Meditation is an intrinsic part of the spiritual path and its importance cannot be overestimated in the development of the intuition. Meditation is the practice of inner contemplation that creates an internal atmosphere of availability and awareness through which the intuition can function. In simple terms, we can describe the process of meditation as “coming home to oneself.” Meditation exercises form the basis of most spiritual teachings and, even though the form of the exercises may seem unlimited, the fundamental purpose of meditation is essentially the same, i.e., to help us to be centered, present, and quiet within ourselves.
Meditation is a journey of reconciliation with self, of reintegration. For this reason, we can call it a “homecoming.” Essentially, meditation is simple. We sit, we quiet ourselves, and we are ourselves, with ourselves, maintaining awareness of what happens during the period of sitting. While meditating, we “work” on ourselves with light, energy, and love, repairing and healing our bodies and spirits as we go. For a process so essentially simple, the results can be astounding, especially when we practice regularly. We almost always feel better after a session of meditation. We are more centered, more present, more loving, more clear, and more available. So why is it so difficult to find the time, the place, the moment, to do it? Something that is so good for us … why do we resist it so?
We resist because of the power and presence of the rational mind. We resist because of our ancient belief systems. We resist because we have a long-established habit, anchored in our daily lives, of not giving to ourselves the quality of attention we really need to be well, centered, and reconciled with ourselves. Meditation is not a process that needs to endure a long time to be beneficial, but it does need to be practiced regularly. Better to meditate for ten minutes every day, than for one hour every week, but, ultimately, one hour every week is a great improvement over a four-hour endurance marathon once a month.
Fundamentally, all spiritual paths are personal disciplines involving choice and decision. Without meditation, the path loses its definition, its clarity, and its presence in our lives. There is always a choice, but when it comes to the question of meditation, we must eventually realize that it is imperative to create the time and space to meditate regularly. If we don't, we lose the benefits already gained and slowly lose our sense of purpose in having begun in the first place.
The most common mental behavioral trap and rationalization for not meditating it is that, when we feel well, we think we don't need it; we're too busy feeling well and being creative. When we feel bad and we know we need it, we can't do it because we feel too bad to concentrate—it's too much effort, we'll only feel worse if we do it, it's not worth it, etc. We can always find reasons not to meditate. Meditation is something like physical exercise and good eating habits. We know we should do it, but do we? The only solution to this dilemma that I have found is to eliminate the question of choice and raise the problem to the level of an imperative. After a while the habit becomes ingrained in life and we can experience meditation as a healthy habit, with the same appreciated value as sleeping, sunshine, breathing, exercise, good food, and clean water.
I personally believe that one hour of meditation each day is a reasonable amount of time to devote to the inner work of looking after ourselves in the silence of our inner temple. You will find very often in meditation that you need at least several minutes just to become truly quiet and then an additional thirty minutes to benefit from the stillness and to go further into the deepness of yourself.
Even though meditation is, in essence, a simple process, it is not always easy to practice. Do not expect a session to be easy and, above all, do not think meditation is something you will master after several sessions. Meditation is a life discipline, a life journey, and an inner exploration of the great mystery of discovering who you really are. All the great spiritual traditions of the world insist on the importance and ultimate value of meditation. You cannot, realistically, escape meditation. You can change the spiritual school, you can change the technique, but you cannot change the truth. The truth is that, if you wish to transform and evolve, if you wish to heal yourself, you have to begin by sitting down, closing your eyes, breathing, and becoming still and available to yourself, to be with yourself.
The personal meditation practices that follow have been arranged in a progressive order that I encourage you to follow, especially in the beginning. With the sixteen meditations presented here, you will have enough possibilities for months and months of personal inner work. I have been working with these meditations and variations there of for over fifteen years, in groups, trainings, and personal inner work and they always provide me with material for contemplation and inner movement. Do not make the mistake of thinking you constantly have to learn new meditations in order to feel you are progressing. A variety of different meditation possibilities is interesting for the mind and appetizing for the spirit, in the same fashion that a changing diet is interesting in the routine of food preparation. But we must remember that too much change can lead to dispersion and superficiality.
The meditations that you find the most difficult to practice are most likely the meditations that you most need to do. If this is the case, try to persevere and trust that you are progressing, even when you feel blocked, lost, and without hope. It is not uncommon in the inner work of meditation to experience difficulties during a moment which is leading up to a major breakthrough in consciousness. When the going gets rough, keep on going! Do not give up. Remember that a true healing is preceded by a healing crisis—a crisis necessary so that true healing can occur. Awareness of blockages is a sacred awareness, and evidence of progress. Above all, continue!
Practice regularly and trust that every time you meditate you are, in fact, contributing to the development of your intuition.
