Thursday, May 26, 2011

On Dealing with Attacks


I was rooting around in some old folders and found this piece that I wrote, who knows how long ago, as it was undated. It has a strange power and clarity. Perhaps you will find a few useful nuggets. . .

Who is with me?

The Light is with you, sister.

Feel it and you activate it, then know the truth of it.


How do I get out of this entrapment in conflict?

Cease fighting.
Defending is attacking.


When I experience being attacked what do I do?

See the attacker in his or her fear, pain, and vulnerability.

Watch the attack in slow motion as though a movie.

Make no motion to defend. Just allow.
These are the winds of the physical plane, the human experience; storms arise and dissolve, the earth turns, the sun rises, sets, particles form and fall back into waves and all is drawn back into the changeless one.


I allow attack?

Be unconditionally present. Keep the Light in your eyes; it will see for you.

Do not retract into righteous re-action: indignation, retaliation, revenge, hate.

Do not narrow your eyes, harden your chest, leave your body. When you experience anything in unconditional presence, the other person is left alone with their actions and underlying thoughts. They may try to blame but they will not be able to project.


Won't I be hurt?

What is hurt? You are an eternal universal being! You hurt yourself by separating from the experience of this truth. A fear-generated action aimed at you is about the actor. It passes through you unless you stop it and hold onto it. If you believe you can be hurt, you have forgotten your true nature and must return to it.


Shouldn't I show the other person where they're making the mistake?

If you see a mistake it is in the space of the relating, in all the participants. Do not separate yourself from the others.
Bring the mistake inside your own awareness, your own body, and feel its tight twistedness. Feel how it separates you from the Peace and Smile.
Untwist and relax it in yourself, let the Light take it over and possess it. The Light will teach it. When you are smiling and at peace, look back at the others. Perhaps, magically, they too will have released the twist of their own accord.


Are there some people who are so deeply rooted in pain that they will never find the way out? Will they always resort to attacking?

No one will be lost; it is impossible to be separate from the one.
The small mind is powerless against that which is not oppositional.
The urge to fight exhausts and destroys personal will.
When there is surrender of the need for self-preservation, the Gift of Everything is bestowed and there is no past to remember to hold you to smallness.
You reconstitute into the one. Fighting is then meaningless and nonexistent. It never happened.

Copyright by Penney Peirce Communications, 2011

Saturday, May 21, 2011

The Shallows: This Is Your Brain Online

Try reading a book while doing a crossword puzzle, and that, says author Nicholas Carr, is what you're doing every time you use the Internet. Carr is the author of the Atlantic article Is Google Making Us Stupid? which he has expanded into a book, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains.

Carr believes that the Internet is a medium based on interruption — and it's changing the way people read and process information. We've come to associate the acquisition of wisdom with deep reading and solitary concentration, and he says there's not much of that to be found online.

Chronic Distraction
Carr started research for The Shallows after he noticed a change in his own ability to concentrate. "I'd sit down with a book, or a long article," he tells NPR's Robert Siegel, "and after a couple of pages my brain wanted to do what it does when I'm online: check e-mail, click on links, do some Googling, hop from page to page."

This chronic state of distraction "follows us" Carr argues, long after we shut down our computers. "Neuroscientists and psychologists have discovered that, even as adults, our brains are very plastic," Carr explains. "They're very malleable, they adapt at the cellular level to whatever we happen to be doing. And so the more time we spend surfing, and skimming, and scanning...the more adept we become at that mode of thinking."

You can read the rest of this article. . .and check Carr's blog at http://www.roughtype.com/

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

One Voice in Many: Part 8


I've been posting bits of an old manuscript I wrote in 1980 or so—and it's interesting to see that in my attempts then to merge into the collective consciousness and speak from that unified voice, so much of what was said is so simple and true today. The "We" voice could as easily be a divine voice inside anyone and everyone. Previous parts can be found on Jul 12, Aug 19, Aug 26, and Nov 4, 2010; Jan 15, Feb 9, and Mar 30, 2011.

GRATITUDE
Encourage yourself to get sunshine and laugh with people every day. Praise the earth in its beauty, harmony, and "good nature," then bring out your gratitude and live it. Gratitude connects you to the awareness of unity and opens doors to vision. Gratitude dissolves worry and allows spirit to enter your life in a direct way, literally, through in-spir-ation. As you grow through inspiration, so we also make spiritual progress upon our paths. So take care to be aware of the perfection of each present moment and complete every movement in a sacred way. Do not avoid being sacred yourself. Stop. Be. Face yourself now. If you do not, you will soon meet yourself coming, in every face you encounter. There is no escape from that which you never left. If there were, there would indeed be a Hell.

