by Angela Blaha | Jul 10, 2013 | Positive Psychology
Like many other words is the western world, emptiness is defined by my perception, a way of looking at an experience.
How does the word emptiness influence your present thinking? Does your past experiences or teachings create an image in your mind? Do you have feelings or emotions attached to the word? Do these images and stories create suffering around emptiness?
According to Merriam-Webster dictionary the definition of Empty is:
1 a: containing nothing
b: not occupied or inhabited
2 a: lacking reality, substance, meaning or value
b: destitute of effect or force
c: devoid of sense
If we empty our old stories, emotions and feelings from the word itself, does the word create a different meaning? The word becomes void of these attached emotions or feelings like loneliness, depression or sadness. There is something, but that something takes on another form. If I take away the negative connotations from the word there becomes a different meaning altogether. I’m not sure I can explain it but it becomes attached to more neutral words like vastness or spaciousness and even connectedness. It becomes larger and seems to encompass the world. It’s like a word that reaches and touches everyone and everything.
The Dalai Lama refers to Emptiness (Sunyata) as “ the knowledge of the ultimate reality of all objects, material and phenomena.” This is the basic concepts in Buddhism and is explained as everything is interrelated, interdependent and is without substance.
My understanding of this teaching is that everything is temporary because everything is forever changing and therefore empty. Everything around us, ourselves included are compounded, the result of something else. I am no longer the baby in my baby picture, I am now a result of many years of growing and learning and maturing. Therefore I have changed and I am empty of the baby. It doesn’t mean I am no longer that person it simply means I am no longer the image of that baby, in fact I am no longer the person I was a few seconds ago writing this article. We are continuously changing, continuously in flux, as is everything around us.
The reason for teaching about emptiness is to release our selves from attachment. Attachments to views, opinions, stories, emotions, etc. leaving ourselves empty of greed, anger, resentment and delusion. If we leave ourselves unattached we are empty of suffering, stress, depression and frustration.
With this new found perception of emptiness there seems to be an overwhelming sense of peace and freedom.
by Angela Blaha | Jun 28, 2013 | Soul
How does one forgive? This seems to be a question I hear over and over.
Do you just say, “OK I forgive you.” Sometimes it is enough to just say the words either to yourself or to someone else. Other times it doesn’t seem to be enough. There still seems to be some sort of emotion, maybe it’s anger, resentment, jealousy, but something hangs on so when I think of the incident or a person’s name, it triggers some emotion or feeling inside. Some emotion or feeling that I have not identified with or simply do not want to feel or identify with, maybe I’m just not ready to identify with it.
So does forgiveness mean that I have to feel every heart wrenching feeling, accept the feeling and then do what with it? Do I just say ok I am setting this feeling of anger go, then it is done? Is my forgiveness truly gone?
I know that these feelings hold me back and they bind me even closer to the incident or the person who I need to forgive. So how do I unbind myself? Every place I read about forgiveness, I am told to simply let go, to find peace within. But really how do you do it – Forgive – let go – find peace?
Here is my process that I follow when forgiveness is in order.
1. Awareness: Aware that there is something holding me to the incident or the person. I identify with the emotion or feeling by asking my soul, “What is it that I am holding on to?”
2. Meditation: If the answer doesn’t come right away I try meditating and ask the universe for a clear and accurate answer.
3. Feeling: Then I sit with it, really allowing the feeling and/or emotion to surface. I am not one who likes to feel discomfort so this part of the process is especially difficult. This may take several attempts depending on if I have old memories to deal with as well as new memories with the incident.
4. Release: After I have allowed myself to fully experience what is holding me there, then and only then do I release the emotion or feeling. I literally say out loud or to myself, “I release this emotion or feeling to the heaven’s or to the earth to be dealt with properly. I am free from being __________ with or about ___________.”
5. Visualize: Then I visualize this feeling or emotion leaving my body and being released. Sometime I will journal about the experience and write about how it felt to release and to be free.
If you need to do this process over again & again to allow yourself to release the emotion or feeling and to completely forgive, Do it.
There is no greater joy than releasing yourself from bondage through forgiveness.
by Angela Blaha | Jun 18, 2013 | Soul
What is your Dharma (life Purpose)? This is one of the three soul questions that is ask going into meditation if you practice Deepak Chopra’s, Primordial Sound Meditation.
What is my life’s Dharma or purpose? This can be a hard question to ask and an even harder one to answer. It all seems so big, a life’s purpose. Yikes
Does it mean I have a purpose from the time I am born until the time I die? Is that purpose the same purpose my entire life? It just seems too big to even answer, as well as ask.
Lets break it down a little, instead of asking it for your entire life, simple ask, “What is my Dharma for this moment in time?” It seems much more manageable now if we focus on the here and now.
