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The Revolution of Self Love: Being in the Flow of Love and Appreciation

Lauren
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The Revolution of Self Love: Being in the Flow of Love and Appreciation

“Man was born for love and revolution.” ~ Osamu Dazai

No matter what people say, self-love is revolutionary. It may seem like the arena of victimhood; a place where the weak circle around for decades, never getting anywhere aside from how to suppress their emotions until society accepts them. By the way, the above description is not for you. You are here to be a part of the revolution.

Make self-love an act of focus and bravery; make it a revo-love-tion. It takes great courage to face your fears and reverse the damaging effects of childhood. All great thinkers; leaders, warriors and bringers of light have experienced some degree of suppression of their truth in their lives, and they have used that as their catalyst for brilliance. But often it’s the way in which we approach self love that can make it so revolutionary.

We all know that pushing and resisting self hate gets us nowhere; it just creeps in the back door and places us firmly back onto square one. Seeing the simplicity of self love is often the hardest step as, from the outside anyway, people who do love themselves give no clue as to how they got there.

lnaqs1r9Even if we were to take a deep breath and ask them they may not even know how; it was given to them and therefore it’s like breathing to them, they just do it. They may even use your question to project negatively or elevate themselves above you.

Being In The Flow

“Even the strongest blizzards start with a single snowflake.” ~ Sara Raasch

The trick (and secret to all this) is, not to TRY to love yourself. You’ll only beat yourself up about it. Instead, be in the flow of loving.

When you are loving; that is flowing your attention towards something you love, then you are placing yourself in the realm of love and closing the gap between yourself and the object of your attention. It actually doesn’t matter what it is; bird song, flowers, your lover, that your tummy is full after a good meal, that the sun is shining today, that it’s raining today, that you are busy… it only matters that you are in a state of loving.

In this way you can practice it at any time of the day and can always without fail find something to love. Say you’re getting yourself into a knot of frustration over the day ahead as you sit on the bus. You catch yourself doing this and look around for something to love. At first you can’t find anything and fume with frustration and hate at the world.

Then you notice somebody’s hat you like; you run your eyes over the detail of the crochet flower, or the way it reminds you of travelling in Europe. Suddenly you’re transformed into a moment where you are expressing love and, where a moment ago you felt terrible, now you feel good.

ab01184d83b460513b20eadd1b711f63The more you place yourself in the flow of love, the more you increase your ability to find things to love about the world. And the more you do this, the more that eventually flows back to yourself.

Once you have practiced being in the flow of love for a time, say you are finding all the things you love about your boss, friend, mother or brother, you will then be ready to turn that attention inwards and see if you can find one thing – just one! – that you love about yourself.

When looking for things to love about the other we often fall into the trap of desiring something to be or have about them. So try to keep the things you discover authentic and truthful rather than an inflation of your imagination or projections. In this way you will – step by step – find authentic and genuinely lovely things to love about yourself. And before you know it, you’ll be one of those people others wish to know the secret of self love from.

Just the fact you are reading this article, desiring to love yourself or even attempting to find the flow of love is something to love about yourself. In becoming the observer and putting your attention in the flow of loving, you take yourself out of the swirl of mindless patterns and negative self-talk you have gotten unwittingly caught up in and finally give yourself the permission to see yourself and the world around you as they really are.

The Source appreciates you no matter how badly you misbehave

“People have only as much liberty as they have the intelligence to want and the courage to take.” ~ Emma Goldman

As a child rebels against their parent’s lack of attention by misbehaving in order to gain even a fraction of what they perceive as love (usually delivered in the form of negative attention), all people unconsciously perpetuate these patterns. That is, until they wake up to it.

As you practice being in the flow of loving the more you realize that your eternal parent, the Source; where you have come from and will one day return to, has never taken its attention away from you and is actually intrinsically written INTO you. You may put your attention away from it at times in a display of fear of its lack, but actually you’ll find that if you turn around and shift your focus (hint: it’s always waiting at the core of your being) then you’ll understand that it is impossible to ever part from it.

Generally speaking, we rebel like adolescents in our bitter stubborn will to part with the Source and what we perceive to be the parental figure in our lives. Call it what you want; the universe, God, the divine, the eternal… whatever you label it, it laughs in saddened merriment at the fight we put up to push it away and at the ferocity with which we misbehave in order to aggravate it.