The regular maintenance program is exactly that—meditations to practice regularly, to keep you “in shape.” These two meditations ensure that, on an inner level, you stay open and connected with yourself, so that your intuition can function for you. These meditations also help to keep the channels open between your rational and intuitive mind, allowing you to maintain flexibility between your inner and outer worlds.
In this meditation, the steps of the ritual of preparation are used to create the inner structure through which we can welcome the presence of our intuitive being into our consciousness.
Recommended time: 15 to 30 minutes.
This is a meditation of not-doing, not-thinking, not-acting.
Recommended time: 20 to 45 minutes.
These meditations are particularly useful as intuitive information-gathering exercises that can be followed by meditations for self-healing. In meditations such as these, your intuition is free to function on a very rich, symbolic level. It is important that you allow the images you receive to “speak to you,” so that you can better understand the meanings contained within the richness of the symbols. If the images “wobble,” come and go, or seem absolutely strange to you, you may banish them and ask your intuition to give you symbolic images that are correct and true for you. If the same images reappear, accept them and work with them, even though they may seem strange or mysterious. With time the meaning and message contained within the images will probably become clear to you.
Recommended time: 20 to 30 minutes.
Write down, or even better, do a drawing of the tree you have intuitively perceived. What is the message here for you about your current state of being?
The image of the tree as a reflection of the human being is a particularly rich and touching symbol with which to work. In the tree we find a simplified version of ourselves. The trunk of the tree represents our spine and general body, the roots represent our feet and grounding ability, and the leaves represent our relationship with the universe and light. The environment relates to the environment in which we live on a daily basis. The quality of the earth speaks to us about the fundamental nourishing quality of our everyday existence—the quality of the food we eat, the work we do, the place we live. The presence or lack of adequate water indicates the quality of emotional nourishment we experience in our lives. Too much water can be as damaging as not enough, and changes may need to be made to find the balance, to find the correct dose. The quality of air is related to mental stimulation, movement, and change. Not enough air, or polluted air, can indicate that the environment is not suitable for mental growth and intellectual creativity because of a stifling effect. Too much air (a strong breeze or wind), can indicate a lack of protection, overexposure, and the need to create a more sheltered environment where the energies are less dispersed. The presence or absence of Sun relates to the quality of spiritual nourishment in life.
After practicing this meditation, it can be useful to spend some time out in nature, giving yourself actual contact with the elements of nature of which you have perceived a need, replenishing yourself by simply being present in the atmosphere of the corresponding elements.
• Case Study •
I see a tree on top of a round hill, a fruit tree in flower, with a view all around. A tree well-placed and proud, pleased to be a tree. There is plenty of Sun, and a lot of wind. The wind is blowing in gusts and the tree has difficulty staying grounded and stable with all the wind blowing. At the same time, the tree loves the wind—the wind is very present, a loving presence; but it is a bit too powerful. The tree finds the presence of the wind exciting and reacts as though being tickled roughly. Every time the tree is tickled, it loses its grounding and becomes more and more exposed to the air at the level of its roots. The feeling is one of instability and over-stimulation. The tree needs protection, a more moderate wind, and deeper and more stable grounding.
Recommended time: 30 to 40 minutes.
While the Tree Meditation allows you to gain a perspective of yourself in relation to the Earth, universe, and the environment you function in, the House Meditation gives you insights into your inner state of being and the way you are in relationship to yourself. Both meditations can provide you with a wealth of material to work with for self-healing and transformation. Even if you do not rationally understand the signification of a symbolic image, you can feel, through your physical reaction and emotional state, whether you are at ease or not with any particular image. With the lucidity of intuitive perception, you can gain valuable insights into the structure and nature of your inner world and with the insights gained, you can more deeply understand yourself and your true needs.
• Case Study •
I see a house, a wooden villa, nestled in the garden of a tropical landscape. Trees and flowers and plants everywhere, a soft, fragrant breeze blowing, warm air, lots of light, but also shade from all the tropical Sun. The house is open, with a veranda, curtains softly blowing in the breeze, and there are comfortable cane chairs on the veranda, with cushions in bright colors. There are wind chimes singing. There is a cat, sprawled and sleeping on the wooden floor in a shaded place. The atmosphere is alive, peaceful, clean, open, and very welcoming.
I go into the room of the physical and I see a room of wood, like a sauna room, almost empty, except for a beautiful Persian rug on the floor in colors of deep red, cream, and rich, rich blue. The rug is big and thick, luxurious. On the walls there are wooden shelves and here and there are objects of art—vases, bowls, crystals. It is very simple. There is a fireplace with a big fire burning and I see myself in front of the fire, back to the door, staring into the fire in a very contemplative mood. I am happy to be alone. I do not wish to be disturbed. The fire is what I need and in front of it is where I want to be. The fire (red + heat) is healing me.
