Share Your Love

So we're in week seven and this really is the feel good week! This is where we really get to share our joy, share love, share our gratitude and share our truth that those closest to us.

It's all about raising your vibration and there's no better way of doing that than by allowing others to raise theirs. It's a total win-win canoodle!

I shared on the conference calls this week my experience of sharing my love and appreciation with my late father in an intensely powerful piece of shadow-work psychodrama. I shared with him all the things that I had been somehow unable (though desparately wanting) to share with him before he died. In the safe container of the shadow work day, I was able to access that part of me that deeply loved and respected my Dad and I was able to express in an incredible powerful way. The energy that was left in the room I can only describe as being as close to an experience of pure love as I have ever known. It was palpable and everyone in the room was deeply moved by it. I had no idea in advance of this happening that my Dad would feature at all in my piece of 'shadow work' and this seemed to make it all the more potent. It was an absolute gift and the outpouring of love and appreciation that flowed has released a long-held wound that I have been carrying all my life and it was directly linked to my relationship with my father, whose own wound I seemed to have absorbed and taken on. In giving up this wound in that profound, symbolic space I feel have claimed a stronger sense of leadership, a deeper sense of inner peace and a more readily accessible connection to my joy.

If you have someone in your life that you need to share your love with, then please share it with them. Let it pour out of you, how much they mean to you, how much their presence in the world enhances your life, how valuable they are and how loved. I know it's not very English (supposedly), but why not just let your love and appreciation overflow, let it gush out of you. Feel the joy, share your love, share your golden gift.

love John xx

Beholding Beauty

Well, we're now entering the second half of this extraordinary course in creative manifestation as we move into week seven.

Week Seven's theme constellates around the astrological seventh house, the zodiac sign Libra and the planet Venus. This brings us into contact with the themes of attraction, love and appreciation of our relationships, harmony and beauty.

I found a wonderful quote the other day:

"A person is only beautiful when their own beauty is reflecting onto others."

This really sums up the energy of week seven for me. Week Seven is the week where Aphrodite-Venus, the Goddess of Love, manifests her true beauty. And beauty is one of the watchwords of the week and what a misunderstood thing it is.

If you can behold beauty in your own heart, in your own soul, then you can appreciate beauty in others and in the world. Our impoverished modern western view of beauty is that it is something objective to be striven for, something that exists outside of ourselves - a trophy to be claimed or a rare resource to bought and sold. Beauty has become commodified.

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, they say. This oft misunderstood statement is absolutely correct. Yes, indeed beauty is in the eye of beholder. “The eyes are the window of the soul” they also so and the way that you look at the world, the way that you perceive reflects perfectly the current vibration of your soul. When we consider our own beauty, we often forget this. We imagine how others look at us and we judge our beauty against the beauty of others, and often against some impossible ideal. This week, we are practicing getting in touch with the idea that beauty resides in our own perception. If we look out on the world knowing our own beauty, then beauty will be reflected back to us everywhere we look. Beauty is far from the scarce resource that only a privileged few have access to, as we are continually led to believe. It is abundant in all of creation, an energy which we can draw upon any time we choose. And it always begins with an experience of our own beauty.

So as we as step out this week and feel the beauty within us and feel it pulsing through us, so we naturally raise our vibration of attraction. We become more attractive to those around us and we become more attractive to those experiences that we wish to attract. So by raising our capacity for beauty this week, we are raising our capacity for manifestation. We move into alignment with what we wish to attract and if we can practice consistently holding that vibration that we will naturally draw it into our lives, delivered to us courtesy of The Law of Attraction.

So be as beautiful as you can possibly imagine this week. Feel the power of your attractiveness, of your beauty and share it with the world. For every time you authentically appreciate the beauty in another, you raise the vibration of beauty in yourself. So, go tell your spouse how much you love and cherish them, go tell you mother, father or sibling how much they mean to you. Don't hold back. You are infinitely more beautiful than you give yourself credit for. Share your own beauty with the world.

Love John x

Harvesting Our Gold

One of the key symbols of week six is the symbol of the 'harvest', that time of the year marked in the Celtic calendar as the Lammas festival, the time of reaping what we have sown. The harvest is a time both of ritual celebration and ritual dedication to task. We could usefully connect to the meticulous effort of harvesting the wheat this week, the repetitive action of the sheaf as it cuts down the once proud stalks of golden crop that shone with the glimmer of the sun's summer light and transforming it into the feast that will feed a community. The revelation of nature's gift lies in each kernel of wheat and, symbolically in our own lives, through the diligent, ritual work of separating the wheat from the chaff, we perform's the magician's work, transforming the potential of nature's abundant gifts into concrete manifest forms. Through such attentive diligence, we are fed, we are sustained, we are healed, and wealth in all its forms is delivered to us.