It laughs because it will accept and appreciate you no matter what you do, so there’s really no point in acting up. You can scream, you can swear, you can bite and thrash, you can break hearts and lie and cheat, you can even commit murder – we all know you never would – but say hypothetically someone did, Source would still love them. But we don’t need to go there, because we are giving up the fight as we speak and allowing ourselves to receive that love in abundance.

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By putting your attention on and being in the flow of love and appreciation you put yourself right ‘up/in’ there next to Source. You submit your resignation to resistance and agree to fight the good fight (Casablanca style).

Love Your Ego

“Better to die fighting for freedom then be a prisoner all the days of your life.” ~ Bob Marley

In being in the flow of loving you can even arrive at the appreciation of your own ego and lower the perception of it being separate from yourself in the first place. The ego has no personality; it’s actually just a dead thing, an illusory facet, a puppet politician that carries no weight at all. But love it anyway.

Things to appreciate about your ego could be things like, it pretended to be the only facet of you for many years in order to incite the deliciousness of you discovering that there was so much more. I love how I pretended to be something I’m not and allowed others to tell me who I was to be, only to discover that I was waiting beyond the veil! How extraordinary! How remarkable that THIS was a part of the game all along; a fundamental mechanism in the matrix of the dream. And now I’ve seen it for what it is. What fun.

Love your ego by whispering to it in the darkest of nights that it’s alright; there’s nothing to be scared of. As you put yourself in the flow of loving by putting your attention on things you love you have given yourself free reign to discover the many other parts of yourself, and they are just endless.

It’s such a gift to give yourself the permission to enter your inner forest, and while it does take great courage it’s also so easy; like slipping out of a dark and dusty house out into the morning sunshine only to discover that the scent of flower blossom and the sound of nightingales singing are waiting there to greet you. Love the imperfection of yourself in this moment and know in truth that there is no perfection.

Perfection is you in this moment, attempting to discover and explore the limitlessness of yourself. Perfection has already been achieved and actually was a mirage in the first place. The joy of the desert and all its contrasts is where you really want to be.

Increase the joy in relationships with others

“The first duty of a man is to think for himself.” ~ José Martí

Once we have mastered the revolution of self love, we will be ready to let another person join in the mix; we will be ready to fall in love again. In the first throws of love; both in falling in love and being in love you are putting your attention on what you most love about that person and therefore receiving great warm waves of unadulterated love.7b7b0f338d45a8b15d007e1c1f685567

You are basking in it. And this never needs to stop. It’s only because we stop putting our attention on what we love or get bored of what we love (oh dear, the revolutionary revelation of our greatest fault – we LIKE suffering – eek!) that we stop experiencing it. It is our choice. And we have halted the flow of love by tossing it away, but also by not allowing it to be reflected inwards.

By being in the flow of love towards the other it automatically begins shining back in towards us, right? But as soon as we block that inevitable flow in by only flowing out, we cut off half the circulation therefore halting it completely.

When you understand it like this you’ll kick yourself for doing this time and time again (before we realize that the revolutionary mate we are so close to finding is the one who will also be ready to have several renewable relationships with us the moment we discover how to continue the circulation by flowing in and out simultaneously). And if you are in a relationship and you and your mate discover this wonderful nugget of insight before it gets stale, then you’ll be able to renew the relationship without the need for any drama at all.

So the next time you experience love from another, instead of panicking and trying to tie knots in the outward flow, remember to flow love inwards as well as find new things to focus your outward flow onto.

I love the way my partner’s eyes crinkle when they smile, I love the way I desire and am moving into an adult relationship based on balance. I love the way he/she jumps out of bed ready for the day, I love the way I take my time and slowly build up to and arrive at my intention for the day.

You can choose to enjoy contrast and surrender the instinctual need to place barriers and rules on everything you are perceiving. These rules only suffocate the flow and you’ll rebel against them eventually so why bother?

Self love means choosing to be in the flow of life rather than trying to walk upstream with Source laughing at your foolishness. And when you find within yourself the courage to even start ON the journey of self love, then that is the day you become a revolutionary. That is the day you allow yourself to shine.

“If I can’t dance to it, it’s not my revolution.” ~ Emma Goldman

If You Want To BUILD SEXUAL DESIRE In A Relationship WATCH THIS! | Esther Perel & Lewis Howes

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Self Love

The Perks of Being a Spatial Empath: Time Travelling to Create the New Grid

Lauren
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The Perks of Being a Spatial Empath: Time Travelling to Create the New Grid

Have you ever walked into a building or room and just felt bowled over by the non-physical activity going on in there? Or perhaps after leaving a party or your workplace became aware of the energies you have accumulated and that many didn’t belong to you?

