Integrating Change and Expansion
Since returning from an incredible spiritual “adventure” in the desert in July, life has been interesting. As much as it was life-changing, I diminished the intensity of integrating back into “normal.” I certainly discounted the effect my journey would have on my values and how much it would challenge what I believed was important, or priority in my life. I came back in a highly expanded state and within two days found myself vulnerable to a few contrary energies (and people) that impacted me in ways I am just now discovering.
Just as we discussed yesterday during Surrendering to the Cycles of Expansion call (listen at http://powerofourway.blogs.com/power_of_our_way_blog/2009/11/surrendering-to-the-cycles-of-expansion-audio-and-meditation.html ) , I am reminded of the natural process of expansion and constriction, in particular, when integrating a new level of consciousness, and what often occurs as we move deeper into new awarenesses about ourselves, our faith, and the world around us. All of a sudden, various aspects of our lives—or our thinking—that are not a match for the new emerging consciousness begin to pop up so they can be healed and released.
Chemicalization
For many of us, it can feel like the age old “two steps forward, five steps back.” What was all happy, harmonious and easily working, suddenly (or so it seems) seems to fall apart. I see this in spiritual development and healing all the time. The newly found nirvana is met with an earthquake of contrary energy. We feel tested in our new level of faith and feel like the honeymoon is over. It’s painful and messy and tests us in huge ways. And, it is normal! In fact, this universal phenomenon actually has a name and is called chemicalization.
Emmet Fox says this, “It seems as though everything begins to go wrong at once. This may be disconcerting, but it is really a good sign. Suppose your whole world seems to rock on its foundation. Hold on steadily, and let it rock, and when the rocking is over, the picture will have reassembled itself into something much nearer to your heart's desire.”
The challenge is not giving up five minutes before the miracle. The opportunity is to allow the natural process and not give into the potential doubt that can come when faced with a barrage of “evidence” that is contrary to your faith, and the commitments made from your newly expanded consciousness.
New awareness requires a chemicalization of sorts – an integration and re-patterning—that shakes everything up and out of you so you can decide what to keep and what to release. Our belief bag needs to get dumped so we can truly choose, from this new vibration, what we will continue to carry into the creation of our future reality.
Like cleaning out your closets, things tend to get a lot messier before reorganization is complete. The mere thought of the work it will take can stop us from even getting started. Our fears of letting go of things we think we might need or want later, keep us hanging on to a lot of clutter – physically, emotionally, and mentally.
Catherine Ponder, in her book The Dynamic Laws of Healing, says “Chemicalization results when an old set of ideas, an old way of life, tries to hold on, while a new and better way of thinking is trying to appear.”
Brilliant, huh? An expanded awareness of truth requires a process of chemicalization that can only be “survived” when partnered with faith, trust, patience, and surrender. Our magic bullet, easy button, give up easily mentality makes surrendering even more difficult, and self sabotage more likely. As I undergo my own chemicalization process, I am aptly aware of the challenges—and temptations—to interrupt the natural shaking up of things and avoid the level of surrender that is needed to fully integrate and unify in my expanded awareness.
Think About It!
Let’s get you thinking about a few simple examples. Think about the high of new realization – or a reawakening to a truth that has once escaped you. Or, give thought to a moment when you experienced a big “Ah Ha!” and the genesis of a problematic pattern in your life revealed itself in your awareness.
In that moment, something shifted. The unconscious (that which has been unaware) became conscious. What had been unknown became known with a capital “K.” Something you had not previously understood as absolute truth makes perfect sense; finally, wholly, and completely. Maybe you suddenly, without a doubt, came to fully, believe something you had wanted to believe for a very long time – like miracles, love, oneness, or the absolute, undeniable power of prayer and unwavering intention.
When belief and faith in something transcends into a state of knowing there is a deep energetic shift that begins to take place. This shift occurs as the totality of who you are and the thoughts you think. Naturally, the new awareness attempts to unify around a single truth as principle. It is a moment (literally sometimes just a fleeting moment) when not one single part of you is in disagreement or doubt as it relates to a thought that is birthed along with the emerging consciousness.
For you healers, it is often the first time you witnessed a healing in front of your very eyes (or under your hands). For a musician, it might be finally “getting” your guitar or piano to do what you could hear in your head. A coach or therapist might experience that moment of extreme celebration when a client achieves a goal and their faith (or hope) in the importance and effectiveness in their work is rewarded with tangible evidence of its worth. Most of us have experienced a “gut feeling” that we acted on and then later were shown the perfection of and higher reasons for following our intuition. We feel a grand coming together and vibrate with new potential that we often want to share with others.
