In the last issue of Inner Tapestry, I shared how each of us is participating in the manifestation of our current reality by continually dreaming the world into being with our thoughts and feelings. Our human collective largely does this manifesting in an unconscious way and I suggested that it was time for us to become conscious co-creators. That is, performing the sacred dreaming of reality that shamans have known and practiced for millennia. They have done this by aligning themselves with compassionate spirits in Nature and learning to look through the lens of the heart. That is, by learning how to work with the inner technology of their feelings! Envisioning ourselves and the world in a certain way has produced the life that we see around us. Transforming that requires developing relationships with nature and taking responsibility for our thoughts and feelings. I call this “working the ground of the inner landscape.” Since our outer world is a direct reflection of our inner landscape and it is the only place we can truly affect change, the work within ourselves is critical to our “success” as co-creators.

To review, the steps (1) to accomplish becoming a conscious co-creator involves working in the Inner Environment through: developing a gratitude practice, observing limiting perceptions without judgment of the self, changing your mind/heart, learning that affirmative feelings make the difference and repeating these steps everyday!

The entire process involves aligning yourself with the harmonious vibrations of gratitude, observing and then transforming your limiting beliefs and being persistent! Becoming a conscious co-creator is a process of change and evolution inside of the self. For this reason, you must continually attend to the work of transforming those perceptions that limit your ability to create the life that you desire and changing your “mind” so that gratitude becomes your emotional “baseline.”

This daily consistency is critical as our individual and collective limiting beliefs have been around for a long while. To replace your “that old reality” with a new one takes some time and patience, but even more it takes courage. You need to be willing to continue your gratitude practice and your “feeling prayers” for as long as it takes. Last issue, I suggested, “Changing one’s life is a warrior’s journey. It is a series of choices that you make each day, in every moment that will eventually reveal your desired results—often in an unexpected form. In making those choices, you are living your new vision of yourself right now!”

With this column, my focus is on how to be with and in this sacred dreaming process each day.

Dealing With Distractions

The first challenge we face as we step more fully onto the path of co-creation is the many distractions that fill our world. Distractions abound around us. In fact, in very many ways, distraction is the primary focus of the culture at large! Think about it, how much of our collective time is spent with following the cast of a reality show, endlessly texting, spending hours on social media, video gaming, or consuming alcohol, junk food and other numbing agents? Most of these pursuits can be relatively harmless if done in a limited, mindful and conscious way. However, if they are used to “make us feel good” or to keep us “unconscious” and distracted from the deepest core of how we feel, then they are in direct conflict with our purpose of becoming a co-creator.

Tilling The Soil Of
The Inner Landscape

Now, before you panic, I’m not suggesting that you completely “unplug” and become a hermit! Instead, I’m suggesting that you really examine how you are distracting yourself, losing your focus and interrupting your intentional way of being. Notice when you do it and truthfully ask yourself, “Why?” If your honest answer is that you are seeking “escape,” then it is time to do more work in your inner landscape. What are you seeking to escape from? Find out what those feelings are and work on how can they be changed. Don’t be afraid to do some counseling to root out the source of those feelings that continually arise and push you toward distraction. They are usually unconscious misperceptions we gained either in our infancy or very early childhood. In some cases, they may even have been carried in from a previous existence. In any case, our Shamanic Inner Body HealingTM work (2) may be useful as can seeing a good counselor or even having some hypnotherapy to support you to shift and heal those misperceptions.

I can assure you that being released from the burden of your old limiting beliefs and misperceptions gives a joyful and a liberating feeling which is more than worth whatever work you do to get it! In addition, the truth is that you can’t really step into being a co-creator without attending to this part of the inner journey.

The Dance Between The
Ego And The Spiritual

The work of changing perceptions and beliefs is also an excellent way to keeping the needs and urges of the ego in check. For instance, becoming a conscious co-creator isn’t a path to evade the bumps that life may provide. You may still get sick, lose a loved one or have another of life’s “hard knocks.” This path isn’t an escape from reality; it is a transformation of reality! It is about learning to respond rather than react to life and in so doing change the environment in which we all live! Are your desires a way to escape reality, do “better” than someone else or evade a consequence? If these emotional threads are present, there is a good chance that the desires are coming from ego.

