By the grace of dog

After a Denver television anchor was bitten in the face by a dog on live TV, she had two choices in telling her story. She could continue in her role as journalist and give official, cut-and-dried details of her recovery. Or, she could consciously create a story of healing and acceptance. Kyle Dyer chose creation.

The story has been well documented in Denver media and on the web. Max, an Argentine mastiff, had fallen through a frozen lake the day before and was rescued by a local paramedic. Kyle interviewed the dog’s owner and the paramedic the next morning. The interview had been going well; Max was sitting quietly and accepting pets from Kyle. Toward the end of the interview, Kyle did what many dog lovers would do: she leaned in to give the dog a hug. Max lurched forward and bit her right on the face. Kyle quickly leaned back, covered her mouth and the station cut to commercial.

News and video clips, of the accident went viral. Within hours, the web was full of stories, replays and conversations about the bite. Reader’s flooded comments on the station’s Facebook page in a barrage of both positive and negative statements. Even other reporters at the station were receiving mixed feedback on their own social media pages. The story took on a life of its own. People were concerned about Kyle and about the dog, which had been taken immediately into quarantine for 10 days. People were also angry about the incident.  No one was safe from criticism: the dog, Kyle, the dog’s owner, the television station. As happens in emergencies, people wanted someone to blame.

Blame seemed to be the furthest from Kyle’s mind in the days after the accident. She underwent hours of reconstructive surgery on her face to repair her upper lip and part of her nose. Skin grafts, additional surgeries and rest at home were the immediate mainstays for the journalist while she processed what had happened. Here’s where Kyle’s conscious creation story starts to take off.

“It’s a shame some negative stuff had to come out of all of this because, for me, it’s really been in an odd way a positive experience,” Kyle said to the Denver Post in an interview after her stitches were removed. That sounds like an odd statement from someone who just had a substantial amount of reconstructive surgery, but as Kyle began to tell her own story, she had the chance to focus on what was important to her.

Rather than focus on blame, disappointment and anger, Kyle turned her attention to her family. During her hospital stay, she wanted to make sure her own family knew what had happened before they saw it on television or social media. Already, she was taking her attention off of the incident – an important part of conscious creation. She didn’t focus on the negative comments that were streaming forth in the media. Instead, she started going through the hundreds and hundreds of cards, letters and posts to her Facebook wall that were supportive. And there were lots of them. She says she was overwhelmed with all of the outpouring of support from people who “only know her from TV.”

In the two weeks after the accident, Kyle couldn’t use her mouth to speak. She passed along quick notes to co-workers and viewers with notes on social media, but people were still anxious. The “story” was still generating it’s own energy and people around the world were hungry for more information. Viewers wanted to know the extent of her injuries. Animal welfare groups wanted to make sure the dog was okay. Journalists wanted to debate the ethics of the station’s handling of the incident.

Her own news station was first to show pictures of her face after surgery, a face besieged by 70 stitches and deep scaring. After the stitches were out, Kyle agreed to an interview with her morning show co-host so she could put her own “official” story into the record. Again, Kyle was exercising her option to tell the story the way she wanted to tell it. Yes, the station was in the middle of a ratings period where high viewership is important. The general populace and media bloggers all caught onto that. But Kyle was able to use that to her benefit. If she’s going to tell her story the way she wants to, why not do it with a large audience watching?

The Kyle Dyer people see on television every morning is a happy, positive person. Most would call is a “television persona,” as she has a very pleasant disposition for morning TV. But the truth is, Kyle is a naturally optimistic person. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her several times and I’m always struck at her presence and optimism. It seems to exude from her at high levels. This optimism has kept her going during her healing and is representative of some of the basics of Honoring Your Spirit.

Kyle is an awesome example of turning your thoughts to a desired outcome. When asked to summarize the incident, she told her co-worker, “I’m doing better. The dog is back with his family. It’s time to move on.” The journalist refuses to give in to negativity and blame. She has been very clear about her concern for the dog, the dog’s owners and others who have been affected by the incident. She sees positivity in the series of canine behavior stories her station ran after the injury.

For me, Kyle’s most heart-warming and effective use of conscious creation comes from her attitude toward life. It’s a premise that crosses many different religions and spiritual camps, but it’s a biggie: trust. Trust in the universe—or God, or All That Is, or whatever term you prefer—is one of the greatest healing energies available. A profound trust in the universe is hard to fake and people who have it have the world at their doorstep. Kyle’s deep faith has been showcased a lot in the past few weeks, and I think she says it best when defending her own reaction to the incident.

