TheEnergyThatIsYou.com

PHENOMENAL WOMAN
by Maya Angelou

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them
They think I’m telling lies.
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing of my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them,
They say they still can’t see.
I say
It’s in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed.
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It’s in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
The palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
‘Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

As Above so Below: Courtesy Studio 4 Gallery 2009

What if I really took complete responsibility and accepted that I am the chief architect in creating and holding in place everything that is going on in my life, good, bad or indifferent? What if I truly begin to believe that the state of my consciousness is the most powerful influence to change that? What if I also acknowledged that there are stuff (people, situations, conditions) in my life that fall in categories ranging from ‘oh-I-don’t-really-care-for-that’ going all the way down to ‘I-hate-that’ and ‘that-must-be-squashed-killed-driven-out-banished-from-my-life’? What if I took to heart that I purposely put those things there, so I could evolve on a fast track?

Would my life look different? Feel different? Something to ponder upon, really. I did.

I noticed that Johnny Doolittle with whom I have been really mad for what feels like a century, because he is sooooo negative, downright lazy and will of course never ever change, is now winking at me with the question dancing in the air ‘have you ever been lazy and negative? And have you forgiven yourself for it?’

And that job that I reluctantly drag myself to every Monday morning (gotta pay my bills, you know), the one that suffocates me with the deadlines, timelines, reviews and my monster boss breathing down my neck? Why did I put that there? My inner guide descends from some esoteric realm, stands leaning on the doorpost, cool as a cucumber and says, “Good question, kid. At last you are learning to ask the right ones. Now just wait for the answer.”

The answers are bitter pills to begin with. I never trusted my creative expression. Not for a moment did I let myself believe what I really love doing can and will pay my bills. I let someone else take the risk and the responsibility. I was willing to tag along, toe the line. Everyone needs a job, that’s what people do and so did I and worked hard for others. Become a slave to someone else’s creative organization. And now my spirit is suffocatiing and pleading me to get out. Deep breath.

That I am still here must mean I have yet to prepare myself to take that responsibility. My spirit is standing by, reminding me everyday that’s what I must do…….. that’s what I must do. Meanwhile I am so grateful to the folks I work for that they take the risk, they create a place where I can come and give my hours in exchange of my rent and other bills. One of these days, I have promised myself, I will be working at a place that I enjoy. I am getting ready.

And what about this relationship? What about this partner of mine who was going to make me happy on all counts, support and love me forever? Why do we keep getting into these unpleasant entanglements? Why am I still here? Why do I hang on to him, and he to me? It’s old habit, you say? No?

Old habit, may be, but when did I lose sight of love. I made him such a part of me that now I take him for granted every moment, as I do my hands and feet. My eyes and teeth. When he shovels the snow, paints the basement, replaces the window, fixes the furnace ….. oh of course he is suppoed to do that, isn’t he the guy? But why won’t he also do all this other stuff which really I would like to do but don’t have the guts, the conviction or the wherewithal to go and do by myself? Like learning to dance…….. I’d leave in a heartbeat but for the fact thet he pays half the mortgage and I don’t make that much money.

The truth I am trying to accept here is that I am solely responsible for creating this too. Aaaaargh!!!

And how would I change it if I lose sight of love? Isn’t that the juice? My inner guide is still leaning on doorpost snickering away, “You are getting it, kid, don’t stop now!!”

Hmmm. Through the eyes of love again then, I guess, it is time to see it all through the eyes of love. Nothing and no one can be take for granted any more. Not their job to make me feel better. No one else is responsible. So thank you, and you and you and you. Thank you today for who you are, what you do and what you add to my life.

Thank you also for what feels like you are taking away without equally returning the favor. Thanks for the reminder. That I am still here must only mean I am utterly blind to the compensation, because I have so taken it for granted. Energies must necessarily be in some degree of balance in order to let the situation exist.

Whew!!! The head spins. Awareness is the first step to making changes. I am. I will. It is set in motion. It is my life and I am the creator.

Malabika
Your Energy Guide

Now that is an old cliché. So I had thought for a long time -- an old cliché.

