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Receive

March 6, 2011 by Suzanne M. Baker

The theme of receiving has come up for me a lot lately. When I allow myself to fully receive from the loving people in my life, I feel whole, healthy and mature. But, what’s going wrong the rest of the time? I think the answer involves some self-imposed separation.

So often, I fear that I’m putting people through too much effort, and this makes me feel beholden. Sometimes, I feel embarrassed to be given to. I then accept a gift like flattery that never sinks in, and this devalues the giver too. And of course I immediately start thinking about how I can give something in return.

So what does healthy receiving look like? The key lies in healing that feeling of separation and unworthiness. This begins with healthy self esteem that is reflected back to us (something I’ll be delving into further next week.) The idea is to have a strong sense of self that is not selfish – that is aware of the needs of others as well as our own, and that feels worthy. This means valuing every person, showing respect for all, and honoring the freedom we each deserve.

Compassion is the key ingredient to this recipe. Compassion values the self and all people unconditionally. It shows us how to forgive. Compassion appreciates how unique and essential we each are, without the need to judge or compare. There is no need for ego-based hierarchy. But at the same time, compassion quietly champions something far greater than the self. It remembers our original unity.

This is a principle of the heart, and healthy receiving is a heart based exchange. We often stop the natural flow of giving and receiving by closing our hearts. Although we may feel vulnerable, opening ourselves to receive is one of the greatest gifts that we can give another person. And, as author Cheryl Richardson writes, “When we open ourselves up to others, we open ourselves up to the abundance of the universe.”

I’d like to accept more of the kind offers I’m given and engage in the beautiful exchanges of life, rather than shying away from them. I want to embrace the love behind each precious gift I get instead of deflecting it. I want to look into the eyes of each amazing person who is giving with love and thankfulness. Gratitude is such a powerful and beautiful frequency to reside in, I say enjoy all of the opportunities you can find to experience it. Being grateful also perpetuates abundance in our lives.

Of course, healthy receiving never judges a gift or feels entitled to take. These are behaviors of separation that stem from the ego. Just as with giving, receiving expects nothing in return. This means cherishing being given to, without condition.

I think another crucial element is being present. If we make ourselves available to the naturally unfolding gifts of life at any moment, then receiving and giving happen effortlessly, without any planning whatsoever. This is the continual and balanced exchange of energy that we are already an integral part of. I think this is why the best gifts are often spontaneous experiences that we share with each other.

Posted in Exchange | 6 Comments »

Purpose

February 26, 2011 by Suzanne M. Baker

What is the meaning of life? I’m going to share my personal thoughts on this giant of all questions. Here are five answers I’ve found on my journey of life.

1. To grow – We are here in this extremely difficult earth school to grow through challenges that teach us aspects of love. We take this growth with us back “Home,” and it benefits all.

2. To create and enjoy creation – Living is simply creating at every moment. A child plays and creates, an adult works and creates, making both small and large masterpieces and disasters, artworks and conundrums – all eventually lost, just to start all over again. We are co-creators of life, and like a work of art that flows magically, we can create with the same joyous energy with which God made our very world. This is the zone experienced while “playing” at something we feel born to do. I have found that focusing on the past and future disconnects me from this natural flow. Experiencing the present moment allows me to live fully and create joyously. For example, I find that if I fixate on each thought or desire and compare it to the past, a difficult process begins. But, if I simply dive into each opportunity with a full, trusting, and present heart, and immerse myself in the moment, things work out magically in life.

3. To get back to our divine origin – The fall of man in the Bible represents our disconnect from God. I believe the process of remembering where we come from is the unfolding of each individual spiritual journey. We are each a spark of God getting to know ourselves, traveling through many levels of creation and growing over eons. We have ventured for long enough and even lost our way, and now we are striving to get back to our Godself.

4. To heal – In my post “Shadow,” I describe how I believe life is a process of healing our collective conditioning from the dark side of civilization. I think we have been taught to control each other for thousands of years. Now, if we can forgive each other for this, we can truly free ourselves – the way we were each meant to be.

5. To learn unconditional love – The very challenges that we face as we heal give us each a chance to experience unconditional love. For myself, every time that I feel hurt, I have a golden opportunity to open my heart from the protective layers that I’ve built. This offers profound growth by choosing to forgive with compassion instead of being right and stubborn. I believe that experiencing this growth is why we are here. We are collectively growing so that we can reside at this higher level, a process called Earth Ascension. To me, helping with Ascension by practicing unconditional love is our greatest human purpose.

