5/10/13—Being the Ripple

Today's Draw Classic*: Kizzie, my handsome boy. Do you know how significant your power is in the world? Do you realize that each and every day you make an impact on the overall vibration of humanity? How will you use your power today?

If you're a regular at the Daily Draw, then you've probably seen this post in some version before. Usually when I do repeat posts, I try to choose one I've never repeated before. But this particular post is different. For one, it's perfect for our week's theme of how much more awesome we are than we know. Second, my Kizzie boy has a hurt toe this week and is limpy, so he needs to be honored. And third, I've rewritten this post a couple of times, so it no longer fully resembles what it was originally. The last time I rewrote it was after my brother died. Anyway, it's one of my favorite posts. And when it calls to me, I repost it. :) So....

The other day I saw something I've seen a million times. Only this time, I saw it in a completely different way. My dogs and I took a trip to the park and my boy, Kizzie, decided to go in the river for a dip. As I saw him standing there, I noticed all the ripples issuing out with him at the center. Each time he moved, a new set of ripples would form. And the ripple effect of each motion would continue out into the river, despite the current. Despite anything. Indefinitely.

His presence was recorded throughout the river that day—through the ripples in the water, the displacement of the air around his ripples, and by his ripples meeting the shore and bouncing back. In the same way, his presence was recorded throughout the universe. Beyond that, on land, the wag of his tail, his body temperature and the sound of his breath had a similar effect in the environment around him, sending forth kinetic, sonic and heat waves from his body.

According to Wikipedia, a wave is a "disturbance (an oscillation) that travels through space and time, accompanied by the transfer of energy." Einstein's famous equation, E=MC2, posits that everything in the universe is energy. So what we see in the water above is Kizzie's energetic body having an effect on the water's energetic body. And since energy is never created or destroyed—only transferred—the effect he has is eternal. Pervasive. Ubiquitous.

Our lives work the same way. You create a kind of ripple when you have children...a ripple that goes on way beyond your lifetime. But even if you don't have children, you create it through everyone you come into contact with...every life you touch. There is nothing about us—no thought, no emotion, no scent, no delicate resting of silk on skin—that doesn't cause a disturbance that travels through space and time. 

So imagine the kind of ripple effect even something as simple as a smile can create. You smile at someone and cause them them to smile and feel a little more part of this world. That changes them, even if ever so slightly in that moment, and that change is passed on to the others they encounter that day. The vibration they spread is just a smidge higher than it would have been. And the people they encounter are similarly raised. And so on. And so on. And it ripples around the world, back past the original smiler, indefinitely. 

Of course the same is true about being a grumpy gus.

But the point I'm making is that no matter how "small and insignificant" we are, the impact of our every breath and thought echoes out into the universe to create the "whole". And that impact continues long after our death. We're still benefiting from the simple work of the men who built the railroads, women who showed their independence and the early men and women who moved out of caves and built humanity's first communities. We're also still affected by the ripple created by those who never spoke up against Hitler, spread the belief that the earth was flat and sailed to Africa to grab people and make them slaves in the New World. 

If you've ever been to an emotionally charged historic site, you can still feel it in the air. Occasionally I drive through the Manassas battlefield where so many lost their lives during our Civil War. The air is different there. It's palpable. Another place that comes to mind is Cape May, NJ, where the ripples of risque ladies in their swim dresses still echoes in the surf. 

For better or for worse, everything that has ever happened adds to the ripple of everything that ever will. As will your choices to recycle, eat meat, hate a particular race, reach out to the needy or make myriad other choices. We cannot have the foresight to see the impact of our choices in any given moment, but the energy we put out continues to ripple on indefinitely, even if it dissipates over time and is transferred into something else. 

The beautiful thing about this is that, regardless of what you believe about God and heaven, we live on in this very real way for eternity. We matter. No matter how normal and mundane our contributions. Do you think those railroad men, like my grandfather, felt like the kings of transportation, trade, information sharing, development and connection that they were? My mother was one of those women who paved the path for other women to hold "men's jobs". Look at what has come from that! That's not what she was doing—she just wanted to put her competence to good use—but look at what came of it. 

There is a reason for you being here. Even beyond our deaths, in the memories and minds of those we leave behind, we continue to send out ripples that, even for a moment, change the way our loved ones consider their lives. There is nothing we do, nothing we are, that doesn't have this import in the lives around us and the lives around all those people, etc. 

