June 18, 2020

CAITLIN JOHNSTONE: “On Maintaining Perspective In The Year 20-F*cking-20”

Whenever an author, filmmaker or other artist sets out on the noble endeavor of pointing people toward the ideal of living life to its fullest, they usually wind up depicting a character going off on all sorts of wild adventures, skydiving, trekking across the Himalayas, and so on.

In my opinion reminding people to live life to its fullest is the artist’s single most important job, but this is also where most storytellers get it wrong. Most people who live wild, interesting lives sleepwalk through the whole ride just like everyone else; in the end they’re left with a few amusing anecdotes rattling around in their skulls and a secret sense of dissatisfaction.

This is because most people don’t really show up for life. Even if they’re outwardly doing all sorts of amazing things and racking up a bunch of impressive accomplishments, their attention was mostly consumed with babbling mental chatter almost the entire time. Whatever happens in their life, they weren’t really there for it.

The real way to live life to its fullest is to simply be present for it.

I point this out because, at the midway point of the year 2020, I think it’s extremely relevant.

For better or for worse, we are at a time of great change from which the world will likely never return. We are heading into what is probably the most significant period in human history to date, and it would be wise to pay attention.

But when I look at what people are talking about in my social media feeds, even relatively awake and tuned-in people, I see a lot of chatter about the same-old, same-old. People are still yammering on about the same old electoral politics they’ve been on about for years, still babbling about PC culture being out of control and how crazy some people’s gender pronouns are, still dunking on shitlibs for likes and retweets. Even my own articles I notice get a lot more shares and attention if they involve something that tickles mainstream partisan interests like criticizing Trump or bashing the Democrats.

And I just cannot for the life of me imagine continuing to hold such priorities halfway through the year 20-f*cking-20.

At this time we need to drastically change our perspectives and seriously re-evaluate our priorities. We’re all standing on a precipice together and we have no idea what the plunge will look like, and people are still babbling about whether or not you should wear a face mask at the grocery store. This, to me, is a nonsensical approach to our current predicament.

All the stuff that used to consume so much of our attention in the analysis of establishment power structures has been rendered far less important by recent developments. All these recent developments will probably be rendered less relevant by whatever major events are coming next. The only consistent pattern this year has been a greater and greater deviation from old patterns.

For that reason, it makes sense to do two things:

Shift toward emphasizing a bigger-picture perspective of what’s going on. Fixate less on smaller occurrences and pay more attention to broader overall trends. It doesn’t mean ignore the smaller things, it just means view them in the proper context of a world that’s moving into more and more unfamiliar territory in bigger and bigger ways.

Pay attention. Big things are happening right now, and it would be a damn shame to miss them.

We are experiencing something huge here, and it would be a shame to let it go to waste.

We should rather all approach our current situation at this point in history like someone who is trying to live life to its fullest: mindful, curious, not hung up on petty mental narratives, and appreciative of how lucky we are to be here right now to witness this thing.

And, much like the approach of the end of life, this moment in history should ideally cause us to cast aside petty differences and bring us closer together.

~via Caitlin Johnstone

March 31, 2020

CAITLIN JOHNSTONE: “How To Effectively Cope With Your COVID-19 Anxiety”

As 2020 gets crazier and crazier, emotional self-care is getting more and more important. A lot of people, especially the “plugged-in” types who like to pay close attention to what’s going on in the world, are getting into some looping stress patterns over the COVID-19 pandemic that are unnecessary, unhealthy, and unhelpful.

It’s an understandable web to get tangled in; there are all these alarming news stories and statistics pouring in every single day, many of which speak of dangers which may pose a direct threat to the lives and livelihoods of ourselves and our loved ones. Some people spend hours online combing through all the latest information they can find about this thing, and as they’re doing this a tremendous amount of stress builds up in the background of their experience, ultimately culminating in depression, panic attacks, angry outbursts, substance abuse or other unpleasantness.

You see strategies for coping with this increasingly common problem everywhere online, from common healthy stress management techniques like deep breathing and meditation, to escapist claims that the virus doesn’t pose any real danger, to many people simply unplugging from their news feeds altogether. What people aren’t talking about nearly enough, in my opinion, is the simple yet highly effective practice of consciously feeling your feelings.

