Pizza, Puppets, Personas and Walk-ins

The below are three different comments I made to people and I feel both are relative to the other. Also I have added parts from a blog post I removed a while ago that felt relevant to this topic.

Comment #1:

I see us like a recipe. You have heard the rhyme: She is made up of sugar and spice and everything nice

If you think in terms of a recipe and creating a persona with the qualities you wish to have in that person, I see the other lives we recall as being ingredients to make up the final dish. We don't take qualities from every single life, just the ones we choose so we can have the experience we want to have. It is entirely possible to borrow an ingredient from a friend and a life we recall isn't our own experience but we would never know until we leave the physical.

We could also look at all the other lives as downloads and programs that help shape characteristics of the role we are about to play. You don't need something from every single one of them. You take a little of this one for strength, a little of that one for compassion, and little of this other for an edge.

Every single life I recall as my own could, in fact, have been experienced by someone else, but when I download it into my character, it is as if I myself have experienced it all and I would behave as such.

You know all those people who remember being Mary Magdalene? Most of them are borrowed ingredients and downloads. Copy of a copy of a copy….

Comment #2:

I am used to people not believing me. I don't need anyone to believe me for my truth to be true to me, know what I mean? And being reminded of incidents like what my friend, Jen, experienced, helps to remind me that I'm not way off base because I do doubt...often...so I need these little reminders to drive it home.
You see, I have the belief that when the sliver of soul leaves the body and rejoins their bigger self, the essence of who they are is accessible to every sliver that then leaves the bigger soul. I believe that the essence of who River and Brandon are can be both born into little babies and be born into fully grown bodies that one of the other slivers has already grown in anticipation of their arrival (aka walk-in). I don't really think any of us actually walk into a stranger body. I think a walk-in is just a merging of another aspect sliver of self. I believe "higher self" is massive and only a little spark animates these incarnations. I believe that when we set up the experience we want to have, we take a little from of multiple lives higher self has had to create the qualities we want to see. 

I see us as like a custom recipe our higher self puts together before sending us into the physical. And sometimes with recipes, there are extra steps in the dish that you do after most of the ingredients are put together. Like with pizza. You have the bread dough and it has to rise before you can roll it out. Well, crust on its own is not pizza even though it is lovely. So think of the sauce and toppings as other aspects stepping in to body. They are all part of the bigger self and when they come together, they create something with a specific flavor. So think of a pizza that is all put together and cooked and you take it out of the oven and add even more ingredients. Those are the walk-ins. Those are the aspects that come after. They aren't any less part of the pizza. When it is all together, you would still call it pizza no matter at what point you put the ingredient on, right? It is the same with people. We can have multiple aspects of our higher selves walking in and out to create whatever recipe our bigger soul wants to create.

Comment #3:

So if we think of a soul and view it as the shape of a human body, the arms and legs could be seen as soul streams each going off in their own direction and having their own experiences. But then you have the fingers and toes which branch off again. The toes and fingers have all of their own sets of lives. Imagine fingers with finger puppets. So say that the index finger lost its puppet and the middle finger, goes dude, I have room in my ride, hop in!

Now imagine the index finger and middle finger crossing so that they can both get the puppet back on their fingers. Same thing. Both fingers are part of the same being even though they have had different sets of lives and experiences up to that point. And maybe eventually as the vibrations raise of the planet, more people will die off. It will look like less people when in reality they are all just jumping into a bus with other aspects of themselves. Eventually the two hands will come together and create magic...create balance and unity. Yin and yang will meet and marry. 

Art by Joe Weinreb

Copied/pasted from a removed blog post:

I get these images of a child playing with finger puppets on both hands and she is playing out all these dramas with them. But now is the time where the two sides are meant to meet and make peace. Right now is the time we are meant to be mending past life wounds. It is a time for forgiveness. But in order to get to that place of harmony and unity, we first have to clearly see our errors. We have to clearly see where our gaping wounds exist. Half of the battle is just understanding what the core issues are and where they stem from. From there, the other battle is letting go of the hurt, the pain, the anger. We have to say we are so sorry for what we have done when we have harmed another and do what we can to make up for it. We have to come together and be the loving family we were always meant to be.