You are the ripple. Everything you say and do today will be forever felt by the universe. How will you use your infinite power today?

*Today's entry was rewritten from the 4/23/12 version of this post.

3/20/13—Channeling Energy

Today's Draw Classic*: Princess of Wands from the Rohrig Tarot. Do you often forget that there's an unlimited source of healing and energy for you to access? What is your practice for drawing that energy in? What do you most need to channel right now?

Today's card illustrates the energy exchange between humans and "source", most specifically the receipt of that energy. The words on this card include optimism and new beginnings. And the tiger in her hair is meant to signify sexual passions. But the crystal that's channeling light, along with two other phrases on the card—"enlarged perception" and "setting aside fear"—make me think of a channel that's always available to us to us from source. 

In one of the many Oprah/Iyanla shows I watch, one of them said something about how, if you have faith, you can't have fear. Think about it. It's true. Faith is the absence of fear. Faith puts trust where fear used to be. 

So how you do channel faith to replace your fear? Well, you could get nekkid in a G-string, arch your back and put a long, phallic crystal at your third eye, like the chick in the picture. Or another, more socially responsible way, would be to close your eyes and imagine a white light coming in from above into the crown of your head and down through your body. When you surround yourself in God's light like that, life feels safer. 

But what is really going to get you past fear is making a decision to believe in the notion that God brings you just what you need to fulfill your purpose here on earth. That everything is a lesson. There is no wasted experience. You are not brought to the edge of a precipice it wouldn't serve you to leap from. And there is a plan in place to serve your highest good and you can't possibly thwart it. Once you agree to that, then you just need to stop yourself every time you have a fearful thought and remind yourself of your commitment to that notion. 

But the lady in this picture isn't just channeling faith, she's channeling energy, too. And that's something I often forget...that I can replenish at any time, simply by surrounding myself in light and receiving it. Whether you call it God, source, the light or something else, when you draw that energy into you, it has significant powers to help you overcome fear, access energy, and heal yourself physically, spiritually and emotionally. That's why so many call it simply "source". 

When I get done writing this, I think I'll channel a little peace and contentment. How about you? The 21 Day Meditation Challenge with Chopra and Oprah is a good place to start and it's not too late to join in. Sign up for it at Oprah.com. 

*Adapted from a post on 8/23/12

8/23/12—Channeling Energy

Today's Draw: Princess of Wands from the Rohrig Tarot. Do you often forget that there's an unlimited source of healing and energy for you to access? What is your practice for drawing that energy in? What do you most need to channel right now?

While yesterday's post was about the sending and receiving of energy between humans, this card illustrates the energy exchange between humans and "source", most specifically the receipt of that energy.

The words on this card include optimism and new beginnings. And the tiger in her hair is meant to signify sexual passions. But the crystal that's channeling light, along with two other phrases on the card—"enlarged perception" and "setting aside fear"—make me think of that channel that's always available to us to us from source. 

In one of the many Oprah/Iyanla shows I watch, one of them said something about how, if you have faith, you can't have fear. Think about it. It's true. Faith is the absence of fear. Faith puts trust where fear used to be. 

So how you do channel faith to replace your fear? Well, you could get nekkid in a G-string, arch your back and put a long, phallic crystal at your third eye, like the chick in the picture. Or another, more socially responsible way, would be to close your eyes and imagine a white light coming in from above into the crown of your head and down through your body. When you surround yourself in God's light like that, life feels safer. 

But what is really going to get you past fear is making a decision to believe in the notion that God brings you just what you need to fulfill your purpose here on earth. That everything is a lesson. There is no wasted experience. You are not brought to the edge of a precipice it wouldn't serve you to leap from. And there is a plan in place to serve your highest good and you can't possibly thwart it. Once you agree to that, then you just need to stop yourself every time you have a fearful thought and remind yourself of your commitment to that notion. 

But the lady in this picture isn't just channeling faith, she's channeling energy, too. And that's something I often forget...that I can replenish at any time, simply by surrounding myself in light and receiving it. Whether you call it God, source, the light or something else, when you draw that energy into you, it has significant powers to help you overcome fear, access energy, and heal yourself physically, spiritually and emotionally. That's why so many call it simply "source". 

When I get done writing this, I think I'll channel a little peace and contentment. How about you?

8/25/12-8/26/12—Sparking Something New

Weekend Reading: Ace of Fire from the Gaian Tarot by Joanna Powell Colbert. 