I have subtitled this week's practice 'Harvesting Your Gold' and in the coaching I have been offering it has all been about bringing one's attention back to the practice. No matter what else is going on in the circumstances of your life, just bring it back to the practice. We have been hold the vision, we have expressed the vision - now is the time to cultivate it. As you become more acutely aware than ever of all the details of your life and honour each one of them for the place they have in your life, irrespective of their perceived size or importance, so you cultivate your golden crop. As you cut back the stalks of gold, so you clear the way for the magic of the universe to express itself.

So carry on clearing the clutter. Move things around in your space, move the furniture, rearrange things. It stirs up the energy. Something will change in your perception of reality and something will be revealed. It's a healthy abundant practice and you'll feel different about yourself as a result. Happy harvesting!

Love John x

The Magic is in the Details

We are now into a week six of the Living a Wealthy Life course. This week we are moving from the energy of Leo and the Sun, where we basked in the light of creative expression, and found the confidence to radiate our own golden light and we are moving back once again 9as we did in week three) into the energy of Mercury, the wily magician, whose skill and cunning knits together the fabric of life into a seamless dance. In week three we met Mercury through the element of air, in his role as messenger, emissary of divine contact. In week six, Mercury really takes on an embodied form and embeds his magic in the details of life, details which we so easily miss each time we attempt to look beyond the everyday for inspiration. Yet, when we ignore the mundane, the embodied every day rituals, we risk losing the magic touch. So this week, we must be mindful of Mercury’s deft touch, his sleight of hand, and we must invoke the ritual magician if we are to glimpse his creative secret. We must become aware of the details of our lives, observe the order and rituals of life, learn to respect and revere each so-called mundane experience. Our task is to glimpse magic in the ordinary. Our role this week is to sweep, to clean, to tidy, to order, to polish, to wax, to sharpen, to become still, accepting, and blissfully content as we perfect the ordinary tasks of life. Through bringing mindfulness to our repetitive actions, we open the possibility of transcending time, entering liminal space, re-enchanting our experience of stepping into the shoes of the magician.

It strikes me that in our thirst for new experience, we in the west are becoming increasingly averse to ritual action. The idea of doing the 'same thing' at the 'same time' every day seems abhorrent when we have the 'freedom' (so-called) to do whatever we like whenever we like. Yet there is something deep within us that seems to call us back to ritual and the benefit that we feel when we develop a daily practice can be life-transforming. This is such a key moment in the course, that we have decided to dedicate two weeks to it. Unlike the fiery energy of last week, this a slow-burn process, where the emphasis is definitely not upon getting anywhere, but upon being somewhere.

There is a wonderful quote which I think is really profound and it goes like this:

"There may be more to learn from climbing the same mountain a hundred times, than by climbing a hundred different mountains." (Richard Nelson)

This really speaks to me and challenges me in all sorts of ways - yet deep down I know that it contains a profound wisdom and it is that same wisdom that we are invited to draw upon this week.

Love John x

Sending Faxes to God

Today I'm going to leave the words to someone else. Methinks you will like...

Sending Faxes to God

Our dear friend Bob electrocutes himself whilst blow drying his hair in the bathroom one evening and suddenly finds himself in heaven. He is somewhat bewildered, his last memory catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror with frizzy hair as he fell with a thud to the ground. Anyway, his wonderful guide Gloria comes to his aid and settles him in to his new situation. “So how do you think you did Bob?” asks Gloria.“Well, very well I think. It’s hard work down there. Work, trouble, toil, striving to create new situations, overcoming challenges, it’s quite exhausting!” replied Bob with frustration in his voice.“Oh?” replied Gloria “seems to me that you got everything you asked for”“Everything I asked for! Have you gone completely mad? I hardly ever got what I wanted. As I said, a lot of toil and trouble, broken dreams, disappointments, just plain hard work.”Gloria placed her hand lovingly on Bob’s knee and with a kind look gazed into his eyes and said “No Bob, really, you got everything you asked for. You see, the Universe is like God Inc and we have departments for everything. Order departments, dispatch, marketing, management, everything, and we’re all working for you. Let me show you.”

Gloria took Bob by the hand and took him into a very, very, very large building. Hundreds of people were milling around all over the place, carrying books, files, documents, people shouting across hallways and offices like a busy stock exchange, an absolute sight of busyness. “This is the order department Bob, look around” Gloria invited.As Bob looked around, he could see fax machines pumping out orders left right and centre, piles of documents several feet high on many desks, documents being passed from one person to another. He was amazed by just how busy it was. Gloria then took him by the hand to another room and in that room sat one person, with one fax machine next to her desk. As he stood there, the beautiful assistant received a fax which she read diligently and with a smile on her face, took a rubber stamp that said “Implemented” on it, and crashed it down on the paper with a look of sheer delight on her face.