This doesn't apply to just me and my group, it applies to every single soul incarnated at this time. We have been given this amazing opportunity to truly make a difference for the planet by healing ourselves and our closest soul connections. How much do you love Gaia and want to help our mother? She needs us right now and this is what she is asking us to do first. When we come into personal balance and harmony, we have the power to heal the whole planet. It really is just that enormous and important to do the work your guides are asking of you. And when I say "your guides," I really mean it is just part of you over there pushing you forward to do the inner work you need to do. But you can't do it alone. Yes, there is inner work that only we can do, but there is also this aspect of teamwork that a lamp is being shined on. We have to be a team and work together and realize our connections or it all fails.

Ancient native tribes knew that it took unity for the whole tribe to succeed from year to year. Tribes that have been pretty much untouched by modern man thrive harmoniously. Our flawed ways of cutting ourselves off from the whole and creating separateness has to end. We are like those seagulls in Finding Nemo shouting "Mine! Mine! Mine!" collecting more pointless shit, watching our fellow man suffer in the streets, killing each other in wars with dirty bombs. Greed and separateness fuels our modern society and we are trying to push our modern society on so-called third world countries. We need to step back and clean up our own shit before we try to "help" others by pushing our fucked up western values of consumerism and selfishness on them. We have to take care of our elderly and not just shove them off out of site somewhere. We need to take care of each other and give a fuck. We have to wake the fuck up now and make a choice to understand what really matters in this world if we want to save it.

The Hopi have what is called "Prophecy Rock" or "Hopi Rock" in Arizona. Basically the images show us that humanity has big choice to make. The path of greed leads to extinction for mankind and the path of unity and love is long and fruitful.

What will you personally choose?

I choose the path of unity, healing and love.

You're So Childish

My daughter as wee thing.

Today I was told that I am childish by a Sum 41 fan for expressing some thoughts and opinions as though being childish is a bad thing. Hahaha Nevermind that I already know that few people are like me or think like I do, it doesn't stop me from sharing my thoughts even when I know the vast majority can't even begin to comprehend my perspective. They just aren't there yet and that is okay. I am used to resistance and backlash but being called childish made me laugh and think "I wish!"

Me and my daughter.

Children, especially young ones, are amazing little curious creatures. There are so many reasons why I would love to be more childish. Children navigate their world with their hearts wide open. They haven't closed off and shut down because of life experiences and being taught that is how to deal with difficult situations. Children love easily, forgive easily and they take enjoyment in the smallest of things. They believe anything is possible and their imaginations help them see all the possibilities. Imagination creates and their untainted minds create magical worlds.

We seem to try to snuff out their childish natures earlier and earlier and that is a tragedy. We do it by trying to make them learn more earlier instead of just allowing them the freedom to explore and learn on their own terms and in their own way through play. We see the bright, pure lights illuminating their little bodies dimmed greatly by the pressures and expectations we put on them to perform at a specific level and in a certain way.

Sometimes a troubled home life robs them of their light as it did with me.

I was recalling in a comment elsewhere about some of my experiences I had that I cherished. Moments like hanging out with the band School of Fish on their tour bus and watching as one of the members took a bite from every (square) slice of pizza and carefully put it back together so that his fellow band mates would have a surprise when they got on the bus and opened the box to have a piece of pizza. I also recalled the night that I hung out all night with the band Soul Asylum after their show. I watched as some of the members took turns riding the super long skateboard that belonged to my friend whose house we were at. I was invited to go skinny dipping with them at Stephen's Lake but opted to hang back at the house and chat with the drummer, Grant, until the sun came up.

While I was reflecting on the memories, I also remember how inhibited I was. I remember how self-conscious I was. I was so cautious and fearful. I was old at the age of 20 and I didn't know how to get that playful childish spark back. I even wrote lyrics about it. I wanted to be able to cut loose and just have a good time but I was so closed off and so shut down. All I could do is observe from the sidelines. Yes, I was there for those moments. Yes, they are happy memories but the person I am today is so much less inhibited....so much less closed. I could see the now me being able to laugh and play with them and not just observe everyone else having a good time.

I can feel now.

I can laugh.

I can cry.

I am funny and I love to joke around.

Sometimes I am downright childish and I like it.

I have lots of room to grow so I can become more child-like, but I have made progress in that direction.

Prayer

I originally posted this as a comment elsewhere and thought it was worth posting here as well since it probably fell on deaf ears where it was originally posted:

“I found my God in music and the arts, with writers like Hermann Hesse, and musicians like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Little Walter. In some way, in some form, my God was always there, but now I have learned to talk to him."