Well, look at you! All bursting with energy and ready to get 'er done! Whether it's something in the air or something in your synapses, something is going spark you this weekend. Maybe that will express itself as a desire to start new projects. Maybe you'll suddenly be curious enough to try something new with your partner in bed. Or maybe you'll start down an exciting new road that leads to transformation and healing. The snake in this card is used to shedding his skin and revealing a the fresh, new guy underneath from time to time. So welcome these new sparks because they bring renewed energy into our lives and teach things about ourselves that we never knew before. 

8/24/12—Creating Our Own Realities

Today's Draw: No-Thingness from the Osho Zen tarot. Do you know people with "bad energy"? Do you feel like another person's energy can change your mood, or wreck or improve your day? What if it turned out that the only "bad" energy out there was created entirely by you?

Nothing is misspelled or misprinted on today's card. The black represents the gap, the void...the place of pure potential. This is a scary place where there is nothing to hold on to, yet it's also the happy place where all possibilities exist. 

I know this sounds like Zen BS, but bear with me. It's a place of detachment. If we haven't attached to anything...haven't claimed or chosen or set our hearts on anything...then all possibilities exist. Anything is possible. If we don't decide "this thing is the right choice and all these other things are the wrong choices", then really what are our chances of being disappointed or knocked off guard by, say, someone else's "wrong" choice of words or their "bad" behavior? It's OUR choice to determine what is good and what is bad. And, in turn, that choice then creates our reality. 

In this way, the state of no-thingness acts as a balancing force for us. And really, it keeps our energy clear and free to flow where it's needed, not just to where we direct it. AND it keeps us free to accept and transform energy to use as we need. 

Another thought that occurred to me in relation to energy and this card is that energy itself is no-thingness...it's pure potential, prepared to manifest as whatever is needed, wherever it's needed. Since we create what is good and what is bad, what is needed and what is not, we have the choice to shape the energies that come our way. 

So that chick with "bad energy"? Her energy is pure potential until we decide how to color it and how to receive it. In the metaphysical world, people are always talking about the energy and vibes of others, but what if it's actually our OWN vibes that are the ones we have to worry about—the vibes inside of us that judge and color the vibes of others? Toxic energy is not imposed upon us. Energy is. We decide it's toxic. We are own worst enemy! 

Anyway, even I'm enlightened by these thoughts...haha. This is a Buddhist principle I hadn't really considered exactly in this way before. I try to remain open to things and I believe that's a high spiritual path. But how open to things are we if we're labeling things good and bad? I mean, it goes beyond this, but just think about how many times the "worst day of your life" turned out to be "the best thing that happened to you"? Like the day you catch your husband with another woman or the day you lose your job?

One of the things I like to say lately is "the story isn't over yet." When things happen in our lives—especially bad things—we tend to see it as the end of the story. An unhappy ending. But the story isn't over yet! You eventually either forge a stronger bond in your marriage or leave the cheating bastard. You find a new job and possibly even a new career. In between the seemingly bad moment and the seemingly good moment, we learn a lot about who we are, what we want and what we need. 

We all know the story never ends. And by coloring things good and bad in the interim, our energy is up and down and up and down again. We put ourselves on that rollercoaster. Not life or any individual. Our choices and our judgments and the way we color the energies around us determine our experiences in life. 

So anyway, a deep thought for a Friday, but a powerful one to consider. Instead of wishing you a good day today, I'll just wish you a day. You can make any kind of day you want. ;)

8/23/12—Knowing Where to Seek Healing

Today's Draw: Umiarkowanie (Temperance) from the Tarot Maroon. Is there someone, someplace or something in the natural world that is undeniably healing for you? Are you the source of anyone's or anything's healing? What stories do you have of natural energetic exchanges that resulted in physical or emotional healing?

I've been dying to tell you the story about Magick Moonbeam, my dog, all week of Energy Week. And, at first blush, this card doesn't *technically* allow me to do it, but I'm going to do it anyway, darnit! I'm going to bend the meaning to suit my purposes! This is my blog! MINE, I say!!!! *collapsing under the stress of holding a good story in too long*

OK. So Temperance is about balance. But it's also the card of alchemy...the blending of one thing into another to create a third thing. When we temper steel, we harden it. As a diabetic, when I temper a measured enjoyment of carbs with high fiber and protein, I sort of stabilize the impact having, say, an ear of corn, will have on my blood sugar. So that, in itself, is an energy exchange...between the fiber and protein and the sugars. 