The world has so much life to offer, rich and abundant. How much of it have we trained ourselves to receive? This is the question that I have been asking myself (and my clients). Here is what comes up.

Giving and receiving are two sides of the same coin, right? You have heard that before. And really for the most part we have little trouble giving. We are happy to give our time, effort, love, service and even much more. But when it comes to receiving, something goes awry.

Commonly there is one big problem and that is we define who I will receive from. And this becomes hugely limiting because this operates both as the necessary and sufficient condition.

Here’s how it works. ‘Here, let me help you out you poor needy thing, who does not have much; I have so much compassion for you and your lot; here take from me, my endless source; I love it that I can give to you. What, you want to give me something back in return? No, no, no, please don’t. You need that more than I do.’

Now is there anyhting wrong with the giving? No of course not. Giving is generous, magnanimous and noble. It is the corresponding part that is out of balance — the refusal to receive. Think of a time when someone offered you something and you refused to receive it — a meal, money maybe, a gift, a lift, a compliment, an opportunity or something else. And instead of just saying thank you, you said something else. Ask yourself the question, what is your belief that stops you from receiving this from this person. You are sure to find a bunch of beliefs and perceptions bordering on ‘ your stuff is not good enough, it’s too little, too much, I don’t deserve it, or I deserve more, you can’t afford it, etc. etc. and so forth.’ These are the limiting beliefs that keeps you from absorbing life in greater doses. It also keeps you comparing and separate from source.

The second part of this problem is probably even worse. We think we are ready to receive life in great abundance but we have decided who and where that will come from. So we tether our boat to this anchor and refuse to let go. We then complain how my determined source is diminishing my life — is negative, does not do much, does not pay attention, does not …., is not…., cannot …., will not…… etc.” Meanwhile the river of life is going by in abundant flow and we are missing it all. There is enough out there, maybe not where I am looking to receive from.

Takes courage to let go and let God, doesn’t it? So the question remains, how much am I really ready to receive? How large is my container, how strong, how elastic, how flexible, how free and most of all how courageous?

And as always it comes from the heart connection. Enjoy receiving.

Malabika Shaw.
www.VisionWholistic.net
www.SoulMagnificent.com

Can’t do the same old things and think the same old thoughts and expect a different outcome, can you? As an Energy Healing Arts practitioner helping people over the years, the most important thing I have come to learn is that it is our thinking process that holds the greatest power.

Sometimes a person will show up with chronic depression, history of failures and low self esteem. The energy work we do together will work great. She (or he) will bounce out of the room all energized, gung ho and hopeful. But it does not last. Why? Because the person has become so grooved into seeing herself as a sick and powerless person that the mind automatically defaults into that position and perpetuates it.

This is the more challenging part of the healing process — training the mind to change, to assume another perspective, to let go of cynicism, to allow another possibility. Then and only then do we start to create the energetic vibrations needed to bring that change about.

So if you are ill, and define yourself by your illness, always talk about it, complain, freak out, blame, always looking for reasons to justify, wallow in self pity etc. etc. ……. expect to remain ill for a long long time. Similarly, if you are have a shortage of funds and are always complaining about the lack of money, and how you can’t do anything because you don’t have the money, envying folks who do, and blaming and so on……. expect the shortage to be your friend for a long long time.

If you want things to change in your life, something has to change in the way you perceive life and in your thoughts and your behavior. Therein lies the power to chnage.

And if you need some support as to how take a look at my Mentorship Program.

Birthday gifts

There is something about birthdays that show up with zeroes at the end, kind of ominous. Another decade gone. And no matter how much one intellectually dismisses the thought around numbers, I found myself buying into the collective notoriety of life after 60 — the notion that I was running out of time, energy, ideas, life, what have you. Took a few days of deep contemplation to get over that.

When the birthday did show up it was all about the joy and fun. Though I joked that the gifts family and friends sent were all perishable in nature — flowers, wine, fruit and nuts, chocolate — (who knows how long she’ll last … or the wine and chocolates will certainly do her in!!), they came in plenty and with great love.

