Influences

A friend of mine recently picked me up for lunch, and as we left my office, we found ourselves at a stoplight that caused us to stop under an overpass. Knowing the inexplicable discomfort I had developed a few years ago about being stopped under an overpass, he crept up as far as he could, as to acknowledge his recollection of my phobia. My hands were already clasping my neck, and I nervously laughed and said, “This has to be from another lifetime!”

I believe I know the source, the fragmented details of which came to me as I was drifting into a meditative state while in New Mexico three years ago. I looked up and saw something coming down on “me-” a bolder? It was dirt colored, and in essence “I” was buried alive. Perhaps this is an influence; a soul memory that is manifesting itself as an irrational fear in this lifetime.

You have an irrational fear. Or something happens; someone makes you feel angry, abandoned, unimportant, or threatened-- you can fill in the blank with any number of emotional responses. You may even think you see the situation clearly for what it is and have every reason to feel the way you feel. Right? The answer is not as simple and straightforward as the quick path an emotional response can take, no doubt complete with full rationalization and justification.

            Not only are our perceptions impacted by a wide variety of factors in the present moment, if we are believers in reincarnation, there are influences across space and time that make their way into our reality. This can happen in any sundry of ways, and we may not be aware of what is influencing us. What is important is to hold in your conscious awareness the understanding that those influences exist, and to adjust your perspective or temper responses when it seems they don’t necessarily make sense.

            As we drove beneath the overpass on the way back to my office after lunch, my friend mentioned his irrational dislike of turquoise, and asked me if I thought it could be an influence from another lifetime. Knowing what I believe to be a portion of our past that was a Tewa lifetime in what is now northern New Mexico, I smiled to myself. “Yes,” I responded. “I believe it is.”

Blessings,

Sheryl


PS.
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Tomorrow is promised to no one.

      “Remember, tomorrow is promised to no one.”

                             -Walter Payton

My life, of course, creates the fodder for what I write. I have begun to realize that experience, be it good or bad, holds within it the opportunity to seek grace and uncover wisdom.

Such was the source of the Timeless Waters blog for March of this year, and alerted by the message that my post contained, an old friend contacted me. Speaking to me in a language I could understand, he referenced an experience I wrote about in my book, Timeless Waters, and opened a dialog about where I was in my life. Of all that conversation contained, there was one thing he said that has stuck with me the most; “What do you want the next half of your life to be about?” He is indeed a wise man.

I took a few weeks and let that simmer. My young to middle adulthood had been about working hard; building my career, a family, a home and a life. Wrapped up in those things are my values of service to humanity, productivity, success, accomplishment, stability, and so forth. All those endeavors were worthwhile and are the foundation of where I am today. I have no regrets, but a new season of life is upon me, and with that comes the question: what do I want that to look like?

Joy was the word that came to mind; and a life fully lived. Living life fully would mean living a little differently; creating new patterns in my existence to balance out the paths of experience so well traveled the first forty five years. Joy, spontaneity, time for recreation, and tending to my list of dreams—this was what I wanted and was where I would start.

After a solo-trip to Utah to explore Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park-- an experience that fit my newly established criteria-- I told my sons I wanted them to hike the Narrows with me for my 50^th birthday.  What could be more exhilarating than a ten mile hike through the Virgin River in the heart of Zion, with 1500 feet canyon walls towering on both sides? My youngest, now 12, asked “why are we going to wait until your 50?”  He had a very good point. Two months after that conversation, I found myself hiking the Narrows with my boys, as well as Bryce and the Grand Canyon. It was a literally a dream come true. I am still not sure how I made that a reality. Come to think of it, I’m not sure exactly how this entire summer has become a reality. It is as if I am living my life from a different paradigm, and I hope it is where I have taken residence rather than a short visit.

Perhaps the quote at the top of the page should be Walt Disney’s “if you can dream it you can do it,” rather than “tomorrow is promised to no one.” Or maybe, just maybe, the two together are the formula for a joyful life indeed.

