Visualization

Many people talk about visualization as though it is something they must learn how to do. The truth is we all perform visualization every day of our lives. Every piece of art you choose to put up on your wall, every photo you display, every color you choose to wear, is a form of visualization. The images we choose to surround ourselves with and the colors we choose all transmit thoughts and emotions to us that shape how we view the world and where we want to go. This self-directed work is all done subconsciously, for the most part, and often, with the help of our spirit guides.

My desktop wallpaper has become one of the most powerful forms of visualization in my experience. Because, as a freelance writer, I spend so much of my time at my home computer, it is vitally important that I choose wisely. This awareness of my desktop wallpaper as a key player in visualizing my life has only recently become evident.

From my last post, you'll notice that I was visualizing coming around Cape Horn--the waves crashing against my vessel, storm clouds overhead--and yet there was the hope and belief that the great Pacific lay just beyond, if I could just hang on. This intuitive visualization came up through my spirit, a kind of knowing that helped guide me through some very difficult times. It was a natural visualization for me--a beautiful metaphor--drawing upon my past life experiences on the high seas as an explorer and navy sailor. In these lives, I learned perseverance and faith. But mind you, I didn't consciously choose this image. I came with the flow of my spirit. I have always pictured myself on the high seas in a great ship. How do you see yourself?

There came a day as I sat down to my computer when the urge to change my desktop image was very strong in me. I was displaying a beautiful, fertile scene featuring a waterfall and stream in vibrant greens, the picture of healing and abundance...I was indeed believing for abundance. I searched for an image that held the message I needed to see that morning, and I found it in a beautiful photo showing the sun breaking through the clouds, its rays casting golden light on everything it touches. Still rounding the Cape, this image brought forth the next phase of my journey...the release, the goal is just ahead, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

It was only after a couple of weeks that I saw the truth of the image. This is how I am. It may have seemed obvious to anyone at the time, but not to me. I choose on instinct and intuition and later I see how the decision made perfect sense....why I kept going back to this image, instead of another. After all, the sky is still rather gray in the image I chose...and yet, it was ideal for what I was feeling...I was still surrounded by obstacles...but I had faith and the image was a reminder.

I lived with this image for weeks, believing that the sun was truly about to break through the clouds of my financial storm. It had been weeks since I'd had any work at all. During my journey around the Cape, the economy worsened, more jobs were lost and the level of despair across the nation increased. But I held on. I would not be tossed upon the rocky shores, I told myself. My emotions ebbed and flowed. Sometimes I was ready to give up and salvage what I could from my ship and go home, but the image of the sun breaking through the clouds was so real to me, I just couldn't give up. And I had my word from God: Wait Upon the Lord. It was posted for me to see.

Then one day, I awoke and I could not look at that image any longer...I was tired of being on the verge of something, breaking, breaking...I needed to land! So I searched for a new image and found one of a beautiful tropical beach, a grass shack on its shores, so peaceful, so landed...it reminded me so much of my soul's longing, my beloved Hawaii...and I continued to work that morning, hoping for a financial breakthrough, but nothing changed. All morning, it was the same.

Then, in the afternoon, the phone rang. It was work and a lot of it....a seed I had planted weeks earlier finally sprouted. And another source opened up, as well, out of the blue. All of it came pouring in like a rising tide, so much so, that now I have more work than I can handle. So it's been awhile since my last post.

I believe I received a prompting from my primary spirit guide to change that image on that dismal Friday morning. They see what's coming, of course. I had been feeling particularly low and defeated that day. Our spirit guides love to be in relationship with us here, in this dimension. They are very playful, watching over us at all times. My hope and my prayer for you is that you will open yourselves up to the unseen world around you. All of the love and guidance of the universe is at your disposal. It only takes a willing heart.

Navigating Rough Seas

I recently read a basic primer on loving-kindness appropriately titled “Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness,” by Sharon Salzberg, a western teacher of Buddhist principles. I felt I needed to revisit these principles as I entered a sea of choppy waters where recriminations and despair would seek to hinder safe passage. I was rounding a Cape Horn, with the belief that a mighty Pacific lay just beyond. Would I hold myself steady as I navigated this difficult passage? All I had was my belief and my strong will. The winds of self-doubt, the winds of bitterness, both came more than once to test my resolve and the worthiness of my vessel, but I prevailed, choosing love as my guide.

Of course, the book was the perfect choice. Books play an important role in my life. I am always studying, seeking answers in books. I reminded myself recently that, although my sun sign is in fire, I have most of my astrological chart in air, the intellectual. And my midheaven is in the air sign of Gemini, the communicator ruled by Mercury, so I like to know that what I learn has a practical application. When I was very young, I thought that libraries were holy places.

This particular book on loving-kindness was sent to me by a dear brother, the brother who sends me his unwanted books on spirituality when cleaning out his cluttered life. These are books he so desperately needs himself—the ones he picks up at used bookstores by the dozens, but has yet to read, and still the search continues. It was revealed to me in a vision that he still carries the heartbreak and bitterness of a disillusioned Jesuit priest from a past life. His grief and anger against God is very deep and entrenched. I refused to go too deep into that vision, as I often take on the emotions of others. This book, this gift, from one who, I am sure, once led me in faith in a past life, arrived in a big fat box the week prior to my needing it. Of course. Do you see the perfect work of Christ in this? Christ's love is more beautiful and poetic than we can imagine.

I do not know of any time in my life when suffering was best met with fear and bitterness. Blaming others for our misfortunes. Blaming God for our misfortunes. Blaming ourselves for our misfortunes. All of this is useless. If we approach our challenges in a more spiritually logical fashion, in practice and with consistency, as the Buddhists do, we will find that the solutions are never far. They are just around the bend. God does not produce suffering, but He will not interfere in our highest lessons about love. It is through understanding the nature of His love that we find our bearings in life. Love in action is dynamic, challenging, a magnificent passage to another peaceful shore.

Blind Faith

I am one who must know the future at all times. This is, of course, against God's plan for our lives. But repeated reminders through meditation and my talks with God do not keep me from seeking. After all, stubbornness is one of my key virtues. Sometimes--often, in fact--things are revealed to me through symbols in my dreams and in waking visions. It is encouraging to interpret these symbols and I have seen these prophetic images come true. But always, I am told to be patient and learn my lessons like a good girl. Certain things must remain covered, I am told.

Lately, I have been going through a series of difficult twists and turns in my faith walk. My economic security hangs in the balance. The last time this happened, I had a dream in which I found myself tied to a rope and hanging by my feet high above a hard concrete floor. Dangling and in a state of panic, I called for help from those closest to me. No one was able to assist. And then, the tension eased completely and I was lowered gently to the floor, feet first--stocking feet. I slid across the smooth surface of the polished concrete like a ballerina, released with so much warmth of love and protection. The message was clear: "I have you. Why do you fear?" And He did.

So here I am again, dangling from the rope. Last week, the tension was huge, and I awoke one morning and the next, meeting my day in absolute submission, overcome by love and in a state of consciousness which I recognize now as my "awakened self." And God the Father, as I call this voice that speaks to me, was drawing ever so near. I lit my meditation candle and immediately covered my eyes, both mornings, instinctively, obediently. (I have since learned that this is a self-healing method in Reiki, the laying on of hands.) Again, the message was clear. I will not be allowed to see everything. "Be patient," I was told. "I see the way ahead and I have made a way for you. Where should your attention be? I have freed you from worry. Be at peace." I have never known such faithfulness. I have never been so loved.