Wednesday, February 5, 2014

JOURNEY OF THE AWAKENED HEART: Life Mastery Mirror Exercise





Open Another Doorway

You are now ready to take a series of gradual steps towards intimacy. You are beginning to trust—first yourself, and then others—as you break free from the cocoon of a life where you have held yourself in lack, limitation, separation, and isolation. Even as you say, “I want a much larger life than I have now,” your next step is inward rather than outward. It is now time to open a doorway inside and receive love.

The intention for everyone who moves onto the pathway towards the unknown is to receive love—each of you says this is what you want. Look now to grow towards it, to embrace love from where you are. To achieve a community of harmony, acceptance, and compassion in the world, it is important to move within and begin to love you. With acceptance and compassion, you can be where you are in every moment and feel exactly what you are feeling, knowing that just being you is more than sufficient; it is essential.

When you hit a sticking point, such as a moment where you experience feelings you don’t want to feel, or aspects of self that you don’t want to accept or acknowledge, you habitually use something to avoid feeling. What is your modus operandi for avoiding places in yourself that don’t quite resonate for you anymore? What “old trick” do you use to avoid your feelings, to avoid being where you are? Do you put up a mask when you feel that who you are and what you are feeling in a given moment is not lovable? Do you use this mask in an attempt to be what someone else wants so you will be loved?

We speak to you about beginning to open your heart to receive love. You ask us, “How can I receive love? Am I good enough or worthy enough to receive love? Am I perfect enough to receive love?” This process is about moving to new depths of intimacy within, so that you can begin to receive love from yourself. It is most important to move through this process with tenderness because you could feel exposed and vulnerable.

Stand in front of a full-length mirror. We suggest that you do this process naked and learn to accept yourself where you are in the moment as you do. Of course, if you are not comfortable doing this exercise entirely nude, you may do it partially clothed.

Approach this exercise with an attitude of gentle curiosity. Every time you do it you open another doorway leading you gradually from your head to your heart. Take out a paper and pen so you may record your responses and discoveries.

Begin with your eyes closed. Breathe deeply into the depth and breadth of your body three times—in through your nose and out through your mouth.

After the third breath, inhale deeply a fourth time and retain the air for five seconds. Then release your breath on the sound, Ahhh.” Allow the sound to reverberate through your entire body and through the room in which you are standing. Fully release and let go and allow the sound to move where it will move. Repeat twice more.

When the reverberations of sound have ceased, open your eyes and look directly into the mirror. As you look directly into the reflection of your eyes, breathe three times, inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth with the sound, Ahhh.”

Do not take your eyes off of yourself as you breathe. Feel the emotions that surface, and allow them to be present. Simply observe and take notice of what you do here.

Do you avert your gaze to avoid looking at yourself? Is there shame?

Do your thoughts become active? Are you judging and condemning yourself?

Do you suddenly think of an “urgent task” to do and walk away?

The idea here is to focus upon your eyes, and maintain an intimate connection with yourself. With your eyes still open and looking at you, after the third breath, if you are ready, write down what you are feeling in the moment. Move your focus into your heart, and then spontaneously write down the five most important feelings that surfaced.

After you have recorded your insights, return to the mirror and stand in front of it. If you are still wearing clothes, now is the moment to disrobe.

Close your eyes and breathe three times in a row, as you previously did. After the third breath is entirely released from your body, open your eyes and look directly into your eyes in the mirror again. 

Hold your own gaze for five to ten seconds.

Then, allow your eyes to travel and scan your body. Notice, where your eyes go first. Look at yourself. 

What do you see? What do you feel? What do you judge and shame? What do you enjoy?

Keep on breathing deeply. Remain in front of the mirror and scanning your body for several minutes. 

What might occur could be quite shocking to you. You might feel embarrassed. Or, rather than criticism, you might find you enjoy yourself immeasurably. Most importantly, you will begin to find out how you feel about your physical body.

When you are ready, sit down and answer the following questions:

“What am I feeling?”

“Am I shaming and judging? If so, what?”

“Can I accept with compassion where I am in this moment?”

“Can I accept what I am feeling in this moment?”

“Can I have compassion for myself?”

Now, move away from the mirror. Seat yourself somewhere comfortable and breathe once, deeply, and inwards through your nose. Hold the air for five seconds, and then release your breath through your mouth on the sound, “Ahhh.”

After this, close your eyes and move into the depth of your heart space. Imagine your wounded inner child. When he or she comes to you look into the little child’s eyes and remain focused on them. Look at them as he or she looks at you.

