Articles Tagged ‘self-discovery’

True Power ... Finding the Depths of the Power Within

59977 4834331052687 321389601 nTrue power is... what is the answer? Do you know? Some would say money, some would say knowledge, yet still others would say control. The answer lies in your heart.

Many books and articles have been written about power, how to achieve it, attain and keep it, and what to do with it once you get it. Good power vs. bad. Right vs. wrong. Healthy vs. unhealthy. The different layers and levels of power, powering over, under and within. A little known fact: The heart holds the key to true and authentic power.

The way to find the answers in your heart seem at once easy and the most difficult thing you'd ever take on as a human. We are still uncovering so many truths to our existence as these wondrously made individuals that this task seems insurmountable. Coming from a pure esoteric perspective there absolutely are NO WORDS to describe any of this power or miracles we are living. Why do you think there are so many teachers who say almost nothing?! They can't! It's too amazing of a ride. They try tho. Yet, there are no words to describe this magnificence. However, I am going to give it a 'college try' and attempt to bridge this gap for you with my own understanding and experience with pure power, and show you how this is an every day, correction, every moment experience.

First, to be clear, I have observed three categories of realization and main levels of awareness:

  • Most people think, on some if not many levels, this whole "living thing" is boring, a waste of time, and very tiresome. They find no meaning in anything anymore. They are in such great despair. They have become cynical in their nature, violent and angry against the world  There are inner reasons for this which stem from a lot of self-worth issues and belief systems, but suffice it to say that the majority of folks just do the daily grind and can't stand it anymore  This perception of love is definitely service-to-self.
  • Some people are aware that they are on some sort of a spiritual quest. They go to work and/or school every day just like everybody else but they do things in their off-time a bit differently. They purchase volumes of inspirational material, attend churches, immerse themselves in different religions, and meditate and pray, and so on. It is like they surrounding themselves with so much yet they are still so cut off from the truth of it. They are going through the motions. Sometimes you think you are really getting it and then you are faced with the day-to-day struggles of life and sometimes you fall backwards into category #1 with the majority of people. This perception of love is mostly service-to-self with glimpses of service-to-others trying to peek through the mire
  • Few people in the world do know one thing..... true power is love. This is ultimate service-to-others, or... The All That Is. This is the true place of power

 

How do we get to #3? The best way is through experience. For example, I stepped up my pace on my spiritual path years ago, very intensely and am now well immersed in the beauty of blessings (or power) in my life on a moment-to-moment basis. For most of my life; however, I was in the first level. What happened to me?! Well, a few events catapulted me into this new phase of be-ing; however, overall my life has been a mixture of all three of these categories at once. You could liken my life to my favorite pistachio and orange sherbert ice cream cone.

  1. The first layer,most of the ice cream cone is a large scoope of that first layer, the delicious pistachio layer, loaded with lots of nutty people and situations. The first layer encompasses the majority of my life and is a juicy layer I can draw upon to use as a great vehicle for understanding and wisdom. No regrets, no judgment, but chock full of experience; choosing to remain, not the victim of my life's choices, but its volunteer.
  2. The second layer is the yummy orange sherbet layer. The yummy orange sherbet is the layer where I do the bulk of my of searching and growing; knowing there is definitely something else going on in the world besides getting up, brushing my teeth and hitting the daily grind. Thankfully!
  3. The third layer - the Cherry on Top layer - is the ultimate. It is only when you really realize your own value that you achieve this level. I am not referring to an egomaniac type of self-worth or self-love, but the true love of self which encompasses everything.

What lies beneath all this delectable wonderment as the foundation? Why, none other than the sugar cone base, of course. the shape of the cone's base is  sort of an inverted triangle. Interesting how the Creator has had us create ice cream out of our own image. HA! Think about the significance of this. At least one reason is, it holds up the other three layers, supports and keeps them together. And, its easy to hold in your hand.

Ever since I moved out of the pistachio stage of my life, and moved through the seemingly wonderful orange sherbet stage, I have discovered a great cherry topping truth:  The simplest of all things in life is love.

Be the change you want to see in the world - Mahatma Gandhi

In the end, I have found that love is the answer. It is so.  In these recent years of my life, I have allowed myself to stay open to all possibilities and the truth of the matter is.... love has come in a myriad of ways including the relationship within one's self.

In order to get to the Cherry Topping you must be open, open, open to all possibilities and opportunities. I once explained this to a dear friend of mine, who is analytical in nature and very pragmatic. I appealed to this side of her be-ing. When we go through the daily grind, every now and again, something "weird" happens like the phone rings and we just know who is on the other line. Hmmm. How did we do that? Synchronicity... we suddenly remember where we have misplaced an item we lost and go to the spot and there it is. We think of someone and they phone us on the spot,...this is called serendipity or synchronicity or sync (for short).

