Awakening Tips

The Fires of Life

Dear Blessed One,

As much as the limited human perspective would often times like to control life, it is not ours to control.

Of course, running slaphazard and disregarding guidance and common sense is not the route to take either.

Balance.
Remember surrender.
Breathe.
Recognize fear.
Breathe again.

Realize that life is perfectly designed and the journey is the destination. Each experience is offering an opportunity to deepen your connection with the infinite. As old patterns, wounds, programmed reactions and fears are burned up in the fires of life, more of the true you comes shining through.

I just returned home from a little over three months of travel and working on the road. As one event got canceled, a spontaneous event with a (mostly) new community arose. Miscommunication between the hosts and misunderstandings made my work there and preparation for the upcoming event challenging for me.

I got to see an aspect of ego that I’d not seen in a long time. If I gave it voice it would say something like, “Doesn’t she know who I am?” As I sat with the discomfort of not being received in the way I had become accustomed to, that fragmented aspect of self became uncloaked.

There were times I wanted to cancel and move on but as I sat with it, I could not get a yes to go. I knew there was something for me to see. Hearing the little whispers from the disturbed one was a sign that Consciousness was doing some deeper shedding.

The difference between meeting the occasional fragments now is there is no one judging them as they arise. Ah, this. Recognition. And then there is holding of that conditioned or wounded one, allowing her space to be seen and loved by awareness. As that happens, fragments are integrated and more Consciousness comes online.

Pause when fear arises. Drop into the belly of your being and feel what’s being dislodged. Give it space. Take two or three deep conscious breaths and bring awareness to something in the body (emotion, contraction, pain), anything will do. This is the way to create new pathways for guidance to come through and to derail the run-amuck-mind that believes it knows.

Follow the natural, organic unfolding of Life. The seeming separate self has been programmed to follow other seeming separate selves and their programmed ideas. Unplug. Turn off the TV. Spend more time in nature, dive deep into stillness and allow your authentic self the space to guide you.

Much Love and Blessings to You,
shellee rae

“The heart of the universe pulses in all hearts. There is One who is the life in all forms. There is One who is joyful in simply existing — in all bodies, as all bodies. Explore the life that is the life of your present form. One day you will discover it is not different from the life of the Secret One, and your heart will sing triumphant songs of being at home everywhere.”
~ The Radiance Sutras

Love Grows Love

Dear Blessed One,

Deep in the dream state, many adventures will carry us all over the place. Unless you become lucid, awake in the dream, they will sweep you away in their seeming reality.

You typically wouldn’t even have the thought of awakening because identification with the characters is so pervasive. If awakening from the dream does come into one’s awareness, it can seem so very far away. Although, it’s right there, as close as the breath.

Once you do awaken from the dream, you realize (even as intense as it was) that you were never in harm’s way.

Awakening from the dream of separation is like awakening from the sleeping dream. Everything seems and feels real — pain, love, fear, happiness. However, alongside experiences is the realization that there is nothing to run from, cling to or resist because it’s all you.

Important and helpful interventions still happen except they do not come from the conditioned mind or ego (the sleeping state), they come from the heart. In the relaxed state of love/oneness, we can respond to people and life situations with compassion. An awake intervention may look abrupt or even fierce, the difference is it’s coming through love rather than reaction (programmed state) or hate. It is deeply guided and not coming from shoulds or shouldn’ts.

From the relaxed, awake state, (lucid state) you’re able to respond to life without adding to the experience. Knowing there is no separation in life, the mind doesn’t even activate to add drama to what’s before you. Even if what’s before you is drama. Adding to the experience is like attempting to extinguish a fire with gasoline.

Through lucidity you can see that it’s all part of the dream and panic doesn’t arise. It’s possible to meet every condition and situation from this relaxed state.

What is the situation before you? Breathe deeply and ask life what it is attempting to teach you (especially if it’s an experience that is repeating). The experience may seem harsh or extreme. If that’s the case, it may be what’s needed to show you how to create healthy boundaries or how to move out of an unhealthy situation, etc. If life is repeating itself and is becoming more intense, it could be turning up the volume because you are not yet able to hear what it is saying.

