotions are a vital and important aspect of our make-up. They teach us about what is going on and what basic values and beliefs we have. They help us connect with one another… And, we are more than our feelings. We are always much more than we ‘think’ we are…. Stay tuned…

John HutchinsonSundance Center for Conscious Living - www.sunhutch.com
john@sunhutch.com
May 24, 2014

Anger, Depression, Power, and LIFE

Spirit of Frankness ... Feb 29, 2012

The following is a dreamtime experience that brings a few things to awareness... it reflects the current state of affairs of Life in several areas of consciousness...

I am with a group of others and we are in spring training of sorts... practicing... not sure exactly what the game is but we are coming together as a team... then I see one guy head a soccer ball and it goes a really long way and I am amazed at far the ball goes off his head... seemed super-natural in a sense...

We are in a team meeting of sorts or at least in the same room. I go off to the bathroom and am standing at the urinal relieving myself. One of the leaders, Frank Geist, comes in and is saying I need to get fired up more... he takes his penis, which is quite large like a hose and aims it at me and urinates on me... getting pissed on pisses me off and I point my smaller penis at him and urinate on him as well... the conflict does the trick of getting me fired up and the energy flowing... I know that he was doing it for that exact reason, not because he was angry at me...

So what is the message from my Higher Self and team leader, Frank Geist ...?

• We are in prep mode... still in training... always practicing...
• We have extraordinary power that goes beyond old ways of seeing what is possible...
• We need to be "frank" with ourselves and others even if it is not what their or our ego wants to hear...
• Honest "frankness" and conflict can fire up our energy and passion... motivating us and others... it can keep us in touch with Spirit... [Note: "Geist" is a German word meaning "spirit, mind, or soul"]...
• Sometimes leaders just need to be aggressive and fire up the team for action...

A Look at Anger and Power

Life Energy is power... powerful... full of power... As humans, our ego sometimes uses that power as anger when the ego does not get what it wants. We see this in acting out behavior of children of all ages... and within ourselves... We also may have been domesticated to suppress our life energy, power, and anger... this most often can lead to passivity and also to depression.

Do your easily express your power and are you able to feel the power, even if it comes through as anger... or being pissed off? Injustice when we or others are mistreated can bring up sympathy and sadness as we identify with the "victim" of a situation. And there is also anger that drives and fires us up to take action.

If you are feeling depressed, it could be that you are reacting to a situation and feel powerless... then at times our tendency can be to give up and so we generalize and get pissed off at "God"...the Universe...and Life ... it is as if a part of us decides to turn our power and life energy back on itself... resisting and refusing to let the Life Energy flow through our being.

A few options:

• Recognize 'what is' and see if a part of you is actually sabotaging your Life Energy.
• If you go back to where the energy became low, identify the situation or person.
• Deal with the situation or person through direct communication if that is possible, sharing the facts and your feelings.
• If you cannot get back to the point where you first lost your energy, you can do an energetic exercise such as screaming into a pillow... pounding a pillow... saying whatever comes up... and it is good to bend you lower back when pounding the bed or pillow... simply to release and unblock some of the blocked areas often in the lower back.
• Know what situations over which you have little or no influence and may not be able to impact change... Acceptance is a key once you recognize the situation.

There are several things here as we recognize an unresolved conflict and find ourselves in a 'victim' state in which life is seen as being against us in some way.

The ego part of us is a domesticated aspect that has developed certain ideas, wants, desires, and other aspects that produces a certain identity. We are so identified with who we think we are and what life is that a conflict or psychic pain is created whenever there is some difference between our "false" or domesticated self and who we are in our essence. Spiritual teachers have often pointed to the path of liberation is to let go of the "false" self... the ego self... the wants and wishes... the expectations of what should be...

We are going through times of transition as always and it may or may not be more intensified now. It is my sense that many of us are going through a much bigger process than we can see right now... it is a period of dealing directly with ego and personality issues as we are being drawn to transformation... and expanding consciousness... becoming open to loving service in new ways. In the Native American and indigenous teaching of many places, this can be seen as the period of the Shaman's Death... in order for us to serve for the good of all... there is a profound death to ego... a letting go of old ways of thinking and seeing the world... it is a time of death to the "false" selves that have been created through the domestication process and various cultural world views... and also our specific experience... and it is part of the natural and spiritual journey.

We are being asked to let go... to endure the natural disorientation that accompanies change... to call our deepest Life Energy back... to call Spirit back to our life... at least to our consciousness, since Spirit never actually leaves...

Sometimes it seems that our life gets tougher or seems to get worse in some way... this can be the storm before the new pattern emerges... the Shaman's Death of dying to the old self so that the new can continue to emerge into this moment...

"God"... "Source" ... "Great Spirit"... "Energy of Life" ... whatever we chose to call the mysterious source of Being and Life... is always present... there are  guides, guardians, angels, Higher Selves, and the interconnected web of everything that we are a miraculous participant in. We can shift our perspective from an ego-centered world view... "there is no 'I' in 'team'"... to at least opening to realizing we part of an amazing adventure without end... A Love story outside, within, and beyond time! The egoic energy often just wants some company in the illusion and feelings of 'misery'..."misery love company"... We are called to experience our life and learn so that we may  be a contributing team member to the greatest game of ALL! We are all members of the same team... some realize it now... and others will realize it in some other now! In the Spirit of "frank"-ness... let's get our butts in gear!