“I just had a feeling—and still do—that everything is going to be okay,” she said in an interview. Great words from an unknowing conscious creator and a woman who truly understands what Honoring Your Spirit is all about.

Everything is well: intuitive hits through impulses

Part of Honoring Your Spirit is to fully understand that we are multidimensional beings. Not everything that happens can be rationally explained with hardcore facts and figures. It’s one thing to intellectually understand that we are multidimensional and another to experience it, even if it’s just a small, slight example.

Last week I was feeling a bit anxious that I hadn’t heard from a friend of mine in an online discussion group. Allison and I talk frequently and usually exchange emails at least a few times a day. There are days where we don’t hear from one another, so I was intrigued with my anxiousness this time. As I thought about it, I “concluded” that my intellect and ego were getting the better of me, that there really wasn’t anything to be concerned about. She was probably just enjoying the weekend or had gone somewhere with her husband. No big deal.

On Tuesday, I finally received communication from Allison. She wrote to me, and some others, that on Monday afternoon she went to lunch with some friends. They were each headed shopping afterward and as Allison pulled on to the highway, her car spun out on the wet road. She hit a concrete barrier and smashed both the rear and passenger sides of the car. She was unhurt but her car was un-drivable. To her credit, and as a testament to her spiritual development, she refocused herself and went about her day.

All of us in our discussion group were happy to hear from her and even happier to hear that she was safe and unhurt. I wrote to her about my feeling “strange” that I hadn’t heard from her and also owned up to my thought that it was primarily ego driven. Then, later that day I get an email from her:

“Chris—you shared this before you knew about my accident!!!??? WTF?? I am astonished.”

The email was a notification from Facebook stating that I had posted something on her wall. I honestly didn’t remember what I had sent so I clicked on it. Then, I vividly remembered.

On Monday afternoon, I was surfing Facebook and saw a video on a friend’s wall. The video link was written in Russian, so I had no real idea of what the it was about. I clicked and watched. It was a short clip of a security camera capturing a car accident and the near miss of a pedestrian who was nearby. In the clip, two cars collide and narrowly miss a man standing by the side of the road. Even the debris caused by the collision roars toward the man, yet he is able to step away without one bit of metal hitting him. I thought how many people would view the clip and think, “wow, he was really lucky!” Not me, I looked it and thought, “Wow, he really does live in a safe universe.”

I thought of my friend Allison and decided to post the link on her Facebook wall. In the comments section (remember, the video title is written in Russian), I wrote, “You are protected.” I thought the clip was an excellent reminder that we are always safe and protected by the universe when we believe that we are. Then, I went about my day.

We were both astonished. I had unknowingly posted a video of a car accident to her wall with the headline, “you are protected.” The post probably came a few hours after her accident. Yet I hadn’t communicated with her in days and she didn’t tell me about the accident until the day after.

The skeptical person would simply chalk this up to circumstance. Yet for those of us studying the nature of reality, it really speaks volumes. When you break it down, it’s actually a very small—but concrete—example of the way ESP works. Somehow I had unconsciously picked up on her accident and gave her a reminder about being protected by the universe. The experience is reassuring on some levels. Primarily, it’s easy to read about instances of ESP yet harder to know when you’ve actually had an intuitive hit.

The entire episode became a great tool in our discussion group. It turns out that many of us were anxious about not hearing from Allison yet most of us were cautious about sharing that anxiety.

In hindsight what strikes me most is the fact that the entire video post was so normal, non-monumental. The original post was from an acquaintance, not a good friend. I normally wouldn’t have clicked on a link on his page. So what made me do it this time? When I watched the clip, I immediately thought of Allison yet it wasn’t because I felt that she was in danger, it only seemed to be a nice reminder to us both about living in a safe universe. Also, I had thought so little about the post that I forgot the entire incident until she emailed me about it.