Pause when faced with difficulties, take three deep conscious breaths, drop into the belly of your being and ask life how to best respond. If the mind answers, don’t fight with it, just acknowledge its voice, take another breath and bring awareness back into the body. Wait for the gentle pointing that comes through you. It’s much softer than the mind.

Do this over and over, especially when not faced with a crisis. You will develop the muscle of hearing Wisdom and eventually be able to discern who is speaking, Wisdom/Love or separation/conditioned mind.

When not faced with a personal challenge, bring attention to things in life that make your heart smile – nature is my favorite respite. Pull back from dramas you cannot resolve or have no part in. Putting attention on things that stimulate fear or anger feeds fear and anger. Feeding love grows love.

Because life is vibration, an attitude of gratitude can attract more to be grateful for…it could be as simple as gratitude for the eyes to read this post.

Much Love and Blessings to You,
shellee rae

“Toss aside your map of the world, all your beliefs and constructs. Dare the wild unknown. Here in this terrifying freedom, naked before the universe, commune with the One who knows everything from the inside: invisible power pervading everywhere. Divine presence permeating everything. Breathe tenderly as the lover of all beings.”
~ The Radiance Sutras

Usher You Home

Dear Blessed One,

You are not your persona. A persona is a fictional character that was created, often as a (seemingly) protective device. What happens over time while reacting to life from the fictional character is, we forget who we truly are and believe we are the persona.

What is beneath the facade, the mask that has been worn so long that it is misidentified as the self?

The first step to remembering who you truly are is awareness. Recognizing in the moment the emotions that are arising, the thoughts that are spinning stories, and the reactions to situations from the perspective of an observer can create just the needed space to see the misidentified you.

The way a fish can really “know” water is to be out of it for a moment. Step back and watch. Be quiet. Be still. Be present. Practice taking one or two deep conscious breaths before reacting or responding to what is before you. This is how you may recognize personas that you might be identified with and then the process of healing and integration can begin.

Your authentic self is always there, albeit sometimes undercover. It’s not another character and it’s not an act of trying to become or portray another fictional character (one who is funnier, more generous, more spiritual, etc.). Attempting to become more is just another distraction from the you that you already are.

Be exactly who you are, no matter what that looks like, and see it all with the eyes of compassion. Embrace the personas. There’s nothing here that needs to be fixed because nothing is broken. When the victim, the villain or the hero shows up, name that persona and give it a big hug. The hero is really one who wants to control things in other people’s lives. The victim looks to someone or something else to blame for difficult situations. And the villain typically uses anger as a reaction to life’s challenges.

Not seeing the personas or seeing them and fighting with them allows these characters to thrive.

Perceiving the fictional self, embracing it and getting curious about its beginning and its purpose will help to heal and integrate it. As it’s integrated, it is rightsized and it can no longer take over and shadow the authentic self.

You are infinite, you are divine, and you are dancing in this human form with the limited human perspective while shedding all that obscures the true Self. Each person and every situation has been called in to usher you home. Honor it all. Life is guiding everything…and you are that!

Much Love and Blessings to You,
shellee rae

“The true self seeks release, not constraint. It doesn’t want to be corseted in a sonnet or made to learn a system of musical notations. It wants liberation…”
~ Rachel Cusk

Put the Stick Down

Dear Blessed One,

Where are you operating from? Are you tuned in to your infinite nature or are you pretending to be separate, struggling to make life work on your terms?

When mucking around in the mind-trap, see if you can create just a little bit of space and notice that you’re listening to the insanity of the conditioned mind. Take a deep breath, all the way into the belly of your being and exhale all the way down to your toes.

Remember life is always in charge and knows what’s best for our evolution, expansion, awakening. You are moving at a pace that is perfect for your biology and psyche. I’ve heard Osho say, “The grass grows by itself,” and so do you. There is nothing more needed than this precious moment. Stay awake – as best you can. Notice when the mind is adding to your experience and see if you can come back to the present moment.

You cannot muck it up because you are not in charge. Life is taking you to all the places that need awareness; give thanks.

Picking up the stick and beating yourself for making mistakes is saying NO to Life (your Higher Essence, God), when a mistake is actually an opportunity. Your expansive nature will not present you with anything that is not of benefit. We grow from lessons and then we can apply that wisdom to life and all its undulations. Pain may be part of the experience however, suffering dissolves when we say YES.

