An Affirmation To Unblock Your Spiritual Vision

Gabrielle Bernstein has an awesome affirmation that goes something like this: Let me see this (person or thing) for the first time. Technically it's from A Course in Miracles, because that's where Gabby got her start, but I stumbled across it while reading her new book: The Universe Has Your Back: Transform Fear to Faith. 

The message behind this affirmation is that when we see something or someone, we don't see them as they are, instead looking at them through the filter of our past, opening the door to prejudice, misunderstandings and even blindness.

Why Would One See The Past? 

So for example, if we went for lunch and were introduced to an athlete, instead of viewing that new acquaintance as someone in their own right, we may project the feelings that we had about the jocks at school onto to them, despite the fact that it has been 20 years. If I had a bad experience, I may not respond so nicely. If I was part of the team, that perceived connection may lead me to be warmer, etc. 

In either case, we respond to a new person based on the past, and not on what is happening in that moment. It's one of many filters that color the way we view the world and how we interact with others. It is a big stumbling block to overcome! 

It Also Blocks Our Learning...

As I am sure you have noticed - I love reading books, attending classes and learning new things. One of the biggest blocks to learning something new is actually thinking that you already know the answer - or an answer. That is why, when I attended my first Reiki class in 2013, I made a conscious decision to check everything I thought I knew about energy healing at the door. This made it possible for me to open up...

I try to do this in every class that I attend, telling myself that there are many ways of working,  practicing healing or accessing our intuition. But sometimes our blindness gets the best of us and we see things the old way. All this year I have been struggling to wrap my head around a concept that we learned in my Practical Kabbalah Class, and today it finally dawned on me that I was viewing the material through the lens of the books that I have read, and missing the mark completely. 

Ask To See The Big Picture

This Practical Kabbalah class is unrelated to the Kabbalah Centre of red string fame, where I also studied. Developed by Dr Joseph Michael Levry, we use numerology, the Tree of Life and astrology to map out the planets that are most influential in our soul's path. Our main planets are represented on a symbol with five points for Spirit, Air, Earth, Fire and Water. In the books I had read before, whenever someone drew this symbol it was  to infuse an object or a space with one of these four elements (or to remove it). Here, we draw the symbol to activate our personal planets. 

It may seem silly, but I couldn't understand why we were told to draw this symbol in one direction and not another. This question has been on my mind since November, and our teacher, Dalia, explained it to me twice in class. Very patiently too... Anyhow  it wasn't until this morning when I remembered Gabby's affirmation and asked to "see this for the first time" that I realised I wasn't working on clearing or activating an object, I was healing myself. The panorama changes and they way you draw the symbol does too. So yes, this was my super stubborn way of learning to see for first time; I'm glad it is done and I can get back to activating my planets!

Interested In Affirmations?

Affirmations are wonderful if we know to pay attention to the feeling that arises when we say them. Is the feeling aligned with the phrase you send out to the Universe??? I like to combine affirmations with colouring, mandalas, music and even Reiki, as laid out in my Chakra Healing & Magick book. It is funny because I feel I channeled my Higher Self into the book and I’m now using it to heal myself. Hope it helps you too! See link in bio or check out the bookstore, HERE. 

***

Regina Chouza is an energy healer, angel medium and the author of A Personal Guide to Self-Healing, Cancer & Love and Chakra Healing & Magick. Blogging at Diary of a Psychic Healer since 2010, her passion is bringing the qualities of love, joy and empowerment to healing pursuits. Read her books to unlock your intuition. 

Instagram ~ Facebook ~ Youtube

> Español: @AngelMedium33

 

I am determined to see clearly (ACIM 4)

I am running late with my final update on A Course in Miracles, and I don't want to skip it because a lot of exciting things happened last week. But first, let's talk about crystal balls! One of the first classes I signed up for at The College of Psychic Studies was a fun psychic exploration class with Michelle Hawcroft. This was in May of 2010, a few months before I started this blog. I was brand new to this magical world of spirit guides, angels, intuition and clairvoyance and every week was an adventure. I honestly loved all of the classes I took at the College, but Michelle's were probably the most fun.

Michelle had us try a different tool every week, to test our Intuition. The ones that stand out were clairvoyant meditations where we went on a meditative journeys to meet our spirit guides. Mine had long cloaks and initially I mistook them for monks, but eventually I also saw pointy hats and Dumbledore beards. Then one week, we practiced scrying with bowls of water - that was fun! Scrying is when you relax your mind and look into an object like a mirror, a crystal ball or even a bowl of water, and let your Intuition come in with images. Michelle made it easier for us by lighting candles and pouring melted wax into the water. The wax cools down quickly when it touches cold water, making odd shapes in the process. We looked for images in the wax, to try and intuit messages for each other.