I go to the room of the emotional and I find a room lacking light. There is a deep carpet and a big, old table. On the table is writing material and nothing else. The room is virtually empty, except for the table, and seems stuffy and uninhabited. It is not appealing to me at all. What is the writing material doing there? Why is it so dark? I do not feel at ease with what I perceive here. I do not feel like spending much time in this space. It is like a room from a monastery—austere, cold, businesslike (not at all like me on an emotional level!).
I go to the room of the mental and here I find a huge library, full of books. It is an old, ancient library, very well organized, everything in its place, with tables to sit and work at and reference cards at my fingertips. It is very quiet, very peaceful, and I feel well in the atmosphere. I have the feeling that, if I need something, I can always find it. Everything is filed away correctly and the space is clean, well lit, and well cared for. I feel at home here. I will come back. But why is my writing equipment in the emotional room and not here?
I continue my exploration, going now to the room of the spiritual. Going through the door, I find a landscape of flowing water, a small, sandy white beach, and a green grassy place with flowers and birds. There is a canoe and I see myself taking journeys in the canoe along the waterways, going far out onto the rivers, disappearing into the mist, coming back later and resting in the Sun on the bank of the river with the warm, white sand warming my body. There is the feeling of going far away to visit mysterious places, places I must go alone, for there is only place for one person in my little canoe. There is a somewhat solitary atmosphere, at the same time peaceful and flowing. I come and go; I have my rhythm in this world and, even though I go far on the river, the beach is always there and the Sun is present and warming.
I leave the house and come back to my Temple, contemplating the images I have been shown. I finish my meditation quietly.
We use our intuition to perceive the structure and movement of physical and subtle energy, which is described by the intuitive function through symbolic images, words (symbolic in themselves), and feelings/sensations.
The accurate perception of our state of being is, in itself, a process that grounds and centers us, a process that brings us back to the truth of ourselves. For example, “I am neurotic, hysterical, totally unreasonable, needy and moody and impossible to be with at the moment and, knowing that to be true, I know where I am in this moment. Knowing where I am, even if it is a terrible place, is more useful than deceiving myself and trying to deceive others that I am in a good mood. Being aware that I am horrible and accepting the truth of that, here and now, allows me to find my stability and my grounding. Grounded, I am centered, and centered, I come back to my heart. In my heart, I find acceptance, and in acceptance, understanding. Accepting my neurotic, hysterical, revolting self, I find that the state passes and I become again my reasonable, balanced, neutral, loving self.”
Our intuition, in its role of inner teacher (inner tuition), is always available to teach us, especially about ourselves and about who we really are. The intuition casts off illusion and veils of confusion and always reveal the truth. The truth, in itself, is a grounding thing. Once we know the truth, we know where we stand. Once we know the truth, we can situate ourselves in relation to the problem and begin to find the appropriate action/response to the problem we face. Of course, the truth is never absolute, but, with a truth that is relative to the present situation, we can already go a long way once we have that truth in our hands.
Before we can begin to heal, we must know what needs healing. We do not necessarily need to know why it needs healing, or what happened, or how things got so that healing is needed, but we do need, imperatively, to know what needs healing and where. Our intuition, with its ability to show us the actual state of how things really are, leads us very elegantly to perceive the healing need in any given situation, in any given aspect of ourselves.
When we meditate and explore the current state of being, our intuition shows us, through the richness of symbolic language, how we are, both in relation to ourselves and to our external world. With the messages we receive, we experience a simultaneous sensational and emotional reaction/response, which adds to the depth and richness of the information received.
When we receive information with which we feel at ease and with which we feel in agreement, generally speaking we can say that a healing treatment is not necessary. When information received creates a “negative” emotional reaction—uncomfortable and distressing physical symptoms, painful reactions, mental agitation, confusion, denial, and other such types of reaction—we can generally suppose that healing is necessary.
A useful guideline by which we function is the idea that, whenever something is missing, something is needed. When there is a lack, there is a need, and where there is a need, there is a place for a healing treatment.
If things are balanced, full, flowing along nicely, and there are no questions, empty spaces, intriguing obsessions, we will leave well enough alone and search elsewhere for a healing work. Of course, a good situation can always be improved upon. If we find the healing need and fulfill it, even the already good situations are going to improve, because a need fulfilled fulfills.