~Eric Clapton

I grew up in an extremely religious household so prayer was a forced part of my every day life growing up. I wasn't so keen on the prayer at meals or the prayer on our knees, but I did actually enjoy my conversations with God before I fell asleep at night. They were quiet whispers in my head. Even though I had been taught I needed Jesus as a go-between to talk to God, I just dialed up God directly every night anyway. lol My prayer to God gave me a place to talk about things I didn't think I could talk about with anyone else and it carried on well into my 20s.

I'm not sure when it was I stopped praying. I can't tell you when I started to think that maybe there was nothing at all out there. I just know that at a certain point I stopped believing in anything and called myself an atheist.

I think we sometimes have to tear down all of our beliefs so that we can rebuild with a new foundation. I had to get to a point where I believed in nothing so that I could slowly start to discover what my spiritual truths actually are now.

Trauma from my childhood left me disdainful of Christianity. My knee-jerk reaction was to roll my eyes and completely disregard anything remotely christian based.

Fast forward to now and I have come to a new understanding of many things. I see prayer as being a three-fold thing:

1. It can focus intentions and intention is what creates the world around us.
2. It can be that time to talk to our people on the other side...our guides, our loved ones.
3. It can be a time to plug into our God-selves and have a direct line to much needed insights.

I have come to a place where I believe what we call "God" and what we connect to is actually a spark within ourselves since we are all an aspect of Source/God. I sometimes call my God self "my higher self" because I truly believe when we connect to God, it is simply a much bigger part of our spiritual selves.

Photo By Cory Richards

I can now see how certain traditions in Christianity got started...like praying before meals. Again, it is about intention and when you infuse your food with gratitude and give thanks, it actually gives it a boost and makes it higher vibrational. Think of Dr. Masaru Emoto and his work with water and how using different words and phrases actually changed the shape of the water crystals. Gratitude is powerful. I think Yeshua/Jesus understood this and tried to share it with his followers and somewhere along the way the reason behind it got lost. Yeshua was a lot more new age than people realize. I wrote a blog about him recently and what his message actually was should you want to read it.

When We Resist Change

Art by Julie Miller/Haggis Vitae Studios

There are lots of different types of changes that can take place in one's life. Big changes, little changes and changes you don't even realize you have made until one day you suddenly find you are a completely different person.

So many times we hear:

"Change yourself and change the world."

or:

"Be the change you wish to see in the world."

But how many of us are willing to actually go within and change ourselves? I mean REALLY change, not just superficial bullshit. I mean, how many of us are willing to go inside, turn ourselves inside out, face, embrace and tame our shadow selves? How many of us are willing to look at ourselves, our beliefs truthfully and let go of beliefs that no longer serve us? How many of us are willing to embrace new ways of thinking when they are trying to make their way into our consciousness and wake us up?

I was raised to be racist. I was raised to think that being gay was an abomination. I was taught intolerance and hate. It was taught to me from an early age. I was fortunate enough to be presented with different situations and opportunities by the universe to help me change and let go of beliefs that were both untrue and damaging. Life gently knocked on my door by giving me opportunities to change. Most of the time I answered the door and accepted the opportunities that were given to me and, over time, I evolved and changed. It wasn't over night. It was gradual like a river cutting away at a rock.

Sometimes we are stubborn and don't answer the door to change when it comes knocking. It keeps coming back presenting us with different situations. Maybe it just comes by way of people offering new information and you simply reject it over and over. And then the Universe brings it to you again trying to get you to pay attention. When I say "Universe" I really mean our own higher selves because I believe fully that it is ourselves guiding us and bringing certain opportunities into our lives to grow and change.

So, again, you reject the opportunity and fail to answer the door to change. So change says, "Okay, I gave you a gentler route, but now we will play rough" and suddenly shit happens in your life...devastating shit that brings you to your knees. Maybe you will cry out, "Why me?!!!" And I will tell you it is because you didn't answer the door to change when it came knocking, so it came back with a bomb to dismantle your world so that you are forced to rebuild from the foundation up.

A wise person, at this point, would allow the devastation they have suffered to transform them and change them from the inside out, but I have seen plenty of people who just aren't getting the lesson and they suffer blow after blow until they get it. There are some who just never will "get it". There will be some who will wade through the shit until the bitter end of their life. And some will finally embrace and welcome change and become better people as a result.

What will you choose?

Did you hear that?