Sync happens all the time around us and is the tip of the iceberg of truth, but its a way to start you to understanding what all the hubbub is about. Sync happens all around us and is a part of who we are.  If we just take the time to stop and see the little "ironies" around us and realize they are not just ironies but truths and ways our spiritual side is trying to get our attention, then we will start to "see" with our inner self. What is sync other than listening to God/YHWH (Holy Spirit/Shekinah/Ruach Ha Kodoish) from within.

We have two eyes and two ears but one mouth.
So, hear (listen) and see (watch) more and
(Shhhh!) keep your mouth (ego) quiet.

What happens when a person starts to "see" things and become self-aware? More and more things begin to occur and you are now exposed to other types of people who just happen to "pop" into your life. The more you remain open, the more opportunities abound; then you are in the orange sherbet stage of life and going full-steam-ahead into the great Cherry Top. This is sort of intermingling the top and middle of the ice cream cone. Some people say that a veil is being lifted at this stage. That is a true statement, too. There are lots of analogies and metaphors used to describe this exciting process.

Little Ego True Power is... An Ice Cream Cone?! - by Deidre MadsenLet's take a closer look at the word "POWER."  What is power?  n. The act, ability, and presumed authority to wield or exert force and strength. In our discussion of power, we realize that by the time you reach the great Cherry Topping Truth, you know what power truly is. Power is love. And love as we know it is not just a simple often misused word, it is the force or power behind all things seen and unseen. When we realize what it takes to wield such power we then come to ego. For without ego we cannot understand the 'cause and effect' of a thing. With ego; however, we can use wise discernment. There is nothing wrong with ego; I tuck my little ego into bed every night with a goodnight kiss. So, you learn how everything in life is equally important, none more than the other, but at least now you know what to do when your ego starts to cry and whine for a bottle.

How to transcend the ego? Read this powerful excerpt from:

[EXCERPTED FROM HAPPILY INNER AFTER: A GUIDE TO GETTING & KEEPING AMOUR]:

Three Types of Power: Over, Under and Inner

The first type of power is known as powering over or overpowering someone, and typically is tyrannical in nature. Often, tyrants frighten others by using their intense presence and in-your-face aggressive behavior. Tyrants will utilize this power to dominate or overpower situations in order to get what they want. This is known as an external, masculine, and outwardly aggressive power. When a tyrannical man or woman has to control their partner’s every move they are not allowing them to be who they are. Letting a man be a man is oftentimes scary for women and allowing a woman to be a woman terrifies some men; they are so afraid of being cheated on or lied to.

 

The second type of power is called powering under or under powering someone, and is manipulative in nature. An underhanded, manipulative passive-aggressive individual will typically display an innocent, and even nice, external demeanor. However, this type of power will use under-the-table actions and go behind other people’s backs in order to accomplish their desired results. They often use a tremendous amount of guilt inducing tactics on their victims. By doing this, their victims become passive enough to become compliant and simply follow their willful agenda. This is known as an internal, feminine, inner and passively aggressive power.

 

Powering over and powering under are forms of overt and covert control, respectively. This type of control of a person, place or thing always stems from fear. Often, our childhood parental figures evinced either or both types of the powers — powering over and powering under. We inherit patterned behaviors due to conditioning from seeing continuously repeated actions over a number of years.

 

These learned behaviors often make it difficult to build healthy, mutually beneficial relationships with others. Due to our own actions and attitudes, we begin to attract certain situations and events that are consistent with what we are familiar with. The repeating pattern cycle continues until we finally choose to make peace with the fact that we need to change, and heal ourselves by self-correction and self-parenting. This prevents duplicating uncomfortable situations in our individual futures.

 

Our world is a reflection of ourselves. We can gauge our progress by looking at our mirror and comparing what we see there, with where we would like to be our journey to self-improvement. If you were standing in front of a mirror with messy hair, you wouldn’t take your hairbrush and start to brush the reflection you see in the mirror. Rather, you would brush your own hair until you see the reflection in the mirror transform into how you want your hair to appear. However, more often than not I observe people attempting to brush their mirror reflections in a powerless attempt to fix their lives and loves. There are a lot of scratched up mirrors out there.

 

Now the ultimate power is that which comes from within – powering within or inner power. Like the S-curve space between the yin and yang, it is always clear and balanced. That type of power appears in a person who remains strong and solid, yet compassionate and caring. Their ego does not engage defensively. They are not prone to reactive behavior, but instead practice responding to life.

 

It is easy to feel at ease around them. They make everyone feel safe, in the truest sense. These are often the world’s great leaders and healers, gurus and visionaries. They are the sweet, grandmotherly woman next door, who always finds time and energy to lend a helping hand. They are the wise man and sage. Great examples would be Mother Theresa or Indira Gandhi.

 

Our natural happy place is to be in a life of balance. It is wise to pay attention when we are getting out of balance, either powering over or powering under, which is caused by being in the extremes of fear. We live in fearbecause we have lost our center. We cannot find the balance between the hemispheres within our being — that inner calm place. The ways that men and women demonstrate these behaviors are usually different.