Anyway, this stabilizing effect is the window through which I'm going to walk to tell the story about my baby girl dog. And it also occurs to me my boy Kizzie plays a role, too. More on that later. 

I know reiki, which is a form of energy medicine. Energy medicine is becoming more and more mainstream as doctors like Dr. Oz speak of it benefits. Basically, a trained practitioner uses their energy to help heal you, either physically or emotionally. I've heard stories over the years of broken bones snapping back into place, cancers being healed and the healing of issues that modern medicine has failed to heal. Personally, I don't think anyone should rely on energy medicine alone. Or modern medicine alone. I think tempering one with the other is your best bet. 

Magick knows where to look for healing.

I'm not a good reiki person. I never practice or try to develop it. But once you have been "attuned" to the energy, it's inside you. Anywho, there is one situation in which I occasionally whip out my reiki skills...when Magick Moonbeam has hiccups. I cure them for her immediately simply by putting my hand on her belly and calling up my reiki energy. She's always very cooperative, but up until the other day, she has always allowed the healing to come to her. 

So the other morning I'm laying in bed, half awake, half asleep. One arm is cuddling Magick while the other is just flopped to the side, palm up. And Magick gets hiccups. Without missing a beat, she stands up, walks to my other hand, positions herself above my palm and squats down so her belly is touching my hand! I couldn't believe it! Like the hummingbird in the card, she knew where her source of sustenance came from and went to it—instead of waiting for it to come to her!

She knows my energy "heals" her. She knows which hand I use. She knows what part of her body I send the energy to. Her ENERGY seeks my ENERGY to heal her. She knows both intellectually and energetically that there is a tempering effect that passes between us. 

Kizzie's healing energy just radiates from his body. 

So that's my story. And now the Kizzie thing. Kizzie is the big furry one. And he has amazing healing energy. I'm sure if you hooked me up to monitors, you'd see many energetic systems in my body—beyond just blood pressure—change significantly for the better when he's in my arms. 

My motto with Kizzie is "a cuddle a day keeps the doctor away". So we schedule the snuggle time. But I also seek it out whenever I'm upset. I can't even describe it, but the effect is instant and entirely energetic. He has an amazing tempering effect on me. And just like Magick knows where to go to heal those hiccups, I know where to go when I'm feeling stressed. 

Someone once gave me a really good example of how living beings, especially humans, are programmed to heal ourselves and others. She said "when you bump yourself or get a scratch, what is your first instinct?" Well, our first instinct is to place our hand on the boo boo until the initial pain goes away. As children, our mother's kiss on a scratch would somehow make it feel better. We are instinctually programmed to use our energy to heal...to heal with touch. 

So what about you? What tempers you? What energy do you seek out as a guaranteed source of healing? If you're not really sure, start observing. It may be an energy exchange between you and nature or the ions in a hot bath with salts. And what are you a source of healing for for others? These energetic connections, while not widely recognized in the mainstream, are nonetheless real and integral to our health. 

8/22/12—Discovering The Power of Your Energy

Today's Draw: Three of Wands from Tod's Creatures Tarot by Tod Wills. Are you effectively creating the life you want? How important do you think your energy body is to making things happen in your world? What secret does this precious winking cat know that you don't?

First things first. After my rant about cat decks last week, I know there are a couple of people out there thinking, "nice cat deck, Tierney." So I'd like to say that Tod's Creatures is an equal opportunity deck. There are all sorts of animals in it. This card just happens to be a cat. And while I don't always mention anything much about the deck I'm using, I'll say this deck is whimsical with some interesting artistic deviations from traditional decks (which is something I like). There is no lwb. And it's within my tolerance of cute, but just. You can see samples at: 

https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/tod-s-creatures-tarot

Next I wanted to mention that yesterday's post sparked some lively commentary and it would seem a lot of people have either been having their own storms lately or have been the recipient of a storm. A couple of good points were made on my Facebook page that I didn't make yesterday. One was that sometimes the storm is physical...we hold this stuff inside and when it bursts forth, it does so in the guise of illness or festering pustules or whatever. The other point was that, sometimes our storms, depending on how they're received, can result in needed change. They may come out in a loud and unattractive way, but the point is made. 