Blessings,

Sheryl

Timeless Discoveries

On occasion, we post quotes on the Timeless Waters’ Facebook page. Sometimes they are of the inspirational sort, with a lovely picture in the background. As can be expected, people often comment or discuss the origin of an idea. Recently, a comment was made that a quote shouldn't have been attributed to the writer because it was actually an ancient idea, spoken by many before him, with its roots in Buddhism.

This comment, of course, was correct. Eckhart Tolle was not the originator of the idea; he is just one of many voices over the course of time carrying the message to the masses. Yet, this notion that certain spiritual revelations can be attributed to a specific origin is an interesting one, and one that reminded me of a recent experience.

I was packing up for a trip to the beach, an annual event I now share with my two sons. My perspective was one of heaviness from the previous few months; months in which I felt the culmination of years of working hard and pushing forward to meet all the demands and responsibilities in front of me. But now I felt the stirring of possibilities, or perhaps the recreating of a life that was no longer serving me.

As I walked onto the plane, for some reason the title of a book I had seen countless times as a child, tucked away on my mother’s bookshelf, came to mind: Gift From the Sea. I pondered the words and then wondered to myself, what gifts would the sea reveal to me? Filled with the expectation of these gifts, I was not let down. My gift was a subtle shift in consciousness; a shift that, with intention, could create a new trajectory for my life.

Upon returning from our stay at the beach, I decided I should, perhaps, read that little book with the title that had served as my meditative inspiration. The first smile crossed my lips while reading Ann Morrow Lindbergh’s introduction:

“Besides, not all women are searching for a new pattern of living, or want a contemplative corner of their own…(Yet) in varying settings and under different forms, I discovered that many women, and men, too, were grappling with essentially the same questions as I…Even those whose lives had appeared to be ticking imperturbably under their smiling clock faces were often trying, like me, to evolve another rhythm with more creative pauses in it, more adjustment to their individual needs and new and more alive relationships to themselves as well as others.”

What I read on the pages, while couched by Lindbergh in the culture and expectations of 1955, described the same conundrum I too had come to face. And just as Lindbergh collected shells and wrote what they represented to her as she sought the path to a more inward life, I too collected shells after my days of meditation and journaling by the sea. Only shell fragments did I gather, and they sit next to me as I write this in a small, square, glass vase, serving as a reminder that only I can pick up the pieces of my life when I begin to crumble.

 When an individual experiences new and life altering awareness, it doesn't matter what books have been written about it; it is new, and no less profound than it was to an individual living 2000 years ago. It is the cracking of a shell that holds within it understanding that can only be obtained through conscious living and introspection. The more people that share their new found wisdom with us, the more we are shown what we share, what the universe has on offer to us, and what we can become. They are timeless discoveries.

Many Blessings,

Sheryl

Tending Garden

The past few years have included a good deal of change for me.  While ultimately, I know much of it has been good, I have felt overwhelmed with the lyrics "I'm in over my head, over my head" playing over and over again in my mind.  I started evaluating work load and asked what could be hired out?  What could I afford to get help with?  The answer was not near enough!

So, as I do every spring, I begin the process of cleaning out the garden.  I raked out the winter accumulation of leaves.  I pulled weeds and raked out the brown and dry perennials from the previous season.  Beneath the mess, new plant growth was already pushing through the earth.  The fresh smelling soil was  dark and moist and I realized something I have known in years past but have forgotten; the garden is just like me.  Working in the garden is a moving meditation.

As I clear out the old growth and pull weeds, I metaphorically clear the clutter of my mind; I sort out what needs to be saved and what is no longer alive.  As I tend to the new plants emerging through the soil, I energetically recognize that in myself which is the process of becoming.  And this year as I planted bright petunias for the sheer joy they will provide me this summer, and added a few perennials, I gave myself a gift.  In tending the garden, I find the peace and silence to tend to Self. 