NONE OF THIS IS DIFFICULT
I must go with what I know and trust that an inkling will lead to a sure footing. Trust that one step allows the next. Persistence and patience are NOT difficult. Trust is not difficult. None of the steps that need to be taken is beyond our ability. The formula is easy: Remember who you really are—the Divine in form. Experience it by meditating and bringing the quality of meditation to your life. Know your natural condition is love and abundance. Have the courage to proceed on intuition or inner flashes, knowing these to be closer to truth than anything logic could devise.

We are so much creatures of habit and our bad habit is perceiving ourselves as separate. Call it the ultimate addiction. But being a servant to the Divine and each other is the greatest of privileges and when the limited mind sees that, it doesn't feel so threatened. It will not be cast aside. All Divine creations fit perfectly in the plan for unfoldment and expansion.

Copyright by Penney Peirce Communications 2011
The Hitchhiker by Peter Doig

Monday, May 16, 2011

Live Mastering Alchemy Webinar with Penney and Jim Self


Join Penney for the LIVE Mastering Alchemy Webinar with Host Jim Self, Monday May 23, 4-5:30pm PT; http://www.masteringalchemy.com/teleclasses.html; FREE; enroll at Jim's website. At least 2000 people will be participating via gotowebinar.com Jim and I have strong alignment in our understanding of what's happening in the world today. Join us if you can!!

Judging and Assessing Ourselves: Left Brain vs. Right Brain/Body/Heart


It's so easy, when you're focused in your left brain, to criticize yourself, to not "measure up." Remember that the left brain, which dominates the overall perception and mores of our Western culture, is isolated from the rest of the organism. In its action of analyzing and making meaning, it must separate to gain perspective and to describe the object of its attention. Thus it stands apart and can easily feel either that it is at the effect of a huge, unwieldy, dangerous world (victim-thinking), or that it is superior and "the leader" or even the dictator of what occurs (narcissism).

In reality, the left brain's compartmentalization helps to discriminate finite observations and a scientific, logical understanding of discrete facts. This is a fantastic ability, and not to be belittled. But the left brain doesn't know enough to run the world. The left brain focuses on provable facts and what it knows from the past. When you identify with your left brain, you too may feel isolated, fearful, and critical of ways of being that are not logical and structured, or based on history. You may tend to make authoritative declarative pronouncements about life, or project sharp criticisms onto others who don't align with your worldview.

I repeatedly see that I, and my clients, say that we are "stuck" when we are simply identifying ourselves with the limited options provided by our left brain. We know there is a bigger reality close at hand. We know things are meant to be effortless, and so much easier. We know that we want a much more expanded experience of love. Yet we hesitate to leave an abusive mate, or a job where we are surrounded by people who don't question reality, who don't want greater depth. We, and our culture, are so attached to a worldview rooted in skeptical, cynical left-brain dominance that we have forgotten what it's like to be a functioning, sharing, fluid, supported part of life's loving flow. We stand outside life and complain that we can't feel love, can't feel connectedness, don't feel like we belong. Here's the good news: We're experiencing life this way because we describe life to ourselves this way. Change the self-talk and your understanding changes, and as you really "get it" through and through, your life changes and expands.

I am sharing a section from my book, The Intuitive Way, about making the shift from the left brain worldview, which I call masculine awareness, into the right brain/intuitive worldview, which I call feminine awareness. When you can remember to do this, you'll immediately release the logjam of your stuckness and the flow will reappear, carrying you somewhere new.

SOFTENING YOUR AWARENESS: THE FEMININE MIND

Once you’ve made peace with your surroundings and assured your body that it will be safe, it’s time to activate your intuition. It starts with a shift into softness.

First, though, think how you feel when you’re concentrating on pushing hard to meet a deadline and do an excellent job. Your brow is probably furrowed, you’re bent to your task, all distracting input effectively shut out. This is what I call the “masculine mind,” because to accomplish specific goals, both men and women must use dynamic male energy. We’re in our left-brained “masculine mind” so often, we’ve come to identify it as normal. We forget there is an equally powerful, complementary state of consciousness, which is tension-free: the “feminine mind.” Here’s how you can tell if you’re using the feminine mind: 1) you’re not in a hurry; 2) you don’t have an opinion; 3) you don’t need to change anything; 4) if it changes, that’s OK too; 5) you’re willing to wait and see; 6) you’re content with yourself. How often do you intentionally enter this state of mind?