OK. Now on to today's card. Traditionally this card would show a man from the back, surveying the scenery as his ship is about to come in...both literally and figuratively. It's an initial phase of completion on a creative project and it's a moment of success. It's also a card of foresight and planning for the next phase of the project, because we can't sit on our laurels for long. He doesn't need to act, because he is the divine overseer of the project.

While we see the guy from the back in the traditional card, here we see the cat's face. And he's winking at us. Because he knows something else is aiding his success...something in addition to hard work. He is literally the divine overseer of his fate. His job is to observe and receive while the universe is doing all the strategizing, organizing, scheduling and execution. 

As Mike Dooley says, when it comes to manifestation, "your job is the 'what' and the universe's job is the 'how'." The whole idea behind spontaneous manifestation of desire is that you put the thoughts out into the universe, keep those thoughts consistent, act in alignment with those thoughts and the universe will create the thing you desire. 

I'm not going to go into a whole drawn out thing about manifestation. No, it's not as easy as it sounds. And yes, it is easy as it sounds. It's more of a mindset, discipline and faith you have to acquire...that's the hard part. And, once that's acquired, it's easy. Anyway, the reason I'm not going to yammer and spew about it is because I did a whole week on it here:

http://thedailytarotdraw.blogspot.com/2012_06_03_archive.html

Then there's this excellent post:

http://thedailytarotdraw.blogspot.com/2011/08/81511doing-less-and-believing-more.html

And if you want more, just search the term "manifestation" on my blog and you'll get an entire book's worth of thoughts on the topic. 

The point is, every passing thought, every action, every word you utter is an energy exchange between you and God/the universe/the all of creation. With every neuron that sparks inside you, you're telling the universe what you think, what you want and who you are. And the universe responds to you accordingly. 

There's one other past post that comes to bear on the situation—one of my most popular posts ever. Remember the one where my boy, Kizzie, is standing in the water? It's all about the energetic impact and effect each of us has on everything around us. We are nothing more than senders and receivers of energy...like little Ham radios operating on an infinite array of frequencies, sending and receiving a bazillion impulses or messages a minute, most of which we are completely unaware of. Here you go: 

http://thedailytarotdraw.blogspot.com/2012/02/week-of-21912raising-your-vibration.html

See the cat in today's card is an energetic sensei. See the robes he's wearing? And his wink is telling us that he knows all the secrets I've shared with you in all those post links above. He's so attuned to his connectedness—to God, the natural world, and others—that he can feel the leaves around him rustling before they even begin to twitch. He doesn't have to turn to watch any ships coming in, because he already knows they're there. 

And the cool thing is, the only way he's different from you is that he's aware of his power. He cultivates it, respects it and has complete faith in it. When we talk about energy and vibrations and wavelengths, this is what we're really talking about—the knowledge that each of us is just an energetic impulse away from all that exists and ever has existed. 

8/21/12—Brewing Up a Storm

Today's Draw: Storm Fields from the Enchanted Map Oracle from Collette Baron Reed. Is there a storm a'brewin' within? Do you want to go off about something but are waiting to find a gracious way to do it? Are you mad as hell and are not going to take it anymore?

So this week we're talking about energy and I'm DYING to tell you a story that happened between my and dog, Magick Moonbeam. But the cards aren't cooperating....gaaaahhhh!

However, that little outburst of mine is what today's card is about. We gotta release the energy we hold inside. It's not always pretty, the timing is not always opportune, but we gotta do it. Here's what the book says about this card: 

"Things you've left unattended may be the cause of some conflict. Pent-up energy needs release, just as a storm in nature must break. 

Not all storms are destructive. Rather, they serve nature by bringing rain to the ground and wind to the trees, enabling seeds to be widely distributed and continous growth to be ensured."

So while yesterday was talking about managing the energy between ourselves and the outside world, today we're talking about managing our own energies within. We've all been there. Whether we've been in denial or just bucking up like a like a good little soldier, we sometimes hold things in until our emotional body can no longer contain them. Then all hell breaks loose...haha. 

And THEN, if you're like me, you end up feeling bad about it. "I could have handled that better." Well, no. Really the only way you could have handled it better was to not hold it in in the first place. And sometimes we're just not able to express our pain until it reaches that point. Pain and hurt and anger are awfully hard things to express period, much less graciously. And, c'mon, there's really no way to express those things to the source of those feelings without ruffling some feathers or experiencing some push back. There really are no perfect words or perfect time. 