Meditation can bring us to the realization of how much we collect throughout the day that doesn’t belong to us and provides us with a way to ‘clean’ and ground ourselves regularly. In completing a daily practice you should be better able to discern between what are your own thought patterns, what is circumstantial and collected from events of the day… and what is sensed and taken on from your surroundings.

The down side of spatial sensitivity or empathy is that, until you become aware of it, it can trigger avoidance or coping behaviours that will disrupt daily life and stop the individual from functioning with ease. The individual who is sensitive to spaces are unable to maintain focus and may feel dizzy, sick or anxious and have to leave, and the problem in that is this sensitivity can then begin to rule their lives.

agoraphobia detail

Spaces are literally jam-packed with imprints left on them from past events and interactions, meaning someone able to ‘read’ those imprints can be overwhelmed. A place contains a whole timeline within it; an accumulation and reflection of all those who have been there.

In this way bus or train stations can be quite enjoyable, as can the supermarket, whereas a closed in space such as a workplace or the home of someone who has a lot of dense energy can feel oppressive. The more time spent in this place the more pressed up against the walls a sensitive person can feel, until they have no idea where their thoughts and feelings end and the other’s around them begin.

These timelines or habitual thought patterns and darker emotions that have collected in the space become lodged, meaning that they are perfect breeding grounds for third dimensional beliefs that keep the 3rd dimensional matrix alive and well. The more sensitive a person gets, the more difficult everyday living becomes because they are literally wading through constant shifts in emotions and thought patterns that don’t even belong to them. And unfortunately, being a lightworker means that the more these negative thought patterns pass through and are dwelt upon by that individual, the more they are magnified into the collective conscious.

But an understanding of how we are constantly creating new timelines can offer a way out, and an opportunity to turn this curse into a gift.

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Transmuting these energies is where an empath’s sights should be set. This is why you have reached this stage in your evolution, and it is also why you are so important. It’s believed that Jesus, the Buddha and many other ‘silent’ ascenders placed positive frequencies across the globe and contributed heavily to the evolution of mankind. No action goes without consequence, and that is why positive action and thought are impossible to ruin or remove. Once it’s created, it’s there forever.

Timelines offer the idea that the past, present and future are happening simultaneously, so when you go into a memory that caused you pain and instead focus on the alternate, loving reaction you could have had, you eventually will begin to actually change that memory (also known as cognitive reframing) and dissolve it.

We are keeping alive all the pain and problems in our lives as we unconsciously mull them over; they are literally circling our energy fields. We have a choice and are creator beings, meaning that at any time; at any moment in the day we have a choice about the way we feel and react.

By meditating, bringing awareness to the negative timelines we are buying into and then dissolving them (by sending them love and compassion), we are able to rewrite history, the present moment AND the future. This is why pure presence is the way forward for the human race, a presence that will transcend the need for any dualistic thinking entirely, including money, gender, illness, even death.

So how do you make a conscious choice and ‘place’ a positive frequency in a space?

You must become the frequency. Start by choosing a place you usually feel happy and at ease and observe what it is that makes you feel that way. It may be a sun spot, somewhere out in the open in natural surroundings. Try to carry that feeling into the next place you go.

Another method is to look at the people that frequent the spaces you feel less happy in. Do they hold certain beliefs that conflict with yours or are they projecting negatively onto you? In your meditations send them light and love and work to resolve that conflict outside the space so that you will become less sucked in when in that space with them. Once you have practised this alone you will be able to do it when stood right in front of them.thT8W72Q9W

In studying your own habitual thinking and actions you can start breaking the patterns inherent in a space. Try doing the total opposite of what you always do. For example instead of sticking to the sidelines walk right down the middle and speak loudly. People will be bemused but actually love it when someone ‘breaks the rules’, that is, the non-verbal agreements a space holds. Obviously if you do this in a library you may get chucked out, but you can play with the boundaries of those rules.

Practice becoming a vortex of positive intention that is entirely immune to anything around you. Much like bringing your positivity from a space you like, you can break rules and patterns this way too. In actual fact this is absolute freedom, because when you become immune and protected from spatial imprints you will also become immune to any digs or negativity others throw at you.

