What is your Ego telling you? Part 2

Sep4

life coach**, spiritual counseling, spiritual counseling, life coach nevada city, spiritual counselor nevada city, wellness coach , christian counseling, spiritual therapist, online counseling Is your ego talking to you? Are you noticing that you or others around you are defensive? What are you feeling defensive about? I have observed that the defenses often show up when the stresses of life ignite the our desire to feel safe in our lives.

Lately the world seems to be in the midst of so many conflicting energies that it is hard to keep up with it, even if you want to. I can max out – what about you- what do you do with the over-stimulated energies of life? It can be very confusing and upsetting if we do not have some healthy spiritual tools to work through our thoughts and feelings with.

What are the fences you have erected?

I was listening to the Sunday service yesterday and the minister and speaker, Guandev from the Ananda community, was addressing the topic of Ego- Friend or Foe. His talk was inspiring and later I found myself thinking about writing this blog.

Parmahansa Yogananda said that “when we are enslaved by the ego, it is the Soul that is identified with the body.” We are caught up in our likes and dislikes and it is like a ferris wheel that keeps going around in endless circles.

Our souls are stuck in this kind of limited awareness, it is caught up in bundles of self-definitions. That is an absolute guarantee and ticket to the ferris wheel of life that will always separate you from your loved one, anyone who is different than we are, and all others including our true spiritual selves.

There are so many fences that we erect with the ego. I am observing how many different kinds of obstacles we have in the way of unity and cooperation.

One is the “chicken wire fence,” it pokes at the heart and soul of the others in our lives. It also pokes at and injures us the most. It creates distance and the experience of rejection because it immediately hurts and feels so badly that no one wants to be around it. Who wants to feel poked at and hurt by just being around that kind of energy and personality. It is a dangerous fence and certainly is a tool for distancing and a kind of personalized defense. It works. You will be left alone, often angry and stuck in the defensive self. Does that leave you pointing a finger at someone else? The answer is to look within.

When I see any fence going up between me and another person I do my best to take mine down unless it is actually unsafe to do so. That is ours to determine. Personally I use prayer, affirmation, meditation, chanting, yoga, exercise, and many tools of sacred practice that I have been using for over 30 years of dedicated practice.

Know that you are Loved! Rev. Barb Walley

Ego blocks the Divine Circuits? Part 1

May19

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I read a great article by Jyotish Novak this morning. He and his wife Devi are the Spiritual Leaders of the Ananda Communities Worldwide. I am consistently blessed by the wisdom and compassion that they share in their blogs. I recommend signing up for their “Touch of Light” weekly email list by going to Ananda.org

This week has brought forth several opportunities to look at the power of magnetism in my life. I asked myself what am I magnetizing to myself and is it working. I will share my discoveries with you as I go more deeply into expanding awarenesses. The Ananda Community is dedicated to the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda. We dedicate our daily practice of Kriya Yoga with the goal of reaching Self Realization. Our daily lives are actively engaged in conscious meditation, yoga and conscious practices that support us as we live in attunement with High Thinking and Simple Living.

What I have discovered on my spiritual path that it is essential to have a tried and true roadmap to reach a fully awakened consciousness. In Jyotish’s blog he shared 12 qualities that Paramhansa Yogananda, the author of Autobiography of a Yogi, gave us as a roadmap to help us develop twelve Godly qualities as a means of overcoming the ego. They are as follows:

1. Fearlessness and non-attachment
2. Absence of self-conceit
3. Purity of heart: no malice towards others
4. Perseverance (in the acquisition of wisdom and the practice of meditation)
5. Sattwic charity (including helping others materially)
6. Self-restraint (which leads to control of the senses)
7. Freedom from anger and faultfinding
8. Straightforwardness
9. Kindness
10. Forgiveness, (giving a person a chance to reform)
11. Renunciation (primarily of the heart)
12. Tranquility in the Self

Those are powerful ideas and I certainly have several on this list that I need to work on. Yogananda suggested that we pick one of these qualities (at a time) to focus upon and that makes great sense to me. Feel free to discuss any of these ideas that you like with me. And we will be going more deeply into these 12 qualities in future blog posts. Have a blessed day.

Know that you are Loved, Rev. Barb Walley

Walking Through the Storm:

May18

I was having a particularly challenging morning today and it was triggered by the news that I read on the internet. I was just browsing my emails and not guarding my sensitivity level because it was early and the brazen and aggressive news hit me smack dab in my heart and my head. I immediately felt restless and nervous about what is happening to our beautiful planet, our country and the many innocent souls who are the hardest hit by greed and ignorance.

When circumstances, people or situations hit us over the head because we were caught off guard, it is very useful to have a few time tested tools available to apply to our current mind set or we will be drawn into the energy, emotional drama or the dominant attitude being expressed.

I noticed that I was feeling anxious and my plans for the morning had been ease and grace, doing my meditation, staying centered and calm and the opposite had been triggered and I had an insufficient screen in place.

Once again, God brought me to a challenge that was going to stretch my inner life skills to work through the feelings of fear and insecurity that came up when I read a few of my emails.

I realized that I was barely alert and I needed to be kind and accepting of myself where I was at, in the moment. Not that I should pamper myself and play out “poor me” scenarios. I was aware that I needed to be compassionate and conscious and I needed a healthy strategy to find a way to gently shift my gears.

I went for a short ride with my dog to Masters Market at Ananda Village and picked up one of my favorite breakfast sandwich’s and then shared some extra fresh tomatoes I had with a friend. If we are too absorbed in our own suffering it is time to give more generously of ourselves to others. I made a decision to switch out of a self absorbed mind set and decided to give my energy to help someone else because I was not supporting myself at all. Giving of ourselves when we are moody, frustrated or upset is the best way to utilize our misdirected energy. Be generous with our lives and we simply can’t out-give God or the universe. With a loving and empowering attitude the energy will shift and change as you walk through the storm.

Know that You are Loved… Rev. Barb Walley