Ten days ago I sent out an inquiry about a dog. I wasn't 100% sure I was ready to adopt, I just wanted to start the conversation and meet the dog. Well the person never responded to me until I complained that she hadn't responded. And when she did respond, she was all superior "we simply don't have the time to answer every inquiry from people with mild interest." 

Well, I got a little piffy in my reply. Over the course of the ten days, a lot had happened inside me. My interest in the baby grew more, then waned, then grew. My faith in this rescue organization, their mission and their customer relations deteriorated. And when the woman finally responded to me unapologetically about how much I inconvenienced her and how I probably shouldn't get a third dog anyway, I called her a bitch.

I'm not proud of it. I'm usually above that kind of thing. But it wasn't until she got all superior to me that I realized how much I had emotionally invested in this process already. You can't know me and not know how much I love dogs and what a good doggy mommy I am. But I've encountered this martyred attitude from rescue organizations before. Years ago when I WAS a serious customer, a local organization made two separate dates with me, 30 miles from my home, to meet a dog. Then they never showed! When I complained, I got a lecture about how busy they are and how thankless the work is and if they forget a few appointments, I should understand. 

My impression from the only two experiences I've had is that they're focused more on getting dogs and feeling like selfless, overworked heroes than they are about actually adopting the dogs out. After all, today's mild interest is tomorrow's strong desire. It's just stupid business to completely ignore someone who has inquired about a dog. I support the theory behind the work they do and I appreciate that they save animals, but now I understand why people seek other means. They don't allow the prospective dog owners to feel like they're part of the mission. Instead, they treat them like a necessary evil. That's what MY experience has been. 

Personally, my money is going to shelters from here on in. I've always had superior experiences with shelters—and not just from their paid employees, but from their volunteers who never seem to complain about the heroic work they do. At a shelter, you're allowed to meet a dog before you're 100% sure you want to adopt them. And the ones around here are nice to you, whether your interest is mild, strong, growing or whatever. 

All of this is, partly, to vent...haha. But also to say that sometimes we don't even know what we're feeling until we get mad. In a small way, I feel like a lost a baby tonight. Just because I wasn't sure I wanted the baby, doesn't mean I didn't imagine it as my own, daydream about how it would be with my other babies and all of that. His name was Wizard, so that means I'd have a Kizzy, Wizzy and a Magick Moonbeam. It doesn't get much more perfect than that. 

Sometimes our storms cause utter destruction in our lives. Sometimes we just embarrass ourselves. And sometimes they just show us where we stand on a particular topic. It's all about releasing energy and rebalancing to create favorable conditions for future growth. So whatever's building up inside you now, consider letting it out. It may hurt in the short term, but it will end up benefitting you in the end

8/20/12—Feeling the Vibe

Today's Draw: Shaman from the Vision Tarot by Dirk Gillabel. Can you sense the energy of those around you? Do you sometimes walk into a room full of people and feel overwhelmed for some reason you can't explain? Is there a person who, even though they're nice, you just don't like to be around?

This week is going to be Energy Week. But not the kind of energy that fuels your car or runs your TV. The kind of energy that vibrates within us and throughout the universe. 

You've probably experienced it before...when someone is angry, you can feel it. They emit the energy of anger. No words have to be said. The person's face doesn't have to be contorted in an angry look. In fact, you've probably even felt someone's anger when they were doing their best to look normal and deny their anger. 

You can sense someone staring at you. You know when someone is lying to you. You may have felt that someone died before you knew it to be fact. Or maybe you felt creeped out by something you couldn't see, like a ghostly energy. Or you entered a room and it somehow felt peaceful. Some of this can be explained by visual or verbal cues. But some of it can't. Some of it you might call intuition or even instinct. But what really are instinct and intuition if it doesn't involve tuning into the energies around you?

Every day we're interacting with energies you can see and not see. A person is an energy you can see, for example. But there's a whole other energy body within them and around them that you can't see. There are the electrical systems that run our heart and our every thought. There's the caloric energy that fuels our body. The kinetic energy of motion. And, many believe, an energy body made up of chakras. Spiritual energy that's transmitted between us and God. And energy that transmits between us and everything in the universe. 

A shaman is a mediator of those energies. Each day we make countless energetic exchanges with other seen and unseen energies around us. We understand the energy exchange of food, for example. You eat it and use its energy to power your body. But what about all the energy exchanges you make with unseen and unacknowledged energies around you? Just because you're not conscious of them, doesn't mean you're not interacting with them. Wouldn't you like to be more aware of those exchanges?