Gloria took Bob out into the hallway and looked at him. “Did you notice the difference between the two order departments Bob?”.“Yes” replied Bob “Clearly that small office is for someone special, a senior soul or something and the other office deals with lots and lots of less important Souls”“No my dear Bob” replies Gloria “the small office is the order department for a woman on Earth who is clear about what she wants, hardly ever gives into doubt, doesn’t feel that she has to compete with others, and is clear about her intentions. The other office, on the other hand, is your order department.”“Yeah, me and half of Earth’s population” Bob retorted. “No Bob” Gloria replied gently “it is YOUR order department. All of those people and faxes work for you”.“They do?” asked Bob“Yes Bob, each one of them works for you every moment of the day” says Gloria “let me explain”.

Gloria goes on to explain to Bob that every request he sends out in thought is received as a fax by God Inc and implemented. She explains that Bob would send faxes saying something like “I want a new challenging career, which is well paid, where I am independent and self reliant” and the order is approved immediately by God Inc. Bob then goes for an interview and on his way out he sends another fax saying “I’m not sure I’m good enough for this job, they seem to be wanting to ask a lot of me”. Gloria then explains that this fax, like the first one, is approved and implemented, hence Bob does not get the job, and Bob in return is angry. Gloria takes Bob by the hand and takes him to the office archive where he can see every fax he has ever sent to God Inc.

He is stunned, so many contradictory orders concerning health, money, career, relationships, everything! For each subject there are two piles “orders” and “cancelled orders”. Bob was amazed to see that the ‘orders’ and ‘cancelled orders’ piles were equal in many cases, and in most cases, ‘cancelled orders’ exceeded ‘orders’. “But the truth is Bob” Gloria says to him “there are only orders. It is God Inc’s responsibility to fulfill your every wish and whim, we are duty bound to obey your every command. So when you send us a fax saying “I’m not sure I can do this” we have to honor it and fulfill that order through your life’s circumstances.”

Bob looks at Gloria with wide eyes and says “So I really did get everything I wanted?”

“Yes Bob” replied Gloria “every fax sent to us is honored fully and it’s a pity that you rarely read the faxes we sent you”“You sent me faxes? When? How often?”

Bob replies in disbelief“Yes Bob” Gloria replies with a gentle smile on her face “almost every day, but most of the time we simply got the busy signal, so we simply couldn’t get through to you. At times we would get creative and send a fax to a close friend who would read it you, but you never really listened or took note. Over the millennia, we’ve become very creative, we send faxes via friends, psychics, even hidden faxes through TV, Radio and many, many books, but you missed so many of them. A few times, when the line wasn’t busy, we did get through and you would read the fax with great interest, forget it, and then send us another fax asking for the same information. We would then re-send it, you would read it again, ignore it, forget it, dismiss it, whatever, and then re-fax us for the same information over and over again.”

“Didn’t you get tired with me” asked Bob“No Bob, never” replied Gloria “that is our job, we only noticed just how tired you were making yourself. So, dear Bob, I would like you to try again. Go back to Earth, upgrade your fax receiving equipment, pay attention to what you receive, and try to send us fewer, much clearer faxes in future. We are only here to help you Bob.”

_____________________
John L Payne is an internationally known metaphysical teacher, therapist, and author of “Omni Reveals the Four Principles of Creation” (Findhorn Press). http://www.fourprinciples.com/

Remembering to Breathe In

Just a quick observation, (which will probably turn into a long one...) One of the themes of this week has been our relationship to giving. How do we give? How freely and unconditionally do we give?

I haven't formulated any of this - it's just a spontaneous first draft as it occurs to me...

We're working from the premise that as we give unconditionally in a spirit of abundance, so we receive unconditionally in a spirit of abundance. Yet one of the things that has been coming up this week is the report from several participants that they feel that they do give freely, but at the same time, they feel that they give too much. How can this be? How can we possibly give too much and yet still be giving freely and without condition. One of the things that emerged was that in giving 'freely' of one's time (in particular) there was actually a previously unacknowledged element of guilt associated to the giving, guilt that it would be bad or wrong not to help another person in need. This seemed to address a major part of the issue but it bugged me that there was something else here that was really important to do with what is natural about giving and receiving.