You wouldn’t think “feel your feelings” is something that needs to be said; it sounds not just like common sense, but like something that happens automatically without your intention or permission. We’ve all experienced emotions we’d prefer not to experience if given the choice, so we assume emotion arises unbidden like a force of nature.

While that can certainly be true, a tremendous range of our emotional spectrum is often blotted out by a basic lack of emotional attentiveness. Our culture tends to encourage us to put all but our loudest emotions on the back burner and focus on other matters, and Covid-19 happens to feed into that dynamic especially well by giving us a bunch of sparkly news headlines and statistics to focus on while this low-level background anxiety slowly builds unnoticed.

Feelings need to be felt. Not acted out on other people, but felt. They’re like small children; if you just give them a cuddle, let them cry and listen to their grievances they feel better in a few minutes, but if you deprive them of attention they’ll start acting out to get it.

At some point between childhood and adulthood, most of us consciously created strategies to stop our feelings from coming up unbidden. At some point, crying in front of your peers became embarrassing and you learned how to stop it from happening. Most of us never thought to take down those defences after they were installed. Some of us have never even re-learned how to cry again. Letting your feelings flow again will take a conscious effort from most of us.

No matter how much mantra repetition, deep breathing or positive affirmations you do, unless you’ve felt those feelings all the way through you’re just wallpapering over the actual issue. A huge percentage of the anxiety that people are currently experiencing is just a big backlog of feelings that need to be felt.

For some of you, just reminding you of that will be enough. Put down the phone and quietly meditate on it until it bubbles up. Hold your feelings like they’re a little baby newborn. Let them happen until they’re all the way done.

Others might need to try out some different strategies. Here are some of mine.

First, I always check in with my body. Am I clenching anything? Hands, bum, tummy, forehead, jaw? What else is happening? Is there background nausea, or a lump in my throat, or is my heart thumping too hard? I investigate. Close your eyes now and try it with me. Scan around for a few minutes.

Try tapping around with the tips of your fingers on one hand of the areas that you identified are tight. You’ll find spots that are a little bit sore. They feel like a light bruise. Tap on those spots for a little longer until they release. Once you’ve done that, let your fingers tap round your body and find other tight spots. Do this for at least a few minutes.

As you’re doing this, the loud buzz of anxiety releases and the actual root feelings become more clear. Sometimes all you have to do is feel them. You will probably feel embarrassed to feel them. That’s just one of the layers of defence you put in all those years ago. If it feels stuck, use your theater improv skills to exaggerate and try some feelings on until you find the source feeling. Feel them all the way through. Sometimes they feel their way to the other side, oftentimes they end abruptly with a burp, the shakes, a yawn or some other release.

If that doesn’t work, I usually hop up and do a very easy qi gong sequence a dear friend of mine taught me years ago. I think any kind of repetitive energy movement would do though. Basically I do the same movement over and over again with my eyes closed. Once the energy is moving around the body I can sense areas of blockage. I just keep looking at them until I’ve fully seen all the parts of it and then it releases, usually by a big expression of feeling like a roar or something, that usually ends in dry retching.

I know I’m done when I’m at zero again. I don’t stop until I feel totally at peace. I think that’s important to note because some people really get off on having big feelings and having their big feelings all over everyone else. Sometimes people want other people to “own” their feelings. Rather than feeling them, they try to make other people feel them by proxy. They’re usually referred to as drama queens.

The point is to release the feelings so your natural peaceful zero point can shine through again. You are the sky, the feelings are weather. Identifying as the weather will mean you are invested in keeping the weather going. Identifying as the feeling will mean you will be invested in keeping the feeling going. Set the intention to let it speak to you, and then let it pass. That’s where health is.

A lot of people are saying that the fear of the coronavirus is more damaging than the virus itself. I think that’s true, but not in the way they mean it. They’re often trying to say that the coronavirus itself a nothingburger and the fear is being used to manipulate us. I think the virus is a real thing, and also our fear will be used by ourselves and others to manipulate us. We need to clear a path to inspiration by feeling through our feelings and getting back to zero as often as possible. This will help us in the big picture by seeing what’s happening and responding with grace, and in the micro by keeping our immune systems in full relaxed readiness and not tangled up, tripping over itself, fighting ghosts and in panic-mode.