I don't think that I will be hiring out the garden any time soon.

Blessings, 
Sheryl

The Dark Night of the Soul

Most of us have heard the phrase; it has been written about and referred to for hundreds of years. Depending on the belief system of who is describing it, the meaning and stages of the experience have been described in great detail. Regardless of the context through which it has been explained, it appears there are commonalities in this experience of moving through darkness to light; it’s hard, we question our lives and how we live it, and when come to the light, we are stronger, wiser and all the better for having gone through it.

While there are these basic commonalities, I am of the opinion that that how the crisis manifests for me might be different than it is for you, simply because we are all unique.

So what are some tangible ways this “dark night of the soul” experience might manifest itself?  Believe it or not, it may not be as obvious as the daunting title makes it sound like it would be. We can start with descriptive words like burnout, depression, malaise, or malcontent. It is something you may feel coming, but if you’re like me, you may not clue in until the wheels are falling off the wagon…

I thought I was doing everything “right.” I meditate daily, have a rich spiritual life, exercise, eat right, take my supplements, get 7-8 hours of sleep each night, have a career filled with meaningful purpose, and an amazing network of friends and family that make up my support system. Yet I, quite suddenly, found myself dog-paddling in the depths of depression. So what went wrong?

I have had to accept that sometimes, even when we do everything “right,” it seems like life gets the best of us. When it is happening- when you can’t get out of bed, or find yourself lashing out at those around you, or sit at your desk and can’t get anything done- whatever it may look like for you- it can feel like the walls are crashing in.

When one goes through a “crash,” it is important to remember that body and spirit cannot be separated; they are intrinsically intertwined as we walk on this earth plane and both aspects need to be considered. While we may need to make a visit to the doctor or put our friends on alert, finding the broader vision to observe what is being manifested in our lives opens up an opportunity- to question, to grow, to change, to further expand our consciousness and to live richer lives.

Darkness to light: the dark night of the soul. As hard as those times are, they can be a gift. 

Blessings,

Sheryl

Manifesting Our Lives

                 “A core belief is invisible only when you accept it as a fact of life.”
    “Seth,” Nature of Personal Reality

The notion that that we create our own realities and the laws of attraction are ideas that many of us embrace, at least conceptually. Our thoughts create our realities. It seems pretty simple, doesn’t it? But time and time again, we find there are certain elements in each of our own lives that stay the same, or replay themselves over and over again like a worn out recording.

Could it be that there is a little more to it than the simple notion that our thoughts create our realities? 

The answer, I would say, is yes.

Last month we began to discuss that, until we better understand the “lenses” through which we view our reality, we won’t be able to fully understand the realities we are personally creating. In order to do that, step one is to acknowledge that perhaps we are wearing “glasses” that color our perceptions. If at this moment you are thinking that your perception is true reality and that you don’t wear glasses, think again; we all have them.

So where do these “lenses” that impact not only our perceptions, but also the realities we are creating,  originate?

Conscious thoughts: This topic is well covered so no need to expound. Rather, let’s give thanks for the many teachers that carry this message into the world!

Beliefs: There are some beliefs you know you hold, and others you don’t know you hold. In a sense, they are invisible. As stated in the quote at the top of the page, there are some beliefs we don’t realize are just ideas about reality because we think they are reality.

The mystical: By definition, this means “beyond human understanding.” If you believe in other lifetimes that impact one another, it goes without saying that the very lives we are living in the present are touched by lifetimes we are completely unaware of.

It is by becoming aware of these three levels of manifesting our lives that we can begin to not only change factors which may not be to our liking, but also begin to gain  broader understanding of  the totality of Self. “Believe” it or not it is possible, if we are willing to do the work.

Blessings,
Sheryl

Look for Sheryl's workbook "You Hold the Key to You: Understanding Self and Your Incarnational Past" in 2013.