“It Doesn’t Matter!”

Annie Zed and Jacqui Cullen recently got together for a couple of days of meaningful chat and to compare notes since their trip to Portugal. This post is Annie’s further reflection on one of the many subjects we discussed.

All Things Being Equal

Anything that makes us feel better and live better, is great! But, now we have reached a point where we realize that what we do, how we live, in the grand scheme of things, really doesn’t matter! We don’t have to be or do anything.

We Can Be Anything

We might want to be and do something in particular, but we don’t have to. It doesn’t matter. No God will chastise us. There may be human-established consequences of things done or not done; but again, from a spiritual vantage, we are all equal, accepted and always part of the whole.

Our Life is Always on Purpose

We often feel anxious about ‘fulfilling’ our ‘life purpose’. We’re concerned about being ‘authentic’ and ‘living with integrity’. We don’t want to waste our lives on trivial things. We are conscientious about materialism and the environment. We try to be charitable, tolerant, ‘good’ people. These are honourable ways to be. But whether we are these things or not, we are still ‘perfect’ exactly as we are.

We are always in the right place at the right time — whether or not our human minds can believe or accept it.

So relax into every moment, whatever shape it takes. Every moment is equal in value to the eternal soul!

“It Doesn’t Matter!” © November 13, 2011 | Annie Zalezsak

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When It’s Time to Move

We move for many reasons. Sometimes, we’re running away from something we don’t want. Other times, we’re running towards something we do want. Either way, the impulse to move is a call for change. It’s the closing of one chapter and the starting fresh of a new sentence. We may not have a clue where it will lead, but we know when we know, that it’s time to move on.

And move on, we must, because:

“Why, why are people all balls of bitter dust? Because they won’t fall off the tree when they’re ripe. They hang on to their old positions when the position is over-past, till they become infested with little worms and dry-rot.”
— D.H. Lawrence (Women in Love)

Muscles that are not used in taking action will atrophy. If we have reached a degree of fulfillment of our potential in a certain environment, and there’s not much space left or room to grow (in the way that our desires imagine it), then it’s imperative we seek out a place where we can thrive, expand, and stretch.

When the impulse to move hits, try as we might to suppress it, we’ll feel unsettled until finally, finally, we admit that this is what we wanted all along. The fear of an unknown outcome, the comfortable clinging to the safety zone, eventually becomes like the suffocating cocoon. Break out, or die. We realize that if we don’t go forward, we’re going backward.

“If not now, when?”
— Hillel the Elder

Sometimes, getting ‘ready’ for The Move can take decades. Like a fledgling, it may take a push from the nest before the courage to fly is summoned.

“… the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.”
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Once we decide — really decide — and fully commit ourselves to a move (whatever that move may be), then the universe orchestrates itself to support that decision. Circumstances show up. If we waffle, so will the universe. If we focus steadfastly, then we will achieve our desired outcome. It may not be in the same timescale or packaging that we expect; but it will be undoubtedly the best ‘big picture’ outcome.

When It’s Time to Move © August 13, 2011 | Annie Zalezsak

Human Defrag

Life immersed in modern society reaches a tipping point of overwhelm. Holidays, retreats and “time outs” serve briefly; but on return to the rat race, the mind scatters, the body feels battered and the soul just about shatters.

Suppose (like computers) we ran “defrag” programs on ourselves. This would delete all superfluous preoccupation. It would prioritize vital information. It would clear blocks of space. We’d operate efficiently.

This is my third day of feeling like I’m going through a human “defrag”. Here’s what it’s been like so far:

Day One

Mentally, I’m exhausted. There’s this dull headache I can’t get rid of. I’m not thinking of anything much. My head is in a blur. I feel annoyed about pretty much everything, and unable to focus. I want to escape. I lie in bed most of the day. Not sleeping; just avoiding any encounter of any person, thing, or thought.

Day Two

Feeling more alert, but still not interested in interacting with anyone or going anywhere. Seeking meaningful inspiration. Wanting to watch any and every old fairytale-type film and dig for the lessons and meanings behind these repeating stories. Come to the realization that every story is the same: triumph over struggle. Noticing repeating patterns and messages about choices, forks in the road, regrets, going back and putting it right. Wondering how it all relates to my life, but not really connecting the dots.

Day Three

Muzzy head is back, along with a dicky tummy. Pushing myself to do stuff, but not altogether “with it”. Feels like major stuff is continuing to process on all levels, but still no absolute clue what it’s all about. I don’t think I could be trusted to do anything important today, or complete it well. Lacking in patience. Just want to sit and do nothing, and if you know me, you’ll know how inconceivable that is.