These are all examples of awakening moments that need to be chemicalized and integrated before finding a sense of absoluteness in our faith. Some might say awakening is simply waking up to a truth that exists within you but has remained hidden underneath false ideas or identities. I call this a Divine Remembering of TRUTH. Others may say that awakening comes through some sort of Divine Intervention or an external source of information. Both offer an experience of resonance – a feeling of being in harmony with a thought, philosophy, or idea.
Post Miracle Let Down (a.k.a constriction)
All of these illustrations can create a euphoric high of sorts; one that might be lessened when you share your experience with someone who meets you with their own doubt, skepticism, or disapproval. Or, you grow in excitement and wonderment until you can’t seem to duplicate your experience, for whatever reasons. In any case, it’s as if the “juice” (or juiciness) of the realization is sucked right out of you.
The phenomenon of “post miracle let down” can prevent us from truly integrating the experience. Suddenly, you find you are back in doubt, or obstacles start popping up all over the place, messing with the sense of faith that you were so glad (and relieved) to find within yourself. What felt centered suddenly feels scattered and you lose your spiritual footing, so to speak.
In all of these examples, what you once believed (or hoped for) conceptually actually does manifest in physical reality. Initially, your faith in your belief is deepened greatly as a result. You find yourself in an expanded state of consciousness; one that opens you to new realms of possibility.
But as we know, such expanded states tend towards the impermanent, and suddenly you find yourself in constriction. This is when the questions you have always traveled with reappear, and doubt is often the side effect. It’s all part of the chemicalization process.
The Law of Opposites
The law of opposites says that everything that exists is a combination or unity of opposites. This law alone guarantees contrast in thought and experience. Even as we look into ourselves, we find contrast. Love and hate. Faith and fear. Compassion and judgment. No wonder we feel so unsettled within ourselves. No wonder we doubt!
To top it off, we are also dealing with the science of consciousness and don’t realize that there are still subconscious or unconscious beliefs and perspectives that contradict this emerging new level of thinking and further challenge our faith. Just because you are consciously choosing a new way does not mean your subconscious mind won’t fight you every step of the way. It is for these reasons that I often encourage people to support their new commitments with hypnosis and/or theta healing, along with energy work and coaching. Healing and growth is multidimensional, not linear.
How Does it Work? What Do You Do?
Recently, I was asked to put my finger on the one thing that helped a client with a severe history of trauma and depression transcend a pattern that had been decades in the making. Even her therapists had all but given up. Suicide was looking like the best option and her will to live was once again being tested.
But, Creator saw to it to introduce us and we began working together. Ultimately, although I became her spiritual teacher and facilitator of numerous healing modalities, the credit really goes to her. It was her own choice – her willingness and commitment to stick with it and work with me in a variety of ways for the last two years—that allowed her to heal her past, begin to enjoy her present, and have new hope for her future.
She wasn’t influenced by desires for quick or cheap either, which meant lack consciousness was never part of her healing journey – or our relationship. She didn’t want to be fixed as much as she wanted to come into her own power and wholeness. She knew coming into it that she was here to cultivate her own mastery, do her own part, and that we are equals in the deepest sense.
She navigated the healing, chemicalization, and stabilization process with more courage and commitment than most. She never gave up and let me tell you, used every single tool I threw at her. She took responsibility for her own shift™ and never once gave an excuse such as not having the time or forgetting what commitment she had made. Almost two years later, she is not so much a completely different person; rather, she has returned to her most core, authentic nature. I continue to grow enormously through this relationship. She helped me open to a greater surrendering to guidance and intuition that has helped me further understand my core purpose and how I wish to serve others as a healer and teacher.
Why is Faith so Hard to Sustain?
I think one of the most painful aspects of being human is the ever-changing landscape of our faith. We can believe in something and not always see that belief manifesting itself in our lives. Evidence driven, we tend to believe only what we see and directly experience. The mere definition of faith being a belief in something unseen, absent of evidence or factual knowledge, makes for an understandable, albeit uncomfortable dance with doubt. Early conditioning mires our conscious and subconscious minds with inconsistencies, and competing thoughts that can be challenging to untangle and release ourselves from.
We grow up with a lot of questions, even when we find ourselves identifying with a particular religion or set of beliefs. Who do I believe? What is God? Is there a primary religion – one that is “right” and officially commissioned by God as the ONE and only? Is God judgmental and punishing or compassionate and loving? Are there evil or dark forces at play or is everything really all good, all God? Does God play favorites? Is there a heaven? And, what are the requirements for getting in? Does belief or deed get rewarded or consequenced? Are we unconditionally loved by God, or do we have to earn it? And, what if, at the end, we find out that we were wrong in what we believed? Will we spend the rest of our lives in eternal damnation?