There are many ways to heal and many healing philosophies about how to heal, but essentially, healing is a very simple thing. We heal by loving, by loving and accepting. We heal by giving our attention to something that has been neglected. We give our loving attention to something (or someone, or a part of someone) that needs attention, because it lacks something essential to its well-being. Something is missing and, in fulfilling the lack, in finding and filling the missing piece, reunification occurs and wholeness returns. Being healed is being returned to wholeness. Being whole is related to being integrated, and wholeness is both healthy and a state of holiness.
Learning to heal ourselves is imperative. Maintaining health is equally imperative. It is also difficult at times. The problem of self-healing can be stated like this:
I have a problem because I lack something. I do not know what I lack, but I know it's something, because I feel bad. I lack something and so, therefore, I need something. But what do I lack and what is my need? I don't know. I will try and find out. It's hard work alone. Finally, after much searching, I begin to recognize what I lack. But what is my need? I don't know. I will have to think about that. Finally, after much thinking, searching, and experimenting, I think I know. So how do I give it to myself? I don't know. If I knew how to give myself this need, I wouldn't have the need, and I wouldn't have the lack, because I would already have given to myself the thing that I need, before it became a problem. I don't know how to give myself what I need, because I think, in fact, it is not something I can easily give to myself. It's something someone else can give me. So I look for someone else (parents, friends, lover) to give me the thing I need, but no one seems to understand what I need. Or else they don't have time. Or else they're not interested. Or else they try to give me what I need, but what they give is not exactly what I need. So what will I do? Either I will look for someone else (therapist, teacher, healer) or I will try to give it to myself.
Healing is the process of receiving what we need to be whole. A healer is someone who gives us what we need to be whole. The person being healed is someone who is available to receive and receives. Healing, in its true spirit, is a passage. A healer is someone who recognizes the true need of someone and gives (fulfills) the need, until such time as the person has learned how to fulfill this need for themselves. At this point, the healer is no longer necessary and the other has found what they need within themselves to bring themselves to wholeness.
Self-healing is a sacred path of personal awareness and responsibility. Sometimes it can be a lonely path. It is a path along which we learn much about our capacities and our skills, as well as our limits. There are many problems we can heal alone and there are some that are so deep and so complicated that we would be wise to recognize our limits and seek the assistance of someone else who is capable and available to guide us. Ultimately, all healing is self-healing, because healing is only possible thanks to the inner desire to be healed and whole. A healer helps us to heal ourselves. Very often, the fact of accepting our limits and asking for help accelerates the healing process to an extraordinary degree. Just as often, the presence of a loving being who takes an interest in our problem creates a healing dynamic much more powerful and effective than the dynamic created by working alone on a problem. Nonetheless, healing begins at home and home is within ourselves. Self-healing is a path of self-awareness, a path of personal empowerment, a path of growing up, and a path of great richness and wonder.
Discovering the gift of healing is akin to the discovery of love. It is a priceless gift. A divine gift. It is present in everyone who wishes to discover it. The gift of healing is an innate gift. The healing gift begins with being present and available to ourselves, with the act of paying attention to ourselves, to our deepness. Attention heals, and love and acceptance create transformation and blossoming of the inner soul.
Self-healing begins in a simple way. Even though the path may seem complicated at times, in essence, healing rests on a simple act, a simple movement. The movement of loving. In loving self, healing happens. With our intuition to guide us, to accompany us, and to teach us, we can travel the path of self-healing in trust and hope, in the expectation of positive results.
The following meditations will give you a wealth of possibilities for taking care of your inner self and attending to the fulfillment of your deepest needs. Do not underestimate the power of these exercises. Practiced regularly, with attention to details, these meditations can and do trigger healing and transformational experiences of lasting value.
Recommended time: 20 minutes.
After the Meditation: Do a drawing of the transformed tree showing the changes compared to the original tree. You may wish to repeat this exercise several times, until the changes you have created have stabilized.
• • •
A powerful exercise you can do in relation to the tree is an adaptation of The Personal Lie and Posture (see chapter 9).
• Case Study •
I have felt the tree needs protection, a more moderate wind and a much deeper grounding. I think a protective fence is a good idea, and some soil to protect the exposed roots. However, when I return to the tree and enter into the image to begin the work of self-healing, I no longer feel the fence is appropriate. I love the wind. I love its presence. I feel this wind like a divine wind, a guiding wind. I do not wish to protect myself from this wind. The idea of a barrier between me and the wind doesn't feel right. Instead, I imagine I open to the wind and invite the wind to blow in me, through me, rather than all around me. The wind blows in through my branches and down into the trunk, going into the Earth. The action of the wind, the direction and movement combined with the strength, helps me to ground deeper into the Earth. In accepting the presence of the wind in me, I find my grounding and I can stay stable and firm, while maintaining a deep contact with the wind, my source of inspiration. The result is stability, grounding, and the presence of inspirational guidance. I feel well with that. I can weather the storms. I am firm. I am on my hill and the wind is here with me. We are together. I am grounded.
