The Artscape of Emotion

Whether flashes of joy, celebration, fear, overwhelming passions, or the arduous journey of self-exploration, feelings create an artscape through which we must travel. Emotions add flavor and nuance to the journey of awakening.

When seemingly untenable feelings arise, it’s empowering to turn toward them. The light of your consciousness is transformative and facing your shadows begins the process of deeper self understanding. You are right where you need to be. Whatever is unfolding in your experience contains gifts that will allow you to shine. By honoring your pilgrimage as sacred, you can drop the ego-driven belief that something is wrong.

It’s healthy to observe and feel deeply; however, it’s equally healthy to cultivate the ability to recognize when the voice of ego is in play. It will always jump to ones deepest subconscious fear and amplify it; therefore, feel with understanding. Feel with purpose. Feel to cultivate compassion for all sentient beings who seek fulfillment, peace and balance in their experience.

Earth can be a challenging playground. The paradoxes of humanness are storied, and yet absolutely required for the artscape of your unique adventure. All of life participates in your awakening. Realize how far you have come. You are amazing.

Finding Gratitude in Grief

“In some ways, [gratitude] makes [grief] more profound, because it allows you to look at it. It allows you to examine your grief in a way that it is not, like, holding up red hot ember in your hands, but rather seeing that pain as something that can warm you and light your knowledge of what other people might be going through.”

~Stephen Colbert”

Compassion is learned through experience. In Presence, we can create space around emotions that arise and transform our wounds into empowerment. Challenges help us to discover facets of insight and awareness that are ready to shine. When you can turn toward your grief and embrace it, it becomes a powerful aspect of your awakening.

Our history does not define us, but it does inform us. Rather than thinking the challenge shouldn’t have occurred, or believing the “if only” created by the mind, see everything as part of the perfect unfoldment of your life, the exemplary movement of love and loss, lessons and values that can only come through depth of emotion.

Our shared humanity is the key to spiritual awakening. We all walk the same journey and we can find joy in walking one another home.

Receptivity

“Make your ego porous. Will is of little importance, complaining is nothing, fame is nothing. Openness, patience, receptivity, solitude is everything.”

~Rainer Maria Rilke~

Periodically take the time to sit in the moonlight and simply be still. It’s powerful to make friends with the night and go into silence to receive the wisdom of the heart. In this world of distraction, awareness arises through a deep immersion within the present moment.

There are many paths to enlightenment and each journey is unique. Friendliness, universal love and passion remind us of the sacredness of awakening and we can learn much from one another. As you proceed, one barometer of progress is to observe the amount of peace in your overall experience. You may find that in many aspects, you react far differently than you did 5 or 10 years ago.

There may still be topics or people that elicit an emotional response – this is where your work resides. Let the gentleness of the moonlight soothe your soul. Give any pain to the quietude of the night. When you choose to release the things that no longer serve you, you create space in which something new can emerge. This is your moment of transformation.

Contrast

“May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.”
~John O’Donohue~
The depths and nuances of your many experiences have shaped your interpretation of life. Contrasts teach us about various perceptions until we come to reside deeply rooted in stillness with the understanding of completeness.
Allow yourself the gift of emotion, for even in the deepest sorrow there is beauty to be discovered. When energy flows through the heart chakra we are transformed. Expansion comes through both our tears and our joy, and the process of discovery calls upon us to connect with one another in this very human way.
As we awaken, we naturally bring greater consciousness to our life situation. We learn how to observe ourselves without judgment, and in doing so, utilize the highs and lows we experience as stepping stones to awareness, peace and empowerment.
The joyful heart is not one without pain. It simply is. No matter what unfolds, we ultimately find that love resides at the core of all things. You bring something unique and beautiful to the world that is ready to be expressed. Embrace your humanness. You are a bridge between the spiritual and the mundane.

Exploring the Depths of Emotion

“Experiencing our emotions fully, without wallowing in them or turning away, allows us to break through the layers of protective armor and connect with the heart. Fully felt, our emotions can clear the path to the deep well of compassionate love that is the essence of our being… and we are free to receive all the world.”   
~ Ezra Bayda~   
Just a little bit of insight and awareness can transform your entire life. You can only truly understand what you have experienced; therefore, it’s important to explore the depths of emotion. When emotional pain rises to the surface, it is an indicator that it is ready to be healed. These deeply buried wounds of the past are repeatedly reflected in our life experiences until they are cleared.In order to receive healing, we must choose to become vulnerable and open to the love of the Universe. Openness and acceptance create a space where we can dissolve the struggle and suffering once considered by the ego to be necessary and unavoidable… From this state of wholeness, we can help others to become whole as well.

Feel your way to freedom. Honor the emotions that arise with the knowledge that they are meant to help you break free from restrictive thoughts and beliefs. Untethered, the energies of infinite possibility feed the flames of your life purpose in a transformative and powerful way.