Do the internal work and the external work will follow. This is how we save ourselves.

~via Caitlin Johnstone

March 31, 2020

LISA RENEE (Time Shift Blog): “Relaxation and Fluidity”

“During these times learning how to slow down and achieve a relaxed state of mind is of vital importance, especially when retraining and clearing out our subconscious mind programming. Our brain and our mental body is much more effective when we have slowed down and works more optimally when we are in a relaxed state and calm atmosphere, because this is the natural state of our core spiritual essence. All forms of mental anxiety, stress, and over intellectualizing makes our mind speed up to having too many thoughts at once, and this overwhelms and clouds our Discernment, causing us to make poor impulsive decisions. To make contact and communicate with our subconscious layers, as well as our super consciousness layers, we need to go slower in order to reach a totally relaxed Meditation state and stay fluid within the energies. Energy bodies behave like waters moving in an ocean or river, if we can sense our inner energy when it meets the outer energies, we can navigate the surrounding waters by paying attention to the energy flow. We go with the flow in a state of relaxed fluidity. If we are moving too fast and not paying attention to the energy flow, we can get carried in the current of stronger forces in a sudden and unexpected tidal wave and this is when we get hurt or injured.”

~Lisa Renee

During these times learning how to slow down and achieve a relaxed state of mind is of vital importance, especially when retraining and clearing out our subconscious mind programming. The simple truth is that when we rid our body and mind of destructive habits and useless distractions we create more balance, which naturally manifests more grace and ease in our life.

Our brain and our mental body is much more effective when we have slowed down and works more optimally when we are in a relaxed state and calm atmosphere, because this is the natural state of our core spiritual essence. All forms of mental anxiety, stress, and over intellectualizing makes our mind speed up to having too many thoughts at once, and this overwhelms and clouds our Discernment, causing us to make poor impulsive decisions. To make contact and communicate with our subconscious layers, as well as our super consciousness layers, we need to go slower in order to reach a totally relaxed Meditation state and stay fluid within the energies. Energy bodies behave like waters moving in an ocean or river, if we can sense our inner energy when it meets the outer energies, we can navigate the surrounding waters by paying attention to the energy flow. We go with the flow in a state of relaxed fluidity. If we are moving too fast and not paying attention to the energy flow, we can get carried in the current of stronger forces in a sudden and unexpected tidal wave and this is when we get hurt or injured.

Thus, it is important that you learn to induce a simple meditative state in yourself, where you become the observer and are incredibly relaxed, and yet you are alert, not so relaxed that you fall asleep. Obviously, this state is not for when you are doing heavy physical exertion, but in the majority of your waking life, you can be in this relaxed state of fluidity paying attention to how the energy feels around you, while doing simple tasks or at work completing responsibilities. Using single focus and staying presently focused on the task in front of you, while naturally adjusting to the energies that are making subtle changes to the environment. In the early stage of developing Meditation skill we have to sit, relax and learn to observe the thoughts passing through without having attachment to them. Once we notice the thought pattern, we let it go and bring our focus back to the now moment. The next stage is adjusting to the energies inside you and outside of you. Each of us must find the most natural state of being for our body that feels good in the energetic flow, and not let our mind interfere with that natural state of calm and equilibrium. In our natural state, our inner self will strongly align with the outer self to bring harmony and wholeness between the inner and outer.

Also, we need to know how to stay as calm as possible even when under great stress in the moment. Stress causes our body to enter a heightened state of reactivity due to the release of hormones and Neurotransmitters when we’re feeling overwhelmed and stressed out. So, remaining calm and slowing down, even during potentially tense situations can establish a sense of powerful stillness that will help your mind stop racing from one thought to the next.