You may wish to repeat this exercise several times until you find that the new room is well established.
After contemplating the information I have received in the meditation, I have the desire to work on the emotional room.
I go back to the house, and find my way to the door of the emotional room. I enter. Nothing has changed. This room represents very important things for me about the way I have been conducting my emotional life. For the past few months, I have decided to take a more disciplined attitude with my emotional self. It has worked quite well. I have much more distance. I am more calm, more self-sufficient. Also, it is wintertime, so detachment seems appropriate. But, when I see this room, I am disturbed. It's not me. It's an imposed state. A controlled room, without spontaneity, without warmth. I have succeeded too well and have gone to the opposite extreme. Also, why are the writing things there? They should be in the library, in the mental room, so that, when I am in the emotional room, it's for pleasure and joy and not the discipline and rigor of work.
I create windows and a big glass door, a big skylight. The Sun and the light can stream into the room. I take the big serious table back to the library, as well as the writing equipment. I put a big double bed with a down quilt and lots of pillows in the room, plus a couch, chairs, a round table, flowers. I bring color and light into the space. I create a garden outside with lounge chairs and lots of sunshine. I imagine my family with me in this space, lounging around, relaxing, speaking, and simply being at home together. The cat is there, lolling about purring. I am relaxed and at home in this space now. I feel a quality of joy and pleasure in this room. I feel balanced. I have what I need. I stay a while, filling the room with my energy and enjoying the atmosphere. Then, when I feel ready, I finish the meditation and come back to my external world.
In addition to working with symbolic images to create healing, we can work directly with the subtle or energetic body, acting on the chakras and the aura with light, colors, and qualities to nourish, heal, and balance ourselves.
Meditations for the chakras can be practiced regularly and are particularly effective for balancing and recharging purposes. The three meditations proposed here are progressive in nature. The first is presented in a form that allows you to reconnect to various aspects of yourself as described through the symbolism of the chakras, using guided visualization to create reconnection, cleaning, and energizing.
In the second meditation you learn to use color as a source of healing and nourishing energy for the chakras. The third meditation teaches you how to give yourself specific qualities for healing purposes.
Recommended time: 45 to 60 minutes.
Recommended time: 30 minutes.
Recommended time: 30 to 45 minutes.
Figure 14. Sending healing light to self: to the belly.
It is important, in a work of personal evolution, that we have a clear sense of ourselves in relation to our external world. To know who we are, we must be able to differentiate between ourselves and others. This may seem a rather obvious statement, but, in reality, it is often difficult to discern clearly the limits of “self” in relation to “other.” In an absolute sense, we can argue that separation does not exist at all. Everything is connected, the universe is one being and we are all cells of this vast being, intrinsically interrelated with each other.
Working with energy, we learn to extend our awareness, to penetrate and “merge” with matter. In healing practice, we learn to enter into the reality of another, to “feel” the other, in order to perceive the lacks and needs for healing purposes. It is for exactly this reason that we must also work to establish and define our personal energetic limits. If I know who I am, “where I begin and end,” I can expand my consciousness into the reality of another in security, because, knowing who I am, I can go toward the other without losing myself and I can come back when the exercise is finished.
Knowing how to enter into rapport with someone else is a tremendously useful skill. We do this unconsciously each time we put ourselves “in the place” of someone else. Learning how to manage this skill consciously is a work of great personal awareness. Learning to merge and separate energetically for purposes of intuitive perception and healing is a work that requires great skill and lots of practice.
In exercises of self-healing, we create what is called a personal boundary as a means of self-protection. We protect ourselves from the external world, not because the world is a nasty, horrible, menacing place out to harm us, but because we are delicate and sensitive and need protection from the chaos of the external world so we can stay more easily centered and balanced within ourselves. The external world is often perturbing, and other people are full of their own problems and inner chaotic processes of evolution and transformation.
With awareness of our own personal boundaries, we gain an understanding of the difference between our energy, our “atmosphere,” and the atmosphere of others. We learn to discern with more lucidity the difference between “our stuff” and “the stuff” of others, thus gaining invaluable insights into the process of projection in relationships.
The personal boundary helps us to stay centered in our axis and to stay focused in our own personal rhythm, our own movement. Protected from dispersion, we stop wasting our energy and can stay focused on the path of the moment.
Recommended time: 20 minutes.
Do this meditation regularly, checking places of weakness and reinforcing them until they stay strong. This exercise is particularly useful before and after stressful experiences, conflicts, and confrontions.
