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| "Heart Light 1" B Upton |
I have to confess that when I began writing about the Seven Steps to Inner Peace last August, I wasn't sure what they all were! Something told me to just trust my intuition, write when inspired (hence, the time it has taken!) and to let the words spring from my heart. I have enjoyed doing it and hope the steps and images spark your own inner knowing!
Here is a review of the first six steps (click on the step for more) with a new anchoring affirmation for each!
Step 1. Connect to the Earth
Bring more awareness to your body and allow the strong, nurturing and healing energies of our beautiful earth to fill you.
Affirmation "I am one with the earth. I am grounded. I am safe. I belong."
Step 2. Connect with Your Breath
As you allow your breath to naturally slow down and deepen, your body and mind will also relax.
Affirmation "I breathe in vitality and exhale tension. I become more peaceful with every breath I take."
Step 3. Connect with Gratitude
Your state of mind creates your reality. When you focus on gratitude you shift your focus to what is right and working in your life. What you focus on increases.
Affirmation "I easily recognize and give thanks for the blessings in my life."
Step 4. Connect with Beauty
Beauty nourishes, heals and restores you at your deepest level. Beauty is a requirement of your soul.
Affirmation "I walk in beauty. Beauty before me, beauty behind me, beauty above me, beauty below me...beauty all around me." (from a Navajo prayer)
Step 5. Connect with Your Shadow
There has never been a better time to declare a truce with yourself! Bring acceptance, light and love to the parts you once rejected in yourself. Remember, feeling "unlovable" is fed by fear and based on an illusion. Bring understanding, compassion and acceptance to all of who you are.
Affirmation "I am healed. I am one. I am whole."
Step 6. Connect with Your Heart
Your natural state is to have an open heart overflowing with warmth, light and love! Forgiveness unlocks the sweetness of your true Self. All love is founded in self-love.
Affirmation "It is safe to give love, receive love and be the love that I am."
Step 7. Connect with Your Divinity
"The divine exists in me, as me. I honor my creator by recognizing the light within me and living from that place of unconditional love."
You find your divinity in the same place as you find your rejected self- in your shadow. Although the shadow is mostly made up of parts you find unacceptable and have denied in yourself, it also contains your unowned brilliance!
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| "Messages in the Shadows" B Upton |
I know it is hard for some of us to realize that the traits we find so appealing in others are projections of what we already have in us. We are not encouraged to embrace our talents, or our inner-light! We are taught that is is egotistical to think well of ourselves, but the truth is, if we are at war with ourselves, we will not be much good to anyone else. Don't worry about getting a "big head". You have a lifetime of put downs to counter so that you may arrive at a truer picture of the extraordinary being you are!
And don't stop there! Practice expanding your sense of identity to include others, the earth, the universe and the divine, because at your core, you are one with it all. The Light of the Divine Source lives in your heart. It is not something you need to earn. It is already one with you. This sacred light has the ability to heal others, yourself and the planet and no one has more of it than you do.
You are not just a drop in the ocean. You are the mighty ocean in the drop ~ Rumi
The one tool I have found most helpful in connecting with this luminous Reality is meditation. I know "meditation" is a word that can strike terror in many people's minds! I used to approach it as a "should" and worried too much about whether I was doing it "right". But then I realized there are as many ways to meditate as there are people. Walking meditation was the answer for me (combining Steps One and Seven). If you currently practice meditating - good for you and keep it up! If you have tried and given up, or this is new for you, I hope you will give it a try (again). The rewards of being in the stillness of the present moment are great. I believe in simplicity and in what works so I will be sharing some tools and techniques that have helped me in meditating in future blogs.
The Seven Steps only become effective by practicing them, but this is a practice that you can make joyful (I'm a big believer in joy). For instance, to practice Step One, you could give yourself a couple of minutes every morning (hopefully outside) to face east, breathe in the light of the new day and to feel grounded, strengthened and supported by the earth. You could tape the affirmations and listen to them as you go to sleep, etc. Come up with practices that sound like fun to you.
With time, I sincerely hope the steps help you experience greater and greater levels of inner peace, self-love, oneness and the joy you deserve!
I can think of no better way to end these steps than by quoting Marianne Williamson who sums it all up beautifully in this famous quote
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
Namaste!
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| "Heart Light 2" B Upton |
