Hello and aloha to everyone! Well, it is time for more stuff on visualization, ready or not. I want to talk about suffering. We are all oppressed and suffering, and we can�t stop it. We want to feel like we are going to be happy and fulfilled some day, but we can�t be sure. I want to try to break down our various kinds of suffering and address them. First and foremost is �not having�. You are hungry and don�t have food. You are lonely and don�t have love. You want peace of mind but can�t hold onto it. Let�s do an exercise that addresses this kind of suffering in your life.
Exercise #19: Being on Fire
Imagine yourself in an empty room. Think about what it is that you lack most in life, that would ease your suffering the most to have. It could be "love", or a car, or more money, or "happiness", or just good health, for example. Imagine that needed thing as being a burning human figure standing before you. The fire that this person burns with is that which you desire. Keep your visualization journal handy for this exercise. You want the fire that this being has, which represents what you want so badly. The being shares a little of it with you, standing close to you, and you begin to glow like a coal, filling with warmth. Now you are beginning to have what you want. Please note your shift in feeling. I.e., I shifted from a predominant feeling of fear to a feeling of peace. Now, the burning increases, covering your body with small fires. Describe to yourself the shift in feeling again. Now, you are completely engulfed in flames, and filled with the desired thing. Describe this shift in feeling. Make a note of this shifting process in your journal.
By noting the emotional process of transformation that is involved in getting what you want, you will see the corresponding change in yourself that you need to make to get there. Now the question becomes, how can I get there emotionally? In a sense, you just did. By repeating this exercise, you can enter this state of mind, and start asking yourself once there what you want, what your goals are, and what you need to change in your life. The more effort you make in becoming this person, the faster you will get there. You basically go after the feeling you would have if you had what you wanted, rather than the thing itself. It is simply a matter of changing a habit of identity, which is a big deal but not impossible.
Another kind of suffering is confusion. Intelligent, sensitive people can really become trapped in deep confusion when they become weighed down by their own thought process. The confusion that comes from a sense of being ignorant is also burdensome. There can be confusion when you hold conflicting values or goals, or when reality clashes with your �principals�. The next exercise addresses confusion.
Exercise #20: Eye of the Hurricane
You are standing in a great, flat desert. You see a distant figure cloaked in black. This figure represents an idea or area of your life that is currently causing you confusion. As you walk toward the person, you see a sandstorm rising between you and the person. As the storm and darkness increase, so does your confusion around this issue. But, the area directly around the person is totally calm, like the eye of a hurricane. Move as close as you can get to the person while remaining outside of the eye. In this deep confusion, observe what you are feeling and thinking around this issue. Now, step into the calm eye of the storm, approaching the figure. Merge with them and see through their eyes. Now, take a moment and get a clear insight into this area of confusion. Through their eyes, you can see the situation clearly. Write down all your observations in your journal. I did this exercise myself twice and found it to be tremendously helpful.
The insight you get from this exercise also demands that you make an effort to clear away negative patterns of emotion and confidently be yourself. Lets move on. Another kind of suffering is oppression. When we are trapped by our circumstances, a poor relationship, a bad job, a sadistic roommate or a vengeful neighbor, we can suffer terribly. We may be oppressed by a bad habit that we can�t break, or debts we can�t �consolidate�. Others may express little sympathy for our plight. We may feel trapped and see no way out. The next exercise addresses this kind of suffering.
Exercise #21: Tag the Giant
You are standing, facing a huge giant. Towering hundreds of feet above you, he sneers at you as you cower before him. You are trapped, surrounded by steep cliffs, with no way out. Think about what kind of oppression in your life this giant represents. As he turns away from you, you see several magical items stuck to the back of his shoe. You run out and grab one, and then run back and examine it. You may see a �movie� in the object that expresses what it represents. You may get a strong emotion from it. Make a mental note of what it means. Pin this object to your clothing, and you will grow taller and larger. You are integrating this feeling into your understanding. Do this until you are huge and the giant is tiny before you, and you have all of his power objects. Now you can step easily out of the pit and onto solid ground. This exercise sounds very silly, but can be very enlightening!