"While I nodded, 
nearly napping, 
suddenly there came a tapping, 
As of some one gently rapping, 
rapping at my chamber door." 

~Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven

Symbolism is Everywhere, Sum 41 - 13 Voices Cover Art

Recently there has been a big hullabaloo over in Sum 41 fandom. Someone leaked Sum 41's new album cover and the list of the new songs on the album. Everyone was buzzing about it. "Is it real?" Personally, I knew it was real because it is simply a more polished version of something Deryck used for the Happiness Machines back when he was dipping his toes in the water and getting re-acclimated to performing live again after his brush with death and year long recovery. I had already made the comparison then of the Happiness Machine symbol to a Phoenix and posted it on Instagram but took it down later.

Shortly after the buzz started, Sum 41 and Hopeless Records made the official announcement because the proverbial cat was already out of the bag. Yes, the leak was real.

Fans had a lot to say about the album art and some were pretty critical saying how awful it was. I had my own thoughts I put out there and some of them were about the symbolism of the album art that they all were obviously missing and oblivious to. Because I am a prolific dreamer, I have learned a lot about symbolism. I feel strongly that all of those same symbols can be applied in our waking state too. Deryck may not have consciously known the symbolism that was tucked neatly into his creation, but our subconscious always knows.
 
Part of my comment on Facebook:
I read some of the comments. Some of you have no vision or understanding about how art mimics something and eludes to it. There is a lot of symbolism here. The shape of the cross combined with the winged dragons mimics a PHOENIX without actually portraying a phoenix. Phoenix, of course, is a symbol of death and rebirth. The red of the wings represents both fire and taking flight. The skulls represent death. A circle is feminine energy and speaks of cycles....things coming full circle. It also represents the ring that Deryck wears on a necklace. The straight lines of the cross are masculine and with the two together you have balance...yin and yang, masculine and feminine.

"Number 13 is made up of the attributes and energies of the numbers 1 and 3. Number 1 brings it vibrations of new beginnings, striving forward, motivation and progress, attainment and fulfillment, uniqueness and individuality. Number 3 relates to optimism and enthusiasm, communication and self-expression, inspiration and creativity, expansion and growth, manifesting and manifestation. Number 3 also relates to the Ascended Masters. Number 13 is the number of traditions, hard work, organisation and right judgement. The Number 13 is also a feminine number and suggests that you tap into your intuition."
http://sacredscribesangelnumbers.blogspot.com/2011/06/angel-number-13.html
 
I touched upon the meanings in my comment but what I want to do is look at the symbolism with more depth.

Right away the first thing I see is that the cross and dragon combination mimics the look of a Phoenix.

Phoenix - death and re-birth, transformation, change, metamorphosis, feminine, flight, fire, new beginnings

If you know about the use of the Phoenix in Asian culture, you know that usually where there is a Phoenix, you will also see a Dragon. Many traditional Asian weddings will use the Phoenix and Dragon image as a symbol of balance and unity. Traditionally the Phoenix in Asian culture is considered feminine and the Dragon is considered masculine. Essentially what you have when they are together is a prettier version of yin and yang symbol.  In the album art they are part of the whole. They are hidden in plain sight. Maybe your eyes will only see the dragons and not the phoenix, but they are together as one being much in the same way that humans are a balance of both masculine and feminine.

Dragon - strength, courage and fortitude, masculine, fire

These dragons have wings which speak of flight reaching new heights as does the phoenix because of their ability to fly and rise above. Dragons are often associated with fire as well and are often depicted spewing forth fire from their mouths.

At first glance you see a cross. It looks like a Celtic cross to me and my research into Celtic crosses showed me that no one really agrees on a definitive answer, so I will break it down as I did before and describe what I personally see.

Because I have been following the band for 2 years and studying Deryck like he is a subject in school, I know that the cross I have spotted him wearing recently is relatively new. He mostly just wears a ring as a pendent as though it is a good luck charm.

Circle - feminine, cycles, coming full circle, sun, fire element

The cross is actually a pretty interesting symbol and goes back way further than Yeshua/Jesus and the crucifixion. We tend to think of Christianity when we see a cross, but the symbol was used long before Yeshua came into being.

