Debra Basham

Living and Loving

Tag: spirituality

  • Possessed of the Knowledge of Truth

    I slept and I dreamed that
    life is all joy.
    I woke and I saw that
    life is all service.
    I served and I saw that
    service is joy.
    ~ Kahlil Gibran

    Today’s blog was inspired by last evening’s question from a dear friend who is also a faithful reader of Yellow Brick Road. “Related to your pre-election posts, do you mind my asking whom, if you have a preference, do you prefer would win?” I was tempted to cut and paste the section from my journal in Pondering Becoming a Pundit before recognizing the much larger opportunity her question presents.

    A sister on the Dharma path is Jewish. She is deeply steeped in Mussar, a spiritual practice that focuses on character traits like truthfulness, generosity, patience, and humility in an effort to help people overcome inner obstacles. At about the same time “Whom do you prefer would win?” was being asked, my friend was sharing with me a practice one rabbi suggested for navigating these times, specifically related to Covid, but for sure inclusive of the election:

    1. Develop a relationship with the one above.
    2. Pray — using formal prayers or just when you want to communicate.
    3. Look for signs of divine intervention.

    I have continued to binge watch Rupert Spira on non-duality so I can let go, relax, fall backwards, and sink into, “There is nothing we can say with the mind.”

    I spent some time looking up formal prayers in other traditions (similar to the Lord’s Prayer in Christianity). Here are two that really speak to me:

    Lakota Prayer

    Wakan Tanka, Great Mystery,
    teach me how to trust
    my heart,
    my mind,
    my intuition,
    my inner knowing,
    the senses of my body,
    the blessings of my spirit.
    Teach me to trust these things
    so that I may enter my Sacred Space
    and love beyond my fear,
    and thus Walk in Balance
    with the passing of each glorious Sun.

    – Found on: http://www.sapphyr.net/natam/quotes-nativeamerican.htm

    Judaism Shema Prayer (in English)

    Hear O’ Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One
    Blessed is the name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever
    You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

    The most honest answer I can give about whom I would prefer to win is this:

    I prefer love to win.
    I prefer wisdom to win.
    I prefer kindness to win.
    I prefer truthfulness to win.
    I prefer generosity to win.
    I prefer patience to win.
    I prefer humility to win.
    I prefer service to all beings and harm to none to win.

    These traits are the essence of Donald Trump and Joe Biden. They are the essence of you and me. They are the essence of every candidate who runs for any office. I prefer whomever wins the 2020 Presidential election to live and lead from these traits and from their true essence.

    Hinduism The First Book of Yoga: The Enduring Influence of the Bhagavad Gita

    The unreal has no existence. The Real never ceases to be (never ceases to exist). Men possessed of the knowledge of Truth full know both these.

    Meditation for the Day

    Constantly claim God’s strength. Once convinced of the right of a course of action, once reasonably sure of God’s guidance, claim that strength now. You can claim all the strength you need to meet any situation. You can claim a new supply when your own supply is exhausted. You have a right to claim it and you should use your right.

    ~ Twenty-Four Hours a Day, A Spiritual Resource with Practical Applications for Daily Life

  • I am Made of You

    You do live in a physical world,
    but there is nothing about your physical world
    that is not spirit-based.
    There is nothing about your physical world
    that is not Source-based.

    ~ Abraham Hicks

    October 2019 I started reading books about non-duality by Rupert Spira. Yesterday the same friend who introduced me to Spira’s writing last year suggested I check out his teachings on being aware of awareness. This comes at a perfect time for me as I am working on the sensory systems information published in Healing with Language, the SCS/NLP training manual.

    This comes at a perfect time for “us” as we are bombarded by input from the world through these sensory systems! If some of what you see, hear, think and feel, is keeping you awake at night or causing your blood pressure to go up, causing your concern by concretizing your perceptions of separateness, read on.

    Simply put: Whatever we are experiencing, we are aware of that.

    Most often, however, this simple experience of being aware is overlooked.

    Spira gave a powerful example of this. Think of a flashlight. We can shine light on everything else, but we cannot shine the light on the light bulb from which the beam is shining. The light beam is the source — it can only shine on something that is “other than.”

    This flashlight of awareness shines light on your thoughts, feelings, sensations, tastes, smells, memories, beliefs, perceptions, and opinions — all “other than.”

    If awareness is incapable of turning around and looking at itself, then how are we going to know our true nature? Let your attention relax or sink or fall backwards into its source….

    Let go.

    Relax.

    Fall backwards.