Overall

Tomorrow (and the rest of the week) are busy, planned days. I’m certain I’ll cope okay. I just don’t feel fully integrated, transformed, or evolved, yet. I feel like I’m still in a chrysalis stage. I wonder: during the chrysalis stage, does the butterfly know it’s going to become a butterfly? It feels like that next thing is that Big. I don’t yet know what it’s all about. The Universe tends to operate on a “need to know basis”. I guess “time will tell”!

Human Defrag © August 1, 2011 | Annie Zalezsak

Equality and Inequality

A lottery winner, despite sharing some of his winnings with friends and family, rapidly becomes excluded and even abused by his community. The winnings feel like a curse. He has to leave the life he’s always known, due to his ‘good fortune’.

It’s not as uncommon as story as you might think. In fact, I’ve often wondered why acquiring success, sudden fame or fortune, leaves a person outcast, begrudged, or even excluded from the community that previously loved and supported him.

I have been in environments where people were genuinely very happy for those who did well. I’ve also experienced environments where I felt people had to ‘play small’ in order to be accepted and survive among peers.

I thought this was a cultural attitude. Then it dawned on me that there is one vital distinction between the two reactions. It’s the economic inequality of individuals. To put it simply, the experience of a wide difference between the “haves and have nots” breeds mistrust, resentment, and alienation.

Until my early thirties, I lived where everyone I encountered pretty much had their basic needs met. Food, shelter, clothing, were affordable and readily available in large quantities. If someone had a bit more, that was no concern, as we all had enough.

Then, I moved to a place where it was dog-eat-dog to locate a glorified ‘shed’ the average person could not afford to live in, and fight tooth and nail to be good enough to win the privilege to live in it. Never mind living paycheque to paycheque; if you didn’t have to use credit cards to pay essential bills, you were considered well off. And that was in the ‘good area’. Now, I live in an area considered by the government as ‘deprived’. Here, people have far less. Oddly enough, they seem to happily get by on less. However, there is still the raised eyebrow if someone has something new, or something that looks like it came from somewhere other than a cheap shop or a boot sale. When this happens, people retreat. They question behind your back. It’s uncomfortable for all.

There are countries where everyone has very little materially. Yet people are happy, live a peaceful existence, and there is low crime. In countries where there are luxuriously rich and dreadfully poor, where economic inequality is rife, so is there a high crime rate.

There is no doubt about it. Distribute the world’s wealth equally, and we’d all be at peace. The question is: how do we make this happen? It seems to me that politics and government is not the answer. Ideals such as communism and socialism didn’t really work. There appears to be corruption in democracy, too. But each individual has a choice. And each individual can act with social conscience. What if, instead of buying a holiday home and a second car, we all made sure that those in need of shelter and transport had those needs supplied before we indulge in excess?

I wonder what an Equal world would be like.

Equality and Inequality © June 27, 2011 | Annie Zalezsak

Our Human Family

A rare jewel among our species, Maggie Doyne has done what so many of us deeply desire: to single-handedly attempt to change the world, impact humanity, and utterly trust that the money and the means will show up to accomplish it. She inspires us to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that if she can do this, we are all capable of creating something similar. Let’s all remember our human family, and engage with positivite activity to connect and create a better home for us all.

 

Maggie Doyne — Why the human family can do better from The Do Lectures on Vimeo.

Master of Your Destiny

No one else can live your life. You are the Captain of your ship, the Master of your destiny. Before you set sail, be sure you know where you are heading. Plot your course accordingly, even if you can’t see it, it is there just on the horizon. Even when you have no energy for things, you have energy… you cannot not have it, you would be dead otherwise. Perhaps you are already dead… dead to the old way of being, and if this is so, say “goodbye” and dream a new dream, a new life. For after all, no one else can dream your dream, or live your life. It is in your hands… so go now, go grab it with a blind faith in yourself that all will be well!!!

A Different Language

I’ve spent sixteen years plus trying to manifest my desires and have just realised that in all the 30-odd years prior to this, I never once used the word ‘manifest’.

The books I read, written by authors from other countries, all use this word. Because I was interested in self-development, I also used this word. But the truth is, unconsciously, it never did sit well with me and I would usually end up disappointed if what I wanted didn’t materialise.

I have a copy of  ‘The Secret’. I have read many books on “the law of attraction”. I have even taught positive thinking and using visualisation to create your dream. But, not until yesterday did I realise that the reason I could not ‘manifest’ was not because I didn’t believe, in the normal sense, or not even because I could not see it or feel it but because – purely and simply – I never had an innate sense of the word ‘manifest’!