Posted in Purpose | 3 Comments »

Being

February 19, 2011 by Suzanne M. Baker

The thawing time between winter and spring seems so fitting to share this post on beginning again. In winter, we internalize, and in spring we awaken to externalize once more. To me, this means that I stop thinking so much and start doing again, and somewhere in between, I find myself simply being. With this in mind, I am pausing my search for truth and focusing on feeling what I already know. My quest for spiritual information, and my passion to communicate that information, cannot embody one of the fundamental aspects of spirituality – that ultimately the spiritual cannot be experienced or expressed in words. The journey is about finding the divine within and simply being in that blissful place of knowing.

Spiritual teacher Amethyst Freeman shares her quest: “Several years ago I became very tired of the search for truth and I thought to myself, I am throwing everything out, all my beliefs about everything. As I had that thought I felt this warm surge through my heart and being and then feelings of absolute bliss. I walked around in bliss for three days and it made me realize that ‘love’ and complete trust in God is the true path to enlightenment, happiness and peace.”

I’d like to throw out all of the instructions and simply, intuitively go within. One of my favorite places to do this is outside in nature, sitting in the rising sunlight. I am reminded of an empowering comment from my dear friend Francoise on this blog: “What I realize is that we already are ‘Light.’ We don’t have to try to get there or become it.”

I still believe sharing spiritual information is imperative as we navigate through life and wake up to who we really are. But, I’m going to revisit that place where we already are everything, without words and without want.

Posted in Present | 4 Comments »

Love

February 12, 2011 by Suzanne M. Baker

I believe that love is the answer to all of our problems. Love opens us up to our full potential and aligns us with our spiritual nature. It moves us forward and allows us to grow, enabling us to truly live. Love conquers our fears and empowers us to forgive, to heal, and to transform. It brings connection, purpose and beauty to our world. As spiritual teacher Drunvalo Melchizedek writes, “Love is the answer to every question.”

The opposite of love is fear, and it’s been said that negativity is simply a lack of love. Because we are living in a world of duality, often when we love, personal fears surface such as, “When I loved last time, I got hurt,” or “Why don’t I have more love now?” But if we recognize this dialogue, we can bravely embrace our fears with love.

We have the ability to dissolve our fears and to even forgive the past. This means looking at a person who has wronged us and seeing their negative traits with compassion, while choosing to also focus on their positive traits with love. This can be extremely difficult to do, but is possible through the generosity of love. What we’ve then accomplished is astounding and leads to tremendous growth.

Just feeling the immense love in your own heart at this moment demonstrates your capacity to transcend duality and conflict. When you love your enemies, you let them go and heal. And ultimately, there are no enemies, because in a very profound way, we all come from the same place.

We are each born with a brave and powerful heart that knows no limits. Beneath the layers we’ve built to protect our hearts, there is a sacred space where creation originates and where anything is possible. I am learning that our hearts will help us to usher in a new era for humanity, where nurturing love will lead instead of rigid logic. In the next age, we will follow the female experience of unity and heart connection, rather than the male understanding of separation (we each contain both the feminine and the essential masculine, which, when balanced, show God’s perfection.) I can say that when love started leading logic on my own journey, I finally found my truth.

Love is our limitless, universal source that we need only tap into to bring spiritual abundance to our lives. I have been told we don’t ask for enough love, and settle for much less than we deserve. Far more love is waiting, and it starts by giving more to those around us, and to ourselves.

At any moment in your life that you feel despair, give love generously to yourself. In fact, try giving love to any negativity that you feel at any time. By doing so, your heart becomes opened and your true nature is allowed to flow. Indeed, love is quite simply who you are and where you come from.

Posted in Love | Tagged , , | 5 Comments »

Higher Self

February 5, 2011 by Suzanne M. Baker

I’ve been told that the most important thing a person can do is to get in touch with their Higher Self. What exactly is a Higher Self? I’ve come to know it as our personal, direct connection to the universe and who we each really are.

Your Higher Self is your very soul – your infinitely eternal and original self that was created directly from God. As I understand it, part of the Self splintered off to experience different dimensions in order to grow. We each actually exist in this way at many levels of awareness and consciousness, transcending our concept of time (whoa!)

Our Higher Selves operate from a place of unity, while we, on this particular level, experience separateness and polarity. Because it’s so difficult to have a direct connection with God while we’re in this dense environment, your Higher Self acts as a mediator and watches over you, and loves you unconditionally.