Intuition comes from the inner self, that part of us that’s tuned into the universe and has access to information our conscious mind does not. Intuitional energy is usually very subtle. Most people would describe intuitive hits as a general feeling of “knowing” or feel the energy sensation in the solar plexus. What most people don’t realize, however, is that intuition is constantly leading us in positive directions through impulses. “Turn here now,” “I think I’ll call Jill,” “I’m going to run out and get a cup of coffee.” Those are all, on the surface, innocuous parts of our daily lives. But when we tune into them and allow them, we’re actually following our impulses.

The problem comes from ignoring impulses, which we have been conditioned to do in today’s world. On their own, impulses can sometimes seem out of place and therefore not worthy of information from an official source. Learning to recognize, accept and trust your impulses is a key in honoring your spirit, as the intuitive knowledge they contain is extremely valuable.

Through this small example, I was able to see that the impulse to share a video was actually a sign that I had tapped into what was happening with a friend. Subconsciously I knew she was all right even though my conscious mind and ego were thinking differently. Learning to discern and work with these two different facets of ourselves can lead us in exciting and fulfilling directions.

It’s time for a change–of beliefs.

Every single one of us on Earth is a powerful creator, yet most of us don’t know that we are. We spend countless hours each day fighting against unseen and unknown forces: circumstances, people, laws, economic systems that all seem to control us. The truth is, we’re not at their mercy. We’re at our own.

If you’re new to conscious creation, there’s one piece of knowledge you need to learn right away: we create our own lives. I’m not talking about directing the things you think you can control, like what to wear or what to have for dinner. We create everything in our existence, down to the smallest detail. Yes, we create our environment with others around us (our “co-creators”), too, but we’re still primarily responsible for every facet of our own personal lives. In The Nature of Personal Reality (and in all of his published work), Seth states this over and over and over. “You create your own reality through your thoughts, emotions and beliefs.” Sounds simple, huh?

The truth is, the principle is simple but the implementation appears difficult to us. That’s because we’ve grown up doing the same thing our forefathers have done, which is to react to the world instead of directing it. I can’t emphasize this concept too much as it’s key to everything we talk about in conscious creation.  I’d like to take some time looking at beliefs. But please, right now, understand that this is the crux to conscious creation and you’ll need to accept that “fact” in order to get creation to work in your favor.

Beginning belief work can seem daunting to new creationists as well as seasoned ones. One of the most illuminating exercises you can do is to start writing down your beliefs in a number of general categories: health and wellness, career, money, relationships, etc. At first, you’ll be able to come up with a fairly lengthy list of beliefs that seem to fit within each category. That’s a good start. It becomes tricky when you run into beliefs that you don’t recognize as such. You’ve allowed them to become hidden to you because their “truth” is everywhere around you manifested. You mistake them as being the way the world works, feeling that you have no power to change them. These kinds of hidden beliefs are often the most limiting to us and, therefore, are the ones we need to work on changing the most (and the quickest!).

Even though your list will, and should, take some time, you’ll probably be able to spot some limiting beliefs right off the bat. And there’s no time like the present to start working on changing negative/limiting beliefs into more positive ones. If you’ve identified a belief you’d like to change, you’ll want to work with the following process to get the ball rolling.

First, realize that the belief is a belief about reality. It is not necessarily the truth. Here’s one of my limiting beliefs: “I will never have enough money to live the life I want to lead.” Pretty limiting, isn’t it? It is the truth? Not necessarily. I may not have as much money as I’d like at this moment but I can’t know for certain that circumstances won’t change. Since I’m doing a good job of creation, I can see the belief everywhere: things are too expensive, prices keep going up, I see more and more pretty, shiny things I want to buy. You get the idea.

Make the conscious decision that you want eliminate the limiting belief and replace it with something more affirming. Develop your new belief and have it ready in your mind to counteract old thinking patterns. In the example above, I’d replace my limiting money belief with “I have the ability to materialize money easily.”

Take some quiet time to work on this belief. This can be meditation, it can be sitting quietly in a chair or sitting at your desk. Spend a few minutes in the bathtub. Go for quiet and undistracted. You’ll want to try for a mild state of disassociation to clear your head before you focus on changing the belief. You don’t need to take all day or hours on end, just strive for a 5-10 minutes a day working consciously with the belief exercise.

Now, use visual imagery that is useful and understandable that will allow you to “see” your belief work concretely. For me, I imagine my garden and see that big old nasty belief as a weed sticking several feet in the air. In my visualization, I tell the belief “You are no longer needed. You are a limiting belief and I want you out!” and with that, I yank at the weed and pull it out of the ground–roots and all. Then, I pick up a flower and plant it in the open space in the ground. I repeat the new belief aloud as I do to help give it some positive suggestion.

