welcome to the second installment of the soyala series. if you missed the past posts please feel free to meet soyala, and read soyala series I. if you feel like soyala’s words might help you, you may submit questions in comments or you can email me robinwoowoo at gmail dot com.
the other day i was scrolling through the newsfeed on my facebook page and one status update i read caught my attention. not in a good way. it was one of those cynical, negative, intended to be funny type status updates but to me it just felt like a sad piece of news.
i found myself thinking about this status update several times throughout my day. i wondered if i was being lame and oversensitive. i wondered if i should unfriend people who make these kinds of updates. i wondered why i kept thinking about it. i got to wondering why it is that being cynical has gotten to be so hip. why is it cool to be flip?
then i paused. i thought about how i was feeling.
lonely.
i was feeling lonely in my desire to seek positivity.
and then i thought, maybe everyone feels this loneliness sometimes. maybe the woman with the cynical status update reads my updates and wonders why it is so cool to be new-agey. maybe she feels just as alone in her state of being as i sometimes feel in mine.
that felt like something important to realize.
but there was more i needed to know.
what do i do about the negative status updates of life?
dear sister, first remember that all thoughts you have are energy and all energy is forever. the thoughts you have about things you do not appreciate grow those very things. not just in the universe but in you. in your soul. like seeds taking plant you feed some of yourself to those things which you wish not to be.
in a situation like this it is really quiet simple. if something does not feel right/good/true to you then please see it and let it go. take the image, from meditation, of allowing the boats to travel down river. see, observe, accept as a part of some reality, and then let go. feeling negative is not helpful. not to any one/thing/moment.
allow yourself to be within a barrier of energy (blue egg). you see the world outside of your barrier but you do not let it shape you unless it is something that should be passing through your barrier and into your energy.
don’t worry – the universe will be sure to get any lessons you need in through the egg shell. (HA!) you work on holding the shell and the universe will be sure that the things you must have make their way to you. you won’t miss out in your effort to filter.
but if we always just sit back in the world staying away from that which does not please us then we are not living a life of loving service. so listen here, if you can feel what should be when you see what is then you take hold of that and let it be your energy. if you can be absorbed in the positive action of creating something then you have found a path worth taking.
feel the difference. sometimes you are around something that does not sit with you and all you are thinking is “i do not like this.” in that moment use the river. do not allow your negativity to take over. bring awareness and then let go. hold yourself in your egg. be strong and full of love and be full of the path which is right for you. this does not include judging others. it includes knowing what is YOU and being that which is YOU.
other times you may hear something that does not feel right to you and your reaction is to bring healing or positive change to the moment. you are not filled with the grey clouds of wishing not. you are filled with the coursing light of creating energy. in those moments you may seek the way to create what it is that is right for you.
does this include changing the world?
perhaps it could.
or changing one other person.
or changing one moment for one other person.
it could.
but it does – yes – include the change that takes place within you. that is the boat we are sailing.
send your “i don’t want that” down stream. take your “i do want this” and create your life. your life will feed other life. all thought creates energy and energy is forever.
note: when i am receiving this information from soyala it is much more layered than simply words. there are feelings and a sense of just understanding what she means. she also references things that are familiar to me (ex. the river metaphor and the blue egg). i am doing my best to get it typed out here but it is impossible for me to include each sensation i have. with that said, i am open to discussing any of this further, answering questions, explaining anything that makes sense to me based on everything i get but feels cloudy to others just reading the text. so, don’t hesitate to ask!
That is so interesting. After the first soyola post, I almost commented with a another question but I didn’t because I felt that might be too “greedy” for lack of a better word. (I thought I should digest and reflect and appreciate the counsel without immediately jumping in with another question.)
I’ll tell you now what I wanted to ask, since it’s sort of all related. My concern lately is that I have angst over having to explain and articulate the reasons for my choices. Since where I am I tend to parent and do things rather differently from most people, it often comes up in conversations at the park with acquaintances or with anyone really (old friends, new friends, family). No matter how many books and insightful blog posts I read that do such a great job of explaining my choices, I always falter when I try to articulate, especially to someone who has no familiarity with anything beyond the mainstream choices. Plus I am super sensitive and rather shy and really dread the possibility of making anyone feel like I think I am better than them, so I tend to put myself down. Ugh.
jane – do you want this line of inquiry to continue publicly on the blog?
We were talking about something similar to this at a work meeting the other day. How to keep the connection to our spirituality so that we can be better counselors. So I hear a little bit of that in this post. Keep yourself safe and boundaried but permeable. Don’t forget that you can call on God or whatever you believe to support you if you need. There is so much out there that needs healing…we can do so much a better job if we remember our “back up”.
Thanks for this.
emily – nice addition there. thank you.
I have a hard time trusting that I will get the lessons I need. Maybe that’s what I need to work on.
amber – this comment totally piqued my interest for some reason…
let me know if you feel like discussing and if so where (blog, email, chat…)
p.s. notice the moment in the post where it says (HA!)
i had sort of thought – oh no, what if this filter things blocks out some kind of information that i need? before the thought was fully formed she spoke to it and the ha was a response to me thinking that i was powerful enough to unintentionally block out a lesson that the universe intended me to learn.
i wanted to write something smart but i just can’t put it into words. i get the lesson of working on changing yourself which could turn into changing the reality around us, but at the same time the part about cynicism (your response to someone else’s words) made me think of other posts about people creating shields and other ways to cope with life. i know i am not making sense here, just thinking out loud. is it that it’s tough to accept other person’s shield without having the same one of your own?
kasia – i think the image of a shield is very cut and dry. it is solid and impermeable and also kind of associated with war/battle – needing intense protection. the blue egg is more of an energetic barrier that sifts out bad energy and allows in good energy. your work is not completely blocking out something that doesn’t feel good to you – it is more that you are not integrating it into your being. you see it, are aware of it, accept it for what it is, and then you move on. you don’t allow stagnant or harmful energy to become a part of your circuit.
i hope that helps. i think we are bumping into a bit of a first language barrier here perhaps.
i do get that part 🙂 and try to live by that even though i would not be able to describe it that way. i was referring more to the first part of the post, the thing that was that offensive to you in other person’s facebook status. cynicism is a shield, it isolates people from the world and after thinking about it more, i realize that it’s really hard to accept other person’s protective barrier if you do not have experience having one of your own of that type eg. hard to understand someone’s constant need for chocolate or social interaction etc. if that’s not your thing.