To be effective we need to establish a peaceful mind-set before concentrating on any one thing, especially when facing conflicts or challenges. General fluidity and relaxation of both the mind and body will greatly improve higher sensory perception development and build spiritual communication links, helping to bring more ease and clarity for problem solving. When a person is fluid and relaxed, their Energy Receivers are open and more receptive to guidance and creative resolutions. Listen to your body, treat your body with care and make corrections when you feel tense, by returning back to a state where your bio-rhythm feels relaxed and open. With practice you can discipline your mind and emotions from overwhelming your effectiveness in a range of social settings. The more we dis-identify from our need to control the external influences and learn to allow and accept situations we have no control over, the more quickly we can adapt and stay relaxed while addressing stressful situations.

As many of us in the spiritual community are fully aware, we must move out of the Subconscious Programming and Mind Control conditioning of the 3D way of existence and be hypervigilant to constantly refocus ourselves into higher states of being. Expressing unconditional love, Compassion, gratitude, appreciation, and the Spirits of Christ, are great sources of higher states. Knowing that love, heartful presence, being in alignment with nature, and being an authentic and caring human are the simple keys to ensure our success in every way to rebuild our lightbody. May we inspire others who may come into contact with us, to know the truth in the path of unconditional love, as it is the only path of spiritual freedom!

(Source: ES News- Subconscious Programming)

~via EnergeticSynthesis.com – Time Shift Blog – March 31, 2020

November 20, 2018

LISA RENEE (Time Shift Blog): “The Road to Resilience”

Dear ES Family, Over the last decade, with the steady amplification of polarities, the rising intensity of external energies and forces, the challenges that we may have to face that test our character, test our mettle, seem to have been greatly magnified. We have often spoken about the planetary Dark Night of the Soul, and by observing the outer world, its clear that its in full swing. Over the past year, I have prayed countless times for guidance on what is the best process for helping people that are enduring extreme challenges, and painful transitions, when they have not been educated with strong coping skills or given proper support towards knowing the absolute necessity of cultivating resilience. We live in a culture of mind control to shape weak characters, and habits that weaken our mind, body and energy field, so that we are easily overwhelmed by dominating forces and challenges. Life on earth is not easy, it is a tough school of knocks in which we can learn a tremendous amount, especially now. To survive these challenges, we have to look at life on earth as lessons and learning, looking at painful or negative events as an opportunity to see something that we did not see before, or to change how we perceive the world around us. As we learn from our life experiences and we can observe more clearly, we gain more emotional intelligence and the ability to explore our true purpose. Why did you come to earth now? All of us have things to accomplish on earth during the ascension cycle, and these experiences are deeply personal, intimate and unique to who we are. No other person can define the spiritual purpose for another, this is our responsibility to find out. To gain an accurate assessment of the reality we find ourselves, we will need to know ourselves very deeply. We may need to take off the rose colored glasses of denial in order to to see the accurate truth inside things, or we may need to find the light that does exist in the darkness while it sleeps, finding faith, love and acceptance in the spirit of humanity. At the rate of change and transformation we are enduring resilience is an important skill to cultivate for mental and emotional wellbeing.

Stability, Resilience and Tough Times

People may have gathered many delusions in their belief system about what it means to be happy and to feel pleasure, which is instant gratification that is portrayed by the mainstream media and consumptive modeling to make us believe in such fantasies and crafted advertisements as if they are real stories. Instant gratification teaches us little, we cannot learn about ourselves and the world we live in, if we believe instant gratification and selfish desires are the meaning of life. This is a luciferian and satanic narrative to keep us weakened and trapped in material delusions and Service to Self ego games. Learning how to deal with difficulty, being willing to really see the truth of the matter, is much more productive than clinging to an illusion. To feel content and connected, it is required that you learn how to be strong and self reliant, that you pick yourself up after a fall, and that you know how to refocus your mind away from emotional sadness when you don’t succeed or get your needs met. One of the most important skills we need today, is to live in peace with unmet desires and needs. Attachments make us suffer greatly, and as such we should have preferences and not attachment to the outcome. This does not mean you give up, it means you never give up and look at life as lessons that build character and strength, you keep moving forward the best way you know how to in the moment. How can you find the inspiration to persist instead of getting depressed or angry when things go awry, and to accept that they often will. Much of the time, life on planet earth is about conflict resolution and learning how to synthesize energies in the world of extremes, to neutralize polarity and return to peace. How do people deal with difficult events that completely transform and change their lives? The death of a loved one, loss of a job, serious illness, criminal attacks and other traumatic events. These are all examples of very challenging life experiences. Many people react to such difficult circumstances with a flood of strong emotions and a sense of uncertainty and fear, bringing on mental paralysis or anxiety. What enables people to generally adapt well over time to life-changing situations and stressful conditions? Navigating life’s challenges requires life skills. To develop life skills, you have to live through your life, gaining experience, gaining wisdom from hard earned lessons. This process involves resilience, it is an ongoing process that requires time and effort and engages people in taking a number of steps. Developing resilience is a personal journey towards maturity whereby each person will have to choose different approaches in order to build personal resilience. Resilience is an important energy building tool, being resilient also helps to keep healthy boundaries that build a stronger energy field, or aura.

