Every part of a system informs the whole, and the whole informs every part. As a part of humanity, Earth, the cosmos and the patterns that extend even further, we are each a part of something larger than our individuality. Use this affirmation, “I am open,” to remember that we have the ability to choose to include any amount of the information that comes from “beyond us” in our daily lives.
Some call it channeling, some call it mediumship, some call it psychic, but today we are going to call it open. We are going to call it human. The practice of becoming open involves two key pieces.
The first is awareness. It is awareness that brings us closer to our goals and reminds us to stay on our path when we are tempted to stray. Becoming aware of who we are, and why we work the way we do as an individual, allows us to better work with our patterns and break out of cycles that keep us feeling repressed rather than free. Awareness of our own inner-workings is also what gives us the insight we need to see how we fit into the bigger picture and thus how we can collaborate with those around us to bring our gifts to larger systems. Working in groups is what frees us the most quickly and efficiently. When we connect with others who are sharing themselves authentically, our true power is mirrored back to us. As we have discussed in months past, our true power is our power to choose. To stay centered in that power we must sustain our awareness. As we practice becoming and remaining aware of what is going on within us, or, our “inner-experience,” we also become aware of how we are connected to everything that is beyond us and how to include that information in our lives by opening up channels by which information is able to travel.
The second key to becoming open is safety. It is through the practice of cultivating safety for ourselves that we are able to choose openness, or vulnerability, without our physiological and psychological mechanisms fighting to protect us from danger. This is crucial. We are all designed to stay alive by all means necessary and our systems will reorganize in any moment to ensure our survival. Awareness of our thoughts, feelings and bodies frees us from the memories of the times when we were unsafe so that in the present moment we do not recreate the need for protection when we are triggered by a similar stimulus, but no real threat is present. Through this practice of creating safety we come to find that fear itself is often what sends us into the “fight or flight” mode. The fear might come from an internal stimulus such as a thought, or from an external stimulus such as a sight, sound or smell. Here we can see the bridge between our internal senses and external senses and how our sensory experience is not limited to one or the other; bridges exist between the two. The bridge between our external world and our internal world is emotion. It is awareness of emotion, or “feeling,” that brings us into the position where we are able to access all information available to us in any given moment. It is feeling that allows us to be open.
So, we talked about awareness, which is recognizing the emotional bridges between our internal experience and external experience. We talked about the importance of cultivating safety for ourselves so that we can begin to make choices that break cycles and patterns of protection and move us gently into a state of freedom. Now we need to talk about the “how.” How do we cultivate the safety necessary for openness to become our new normal? Lastly, we will touch on the “why.” Why do we want to be open?
We create safety for ourselves in two ways. One is to notice our triggers, be they external or internal, and introduce an alternative response. This is a practice, as all things are. Be easy with yourself. The first step to moving from a “reaction” or “protective response” into openness or a “heart-centered response” is to validate any emotion that comes up by allowing ourselves to feel it. As we do this we will notice that the roots of the emotion come into our awareness. We might have memories come back to us that show us the cause of the trigger or the initial experience where that emotion was not allowed to be fully felt and integrated. This lack of integration or feeling, in the moment that an emotion arises, is what causes a pattern to begin in which the emotion will come up again and again and again in response to a trigger. We free ourselves when we allow ourselves to feel and we feel when we are safe enough. Choosing to feel is synonymous with both openness and self-love. As we create the safe space for emotions to be felt, we are validating them. We allow them to inform our system and then transform into something else. They do their job and then they go off the clock.
This practice of feeling is what brings us out of patterns of thought and behavior that keep us continually choosing protection rather than freedom. Choosing freedom is where we will see movement in our lives that looks like synchronicity, support, opportunities, self-development and healing. Remember, your story is yours to keep but how you tell it is your choice. It is always safe to release an experience to your past so that you can be free in the present. I liken this to walking around with a filter. If we are holding onto parts of our past that we did not feel safe enough to feel, or integrate, in the moment, then we introduce that old filter to all new experiences and we make each new choice from that place of not feeling safe. When we release our past we come into each new moment fresh and clean with only our true authentic desire, our heart, as our compass. It is always more beneficial to make choices from that space.
The second way that we create safety for ourselves is to take inspired action. When we notice something in our external environment that is not supportive, that does not give us the space to feel and listen to our authentic desire, then we need to change our environment. This is internal work but it is also external. Do not sit around and try to master your internal experience without taking action to change the things that you notice are not creating a safe space for you. This could be leaving a relationship, moving, rearranging your space, changing your job, joining a group, taking a new way to work each morning, eating different foods, quitting alcohol or caffeine, finding new friends, trying new activities or getting outside more often. Any number of large or small changes to our external environment can provide the safety we need to include more information from the vast “whole” that we are a part of, in every moment. This is a process, and as our awareness increases inside, we also become aware of what action we can take to support ourselves.
We want to be open because to be open is to give and receive love. Love is the most powerful force that exists; it creates space, it bridges seemingly impassible gaps, it joins and unites. Love is balance. Love is the force of collaboration. It is the force that brings solutions to problems with ease and minimal effort. It is support. Love heals.
Invite openness as your new way of being with the affirmation, “I am open,” and watch to see how the pieces of your life rearrange. You will find new understanding as to how you relate to what is around you and how you relate to your own past. Openness will free you so you are able to move into your most authentic self and find the means of expression that allow you to share your gifts with the world and recognize your support every step of the way.
As always, check back on my columns from December 2018 through now to find even more depth and support for the concepts we’ve discussed here today and reach out to me personally with any questions. Continue this conversation within all of the circles you are a part of and we will, indeed, change the world.