 

When it was my turn to receive a reading, we saw three shapes in the wax: a star, a ballerina and a wizard! My classmates tuned into their intuition to get the meanings. The star represented my spirit guides and my connection with the Universe, the wizard was one of those guides, and the ballerina, well, you'll never guess! One of my classmates asked if I worked in theatre or performance art, was I a dancer? Nope, I was in marketing. She then asked if I was looking for a job (I was) and suggested I keep my mind open if someone approached me about a vacancy in music or dancing. She saw me "behind the scenes" doing something creative. At the time I worked in consumer marketing with a huge company and the thought of going to a theater never would have crossed my mind. I dismissed it. Two days later,  I almost fell off my chair when a headhunter called to tell me about a marketing job with a music academy. My classmate was onto something! That little bowl of wax and water let us peer into the future, but in the end I made my own decision, accepting a new job at the company where I already worked. 

Since then I've been curious about scrying and for some reason, I really wanted a crystal ball even though I wasn’t sure how else to “use” one. The past five years I've gone into every metaphysical shop looking for quartz spheres but it never felt like it was the right time to buy one. That and the fact that the ones I saw didn't speak to me. Fast forward five and a half years to last Tuesday. I was sitting in class listening to our teacher talk about A Course in Miracles and how we're learning to see things clearly, without any of the assumptions that we tend to project onto the world. I had a weird trippy moment where I started thinking about the Egyptian Goddess Isis, her son Horus and how the mythology tells us that he lost an eye avenging his father's death, and only after that loss, was he able to see clearly. An eye for an eye is a sad way to live our lives. That's how Horus lived his, until he lost his human sight and gained the spiritual gift of seeing with his heart instead (his real eye).

I left my ACIM class on Tuesday thinking that I wanted to see clearly for once. How could I boost my clairvoyance? 🔮🔮🔮

On Thursday I had booked myself onto a quartz crystal workshop, one where we would get to connect with crystals, receive messages and use them for healing. I love crystals and I have read up on them, but I wanted more class time. The acquaintance that taught it suggested that I bring a quartz point with me to class and I didn't have one, so I went looking. Don't ask me why, I put a certain amount of cash in my wallet and went shopping. The only metaphysical shop near my house is tiny, and they didn't have any quartz points - but they did have crystal balls! I saw a quartz sphere and it just spoke to me. The price was exactly what I had in my pocket. I went home with the crystal that same day and used Thursday's class to activate it. So Tuesday I had this Horus moment where I wanted to see clearly, Wednesday I found my quartz crystal ball, and on Thursday we got to activate crystals. Synchronicities! 

I'm looking forward to meditating with this quartz sphere. For now, I just hold it in my hands and feel its energy. I wasn't expecting to see any images but I have. It almost feels like I'm holding a snow globe and when I shake it (energetically), the dust settles and I see a different picture in my mind's eye. 

Reiki hugs, 

Regina 

***

Regina Chouza is an energy healer, angel medium and the author of A Personal Guide to Self-Healing, Cancer & Love and Chakra Healing & Magick. Blogging at Diary of a Psychic Healer since 2010, her passion is bringing the qualities of love, joy and empowerment to healing pursuits. Read her books to unlock your intuition. 

Instagram ~ Facebook ~ Youtube

> Español: @AngelMedium33

We have no neutral thoughts (ACIM 3)

This is the latest in a series on A Course in Miracles, the self-study program that teaches us to view the world in a more forgiving light. The object of course, is create Inner Peace by doing away with those pesky thoughts, fears and imaginings that stir us up. You can follow the entire class at the ACIM website here. 

Today I will post my general impressions on the last week, rather than go through of the lessons one by one. There was one lesson that grabbed my attention: 

We have no neutral thoughts

This phrase takes me back to the concept of optimism and how tempting it is to force negative thoughts out of your mind and keep only positive ones. Can we do away with one false reality without getting rid of the other? This week, A Course in Miracles tells us that all of our thoughts lead to either fear or love - there are no neutral thoughts. If fear and love are two sides of the same coin, ACIM might have us throw it out. What do you see when the filters for optimism and pessimism are gone? Hopefully peace.

My favorite lessons this week was "We have no neutral thoughts" with "I am determined to see things differently" coming in a close second. I'm hoping ACIM will have us choose the loving thought. At this point I'm not sure where it leads. If you're not familiar with A Course in Miracles (ACIM), the class consists of 365 lessons that you study for a year until you miraculously change your outlook. Gabby Bernstein has written loads on ACIM and she highlights the benefits of choosing love and forgiveness so I hope that is where we are headed. We can choose to see peace instead of what we think we see.