Using our intuition to explore choices available to us creates a situation where the spiritual direction of our life is always taken into consideration before a decision is reached that affects the path of our daily life. Intuition, in its roles of inner guide, teacher, and soul-gathering experience, will not necessarily indicate the easiest or most comfortable direction. However, we can count on the intuition to guide us toward choices that create inner growth, evolution, and the expression of our essential personal qualities. It is important to remember that, for the soul, experience is the purpose of life. From experience comes wisdom and from wisdom, acceptance and detachment. Liberation from attachment creates the freedom to be authentic and, in the atmosphere of authenticity, the soul is free to live fully and gather a full quota of earthly experience. Every soul has its individual purpose, but, globally speaking, the greatest challenge for every incarnated soul is the challenge of self-realization. We realize the truth of who we are thanks to the tasks and missions we undertake during our lives. It is often the more difficult experiences that cause us to grow the most and for which we can be the most grateful in retrospect.
Essentially, we are free souls, free to choose and create the direction of our activities as we wish. Even in karmic obligations and debts, we have a choice. For every choice we make, there is a consequence. Even though we are essentially free, every soul has a path to follow. The path is not a physical path, requiring us to be in a certain place at a certain time, but is rather a fluid, flowing directional path of experience. As a soul, I incarnate with a purpose. To fulfill this purpose, I have many possibilities. It is not so much what I do, when and with whom, but more how I do things and with what level of awareness that causes my evolution and thus the accomplishment of my purpose.
My soul, in its ultimate wisdom, knows the experiences it needs to evolve according to its destiny. Parents and family are chosen based on the fundamental life experiences needed by the soul for its evolution. For this reason, many old souls are born into quite difficult family situations. Lessons are learned young and experiences are gained quickly, enabling the soul to progress more rapidly through life to achieve the purpose of the incarnation while still young enough to accomplish and integrate the purpose.
When we align ourselves with our intuitive self, we align ourselves with our soul and spirit, thus realigning with our essential spiritual purpose. The spiritual purpose naturally expresses itself through the realization of a path, or way of being. This way of being has a philosophical aspect, as well as a means of practical application. As spiritual beings, we realize who we are, thanks to the journey along the path. The path is a means through which we arrive at the end. In the paradox of spiritual initiation and mastery, we never actually arrive anywhere, even though we are eternally in the process of going somewhere with the purpose of arriving. The path is a means, giving us a direction and a sense of purpose, but it is the awareness we bring to the journey as we travel that results in evolution of the soul and the gaining of wisdom through the integration of the experiences lived.
When we find our path and live in accordance with it, life takes on a different quality, a different atmosphere. Realigned with our deepness and connected to a sense of personal and spiritual purpose, a quality of trust begins to install itself in us. Trusting ourselves, trusting the universe, we can relax the control and begin to let things flow. Trusting in the path, trusting in the flow, we stay more easily centered on the path, allowing the flow to guide us and support us along the way. Realigned with the sense of our verticality (axis heaven/Earth), we gradually lose our attachment to the way we think things and people should be and we open ourselves to the experience of how things and people actually are. Liberating ourselves to be ourselves, we discover our external reality as a movement much more fluid and supple than we had previously imagined. By liberating ourselves, others too begin to feel liberated in our presence and can more easily be themselves. Thus life takes on a new dimension, a dimension of suppleness, of possibilities, and of renewed hope, as we realize that healing is possible and transformation inevitable.
Our intuition guides us to choose the way of evolution. Evolution is a process of change, transformation, and healing, of personal mastery and self-realization. Our intuition will never guide us toward a path that is not ultimately in our best interests. The path may not be easy. The path may reveal our weaknesses to ourselves and others and demand much personal effort, but the reward will far outweigh the efforts we are invited to make.
As we align ourselves more and more with our true purpose and our true being, as we trust more and more this new way of functioning, we allow the movement to guide us and show us the way. We go willingly, no longer doubting and hesitating as we go. We feel the stability of the Earth and the luminous presence of the universe accompanying us and we find our balance, our axis, and our place in the movement of life flowing through us.
Existence is loving, generous, and spontaneous. Open to the possibility of friendly horizons, the path becomes a pleasure. No longer an arduous task of impossible responsibilities, life reveals itself as a creative playground of self-expression and personal realization.
The three following meditations will help you to make sense of your personal world, your current experiences, and the reasons why you are in relationship with the people close to you in your daily life. With these techniques of intuitive practice, you can situate yourself more rapidly and more clearly in relation to people around you, no longer wasting time unnecessarily worrying and analyzing the psychological position and behaviors of yourself and others. Going beyond the psychological framework of perception, you can perceive yourself and others as beings evolving, beings with a movement, beings with something to share and exchange. At times, the exchange is experienced as a flowing movement and at times it seems in conflict. Going beyond the experience of conflict to rediscover the harmonious flow of true exchange is a liberating experience for everyone involved.
