Om Gum Ganapatayei Namaha
July 28, 2010 by Akemi · 8 Comments
“Om Gum Ganapatayei Namaha” is a Sanskrit mantra to remove life’s obstacles. The link takes you to the Amazon’s page for Deva Premal’s CD “Mantras For Precarious Times
I have been receiving questions that basically says, “Okay, so I have been doing some spiritual work and I think I have had some breakthroughs in my spiritual growth. For a while, I felt great. But then such and such happened, and life feels just as hard as it was (or worse). Why is this so? Why do I still struggle in the old negative patterns?”
In fact, I’ve felt the same, too. After I had my own Ascension soul shift in January 2009, life was super for several months. Then, in my case, my old sugar addiction came back.
For others, it may be relationship or career or money situation that presents the obstacle.
I had a good long talk with my spirit guides, and here is what I gather. A lot of things are repetitions of what I’ve already written here, but I guess it is worth writing again because we (me included) haven’t quite “got it” yet.
As long as you judge, you isolate part of you
For a long time in our human history, life has been about survival. In the survival mode, the ability to make judgments quickly according to past experiences and common sense is helpful.
The thing is, we are moving on to the next phase, where it’s not about survival but love. In the love mode, judgements are the seeds of unhappiness.
This is because, whenever you judge someone or something, you are judging a certain part of yourself, whether you are aware or not. There is absolutely no room for double standards in the spiritual plane.
If I judge sickness and overweight is no good, then I am judging the part of me that is less than perfect health. I become less than whole. And the judged and isolated part of me, which some call “the negative part of me”, will yell at me for attention.
“But I MUST have this…”
You would experience the difficulty in the area you feel you MUST have or be in a certain way, the area you have the strongest judgments and therefore have the strongest need to control.
If you feel you must have a good relationship (to be happy and complete), then you are likely to have this backlash in forming a relationship. If you think you must have or make certain amount of money, then you may be facing financial challenges.
In my personal case, I see relationship as optional. My financial target is pretty flexible, too. So I don’t get the “negativity” in these areas. I might make quite a lot of money in one month and not so much in another, and all in all, I’m in good shape.
But leading a healthy lifestyle, especially eating in a certain way, has been a must for me, so there is my challenge. By focusing on healthy eating, I effectively feed my sugar cravings.
Just so we are on the same page, letting go of judgments and control doesn’t mean I binge on junk foods. If I am tuned in to myself, that just doesn’t happen. There may be times when I eat one cookie, for example, but bingeing like there is no tomorrow simply won’t happen in the natural state — that is a result of judgments and over-control.
Likewise, letting go of your need for relationship doesn’t mean you reject all dates. People will be naturally attracted to you, and when you see someone you like, you can enjoy time together. This may lead to long-term relationship — just don’t go back to your must-have mode of thinking.
Embracing destruction
Letting go of judgments also means accepting, or even welcoming, destruction.
In Hindu, there are thee main deities (or three aspects of one deity): Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the maintainer or preserver) and Shiva (the destroyer or transformer). Although we usually embrace only the creation and maintenance, destruction of the old is a necessary step for the new cycle of creation.
When you judge destruction as bad and hold onto what you have, you get constipated. When you are constipated, you feel sick and lose appetite for the new.
When you judge, you give power to the illusion of duality: good and no good. The truth is we are all one and whole.
In other words, this is all about living in the here and now. In the here and now, everything is already complete and whole and wonderful — if you have the eye for it.
How does this work with the Law of Attraction?
So, if we are to live happily in the here and now, without judgments and need to control, does that mean we are stuck in where we are and there is no point in having intentions and aspirations, like the Law of Attraction teaches?
No. Things change on their own. The intrinsic nature of energy is movement.
What it means is we don’t push our ego-produced agenda to the change. This actually accelerates the natural changes. It also means we learn balance in this naturally changing, moving energy, like you do in surfing. Or even riding a bike.
When you are riding a bike, you are heading to a certain direction. Try balancing a bike without moving ahead — it’s really hard. But then, you don’t want to dictate how the course should be like — you want to enjoy the ride while moving to a certain direction, rather than using the ride ( =life) as a means to get somewhere.
The Law of Attraction is really about feeling good about yourself right now and using this power of love to experience even more love. Yes, you want to have intentions, but it’s also true that it works best when you surrender.
Glitch in the life simulation game
Letting go of judgments is baffling. We are so well trained in making judgments that the function is our second nature. The minute we think we let go of judgment, we find it in ourselves again. We find ourselves in the same old pattern and strangely familiar old challenges.
It’s like being in the nick of an old record. (Remember the music records? Before downloads, and before CDs, there were something called records. . .) Something skips, and we are back to the same part of the music again. Over and over.
It’s a glitch in this life simulation game we are in.
How can we fix this glitch? With the damaged record, we picked up the needle and moved it on, but how can we move on to the next part of the “LIFE” game?