We also have a Lower Self that is the child within, reacting to our desires. When we tap into our intuition, we must recognize the difference between the two, something easily done because the Higher Self feels “higher” and enlightened.

I believe that the form of guidance we want to seek above all others is from our Higher Self. This is how enlightenment begins.

So, how do we connect with our Higher Self? First, we need to ask. Because we are given Free Will, our Higher Self cannot answer directly until we call. One can begin with a simple exercise:

Take 10 even and deep breaths, and then state out loud, “I ask to establish clear and aligned communication with my Higher Self. ” Include a statement of gratitude. Continue asking until you feel you’ve expressed yourself from your heart and been heard.

When I did this exercise, life opened up for me and became more joyful. I felt connected to my soul like never before.

From here, you can practice listening to your Higher Self by following the detailed methods of a good spiritual teacher. These methods teach us how to get into a completely relaxed state so that we create an inner dialogue with our Higher Self. Then, we can ask for guidance.

I’ve started using the book “Spiritual Growth, Being your Higher Self” by Orin and Sanaya Roman, and have already been given wise, invaluable advice from my Higher Self (it’s amazing!) I can describe it as being flooded with the highest wisdom that speaks so personally and feels incredibly loving and encouraging. Our Higher Selves champion unconditional love and tell us to take the high road always.

Establishing clear communication with our Higher Self allows us to flourish in life. Sanaya Roman writes: “Spiritual growth is the process of becoming your Higher Self. As you open to the higher dimensions of yourself, you will be able to lift the veils of illusion…and express truth and love in all you say. Your mind will be illuminated and your emotions will be harmonious. You will experience friendly smiles, love and peace wherever you go.”

The Higher Self helps to illustrate that we are each a direct aspect of God, and are so incredibly powerful, wise, and eternal. Looking at the people in our life this way can help us to feel the elation of connection. And we see that we are all indeed divine at heart.

Posted in Self | 1 Comment »

Light

January 30, 2011 by Suzanne M. Baker

On last week’s post, we delved into our collective and individual shadows. I talked about how I believe we’ve been taught to control each other in little and big ways. Shadow is an integral part of the human experience. The level of creation that we live in requires shadow or dark as well as light, in order to manifest. But now, we are moving towards needing only a small amount of dark to balance the light.

I am learning that awareness of our dark side is vital for spiritual growth. It allows us to see the whole truth that we have to heal. By experiencing forgiveness and unconditional love, we are set free.

It is reassuring to know that the positive and light side of our world is far more powerful than the negative (phew!). Indeed, shadow has no source, and negativity can only be attached and generated within positive souls. Our shadows are secret this way, whereas our light side is open and free.

As we know, light is the expansive, limitless and blissful fabric of our universe. It originates from God – our universal source of all consciousness, and manifests out of source energy. This light is what we ourselves are made of. It is gloriously loving beyond imagination and description, with a love more powerful, immense and overwhelming than possible to convey! Indeed, just as with God, it is brighter and more benevolent than conceivable.

Light, Love, and Sound are manifestations of God. Light is awareness energy, love is creative energy, and sound is the vibration of life. This is what our very souls are.

On earth, Light is said to be the masculine reflection of God-force, and Love, the feminine. I like this explanation because it demonstrates omniscient balance.

Light manifests on earth in many different forms with various qualities, including our sun and sunlight. Everything that we experience is essentially vibrating light, and in some ways, life is simply learning how to master the denser manifestations of this refracted light or “matter.”

Light and Love are of a very high vibration, and if we raise our own vibrations, we become powerful co-creators again. We experience the joy of living.

As we’re all learning, one of the most vital things we can do is to focus our energy on the light side of our world, and the light within ourselves. By doing so, we strengthen it for all of us down here, and it builds. I personally feel we have a responsibility to do this.

Our understanding of light is intuitive and natural, just as love is. Light can be envisioned as a brilliant, white and golden light, and it can be used to heal. Light is powerfully restorative. Medium Sanaya Roman writes “Light is a living consciousness that responds instantly to your call. You can send light to your ideas, the future, your higher purpose, your body, thoughts and feelings.”