"Jung suggests that the cross has its origins in humanities discovery of fire, and as such, is in reality a fire symbol derived from primitive man's rubbing of two sticks together in order to start a fire for warmth, protection, and the creation of tools. It is interesting to note, that words signifying cross, such as krois, krouz, kreuz, crux, cruz, or croaz, possess etymological similarities with words signifying fire. The roots ak, ur, or os, all signify cosmic light or fire."

http://www.esotericonline.net/m/group/discussion?id=3204576%3ATopic%3A10350

So again we have another symbol of fire. Two lines symbolizing two things coming together to create something powerful and valuable.

Cross - fire, creation, coming together

Now when the circle is on top of the cross, the inside of the circle then becomes the element of earth. Also it resembles the medicine wheel of the Native Americans which represents the 4 elements, 4 directions, etc.

Cross in Circle - earth, 4 elements, 4 directions, 4 seasons

Two skulls are depicted below the circle. They appear to have smoke coming out of their eyes which gives a sense of smoldering ashes. Skull, of course, is a powerful symbol of death, but, it is also part of the skeletal system and is bone. Bones are the strength and foundation of our core physical beings. Without them we would have a hard time moving around this fleshy vehicle. They are support.

Skull - death, ashes, change, endings, past

Bones - strength, support, foundations 

Interestingly, the skulls are placed in a position that could be seen as support and the foundation. It could also be viewed as the ashes of who he used to be....his former self.

We see the number 2 twice with two dragons and 2 skulls.

"Number 2 resonates with the vibrations and attributes of service and duty, balance and harmony, adaptability and diplomacy, co-operation and consideration, receptivity and love. Number 2 also relates to partnerships and relationships, intuition and insight, faith and trust and your Divine life purpose and soul mission."

And because 2 shows up twice we can add them together and get 4...as does the 1 and 3 of the "13 Voices"

"Number 4 resonates with the vibrations and energies of practicality, organization and exactitude, service, patience, devotion, application, pragmatism, patriotism, dignity, trust and trust-worthiness, endurance, loyalty, mastery, building solid foundations, conservatism, determination, production and hard work, high morals, traditional values, honesty and integrity, inner-wisdom, security, self-control, loyalty, conscientiousness, reality and realistic values, stability and ability, progress, management, justice, seriousness, discipline, system and order, maintenance, constructiveness, dependability and conviction. Number 4 also represents our passion and drive and encourages us to work harmoniously yet diligently to achieve our goals and aspirations. Number 4 is the number that represents the four elements of Air, Fire, Water and Earth, and the four sacred directions, North, South, East and West."

I already discussed the number 13 earlier but when you take 2+2+1+3 it equals 8. 8 is the number of abundance.

What about those voices? lol There are 13 of them. When you think about voice and the idea of 13 voices, I tend to think of 13 tones and resonances because no two voices are going to be alike. 13 voices in his head? Maybe. lol And maybe we can see it as 13 musical notes or tones. 13 different vibrations.

I almost forgot about the colors.

Black is dominant in this album cover and it is the yang/feminine part of the yin/yang symbol. Shadows are often seen as black but our shadow selves are nothing to be afraid of. Black is often the color of stones that are grounding and/or used for protection.

Red is the color of the root chakra. We often see red as being fiery. It is our survival center. I found this bit particularly apt from this site:

"The energy of Muladhara allows us to harness courage, resourcefulness and the will to live during trying times. It connects us with spiritual energies of our ancestors, their challenges and their triumphs."

And when you put it all together, it tells a pretty personal story about Deryck Whibley and all that he has endured in the last 2 years.

If you liked the number meanings, please make sure you visit the Sacred Scribes to find the meanings of the numbers showing up in your life. http://sacredscribesangelnumbers.blogspot.com/p/index-numbers.html

Manifesting, Gardening and Taking Action

I have been working hard towards achieving a specific goal and manifesting something in my life that I dearly want. Lately it feels like something that was stuck has become unstuck. Something has shifted and finally I am seeing movement in the direction I have been working toward. This makes me very happy but also makes me think about all of those well meaning people who said one or more of these things to me:

"If it was meant to be, it will happen."

"You don't have to do anything except just be"

"Relax and do nothing."

"Just let go and let happen what will happen."

"Stop trying to force things and let it just happen."

"Law of attraction...don't focus on it."

"Let it go and wait for your intention to manifest."

I am paraphrasing and these are just estimations of what people have said to me. Had I listened to all those well meaning bliss ninnies to just let it go, relax and do nothing...NOTHING is exactly what I would be getting right now. I would see no movement at all. I would be seeing no fruits of my labor. Sometimes the things we want and set up pre-birth for our lives requires a lot of work and perseverance. And just maybe that fire that drives us to keep going and not "let it go" knows something that those well meaning fuckwits don't know. I know what my guides have been pushing for better than they do. Giving up and doing nothing is not what they have been pushing me to do.