Pain is not bad. We’ve been programmed to avoid it at all costs. Pain is a catalyst, a motivator, a pointer to something that needs attention. In a challenging moment, ask yourself what life is wanting you to see. Rather than telling Life no (which is saying you are the one in charge and you are the one who will figure it out), see if you can notice all the attachments to the mind-created-self.

Grace is guiding you all ways. Say yes. Drop the judgments and labels and just experience what you are experiencing. Find the pearl. There’s always a gift though it may not be apparent right away. Sometimes we need to be presented (gifted) with the lesson many times before the breakthrough can happen. Recognize repetition… yay, another opportunity!

Eventually you will put the stick down once you get tired of beating yourself up. In the meantime, only notice when you’re beating yourself up. And do it with consciousness. Life will take care of the rest.

Much Love and Blessings to You,
shellee rae

“The moment that judgement stops (through acceptance of what is), you are free of the mind. You have made room for love, for joy, for peace.”
~ Eckhart Tolle

The Gentler Way

Dear Blessed One,

Consciousness is here. It’s always been here just waiting for you to notice its alive presence. Like a seed waiting for water to crack its protective shell and begin the germination process, consciousness is waiting for the light of awareness to crack the shell of ego.

When I had my awakening experience in August of 2008, there was an incredible sense of presence. I couldn’t imagine what had been operating this body vehicle previously. It was like arriving for the first time in my body. Awe, wonder, and gratitude permeated my being. Belief structures dissolved without any effort or doingness. I recognized (more like a remembering) everything as sacred.

Consciousness is here. Where are you? Are you able to redirect your attention from thought to the still presence of the moment? Some are still too attached to their stories to have the willingness to relinquish them. However, continuing a thought pattern which creates suffering eventually burns itself out of its own accord. The gentler way is to consciously let go of the mind-machine. Ego dissipates when thought is surrendered.

Don’t trade one set of beliefs for another (even if they are better beliefs). Ideas of who you are, even if these ideas allow you to feel better about yourself, are still based in the mind. Be willing to die to who you think you are and watch to see what arises from the state of emptiness or not-knowing.

Follow the breath, bring attention to where your body is in space and what it is doing in the moment without letting the mind wander to something else. Pay attention to each intricate detail. Be as focused as a free-climber! Simultaneously know where your hands, feet and torso are in each unfolding moment. Do this two or three times a day for five minutes as a practice to retrain your attention.

Life unfolds magically and organically without mental machinations attempting to force it. The gentler way is to let go of the mind and allow life to lead you. Presence is all that’s needed. Once here, there’s nowhere else to be.

Much Love and Blessings to You,
shellee rae

“Awakening is about liberating yourself from the prison that is the world of the mind and daring to be here as all that you are.”
~ Leonard Jacobson

Do-Over

Dear Blessed One,

As we awaken, we become more and more aware of shadow aspects of self, ways of being that we were not privy to in the deep sleep state. With more consciousness online, those parts of ourselves that were lurking in the bowels of our beings can no longer hide as they are touched with the light of God – your higher essence.

It can be very painful and confusing to face these things as they come up for release. It helps to remember that you are healing and expanding, not screwing up, even though it may look like the latter.

Nothing is going wrong. The shadow aspects have always been there, you’ve just not had access to them.

Imagine the basement of your house that you’ve been in thousands of times, but only just inside the door to throw laundry in the machines. That’s all that was ever needed. One day something goes wrong with the plumbing and you need to get to the far end of the room. Locating the main switch for the bright overhead lights, you are shocked to see all the cobwebs and creepy crawlies living in the space. They were there all along, you just didn’t have enough light to see them.

It’s good to see what’s hiding behind images, facades, pride, fear, etc. When shadow comes to the surface (or is pointed out to us), just see it, shine the light of awareness on it. Feel everything that comes up as you face it. Talk openly and honestly to someone you trust about the challenge of facing what may be defined as ugly.

Life is not punishing us for anything. The bugs were always in the basement and now we’re getting to see them so we can clear them out. That’s a good thing. When the lights go on, it can feel overwhelming. Remember to take it easy. Don’t attempt to clean the whole house when you’re working in the basement.