Now as the days go by a wonderful sense of serenity descends upon me. It feels great to be sixty. I feel good. I certainly have a greater sense of who I am than I did at 50. The running and chasing around to accomplish great things in life have sobered. It is easier to take a view ‘if it is not fun, I am not doing it’. Nice to know that no one else’s life will be critically impacted by my choices. Such a relief to let go of those codependencies. Each relationship is precious and heartwarming. None exist that is not welcome.

And a wonderful gentle relationship with the body seems to unfold. No longer do I need to make great demands of it — prove to myself and others that it is youthful or strong. Easier to let those notions go and instead shower it with gratitude that it serves me well. With acceptance its resilience and flexibilty grows and it will surprise me on a yoga morning by effortlessly assuming some complicated pose, or by dancing the tango without a break for hours. So I listen to it, take care of it and treat it well. It is the only one I have and will surely serveme another 30 years.

As I said earlier, turning sixty is highly recommended.

To the folks who feel utterly frustrated, angry and helpless currently — “Remember, if the life you are leading has the resources to produce within you a specific desire, then the resources also exist for your full receiving, or manifestation, of that desire.” — Abraham

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I wrote this for you who have always been told that crying is weak and you should stuff it; for you who have thought there is great merit in stoicism and have mistakenly shut your hearts down; for you who have denied yourselves unknowingly the great opportunity of growth that comes from recognizing and accepting your vulnerability. For I have been one of you. Enjoy.

When the tears come rushing
Fight no more to hold them back
Cry
It is your heart calling

When you feel someone out there
Wronged you, failed you, left you,
Crossed you, hurt you, used you,
Cry
It is your power calling

Cry,
Not because you are angry or alone
Not because your power is gone
Not because your hopes are strewn
Cry because you feel

Your tender heart is calling out to life
Your spirit is alive pleading for more

Cry and lay bare your vulnerability
Let the tears fall like gentle spring rain
And wash away those old wounds
Open the floodgates and let your spirit in

Let the door to your heart open wide
For just beneath your heartache is your strength

Just beyond your vulnerability lies your power.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOqg5bPZ0HE&feature=channel[/youtube]One of the most fascinating subjects being revealed from spiritual sources is Sacred Geometry. It is the way energy comes together in coherent patterns that ultimately takes form in the three dimensional reality. The elegant mathematics of fractals and forms can be mesmerizing, Charles Gilchrist gives some simple explanations through his artwork.

“What is this Inner Being you keep referring to?” my friend asked.

A little ironic coming from a person whose entrepreneurial flair is legendary and as evident in the front line organizations he has initiated and built over the years.  This kind of zest, this intensity of focus, this level of creative endeavor would be elusive to anyone who is not intimately in touch with one’s own Inner Being.

Yet, the question has been asked, so I address it within the limitations of words.

In the vast ocean of consciousness, within which all creation is, which is that individuated part that shows up as YOU? You are a powerful vortex of the energy of consciousness, filtered through belief structures and anchored within this human body. Your mind and your emotions are gifts – tools for your creative purpose. And your Inner Being is that part of you which holds within it the full promise of your human potential just as a seed inherently holds the idea of the tree. And just as the seed matures to fruition in a healthy and conducive environment, so does the Inner Being.

Is this real, or a mere conceptual construct, you may ask? Conceptual no longer, most definitely real. More and more we are beginning to see the evidence of this space in the energy field, at a level of consciousness.

Unfortunately, not many of us can access this very valuable part of ourselves with the same ease and nonchalance as my friend does. Most of us have more of a ‘hit and miss’ relationship with our Inner Being – very tenuous one when we are stressed. So caught up are we in the world of survival and safety on the physical and psychological turfs, where do we have the time to nurture that seed to bear fruit?

Yet, it is this connection that gives meaning to our lives, puts passion in our efforts and beckons us to yet greater vistas. It brings with it excitement and growth. The Inner Being alone knows to savor the very juice life offers. Without it, we are roaming in a dry desert biding time.

If you are wondering how your Inner Being is faring, recount to yourself your moments of inspiration, instances of pure joy, occasions of complete connections.

Is it possible to sustain those feelings? Absolutely. Come here often. It takes  awareness and more than a little doing to release the old outmoded belief structures that veil us from our Inner Source. 

Malabika