 

For example: A man may have been in a past relationship where he dated, or was married to a woman known as a trophy wife. A trophy wife is the epitome of whom some men wish to envision as their divine, beautiful, feminine goddess. Oftentimes, this woman is sitting all alone on a little shelf, where her husband has placed her. Every now and then, her husband will take her down from the shelf, dust her off, and make her all shiny and pretty. Once his attention is diverted away, he replaces her up there again, and goes about his day.

 

The really sad part of this scenario is that the trophy wife isn’t even aware that she is living in a cage. Finally, after possibly years of living like this, she tries to leave the relationship, but she realizes, ‘Oh, my gosh! I have a tether attached to my ankle!’ Even though the cage door is open, she has an invisible leash that tries to prevent her from leaving. The man will desperately hold on to his trophy wife. He doesn’t realize that he is trying to possess the very thing he is missing within his own heart — his own feminine side, or the other half of himself.

 

A woman will often choose someone who starts off exhibiting superhero like qualities, only to browbeat him when he fails her, or falls short of her ever-demanding expectations. That poor man is carrying a huge emotional burden on his shoulders, and may feel trapped by her demands, especially if he is struggling with his self-esteem already.

 

Every woman has to find the knight in shining amourwithin herself first, before she can expect it to manifest in her outer world. Women cannot expect the men to carry the brunt of their needs for them. Ultimately, no man can be all that a woman needs him to be. Every woman must find that amazing go-to guy within themselves — that inner Adonis, who fulfills their wildest dreams.

 

It is the desire for the perfect companion in our lives that causes romance novels to be so popular. Those book covers usually depict a perfectly fit and stunning ‘Fabio’ kissing a gorgeous, half-dressed woman simply because most women yearn for a superhero of their own.

 

The balance of power in relationships regularly shifts between the man being the masculine and the woman being the masculine to the man being the feminine and the woman being the feminine. Finding the balance between these power shifts (and being aware that it is natural to have shifts of power and movement), is a great key to successful relationships.

We now come to the ultimate Cherry Top!  The creme de la creme... we enter our Inner and Outer Divine Marriage. Now that we are in this space.... this great Cherry Topping space... it all comes down to understanding that it isn't enough to love. To simply love is one thing but to love love with a com-passion for loving love, that is where it gets not only confusing but once you figure it out... very exciting. Sure it is important to love the birds, trees, flowers, rocks, water, animals.... but it is not really them that you are loving... what you are loving is love itself. There is an underlying truth of absolute love to everything, it is within every molecule of life, every raindrop, every atom and proton, ever star in space and every baby's coo. It is in the sound of the waves crashing a shoreline or the soft snore of a fuzzy dog or cat in your lap. Yet even at that it is not the thing you are focusing your attention on but the feeling inside of you that is the love in and of itself. I hope I have not completely baffled you altogether.

The glorious process to the top of the ice cream cone comes with great, great rewards and one of them is the reuniting of many people to their "other halves" which takes the little ego down even smaller, so much so that it's possible to tuck it into a pocket at night no longer needing the baby bed.  (Don't laugh, I used to have to provide it its own house with a king-size bed.) The power that comes from this level of love is what all the poets and lyricists in the world write about. This is IT! This is well worth all of it.

Here is the funniest part of this whole story - or ironic part - the ice cream cone has taken on a new form - the Cherry on the top is the largest and most powerful part of the entire confection. The seemingly most difficult part to get to is really the easiest and fullest. Life is now so filled with wonderment and glory, each and every day, I cannot imagine life any differently anymore. Everyone can experience this power.

If you want to view what it looks like from the top of that ice cream cone? Stand on that cherry top. Stand up there where the twinkling stars are. That is where your perspective on life is transformed. That is where the heart of everything is, the cherry reminds me of a big beautiful heart. It is the biggest part of this delicious adventure called LIFE.

"Man has only to know this simple truth consciously, and then he will be free. Spiritual consciousness is both the reason and the summit of human evolution, and its true nature is beyond words. Words are merely invented symbols of human ideation, but spirituality is a wordless and timeless state of eternal beautitide. He who has attained this state of consciousness truly knows that he is a free spirit, as he is truly God. He lives in the eternal realms of spiritual liberation, for he is a liberated soul.  He has risen unto his True Home on the celestial symphony of salvation. This is the true heaven, where freedom and love eternally reign.  Go to that point where you started your journey,"  "...you must complete that task which has been ordained for you. You will again return joyfully to the Abode of Love." - by George Arnsby Jones, The Pilgrimage of James, An Odyssey of Inner Space, Peacehaven.

the great cherry topping truth  True Power is... An Ice Cream Cone?!

The next time you are at an Ice Creamery,
order a Cherry for the top... YOU are worth it!

Always and forever growing, learning and loving,

Deidre

 

 

 

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