Making effort and taking action is not a bad thing and too much in the spiritual community people are preaching sitting back on our laurels and doing nothing because it will all magically come to you. Here in the physical world we have to take physical action to make our intentions happen.

All of this preaching about creating what you want in your reality with your thought is pretty much useless if you never dare to take a risk and take actions toward actually forming the reality you want to see. I am not saying there shouldn't be balance because I think there should, but just putting your hands behind your back and thinking everything will magically come to you, you are in for a rude awakening. I can say, "I really don't like it when people litter." and then I walk past a piece of litter I see and do nothing. I have just become part of the problem and my thoughts and actions are not matching. I am saying and thinking one thing and yet doing another.

If I say "I am hungry" and I try to manifest food with my thoughts alone and there is a store next door with food but I am so convinced that I can manifest it with my thoughts alone that I do nothing and end up starving to death, shall we say that was fate and meant to be? No. You would say I was a dumbass and should have walked my ass over to the store and bought some food.

Sometimes you have to take ACTION to make your intentions come to fruition.

When you grow a vegetable garden, you don't throw out your seeds willy-nilly and do nothing after. It takes a lot of work and care to produce a productive garden. You first have to break up the soil, remove the grass and weeds. You have to provide ample fertilization for what you are intending to grow. Then you have to form your rows and plant the seeds; mounds if you are planting squash; string and support for creeping vines and tomatoes. You have to take each plant into consideration and give them what they need. There is no one size fits all if you want to have a variety of plants in your garden. And after you plant them, you have to continue to watch them, nurture and care for them.  If it is a big enough garden, you may need to bring in a colony of bees to help make sure your flowers get pollinated. You have to make sure they have water. You have to try to keep the weeds out. You have to make sure critters aren't eating the fruits of your labor. If you are a really loving and doting gardener, you will end up with a beautiful productive garden. You will have many varieties of fruits and vegetables to harvest. But none of that happens without getting your hands dirty, getting on your knees and really giving it your best effort. It takes dedication, time and perseverance to grow a garden. None of that magically happens by simply wishing it into existence and using thought alone to manifest here in this 3D reality.

ALL of the above paragraph can be used as metaphors and examples for our lives. If you want to grow a garden in your life, it takes action....it takes matching your thoughts with action. When you do that, just watch as you see your life take shape and blossom.

Navigating and Our Personal Journeys

Recently I had a conversation with a friend that left me with my feathers ruffled.

I am fairly certain she left the conversation feeling the same way.

I shared with her some of what had been going on in my life and shared some of the feelings I was experiencing. At no point did I ask for advice or help. I was simply expressing myself and sharing. I usually don't want advice or help and just want someone to listen. I don't need anyone to insert what they think is right or wrong or how they think I should handle it all. I am fairly adept at handling my own shit. Most of the time I want to talk about it and nothing more. I was pretty taken back when I got a barrage of unwelcome "help" and "advice" that was basically telling me how she thinks I should do things based on her interpretation of the limited information I gave her. I was shocked at her interpretation and her lack of understanding and compassion.

What I find interesting is that often the people who are most vocal about being "empaths" are the ones who seem to demonstrate the least empathy. Maybe it was just an off day for her because normally she is very kind, but she sure as hell was NOT feeling what I was feeling or she would have never said some of the hurtful things she did to me. I walked away feeling like she really just has no understanding of me and my journey at all.

The thing is, I am okay with her not being able to grasp or understand it fully but the barrage that followed even after I told her she didn't understand was eyebrow raising and made me feel annoyed for days. The meme below was what I was wanting to scream.

You might be surprised to hear me say that I am GRATEFUL to her for this experience. Being irritated by the conversation made a lot of things well up inside me that wanted to be expressed. Because of that interaction, I was inspired to write and write and write...and since writing is what I love to do, that isn't a bad thing. I have been able to talk about subjects that are important to me but were only mildly brewing inside. She helped bring it all to a boil and to the surface. So thank you to my friend for the inspiration. My friend provided the grains of sand that would provide the irritation to create some pearls of wisdom.

Now onto the meat of the topic I want to discuss today...