Look around and see what has to be done. If it’s not on the have-to list, put it on the wait-list. Awakening can be a very trying time. In every moment there’s an opportunity to do-over. If you’re judging yourself or forcing yourself, pause and start over. Remove the chains of conditioned mind and give yourself the space to be still as much as possible during the tumultuous waves of awakening.

Commit to the KISS principle…keep it super simple. ?

Much Love and Blessings to You,
shellee rae

“Spiritual awakening is the difficult process whereby the increasing realisation that everything is as wrong as it can be flips suddenly into the realisation that everything is as right is it can be. Or better, everything is as It as it can be.”
~ Alan Watts

Follow Your Feet

Dear Blessed One,

There is nothing needed to be more complete, more whole or more you than you right now. Life moves on its own accord and tends to everything. You are life. Let it be.

As Osho once said, the grass grows by itself. It needs no techniques or gurus to do so. Awareness arises in perfect timing ~ when you are ready to be aware of something, you become aware.

As consciousness expands in your being, you become the witness of life’s movements, knowing there is nothing to fix, force or finagle, only to notice.

You can’t force yourself to grow, heal or awaken any faster than your natural pace. Your natural pace is specific to you. Allow your process to be as it is; it’s perfect and needs nothing.

Life is your guide. Follow your feet and know that life goes before you preparing the way. Whatever is arising in the moment, life has said yes to or it wouldn’t be here. Saying yes eliminates the energy of resistance and then clear action can present itself.

Allowing life to be as it is does not mean nonaction. When arguing with life, our actions become muddled. Responding to life, rather than reacting to life comes through resting with whatever is appearing in every given moment. In the depths of stillness, wisdom points the way.

Anger, sadness, suffering, etc. can be honored as healers and teachers when we allow them to move through us without judgment. To feel it is to release the energy. Fully experiencing and (safely) expressing it creates an opening for movement. Feel, Release, Experience, Express. F.R.E.E.

– Hang a punching bag
– Punch pillows
– Primal scream
– Breath of fire
– Cry (use a sad movie if needed)
– Move out of the mind and into the body
– Jog / power-walk

As you awaken, more of your authentic self organically begins to show up. The more you free yourself from the wounds of the past, shadow aspects and restrictive belief patterns, the more access you have to your higher essence / guidance. The more access you have to your higher essence, the more you awaken.

Life knows the way. Trust the transformation that’s already in motion.

Much Love and Blessings to You,
shellee rae

“Happiness is a continuation of happenings which are not resisted.”
~ Deepak Chopra

Presence is Enough

Dear Blessed One,

During one of our Awakening Hearts gatherings, a friend said, “Presence is enough.” It states so clearly and simply the profundity of presence that it bears repeating.

Nothing more than presence is needed. Ever. Presence is enough. It contains everything that is needed for the emerging moment.

Being here, aware, awake and fully present in this very moment is enough. From presence comes action. Nonaction (out of the mind that is in constant motion) allows clear action to arise. Clear action comes from stillness and from not knowing what is needed in the moment. It’s a surrendering the little mind to No Mind.

In presence, resting in the stillness of what-is, higher essence is accessible and a response (or clear action) to the situation, person or thing becomes evident.

Die to who you think you are. From those ashes flowers purity.

Life is to be lived. If tomorrow comes for you, you will be there to meet it fresh, alive, innocent and present. Leaking energy by constantly rehearsing the potential future, lamenting the disastrous past or longing for something other than what’s present is a distraction that will keep you from experiencing the magnificent and magical moment, which contains all guidance.

Live each moment as present and fully as possible because the next moment is born out of the previous one. If caught in a mind-trap, take a break and simply bring attention to the beauty of a flower or a tree by focusing on the stillness and splendor of nature.

Be here now. Take one deep conscious breath and rest. The more you let it have you, the less it has of you.

Much Love and Blessings to You,
shellee rae

“This movement of the mind in the future is desire… It means you are not here. It means you are not in the real moment and the present moment is the only door into existence. The past and future are not doors, they are walls.”
~ Osho

Effortlessness of Being

Dear Blessed One,

When you can release all ideas of a you needing to add or remove anything from life and allow life to play through you, all that is left is Presence.