Now, when I supplement it with a word that I do know (a word I have used throughout my life), I can see how I have achieved the things I set out to, and from that can achieve the thing I next aim to. Simple! All I have to do is use the word I know, the word I expereince the world with. That word is ‘create’.

I create all that I have. I create all that I am. I create all that I want. This is my word. This is my language. From this, I make sense of my world.

Sixteen years seems a long time to be studying something before I got to this understanding. I wonder what other things I have spent so much time on in life before I could see?

Before you take one more step, check in with yourself. Check in to your real language, you real thoughts and your real beliefs. After all, if we have not truly experienced something for ourselves, can we actually say that we ‘know’ it? Can we really resonate with it?
What are you following that somewhere inside of you does not feel real, does not feel authentic and does not feel YOU?

Point of Reference

In life, most people are guided by something… perhaps a God, an idea, a belief, or a relationship. In all of these, there are rules to learn and to abide by and there are languages to help us understand the game of life. These things are our safety net, they are what we define ourselves by. Should we act outside of these rules, we may fear being alienated, cast out and alone!

We get to know ourselves firstly through our parents/carers, then our siblings, larger family and to the general population. We join groups, sports teams,  organisations, protests and marches. We fight causes that call to us even if we do not know why and we align ourselves to political parties. We live with material success and the need for approval of others. For the most part, we feel a sense of connectedness, of belonging and unity. We get a sense that this is ‘us’, this is what life is all about. All is good.

But what happens when you find yourself without these groups of people, successes, material gain or causes to align with? What do you do when the world has been pulled from right under your feet? Where is that sense of connectedness you felt to those you believed in? Where is that connection if your God is not what you thought it to be, if the ideology you followed turns out to be an illusion? You realise that no matter what you believed, felt, knew or connected to is no longer there. You are adrift without oars or a compass, being carried along without a north star to guide you. What do you do, who do you turn to if there is no one, no thing to turn? 

Can you trust yourself to be your guide? Do you really believe what you know, feel, see or hear as your own truth? Do you trust in your own innate being enough to guide you on? And if you did, what would you be heading towards if all you knew had gone? No goals to follow, no dreams to dream, no place to run or hide. Where would you see yourself ending up?

This is where we need a new reference point, that reference point US (I). A reference point we set ourselves, one that can NEVER be lost. When our frame of reference is set at US – which is and has always been then  never again can we be cast adrift in a sea of lonliness or false living.

It is said that we come back to the very same place we began. We come back to US!!!

I therefore, must be our frame of reference, our starting point, our guide in life and in death. I, is always with us, even when in disguise. If we use this as our guide, then we can know that we will never be separate, can never be alone even when outside of us the world may be falling apart!

Death is All Around Me

Death is all around me

Death is all around me I sense its timely entrance.
Be away with the old, the rotten and the stale
Be away with the stench of all so fowl.
I am that death, it resides in me
I am that death and the I
That I was, has ceased to be.
I have evolved like the caterpillar
Into the butterfly,
I spread my wings with joy and fly.
I fly to another place
Where i become we
And we are but one face.
I fly to another world
So different from this
No longer trapped
I feel the winds kiss.
I am free to dance and to sing,
I make up my life
On the prayer of a wing.

(Author: Jacqueline Cullen)

The Unfolding (a Poem)

The Unfolding

First he stirs,
this way and that
nothing feeling right.

Not knowing which way to go
he moves blindly ahead
not seeing, not hearing just moving.
Not hearing a sound, he misses all opportunity to learn.
Blindly going about his day like the living dead,
unaware of the treasures around him, of the song in the air.
Unaware of the needs of others. Even his own needs ignored.

Then one day he awakens,
a sense that something’s not right.
What it is he does not know…

Yelling out to God he screams that “life is not fair”.
How could he leave him abandoned when he needed him most.
How could he let him live in a world full of pain.
Surely there must be more to life than this, otherwise, what would be the point.
And although he is awake, he still does not see.
He continues to blame others, to blame God, to blame the world.
You see, he feels that he plays no part in creating the life he has.
He feels helpless, powerless to make an impact. He has become pitiful.

Carrying so much baggage with him he continues on, feeling more and more
laden with responsibility, hate and pain. Bitterness has become his companion,
loneliness his guide. His light slowly fizzing out. His eyes blank and dead!

And then he knows.

He sees for the first time his life as he has created it.
He sees that the pain and sorrow he carries, is his own.
Something inside has changed. No longer the victim he lifts himself up,
creating a life that shines so bright that others are attracted to him
and want to learn how they, too, can create this life.

They too want to know… and on it goes, spreading far and wide.
More and more people rejoicing in…

The Unfolding of Truth!