We all come into these lives with a specific journey we are intending to have. We all come equipped with an inner compass for navigation. We have our handy dandy spirit guides who help nudge us in the direction we intended for ourselves before we stepped into a skin suit and forgot everything we knew and planned. Maybe you planned to meet up with certain people and work together for a while but, always, our individual journeys are for us and us alone. I share my journey with all of you and understand that what you experience may be vastly different. The order you experience different phases in the spiritual journey may be different from the order I have experienced those same phases.

There is no right or wrong way in this journey called "life".

Maybe you don't hit all the markers and grab all the flags you intended to when you hit the top of the mountain and started swooshing downhill at record speeds, but you won't incur a "do-over" for missing the minor things. It is going to hurt if you go off course and maybe hit a tree or two. It may or may not slow you down, but you get back up on your skis and keep going.

I went through a phase where I thought everyone else knew more than me and had my answers to help me navigate my journey. I would seek out mediums and psychics and think they had so much more wisdom than me. Some of the information I got was just flat out wrong and bad. But some of the others weren't so overtly wrong and, for a time, I took their information into my navigation system. It was taking me all over the place in all kinds of funky directions. When I finally started to believe in me and trust me, I could look back and see that a certain dream was trying to show me this, but I didn't understand that is what it was trying to tell me until AFTER I had already gotten to the point of trusting myself and my own navigation.

August 28, 2014  Apparently I had gone on a trip to Europe or somewhere. I can't remember specifics but a big part of the dream was being on this giant plane. It seemed like we were on it for ages. I wanted the food I thought I had brought with me but it seemed to have disappeared. I thought maybe someone had taken it or perhaps they never put it on the plane as they were supposed to. Well we flew for a while but the plane stopped and we had something like a two hour layover, so I went into this city I was unfamiliar with to go find something to eat. I was riding around on a bike and the streets were busy. Two guys grabbed onto me to help propel me forward faster. I was like "what are you doing? I am new at this bike riding stuff. I don't want to go fast." And then we approached this stop light. We all stopped and I looked. It was a steep decline and I was scared. I was thinking, there is no way I can go down that on a bike. I will kill myself because I will go too fast. I wanted to get off and walk the bike down the steep hill. I don't actually remember traversing the hill but my concern was getting back to the airport on time and I kept seeing these lines on a map, but it was like the navigation was fucked and taking me in round-about ways instead of a direct route. I was feeling upset that I might miss my plane home. That is all I remember of that one.


So basically this navigation outside of me wasn't really getting me to where I wanted to be. It reminds me of a news story I saw recently about a 23 year old woman following her GPS navigation into a lake. lol Oops!

Here is the story.

If we are all basically an aspect of God/Source, then wouldn't it be a silly thing for us to send billions of people to have the exact same journey and to navigate it exactly the same way? Don't you think that we, as God, would be clever enough to throw in as many variables and variations as we can to get as many experiences as we can so we can take it in as part of our God-self? So please don't tell me how you think I should navigate my journey based on your limited knowledge of what is coming into me from my guides, your standards, your beliefs, and your overall personality. My journey is mine and yours is your own. I know all too well how tempting it is to "help" because I have been guilty of it myself and I had to learn to step back and just allow people to navigate their journey the way they feel best. I can offer my perspective if I am asked, but I am not them nor am I a sum of all of their parts. I don't actually know what is best for them or what they have set up for themselves pre-birth. It is very tempting to project onto people what is best for your own journey and not necessarily theirs.

I have had a well-meaning psychic/medium try to tell me that "the guides" told her this or that when: 1. I never gave my permission for her read me or access privileged information about me. Having a casual conversation is NOT implied consent. 2. I never gave permission to access communication with MY guides so who the fuck she was talking to, I have no idea. I just know they weren't MY people. In one particular instance, her interjection of what "the guides" were supposedly saying only succeeded in pissing me off and wanting to tell her to back the fuck up. I did tell her this was MY journey and mine alone and there was no way in hell she was privy to the mountains of details and daily interactions I have with my guides. For every dream I write down, there are 20 others I don't record. They just float around in my head and pop out when something triggers a memory. You should never presume you know my whole story by what little I do share. What I share is just the tip of the iceberg. Trust that I can navigate my own journey without your unsolicited advice and help. Trust that I am listening to my guides and doing exactly what I feel is the very best for me and my journey. Trust that even if I get shit wrong, it is okay and is what is best for me and what I need to learn. Trust that when I tell you I sometimes cry and feel sad that having these emotions are part of my journey and don't need to be avoided. Trust that I don't need to be fixed and that I am learning in leaps and bounds from my difficulties.