Again, use imagery that’s comfortable and familiar to you. Some people may see a balloon they can pop. Others may imagine the limiting belief as a building they can blow up. Yet another may see the belief written on a chalkboard. Do whatever feels right. Erase the limiting belief and state the new one.

Still in quiet contemplation, try to attach some emotion to the belief. Many people describe a belief as simply a thought you think over and over again. Yet when you add the power of emotion to repetitive thought, it really begins to solidify into a strong belief (that’s why fear creates such powerful beliefs). Try, if you can, to generate the emotion behind your new, more positive belief. For my example, I can imagine myself at an exclusive beach resort in Bora Bora, feeling overjoyed at being able to finally make my dream vacation a reality. I feel the excitement in my solar plexus as I imagine jumping into the ocean and splashing around. I try to feel the excitement in my body to help generate the proper emotion. Hold this as long as you can, luxuriating in the positive emotion.

Some beliefs feel as if they have no emotion attached to them. If that’s the case, try to generate a memory of peace and joy as you repeat your new belief statement. Remember what it’s like to pet your dog or view a stunning sunrise. Think about watching a baby. Feel the peace/joy/love in your body as fully as possible while you repeat your new belief.

Now, drop the whole thing and go on about your day. Try to remove your focus from the belief (both the old and new) and give your subconscious some time to accept and process the exercise you just performed.

The process sounds like a lot but once you practice it a few times, it can actually be done in just a few minutes. I’d suggest tackling only one or two beliefs at a time. Some beliefs, especially invisible core beliefs, are so deeply rooted they’ll need a lot of repetitive work to get them to break free. Don’t be discouraged by this. The hard truth is this: if you want to change a belief, you’ve got to start somewhere and you may as well start now. Don’t over burden yourself by thinking you have to change every negative belief at once. Start slow and once you begin to see results, you’ll feel more comfortable and excited about the process.

“But what about the rest of the day? Won’t the old belief rear its ugly head?” you ask. The quick answer is yes, it usually will. First, you must recognize when the belief or associated thought has been triggered. Once you recognize it as an old limiting belief, smile to yourself and gently move your thoughts toward the new belief or outcome.  Don’t get angry with yourself. You want smooth, positive association with the new belief. Don’t dwell on it, just re-direct your thought and turn your consciousness to something else.

Conscious creation starts within. Our thoughts, emotions, expectations and beliefs always solidify into physical reality. This is a tough concept to accept and even harder to master. Pat yourself on the back for starting this journey. As you work on your beliefs, you’ll start to Honor your Spirit by directing your life on your terms. Pretty cool, isn’t it?

 

Tweet, tweet, tweet your way to a great life

How social media affects conscious creation

I’m a social media guy: I live on Facebook, Twitter, websites, and email all day. My job as a communications professional requires that I spend some time each day staying current with headlines and breaking news. As well, I’m responsible for publishing status updates, links and photographs. The catch-22 of being online frequently is this: on one hand you’re always up to date on what’s happening. On the other, you’re always up to date on what’s happening.

Let’s look at that a little deeper. When you’re immersed in social media, you’re also completely immersed in what many would call “artificial reality.” Yes, you’re being presented with facts and figures from what’s happening beyond your computer but that reality isn’t necessarily your own reality. It’s the “official” reality that’s being presented to you—one in which you may not necessarily agree with or accept.

When you’re absorbed in artificial reality, it’s difficult to concentrate on what you want. Conscious creation is an active and adaptive process. It requires that you become aware of your own subjective feelings, thoughts and beliefs. Oftentimes, looking at the world through social media removes you further from your own feelings and causes you to get off track.

The Internet is a great tool for sharing information. You get to keep up with friends, family and organizations that are near and dear to you. But social media can also expose you to negative and sometimes downright toxic energy from others that can send you into a tailspin. The danger here is when you touch upon something that does fire up your emotions. Take a small example: You’re in a good mood and you sit down to read some Facebook updates. You see a news item about your favorite charity that has sparked some controversy. Since you’re a fan of the organization, you decide to read further. You investigate the story on several websites, you check Twitter posts about it – you start to search out information that is fueling your own curiosity. After some investigating of the controversy, you’re now enraged. You’ve picked a side and you’re ready to fight for it. You post a stats update about it. Maybe you Tweet about it. You start reading the ‘comments’ section on news stories about it. Because you’ve allowed yourself to, you have no officially moved your energy toward negativity, anger, frustration, and excitement, just to name a few.