I don’t have a complete answer. If you do, please write in the comment. In the meantime, I will keep doing my part of letting go of my judgments and healing the part I have ignored. In other words, I’ll see how I can love my problems and embrace destruction (not about violence, but as in transformation). Maybe I will chant the mantra, too. Deva Premal writes, “”This mantra unifies us within. When there is oneness, there are no obstacles.”
(Photo credit)
Our Addiction To Judgments And Problems
September 10, 2009 by Akemi · 17 Comments
It’s been a week since I moved to a little gem of a town called Eugene, Oregon. The whole experience was, in a sense, more fundamentally moving than coming to the U.S. I’m in cultural shock. I’m humbled. I’m amazed. . . (Photo credit)
World migrant gets a surprise
Just to give you an idea, this is where I have lived in my life so far:
- Japan
- Sydney, Australia (1 year as a high school exchange student)
- Columbus, Ohio (10 years)
- Nashville, Tennessee (3 years)
- Portland, Oregon (2 years)
The last three are all in the United States, but crossing the Mason-Dixon Line was like crossing an invisible cultural border between the North and the South (it is still referred to as the Union and the Confederate in the South.) And west of the Rockies is quite another, too — I’m pretty sure the west coast states don’t consider themselves as part of the continental America. . . or as part of America at all.
So you would think, for a world migrant like Akemi, moving 100 miles to Eugene is a breeze. Some physical work to do, but emotionally, it’s no big deal, right?
Boy, no way.
The first shock came when I first visited this apartment complex. The leasing manager showed me a few open units. I noticed she just simply open the door without the key, and when we were done, she just closed the door. So I asked if she locked the open units at night and her answer was no.
You know, I’ve been working since I was six years old, and locking up the office and the storage unit was part of my responsibility. Coming to the US, I was told to be even more watchful against potential crimes. And here you are, meeting a middle-aged manager who seems to be quite conventional otherwise, never thinking twice of not locking the apartments. She swears nothing ever happened, even when she had leased furniture inside for corporate relocation.
. . . well, I signed up and now live in one of her townhouse. I still lock my door. . .
I asked for a quiet and peaceful place to live, and I got it
A little background of my moving. I liked where I was, but it was so noisy with the neighbors on both sides and downstairs. (I had an apartment on the top floor.) My intent was to live in a quiet peaceful place where I can rest and work well.
Gee, did I get that.
I now live in a townhouse. No one is above me or below me. It seems to have been built well that I hardly hear my next door neighbors, either.
But it’s not just the lack of someone else’s music and loud conversation. The quality of peacefulness here is beyond expectation.
I’m on a mid-hill on the southwest edge of Eugene. From my living room, I can see the mountains across the valley above the roofs of other houses. There are also some trees, and looking at their leaves quietly moving in the gentle breeze is so calming. Behind all these, the sky is big and close. I can spend the whole morning just looking at the trees, the mountains, and the sky.
Really, I can spend hours just being there. I don’t know how to describe it. I am left speechless. I feel as if I am blending into the whole environment. It’s better than bliss or happiness. In bliss, there is still me.
Driving around the new town
Eugene is such a small town that I can get anywhere in 15 minutes or so (although I live at the edge of town). No heavy traffic. And the directions are so simple. There are only a few roads I need to remember. This is such a relief for me because I’m not very good at finding directions. (By the way, the speed limit is 25 to 35 mph even on major roads. Around schools, it’s 20 mph all day, from 7 am to 5 pm. Why make haste, you know?)
Despite the small size, I find it easier to eat vegetarian (mostly vegan and raw) here. Well, not just vegetarian, how about organic, locally-grown vegetarian? There are some excellent grocery stores that carry stuffs I never saw in Portland. And there are quite a few vegetarian-friendly restaurants. I plan to go to the farmers’ market this weekend.
People are friendly here. I went to the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicle) this morning. Usually, people at government agencies like this have bad attitude. Not here. The guy at the information desk is more friendly than any customer service person you met.
Honestly I get nervous a bit when I go to this kind of place. Not that I did something wrong, but because of past experiences, I sort of expect unpleasant encounter at these places. I was wrong. I was treated well, and it took less than half an hour. . .
So? Is there a problem?
Kind of. Did you notice what I said in the previous paragraph?
I was expecting problems. In reality, I didn’t get it. And I found myself seeking something else.
What something? Well, pretty much anything. Something I can be concerned about, to be mentally prepared for, something I can bounce in my head and “work” on.
This surprised me. I thought I’ve worked out my addiction to judgments and problems. I know many of us actually like having problems regardless of what we may say, and that is the very reason why we never run out of problems. We have a deep-rooted love and hate relationship with problems. We are addicted to judgments and we keep creating problems by our judgments.
But me? Am I still craving for problems? I am in a beautiful, peaceful new place and enjoying it, right? Or do I still have a tiny bit of discomfort with this level of peace?
