Awareness coming home to Itself

At a recent Loch Kelly retreat I had a meaningful "aha" experience.  It started during my Sunday morning meditation at home and intensified when I returned to the retreat.  During the meditation I realized that awareness REALLY WANTS TO BE AWARE OF ITSELF.  This concept is something that I had heard about from  Adyashanti, Loch Kelly and others but this "aha" was an embodied experience of it.  When I shifted my awareness to "being aware that I am the one who is aware" (i.e., being aware that I am awareness) I felt like I had come home.  This felt right, peaceful, satisfying...  As the experience intensified I did not even have to focus on anything in particular...I simply was the awareness.

Since the retreat it has required more effort to move my awareness to Itself but each time that I do the feeling of "being home" returns.  I continue to practice shifting my awareness and learning to stay there for as long as possible.

I hope that my experience encourages you to keep doing your spiritual practices in order for Truth to show up in, as and through you!!!

Illusions of Limitations

I love this from Peggy Black (web address below).

Message 25 Illusions of Limitations There is magic, there is alchemical power available to each starhuman who learns to ride the wave of energy that is creating all the NOW's. It is a skill, it is a game. Practice today as you go about your mundane tasks to anchor divine energy into the moment. Practice returning to your full awareness. Practice stepping out of your habitual thoughts that run your unconscious activities. Practice being fully present in the present moment. The place to start is the heart center. When you place your awareness in your heart you will naturally dwell in the NOW. It is the mind that likes to play in the realms of past and future. It is the mind that dwells in the game of "what if" and "if only"... the game of regrets and sorrows. It is the mind that entertains fear and hatred. It is the programs of the mind that keep each multidimensional starhuman locked in the illusion of limitations. This is the highest and grandest service you can offer others: your full divine presence, your full divine presence in the NOW. Bring your full consciousness to each moment and you will be embraced by your joy and gratitude. This joy and gratitude will bubble up from your sacred heart and radiate out to all. Then every activity, every encounter will be uplifted into the realms of light and love. You will begin to live in the sacred alchemical portal of the NOW. ©2006 Peggy Black All Right Reserved. You may share this message and distribute as long as nothing is changed, you credit the author and include this copyright notice and web address:www.morningmessages.com subscribe to the FREE 88 messages.

We are made in the image and likeness of God - Part II

As I sit with this phrases that I have heard so often:  I am made in the image and likeness of God (or God and I are One...) I feel a sense of awe and reverence for my own being and for all of the beings on this planet.  This imperfect human being that I am, has an essence that is so pure and so beautiful that I cannot even fathom it.

At times this feels like the farthest thing from the truth.  And I think that is why there are so many problems in the world.  We do not know who we really are.  We are so closed off from the truth of our own magnificence that we block the natural flow of give and take with life.  Because we feel so inadequate and separate and fearful we are cut off from our source of good...our hearts shut down therefore we block the giving and receiving of love, we close ourselves off from the flow of energy in the form of money, our bodies tighten up and become dis-eased from fear, negativity, guilt and stress...

All of this because we forget the truth of our magnificence.  We think we are the human identity that we have created.  When in reality we are made in the image and likeness of God.  Wow. That is big. That is important.  That is something to focus on every day.

I am a magnificent being.  I am made in the image and likeness of God.

You are a magnificent being.  You are made in the image and likeness of God.

Sweet blessings as you remember who you are and as you let your magnificence shine.

We are made in the image and likeness of God - Part I

Loch Kelly's glimpse practices help us to unhook from thoughts...then to move our awareness outside of ourselves to spacious awareness...and then to bring this awareness back into ourselves thru the heart in order to embody open-hearted awareness.  (You can find YouTube video's of several of his practices or check out his book Shift into Freedom.)

Loch reminds us that living as open-hearted awareness is our natural state.

And we have heard this before: We are made in the image and likeness of God.  As we shift our awareness from ego-identification to embodied open-hearted awareness we experience our oneness with God.