The easiest way I have found to begin to answer the question is to relate it to something I am comfortable with. Meaning, if you enjoy writing maybe you begin with an outline. Outline what you enjoy in life, what your goals are, or your love for yourself, your strengths. If you’re a scientific mind maybe you put your dreams, desire and goals into a chart or formula or graph. It really doesn’t matter what you start with, just start.
I prefer to think of it as an umbrella with raindrops streaming from the metal posts. In the umbrella is the main purpose. My main purpose is Healing, then in the raindrops are examples or ways in which I share healing. For example: 1 raindrop is Reiki, another hypnosis, another teacher, another listener, another Intuitive coach, another wellness coach, another meditation, and another yoga, etc.
If I want to break it down even further I could explain with feelings, emotions, or techniques I use. The possibilities are endless.
The main point is to find your life’s purpose, make it as broad or as specific as you want, just try not to limit yourself. You can always add or take away raindrops to fit where you are currently in life. Life changes and so does our life’s purpose from time to time.
For me, answering the question is all about giving my life importance, direction and it allows me to create me. My soul is filled with joy!
by Angela Blaha | Jun 11, 2013 | Soul
I was helping my nephew work on his intuition skills the other day.
The topic became very interesting when I asked him what he see’s – meaning using his clairvoyant abilities? He told me what he saw and it occurred to me that he waited until it became dark to answer the question.
I asked, “what is it about he dark that you enjoy?” After a bit of time he said, “I never thought about liking the dark, I always thought I was afraid of the dark.” I commented on how he waited until it was dark to even try to use his abilities. So I assumed he enjoyed the dark or the dark in some way heightened his abilities. We talked for a little while about what it all meant if anything.
We came to a working conclusion (one that can be changed) that our perception tells us that we are afraid because we cannot visually see what is there. We all have had times when we feel energy brush up against us in the dark. Your hair stands on end on your arms, or you get goose bumps. If we open up our intuition, we can see in the dark, we can see dots of light, colors or whatever. My nephew, in particular, can see, with his eyesight, colors of angels and other energies. He also can use his clairvoyance and see specifics like people, places, and things. We do not pay much attention to energy that brushes up against us in the day time. What is the difference?
Be thankful for the dark, it can heighten your abilities. It also brings a whole different perspective to our lives, set yourself free. Don’t be afraid of the dark. Think about what you can see rather than what you cannot.
Always,
Angie
by Angela Blaha | May 28, 2013 | Soul
As I stand at the sink thinking about a very young person in our community that has past away, I wonder what special blessing he had brought to his families life and to the community. I also wonder why young people choose to come into this life and to leave almost instantly.
The mind wanders a bit and I begin to think about myself and if I would have been able to emotionally handle loosing one of my children when they were younger. Automatically past life issues spring up and I hear clairaudient voice say, “you have lost children and loved ones in the past.” As I know this is true I think about if I have brought any of that karma with me to this life time or has it been healed since I did not loose any children at a young age this life time. My understanding of karma is that with every action there is a return of like action. My mother always told me what we sow we reap. I question if somewhere on my souls path had this action been healed?
The mind wanders again and I begin to think about all the karma I have brought to this lifetime to be healed. I am currently dealing with a back issue, which I know is a past life issue, I have suffered with it twice this lifetime so far. I think about the first time I had back surgery, I was 15 years old, I was very young and did not injure myself. There was always a question as to why I would have such back issues when I had no injury to support the issue. Shortly after that I began to experience my clairvoyant abilities. I did not understand the visions, the hearing of voices that I could not visually see, nor could I talk to anyone about them. I grew up on a farm where as a child you were seen not heard. I didn’t know or understand much about clairvoyance so I paid it little attention.
Then, as I stand by the sink something hits me like a brick wall. I have been struggling with further opening all my abilities recently. Both of my parents have passed with in a few months of each other and at the same time I am struggling with back issues. Coincidence? I know there is correlation between age 15 and now and yet I struggle to figure it all out. Is this karma? I ask myself. I begin to think about any thing that needs to heal, asking the soul to please reveal what it is that has been plaguing this issue.
I begin sobbing from some other place, you know when you begin crying for no reason and you cant stop it or control it. A small clairaudient voice says, “Time to begin the new book. Heal what karma you brought with you and move forward with helping others using my clairvoyance, clairaudience, medium ship, clairsentience .…Use them all.”
I feel this over whelming sense of gratitude and I realize how blessed I am in this very moment. Blessed about this lifetime of being able to understand my karma, that my actions can and will heal what I do not want to carry on to another life. Blessed in the fact that I am consciously aware that I have the power to heal myself with love and light from God.