Over the years, in working with recovering Catholics or people who grew up in strict, fear based religions, these questions continue to challenge them. Guilt and shame are so core to their internal relationship and dialogue that it seems to permeate multiple layers of the proverbial onion. In my experience, we also don’t like to be wrong. Faith challenges us to dismiss the possibility of being wrong (often in someone else’s view) – and detach from the need to prove or gather evidence that we are right. Faith asks us to stand solid in what we believe no matter the contrary evidence that may compete for our acceptance or validation.
Taking Responsibility for Your Own Shift
Only you know what you want. Peace, relief, happiness, fulfillment, and faith are usually core to whatever surface desire (money, love, etc.) introduces you to the possibility and potential of transformation. The level of work required to change is varied and everyone has their own unique formula for healing. Sticking with it and taking responsibility for your own shift when needed is paramount to being able to navigate the chemicalization process with us much grace as is possible. Your willingness to release stories and identities that have become familiar (therefore safe and ordinary) is all part of the commitment to continuous evolution.
When There’s a Will, There’s a Way
You know the saying, “when there’s a will, there’s a way?” I believe this to be true. When we move from desire to decision and partner our will with that of a higher form, the pathways to healing that open up are astounding. Cultivating the energies of compassion, empathy, love, gratitude, surrender, faith, unity, and trust (the core energies of transformation in the Power of Our Way Medicine Wheel) and becoming an objective and gentle observer of your experience – without succumbing to it - is essential.
For me, ceremony and ritual have been core to my evolutionary journey – and supporting the ongoing chemicalization that is a part if it. I use my own hypnosis tools and cd’s, and have a variety of spiritual practices and ancient ceremonies, songs, prayers and methods that are foundational to maintain my sanity and balance in the face of change. I pray – a lot. I meditate. My spiritual community of friends and close colleagues is also important. I am highly selective of whom to share tender and new growth with. I still get afraid and doubtful and then reach into my toolbox to stay connected – or reconnect with what I know to be true. I avoid making up stories, yet am conscious of the temptation and talk it through.
Start Somewhere, Somehow
I tend to stay away from the word try, but for goodness sake, you got start somewhere. Try what resonates. And, give it a good chance to do its thing by making a commitment to give a reasonable amount of time and energy before giving up. Become aware of the excuses that keep you imprisoned in a pattern and be willing to let them all go. Below you will find some free download sites that offer some great beginning places!
When approached by a prospective healing client, I’ll often ask if they would be open to using one or more of my CD’s, and if so, how often they can commit. As much as sales coaches would gasp at my strategy, I want to know if someone is actually ready to take responsibility for their own part in their healing journey. If someone responds with “I’m too busy, or can you do a 15 minute healing audio?” they might not be a good fit for how I work with folks.
As someone who healed from a deadly disease that no one said was even possible to heal from, I am fully aware of what it took. I can honestly say that I earned every moment of comfort and freedom that came my way. It is a lifestyle and a mindset, not just a solution or quick fix.
What commitment are you ready to make today so you can fully partner with your emerging consciousness? The fact that read this very long article and have gotten to this point says something about where you are. It says you are open, curious and interested in moving beyond your current circumstances and patterns.
Start somewhere. Here are a few things that might be of interest. If still skeptical and on the fence, sign up for some audio downloads or get a healing audio package. Commit to listening (regularly if a healing audio), taking notes, and completing the exercises. See what emerges for you by giving yourself this gift 0f taking a first step into an unfolding potential.
Ready to Awaken Your Inner Healer? Get a few f*r*ee audios at www.powerofmyway.com/awakeningthehealerwithin.html or sign up for an introductory package of three audio classes and five transformational healing and hypnosis audios (sample a few while you are there) at http://www.powerofmyway.com/awakeningthehealer.html
If interested in the formal Awakening the Healer Within Program (invitation only) or you wish to explore private coaching or healing sessions, please contact me directly at [email protected]
About the Author
Rev. Anita Pathik Law (Ani to friends and clients) is the author of The Power of Our Way; A Path to A Collective Consciousness and co-creator and lyricist of www.thepowerofmywaymovie.com and www.divinitymovie.com
Known as a manifestation magnet and midwife to the soul, Ani has leveraged the power of the mind and spirit to create the seemingly impossible. She fosters mastery within others by guiding them back towards their inknown wisdom and truth.
Copyright 2009, Anita Pathik Law
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