Debra Basham

Living and Loving

Tag: emotional guidance scale

  • What Else Is

    The definition of complaining is the expression of dissatisfaction or annoyance about something.

    A popular phrase is to speak of an undesired state (for example, complaining) as your eating rat poison expecting the rat to die. It is not always obvious, but our emotional state has myriad influences on US.

    Often, John and I remind one another of the valuable awareness to not waste our creative energy complaining about what is. Any moron can do that.

    Real wisdom arises as you devote your creative energy to what else is.

    This morning, a short poem came through which articulates this so well:

      What Else Is

      Stewing or fuming
      about what is
      such a waste
      of energy

      Open heart
      open mind
      open up to
      what else is

      Debra Basham 05-13-2021

    Sometimes it is helpful to be willing to see in what ways what is might be protecting you from what else is. Feeling anger might protect you from feeling powerlessness. Feeling impatience might protect you from feeling worry. Feeling boredom might protect you from feeling discouragement. A handy way to explore all of this is to be aware of an emotional guidance scale, such as the one described by Abraham-Hicks:

    1. Joy/Appreciation/Empowerment/Freedom/Love
    2. Passion
    3. Enthusiasm/Eagerness/Happiness
    4. Positive Expectation/Belief
    5. Optimism
    6. Hopefulness
    7. Contentment
    8. Boredom
    9. Pessimism
    10. Frustration/Irritation/Impatience
    11. Overwhelment (feeling overwhelmed)
    12. Disappointment
    13. Doubt
    14. Worry
    15. Blame
    16. Discouragement
    17. Anger
    18. Revenge
    19. Hatred/Rage
    20. Jealousy
    21. Insecurity/Guilt/Unworthiness
    22. Fear/Grief/Desperation/Despair/Powerlessness

    Thought for Today

    Sometimes you repeatedly find yourself faced with an unpleasant situation, until the mind begins to obsess with it. You may begin to ask the question, why am I so attracted to this obsession? It’s not a conceptual question. One begins then to investigate the nature of obsession itself.

    Different of you have different patterns of obsession. For example, some go into old stories, casting blame on others or on yourself. Others may look for a way to solve it, planning. Others of you may just feel anger and helplessness and move into a state of depression.

    You each have your own patterns. This is part of understanding the nature of obsession, to understand the habitual patterning with obsession. When mind becomes obsessive, what do you gain?

    ~ Aaron

    Aaron, as channeled by Barbara Brodsky, refers to emotions as “aggregates.” Aggregates are non-self. Aggregates are impermanent. Aggregates arise because of the senses, triggered by smell, touch, taste, sight and hearing.

    Aggregates rise up out from the sense experience and subside when the sense experience of our life changes. We feel worry when a person we care about is experiencing a health challenge. But worry (each emotion) is an aggregate, so YOU are not that worry.

    In fact, the one who is aware of worry is not worried. That one is aware.

    This is not about trying to not worry. In fact, as our friend, Yoda, says, “Do or Do Not. There is No Try.”


    Hmmmmm, if there is just do or do not that makes me really appreciate what else is….

  • Awaken the New Species

    We must not wish
    for the disappearance
    of our troubles
    but for the grace
    to transform them.

    ~ Simone Weil

    Yesterday John did not mention my blog post, so I did not share it with him. I watched the choice points for stories to arise: he doesn’t really care; he still does not value what I write and share; I won’t bring it up unless he mentions it…. on and on and on the ego drives us away from peace, if we allow it.

    Last night I turned on my heated mattress pad and was heading to the shower looking forward to crawling into bed early before I realized just how early it was. If I set the manual clocks to the end of daylight savings at that moment, I would have been going to bed at 6:45 pm!

    Ugh…

    So, I came into the office and surfed for something enlightening, settling on a talk by Barbara Marx Hubbard, an American futurist, author and public speaker. In Awakening the New Species in You, Barbara opened shared how she recognized her life purpose as — “I am helping the noosphere to get its collective eyes.”

    Barbara’s vocation was/is to be a communicator and teacher about the history of this planet, the current events, and our opportunity for conscious evolution.

    (According to the World Wide Fund for Nature’s 2020 Living Planet Report, wildlife populations have declined by 68% since 1970 as a result of overconsumption, population growth and intensive farming, which is further evidence that humans have unleashed a sixth mass extinction event.
    ~ NationalGeographic.com )

    Barbara’s message prepared me for a good night’s rest and for today’s post:

    “We are at a vital shift point where our own actions could lead to greater extinction, or our own actions could lead to greater evolution, or conscious evolution.”

    We are at choice to help the nervous system of humanity devolve or evolve! What we do with our energies each moment makes a contribution.

    “Our crisis is a birth. We are one living system and we have come to the limit of one phase of natural growth on a finite planet We must learn ethical evolution quickly As we seek to facilitate a gentle birth, a graceful and nonviolent transition to the next stage of our evolution, we will discover a natural pattern, a design of our birth transition, and develop a plan to cooperate with this design.”

    This morning, I read the transcript of Dharma Path class from Tuesday, October 27, 2020. From Barbara Brodsky and Aaron:

      Let’s start at the end, what you hope to bring forth this year: To learn how to co-create with love. To co-create in your own body, mind, spirit. To co-create in the world. To do this work can only happen from less of the ego self and more of the awakened heart/mind, as I like to call it. You cannot co-create for the highest good of all beings and still be centered in the ego. It doesn’t mean there will be no ego, but there will be ways of bypassing that ego, not getting caught up in the ego’s stories.

    This brings to mind The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz:

    Agreement 1: Be Impeccable With Your Word.
    Agreement 2: Don’t Take Anything Personally.
    Agreement 3: Don’t Make Assumptions.
    Agreement 4: Always Do Your Best.

    These agreements are a pathway we can all walk making room for the ego, without getting caught up in the stories.

      … the ego self is the outer clothing. We don’t say, “Barbara is a blue vest.” It’s just something she’s wearing today. The ego, the thoughts, the body, all of these attributes of the self are precious, but they are not your essence.

    “Our crisis is a birth. We are one living system and we have come to the limit of one phase of natural growth on a finite planet We must learn ethical evolution quickly As we seek to facilitate a gentle birth, a graceful and nonviolent transition to the next stage of our evolution, we will discover a natural pattern, a design of our birth transition, and develop a plan to cooperate with this design.”

    The last section I highlighted from Tuesday’s Dharma Path class:

      My dear friends, as humans you are not meant to 100% glitter. You would burn each other’s eyes out! You need to have a bit of dimness, it’s okay. You teach each other patience, compassion, generosity of spirit.


    Barbara Marx Hubbard speaks well the opportunity: “If we continue to grow separately and in competition with each other we could self destruct.”

    Or we could awaken the new species!