CATALYST NEWS

Eva Dahm, CPCC, MA

February, 2006

Dedicated to your growth and exploration.

CONNECTING TO TRUE SELF

For years I've heard people say we are not human beings having a divine experience but divine beings having a human experience. We all, however, spend so many hours identified with our thoughts and emotions and behaviors. We forget our inner essence, our core of wonderful energy.

In her book "Living from the Inside Out" Jean-Marie Hamel relates "An old creation story tells us that in the beginning there was only God but God did not know himself. To learn who he was, he created forms and placed a seed of himself into each one-every rock, every tree, the sun, the moon, every bird, fish and animal, every man, woman, and child. He then proclaimed: 'What you are is my gift to you. What you become is your gift to me.'"

So our very nature inside is love, kindness, compassion, and perfection. Even when we forget this reality and live differently, this is true.

POWER OF NATURE

So the issue becomes connecting with your true self. Hamel lists a number of ways to awaken to yourself. The most common is to appreciate NATURE. Who of us has been outside on one of those blue sky, puffy cloud days and has not felt lifted up. The key is to experience the wind and trees and animals as a means of connecting to your heart. So take a moment and walk outside. I even express gratitude for the days when the gentle rains are falling or clouds temporarily block the brilliant sun. This is a shift for me because I was like many who allowed myself to be "bummed" when it was cloudy. Want to shift your pattern? Try it.

Another method to connect with your Higher Self in side according to Hamel is MEDITATION. Many of my clients give up after trying a few times saying their minds did not stop the thought patterns. I always encourage them to first, simply continue. Part of the experience is the discipline of on-going practice. The second key benefit is to witness our popcorn minds. This practice allows you to BE THE WITNESS at other times during the day and stay out of the drama. Eventually the thoughts slow. And as Wayne Dyer says, we notice some gaps and the silence of the gaps is refreshing.

So you say, "I don't have time to meditate." I reply, "You don't have time NOT to meditate." My clients consistently tell me that their days are smoother, easier and more productive when they spend even five minutes in quiet time in the mornings or evenings. So JUST DO IT.

A more meditative YOGA class like Amrit yoga is also a wonderful way to connect inside. The practice of yoga becomes observation and being present to our bodies and our breathing. I find this is a perfect method of finding silence and peace in the gaps.

Hamel mentions using VISUALIZATION to imagine the seed of God within. In my chakra classes, we usually do an opening meditation to center and leave the energy of the day behind. We get present this way and connect to our intuitive and imaginative abilities. We become aware of our inner selves and can then ask for guidance or insights. We may notice colors or sounds or images. Just pay attention and accept what comes without judgment.

CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE

Many of us are lifted to know our higher selves by "Viewing situations as if through the eyes of a respected master-such as a leader in social reform, a skilled artist, or a spiritual teacher-can alert you to your soul by broadening your perspective," according to Hamel.

She suggests we ask "How would Gandhi or da Vinci, or Emerson or Lao-tsu solve this problem?" When we open up the possibilities in this way, many of the assumed solutions fall away and new more creative answers arrive, seemingly from nowhere. These solutions are coming from your soul, your Higher Self.

So who do you admire? Who has always been an inspiration or is recently one? Who do you want to study?

The only caution comment I'd like to add is that it is important to realize that your soul plugged into the Universal Knowledge created the solution. I frequently see seekers find a guru and then circle their lives again around an external leader on a pedestal rather than on their own internal guidance system.

Any change in perspective can connect us to another view of the situation. That's why it helps to talk out a situation. (It also is useful at times to simply speak your thoughts.) So ask how am I going to see this in a year or two? How might someone else look at this? What's the lesson in this situation? These questions will assist you to find a deeper meaning.

TALK TO GOD

Finally Hamel mentions conversing with God as another method of connecting with your soul. "Like any good conversationalist, you will want to speak clearly and listen well. Talk as though you were speaking to a friend, a counselor, a corporate partner, a travel companion or the Creator of the universe, whichever you prefer. Ask for answers to questions, solutions to problems or simply a sign of God's presence."

If the replies are loving, compassionate, do not harm anyone, you know they come from your soul. You will have certainty.

Several years ago I asked every night for some direction concerning the morning stiffness I experienced. A few days went by with no response. Then one early morning as I awakened, I could "hear" a chorus of voices shouting the word "turmeric" over and over. So I went to the store and looked up turmeric which I found has been used for centuries by native peoples to combat stiffness!

You may get short or long replies. You may have to wait for an answer. You may get the answer from a friend or a PBS program or a good book. Asking means you are willing to hear. Many times the Universe is ready to tell us something and is waiting for us to be ready to hear. So ASK and LISTEN.

The voice of your soul is small and comes in the quiet times. When I work with someone who has no idea what job to do next one of our key goals is to get them connected with their insides so they can ask and listen for inspiration.
Going through values exploration and working on life purpose are both useful methods.

REWARDS

So what happens when you awaken your soul and attune your listening? Hamel lists a number of positive consequences. You will look inward for answers rather than to others. You know true loving-deep, tender, patient, kind and compassionate. Accountability for the past is natural and feeling deserving of the more fulfilling future arises inside. Your purpose and direction will be clear in your vision.

Hamel also suggests you begin to direct your life rather than feel it is happening to you. Hamel continues, "Once you begin taking cues from your essence, you too will be embarking on a series of adventures by merely showing up and experiencing life as it comes. There is enormous freedom in awakening to a spiritual reality greater than our own willpower."

Taking responsibility for your life also means you have great freedom. Sometimes a seemingly weird communication comes to you. And you are released to follow the path. Thus I know cable TV executives who become preachers and preachers who become nationally famous speakers.

In summary Hamel says, "So risk opening your heart, listening to its divine intelligence, then tacking back and forth along its beacon of loving wisdom. The secret 'you' is powerful beyond belief."

Living from the Inside Out: How to Get to the Heart of Everything that Matters, Jean-Marie Hamel, 2004.

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