The Grace of Our Being

Once a man asked the Buddha, “Are you a god?”
The Buddha replied, “No.”
The man then asked, “Are you a magician or wizard?”
The Buddha replied, “No.”
Then the man asked, “What are you?”
The Buddha replied, “I am Awake.”

To be aware and awake in this period of time means fully realizing the power each of us has to effect real positive change in our lives, our culture and our world. Not in some far off tomorrow, but right now. Bruce Lipton, Ph.D. who is a cell biologist and author of The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter and Miracles has said, “Civilization is on the verge of a massive transformation in consciousness, one so profound that it will change life on this planet.” In truth, this promise is already being manifested. Yes, you read that correctly. The shift is already happening and to realize it in our lives, we need to shed the old beliefs that still define us as fearful, victimized or in anyway separate from Divine Perfection. In essence, we need to “tune” ourselves to harmonize with the shift so that it becomes universally tangible.

Firstly, we need to be intentional about raising our vibration. A wonderful way to begin is to turn away from the old trauma/drama energy, which is constantly reinforced by media. I learned a powerful lesson about the negative effect of the news media in 2001. During the events of September 11th, we were away teaching a retreat. We had no television and heard about the events through a student’s cell phone call back home. Since our work for the week included exercises where we felt ourselves and the rest of creation as all light–we as a community–intentionally focused on light, peace and seeing the world as beautiful and whole. When, after the week ended, we returned to “ordinary reality” we immediately felt the jarring energy of those who had been traumatized by seeing the events at the World Trade Center repeated over and over on the news channels. From our “outsider viewpoint,” it was easy to see that people who had been glued to the television were literally programmed into a profoundly agitated state by repetition of the horrific images. In this state, they were much more willing to surrender their freedom and their own, personal reality! A nation of people in this condition is much more easy to control and it is much easier for sinister forces to dominate under the guise of offering “protection.”

Later that same year, this was further reinforced to me during the anthrax scare. During that time frame, the incessant “bulletin crawl” at the bottom of the television broadcast kept repeating the “news” about the six people who were affected. This was done twenty-four hours a day, every day, for weeks! At no time were we reminded that everyday during that period the rest of us nearly 300 million United States citizens had awakened, brushed our teeth, gone to work and come home in perfect safety! Only the negative story was reinforced over and over. When you allow yourself to be programmed in this way by the “trauma/drama networks,” you inevitably come to believe that you are neither safe nor powerful, which in turn stimulates a lower vibratory energy.

When we transmute our state of consciousness and raise our vibration, we transform our inner environment to one of love, unity, harmony, and light. As I have written and taught for years, what we experience inside is reflected in our outer world. Therefore, to live in a loving, harmonious and light-filled world, we must make changing our inner environment our first priority. It is the highest action a spiritual warrior can embark upon.

A lovely way to begin is to take an intentional “news fast.” (Believe me, in this cell phone/text message world, if something actually important happens, you will hear about it.) Avoid newspapers, radio news, and especially television news for at least ten days. I’m not suggesting that you totally disconnect from the culture, rather I’m suggesting that you seek balance. After those ten days, you will begin to notice that you feel differently about yourself and the world.

In the morning, during the time you would normally be watching or listening to the news, focus on being in Gratitude. Whether you express this as thankful prayers to the Divine, putting out offerings to the spirits, or using tools such as the guided imageries on Becoming the New Human, this is a critical component to accessing and transmitting our highest vibration. When feeling gratitude we immerse ourselves in our inner landscape–generating loving and peaceful energies into that “space.” As we feel ourselves shift toward more harmony, we again become aware of our limitlessness and power. We are vast–as vast as what we think of as Divine. It is only our lower vibratory thoughts and perceptions that separate us from this truth.

If you have trouble thinking about things to be grateful about, start a gratitude list. Place your physical capabilities at the top of that list. You can see these words, smell the newsprint, touch the surface of the paper, and hear it rustle as you turn the pages with your remarkable human hand! The whorls of your fingerprints are uniquely your own–behold the miracle of your being and put all these abilities on your list.

Much of the world goes without clean running water and indoor plumbing. Are you fortunate to have the luxury of a hot shower to start your winter morning? Feel grateful for this, too.