None of us have any real idea what the soul next to us planned to experience no matter how psychic, intuitive you are or how many spirits you talk to. We should be careful about inflicting our personal morals on each other because morals are mostly subjective. Some people adhere to the human laws of morals, but the morality of the soul in non-physical is very different. When your mind expands and you start to see the world through spiritual colored lenses, human morals seem quaint but not really applicable in a bigger picture sort of way. The journeys we plan for ourselves could look pretty messy. They could seem to be full of conflict and *gasp* immoralities. It isn't really for you or me to decide what is right or wrong for another person. All we can do is decide what is right for ourselves.

All of us are a sum of all our parts and that sum is unique to each person. Some people are all fluffy bunnies, kittens, fairy dust and unicorns. While I am over here all combat boots, bad-ass, brass knuckles and "fuck off." Neither one is a right or wrong way to be. To ask me to approach my journey like your fluffy bunny self is to ask me to ignore who I truly am. Do I have a soft squishy center? Absolutely! Does the fluffy bunny have a bad-ass center? It is very likely. But how we naturally navigate and operate through our journeys is going to look very different. We have to be willing to step back and just accept people for who they are and allow each other to operate in a way that feels natural and comfortable. You fluffy bunny people are perfect just as you are because our God-self wanted to experience what life was like that way. But our God-self also wanted to experience life as bad-ass, brass knuckle people too and those of us who appear hard on the outside are absolutely perfect the way we are as well.

By all means, love and support the people around you who are doing the best they can on their journeys, but allow them to use their own inner navigation to get them to their final destination.

Processing and Interpretation

Interpretation is a funny thing. If I were to write something and have ten people read it, it is entirely possible all ten will take away something completely different when processing the meaning.

There are many factors to HOW we interpret the information coming into us.

I tend to believe that the date and time of our birth is no accident and has everything to do with pre-birth planning to ensure certain attributes are present in the characters we are about to play. We set it up so that we have specific personality traits to better help us have the experience we are looking to have and/or to aid us in completing a mission we agreed to take on prior to stepping into physical form. Regardless of what you believe about astrology and the influence of the cosmos on us, when we are born, we each come in being hardwired in specific and unique way.

Chemicals and hormones all play a factor in how we process things in our brains. So everything including the food you eat, the air you breathe, the water you drink, the chemical exposure you have in your environment, sun exposure, medications affect how we interpret. Fluoride is a neurotoxin and is in our toothpaste and the drinking water for many people. Many cities are highly polluted so the air can be toxic. There are preservatives and dyes in food. There are preservatives and aluminum in personal hygiene products that can disrupt hormones. The level of activity you have and where you do said activity can have an impact on our brains and how we process.

Add into that mix every single experience we have ever had in our lives. And oh, hey, let's throw in some past life baggage you brought with you to this life. Even if you have had similar experiences to another, it will affect us all differently. Think of siblings in a family who all suffer the same abuse and see how differently they each are affected.

No two people are identical in how they process and interpret. Each person is a unique cookie recipe. You can use the same ingredients in slightly different amounts and come up with some very different results. Textures, flavors, and colors will be different.

Vector - Photo by Dan Mountford

We are a sum of all our parts. That sum determines how we process information and that sum is always changing.

With this in mind, is it any wonder that I could write something and one person sees it as harsh and pushy, while another person might see simply honest forthright expression. One person gets their feathers ruffled while the other person doesn't see it as a big deal. Maybe the person it was intended for even respects and appreciates what I wrote while the other wants me to alter my behavior and change how and what I say. Not everyone will process the same written words exactly the same way. Some are going to hate it, some are going to love it, and some will have no idea what you are even talking about.

It would be an error to assume that everyone will interpret exactly as you do. I mean, isn't this part of the reason we have so many misunderstandings since social media became a thing? It is VERY easy to interpret what you are reading in a voice that was not intended by the author. You might read me as angry when, in fact, while I was writing, the voice in my head was earnest and heartfelt.

We can't walk around trying to be people-pleasers, second guess ourselves or second guess everything we say and do at every turn. We just have to be exactly who we are without fear and without regret. If we please ourselves by being completely authentic to who we are, then we have done something right.

As Chris Cornell sings...be yourself is all that you can do.