For exploring possible pathways and understanding the advantages and inconveniences of each possibility, making a choice that is in alignment with the path of the soul.
Recommended time: 20 to 40 minutes.
For understanding, accepting, and opening the way for transformation of difficult situations, where the lesson and purpose of the situation is not evident and you have a desire that the situation be resolved.
Recommended time: 30 minutes.
For conflict resolution, clarification of the purpose of the relationship, and for creating an atmosphere where a quality of harmony and communion is possible in the relationship.
Recommended time: 30 minutes.
Pay attention the next time you see the person to how things feel and/or are different than before you did this meditation.
Anger, resentment, and bitterness are emotional states that block the function of love in life and therefore limit the circulation of energy in the heart chakra. There is no question that human relationships are complex, often paradoxical, and certainly full of contradictions. We are often deceived, disappointed, and disillusioned by the so-called “imperfections” of the people to whom we are the closest. Conflict, though terribly uncomfortable to live through, forms an intrinsic part of most deep and meaningful relationships. It would be nice to live in eternal harmony, but here on Earth, harmony is a much appreciated and rather rare state of experience. If we are authentic and committed to the path of self-realization, it is virtually impossible to go through life without bothering someone, at some time. If we live close to someone else who follows the same path of authenticity, they are sure to behave (from time to time, if not more often), in a manner that evokes a conflicted reaction from us. At times, conflict has nothing to do with the question of authenticity. We can feel betrayed, ripped off, or tricked by another person. We can experience something with the other that causes us to reach the decision to terminate the relationship. We can become so angry that it is simply no longer possible to communicate with the other, so we cut off the relationship.
It is quite seldom that a relationship ends quietly and in peace, both parties calm, clear, and in the heart. A relationship of this quality is not a relationship we would feel the desire to terminate!
We have all ended relationships. Life is a process of meeting and parting. Just think for a moment of all the people you have known in your life, with whom you no longer have any contact. For most of these people, the parting was easy, natural, in harmony with the natural flow of things for both of you. But there are always some relationships that end in conflict, with unfinished business, with resentment, anger, and bitterness.
In fact, these relationships are not finished at all, even though we may never see or speak to the person involved. Relationships of this nature drain our energy. We are energetically imprisoned by the unfinished business of the relationship. We are not free and neither is the other. These unfinished conflicts preoccupy us on an unconscious level and create an energetic situation where our energy and attention is not available for living what is happening in present time, in our current life. We cannot commit ourselves to the present moment because of our preoccupation with the past. To be truly free in the present, we are obliged to cut our links to the past. Breaking with the past does not mean disassociating ourselves from the past or from our memories of the past. It simply means “liberating” charged memories, so the energy can be used in present time.
Acceptance and forgiveness are two qualities essential to the path of healing. To create a better world, we are obliged to heal the world we are in. There is no other way. There is no other world. The inner world of our heart is broken and scarred from many battles, and wisdom gained is often gained with great sadness and disillusionment. We are often right, but just as often, the other is right. And as often as we are right, we are wrong.
Psychological warfare exhausts the heart and wearies the soul. Moreover, it builds barriers around the heart that become virtually impenetrable over time. Hate, resentment, and judgment are strong emotions, poison for the heart. Acceptance brings healing to the heart and soul, and forgiveness allows us to go beyond the problem, free to engage ourselves in new adventures of the heart.
To accept somebody else does not necessarily mean to agree with them or to obey them. To accept a situation does not mean giving your approval to the situation. It simply means accepting. Not fighting against. Not being opposed to. Acceptance is an inner state, a state of inner letting go, where we renounce the need to be right, to know best, to be superior. In acceptance, we surrender to the situation as it is, accepting it as it is, even if it is not how we would like, or how we think it should be. We accept the other as they are. We accept ourselves as we are. We accept the imperfections, the contradictions, and the paradoxes, and we let go of the struggle of our desire that it be otherwise.
Acceptance is not the same as forgiveness. Acceptance allows us to let go of our attachment to the idea that the situation or the person be other than it, he, or she is. Forgiveness allows us to let go totally of the situation or the person. Forgiveness finishes things. Forgiveness is like a death, and from death rebirth is possible.
Sometimes we would like to accept and forgive, but we cannot because we are not yet ready. Righteous indignation has its place in the world of emotional expression, as does anger, resentment, and loss of respect. When we have experienced a strong conflict within ourselves or with another, we must also respect the truth of what we are in the process of experiencing. To pretend to accept while experiencing emotions of rejection and resentment is hypocritical and totally unauthentic. Better to express the truth of anger than to pretend to be charitable. If we accept the emotions we experience, we give them the possibility to transform into other states of experience.