Feelings will surface here. Just be with them and allow yourself to feel what you are feeling in this moment. Then ask your inner child, “What do you need in this moment?”

After the child answers, ask yourself, “Can I give this child what he (or she) needs in this moment?” 

And, “Do I love this child enough to give the child what is needed in this moment?” Open your eyes and write down what was asked for, and your response.

Message

Time is of the utmost importance. There is no longer time or energy to waste on that which no longer supports your highest good or the highest good of the family of We-consciousness, the soul family of harmony and equality. It is time to take care of your needs and move forward. These teachings are quick and to the point for a reason: there is no longer any time to waste for those who realize that the old way no longer works.

You can no longer sit around and complain about the old. Now, it is time to stand in your truth. The earthly plane is shifting and changing rapidly. Aspects of what is happening in the physical world—earthquakes, storms, and the like—are clearing vortices of energy on the planet. More of this can be expected. It is being utilized to raise the vibration of the earthly plane. What you see happening in you, as a specific individual in the microcosm, is a mirror of what is happening in the macrocosm. You must break down the energy of your past conditioning in your mind to clear layers of energy around your heart.

Congregations of likeminded individuals are gathering throughout the world. Their hearts have been awakened and their mission, by coming together, is to raise the level of resonance and vibration of the planet by lifting their own. Wherever a specific group at a certain resonance congregates to pursue a personal process the resonance shifts. In whatever specific physical place they may be, a vortex of clearing opens.

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MIRROR EXERCISE (Adapted from Journey of the Awakened Heart)

PART ONE

The mirror exercise reveals deeper aspects of who you are. As you look at your reflection, thoughts and feelings may surface revealing how you have been conditioned.

Close your eyes. Imagine walking down a pathway into your heart and resting comfortably in you. 

When you get to this place, breathe deeply three times as follows: 

Hold the breath for five seconds.

Release the breath through the throat and mouth with the strong sound of ahhhhh.

After the third time, become fully present, open your eyes, and do the following mirror exercise:

PART TWO

The mirror exercise is best done in the nude. Do this exercise several times during the next week.

1. Stand naked in front of a mirror. Look directly into your eyes for five seconds. Then spend several seconds scanning your body from head to toe. Repeat the breathing exercise.

    Looking in your eyes, ask:
      . Who am I?
      . What am I feeling at this moment?
      . What is it about me that I love?
      . What is it about me that I am still shaming and judging?
      . Can I accept my feelings and have compassion for myself?
      . Am I ready to live my life for me?

2. At the end of this exercise, write down what you feel when you look at yourself in the mirror naked.

      Many of you may react to this exercise with fear.
      Many of you may respond with shame and judgment.
      Others of you may enjoy looking at yourselves.
      Be with the feelings that come up.

3. Each day after you do this exercise, write down what you shame and judge about yourself and how you feel about it. Make a separate list.

      Ask: 
      . Who is judging and shaming me?
      . Who is not seeing my divine essence?
      . Can I accept where I am and where I shame and judge myself?

4. Negative thoughts that shame and judge you are products of your conditioning, what you have been taught. Consider your answers to the above questions. 

      Then ask:
      . Whose voices are these?
      . What did they teach me?
      . Do these teachings resonate for me now?
      . Can I accept with compassion where I am in this moment?
      . How has my conditioning influenced the relationship I am having with my self?
      . How has my relationship with my self influenced my relationships with others?

It is important to use the mirror exercise whenever you shame or judge yourself. It will help you move away from the influences of negative conditioning and will be the jumping-off point for moving toward the life you say you want.

PART THREE


The mirror exercise helps you move to new depths of intimacy within so that you can begin to receive love from yourself.

A good place to begin receiving love from yourself is to begin giving love to your inner wounded child.

. Close your eyes, move into your heart, and imagine your inner wounded child.

. When the child comes to you, look in the child’s eyes for a few moments and be with your feelings.

. Ask your inner child, “What do you need in this moment?”

. After the child answers, ask yourself, “Do I love this child enough to give the child what it needs in this moment?

. This is your opportunity to begin healing your inner child by giving you the love your inner child needs.

. Begin to give and receive love from you.

At your next group sharing, share your experience with the mirror exercise, what you learned, and how the experience made you feel.

We are leading you to trust that:

. You, fully exposed, are good enough just the way you are.
    
. The answers to what you need are inside you. Begin giving to yourself what you need.
  

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