So how do you approach social media in an age when being online is a requirement for most people? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Limit the amount of time you spend online. Like television, social media and the web can easily eat up most of your free time. By consciously setting a time limit, you can limit the amount of exposure to information, both good and bad.
2. Be conscious of what you’re reading and examine it with a critical eye. Remember that conscious creation is all about beliefs: discovering your beliefs, examining them and throwing away the ones that aren’t working for you. As you read stories, updates and tweets, be watchful for beliefs that don’t fit in with the life you want to lead. Many of the things you’ll read are reflections of the official line of consciousness and are beliefs about reality. The better you get at discerning those limiting beliefs, the easier it will be to ignore negative information.
3. Take time to seek out good and positive information from many sources. Find authors and writers who motivate you. Choose articles that fuel your soul. Follow an uplifting Twitter account (personally I’d recommend “Honor Your Spirit”). Many authors have Facebook accounts where you can see daily inspirational thoughts.
4. Post status updates for yourself that fit in with what you want to consciously create. Share good news with others. Exclaim when you’re in a good mood. Congratulate yourself for a job well done. Avoid negative, hurtful comments about yourself or others. Remember that giving your attention to anything (both positive and negative) gives energy to that subject. Make sure you’re giving energy to the “good stuff” you want to grow.
5. Finally, take a few moments every half-hour or so and return to the present moment. Focus on your breath for a minute. Feel the air in the room. Listen to the sounds you hear. Look up from your computer and see what sights are around the room. Do a mental check of all of your muscles and purposely relax them one by one. Then, once you’ve checked in with the here and now, you can return to the computer more focused and refreshed.

 

 

Welcome to Honor Your Spirit

By profession, I’m a marketing and public relations guy. So, when I decided I wanted to start sharing my knowledge of conscious creation and spirituality with others, the first thing I believed I needed was a name and a “brand.” In today’s internet-driven global marketplace, a brand is an important thing to have. But a brand is more than a name. Successful branding takes into account everything you do, from the product/service you offer to the way you interact with others to the graphics you choose. So what the hell was I going to call myself? I didn’t think people would really flock to “Chris’s blog on spirituality and conscious creation” so I started digging around for names.

After kicking around some ideas and some market research (thank you SS!), I finally decided on “Honor Your Spirit.” It seemed to encompass many of the elements I feel are necessary to understanding conscious creation, spirituality and self-development. I signed myself up for this blog and created a Twitter account and was on my way. Or was I? Like many great ideas, I was having second thoughts within hours and thought I had acted too quickly.

Here’s where our daily lesson comes into play: I recognized I was being fearful of making the wrong decision that then triggered an avalanche of negative spiraling thoughts. However, I was able to catch it quickly and remind myself to trust in myself and trust the universe. We’ll talk a lot about trust in the posts ahead. Learning trust can be a hard thing to do, but making the decision was, indeed, the place to start.

I put the thoughts about the name on the back burner and went about my afternoon. It wasn’t until after dinner that I sat down at my computer to see that trust manifest itself. I wanted to listen to an online radio interview by one of my favorite authors, Cheryl Richardson (www.cherylrichardson.com). Cheryl was interviewing a woman who I think will change the lives of many this year. Her name is Anita Moorjani and in 2006, she had what many would call a “near death experience” as she lay in a hospital dying of cancer. There’s no way for me to do justice to Anita or her story in my own words, so I’d like to direct you to her book Dying To Be Me from Hay House or her own website www.anitamoorjani.com. As Cheryl wrapped up the interview, she asked Anita what the number one thing she would like people to know. Anita paused and said, “find the joy in life and do what makes you happy.” Good words, I thought.  And listening to those words, I realized that making yourself happy and finding the joy in life is one of the easiest and most profound ways to Honor Your Spirit.  From that moment on, the name stuck.

If you’re interested in conscious creation, self-development or “new age” material, I hope you’ll stop by from time to time to learn how to Honor Your Spirit.

Chris