You can envision standing under a waterfall of sparkling light, and this will “transform everything around you into a higher vibration.” You can send light from your heart to the hearts of those you love, to help create harmonious relationships. These are all forms of meditation that begin by asking or calling Light. Having a white candle in front of you can be a meaningful and poetic way to begin these exercises. I’ve also learned a specific meditation that gathers a cocoon of light all around you, thereby raising your vibration. I like to think of the butterfly analogy again, where we are set free from our human cocoons. Best of all, I’ve found that light meditation is very easy to do (and as you know, easy and meditation are rarely used in the same sentence!).

If you meditate on Light and envision powerful Love in your heart at the same time, then you will unite these two incredible forces! Send this light to your fears, and let it help you to let go of judgments, and to forgive those who have harmed you (including forgiving yourself.). In doing so, you may experience unconditional love that opens your heart. To me, this is one of the goals of life.

The light side of our world is strengthening every day now, and more and more light is being sent to us. There is actually an energy field above our earth that is separating us into two realities. Dr. Doreen Virtue writes: “we have the choice of living below this energy field or above it. You live below it by becoming fearful about the news stories of the earth changes. You live above the energy field by taking healthy action and staying centered in love.”

Spiritual Teacher Maureen St. Germain tells us that this energy field is a 5th dimensional grid of light. It came from our Ascended Masters who “built” it into our future, so that it would be secure. This is how we will succeed in transforming our earth and ourselves.

You can look for this grid in the night sky, while away from artificial light. It is endowed with Christ Consciousness, the tremendously compassionate love that, I believe, Jesus was able to embody even while human.

Every action that we make in unconditional love is of the 5th dimension and resonates with this grid, helping to anchor the light. When you act with unconditional love, you also help raise yourself into a higher, safe existence, something that I feel we should all be working on. Imagine how, with the benevolent help of this grid, we will create a glorious and positive reality! I think it is slowly, but assuredly working.

 

Posted in Being | 6 Comments »

Ego Society

January 23, 2011 by Suzanne M. Baker

The following is why I believe humanity experiences so much conflict. Here’s to liberating ourselves!

We have been navigating our way through this human experience with tremendous obstacles. Indeed, the conditions have been exceedingly treacherous here! It has been very distorted on this planet for ages, and there have been immense shadows that we’ve been battling with.

Of course, the existence of darkness on our planet makes sense. Duality requires both light and dark in order to manifest. But there also exists a collective ego or shadow side of civilization. And it has saturated our very behavior.

We’ve been conditioned by this shadow side since birth, and it has led to unnatural conflict. This shadow operates just like our own egos. It teaches elitist attitudes that support those at the absolute top – those who have authoritative control. Their rules are enforced by little and big fears that restrict us, such as safety and money issues. Such fears perpetuate our obedience.

We’ve been conditioned to follow systems that keep us unaware, distracted, and docile. For example, fluoride was added to our drinking water because it disconnects us from our spiritual reality. When we regularly consume fluoride, the pineal gland in the human body becomes calcified, and this cuts off our connection to the divine. It dumbs us from our own power. This makes it very hard for us to wake up and challenge those who control the money on our planet and perpetuate starvation and war.

You see, the uber elite make us fight their wars for them, and so we die for their power. They divide us so that we are not united, and we suffer in separation. The uber elite demonstrate again and again that they do not honor the sanctity of life. And they teach us hierarchy so that we mimic along.

This kind of manipulation has been going on for so long that we really have to turn things upside down to see it. Domination is so ingrained in our society, and in our DNA, to the point where we even try to control each other, as a child might imitate a bossy parent, and far worse.

I see the ramifications of this shadow behavior everywhere, and to me, it explains so much. I think our fixation with celebrity is a good, mild example of how we’ve been trained to revere money and fame – things that have no value to our loving and limitless nature, all in order to perpetuate hierarchy.

A more dramatic example of shadow behavior is how women have historically been treated. If we followed our natural  divinity, we would never disrespect more than half of all humans in a demeaning and often violent manner. We have been out of balance for ages.

Our souls come from a purely loving place that is so incredibly different from humanity’s shadow, and that is why life on earth is so full of conflict. We are living in a world that goes against our benevolent core, and carrying learned negativity as we try to navigate our way. Most of us have been taught that we are separate from each other and from everything, including God. From an early age, we are taught to restrict, judge, punish, and please. We are told to conform to society through rule-following as we control our piles of scarcity and compete with one another. It’s a poor replacement for the truth – that we intrinsically belong to an abundant universe. We are direct aspects of God and are powerfully connected to all of creation. But we’ve been intentionally denied our natural power. What has strengthened in its place are our conditioned egos. These are the shadows that we each carry in ourselves.