    Sink.

    This reminds me of “How to Activate your Diamond Light Body” from Frequency: The Power of Personal Vibration, by Penney Pierce.

    1. Quiet yourself, center your attention in your body, be in the present moment 100 percent, and create calmness and receptivity. Recall some past positive experiences.

    2. Imagine that behind your back, your diamond light body appears. This body looks just like you but is made of pure transparent light and has no wounds or blockages. Your light body radiates wisdom, love, harmony, and the knowledge of abundance. Your light body steps forward and puts its hands on your shoulders.

    3. In your imagination, feel the higher vibration of your light body; welcome it and attune to the frequency. As you do, your light body steps inside you, merging with you seamlessly and easily.

    4. Your light body matches up with your physical body perfectly, each light body part finding its physical body part: the light heart merges with the physical heart, the light cells match the physical cells, the light brain joins the physical brain. Take some time to scan through the various parts of your body as this process occurs.

    5. Allow yourself to let go into the light body as it takes over, saying, ‘You know how to run this brain, this heart, these lungs, how to use these hands, this voice. Please show me how. I trust you to renew me, reorganize me, and teach me.’ Fall into your own light and feel supported.

    6. An odd thing happens as you let your diamond light body take over to guide you, a saturation point is reached where you ‘flip’ and realize you are the diamond light body. Your identity shifts. As you hear the voice of guidance from the light body, you realize it’s your voice. You might say, ‘I am here now, and I know what’s real.’

    7. Let your diamond light saturate not only every cell, but your emotions, feelings, and thoughts as well. Let it work on your brain and body, dissolving shadows, filling in gaps, upgrading all your systems, erasing worry and doubt, opening new pathways, and reprogramming you with updated frequencies. Remain in the silence.

    8. Now, ‘strike the tuning fork’ of your diamond light body’s vibration and let waves of your light and your original tone ripple through every tiny space in your body and out through your skin into the space around you. Let it expand as far into the universe as it wants. As your own diamond light expands, it joins with the diamond light it encounters in the presence everywhere. In the center of the light, is your home frequency.

    In the Christian New Testament (Galations 3:28) this idea is stated clearly, and in churches all over the world people sing the truth: In Christ there is no east or west, in him no south or north, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth.

    In Meditation is Simply to BE, Rupert Spira says it this way:

    It is this disinterested but completely allowing contemplation of the body in the world that the body loses its ‘me-ness’ and the world loses its ‘not-me-ness.’ In this way bodily sensations no longer cry out ‘I am separate, I am exclusively you” and perceptions of the world no longer cry out, ‘I am separate, I am not you.’ Everything sings out, ‘I am made of You.’

    If you find yourself tempted to shine your light on republicans or democrats or those who agree or disagree with you, relax into your diamond light body.

    Let go.

    Relax.

    Fall backwards.

    Sink.

    Our home frequency, our Source, knows I am made of You…

    (*Note – Send email to debra@scs-matters.com if you would like my audio recording of How to Activate Your Diamond Light Body.

  • Our Window of Tolerance

    “Resilience is not something
    we have or we don’t have.
    It is something that
    we can train
    in our minds and bodies.”
    ~ Liz Stanley

    I’ve made a promise to myself to post a blog each day until after the Presidential election. Putting my fingers on the keyboard grounds me. I am choosing to widen my window of tolerance.

    Trauma can narrow our window of tolerance, and human life inherently exposes us to trauma (admittedly, some more than others).

    I recently was listening to a Sounds True podcast with Liz Stanley and Tami Simon about stress arousal and the way past trauma relates to our ability to think creatively, solve problems, and access choice in any given situation. The podcast is where I heard the phrase “window of tolerance.”

    Whether or not we consciously know it, humans have both a “survival brain” (bottom-up processing) and a “thinking brain” (top-down processing). Even without knowing the terms, you do how good it feels when these two processing systems are collaborating.

    We have been expertly trained at powering through situations — often ignoring our body’s emotions, sensations, and physical pain. Stanley refers to this common phenomenon as “thinking-brain override.”

    “Survival-brain hijacking” is when the heavy emotions trigger stress arousal and impulsively drive our behavior, sometimes with horrific results.

    Meditation (training in mindfulness) can help “widen” our window of tolerance and assist us to react more skillfully and to avoid destructive extremes.

    Here is a simple tool for any time you notice yourself feeling stress: Move your attention to the information coming from your senses. “Feel your feet on the ground, notice where your butt is touching the chair; pay attention to the breath coming in and out through your nose; notice the air is cool on inhale and warmer on the exhale; listen to the waves or the wind or the motor of the refrigerator.”