This peace is almost numbing. It’s like losing myself. I know losing myself (my ego) is a good thing. But it’s just . . . different. Suddenly, there is hardly any problems out there, so now it’s either I completely accept this peace or I have to seek problems within me. Aaaaaaagh!
Creating our life and the world
We create our own life and the world. Some people describe this “The world is our own mirror.” Then I guess I must have done something good to create such a peaceful place to live for myself. The remaining drama-loving ego gotta go.
I’ll see how this works. And I really wonder why the rest of the world cannot be like this . . . there is no reason it cannot be. When we all wake up and be done with our own addiction to judgements and problems, this world will be transformed to a “heaven on earth.”
Are You The Only Spiritual Person You Know?
August 4, 2009 by Akemi · 13 Comments
My dear readers, do you consider yourself spiritual? I guess so — you are reading a spirituality blog about “Lightworkers’ Empowerment & Ascension”. Now the second question: do you know other spiritual people at work, at your hobby circle, or as your relatives?
No? That must make you feel lonely. It’s hard to practice Divine Love when you don’t connect with your friends on a deep level.
In this article, I challenge you with your concept of a “spiritual” person because I think there is a stereotype of such spiritual seeker and this stereotype is isolating us. (photo credit)
Who is the holistic, New Age, spiritual person?
When I was starting my Akashic Record Reading service, I hired a marketing coach, who advised me to figure out my target clients. My actual clients don’t all have to fall into this target clients group, but it’s helpful to figure out the typical clients for the sake of effective marketing.
She told me my target clients are women in their thirties to fifties “who would read Oprah magazine.” Perhaps she practices yoga and eats Kashi whole-grain bars. The opposite of the guy who appears in the beer advertisement. I remember thinking, “But men, too, would be interested in my service and benefit from it a big time. I think about 30% of my clients will be men.”
Now I don’t have the exact numbers, but I think men constitute about 20 to 25% of my clients. In Spirit Guides Coaching, as many as 50% of my clients are men. As she said, not all of my clients fall into her target group — in fact many do not. . .
(By the way, this coach gave me many valuable advice and I’m so grateful to her. Her stereotype of the spiritual type was only a very minor thing and it was actually illuminating to hear her talk about this stereotype. If you are thinking of starting your own business, I highly recommend investing in a good marketing advice from someone who knows the kind of business you aspire to start.)
Profile of my clients
My clients — the people who order my soul reading — are very diverse. Demographically, they are women and men of all age groups. The youngest client who came to me on their own is 18 years old (I’ve done some readings for children under this age who were brought to me by their parents). Oldest? I don’t remember exactly, but I’ve done many readings for retired people. They come from all over the world. Because my website is English only at this time, many are from English speaking countries (US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand …) but there are many clients whose English is their second language.
Their professions vary big timing, too, including office workers, engineers, doctors, lawyers, CPAs, artists, owners of various size businesses, teachers, government workers, students, homemakers, etc.
Oh, and Christian ministers. I heard many Christian schools deny the idea of reincarnation, but the fact is quite a few Christians are accepting it. Organized religion is not about rigid dogma these days. There are also clients of other faiths and those who don’t consider themselves religious.
Some of my clients are healers, such as energy healers, chiropractors, doctors, nurses, counselors, etc. Some of them send me their clients for synergetic effects. I guess time is changing . . . just a few years ago, it would have been hard to imagine a M.D. sending their patients for soul reading . . .
Our own judgment against non-spiritual people
So perhaps a more appropriate question is: Who is NOT spiritual?
And I am immediately reminded of this quotation:
“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardi
So everyone is spiritual. The person next to you on the bus, your coworker, your golf buddy . . . they may not be aware of their spirituality yet, but that awareness can happen in a flash second. Or one life challenge such as loss of a loved one, their own health problem, deeply disturbing relationship issue, or one sleepless night wondering the meaning of life.
We are all spiritual. It’s our own judgment to consider someone is not.
Start talking about spirituality
So do yourself a favor. Don’t set yourself up in a silo. Don’t limit yourself in the narrow circle of “spiritual” seekers. Start talking about spirituality with the people around you.
How? Well, standing on the street and asking the passers-by “Do you believe in God?” may not be your style. Relax, and just talk about what is on your mind, or ask them what is on their mind lately. Relationship? Money? Concern about potential layoff? These, like everything in life, can be discussed to spiritual depth.
I just shamelessly linked to my posts on each of these topics. May I even suggest sharing these articles with your friends — that will open up the discussion.
The person you talk to may or may not open up right away. But remember you are doing this for yourself. You don’t want to be the only spiritual person you know. And really, you may be pleasantly surprised. My coaching clients often say something like, “Well, the other day, I was talking with this guy — I knew him for many years but never really connected deeply. Turns out he is a lot more spiritual than I thought he was . . .”
Any comments? Let’s talk ^_^