To realize this is ultimately a liberating experience. I now feel much more free from the questionable rules all around me, especially knowing that I have a direct link to the loving laws of the universe. Fortifying spiritual connection is essential to transcending the human condition. This is our built-in navigation system, called our highest intuition or Higher Self, and it gives us our power back.

In addition, if we acknowledge and even embrace our individual and collective shadows, we are able to heal them. This is crucial and allows us to move forward with love. If we recognize the conditioned fears of our violent past, we can transcend them with compassion.

Right now, we are going through a collective healing of our conditioning. We can help each other and ourselves through this process with kindness. By following the loving and uplifting feelings of our true nature, we are able to dwell in the light, positive side of our world. Indeed, fortifying our positive reality is paramount. And the good news is that the light side of our world is far stronger and growing stronger still as we evolve.

I think the butterfly portrays it best. We are waking up from the cocoons of conformity, and breaking free to rebuild a humanity that finally reflects the soul. As we take flight, our unique and crucial gifts are unveiled in all their glorious colors and patterns. And finally, we are free.

Posted in Shadow | 11 Comments »

Flow

January 12, 2011 by Suzanne M. Baker

Hello dear friends! I’m so excited to begin sharing the spiritual with you here.

The most recent spiritual theme for me is going with the flow and being open to the natural unfolding of things, instead of trying to resist or control them. This is about making oneself available to experience the spontaneous magic of life, where we are free from self-made constraints. That is, letting go of the grip.

This theme unfolded for me while reading Deepak Chopra’s “The Seven Spiritual Laws for Parents” – a timely gift from my dear friend Charlotte. Deepak writes, “Nature’s intelligence functions with effortless ease… with carefreeness, harmony, and love. When we harness these forces, we create (spiritual) success with the same effortless ease.” He goes on to discuss the importance of believing that anything is possible, and champions working with an attitude of joy and creativity. This is much like the zone an artist feels while creating passionately. Adding to the idea of harnessing the forces of nature, my dear friend Francoise recently told me about hiring your angels to help you in life, by simply asking for their assistance.

This new information was put through a mini test while I anticipated traveling home in a snow storm. Normally, I would have re-booked flights and scrambled to prepare, all the while worrying nonstop. I like to know the plan, be prepared, and be safe. This time, I decided to put my desire for control aside and trust the universe (something that my dear husband is so good at.).

So I asked the angels for help with our little travel plans, and I maintained positive, heartfelt thoughts throughout the days before our return home. I repeated “everything will work out well,” and ignored fearful predictions from the news. I fully gave in to flow.

Well dear friends, it worked! Everything unfolded in a safe and joyful flight home. We experienced many caring strangers, an extremely rare upgrade in seats, and even bumped into a close friend (who is a pilot) riding on our plane. It turned out that he was helping to organize the flight. Deep down, I knew the angels had been hired when I saw his face. Best of all, our son got to sit in the captain’s seat in the cockpit! We found out that our flight was meant to be canceled, but somehow never was. We ended up being one of the only planes to land in icy Atlanta, which had shut down completely that night.

But, we still had the seemingly impossible drive home. The newly iced highways had a feel of armageddon, and let me be honest, I was scared, people. No snowy roads ever looked so bad. I faced some fears that night, mostly revolving around our precious children in the back seat, but, I heard from within, “be a passenger and have faith.” I put myself completely in the hands of the universe on that never-ending drive (and my amazing husband without 4wd!) and I let go.

I know it was just a ride from the airport, but it felt dramatic. It felt incredibly alive and present, and I experienced an inner assurance of safety that transcended physical circumstances. Needless to say, we finally reached our skating rink, I mean driveway, and our beloved, house-bound pets in need. It felt impossible to be home. It kind of was.

I woke up the next morning revitalized and liberated from some old patterns of fear and control (“safe” has been a popular mantra of mine.). I was full to the brim with energy and gratitude. My faith in help from above is forever strong from my little adventure, and with all my runaway fears about our future, it is warmly welcome.

I think going with the flow is about being on a higher frequency where love replaces fear, where joy and play abound, and where anything is possible. My dear friend Donna had a similar travel story during this snow storm, and we both want to stay in that higher frequency. One of my New Year resolutions is to practice flow as much as possible and choose a higher frequency always. So let’s go with the flow amazing friends!

Posted in Present | Tagged , | 10 Comments »

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