    Notice… notice… notice.

    Smell some essential oils.

    Slowly dissolve a lozenge or small piece of hard candy in your mouth. Perhaps that is why the ones with holes in the center are called Life Savers!

    Just looking out your window helps….

    Here are the east and west views from my window this morning during yoga.

    Over these next two weeks, let’s each intentionally widen our window of tolerance….

  • Pondering Becoming a Pundit

    “You’re braver than you believe,
    stronger than you seem
    and smarter than you think.”
    ~ Christopher Robin

    A precious friend told me about 45 years ago that I should be a political pundit. According to Wikipedia, a pundit is a person who offers to mass media their opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically political analysis, the social sciences, technology or sport) on which they are knowledgeable (or can at least appear to be knowledgeable), or considered a scholar in said area.

    Having watched the 2020 Presidential debates, I began the day today by asking for a revelation of truth about all of this.

    From my journal:

    V:
    How would you articulate what you already see?

    D:
    1. Whomever is elected, we will still have some navigating to do.
    2. Whomever is elected, we can choose peace.
    3. Whomever is elected, we can continue mean-spiritedness.
    4. Whomever is elected, the need to tap into the well of wisdom remains.

    V:
    There is nothing more you need to see.

    My soul longs to hear leaders courageous enough to speak the truth to a collective courageous enough to recognize truth when they hear it: “I know uncertainty can be unpleasant. While we want definitive answers to what we will do and what we will encounter, the truth is, we don’t yet know. I can promise you I will remind myself over and over that we access more wisdom and creativity in unity than in divisiveness. I assure you I aspire to have the humility to ask those who see things differently to help me see what brought them to their conclusion so we can gain wisdom together. It is without a doubt that I would be lying to make campaign promises to you beyond these truths….”

    Perhaps we would do well to make Stephen Covey’s 1989 book,7 Habits of Highly Effective People, compulsory in all education forums. You might appreciate a summary of the 7 Habits.

    Habit 1: Be Proactive® …
    Habit 2: Begin With the End in Mind® …
    Habit 3: Put First Things First® …
    Habit 4: Think Win-Win® …
    Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood® …
    Habit 6: Synergize® …
    Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw®

    For the theme of today’s blog, lets focus on Habit # 6:

    Innovate and problem solve with those who have a different point of view. To put it simply, synergy means “two heads are better than one.” Synergize is the habit of creative cooperation. It is teamwork, open-mindedness, and the adventure of finding new solutions to old problems. But it doesn’t just happen on its own.

    “If the person you are talking to
    doesn’t appear to be listening,
    be patient.
    It may simply be that
    he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.”
    ~ Winnie the Pooh

    In 2004, Covey published The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness. It seems most fitting for us now:

    The crucial challenge of our world today is this: to find our voice and inspire others to find theirs. It is what Covey calls the 8th Habit. The 8th Habit is the answer to the soul’s yearning for greatness, the organization’s imperative for significance and superior results, and humanity’s search for its “voice.”

    “A little consideration,
    a little thought for others,
    makes all the difference.”
    —Eeyore

    * Special thanks to Winnie the Pooh and friends for the powerful pundit points!

  • 21st Century Mystic

    Sacred Stories

    They were on FaceTime, sharing their reentry to the “real” world after having been on retreat for a week. The conversation turned to the awkwardness that can arise when using intuition in our everyday work life, especially in fields that do not embrace this path.

    One mentioned having heard author Alan Seale say, “In the 21st century we will all become mystics or we will be nothing at all.” She went on to mention how spiritual practice historically had been cloistered, where those called to service were likely living within religious community that understood such a calling. On Becoming a 21st Century Mystic: Pathways to Intuitive Living, was written in 1997. Very different from today!

    A few minutes after their conversation ended, the other friend sent a text message with a photo of a paragraph written by the Buddhist nun, Pema Chödrön:


    Along with the quotation was her comment, “I guess women have always had to figure out how to be busy mystics when cloistering was not available for them. Thought this part of my reading was a synchronicity with what we had discussed.”

    From the back cover of On Becoming a 21st Century Mystic:

    Intuition, in its highest form, is nothing less than the voice of God within you. It is one of God’s greatest gifts. Journey deep into your heart. Uncover your innate intuitive gifts. Discover vast realities beyond your outer senses. Experience the oneness of your rational and intuitive minds. A breakthrough book – a clear and practical guide for spiritual and intuitive living in the 21st century.

