Presence is Resonance

I’ve been practicing letting things go for a while now, putting them in the rear view mirror as it were. I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to let go of some really big stuff, life changing stuff. I could have engaged with any of it but the only thing that would have happened was more drama, so I decided to move around it and put it in the rear view mirror. I really don’t know why I began doing this, because it’s not like me at all. But for whatever reason I don’t engage as much as I used to, unless it’s something that I have no choice about. Then I tend to be as quiet about it as possible. Truly out of character.

I suppose I had reached a breaking point back then. I just couldn’t live in drama anymore. Decisions were made and our lives took a decidedly different turn. Best. Decision. Ever. Obstacles continued to be tossed in our way and we moved around them, dealing only with what we absolutely needed to. The constrictive force of resistance had become too much for me. I was suffocating under its pressure. And because I’m an empath, that’s exactly how it felt. I had had enough.

We focus into form with an intention to experience everything we can. We’re not here to judge, for then we make the collective illusion real. The past becomes our home, rather than the creative present. Presence is resonance. Anything else is subjective, therefore shaky and unstable. A Course in Miracles teaches that we give everything the meaning it has. We create our own reality. I remember thinking when I first read this profound statement, that it meant that everyone who had ever done me wrong was now off the hook. After all, it’s my creation. But this is not simply a mental exercise. It’s telling us that we are the creators of the physical universe around us. If true, then we’re manifesting this odd, all too often volatile, world we find ourselves in.

Viewed dispassionately, we can observe the volatility around us without becoming involved in it energetically. Try feeling it that way, and then react the way you normally would. Feel the difference. Hold no attachment to either feeling. Just feel it. Even now when I practice that, particularly if I’m experiencing something provocative from someone else, I feel the witch energy rising from the ground beneath my feet and straight up to my heart chakra where it pulsates, waiting for me to do something with it. As soon as I feel it rise, I breathe in the white light of Source, blending it with the blue flame of witch energy, and consciously breathe out love. I find when I can summon the focus to do that, I return to alignment more quickly. Plus, I feel better in the process.

The Course also tells me that I’m never angry or upset for the reason I think I am. Oh how nice. Except that I’ve discovered, at least for me, it’s true. If I become upset with another’s view, then it’s my ego reacting to the situation, nothing more. My focus is now too attached to the illusion around me. I’m not moving forward, but instead treading emotionally charged water, and there’s rarely any life or death reason for me to be there. And since my ego isn’t real, but part of the weird illusion of physical form, it makes no real sense to live there.

There’s a workbook for students and a manual for teachers accompanying the Course, and for me, I think both helped me to detach from the impact of the world a little more, which was a blessing given how deeply I experience it all. I can’t always tell where I begin and others leave off, so a little detachment has helped immensely. I can always see things another way. Sometimes it takes several days, but it does happen eventually.

I’m the sort of empath that lives more outside the body than in. It’s like I woke up in physical form and said, are you kidding me? I actually wanted to do this again? I’ve read a percentage of empaths are like this, so it is what it is I guess. But the other thing I’ve always done is to try to balance energies within the chaos, infusing them with positive energy in an effort to calm things down. Unfortunately it ends up feeling like I’m in an endless loop energywise, so I clearly needed another approach. If I’m capable of participating in the collective creation of the universe, then I can surely see a different reality around me, seeing only that which supports love and harmony.

We have same sex marriage throughout the country now because a shift in the way we see it occured. A woman and a Socialist each have the best chance of becoming president in this country the next time around. Did we ever think that would be true? A little shift in attention. A little shift in focus. It began when we elected Barack Obama, that little nudge in the direction of living in truth. We give up nothing when we come together in harmony and we gain everything.

Call it dialing it back a notch or two, call it whatever you want, but choose fewer battles. I put a sign up in our dojo back in the day that quoted Grandmaster Parker saying, “grace me with your presence, not your nonsense.” Given that witches never suffer fools well, it resonated. Besides, the students were accustomed to Mr. Parker’s vignettes adorning the walls. He always had a sense of humor about him while simultaneously making his point. As a side note, he also said, “he who hesitates, meditates, in the horizontal position”, which I thought was hilarious, and I could never spar with anyone without wishing for a whole bunch of hesitation. Black Belts are an odd bunch..which makes an odd sort of sense if you are one. Anyway, the idea was that you are responsible for whatever energy you bring to the moment. Especially when others are out of control. You can inflame a volatile situation or subdue it by the choice you make.

In Kenpo, there are three positions, offense, defense and the bystander. We need to spend more time being the bystander and less time engaging in stuff that tomorrow we’ll forget all about. It’s that whole, we give everything the meaning it has, notion again. Give it a more neutral meaning and see the effect it has at diffusing the tension both within and around you. Hold that resonance, irrespective of the circumstances surrounding you, observing its effect. How does it feel? If you’re accustomed to reacting all the time, it may feel uncomfortable. But once you awaken that possibility within, you may just find yourself drawn to resonance in lieu of reaction. Observe, rather than react.

In Kenpo, reacting is always a last resort. We teach our students that responding with their art is never the first choice. It’s running. If that’s not possible then you respond only with what’s necessary to stop whatever is happening. A measured response based on the needs of the situation, not how you feel about it. There’s no time for that. There’s only the process necessary to achieve the desired result..one move flowing into another, in survival of that moment.

Reacting is holding resistance. And that impedes flow which in turn affects resonance. Our flow, or our chi, is our creative life force. How much does the self imposed conflict in which we engage matter at the end of the day? Does it matter more than our peace of mind? Negative emotion, while a very normal part of our lives, compromises outcomes and it’s not our natural state of loving creativity. It’s a choice. We don’t need to judge anyone for feeling or expressing it. It’s only something to observe, witness the effect of, and then move past it to a more positive expression achieving a more present moment focus and resonance.

A little food for thought from the resident Crone..

~Blessed Be

The bindrune at the top blends Hagalaz, Isa and Nauthiz..stillness within the chaos.

Oh, and the quotes from Grandmaster Parker were from The Zen of Kenpo and  A Course in Miracles is just that..and it’s a required one at that..