Place your gratitude for another day of possibilities on the list. Remember, some people didn’t wake up this morning at all. Thank all the beings with whom you share your morning. Your partner, the cat, the trees slumbering just outside, the hens that provided the eggs in your omelet, the workers that collected your coffee beans, the snowflakes dancing in the sky. Right now, these many beings are contributing their energy to your life. Put them all on the list! Add all those beings that you love and have loved you. Whether they are still here or now deceased, you are a product of a long chain of human beings who gave you this body. Be grateful for the ancestors who gave you this gift–this opportunity to be a part of the world.

By practicing gratitude each day, feeling our vastness and power can become our baseline reality. As we strengthen this baseline, we are much less likely to be taken “off course” by the turbulence of our culture. We may be temporarily swayed by the currents, but can right ourselves again much easier.

This is particularly important because during this time when many people are becoming more conscious, the forces of our collective darkness and shadow are making a last stand to bring us down. We see this in the tide of fundamentalism and violence around the world. It is our fears trying to pull us backwards. Do not succumb; instead remember that you have a choice. In the face of fear we can either contract into a small bleak idea of false” safety” or ignite our inner radiance to dispel the darkness completely. Defy the false logic of fear in favor of the Truth. When we are grateful, the illusions of separateness and scarcity lose their chilling grasp. Released from their stranglehold, we find ourselves living with and in—Grace.

It has been said that living gracefully is a combination of many wondrous and miraculous things but I define living gracefully as simply being grateful, mindful, intentional and kind. Being/doing this means not only becoming more conscious of your actions, but of what you are thinking and feeling in each moment. Notice what shifts your feelings away from gratitude and kindness. Notice what of your old thoughts and perceptions create toxicity in your inner environment causing you to feel powerless, or small. I learned a catch phrase as a teenager, which was ”Don’t let the bastards wear you down.” As an adult, I came to realize that it is really my inner bastard–the part of me that thinks of itself as lowly or powerless–which has the greatest power to lower my vibration and wear away my vitality. By paying attention to those times when your thoughts shift to a lower vibration, you can intentionally bring yourself back into harmony. I find that by choosing to practice my gratitude meditation in these moments, I create an antidote, which immediately raises my vibration again. The more I practice, the less deeply I dip into lower energy vibrations. I become emotionally buoyant and more physically resilient.

We all have our own inner bastard who needs reminding–through mindful practice of gratitude–that we are actually highborn and noble beings. My spirit teacher, Grandma, reminds us that each of us is “...a precious part of Creation–no more or less important than any other part.” She reminds us that, “...you are equal to the wind, the singing bird, the crashing wave.” Gratitude can help us to live from that understanding.

Another useful tool to create and maintain balance is to receive your news auditorily or in print once you have broken your news fast. Instead of watching the flickering images on the television news, listen to the radio or read your news online. Violent and fear inducing images–like those on the television news–have the capacity to stimulate the part of the brain/unconscious that triggers the fight/flight/freeze mechanism. For myself, I find listening to public radio and taking small “sips” of news is enough to have me feel aware of what is important without the “unwanted side effects” of anxiety or despair. In this way, I protect my energy system and reduce the amount of time that I spend in the darkness of lower vibrations.

Choose, at this darkest time of the year, to kindle and nurture your inner light. Set your inner landscape ablaze with the glorious radiance, which is your birthright. As you raise your vibration higher, you grow more and more brilliant. With your focused and mindful attention to feeling gratitude and acting from kindness, you make the New Earth more and more tangible.

In your gratitude, let yourself feel what it is like. Feel the renewed ecosystems, the abundance available for all, and the peace, which has broken out over the entire surface of the world. All of us with like minds and souls are standing shoulder-to-shoulder, breathing as one. Can you feel us? By the grace of our grateful hearts we’re breathing that splendid future into reality.

© 2007 Evelyn C. Rysdyk

Evelyn C. Rysdyk, author of the book, Modern Shamanic Living, is a Teacher of Shamanism, healer & artist in joint practice with C. Allie Knowlton, LCSW, DCSW as Spirit Passages. Since 1991, they have offered workshops across the US and Canada. They also offer a private shamanic healing practice at True North in Falmouth, Maine.

Featured in the book, Traveling Between the Worlds, interviews with 24 of the world’s most influential writers and teachers of shamanism, they may be contacted at: www.spiritpassages.com