  • On the Shark’s Terms

    Like my parents taught me,
    ‘There are no monsters in the sea,
    only the ones we make up in our heads.’
    ~ Christina Zenato

    A friend shared an amazing video of a woman swimming with sharks. But this woman is not just “swimming” with the sharks. Christina Zenato, a professional diver, is removing fish hooks caught in their flesh!

    Christina says, “It’s done on the shark’s terms, not mine.”

    Amen!

    Christina has a box containing over 300 hooks….

    I wrote in my journal earlier today:

    Dear Holy Spirit,

    I am so impatient with John. What will help me be kind?

    (Note* The catalyst for this latest round of impatience was him wanting to use the tablet Stacey gave him instead of lugging around the huge 3-ringed binder. He went the home of a music friend who has software he likes a lot. John returned minus his tablet, excited that his friend was going to set it up for him. Soon, John’s friend came, unable to complete the download without my email address. I get triggered into frustration at having to manage John’s technology as well as my own, especially when it is something I am not fluent in. True confession: I do not know how to work this Android tablet, nor do I know anything about this software….)

    The VOICE in my journal responded:

    V: The impatience is not with him, it is within you. Like so many humans currently, strong emotions around the helplessness related to the pandemic are arising. Are you providing enough space for all you are experiencing? We know you are navigating a lot, but so was Viktor Frankl.

    Man’s Search for Meaning is a 1946 book by Viktor Frankl chronicling his experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. Living through horrific happenings, Frankl was able to find purpose and positive feelings using his psychotherapeutic method.

    A quick search brought up this quotation:

      Between stimulus and response there is a space.
      In that space is our power to choose our response.
      In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

      ~ Viktor Frankl

    During the Oakwood Retreat, John Orr shared having asked Aaron why human incarnation is so difficult. Aaron said we choose incarnation because the catalysts for growth are so readily available on this heavy density plane. Aaron said there is a plane on which soul growth can happen without so much difficulty, but without a physical or emotional body (only a mental and spiritual body), the soul growth is soooooo slow, like millions of years. Aaron said, “Soul’s who are impatient for growth choose the earth plane!”

    Between stimulus and response there is a space….

    You can watch for “divine” themes in each day. Howard Thurman’s Word for the Day from Gratefulness.org : Whatever may be the tensions and the stresses of a particular day, there is always lurking close at hand the trailing beauty of forgotten joy or unremembered peace.

    In that space is our power to choose our response….


    And the Deep Spring Center Thought for Today from Aaron:
    Perhaps as you sit there by the water, let’s use a big sloppy wet dog as example, the dog comes running along and jumps across your lap. You’re wet, you’re covered with sand. You have a scratch where his claws dug into the flesh. He’s licking your feet and it’s an unpleasant feeling. Ultimate reality has not gone anywhere; pure awareness hasn’t gone anywhere; but for the moment you can’t access it. Your mind and body come back to a lower vibration. You breathe a few times. A friend comes over and dries you off with a towel. You open up, see the dog frolicking so happily, catch his joy a bit, and you open back up into pure awareness.

    In our response lies our growth and our freedom….

    May all beings experience the beauty of forgotten joy or unremembered peace.

  • Blue Jays!

    Sacred Stories

    She was out of state, caring for/visiting with her elderly father, when she received a text message from a friend: “Not sure what’s going on with you, but Blue Jays are hanging out here in groups up to a half dozen.” Her friend knew that Blue Jays were often a spiritual visitor for her….

    She wrote back: “I am here at Dad’s, enjoying many ordinary moments. I had many Blue Jays at my feeder before I left and wondered where they would find food while I was gone. I had hoped they would head to your nearby home. Perhaps they have!”

    They both understood.

    EVERYTHING responds to loving intention….

    (Note* – The “totem” meaning of Blue Jay is strength and endurance; we are able to endure difficult situations in life.”)

  • Mercury Retrograde! October 14 – November 3

    Belief can be overrated. If one did not believe in gravity, would gravity still have an effect? Of course, it would. It is likely that astrological influences are having an effect on us in much the same way.

    Mercury went retrograde on October 14, where it will stay through November 3.

    Tuesday, November 3, 2020, is election day….

    How Mercury In Retrograde Is Affecting Your Body And Energy Levels – It’s all happening! by Susannah Guthrie

    Expect to have more or less energy than you’re used to, particularly of the nervous variety.