Loch's glimpse practices are practical tools that give us an opportunity to glimpse awakening and to practice living from this state of being one with everything.

Shift into Freedom Group:

Practical tools to facilitate growth from ego to witnessing self to Being.

Based on the tools and teachings in Shift into Freedom by Loch Kelly

 “Loch Kelly is one of the clearest expressions of authentic awakened freedom and love that I know.  Shift into Freedom is wise and loving medicine for anyone ready to take responsibility for their own liberation here and now.” Adyashanti

  “Shift into Freedom is designed to help you shift out of the separate, small sense of self that makes you feel alienated, alone, anxious, and fearful and into the support of awake awareness that is already calm, alert, loving, and wise.  Once you shift into freedom, your true nature spontaneously emerges as a vast, interconnected ground of being. “(Shift into Freedom, p. 6)

This is an experiential group focusing on brief awareness exercises (aka “Glimpses”) that allow one to unhook from the small, separate self…into awake awareness (i.e., seeing from Being) and to live from open-hearted awareness (i.e., unconditional love and a sense of interconnectedness with all beings).  These exercises are mini-glimpses into awakening and the goal is to practice them daily.

We will be working with egoic subpersonalities (e.g., fear, avoidance, reactivity…) that hijack our identity on the road to awakening.  By lovingly accepting the subpersonalities, their agendas dissolve and they no longer cause disharmony in our lives. 

The material that we will be working with will provide you with tools to learn to shift your awareness to different levels of consciousness, to shift from thought-based knowledge to knowing from Source, and to live from Oneness and Love.

Loch says that everyone has the capacity to awaken and that to awaken is the greatest gift that we can give the world.  Please join me as we explore awareness and give ourselves an opportunity to shift our identity back to the Truth of our Being. 

This is an 8 week group that will meet on Wednesday evenings in Laguna Hills.  The cost is $30 per week.

Please contact Donna McCullough for more information or to register for the group.  (949)246-7724 or donnamccullough@cox.net

acting from the ground of Being

"When we discover presence, we can be embodied while witnessing from within.  At a certain point, we will see that Being is welcoming all our feelings, knowing they're not a real threat.  Being is like a wise grandmother who can stay with a screaming two-year-old child, allowing him to move through his tantrum without overreacting."  (Shift into Freedom, pp. 25-246)

When we unhook from the chatter of the mind and live in presence we respond to life with more clarity and ease.  The neurotic roommate quiets down and we are more receptive to the guidance of our Higher Self/Spirit/Source.

There are different ways to experience presence.  I have found meditation to be very helpful.  Loch Kelly describes techniques that involve unhooking from thought and moving our awareness outside of ourselves to experience spacious awareness as a way to experience presence. He describes this and other techniques in his book.

I am offering a group based on Loch's book and we will be practicing these techniques.  I will post information about the group in a separate post.

"The more we act from the ground of Being instead of ego-identification, the easier it gets. Eventually, acting from Being becomes the new habit and happens by itself." (Shift into Freedom, p. 249)

the way it is supposed to be

2 quotes based on the heart:

"The Law of Love is a continuous acknowledgement, moment by moment, we live in a state of spirituality and it is good. Our expectation of Life becomes good instead of dread and fear, wondering what is coming next. We do not wonder what is next, we expect goodness. We live in a state of loving kindness and goodness. That is the way it is supposed to be." 
Michelle Longo O'Donnell

"When living from open-hearted awareness is our new normal, our motivation, intention, willingness, and dedication spring forth from a new place.  The ground of Being is not limited to our individual identity: it sees itself in others.  As a result, a sense of communion and communication arises on many levels between people and within groups.  When we see others as ourselves, we are free to live from a new ethic based on the common good, instead of being driven by fear of deficiency or a list of 'shoulds.' " Shift into Freedom, pp. 249-250