That's what the shaman has come to us about today. To start noticing energies around you. As you interact with people today, take a moment to note the kind of energy or vibe they put forth. Is Joe's energy laid-back and mellow or is he a quivering nerve all the time? How does his energy affect yours? If you walk into his cubicle when he's not there, can you feel his energy there? 

Likewise, if you walk into a store or a room or someone's office today, connect with how the room feels...the energy it emits. Or hold an item, preferably of someone else's and see what kind of energy it has attached to it. You may not feel anything the first time try, but keep trying.

Before you can interact with energy, you first have to know it's there. And before you can shield yourself from unwanted energies, you have to understand how you interact with them. 

Energy exchange is a language all its own and it's something that was critical to the survival of early man. The tribe shaman was the go-to guy for everything from physical and spiritual healing to energetically ensuring a successful hunt through his interaction with the spirit world. He was the most venerated person in the clan. That's how important this skill once was to us. My own instinct tells me we can't let this ability slip away. It's a part of us we can't afford to lose to evolution. And it's a part of us we'd be remiss not to explore in this lifetime. 

So play around with it today. Nobody else even has to know. And see what you can tune into. At the very least, the more tuned in you are, the more information you have to guide you toward success.

4/23/12—Being the Ripple

Today's Draw Classic*: Kizzie, my handsome boy. Do you know how significant your power is in the world? Do you realize that each and every day you make an impact on the overall vibration of humanity? How will you use your power today?

As many of you read last week, my brother was very ill. He passed into spirit this past weekend. I didn't have the time or energy tonight to do an entirely new entry, but I thought about an entry that I posted a couple of months ago and decided to use it as a basis for this entry....

The other day I saw something I've seen a million times. Only this time, I saw it in a completely different way. My dogs and I took a trip to the park and my boy, Kizzie, decided to go in the river for a dip (nevermind that it's the middle of winter). Anyway, as I saw him standing there, I noticed all the ripples issuing out with him at the center. Each time he moved, a new set of ripples would form. And the ripple effect of each motion would continue out into the river, despite the current. Despite anything. Indefinitely.

His presence was recorded throughout the river that day—through the ripples in the water, the displacement of the air around his ripples, by his ripples meeting the shore and bouncing back. In the same way, his presence was recorded throughout the universe.

Beyond that, on land, the wag of his tail, his body temperature and the sound of his breath had a similar effect in the environment around him, sending forth kinetic, sonic and heat waves from his body.

According to Wikipedia, a wave is a "disturbance (an oscillation) that travels through space and time, accompanied by the transfer of energy." Einstein's famous equation, E=MC2, posits that everything in the universe is energy. So what we see in the water above is Kizzie's energetic body having an effect on the water's energetic body. And since energy is never created or destroyed—only transferred—the effect he has is eternal. Pervasive. Ubiquitous.

Our lives work the same way. My brother had four children, so clearly his impact will be felt by generations and generations. But even if he never had a child, the same would be true. 

Imagine the kind of ripple effect even something as simple as a smile can create. You smile at someone and cause them them to smile and feel a little more part of this world. That changes them, even if ever so slightly in that moment, and that change is passed on to the others they encounter that day. The vibration they spread is just a smidge higher than it would have been. And the people they encounter are similarly raised. And so on. And so on. And it ripples around the world, back past the original smiler, indefinitely. 

Of course the same is true about being a grumpy gus.

But the point I'm making is that no matter how "small and insignificant" we are, the impact of our every breath and thought echoes out into the universe to create the "whole". And that impact continues long after our death. We're still benefiting from the simple work of the men who built the railroads, women who showed their independence and the early men and women who moved out of caves and built humanity's first communities. We're also still affected by the ripple created by those who never spoke up against Hitler, spread the belief that the earth was flat and sailed to Africa to grab people and make them slaves in the New World. 

All of those people were everyday people, motivated by the same things that motivate people today and cause them to make good, bad, normal, misinformed and inspired choices today. For better or for worse, each of those people and their collective groups are still making a difference today. As will your choices to recycle, use gasoline, eat meat or make myriad other choices that we can and cannot have the foresight to see the impact of in any given moment. 

The beautiful thing about this is that, regardless of what you believe about God and heaven, we live on in this very real way for eternity. We matter. No matter how normal and mundane our contributions. Do you think those railroad men, like my grandfather, felt like the kings of transportation, trade, information sharing, development and connection that they were? 