    October 2020’s Mercury retrograde will either sap you of your usual zest and leave you feeling lethargic, or fill you with chaotic, scattered energy that might have you feeling restless, unfocused and anxious.

    In our third year of Dharma Path, Barbara Brodsky and Arron (check out Aaron’s new blog) have us working with a wonderful practice to navigate strong emotions in a way that prevents us from being overcome by them.

    Here are the basic steps of “Akashic Field Practice.”

    1. I open myself to this field in which there are both spaciousness and calm and peace, and disturbances. Because of the essence of my practice, I am willing to experience the disturbance. I’m not afraid of the disturbance, because I know that the spaciousness is much vaster than the disturbance. And so, instead of focusing on the disturbance, I focus on the spaciousness.

    (We are encouraged to think of holding and comforting these uncomfortable emotions like we would hold a distressed baby, seeing the baby as a more infantile consciousness, and we ourselves are able to hold that infantile consciousness with mature consciousness. Saying to ourselves, “It is going to be OK. I love you. You are safe.” This holding, comforting, supporting is based on our highest intention for highest good of all beings, harm to none, and lovingkindness.)

    2. Invite spirit (God/Higher self/Love) to support your choice for kindness.

    3. Ask in your heart of any entities (angels/guides/masters) that come, “Do you come for the highest good, in service to all beings, and harm to none?” Wait until you get a clear YES.

    4. Invite all loving beings (entities) to get closer as you clearly state your need. “My body is shaking. I really feel rotten. I’m not emotionally scared so much as my heart is pounding and I feel the fear in my whole body. Please help.”

    Imagine feeling a warm energy moving throughout your body; loving energy surrounding you; energy clearing, as spaciousness opens up inside you.

    Remember YOU always have access to this energy. This is always available.

    Music can help your “mature” consciousness calm your “infantile” consciousness, especially kind during this Mercury retrograde over the next few weeks. I love Karen Druker’s Gentle with Myself, and Cecelia’s Amazing Grace (with whale sounds!).

    October 14, 2020 Daily Word: Let Go, Let God

    I work in divine partnership to accomplish great things.

    A surfer harnesses the ocean’s power to complete the exhilarating ride to shore. I, too, place myself within the divine wave of God’s power. I neither move out in front of it by forcing my will nor do I hold back out of fear and insecurity. Only when I center myself in the wave can I discern the answer or direction I seek. I let go into the magnificent power of God and ride the wave that is my inner guidance and direction.

    In prayer, I release the need to know what is going to happen and trust that my highest good is unfolding. I do what is mine to do, leaving the greater part to God. I listen to my intuitive knowing, heed the guidance I receive, and then follow through on my inner promptings with deliberate, purposeful action.

    You are indeed my rock and my fortress; for your name’s sake lead me and guide me.—Psalm 31:3

  • Airbnb

    Sacred Stories

    Difficult as it was, she determined she probably needed to cancel her plans to go to an Airbnb for her birthday. Money was tight.

    Going online, there was a message on the listing: Aaron wants you to enjoy your stay!

    Her spiritual teacher’s name is Aaron….

    “According to Vedanta, there are only two symptoms of enlightenment, just two indications that a transformation is taking place within you toward a higher consciousness. The first symptom is that you stop worrying. Things don’t bother you anymore. You become light-hearted and full of joy. The second symptom is that you encounter more and more meaningful coincidences in your life, more and more synchronicities. And this accelerates to the point where you actually experience the miraculous. (quoted by Carol Lynn Pearson in Consider the Butterfly)”
    ― Deepak Chopra, Synchrodestiny: Harnessing the Infinite Power of Coincidence to Create Miracles

  • 1:30 pm

    Sacred Stories

    She used her “walking meditation” time to enjoy a bike ride. Summer was gone now, and winter was closer day-by-day.

    Today was beautiful, and she was debating taking a longer ride — soooo welcome after seven long days of sitting meditation. She could use the time set aside for lunch/rest to log another five miles.

    Observing the practice of noble silence throughout the retreat, she had her phone with her but the ringer was shut off. Something nudged her to check her phone, and she saw a text message from the Zoom host. The message had been sent at 12:52 pm.

    “I have some things to attend to this afternoon. Okay to make you the host starting at 1:30?”

    She immediately sent a text message back: “I am out on my bike right now, and it may be a couple of minutes after 1:30 before I get there, but I’m heading back right now.”

    That nudge to check her phone came at the exact point where she could get back.

    She logged on to Zoom as host at 1:30 pm….