In presence, we can see there is nothing to be achieved. We realize life is its own goal and there’s nothing outside of it that needs to be controlled or manipulated.

We arrive on the scene (each moment as it opens) fresh, new, and listening deeply to the brilliance of life as it moves us.

Reaching, grabbing, desiring more than the natural emanation of life that organically arises, is the dance of ego or the illusory self. Reaching is the very energy that hinders the awareness of higher essence, that which needs no-thing.

When in tune with the divine unfolding, the natural flowering of life, effort dissolves as there is no doer to be fatigued. Following the creative impulse that comes through us and gently guides us (rather than listening to the energy-draining mind), the effortlessness of being is experienced.

This doesn’t mean we are never again faced with painful or difficult situations. It means we no longer fight with the wisdom of life. When something arises that may not be preferred, remember life has said yes to it or it wouldn’t be here. It has purpose.

Obstacles are in our path to assist us in our development. Disturbances in the field ultimately redirect us back to center. I like the analogy of bumper bowling where the ball bounces off the rails rather than traveling down the gutter. The rails are there to redirect the ball so we can hit our target, even if it’s not right on center every time.

Everything is here for life’s greater expansion (you). We’re being tempered. Tempering is done to break up beliefs and patterns while achieving greater trust and resilience.

Take time to be still. Allow yourself to feel what you’re feeling (without listening to the story) as you are presented with difficulties. Feeling is the healing. It’s medicine. As old stored energetics from the past are released, there is greater access to your expansive nature.

Once you realize how beautiful, wise and powerful you are, nothing of the mind remains to counter the truth of being.

And wow, you are so beautiful, wise and powerful!

Much Love and Blessings to You,
shellee rae

“Effortlessness is the ability to slow down and listen for the spaces between the joints… Deep within all things there is a natural rhythm, a music of opening and closing, expansion and contraction.”
~ Wayne Muller

Touching the Limitless

Dear Blessed One,

Oh the wonders of life. Watch as the veils continue to dissolve exposing your vastness. Sometimes it doesn’t even take a keen eye to see it.

While giving a Reiki treatment in 1998, as my awareness was pointed inward and connected in the heart, I spontaneously launched into an experience of oneness. It felt like the person receiving Reiki (Leah) and I were one – everything was One! Somehow, we (as one) were soaring through space and everything was happening NOW – blissful eternity is the best way I can describe it (no words can explain the experience of eternity).

I began looking around as we were flying through space and suddenly realized that we were not flying through space, we WERE space! “I” was boundless. Although there was no separation, Leah, space and I were truly one, I still knew myself as a point of consciousness and knew Leah as a point of consciousness (faceless as we were) in the vast Space.

I realized I had never been anywhere but There always and that realization startled me which threw me back into my body. It felt like I’d been gone forever but only a couple of minutes had passed.

The experience had a huge impact on me. I recognized the vastness as Me and really wanted to go back. Even though I couldn’t control when I had the expanded states of consciousness, I learned a lot from that particular experience. I realized that everything is one, holy and pure. It took years though to heal old wounds and for imprints, programming and habits to dissolve.

Finding balance between being and doing helped me to remember the truth of who I am. Too much doing can tighten the grip of the ego then identification with the one who creates and accomplishes can happen. Creating space to just be, without a book, phone or calendar in hand and rest in stillness increases the possibility of touching the limitless you.

When sitting in stillness, bring attention to one thing in nature or into your heart or to the physical sensation of bare feet on the ground or the sun on your skin and stay with that experience. If the mind comes in with a narration, gently bring awareness back to the single point of focus. The more you do it, the easier it gets and the less the mind tugs at you. Eventually an opening can happen and a glimpse of your greater nature, the infinite you is experienced.

You are the Universe, boundless, timeless and exquisite. There is nothing that can take that away from you. Even a thought that you are not the universe will not put a blemish on your infinite and pristine nature.

The Formless delights in knowing itself through form. Dance your dance, whatever it may be while realizing there is more to you than the mind can fathom. How much more freedom and ease in life can you experience with this realization?

Much Love and Blessings to You,
shellee rae

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
~ Oscar Wilde