 

Please join me below 💜

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Thank you, Regina 

Week 2: A Course in Miracles

Welcome to the second in a series of posts on A Course in Miracles! If you missed last week's entry, ACIM is a self-study program that  teaches your mind to view the world in a more forgiving and peaceful light. It consists of 365 lessons that we meditate on every day for a year. Two years ago I tried going through it on my own but I got lost. 

Now I've joined a study group with a great teacher, so fingers crossed I'll be able to see it through  - all 365 days of ACIM! 

With that note behind me, I should confess that I didn't follow any of the lectures during the week and instead of studying them one day at a time, I am going through them now. I know, it's  awful, ACIM works best in bite sized chunks. But anyhow, let's get started with Week 2. 

The quotes are on the A Course in Miracles website but the interpretations are my own. If you missed my first post READ IT HERE. Here are highlights from the week. 

Day 8: My mind is preoccupied with past thoughts. 

Last week we ended with the concept that wherever we look, we see the past whether it's pink nail polish taking you back to your first school dance, tardiness taking you back to a mom who was always running late, and even happy memories like icing on the cake reminding us of birthdays. Our experiences start to condition our thoughts and our expectations, so that in time we look at a person's appearance and make assumptions about them. Our thoughts lend a voice to those assumptions and for this reason, our mind is preoccupied with thoughts about the past. We can remove this filter by taking a step back and realizing that our thoughts about X, Y or Z are really about the past.

Day 9: I see nothing as it is now. 

One of the things I love about energy healing, is how each session is unique. I tend to tune into my client's energy field clairvoyantly to get a sense of what needs to be healed or cleared. The impressions come as pictures, feelings or even cartoons, illustrating the world that they live in. Every healing is a surprise, it's own movie starring John or Sally. Pretty soon it also becomes apparent that we all have different filters, based on our experiences. Some people see love through rose colored glasses, other have a cynical filter. We can each be presented with the same opportunity and nevertheless have completely different reactions to it: hope, excitement, cynicism or apathy. We don't see the world objectively; instead we see what our experiences led us to expect.

 

Day 10: My thoughts do not mean anything. 

I could interpret this one one of two ways - my study group is tomorrow so we'll see what the teacher has to say about it. The more obvious meaning (pardon the pun) is that our thoughts don't have the significance we think they have, because we're viewing the present through the lens of our own assumptions.

Let's give an example: 

Your friend Mary cancels dinner plans yet again and you think "oh, she always has something better to do" But maybe this time, her babysitter  did cancel last minute. Or she's been so stressed at work that her social life has been put on the back burner, it's not personal. 

We don't know the reason for things, so our thoughts about those things are at best irrelevant and at worst, damaging. This brings me to the second way of interpreting today's phrase: are our thoughts significant? On any given day, the average human has 50-70 thoughts. How many of them are significant? How many of them are true? How many of them are products of the subconscious?

Day 13: rephrased but, a random or uncertain world creates fear.

 

A few years ago I applied for a job as a Global Brand Manager. The interviewer told me that in order to do well, the candidate had to feel comfortable with high levels of uncertainty. In their environment plans changed all the time, projects were abandoned at the last minute, goals would change. You'd never know if the thing you were working on today would be useful or meaningful tomorrow. The only solution was to accept that uncertainty and live with it. Today's phrase reminds me of that interview (I didn't get the job). If living in a chaotic world is stressful, your best bet is to learn to live with it and find a way to trust. Otherwise we end up anxious, always waiting for the other shoe to drop. A Course in Miracles tells us to trust that there is a reason, one we don't see. 

So that's a wrap! 

Come back next week for the third installment on A Course in Miracles. You can read the whole course for free on the ACIM Website Here. It's worth doing for a whole year so that you get the full benefit. I’m going to blog about it just this month.

Study groups help a lot, though there are also plenty of online videos and interviews explaining ACIM. 

Reiki hugs, 

Regina

  

Week 1: A Course in Miracles

It's hard to tell you about A Course in Miracles when I'm barely on Day 7 of 365, but I feel like I have to write about it to understand it. So first of all, what is this miracle class? It's a brick of a book, a self-study program where you read a single passage everyday and gradually retrain your mind to view the world in a more forgiving light. ACIM (for short) has been covered brilliantly by Gabby Bernstein and also by my former classmate at psychic school, Kenneth Bok. Ken is how I discovered the course.

A Course in Miracles lasts one year, and I'll post a summary just this month, with my take on the concepts. Please read the original text here. Each entry has a headline, a long explanation and homework to go with it. I'll paraphrase the headlines to reflect my understanding of the lesson; share your thoughts below! 