I think that does it for now! Take your notes and really think about them. I certainly got a lot out of these exercises. Making these understanding permanently part of yourself is what will lead to real change. Good luck and see you next month! Thanks!
Visualization News - September 2001
Welcome back everyone! I hope you all had great Labor Day weekends. This week we will discuss the idea of Release. Before we can gain clarity and begin to build a "Soul Life", we must be able to practice release. Release is process of mentally letting go of something that is not helping us. Most situations or people have some helpful and some non-helpful elements. Release is a mental process which leads to emotional and physical release of the elements of a thing or situation that are not helping us, or even holding us back. Release can be practiced safely on every element of our lives. A positive element can only be improved by release, as you are not detaching from helpful or positive things, and non-helpful elements can be released as a prelude to removing them from your life physically.
Release creates the groundwork for all progress. We clear an empty space in our lives, removing the "debris" and "junk" that tend to accumulate. We free ourselves from bondage to hurtful things and lazy old patterns that we know are holding us back. In doing so, we create the space in which positive change can occur. Imagine being terribly constipated... This is how Western society encourages us to live. Grasp, grab and consume everything in sight, whether you need it or not, whether it helps you or not. And never, ever release your attachment to anything; just accumulate more and more. Like an extremely constipated person, we are in extreme discomfort. Plants will run out of space for new roots in a small pot. We have to create space for growth, and there are only so many hours in the day. The following exercise is wonderfully effective at acheiving that release that we so urgently need.
Exercise #23: Release Walk
In this exercise, there are three phases. First is the walking phase; second is the contemplation phase which can be done in a resting position. The final phase is a daily practice. To begin, stand up in an area where you have a little room to walk around. Walking toe to toe, walk in a counterclockwise direction. As you walk very slowly, relax and concentrate on saying the following to yourself, and concentrate on the message itself. "As I walk I release everything that is preventing me from living the most creative life I can live." Say this to yourself out-loud or silently, concentrating on the meaning as much as the words.
You are letting go of all things that are restricting your creative growth and holding you back as a person living a creative and worthwhile life. Now you continue until you have walked around the room and returned to your original position. Now sit down or lie down and get out your visualization journal or some lined paper, and a pen. Think about all the areas in your life that you need to release, and all the things, people, attitudes and habits in your life that you would be best to release.
Remember that releasing your current job will not cause you to lose it if you really financially need it. This practice only removes blockages, not things you sincerely need right now. It can be important to also release things you have recently lost, such as a job or a lover. This sounds strange, but it makes sense to release what is physically gone, as your attachment to it will hold you back. Write all the things you need to release down. Now for the final step. Take one example from your list, i.e. "I need to release my habit of watching too much tv." Say internally "I now count from one to forty, and as I count, I release this habit. One, two, three .....forty. You have just temporarily released that habit.
It can be helpful to imagine draining a liquid from a glass. When you get to the "zero point" of complete release, all the liquid is gone from the glass. This visual image might become a better tactic for you, because after a while, as you get in the habit of releasing each of these things, they will release more and more quickly, until it takes only a second or two to fully release.
Ideally, you want to practice this on all the areas you need to release, but realistically that would be too much to remember, so right now, choose the top three or four things you want to release and memorize them. Then, during the day, make the habit of releasing them mentally as described above, until you reach the "zero point."
An important element of manifestation is releasing the ideas you create into the world to allow them to grow. Releasing negatives makes them transparent, allowing you to see through them into whatever is beyond them. A wall becomes a window, and this is how we widen our horizons.
Please send me any questions or feedback to [email protected]. I want to express to all of you who take your valuable time to read these monthly articles how much I appreciate you and what you do. Your success in life means everything to me, and I would love to know who you are and what you are going through in life. Please don't be afraid to drop me a line and just talk! Until next month, take care and release! Love - Chris