Acceptance begins always with ourselves. If we are not ready to accept, it is better to be honest and aware. Knowing where we are, we are always in a safe and true place.
Recommended time: 20 to 30 minutes.
Repeat this meditation for as many people as needed, as often as you like. This meditation can also be done as a letter-writing exercise.
Every thought we think has a consequence in our lives. Every thought creates a result. The fact that we do not always immediately perceive the result does not mean that the result is not in the process of being created. A result is not always created in a form existing outside ourselves. The result of a thought has its repercussions within us, before we can experience the external consequences. The more awareness we have of our thoughts and the atmosphere of our inner world, the more we can determine the relationship we create in our external world. The external world is a mirror of our internal state and our perceptions of reality are almost always influenced by the atmosphere of our inner world of thoughts and feelings.
We have only to regard the actual life we live, the life of home, work, and family, to receive clear feedback about the quality of our belief systems and, more importantly, our beliefs about ourselves. Our lives are a clear reflection of who we believe ourselves to be. Every single thing and person existing in our lives is there because we created them. We are all magicians and manifesters, essentially creative. Unfortunately, we have difficulty accepting responsibility for this fact, so the capacity is often only mildly developed and even more sporadically managed.
The work of manifesting essentially demands that we accept responsibility for the creation and management of our lives. It is a work requiring awareness, vigilance, and inner discipline, a work of mental training, a work of personal empowerment.
With the applied techniques of manifestation, we learn that the more we are aware of our thoughts, the more we can choose and create the quality of our lives. Awareness is the key to the transformation of belief systems. With awareness we have choice, and choice is implicit in the concept of freedom and ultimate liberty. We can choose our lives and we can create the life of our choice. With willpower and determination, a life can be forged and built according to our desires and we can be proud of the results of all our efforts.
The dimension of intuition allows us to clarify with precision the quality of life we desire, as well as the various concrete components of that life. Rather than forging ahead and exhausting ourselves in a struggle against the elements to create the life we want, we adopt an attitude of availability and awareness within ourselves and we allow the natural movement of life to create itself into the form and structure that corresponds to our deepest needs and desires. Within ourselves, we hold the vision of the life we would like and, staying in contact with our intuition and the relationship we have with the vertical, we allow the flow of life to organize us, and it, into the appropriate functioning pattern. Clear within ourselves about our preferences, we can say no to the conditions that do not correspond to our vision and yes to those criteria that do.
In order to succeed with the techniques of manifestation it is above all essential that you believe within yourself that you deserve to receive. Manifesting is, on one hand, a work of creating, but, more than that, it is a movement of receiving. If you believe that you deserve to receive, life will be able to give to you and you will be able to accept the gifts given.
The steps of manifesting must be followed precisely and progressively to achieve the desired result.
As you write this list, think about your life and about the quality of your life, being aware of how you feel generally and precisely about the life you have; work, family, friends, interests, etc.
Imagine you are one year in the future and, during this last year, your life has reorganized itself to become the life of your dreams. Describe the life of your dreams as though you are living it now in present time, writing down all the relevant details, all the important points. Ask yourself the following questions: Is it possible (to have, to do, to be, to experience)? Is it worth having? Will it give me what I really want? Am I ready to do what is necessary to have it? You must be able to answer YES to all these questions.
When you feel ready, open your eyes.
Take a large sheet of cardboard, scissors, glue, colored pencils, felt tip pens, plus several old magazines that have photographs and advertising inside. Search through these magazines until you find images that correspond to the life of your dreams. You may find photos of houses, landscapes, people. You may find words and sentences you like, written for advertising purposes. Cut out these words and pictures and arrange them artistically on the cardboard, pasting them to create a collage. Represent yourself within the collage and write your Eternal Key somewhere on the page. Using colors, images, and your creative inspiration, create a collage that symbolically represents your ideal life. While you are creating the treasure map, think about what you are doing and be in touch with your desire to transform your life, so that you can live a life that corresponds to your deep desires and wishes.
Do not become preoccupied with questions about how you should implement the changes. Simply stay in contact with your wish that your life transform itself to become the life of your dreams. Feel within yourself your willingness and availability to receive this gift.
When your treasure map is finished, place it somewhere where you see it regularly and, every time you see it, think about what it means to you. Take the time to appreciate the colors, the images, and the fact that it is you who created it.
Figure 15. Treasure map: technique for manifestation.
Figure 16. Treasure map: technique for manifestation.