Within the vortex you strictly observe what you want in there and what you can do without. Energy flows where intention goes so if there’s something that is working against you, realign with more loving intentions and uphold a self-loving attitude at all times. Your outer world will follow your inner. Not the other way around.

In deciding to be responsible for your own feelings in a space you naturally encourage others to co-create more responsibly whilst catapulting yourself into leadership status because you are showing others how to be truly authentic and true to themselves.

You no longer get pulled into other people’s vortex because you look after your own. You become a spiral of positivity that ripples out across eternity, setting in concrete a bold contribution; you have achieved mastery of your micro and macro-cosmic space.

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Alex Grey art

Tantra, Divine Union and Polyamory: A Look At Progressive Sexual Platforms

Lauren
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Tantra, Divine Union and Polyamory: A Look At Progressive Sexual Platforms

“Sexuality is the highest state of duality. As such, unless we transcend sex, we cannot rise beyond our basic ordinary human condition which is marked by life, procreation, death. Oneness is sexless, gender is bodiless.” ~ Shakti Verah Andro

Although Tantrism is a term coined by western philosophy, the ancient tradition of Tantra is more widely known as a religious practice that has absolutely nothing (or very little) to do with sex.

The earliest records of Tantric texts appeared in 600CE and researchers have found evidence of these practices; which combine mantra, ritual and the visualization of deities, in Vedic texts and Buddhist reliefs. For the purpose of this article, however, I will draw on the more popularized end of the spectrum of Neotantra where Tantric practices have been translated into an act of divine union.

twin flames creatingTantra

This divine union is a recapitulation of the bliss achieved by Shakti and Shiva, and in its modern day usage reflects the act of discovering the deity within by harnessing sexual energy. This sexual energy and the power of orgasm is manifested as an act of service to the Whole and is directed back into the cosmos as divine and purified love; shifting the focus from the root chakra to the heart, third eye or crown.

By drawing this energy from the denser vestibules of primal instinct and channelling it into a Kundalini awakening, we can direct the energy into higher chakras therefore deepening our connection with the divine. The act of divine union could be seen to transmute these lower energies as a lightworker would when transmuting dense frequencies.

“This Vedic hymn is speaking of those “lost in thoughts” whose “personalities are not bound to earth, for they follow the path of the mysterious wind”.” ~ Karel Werner

In the Kaula tradition of Eastern Tantra – although scholars disagree on the accuracy and significance of this – bodily fluids were seen as power substances that contained life force and were not to be wasted. This practice is one which has survived into Neotantra, in that we are encouraged to see our sexual body fluids as precious and not to be shared with just anyone.

Similarly they should be preserved and only sent back to the cosmos when the energy has been raised to a transcendental level. This means that orgasm is achieved while lovers are vibrating at a high frequency and have taken a dimensional shift or moved out into the astral body or etheric template and away from the immediate layers of the body (physical, emotional and mental).

Partners can achieve this by delaying orgasm and engaging in various methods of orgasm control such as the venus butterfly (look it up!) or pressing gently on the base of the penis (again, for specifics look it up), but generally speaking the idea of Neotantra is to embrace the entire experience as a spiritual practice.

yoni goddessThis includes appreciating eye contact, the brushing of hands, the experience of kissing; all to be encompassed under the art of making love rather than seeing sex as goal-orientated, as this can cause sexual imbalance and numbness in the heart centre.

The union of the Yoni (vagina); which represents birth and source, and Lingam (penis); which represents endless fire, when combined together in sacred union represent the pure state of nonduality. This state is one which transcends duality; dissolving gender and all notions of separation and honours the balance of the feminine and masculine within ourselves and/or our partners.

Polyamory

Polyamory is another progressive sexual platform that has gained new wind recently and we can hope to study it in a new light as perspectives move away from patriarchal norms of the male gaze and into a more balanced and inclusive point of view.

Polyamory, often confused with polygamy is now viewed as responsible non-monogamy; it has been under new scrutiny under the watchful eye of LGBT rights over the past few years in particular and is now seen as a sexual identity. In this sense, polyamory IS the new polygamy, but one which shies away from group or multiple marriage in the legal or traditional sense.

To be poly-amorous means to love in the romantic sense – either physically or platonically – multiple partners. The boundaries of such relationships seem to be the thrill here and we can make this an inclusive spiritual practice when, as it applies to Tantra, we uphold the practice with personal integrity and respect.