There is a reason for you being here. There was a reason my brother was here. And, even in his moment of death, he sent a ripple out that would change the way many people would consider their lives, even for a moment. There is nothing we do, nothing we are, that doesn't have this import in the lives around us and the lives around all those people, etc. 

You are the ripple. Everything you say and do today will be forever felt by the universe. How will you use your infinite power today?

*Today's entry was significantly adapted from 2/17/12's entry.

The Week of 2/19/12—Raising Your Vibration

The other day I saw something I've seen a million times. Only this time, I saw it in a completely different way...

My dogs and I took a trip to the park and my boy, Kizzie, decided to go in the river for a dip (nevermind that it's the middle of winter). Anyway, as I saw him standing there, I noticed all the ripples issuing out with him at the center. Each time he moved, a new set of ripples would form. And the ripple effect of each motion would continue out into the river, despite the current. Despite anything. Indefinitely.

His presence was recorded throughout the river that day—through the ripples in the water, the displacement of the air around his ripples, by his ripples meeting the shore and bouncing back. In the same way, his presence was recorded throughout the universe.

Beyond that, on land, the wag of his tail, his body temperature and the sound of his breath had a similar effect in the environment around him, sending forth kinetic, sonic and heat waves from his body.

According to Wikipedia, a wave is a "disturbance (an oscillation) that travels through space and time, accompanied by the transfer of energy." Einstein's famous equation, E=MC2, posits that everything in the universe is energy. So what we see in the water above is Kizzie's energetic body having an effect on the water's energetic body. And since energy is never created or destroyed—only transferred—the effect he has is eternal. Pervasive. Ubiquitous.

Taking this further into metaphysical realms, everything about you is energy, including your thoughts, as different synapses in your brain fire. Everything you do, everything you say, everything you think—everything—interacts with the universe. There's no place to run, no place to hide. 

I suppose one way to see this is to say the universe is like a highly sophisticated lie detector. In a lie detector test, your body physiologically responds if you tell a lie. Your heartbeat quickens, your temperature rises, etc. And that piece of equipment captures those measurements. 

Lie detectors can be beat, though. The universe can't. It detects the most subtle shifts in your energy—shifts your brain may not even be able to consciously record. And every shift creates a "disturbance that travels through space and time, accompanied by the transfer of energy." 

Everything we do and are is recorded in the universe. And everything we do and are creates a disturbance in the universe. And everything we do and are is detected by the energy in the universe, including other people, animals and things. When we're sad, the trees know it. When we lie, our dogs know it. When we crave, the wind knows it. The "knowing" may not be conscious, but it melds with the energies of all that is. It creates a "disturbance" in all that is. 

I'm constantly amazed at how small and insignificant, yet how powerful, we are in the universe. Through just our thoughts alone, we can create beauty or pain. I'm not a parent, but I hear parents say all the time "our kids have no idea we're arguing" or "the kids are too young to realize what's going on." And then there are single people like me who think, because we have no kids or partners, that our thoughts and actions have no impact on the world around us. 

Even if you're entirely alone, locked in a lead box, you're fooling yourself. The energy of your being is transferred out into the universe and is recorded by every other living on either a profound or subtle level, depending on how relevant it is to the being. Even alone in a lead box, the lead knows. And the disturbance you create in the lead echoes forth, transferring itself to everything else, forever reshaping the environment around you.

When people say "we create our own reality", we really do. Even if you don't believe in that 100%, you shape it with every bit of energy you put out. And you ARE energy, a perpetually vibrating wave, the amplitude and frequency of which shift subtly every millisecond of the day, reaching out to all of creation. 

Heavy, I know. But essential to everything from your own spiritual development to the fate of everything that has ever existed or ever will..."a disturbance that travels through space and time."

So as you move through your week, consider these thoughts: 

• What effect are you having on the universe in this moment? 
• What net effect will you have this week? 
• How will you shape your own reality with your next thought?
• What type of "disturbance" do you want to create in your environment moving forward?
• What kind of "disturbances" are you creating in your own body with the thoughts you have?

People in the woo-woo world often refer to their self-development and spiritual work as "raising their vibration" or "walking in the light". If you've heard these phrases and thought they were BS or didn't know what to think, now you know what we're talking about. At some point in a spiritual journey you will ask yourself what effect you have on others and how you can change the world...questions like that. The answer is, literally, never more than a thought away.