Music with a message...

has always been my favourite kind of music, even though of course at the end of the day music IS the message, I guess I'm a sucker for an extra punch-line (or maybe its just being a sort of a natural born hippie :)). Luckily there have been so many artists through history who have given us this gift of inspiration and wanting to make a difference. From the Beatles to the Rage Against the Machine, from Bob Marley to Faithless, from Bob Dylan to spiritual music as a genre the list is endless, in every genre there are prophets through sound, teachers via lyrics. 

So just sharing a couple of beautiful lyrical messages that have made me smile recently. 

The power of vulnerability

"When a man is living, he is soft and supple.When he is dead, he becomes hard and rigid.When a plant is living, it is soft and tender.When it is dead, it becomes withered and dry.
Hence, the hard and rigid belongs to the company of the dead:The soft and supple belongs to the company of the living.
Therefore, a mighty army tends to fall by its own weight,Just as dry wood is ready for the axe.
The mighty and the great will be laid low;The humble and the weak will be exalted."

Lao Tzu "Tao Teh Ching"

Here is an excellent talk by Brene Brown on TED Talks "The power of vulnerability"

I was profoundly moved by this talk cause I have recognized the importance of vulnerability often. Numbing oneself seems to be a survival tactic that I personally have always both been talented in but also tirelessly rebelled against. I remember writing...

      The clouds collapsed, leaving me in a block of ice. My heart was in Antarctica and it was no holiday I enjoyed, there was no sight of penguins or polar bears, no presence of anything whatsoever. No feelings, no sense of beauty, no love, no hate, just a nothingness. Ice obstructs the movement of the soul, you become lifeless, the blood freezes in your veins. For two days I was an ice queen, did not care about anything, anyone, hurt people, but I guess this had been exactly the escape I had needed- a safe place where nothing made a difference. Yesterday, sitting on the street and feeling the wind and the Sun, I realised something- I mourned my heart, I longed for my insecurities and fears as well as love. The self-protective shutdown that my subconscious mind had performed was in fact the greatest enemy of all and THAT had made me loose everything- life, love, myself... I understood that I have to risk it all and trust it all, or let everything go cause there was no way I was going to stomach that ice age for another second. And as the wind blew from the south it slowly cracked the iceberg, the Sun melted its hard crust. I will always savour that blissful moment when I first heard my heartbeat again, when small scared quivering rays of light from my core of being peeked out with such exquisite tenderness, so fragile, it was an unbelievable experience. The first breath after was like a drink of water after a draught, I felt it consume the whole of me, caressing the born-again sensitiveness with a protective might. My breath had longed for my heart as well, being forbidden from there was like having had its child taken away from it. For long after just the experience of following the path of my breath made me cry from joy- is there anything more beautiful than the meeting of the heart and the soul? The beauty of it shattered me so completely. It’s just sad the way we have to experience the loss of something before experiencing that which was always there. 

And then there was peace.

Peace with my fears, peace with everything I can loose in this world. Without sensitivity there is nothing that matters, that realisation was so beautiful it made my heart ache. I so missed the pain and the joy connected to the pain. 

How wide is the range of human experience! How special and strong is every single human being, especially cause of their fragility! 

I still fight against the habitual falling into the clogs of self-numbing, but I will never stop to aspire towards continuous vulnerability and openness.

 

The seven Essene mirrors

"We live in an action/reaction world known as the Plane of Demonstration where consciousness creates reality. We manifest and magnetize people and events into our lives according to our consciousness.

The Seven Essene Mirrors is a way of understanding how this process works. We can use what seem to be negative experiences as stepping-stones to healing and empowerment. “When life rolls boulders, build stairs.”

FIRST MIRROR reflects to us that which we are. It is something we ourselves are doing or where we ourselves have been in error or wounded.

SECOND MIRROR reflects to us that which we judge. It is something we have an emotional charge with, something we have either been wounded by in the past and have not forgiven. It is good to discern; however if we judge and condemn with an emotional charge, we will attract exactly what we judge into our lives.

THIRD MIRROR reflects back to us something we Lost, Gave Away, or had Taken Away. When we see something we love and desire in another, it is often something we have lost, given away or had stolen in our own lives. Every relationship is a relationship with self and often we try to reclaim what was lost, we gave away, or had taken away as a child. It could be joy, innocence, honesty and integrity, courage or love. All of which can be reclaimed within self.

FOURTH MIRROR reflects back to us our most forgotten love. This could be a way of life, a lost or unfinished relationship. Often it is a past life where a wrong conclusion from past experience was created. These will recreate themselves over and over until the right conclusion is registered in the soul as wisdom.

FIFTH MIRROR reflects back to us Father/Mother. It is often said we marry our father or mother. We also often become them acting out the same healthy and unhealthy patterns we learned as a child. Our fathers and mothers to us as children are Gods. It will often reflect the same relationship we have with others and the Father/Mother God principle.

SIXTH MIRROR reflects back to us the Quest for Darkness or what is often referred to as the Dark Night of the Soul. This is when we meet our greatest challenges, our greatest fears and have been gathering the tools and understandings in life to confront them. God never gives one any more than they can handle and we have a choice in every experience to greet it as a powerful manifesting God/Goddess or a victim.

SEVENTH MIRROR reflects back to us our self-perception. Others will perceive and treat us according to how we perceive and treat ourselves. If we have a low self-esteem and do not acknowledge our wisdom and beauty, others will not acknowledge them. If we are angry, bitter and unloving to others, they in turn will often react in the same way towards us. If we change our perception of ourselves, we change the world. Maybe it is time to be kind, loving and compassionate to ourselves and others. Remember the saying, “The only reason anyone has power over you is you want something from them.” Whether it be love, joy, or a personal God connection, maybe that something can be found within…" 

By James Gilliland 

source

While not a Christian I find this text too profound and insightful not to share... Wonderful teaching, such a great tool for us to find ways of understanding of why a particular relationships is in our lives, especially if its a difficult one. These are indeed what I feel the relationships of the most powerful kind, sacred contracts which help the souls to grow.

April lessons

As an April child myself I find my soul at home in this particular month. Always living on the border. Sometimes silent and at peace, sometimes aggressive and in passion, but always, always, no matter what- pushing forth with an almost violent force towards life. One foot in the nothingness of winter, the other in the fullness of summer. Not there, not there, here... Here- on the crossroads, in April... here- where death and birth intertwine, here where it gets stormy at times...

Energy and smiles waking up from a periodic slumber...

Trees breathing blossoms in the moody weather...

Is it cold? Is it warm? We wear summer jackets and catch a cold.

April just like hope are dangerous creatures

But the trees keep blossoming, they care not...

Here where the confusion is great, here in April- I feel at home, at home in the April storms. Yet the trees care not. The trees silently, without a quarrel, follow the steady, unencumbered rebirth, they slowly and surely reach out every branch to the warming sun and they flower, they crave life as I do but they never waver, no matter the weather.

So I am learning from the trees...