Lao Tsu says, “Be aware of your masculine nature; But by keeping the feminine way, You shall be to the world like a canyon, Where the Virtue eternal abides, And go back to become as a child.” Intuition starts when the masculine mind stops. Since we push ourselves to maintain focus and goal-orientation so relentlessly these days, when it’s time to shift into softness, it often happens unconsciously. Something just “comes over us,” makes us space out and temporarily turn into zombies. With so many deadlines to keep, the unconscious shift toward intuitive knowing can at first feel like some sort of sabotage, or the early onslaught of senility! We can avoid this blurry “nobody’s home” feeling by becoming conscious of the stages of feminine awareness. Next time you notice that you’re wound too tight, or you’re too far ahead of yourself, try this:

NOTICE WHAT IS
Relax your brain-mind then draw your attention back to your body, redirecting it to start noticing details of your current physical state. Follow your breath in and out. Come inside your skin. Slow down enough to describe the things you feel in a simple fashion, just the way they are, as though you’re taking inventory. “I notice I’m sitting in my desk chair; there’s some tension between my shoulder blades, my feet are crossed at the ankles. I notice a slight nervous feeling at the base of my sternum. I am hungry. I can feel my pulse in the bottoms of my feet.” By noticing things, you connect with your world. Connectedness spawns intuition.

In these times of rapid growth, it's important to cultivate the habit of catching yourself when you've identified yourself with the left brain's worldview, and make a conscious choice to shift to the right brain/body/heart/cells/personal energy field worldview, which is characterized by immersion and nonseparation, or total belonging and participation in the unified field of life. When you do you will experience love in an entirely new way.

Copyright by Penney Peirce Communications 2011

Discover the Gift Blog

You can read Penney's contribution to the Discover the Gift blog at http://discoverthegift.com/penney-peirce-empath-and-visionary-on-the-intuition-age

Penney is one of the contributors to the excellent new film, which will be in stores in mid-June.


Friday, May 13, 2011

Healing with Secret Love


Several dear friends of mine, married couples, are dealing with the healing of cancer in one person in their relationship. This is always a test of courage and a challenge to each person to call forth the soul to infuse and dissolve the fear that clings to us, and which we hold partly because our family and our culture value negative drama. When one person materializes the illness, I sense that the other person holds the latent pattern of it, like a negative and its corresponding positive print. The healing of one is the healing of both. It is "fear of something" that has caused the contraction and internal panic in the cells of both people—and the healing is the deep relaxation and return to the true spiritual nature, through and through, in both people. No gaps, no holdouts, no yes-buts, no withholds. There is a sort of total surrender to the love of spirit that is required. A new experience of faith in our true nature.

In one couple, the cancer-manifesting partner recently materialized a car accident which totaled the auto of their partner, but left not a scratch on the cancer-manifesting person. The car was nearly pulverized. And yet, the cancer-manifesting person was protected and released from tragedy. Thinking of the people, I heard: "The car is showing you how much better off you are than it is. It's sending you a message that you are going to heal." In actuality, the car was entirely replaced by the insurance company and new life and capacity for forward movement ensued. I couldn't help but feel that the car, in all its loving consciousness, sacrificed itself to move energy into its people; to give life. More and more lately, I've been experiencing the reality of the life force, and love, that exist inside supposedly inanimate objects. Everything is alive! Everything is full of love.

My friends' "death" of their beloved car reminded me of an experience I had many years ago, when I went out for a hike after a big rainstorm, on Mt. Tamalpais in Mill Valley, CA. It was on a stretch of trail that led through a redwood forest, and it was foggy and the moss was bright green and standing at attention, dripping with moisture, when I came across 3 redwood trees that had fallen during the night. It moved me almost to tears and I wrote the following poem. We never know what sentient beings have given up their lives so that we might receive a burst of vitality and renewal, that we might carry on. Let us never forget to give thanks, even to what we might not be able to identify as the cause of our beneficence.


SECRET LOVE

during the night
while everyone slept
and the downpour flooded our dreams
3 noble redwoods
in a divine triangle
fell all at once
in the rain-soaked woods,
gave up their grip

on this watery earth

crashed away from center

and far away from those
they saved,
now in silent sacrifice

they lie, cradled
in the arms of their friends,

pointing out


copyright by Penney Peirce 2011
Illustration by Sarah Hollander