Building Resilience Principles

Connect to your higher purpose and meaning in life.
Maintain perspective, look for the larger picture.
Find ways to implement your unique talents and strengths.
Be realistically optimistic, seek truth for accurate assessments.
Generate postive feelings and gratitude for what you do have.
Be open minded and flexible in situations, be willing to persevere.
Reach out to like minded souls, find connection with others that understand.

Learning from the Past Focusing on past experiences and sources of personal strength can help you learn about what strategies for building resilience might work for you. By exploring answers to the following questions about yourself and your reactions to challenging life events, you may discover how you can respond effectively to difficult situations in your life.

Consider the following:

What kinds of events have been most stressful for me?
How have those events typically affected me?
Have I found it helpful to think of important people in my life when I am distressed?
To whom have I reached out for support in working through a traumatic or stressful experience?
What have I learned about myself and my interactions with others during difficult times?
Has it been helpful for me to assist someone else going through a similar experience?
Have I been able to overcome obstacles, and if so, how?
What has helped make me feel more hopeful about the future?

Emotional Intelligence

To cultivate resilience we will also need to understand emotional intelligence. Over the years, I’ve noticed a theme that the older you are, it may be easier to gain emotional intelligence, some people are very emotionally competent and managing emotions is easy for them. While others have to work a lot harder to tame unruly emotions, and need a different approach to clear pain body impulses. The more experience you have in exploring and managing emotional states, the deeper you know yourself, the easier it is to have emotional intelligence. Younger folks seem to struggle with this more in the current tumultuous terrain. Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to monitor one’s own emotional state and be able to observe other people’s emotions and to distinguish between different emotions and identify them appropriately. When emotional states are able to be observed and discerned for their quality, one may use this emotional sensory information to help guide thinking, behavior and actions. All humans experience some emotional state that help guide our actions in life. As our Emotional Intelligence increases, one will experience a variety of positive transformations in one’s life. Destructive behavior patterns of the past may transform into more positive behavior as one begins to solve the mysterious puzzle of human interactions and gain a quiet and confident understanding of them. Anxiety may yield to more peaceful, tranquil, and contented feelings as ones deeper emotional understanding increases. One starts to gain improved self-confidence and feel empowered, and less confused and frustrated with circumstances. Overall, one can transform from confused to confident; from clueless to comprehending and enlightened, from fragmented to coherent, from shallow to deep, and from oppressed to liberated, as one learns how to become the authentic self. We must remember that we are in a war over control over the mind, and limitations and pain we feel are also created in the mind, which means we have the power to remove and clear them from impacting us. Our goal is to build strength in our inner world via inner reflection and meditation, which is building the energetic strength of our energy field, while learning how to observe and remain neutral to what happens in the outer world. We change the locus of power, giving power to our inner spirit and inner world, while removing external influences form having power over us. This takes some time to master. How do we get there? Building Resilience over time. Thus, this blog is dedicated to inspirations and discussion on building resilience and finding what works as a strategy for you. The energies in the outer world can be tough, harsh, painful and surreal. That is a fact, and it is what it is. The truth is that this does not have to disturb your inner peace, connection and purpose. May we share more about the quality of resilience, knowing we are in this together, and we all have to do our own inner work. I hope this is helpful, and sending much love, strength and peace to all. Love and GSF, Lisa

(Adapted Source: Learning from the Past http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/road-resilience.aspx)

~via EnergeticSynthesis.com – Time Shift Blog – November 19, 2018