Introducing A Course in Miracles!

A unique, universal, self-study spiritual thought system that teaches that the way to Love and Inner Peace is through Forgiveness *

Day 1: None of the things I see in this room mean anything.  

As I'm typing, I take a moment to look around me. My tea has gone cold on the table. I see a pile of books that I haven't read, homework for my new planetary magic class. My Netflix account is switched onto a daytime drama (background noise for blogging). And all the while, the time stamp on my last blog post tells me it has been a month since I last published anything. What a disaster! 

A Course in Miracles tells us that none of this means anything. The pile of books does not mean anything. My tea has gone cold, meaningless. Netflix playing in the background is meaningless (and not a distraction or procrastination). On Day 1 we tell ourselves that X,Y or Z doesn't mean anything. The same is true for office politics, mommy wars, or that look your in-laws gave you, etc.

Day 2: I've given these things the meaning that they have for me.

If you've watched The DaVinci Code, the film starts with a scene where Tom Hank's character is lecturing on symbols, and how the same symbol can have a completely different meaning from one culture to the next. The same is true for hand gestures and sometimes even for words. For example, in my native Mexico cajeta is a delicious food item, in Argentina it's an expletive (of sorts). The two countries have given the word completely different meanings. We can take this concept down a notch to think about emotional responses in our personal lives. I might look at the pile of unread books on my desk and think "I'm falling behind!" or look at that cup of tea that's gone cold and say "what a waste." 

Instead, ACIM tells us to look at that everything in our lives (from pencils, to vacations, to Granny's earrings, to relationships) and think: I have given this the meaning it has for me. Your husband showing up (or not) to a family recital can mean everything to you, and not quite so much to the mom next door. Our experiences influence these meanings, but I'm getting ahead of myself ...

Day 3: I don't understand any of the things that I see in this room. 

This concept reminds me of a Buddhist parable where we're taught to eliminate the words good and bad from our vocabulary. It goes something like this: boy breaks his leg (bad), the boy isn't in school to catch swine flu (good), but his friends get sick and are held back, so he's friendless the following year (bad). All of this means he graduates from college on time during and economic boom and get's a good job (good!) at Lehman Brothers in 2006 (oops) and two years later he's unemployed (bad). We can't really say if isolated events are good or bad, there is so much going on in the background. Instead, keep calm and carry on.

  

We can also use this concept to give others the benefit of the doubt. Once upon a time, my spiritual psychology teacher yelled at one of my classmates for asking too many questions in class, telling her to be quiet. I remember being disgusted when I left, but no one else seemed to bat an eye. Why did it mean something to me when the rest of the class appeared to "take it?" Maybe he was just having a horrible day, and I didn't understand what I was witnessing, etc.

Day 4: My thoughts don't mean anything either. 

Let's go back to that pile of astrology books that I haven't read, from my planetary magic class. My thoughts about that (I'm  a bad student for slacking off, etc) are meaningless. Let's observe and dismiss them as meaningless, especially if the thinking gets you riled up. If this step is especially hard, try reading one of Echkhart Tolle's books, A New Earth is my favorite so far =)

Day 5: I'm never upset for the reason I think.

Next time you're ticked off, take a moment to ponder on this: you're not upset for the reason you think. This is where we become aware of our triggers. Why do we respond when someone pushes our buttons, is it because they were "out to get us" or because we have a button that other people don't have? It's likely that a certain events triggers an emotion, one that can be linked to the past...

 

Day 6:  I'm upset because I see something that is not there.

In Spanish we have a phrase called mal viajar which translates as a bad (mental) trip. This is when someone says or does something and we start to read between the lines. Then we react to what we think we saw, or what we think is going on behind the scenes. The term is usually used in reference to jealous girlfriends, but the concept is the same. We are upset because we see something that is not there, and we take it "the wrong way"

Day 7: Wherever I look, I see the past. 

This concept helps us make sense of everything that comes before it. Wherever we look, we see the past, and that is where our personal meanings come from. If I overreact to an event, that trigger reminds me of something that happened in the past and I can move past it by forgiving and releasing the past. The person or event in front of me is just a symbol for the root that needs healing. We can also use this train of thought (Day 1-7) to become self-aware, especially where attachments are concerned. Buddhism teaches that attachment, aversion and ignorance are the root of human suffering. We can still enjoy our personal relationships, our comforts and our lifestyle, without being so attached to it. Anyhooo, I hope this makes sense and come back next week for Part 2! The study group for A Course in Miracles lasts all year; I’ll post updates for four weeks.

Thank you for reading!

Regina 

Image Source: http://www.acim.org/