It really became clear in a coaching session earlier today that in giving too much we may be forgetting to connect to the breath of abundance that supports us. As we breathe in, we receive - we take into ourselves that which sustains and nurtures us. As we breathe out, we give, as we express ourselves through the outbreath, we give away that which we have drawn to us and been blessed with by the simple virtue of us being alive. But, obviously we can't be breathing out all the time! There is a point that our body knows is the time to take a breath in, and when that signal is adhered to, all is well. We breathe, taking in abundant life giving oxygen from the source of our being, filling us up with energy that we can then authentically give out. As we explored last week, we need to connect to our own authentic rhythm and that rhythm is guided by the fundamental requirement to breathe. Learning to live in abundance is, in a very important sense, about learning to breathe properly. There is a clearly a consistent breathing rhythm to our individual in and out breath. There is also a breathing rhythm to the in and out breath in every energetic exchange with another, in each conversation we have. There is an in and out breathing rhythm of the sun as it lights the day and darkens the night. There is a breathing in and out rhythm to the seasons of the year. There is a breathing in and out rhythm to our life as a whole. If we are in harmony with those rhythms, we may live in abundance and all manner of miracles may be bestowed upon. If there is imbalance in our breathing rhythms, we fall sick, we become afflicted by fear and the belief in lack, whether it is lack of oxygen, lack of money, lack of love or whatever.

Let us be clear here, there is no more virtue in breathing out (giving) too much than there is in breathing in (taking) too much. Our perjorative culture suggests the former is good and the latter is bad, but this is twisted thinking. when there is balance in our breathing, when there is balance in our giving and receiving, we may live in abundant health and abundant wealth. So why don't we just drop this holier-than-thou attitude that giving is 'better' than receiving. Giving is receiving and receiving is giving. One cannot exist without the other, lest we fall sick, poor and ridden with guilt, resentment and fear. Give with joy. Receive with joy. Follow your bliss, as does the child. Surely there is no higher service to humanity.

I welcome your thoughts.

love John x

Your Gift to the World

What gifts do you and could bestow upon the world? In week two we identified our talents, our skills, we named our assets, that which we have that we can rightfully own. It was important and necesary to claim certain things for ourselves, to claim our own value, our own worth, as we often tend to get wrapped up with the values of others and deny our own worth, our own talents, our own skills. This week offers us the opportunity to make a shift in our perspective toward our talents and assets. This we week we are claiming them as our gifts.

We often speak of a person's gifts in the same breath as we speak about their talents, so let us be clear about and make an important distinction. The very nature of a gift is that it is not for us alone. A gift is something that we give away. A gift is something that we have that is of value that we give to someone else, that we give to the world. When we give authentically there is immense joy in our giving, and in giving we simultanously receive. The problem is that our cultural experience teaches us to attach conditions to our giving and we have learned to give strategically. We say to ourselves, if I give in this situation, what am I going to get back in return? We quite understandably want to know that when we give something, we are going get something of appropriate value back in return. Whether we give our money, our love or our time and attention, it doesn't matter. We expect something back that is tangibly connected to what we have given. I'll give you this if you give me that. The idea that a quantifiably measurable receipt is a requirement directly subsequent to our giving, and is a condition of it, is surely one of the most taken-for-granted, and yet misleading, assumptions that we have integrated in our thought process. It is misleading because it comes entirely from a place of limitation and separation.

If we are really going to embrace the idea that we are all interconnected beings on an interconnected planet, each of us interconnected with God, (the universe, the divine or whatever label you wish to place on the unlimited source of being) then we need a new paradigm that can embrace the act of authentic giving. When we give freely from our hearts, from that place of abundant love, trust and well-being, we automatically invite a response in kind. When we give unconditionally, we receive unconditionally. So the challenge of this week is to really get that by giving our gifts, our money, our joy in that free spirit of wealth and abundance, we raise our vibration to a level of unconditional reception - we literally open ourselves to receive. I know this is hard to get. It's still hard for me to get, even though I know it is true deep in my heart. The lie that we have learned to believe is that we are existentially separate, individual beings.

Anyone who has ever travelled in a so-called 'third-world' country cannot help but be touched by the unconditional generosity that is shown to them. People who we in the west might consider have nothing in comparison to us will often give what little they do have as a natural act of hospitality and welcome and they seem to do it without a second thought. On the occasions where I have been the fortunate recipient of such acts of spontaneous generosity, it has seemed to be as natural as breathing in and out.

I have been sharing a story this week with the course participants about a person I met a few years ago who runs storytelling workshops. At the end of a weekend workshop that I attended, this person, the facilitator of the course, asked us to write the name of someone we knew on a piece of paper. We all duly obliged and then he put the names into a hat. He told us that after we had departed and gone home, he would draw one of the names out of the hat and he would send them 10% of what he had made from the weekend through the post in cash with a card simply simply saying 'with love and gratitude'. No name, no explanation, just the gift. He told us that he had been doing it for years at the end of every workshop he ran and that his life had been filled with inexplicable miracles ever since he had been doing it. I will never forget the experience of love and joy that came over me being in the presence of that man as he told us his story and shared with us generous heart. It makes my heart sing to think of it. And it inspires me to follow his example.

A gift, however large or small, given with unconditional joy to another is a gift to oursleves and it is a gift to the whole world, for it clears a channel for the natural abundance of life to flow.

Love John x