This would apply to ourselves as much as with others; we can easily sense when our sacral centre is being violated or disrespected. In the realm of feelings, the emotions may get tricky but Polyamory could be seen as an opportunity for the death of the ego; jealousy, comparison and competition arise but those involved in a polyamorous triangle (or whatever shape you wish to draw) encouraged to deal with these feelings lovingly and with compassion.polyamory by thegypsy v1

The drawbacks of such relationships could be seen to incite toxic masculinity in heterosexual partnerships where the masculine uses it as an excuse to have multiple partners. This would then push the feminine into having meaningless connections as a means of ‘catching up’ or not feeling left out or cheated on.

Where any gender has more masculine qualities or an imbalance in the sexual aura this could also apply. The key would be in observing and talking openly about such instances and ensuring that multiple connection honours our free will and that it comes from the heart each time. This is quite a tall order and you can see how polyamory is a lifestyle rather than a sideline. With this in mind one relationship can be quite enough for most people let alone more than that!

So as we evolve as a species many more sexual platforms may appear to us as well as all the nuances it brings. Exploring and transcending our gender duality appears to be one of the most enthralling experiences humans can muster and so we must keep an open heart and in the spirit of Tantra; above all, enjoy the journey.

Infidelity and the Future of Relationships

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Holy Matrimony
Divine Union
Polyamory Love Art

Avoiding Spiritual or Religious Questions Linked to Depression & Lower Mental Health

Clyde
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Avoiding Spiritual or Religious Questions Linked to Depression & Lower Mental Health

A study done by Case Western Reserve University mentions that people who put away existential questions and don’t face them end up with lower mental health. Questions that challenge their beliefs, religion, existence as well as lack of tolerance of people of other faiths and backgrounds when not confronted is linked to poorer mental health, that includes higher levels of depression, anxiety and even difficulty regulating emotions.

Julie Exline, professor of psychological sciences at Case Western Reserve and co-author of the research, said, “Religious and spiritual struggles, conflicts with God or religious people, tough questions about faith, morality, and the meaning of life. These are often taboo topics, and the temptation to push them away is strong. When people avoid these struggles, anxiety and depression tend to be more intense than if they faced these struggles head-on.”

Depression and spiritual awakening -- two sides of one door | Lisa Miller | TEDxTeachersCollege

So for those who have faced the dark night of the soul or taken your hero’s journey, the good news is you have better mental health thanks to questioning your core belief system.

The study, which had 307 adult participants, found that people who were unwilling to take on spiritual struggles could end up contributing to social ills by not interacting with people from different faiths and backgrounds, more so they could also find them threatening.

mandog“This avoidance may lead to the rejection of whole groups of people based on their religious differences or perceived incongruence between, for example, their sexuality or gender-based identity and religious teachings,” Exline said.

While the avoidance of asking spiritual questions is not really the problem, but it leads to behavioral changes that can be hostile. The main issue stems from the rigid thought pattern, which changes the way the “overly religious” or anyone with a rigid belief system perceive and interact with the outside world.

According to Exline, people who are emotionally healthy seem to be able to accept troubling thoughts. “Looking at spiritual doubts in an objective way seems to help. You may or may not work through them, but at least you can tolerate having them,” she added.

Another very interesting research is the fact that most religions have either a Devil, Rakshas or Dajjal. Believing in the existence of a demon with superpowers has the worst effects on mental health as compared to any other religious belief. While the fact that there could be an after life has a comforting feeling on the mind.

So for less depression and better mental health, stop believing in evil super powers, question your belief systems, confront your fears, talk to people from other religions or backgrounds and start dismantling the cultural barriers that have been set up by society conditioning.

“Culture is not your friend. Culture is for other peoples’ convenience and the convenience of various institutions, churches, companies, tax collection schemes, what have you. It is not your friend. It insults you. It disempowers you. It uses and abuses you. None of us are well-treated by culture.” ~ Terrence McKenna

Sources:

Avoiding spiritual struggles and existential questions is linked with poorer mental health
Demonic Influence: The Negative Mental Health Effects of Belief in Demons

Applying the 12 Steps of the Hero’s Journey in Your Life

Clyde
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0
Applying the 12 Steps of the Hero’s Journey in Your Life

Around 70 years ago Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces put forth a simple suggestion that every hero that exists in mythology or that will come into existence follows a similar pattern.

“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.” ~ Joseph Campbell

Well this seems rather simple or even naive, especially if you like to watch super hero movies, but to put this in perspective….

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