Spiritual resources such as meditation or the shamanic journey process can be used to discern the difference between your ego and divine self. With your sacred support, you will learn the different “voices” of ego and the divine self. You can also develop awareness about when and how each of them speaks to you. As you begin to recognize the non-beneficial aspects of ego that hold you in old ways of being you can dismantle them by doing more inner landscape work. Often, the urges of the ego are connected to relieving or subjugating a fear. The fear may be about failure, being not good enough or of being unlovable. In any case, by attending to healing of these fears, it is possible to be truly released from them instead of seeking temporary relief! Be courageous and “Go for it!”

Dealing With Disappointment
And Impatience

Becoming a co-creator doesn’t sanction you to “get everything you want” at least not immediately or all at once! You have to become committed to the inner changes, continually redirecting yourself when you wander from the path and being willing to keep being/doing in this new way for as long as it takes! As I said last issue, “Changing one’s life is a warrior’s journey. It is a series of choices that you make each day, in every moment that will eventually reveal your desired results—often in an unexpected form. In making those choices, you are living your new vision of yourself right now!” Let go of how and when the desired results will manifest. This is called “letting go of outcome.”

When you feel the tugs of disappointment because something that you are focused upon hasn’t happened, this “mantra” of mine may be helpful! “I trust that (Insert your Divine desire here) is already manifesting in ways that I can’t yet see.” This is a way to move through the emotional turbulence that anger; jealousy, impatience and disappointment create. Remember with compassion that these feelings are old habits and usually reveal another layer of inner landscape work that needs to be attended to. Feel them, acknowledge what they are showing you about your perceptions, and then transmute them by attending to your gratitude practice. If possible, also get yourself outside. Practicing gratitude while outside in the natural world, we more easily “reset” ourselves to the harmonious vibrations of creation.

Once you are “reset” by gratitude, refocus your intentions and make sure you are focused on the feelings that your desired outcome is already manifested. These feelings are critical as they can generate a result that provides an unexpected path toward the desired reality. Remember, the spirits of All That Is (and your own divine self) may have something in mind even more glorious than your mind can imagine, so always focus on simply feeling it in this present moment.

Be both patient with yourself and tenacious about your inner transformational work. Each of us that are walking this path are changing the world—right now—even when we can’t always see it. Becoming conscious co-creators offers us the best hope for transforming the very nature of what being human means—not only for ourselves but also for future generations. As creator beings that function in harmony with All That Is, we are renewing our planetary environment. The creative energies with which we align our hearts and minds can manifest miracles. Believe!

(1) For the full details of this material, please access the October/November 2009 Modern Shamanic Living column, “New Visions: Dreaming a New Dream” at www.innertapestry.org. In addition, members of Spirit Passages can receive more support thru accessing the September and October 2009 teleconferences recordings:

http://www.spiritpassages.com/memberbenefits.html.

(2) Find out more at:  http://www.spiritpassages.com/shamanicinnerbodyhealing.html

© 2009 Evelyn C. Rysdyk

Nationally recognized shaman teacher/healer, speaker, and author, Evelyn C. Rysdyk delights in supporting people to remember their sacred place in All That Is.  Whether though face-to-face contact with individual patients, groups and conference participants, or through the printed word in books, columns and articles—Evelyn uses her loving humor and passion to open people’s hearts and inspire them to live more joyful, fulfilling and purposeful lives.

She is the author of Modern Shamanic Living: New Explorations of an Ancient Path (1999), columnist and writer of numerous articles and features. Her writing and artwork have appeared in regional, national and international publications—both in print and online—and she is the executive editor of Spirit Living, an eco-spiritual e-magazine.

In joint practice with C. Allie Knowlton as Spirit Passages since 1991, she offers workshops in advanced experiential shamanism across the USA and Canada.  In addition, as founding members of True North, an integrated medical center in Falmouth, Maine, she and Allie collaborate with physicians, nurses, a psychiatrist, naturopath and other complementary health practitioners.  Evelyn may be contacted through her website: www.spiritpassages.com.