Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! I hope the luck of the Irish is with you today, but can I just take a minute here and debunk a few myths about this saint?
First of all, he was born in Scotland, not Ireland, although he lived in Ireland for most of his adult life. He was famous for having driven out the snakes from Ireland. Do you think he was really an exterminator and that the Emerald Isle was crawling with serpents?
Nope.
As a converted Catholic, he was determined to drive out the Old Religion from Ireland. To the druids, snakes were a powerful symbol of the goddess. So when they say he drove the snakes from the island, it’s referring to the fact that he drove out anything that wasn’t Catholic. He did a lot for the church to stamp out the Old Ways in Ireland and was canonized for that.
Doh! That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy your green beer and Boston boiled dinner though. From what I hear, St Patty’s day isn’t such a big deal in Ireland. The first parade was in New York City in 1762. All the big cities that have a large Irish population like Boston and Chicago carry on this tradition, but only recently did they actually have a St. Patty’s day parade in Ireland.
But we love our Irish for the great pubs downtown, the most excellent beer and the awesome basketball team, thank you very much!
It’s amazing to me what a wild roller coaster ride things are these days. How I feel about all the changes going on really depends on my mood in the moment. Sometimes, when my 7th (crown) chakra is open, I feel great. Everything feels possible. All the changes will lead to much better things. And I ask myself, “How is this the best thing that ever happened to me?” Letting go of everything could be GREAT!
This is where FAITH is so wonderful and the future sparkles with wonderful new possibilities.
Other times, the changes hit me in the 1st (root) chakra and I think. Crap! This is really freaking scary! What about my house, my bank account? This recession is all fine and dandy until it’s your husband that gets laid off. Am I going to lose my house? Letting go of everything SUCKS!
This is where FEAR lives and snaps on the survival mode.
Then the roller coaster ride changes and it’s Weeeeeeee! Life sure is an amazing adventure.
The other funny thing that is happening for me is that we are in the middle of teaching 5th (throat) chakra this weekend. My own 5th is in a funny place where I seem to have lost that little censor that tells you to use your “inside voice.” Yeah. Mine’s gone. I just seem to blurt out what I am really thinking and feeling all the time. It’s a little strange and no doubt will get me in trouble before too long.
I am noticing that I seem to be in a little more conflict with people than I normally am. I guess when you really say what you actually mean, that can happen. In the past, I might have shut myself up if I thought I would ruffle some feathers by saying what I REALLY think. Now it just pops out. So I will apologize in advance if I say something offensive.
Journaling under this condition is really interesting!
Getting back to faith and fear, I have been noticing recently that a lot of my clients are trying to walk the line between “manifesting” what we want in life, and being real about who we are.
Believe me, I am as interested as the next Joe in creating a life that rocks my world, but I also have a ton of training in being REAL about what I am actually feeling in the moment. It’s like the manifesting training in me is at odds with the mindfulness (be in the now) part of me. Sometimes these things can feel like they are at odds.
I had a client the other day who was really sad and angry about the break up of a very significant relationship. She had been watching The Secret and reading Abraham Hicks and was trying so hard, bless her heart, to stay positive and not wallow in the muck of her feelings.
“I am trying to do my affirmations, and it’s not working! I just keep feeling sad!” she confessed. And then she was feeling doubly bad for being a failure at keeping her thoughts positive.
Of course when she got into her feelings and let herself be as mad and sad as she needed to, it all shifted. Feelings we repress stick around and cause problems and that is not the point.
What is good about The Secret and the other writing that I call in my head New Age Manifesting Tech, is that we really do need to learn to clean up our habitual negative thinking. We all have beliefs about what we can and can’t do that don’t serve us. If you are running an old tape that you inherited from your family that says, “I can’t do it. I will never succeed, why even try?” that is one that you should probably eject.
I agree wholeheartedly that recognizing and ditching your habitual limited thinking is really important to do.
But a limiting belief is not the same thing as a genuine, in the moment feeling, like grief, anger, sadness or fear. See our SOUL talks to us though our feelings all the time (the mind is too full of static…) so there are wonderful clues about who we are and what we really want in our feelings. If we shut off our natural rhythm of feelings, we stop being able to hear our souls.
Who said you have to be happy all the time? (Goddess bless those oh you who are naturally like that, Lord knows I am not one of you!) There is a myth that I see an awful lot of people buy into when they adopt the New Age Manifesting Tech (NEMT?) that says they SUCK if they can’t somehow bend themselves into being perfectly optimistic, happy creation machines 24/7.
Ugh. What a load of bull pucky! (Sorry, rampant throat chakra speaking!)
What we really need is a little pinch of this and a little pinch of that. We need to have some control and discipline on our thoughts so we aren’t hamstrung by unconscious negative and limited thoughts. Yes. Manifesting.
And we also need moment-by-moment access to our soul by being aware of our feelings in the moment. This allows our Souls to guide us in all the little course corrections that it does so well. If you are not being honest with yourself about your feelings that will throw a total monkey wrench in your manifesting machine. Yes. Mindfulness.
Remember people, there are NO “bad” feelings. All your feelings are perfectly acceptable. Anger is not bad. Anger a perfectly appropriate response to being treated unfairly. Spiritual people are angry too. You think Ghandi wasn’t angry? He was just committed to a peaceful way of expressing it.
Sadness is not bad. Sadness is a normal response to loss. When you feel sadness and grief it means your heart is open and working very well. Yey!
So ideally, your nice and cleaned up mind and beliefs (I can do it! I AM worthy!) will be the motor which drives the vehicle of your feelings. It’s all very groovy.
And getting back around to FAITH and FEAR, if you want, say for example, a new job, you might need a little of both. Your faith in the open 7th chakra will encourage you try lot of new things. Stretch beyond your comfort zone. Relax and know that you will be taken care of and will be well.
And fear might be a healthy motivating call into action. You need to get that resume out, network, and pound the pavement a little bit. They are both needed.
Wherever you are in your journey on this St Patty’s day, I wish you this old Irish blessing
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
*And protect you from snakes.
* ha ha….